back to article 'Super rogue wave' scuppers Lego pirate

Pity the poor Lego pirate in the video below: there he is, placidly riding over tiny waves, when a rogue wave arrives and upends his vessel. The video looks trivial, but it has a serious implication: the ANU scientists that put it together did so as part of the world’s ongoing effort to understand rogue waves that menace …

COMMENTS

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  1. Graham Marsden
    Coat

    Playmobil or...

    ... erm, nothing to see, move along there...!

  2. Allan George Dyer
    Pirate

    Who wanted...

    to call out "It's behind you!" to warn the poor, doomed, heavily-armed mariner? I did.

  3. SoaG
    FAIL

    No thanks

    I don't care what's in the video, I'm not installing any more plugins when there are already so many choices that work just fine.

    1. Grifter

      Re: No thanks

      http://prx.aps.org/multimedia/PRX/v2/i1/e011015/e011015_vid1.mov is the url

    2. nigel 15

      Re: No thanks

      yep. balls to installing quicktime.

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge
        Happy

        Re: No thanks

        Yep, that was the first time I have seen a QuickTime plugin required screen since I uninstalled QT yonks ago.

    3. Steven Roper
      Thumb Down

      Same here

      Since Apple products are banned in my home, including their software, I guess I don't get to see the video either.

  4. HeNe
    Alert

    So... _how_ did they do it?

    What parameters did they set that were different than the ones in all of the gazillions of other wave-tank experiments which have been carried out around the world to date?

    TFA, here -- http://news.anu.edu.au/?p=14321 -- does not say.

    1. HeyMickey
      Headmaster

      Re: So... _how_ did they do it?

      Turns out Physical Review X is an open access journal, so PDF link to the full article (as opposed to some crappy press release) here:

      http://prx.aps.org/pdf/PRX/v2/i1/e011015

  5. Graham Bartlett

    YouTube?

    Anyone want to do a YouTube version for those that don't have/want a MOV viewer?

    1. Hayden Clark Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: YouTube?

      Try VLC.

      Plays QT movies without all that QT rubbish.

    2. David Neil
      Pint

      Re: YouTube?

      Done, with due respect to the ANU

      http://youtu.be/ayd1rvuqBzU

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    .mov?

    Get bent!

  7. Alan Bourke

    Quicktime?

    Goooooood-night.

  8. Andy Kay
    Thumb Up

    .mov played fine in Windows Media Player

    I don't have the awful Quicktime installed on my PC

  9. Kevin Johnston

    Prior Art?

    Trying to remember whether it was Tomorrow's World or not where I first saw the film of the '100 year wave' where two model boats were close to each other in a wave tank and the researchers could sink one while leaving the other afloat. Certainly a good long time ago and I thought that the maths had been fully demonstrated.

    Anyone know what this new 'discovery' has added?

  10. Andy Kay
    Meh

    re: Anyone know what this new 'discovery' has added?

    that you shouldn't go to sea in a boat made of Lego?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: re: Anyone know what this new 'discovery' has added?

      Depends on the lego set.

      I once had 2 lego boats.

      One a tanker that had a plastic hull and floated in the water and the other a pure brick pilot boat that had round smooth 2x2 caps on the underside edges such that it could glide on carpet (but didn't float).

      I reckon though that some silicon sealant on that pilot boat and it would've made a fine bathtime vessel.

  11. Demonix
    Happy

    Any science that makes use of Lego and / or Playmobile is OK with me.

  12. This post has been deleted by its author

  13. Bush_rat
    Trollface

    Poor Pirate

    You just sunk my (pirate)battleship!

  14. cortland
    Holmes

    At the rissk of sounding a bit risque'

    It is not surprising.

    If, on a sphere, there are waves travelling in every direction, then at some point there will be constructive intererference that generates a much taller wave as they meet in opposite directions; another example that "you can't comb a hairy ball."

    Any demo videos otherwise should be addressed to The Reg!

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Duplo

    A Duplo figure might fare better against rogue waves due to their sheer size.

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