Holiday Reading on Flying Reindeer (and other topics) · 12:07am Dec 26th, 2017
Happy Hearth's Warming. I know many Fimfiction science fans love discussing the physics of flying hooved creatures all year round. But this is the season when mainstream news outlets do it too. If you like this stuff check out:
We need to talk about Rudolph: sex, drugs and aerodynamic reindeer
“Reindeer happening upon these patches of yellow snow left by the shaman might well frolic, gambol and skip around in the snow, off their antlers on mind-altering drugs.”
This is, of course, nothing new. Here’s an earlier report:
The science of Christmas: Santa Claus, his sleigh, and presents
Which takes a different line, quoting Professor Ian Stewart:
“Reindeer have a curious arrangement of gadgetry on top of their heads which we call antlers and naively assume exist for the males to do battle and to win females. This is absolute nonsense. The antlers are actually fractal vortex-shedding devices. We are talking not aerodynamics here, but antlaerodynamics.”
Going back further, I think most investigation in this field of research was kicked off by Roger Highfield’s classic (1998):
Can Reindeer Fly? The Science of Christmas by Roger Highfield
Where's that upvote button for blog posts....
Twilight makes one of the best 'child' characters to write dialogue for:
‘Twas the Night before Hearth’s Warming, and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
“See, right there? If no creature was stirring, then who exactly was narrating? There had to be an observer at the event, and that observer would naturally be a creature stirring, so the poem is logically inconsistent in the first verse...
Merry Christmas!
So, when taken together, we can conclude that the light-emitting parasites in Rudolph's nose, when combined with her antlaerodynamic space-time distortions, act as part of the guidance system for the present cannon. Got it.