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Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019) and AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021).

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

The Monash wind tunnel (just kidding)

This will amuse only such of my visitors as might be familiar with the Clayton campus of Monash University. To the rest of you, don't bother reading on, as it won't make sense.

Monash's website has a "Did you know?" section, which is currently telling us about the Monash wind tunnel:

The Monash wind tunnel is a unique aerodynamic test facility, being the largest wind tunnel in Australia and capable of wind speeds in excess of 180km/h.

The wind tunnel has a wide range of usage by different industries, including wind engineering (structures and wind turbines), aerospace (Unmanned Air Vehicles), ground transportation (cars, commercial vehicles, trucks and trains) and racing cars (V8 Supercars).


I'm sure this is an important engineering facility, and that "Monash wind tunnel" conveys exactly what is described ... to those who work with it.

I have to admit that the expression has a completely different meaning for those of us who've simply spent large parts of our lives stuggling with the gale force, umbrella-destroying winter winds that blow between the Menzies building and the union building. I initially assumed that the little article was going to be a joke, or perhaps an explanation of the notorious campus micro-weather. In fact, I had to read the whole thing a couple of times to be certain that it wasn't actually a tongue-in-cheek description of the space between the Menzies building and the union building.

Sorry, Monash. Just kidding.

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