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Tornado in a Can

geyser writes "What stuff matters more than a device that can tear things apart? Frank Polifka has a patent on his Windhexe device that creates a tornado force wind. Besides pulverizing concrete, it can pulverize small objects including jelly fish, and chicken feet without destroying the organic compounds. The chickens don't like it. Is this really a prototype Quake weapon? I could only find newspaper articles about the device. Has anyone seen it in action and can you give us a first hand report?"

16 of 383 comments (clear)

  1. Crack Pots Win Again by TedTschopp · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This again proves that it's not a degree or an education, but thinking outside the box that will move technology forward.

    --
    Fantasy remains a human right; we make in our measure and in our derivative mode... -- JRR Tolkien
    1. Re:Crack Pots Win Again by Christopher+Thomas · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This again proves that it's not a degree or an education, but thinking outside the box that will move technology forward.

      ...overlooking all of the contributions that were made to technology by people _with_ degrees.

      Education does not make you smart, but neither does lack of education. And in general, problem-solving's easier when you have more than intuition in your toolkit.

  2. Vacuum cleaners by Funkitup · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It sounds a bit like James Dyson's vacuum cleaner.
    http://www.dyson.co.uk/.

    One shudders to think what teenage boys might get up to with it ;o)

  3. Re:"it can pulverize ... jelly fish" by sheetzam · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Actually the point about the jelly fish is that it could pulverize them while keeping the useful bits intact (the collagen, etc.). So far, from what I understand, that's the only way found so far that can extract the useful organic compounds economically.

    --
    "Actually, I enjoyed this in the same vague, horrible way I enjoyed the A-Team" P. Opus
  4. Re:Waste processing? by glesga_kiss · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Hmmm. Who really wants more mechanically reclaimed meat in their food? I know it's not a new thing (soups did the same job in the past), but is getting food out of every last chicken molecule neccessary? Hot Dogs are bad enough as it is.

    Don't even get me started on the contents of haggis!

  5. Finally a legitimate patent on a real invention by ckokotay · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Things such as this are what the patent system was designed for. This is a legitimate 'new' device that performs a 'new' function that was previously unavailable - and it deserves a patent.

    Of course, someone will hook it up to a computer and obtain a new patent for 'Method of using a tornado in a can with a computer'

    Oh well, something may never change.

    --
    It does not matter what you do, it's wrong.
  6. Perfect for sewage disposal! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Instead of dumping raw sewage into the oceans, it can be powderized and dumped into fields where it can actually act as fertilizer, or be used in other industrial applications.

    I mean, c'mon, if this can handle chicken blood and guts, sewage is a natural. This would be fantastic for the environment.

  7. They're going to feed us what?? by Feint · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And you wonder what they put in your food.. Oh boy! a powdered chicken head and feet milkshake! And it's nutritious too!

    You know some guy down at the sewer treatment plant is saying "hey Larry.. I'll bet I could convince someone that its food.."

    I think it's about time I start shopping at the farmer's market...

    1. Re:They're going to feed us what?? by praedor · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You HAVE eaten hotdogs haven't you? Same difference.

      --
      In Bushworld, they struggle to keep church and state separate in Iraq as they increasingly merge the two in America.
  8. Mad Cow Disease by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Isn't feeding ground up cow parts back to cows one of the suspected causes of Mad Cow Disease? And now we can feed ground up chicken parts back to chickens and presumably humans. Great.

  9. Re:Actually by kableh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I believe some landfills use waste methane to produce power. Perhaps by pulverizing waste and feeding it into a digester you could produce enough power to smash the waste in the first place? =) And the remaining byproduct could be sold as cheap fertilizer.

  10. It does matter - people will care... by cr0sh · · Score: 3, Insightful
    ...as soon as massive numbers of humans begin to die from prion-related diseases (CJD, Mad Cow, Scrapie, etc).

    I just hope the dried meal they make from chicken parts isn't fed to other chickens (and hopefully they aren't doing the same with cows on the beef meal made - surely we learned that lesson - then again, look at everything else)...

    --
    Reason is the Path to God - Anon
  11. Re:Waste processing? by rodgerd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Certainly no-one aware of the problems associated with prion diseases will want more mechanically reclaimed meat.

  12. I've seen it in action by -dhan-101 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    in Mystery Men.
    It's the ultimate in non-lethal weaponry.

  13. Re:Legitimate ... and a shame by StevenMaurer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The alternative is even more stifling.

    The inventor - seeing that his invention could too easily be copied by a large multinational - decides not to risk money for nothing, but instead goes back to his real job, farming.

    No invention. No innovation.

    We see a lot of this kind of behavior in the software industry today. Microsoft has made such a business of stealing other people's useful ideas, there isn't much innovation left anymore - outside of the hundreds of freeware grad-student projects that makes up the backbone of Gnu/Open Source/Linux.

    Now I am not defending the joke software patents have become either, where adding "...with a computer!" is considered "innovation" by our rubber stamp patent office. But some degree of protection is needed, including both a comment period and a looser pays system for claims.

    Effectively the problem with patents is twofold:

    1] It is too easy to get a bogus patent, with which you can bully people who don't have the legal resources to fight your ludicrous claim.

    2] It is too easy for large companies to simply ignore small patents, knowing that judges are very reluctant to enforce the law against them (it's not just Microsoft that gets this kind of special treatment, Intel is famous for this).

  14. Prions are molecules... by Svartalf · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Simply put, if it's broken down to the molecular level, a Prion will still get ya.

    --
    I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas