Comments on: Haulin’ asteroid in Iowa

By: Procyon

Procyon — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:13:32 +0000

That is awesome… but with all your getting tangled up in mathematical equations and parentheses and whatnot you all missed a glaring error…
…”Meteor evidence?”
…Great, Iowa has evidence of shooting stars! Shame nobody’s noticed the big METEORITE crater beneath Manson.

By: BoredQuiz

BoredQuiz — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:10:40 +0000

Man Uhaul really is an awesome company, they don’t really have any real competitors that have the variety of hauling supplies and moving equipment they have, but they still try to have very reasonable prices. Also cool is how they encourage people to recycle the boxes you buy from them.

By: Sean (U-Haul Web Team)

Sean (U-Haul Web Team) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:16:45 +0000

Hello and thanks to everyone for pointing out the error in our Iowa SuperGraphic. Who would've thought a stray parenthesis could cause such an uproar! Anyway, as of today, we've fixed all the references to the erroneous equation on the web site. Feel free to check it out (again). We are glad to see such enthusiasm for the U-Haul SuperGraphics program!

By: gmon

gmon — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:14:45 +0000

I wonder about their accounting department. Especially when they can’t even match parenthesis.

Didn’t someone check the equation before printing it on their vans. How stupid is that?

Look how smart Uhaul is. They can’t even copy an equation right. Don’t expect your Uhaul bill to add up either.

By: seo

seo — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:27:27 +0000

The equasion is all wrong! I can prove it but can’t be bothered.

By: Davido

Davido — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:36:20 +0000

Hey U-Haul! Here’s an equation for ya:

V (sub a) = V(sub t) – (V (sub r) + V (sub b)).

That’s, vans available = total vans, minus (vans already reserved + broken vans).

LEARN IT, and we might do business again.

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:37:35 +0000

I will still never forgive them for nearly giving me an aneurysm with the truck with the giant spider on the side.

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:40:33 +0000

U-Haul explains the equation here:
When studying craters and crater formation, scientists and geologists not only study the structure and geologic makeup of these impact sites, they also try to understand everything that took place as the crater developed. One common calculation used by scientists and geoogists involves the analysis of the distance that debris was thrown from the crater. A small fraction of the materials actually escape the Earth’s gravitational field. To calculate the distance material is ejected from the crater, with relation to the angle it is being ejected and the velocity at which it is being ejected, scientists use the Ballistic Range-Velocity Formula.

The Ballistic Range-Velocity Formula is shown at right.

Rb – Ballistic range
Rp – Radius of the Earth
g – Acceleration due to the Earth’s gravity
Ø – Ejection angle
Ve – Ejection velocity

More about this equation can be found in Impact Cratering: A Geologic Process by H. J. Melosh.

By: drjm

drjm — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:37:57 +0000

Too bad U-Haul is one of the worst companies in the world and they, literally, do not believe in customer service. When I called to complain once, I was told that they, “Did not need customers like me who didn’t appreciate the service U-Haul offers.” The call was in reference to me being broke down on the side of the road due to their mechanically unreliable truck.

I had to rent another truck and reload all of my stuff from one truck to another on the side of the interstate at my expense, even though I had their most expensive insurance.

In all, I went all the way up the company and talked to one of their executive managers whom assured me that they didn’t care and they didn’t need my business and they honestly could care less if I took my business to another company. I was then promptly hung-up on.

Use U-Haul at your own risk, if you need help, regardless if it is their fault, you will not get it.

By: Paul Lamb

Paul Lamb — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:18:00 +0000

Did you mean to say the crater was 40 kilometers in diameter or the impact structure was? I don’t think those are the same thing, and a crater that size just seems too unlikely.

By: SoLinkable

SoLinkable — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:06:03 +0000

That is very cool. Why dont they teach us stuff like this in physics? It may not be core material, but its actually interesting…

By: AJWM

AJWM — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:20:44 +0000

U-Haul does seem to have something of a spacey bent. There’s a U-Haul storage facility not far from me, adjacent to a highway. The upper floors have life-size cardboard cutouts of Capt. Kirk and Mr. Spock looking out the windows. No idea what that has to do with storage, but hey.

ioresult: PEI is also missing. Quebec shows up in the “Classic” picture series, and a few other provinces are missing from that.

By: mandie

mandie — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 05:46:37 +0000

very rarely, if ever, does a piece of advertising make me say “that-a-boy!” thats really amazing!

By: Autumn

Autumn — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 04:33:20 +0000

I notice that the WV graphic depicts Green Bank.
Ten years ago a couple of friends and I were drivin’ around the country, and in WV (in our VW), we come around a curve in the mountains to the sight of a big radio telescope on a neighboring mountainside. We were totally geeked, being geeks, and visited the complex.
I don’t know if they still do, but back then there was a little kiosk with a pamphlet to guide us on a little walking-tour, explaining the telescopes we saw, and also pointing out the giant (depicted in the U-Haul graphic) telescope under construction. We only saw the skeleton of the dish sitting on the ground, but it was still huge. I’ve since wanted to return to see it standing.
America is full of off-the-beaten-path awesomeness.

By: Helio George

Helio George — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:47:05 +0000

George, what color was their Sun? Let me guess, yellow? U-haul isn’t there yet, but they are moving in the right direction.

By: UHaul 1, London bus 0 | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

UHaul 1, London bus 0 | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:52:21 +0000

[...] on the heels of my posting the goodness that is the UHaul truck with the ballistic ejecta equation on its side, comes the report of utter fail from a London Bus ad [...]

By: George N

George N — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:24:28 +0000

“Wouldn’t you know it – I rented a UHaul van for my move to Cincinnati last month, and out of all the vans I could get – I get the one with the giant picture of the Sun on it! They gave the astronomy educator and astrophysics student a giant sun to ride all around town with. It’s a sign, I tells ya!!!”

You know if some creationist were to drive the UHaul with the Sun on it around the Earth the dream would come true and Galileo would be put in his place at last.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:08:36 +0000

Here are all the U-Haul “SuperGraphics”: http://www.uhaul.com/supergraphics/

A lot of them are very nice (and sciencey), but not all available on T-shirts, unfortunately. But, you can download them as wallpaper or whatever. Check out the volcano on Arkansas.

By: ioresult

ioresult — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:28:16 +0000

Evolving Squid: I’ve had some fun with the equation and at the exact escape velocity (11.18km/s for Earth) and angle of 45 degrees, the distance is exactly halfway around the planet! I’m also not sure how accurate that is.

Also: I’m insulted! They don’t have Québec on the uhaul site! Even though we see plenty of uhaul trucks around here. Even the other provinces have the text in French!

By: Ramón Ruiz

Ramón Ruiz — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:58:07 +0000

Hi, I’m Spanish and I read about Manson, Iowa some years ago in a great book called A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson. Somehow I thought that place was way more famous anyway…

By: Evolving Squid

Evolving Squid — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 12:54:09 +0000

I would suspect the equation fails for velocities above about 7 or 8 km/s because anything ejected above that speed is probably going to orbit a while, and above 11 km/s will simply leave the Earth forever.

That would be my guess, without doing a detailed analysis on the formula.

By: Peter B

Peter B — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 12:06:25 +0000

Maybe a few of you should write to UHaul to say how much you enjoy this sort of advertising, and where you found out about it. Remember that they’ll realise that those who write in will represent only a portion of those who’ve noticed (about 5-10% if I remember the stats correctly).

With luck it’ll encourage them to do more.

By: Ted H.

Ted H. — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 12:05:35 +0000

I guess a little woo is inescapable. Roswell, Champ, and an odd take on Area 51, to name 3 I saw. It is a very nice set of graphics. The ‘about’ section: http://www.uhaul.com/supergraphics/about.aspx talks about the educational element.

GreyDuck: Nope, Oregon is not that interesting, sorry.
(That’s a joke, I really like Oregon. Except Portland is a pit) Anyway, take heart, it also says there are a few more to go, so they still might come up with something!

By: Ken of PA

Ken of PA — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:48:21 +0000

Here is the U-Haul site about their “SuperGraphics”:

http://www.uhaul.com/supergraphics/about.aspx

And they will accept your suggestions for future “SuperGraphics”:

http://www.uhaul.com/supergraphics/feedback.aspx

By: madge

madge — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:33:14 +0000

I love it when ads make you think, or teach you stuff! It happens so rarely. This is very cool