This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Just wanted to say that the tin man may only be tin in the sense of a tin can, ie mild steel with a thin lead(?) coating. You see rusty tin cans, right? (or did before aluminium took over).
Ununnilium: This is a good point, and probably what they were going for.
Masami Phoenix: Removed the following lines from the Signs example, because they're really just complaints that aren't adding to it.
- This bit of illogic tortured this troper for days afterwards. I thought it was strange to invade a planet with no clothing, weapons, or tools, but to invade a planet where THE RAIN MELTS YOUR SKIN without a tarp, or old newspaper, is downright infuriating.
- And even when it doesn't rain, there would be varying amounts of water vapour in the air.
- And the fact that it's one of the most ubiquitous chemical compounds in the universe.
I'd also like to point out that we routinely sent people with no kind of specialized equiptment into caves filled with deadly gas with nothing more than a bird to protect them. It's just one of those cases where the value of what they get is worth the risk.
- That was true only when we lacked the technology for anything better. Now that we can build emergency air supplies and other protective items, miners carry them. You'd think a technologically sophisticated alien race would be able to invent the raincoat.
Dragon Hawk (16 Feb 2009): I removed this:
- * CRT monitors and televisions implode spectacularly when exposed to water, power surges and blunt force trauma. This is one of the biggest reasons they're no longer standard.
I recently heard on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me that a new experimental stealth fighter can't be flown in the rain because no one bothered to check if the stealth paint was waterproof. I'd add this under "Real Life" but I can't find a news story to cite.
