ctc wrote on Oct 1st, 2005 at 8:47am:-I DON'T think the rotating cockpit would help with, well, with ANYTHING!!!!
...depends on how you're using it. I immediately thought of a ball turret, such as those employed on a WWII B-17 or B-29. A 360-degree motion control device is useful if you're using it to aim a set of machine guns.
ctc wrote on Oct 1st, 2005 at 8:47am:Now, if the WHEELS rotated, that would make parallel parking easier. The ball thing is kind of weird, disturbing, and might make a person motion sick. (Imagine if it gets stuck just off center at a time when you really have to go somewhere...)
I believe that some large pickup trucks already have four-wheel steering, for dexterity during parallel parking events.
Otherwise, I would use the ball turret to spin around and around while driving down the highway, which I would find amusing, at least until my passengers threw up.
ctc wrote on Oct 1st, 2005 at 8:47am:-The turret is nice, but you'd definitely have to stop to transverse. You should probably put retractable pinions on it too; the torque from the turret would probably tip the vehicle.
You could kill most of the torque by installing a large counterweight under the cab, with the same weight as the cab, which would rotate in the opposite direction of the cabin. It would still try to pick up a wheel because of gyroscopic precession, but at least it wouldn't try to counter-rotate the chassis.
ctc wrote on Oct 1st, 2005 at 8:47am: For a wacky real-life design, check out the German Luchs. It's a tank with forward and rear drivers; so you don't have to turn it around. Ever.
-Tanks are the best. I was originally trained as an armoured crewman; and the first time I got to touch a Leopard was.... *sigh* Last month they let me try the LAV 3. UNBELIEVABLE targeting system in that thing.
I had a materials science instructor at WSU who pointed out that the highest technology is always defined by the military. In fact, the progress of technology is marked by improvements in weapons fabrication... in the "stone age" men fought by hitting each other with crudely shaped rocks, the "bronze age" consisted of bronze swords, spearpoints and shields, the "iron age" introduced steel handweapons, the "space age" opened a new frontier for continued rivalry of the superpowers.
Military technology is the ability to survive in a hostile world, and to outcompete rivals for natural resources (such as petroleum, metal ores, fresh water, etc). Falling behind means being Darwin'd out of the gene pool.
...on a more personal level, since men are the hunters, warriors, and protectors of the tribe, the ones with the coolest toys wins.
ctc wrote on Oct 1st, 2005 at 8:47am:-For squashing zombies, damned near any armoured vehicle would suffice. I'd probably go for a German Wiesel, or Brit Scorpion. Light armour, but them things fly! Hydroplaning through the living dead would ROCK!!!!
Fortunately we don't have a zombie problem right now, but unfortunately if the world develops a large, aggressive, entitlement underclass, the effect is the same.
ctc wrote on Oct 1st, 2005 at 8:47am:-When I was at the U, we studied the Probe factory in Michigan. (It was an American plant that used a lot of ideas from the Japanese way of doing things.) I asked the guy running things why they'd call it a "Probe." (Imagine the police report, should you get rear ended by one....) He said he wasn't part of the team that designed the mane, but he DID know that one of the deciding factors was that the name offended women.
Well, I would call that a failure of the marketing department... to men, a "probe" suggests cool space age hardware, or maybe a dangerous high-tech interstellar exploration... to women, a "probe" is something used in a pelvic exam.
I'm guessing that Ford didn't poll too many women before they selected that particular auto designation.
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