The boy who played with fusion

POPSCI ^ | Posted 02.14.2012 at 12:52 pm | Tom Clynes

[virgil283]

"Propulsion,” the nine-year-old says as he leads his dad through the gates of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “I just want to see the propulsion stuff.”........This is before Taylor would transform the family’s garage into a mysterious, glow-in-the-dark cache of rocks and metals and liquids with unimaginable powers......But when his parents brought him to a toy store, [for a toy crane] the boy saw it as an act of provocation. “No,” he yelled, stomping his foot. “I want a real one. This is about the time any other father might have put his own foot down. But Kenneth called a friend who owns a construction company, and on Taylor’s birthday a six-ton crane pulled up to the party. The kids sat on the operator’s lap and took turns at the controls, guiding the boom as it swung above the rooftops on Northern Hills Drive.... To the assembled parents, dressed in hard hats, the Wilsons’ parenting style must have appeared curiously indulgent. In a few years, as Taylor began to get into some supremely dangerous stuff, it would seem perilously laissez-faire. But their approach to child rearing is, in fact, uncommonly intentional. “We want to help our children figure out who they are,” Kenneth says, “and then do everything we can to help them nurture that.”...

[virgil283]

....."“I would say someone like him comes along maybe once in a generation,” Johnson says. “He’s not just smart; he’s cool and articulate. I think he may be the most amazing kid I’ve ever met.”...(H/T instapundit)

[cripplecreek]

One afternoon, Tiffany ducked her head out of the door to the garage and spotted Taylor, in his canary yellow nuclear-technician’s coveralls, watching a pool of liquid spreading across the concrete floor.
“Tay, it’s time for supper.”

“I think I’m going to have to clean this up first.”

“That’s not the stuff you said would kill us if it broke open, is it?”

“I don’t think so,” he said. “Not instantly.”

LOL

[virgil283]

This is an excellent story about parents who guided their genus sons into fulfilling scientific careers.... Plus it is very well written even by today's standards...

[SatinDoll]

My nephew wanted a laboratorry set. His grandparents complied. Then he started raiding the kitchen for materials and requesting slow-burning fuses - he was intending to make explosives!

So, I bought him a book on pumpkin chunking and other delightful ways to make object fly while making big booms. Since the only location in our backyard that a trebuchet would be able to work resulted in two houses being spattered with pumpkin entrails, nephew and his best friend made the war engine at the friend’s house.

Only their flock of sheep was terrorized.

[cripplecreek]

Definitely given a gift.

[Tupelo]

Safety Third.

[LegendHasIt]

The son of one of my cousins started out like that.
Full scholarship to study both chemical and aeronautic engineering.

Dropped out halfway through. Now he checks tire pressures and cleans the windows on Air Force planes. With luck, if he re-ups, they will maybe let him pump fuel into them.

[JRandomFreeper]

I built the grandsons a small-scale trebouchet. They be geeks with hands on skills.

/johnny

[jaz.357]

http://www.hulu.com/#!watch/280000

[Cyber Liberty]

The kids sat on the operator’s lap and took turns at the controls, guiding the boom as it swung above the rooftops on Northern Hills Drive....

That's really stupid. I doubt that happened. That is incredibly dangerous.

[Lurker]

Thank you for posting this amazing story.

[JRandomFreeper]

That's really stupid. I doubt that happened. That is incredibly dangerous.

It happened decades ago. Unwad your panties.

And no, it's not particularly dangerous. I've been on job sites where heavy equipment was lifted over rooftops. As long as a certified operator is running the equipment, it's safe enough.

If it was incredibly dangerous, those of us that sat in grand-dad's lap while he drove, and learned to drive like that would all be dead.

Lord, I dislike sissies.

/johnny

[deweyfrank]

I love that word, Trebuchet. Maybe you should bring him to Delaware for the World Punkin Chunkin Championship.

[muawiyah]

Regarding Smart Babies ~ we could use that crane.

[Pontiac]

I am kind of curious if after this article was published if this family got a visit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

It just sounds to me like they have a lot of material in their garage that would require license from the NRC to posses and store.

And that stuff that he spilled in the garage sounds like a hazardous material that would be regulated.

[SunkenCiv]

thanks virgil283, but alas:

The Boy Who Played With Fusion
Popular Science | 2012-02-14 | Tom Clynes
Posted on Tue Feb 21 12:07:37 2012 by justlurking
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2849344/posts

[SunkenCiv]

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[Gandalf_The_Gray]

And no, it's not particularly dangerous. I've been on job sites where heavy equipment was lifted over rooftops. As long as a certified operator is running the equipment, it's safe enough.

I've seen pictures of a suburban home with it's attic sliced clean through to the eves and a crane boom still laid out nearly horizontal. the crane itself was standing on two outriggers with the base plate near 70° out of plumb. I assume the operator was a pro but you need more counterweights when you lift over the side, oops!

I also saw a real life mobile hydraulic crane laying on it's side with the boom helplessly laying out horizontal. It was a brand spanking new model and was rolled out for a promotional photo shoot with the CEO and the Chief Engineer in attendance. The professional operator just extended the boom out with a modest load and forgot to set his outriggers. I know the operator was a pro because he worked for the company that built the machine. The "accident" happened in the company parking lot (SE Pennsylvania). They had to bring in another crane to stand it back up again!

Then of course there was the crane disaster with the 15,000 ton mobile crane lifting sections of the movable roof for Miller Park Stadium in Milwaukee. Big Blue collapsed with a load of 450 tons on the hook. Three people were killed, several injured and millions of dollars in damage and lost time. The "accident" was blamed on side wind loading. The entire job was staffed by a steel erection firm and it still managed to collapse.

The best advice is to have a care where you stand when there is high steeel flying overhead.

Regards,
GtG

[Nifster]

Yeah but I looked at his eyes.....this kid is either going to go bonkers and sit in a corner wondering about whatever or he is going to go out and slaughter dozens of others who aren’t him.

[oldenuff2no]

Interesting.
I own and drive large feller/bunchers. On TV they always show them cutting little trees on flat ground. I laugh when I see it. My buncher is the biggest one Cat makes the cutting head alone weighs over 4K lbs. I work trees up to 34” on the stump on steep ground. The tracks follow the contours of the ground but I have to keep the cab level as I cut and grab the tree then maintain level as I pivot the cab and put the tree in a pile. No I do not use the automatic leveler It doesn't work that well and just screws things up. It is a bit like flying a chopper. I constantly adjust and control 9 different axises at the same time with a button under each finger and thumb, a joy stick in each hand and peddles under my feet. All of that with a 30K lb tree on the end of the boom and the leverage of the weight of the tall fir and pine trees that sticks up in the air 200'. Oh what fun it is to run a big buncher.