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My interest in science started when a friend and I folded a few paper planes, tested them over a small downhill section outside my house, made notes about what
by kqr 4y ago
My interest in science started when a friend and I folded a few paper planes, tested them over a small downhill section outside my house, made notes about what worked, tweaked and experimented with new designs, and so on. It blew my little mind that with structured experimentation you could design things that actually got better with each generation. Where would the improvements stop?
With hindsight, I realise that most of the improvements we measured were really just statistical noise. We never had a control plane, so if one by accident flew better one test, then we would tweak something and then we would naturally see regression to the mean, but we would record that as a tweak that made things worse.
To little me it was a lesson in deliberate design. To grown-up me I guess it's a lesson in how easy it is to delude yourself without proper experiment design and statistics.
Anyway, then after seeing my interest my father brought me an early Windows program that contained animated instructions on some paper plane designs. One of them was vastly superior to anything I had ever seen. But with the years, I forgot how to fold it. I had been looking for it for over 20 years when a few months ago, I wanted to show my son (of two years) a good paper plane and guess what? I think I've found the design! But it took a blurry YouTube video and some trial and error. I ought to write it down some day.
- clankyclanker 4y agoThe one in the YouTube video looks very similar to (or exactly like) one of the designs from one of the Klutz books around the turn of the millennium. I might’ve found it in the Explorabook? I’m pretty sure they called it the best paper airplane you’ll ever make, it even had the same wing flaps. It also looks almost exactly like one in the cover of the paper airplane book: Klutz Book of Paper Airplanes Craft Kit https://a.co/94zUS0G https://a.co/94zUS0G Turns out Klutz might’ve printed quite a few paper airplane instruction manuals.
- amatecha 4y agoExplorabook is the best!! That big fresnel lens was the most amazing way to quickly start a fire! I mean not that I tried or anything :D Klutz made so many awesome books back then. I still have my Explorabook, Klutz Book of Knots, and "Juggling for the Complete Klutz" (and the original bean bags)... all super awesome stuff for a kid to enjoy and learn from!
- isaacn 4y agoLink?
- kqr 4y agoThis was the YouTube video where I think the person makes the same design as the one I remember: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t2sozrof3HY https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t2sozrof3HY
- skavi 4y agothis is the first and only “cool” paper airplane I learned to build. the version I learned had a tail, which was built from a strip of paper torn off the end of the page.
- 14 4y agoThat is absolutely amazing and for anyone glossing over this link unsure if you will bother checking it out I highly recommend checking it out. 2 minute video. So cool the ending. I know what I am doing tomorrow.
- dylan604 4y agoThey didn't show the landing. What happens if it lands on the cook top? I saw no fire extinguishers nearby. ;P
- hellectronic 4y agoThat brings back old memories! I used to fold my paper airplane like this for the most part : ). I do not remember who showed it to me.
- scoot 4y ago> I think I've found the design! But it took a blurry YouTube video and some trial and error. That isn't at all blurry.
- ectopod 4y ago
- horsebridge 4y agoWas it this [1] program? [1] https://archive.org/details/thegpa https://archive.org/details/thegpa
- rcthompson 4y agoWhat a great app that was. The step-by-step animated folding instructions were actually 3D. It had buttons to rotate the view around to any angle. In hindsight they must have written their own simple 3D engine or something. Obviously they didn't need to render too many polygons at once, and no textures or shading.
- ultrafez 4y agoThe thing I'm most impressed and surprised about is that archive.org runs a Windows 3.1 emulator in the page, so you can actually use the program. I fully expected it to just be information about the program, perhaps with some screenshots. Modern browser tech is amazing.
- kqr 4y agoYes! I did not expect that out of this thread! Thank you so much.
- jb1991 4y agoWhich one of those designs is it?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- molszanski 4y agoI've found "Paperang paper airplane" to be the best. It is pretty hard to fold properly because the margin of error is thin, but it is really a fun one
- JKCalhoun 4y ago"The Basic" should not even be on the list. Doesn't fly.
- JKCalhoun 4y ago"Great International Paper Airplane Book" [0] was my drug. [0] https://archive.org/details/greatinternation00mandrich https://archive.org/details/greatinternation00mandrich
- Pokepokalypse 4y agoOh, yes, that book was great. The helicopter one is pretty unique, and there was another one that is VERY simple to make, and you end up making a flying-ring, and that plane actually performed beautifully. It flew straight and fast; wasn't much for long slow glides, but it never failed to impress people - especially with it's simplicity of construction.
- JKCalhoun 4y agoIt featured some "match rockets" too that probably would be a hard-sell to an editor/publisher these days....
- thatguy0900 4y agoCan't believe I've never heard of those, had to look them up. Those would have been very fun as a kid. I might make some now, thank you
- kqr 4y agoI wish my son was just a little older so I had an excuse to find a copy of that book. It looks amazing. I'll save the link for a few years from now!
- xattt 4y ago> Anyway, then after seeing my interest my father brought me an early Windows program that contained animated instructions on some paper plane designs. Microsoft Publisher 97 had (and still has in the 365 version) templates for different papercraft, including a couple of paper airplane designs. I honed my standard paper airplane design on this, and likely wasted gallons of ink in the process. Living in an apartment with a balcony also upped the incentive to make paper airplanes.