Slashdot Mirror
Dr. Who's Sonic Screwdriver Exists
Phoghat writes "Television's favourite Time Lord could not exist without his trusty sonic screwdriver, as it's proved priceless in defeating Daleks and keeping the Tardis in check. Now Doctor Who's famous cure-all gadget could become a reality for DIY-ers across the world, say engineers. Ultrasonic engineers at Bristol University and The Big Bang: UK Young Scientists and Engineers Fair are uncovering how a real life version of the fictional screwdriver — which uses sonic technology to open locks and undo screws — could be created."
Title: "...Sonic Screwdriver Exists."
Summery: "...could be created."
I call shenanigans.
Like The Master, I want a laser screwdriver. Who'd have sonic?
Write Only Memory: Another pointless blog.
Of course it would be cool to see some of the potential applications make their way back into Dr. Who.
ex. the Doctor using his screwdriver as an ultrasonic welder.
That group of bovine standing over there appears quite portentous. That's right it's an ominous cow herd.
Baby steps. Next we work on the telepathic paper.
Technoli
Where he "invents" death stars and time machines via a bunch of ludicrous pseudo-scientific bullshit hand-waving, and presents it to a bunch of LARPers?
The lib/con coalition government did a cost/benefit analysis as part of their spending review. Whilst I don't have a source to hand, IIRC it came down to a simple decision in the end. On one hand you could invest billions in military hardware to save cardiff from an alien invasion. On the other hand, you could simply erect some signs pointing out the direction of Swansea. When it went to a vote in the house of commons, no one could find fault in the second option.....
Ah, but can it be used to paper over plot holes, or do just about everything to further the plot. It seems to do just about anything but unscrew screws, but what do you expect from writers who just can't write decent plots? Whats the point of getting the Doctor into a tricky situation if all he has to do is take out his sonic screwdriver and whoosh- instantly solved. Sheer lasiness from the writers. But then again, they probably have an eye on merchandising and toy sales...
My web domain.
Real life TARDIS when?
It's an unrestricted time machine so surely 'when' it is created is irrelevant. Since it does not exist now we can probably conclude that it is very unlikely to be created in the future.
If I'm shaping the wave so that it reflects off the lateral sides of the screw slot, it can produce a reaction force in the screw. No? Send it one way at one end of the slot and the other way at the other end, and you get a torque. Yes?
Those are technically just shear stress as a result of sound, and not technically a sound wave themselves.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
It's "Doctor Who", not "Dr. Who".
Yes, I'm ignoring the Cushing films. Just like most people do.
FC Closer
If only we knew how fast and in which direction it was travelling...
Then we'd no longer know its position.
Baby steps indeed. As a society we've gotten as far as TARD. Now we just need to get the rest of the way toward TARDIS.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
just ignore him and pay attention to Amy Pond, and everything will be ok
Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
We keep doing TARD over and over again. Every time I look, society is reTARDed.
Support SETI@home
Let's really embrace the nerdiness - how would a tool that the Doctor uses in such a wide varieties of ways have to work?
First, jettison any baggage you have with the term "screwdriver"...clearly, the word is used to be synonymous with "tool". I've always kind of imagined that what the SS is, first and foremost, is a technological scanner and classifier. When the Doctor points it at something, the SS scans the technology and presents the Doctor with an (invisible to everyone else) visual representation of its internals. Probably an abstract representation. Then, the Doctor is able to telepathically use the SS to manipulate those internals in whatever way he wants.
So, if you point it at an actual lock, you would see a representation of the tumblers, and you can "will" the tumblers into place with it. If you point it at a cell phone, you'll see a circuit diagram, etc.
Add to that a galactic size library of all software algorithms ever written, and the ability to write them remotely. With a few thousand or so years for the Time Lords to develop progressive layers of software abstraction, you'd have a tool a well-trained user could do anything with.
If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
I'm pretty sure all alien spacecraft are required to have the coordinates of London before they're allowed to invade.
Unity? Screw that: XFCE. Slashdot Beta? Screw that: SoylentNews. Australis? Screw that: Pale Moon. UX developers DIAF
Baby steps indeed. As a society we've gotten as far as TARD. Now we just need to get the rest of the way toward TARDIS.
What? We already built a Time And Relative Dimension? And now we just need to put it in space.
Admit nothing. Deny Everything. Make Counter-accusations.
The problem is once we get to TARDI schedule overruns will doom the project.
Dr. Who's Sonic Screwdriver Exists...and all it took was redefining the words "sonic screwdriver" and "exists".
I swear, writing inaccurate headlines that give impressions 180 degrees from the story facts is an art that you just can't teach.
Height: 5' 5" (1.65 m)
Weight: 112 lbs.
Measurements: 36B-25-35
Oh yeah, what a fat dog. 36-25-35...it's a travesty.