Recently I noted an article about how the Dodo had been found - not quite alive unfortunately, but still found. And today, thanks to the wonders of my tivo I watched a show on PBS (american public broadcasting) about the Hindenburg air ship. A NASA scientist who specializes in Hydrogen has debunked the belief that the Hindenburg was a hydrogen disaster. In fact, it was powdered aluminum added to a "doping" mixture that coated the fabric covering of the airship that caught fire from an electrostatic charge, causing the conflagration. Apparently, the same powdered aluminum is currently used by NASA as part of their rocket fuel and is highly flammable.

At the end of the show, an air ship enthusiast says that now that we know that Hydrogen was more stable than believed, airships should come back as meaningful, viable, safe, and environmentally friendly travel options. EXCELLENT!!

It's often strange to me how sometimes the world of Thursday Next intrudes upon our own. :)

I gotta say, I'd still be wary about jumping into a basket suspended below a huge ballon filled with hydrogen gas... Although if it was helium, I'd be the first on board with my best micky mouse impression.

'Bonzai Micky' has a ring to it that unsettles me for some reason.

Makes me think of Irish jockeys.

Airships - well dirigibles anyway - are still around and viable. While alumin(i)um is certainly flammable, and in its powdered form relatively easy to ignite, i would still feel safer with inert Helium rather than flammable hydrogen.

Oh where's your sense of adventure?

Who wants to live forever?

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Blood! Death! War! Rumpy pumpy! Triumph!

I quote Lord Peter Wimsey - "I for one am determined to live as long as I possibly can."

Guess I'd better quit smoking. Especially around those airships.

Ask us again in 100 years time, '85!

I plan to live forever, of course, but barring that, I will settle for a couple hundred years of good health.

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'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Providing there's no bi-planes chasing them around, I'd be game...

I'd like to see some airships and traction cities like in Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines quartet.

Definitely forever. Head in a jar, if need be!

I want to live for four thousand years- I'd like to see a certain comet again (what was it called? it was near betel geuse andm near earth about 9 years ago?

Hale-Bopp? Only one I can think of off-hand with such a long orbit.

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'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Could be- it looked something like a small pale indistinguishable smudge. Recognise my generic description?

I have seen small balloons filled with hydrogen burst into flames fairly quickly, so I think I will pass.

When I was a very little girl, I remember seeing an old movie about people having a costume party while riding in a dirigible. I would like to see it again, but have no idea what it was called. Ring any bells? I think it was very old--black and white.

What is a dirigible? Sound naughty!

Airships have a rigid framework and dirigibles don't.

They do have a means of propulsion and a steering mechanism, otherwise the dirigible is just a balloon

But it can mean something naughty if you want it to. :)

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'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Especially with its rigid framework! :)