I saw 'Mr. Wizard' build one of these. Granted, not really as portable, but it worked.
1 Medium size cardboard box (12" cube or better-long boxes with square bases are best)
1 Smoke source. (Incense, fog solution, etc)
1 sturdy plastic bag or thin sheet (to make a diaphram)
Duct tape (Of course!)
Cut 4" hole in base of box. Preferably in a "clean" edge (no flaps or seams). If you can't do that, make a bigger hole and cut the 4" circle in another peice of carbboard to make the orifice. Neatness counts!
Completely remove the opposite end of the box, and cover it with the plastic sheet. Pull it tight and secure with duct tape. Make a good seal!
Place smoke source in box (potential fire hazard? Be careful...) near the middle and wait for the box to fill up.
Aim and slap the plastic sheet to "shoot" a ring of smoke.
The kid on Mr Wizard was able to blow out a candle from about 15 feet away with this thing. =Smidge=
Re:Accuracy
on
Space Legos!
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Indeed. I've made several robots out of legos (not even mindstorm sets - just plain old Technic sets, motors salvaged from old coputer hardware, an old PC, and a good dollop of hot melt glue;) )
The gears and other components are certintly NOT indended for accuracy by any stretch of the imagination. But they are fairly cheap, robust (except for those little 8-tooth gears...) and easy to assemble into just about anything you need.
I even built a joystick out of legos once. There was a bit of play in it, but not too much. What really killed it was the lack of a self-centering mechanism. You really go all over the place in an energetic game of Descent! =Smidge=
Why would you need gyros to keep it upright? Typically the wheels act as gyros that help balance you. In fact, throwing off that balance by leaning causes procession, which, if the wheel is free to pivot (like the front wheel is), will cause it to turn.
That's how you can ride a bike without holding onto the handlebars - providing you have fairly good balance.
An extra set of gyros would be redundant, heavy and wasteful in both materials and energy.
Regenerative braking might not be all that fantastic either, since you're dealing with relatively small quantities of energy (unless you got a REALLY FAT guy riding it, and even then I don't think he'll get up much speed!) =Smidge=
Well, if you bothered to RTFA, it talks specifically about how the process was used to study interactions with copper atoms, and how they are going to apply it to improving chip manufacturing.
So yeah, I guess they did consider that this is going to impact the computer industry.:P =Smidge=
And I assume that, since you're not "part of the system", you've never been there to see how it really is. After all, anyone who gets their hands dirty in politics must be "part of the system", so you can't possibly take anything they have to say seriously because they're all corrupted by it.
But you, obviously, have been suckling on the teats of some political radical who has just as much a private agenda as the people he denounces. Of course, your view of the system is 100% correct because you got them from someone who isn't part of it, and therefore isn't corrupt.
Not saying there isn't any corruption on capital hill, but talk about naivete... do you have any opinions that are formed on sources other than talk shows and editorial columns? Do you really think those people have the best interests of the public in mind? (As opposed to an elected official - who would probably want to keep his job and therefore do his best to give the people what he thinks they want) =Smidge=
Ah, but that's just turning opaque. This stuff doesn't turn opaque, it refracts. This allows for not just blocking the light but reaiming/controlling it as well.
Very similar concept, almost identical process, but quite a difference overall.
If you bother to RTFA, it says:
"The big difference between what we do and what has been done before is that older-style glass panes contain a random distribution of drops and drop sizes... without any order in the drop size and spacing, these older liquid crystal systems simply scatter light in all directions... In our case,... we're able to steer light in specific directions" =Smidge=
After all, if insurance companies lost more money with each policy they sell, there wouldn't be so many of them. (And they certaintly wouldn't have lobbied to get some types of insurance mandated - like car insurance in New York).
They make money through volume, hoping that it'll be awhile before you collect, allowing them to accrue interest on your account. Still a gamble, of course.
I wonder if insurance companies need insurance? =Smidge=
Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see how both sides can "win" with that arrangement.
I pay you $20M if you give me 25% of your profits. I only win if you make more than $80M (thus recovering my $20M outlay and more for profit).
But if you made over $80M, then *you* lose 25% of all profit over over $80M.
If you make less than $80M, then *I* lose out, since my 25% cut won't even over my "investment", but you come out slightly ahead.
That sounds more like insurance for the artists than an investment. - You buy insurance from me in ase your tour makes less than $80M.
Now who do you think insurance policies REALLY benefit in the long run? And with the amount of money tours generate, that strikes me as a pretty stupid policy to buy because you'ld have to really bomb to make a decent profit or really, really good for me to make a decent profit.
Maybe it is more like "protection money"... =Smidge=
Or, if you're looking for something that will be a tad bit easier to clean up and will have less collateral damage - why not just a regular ABC Dry chemical (monoammonium phosphate) system? It's fairly cheap, readily available and pretty safe.
But if it requires an atmosphere, then it's not "antigravity"... and that's what it's claimed to be. People like to toss around the term "antigravity" because it seems to discredit established research.
Kinda like "alternative medicine" - First they say your regular doctor doesn't know as much as they do and conventional medicine is a failure. Then they claim their products are 'clinically tested' and 'scientifically proven' to work.
Besides, there are other problems with this device. The lift power they generate is relatively low for their size. They also use the same principle of operation as the ionic breeze(tm) air cleaner thingy (not an endorsement, just an example). Here's a link to the US patent for anyone that wants a better look at how it works. (Gee, does that mean this "invention" is already patented? If it was "invented" in the 1920's, is that prior art?)
I wonder if these "lifters" are prone to "fouling", since they do work on the same principle as those air filters:) =Smidge=
But if energy was cheap enough, I'm sure we could come up with a way to increase the rate at which heat is radiated back into space, and/or decrease the rate at which heat is absorbed from the sun.:P
There are two such blindingly simple and (relatively) easy to retrofit solutions that it seems very few people have even considered.
First, don't have a passage way that lets people cross from the passenger compartment to the cockpit. Hijacker's can't take over the plane if they can't get into the pilot's seat... the only way to access the cockpit should be from an exterior door (and therefore only accessable then the plane is on the ground)
Second, what about biometric pilot identification? install a fingerprint reader on the control yolk to monitor the pilot's pinky finger. As soon as the pilot lets go of the stick, auto-pilot kicks in and ground control is alerted to the situation (which would probably just be the pilot getting up to take a piss of something, point is someone will know).
Granted, it may not be possible/practical for various reasons, but nobody seems to even bring it up!
Also, with all the stuff they record on the "black box", is there any room for some simple video data? I would think that a few snapshots of the cabin now and again would be extremely useful for investigators. =Smidge=
(Presumably) being a sea creature, wouldn't bouyancy make supporting a large body mass something of a non-issue? A big bag of muscle can get around pretty good in a basically 0-gravity environment. (Giant squid!)
Not to say that it's not an interesting find.:P but like most everyone else, I'd like some pics. =Smidge=
Too bad the ISS is far from complete, and I recall they were looking to mothball the project not too long ago (I can't seem to find any info about whether they did or not)
So maybe it's a less than perfect analogy.
Then let's consider the quality of workmanship and engineering that typically come out of china... those aging, rickety shuttles look pretty appealing! =Smidge=
Simple, yoyu're not paying for the program, you're paying for the service.
Yes, you can (legally) download the program for free, but that's all you get. If you buy it, you get the software + support + nice, printed documentation (book > wasting your own paper) + (for lindows at least) practically effortless installation and configuration + other goodies.
...and that's how free software makes money.
BTW: Buy the friggin' program if you're going to use it a lot - help support the guys who made it available to your apparently ungrateful ass in the first place! If it conflicts with your "I deserve free shit 'cause I don't feel like paying for it" mentality, think of it as a tip for a job well done instead of "buying free software". =Smidge=
As Plansedragon mentioned, most lawyers are generally good people on a personal level. Their cients are generally more of a problem.
I'd also like to point out two things you seemed to have overlooked that nullifies your statement:
First, I mentioned that earning your education would make you more patient and dedicated. Most lawyers (even the truly sleezy ones) certaintly fit this desription - so my statement holds true.
Second, the words "are more likely to" make it clear that it is not a blanket statement, allowing for a classification of being well educated AND immoral/impatient/not dedicated.
To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society. -Theodore Roosevelt
A good education really needs to be earned, that way you (are more likely to?) get decent character traits like patience, dedication and sound morals instead of just facts. =Smidge=
Actually, to put that into the proper view of the typical home-based computer user, it would be more like:
People running their DNA from Microsoft will experience periodic downtime, intentional or not, and will occasionally have to have a friend or relative come by, wipe everything clean and replace it with a new copy.
People running their Linux brand DNA would have much less downtime than those using Microsoft's brand, however they would have to go extinct and re-evolve from the primordial soup every so often trying to get all their new hardware to work (or sometimes just for the fun of it). Fortunately, they will mostly be capable of doing this by themselves.
People running MacOS brand DNA would find themselves living fairly normal lives, but in tightly nit, closed-gate communities with limited resources and almost no support from the rest of the world. They wouldn't want it any other way.
People running their DNA from QNX would be truly immortal! =Smidge=
Glass is easily recyclable though. You can crush it up into course particals and use it as aggregate in concrete and asphalt paving, or just melt it down and make new things out of it.
Plastic is a bit trickier, mainly because there's so many different types of plastic, it makes sorting a nightmare. Some products even use 2 or 3 different types of plastic in one unit! (eg: Tic-Tac dispenser uses a polystyrene container and a polypropylene lid)
different "types" of glass are mostly just heat treatments. eg: tempered/safety glass.
A plastic that dissolves in a special chemical would make it easier, especially if that chemical could be retreived after use. Dump all the plastic garbage in a big pot, add chemical, dissolve type X plastic, drain chemical and recover, add different chemical to dissolve type Y plastic, repeat...
I've also seen plastics (especially expanded polystyrene, like coffee cups) that have glucose in their polymer chains, which means bacteria aide in decomposing the material while it's in the landfill. No idea what happened to this stuff though... =Smidge=
Slashdot Mirror
I saw 'Mr. Wizard' build one of these. Granted, not really as portable, but it worked.
1 Medium size cardboard box (12" cube or better-long boxes with square bases are best)
1 Smoke source. (Incense, fog solution, etc)
1 sturdy plastic bag or thin sheet (to make a diaphram)
Duct tape (Of course!)
Cut 4" hole in base of box. Preferably in a "clean" edge (no flaps or seams). If you can't do that, make a bigger hole and cut the 4" circle in another peice of carbboard to make the orifice. Neatness counts!
Completely remove the opposite end of the box, and cover it with the plastic sheet. Pull it tight and secure with duct tape. Make a good seal!
Place smoke source in box (potential fire hazard? Be careful...) near the middle and wait for the box to fill up.
Aim and slap the plastic sheet to "shoot" a ring of smoke.
The kid on Mr Wizard was able to blow out a candle from about 15 feet away with this thing.
=Smidge=
Indeed. I've made several robots out of legos (not even mindstorm sets - just plain old Technic sets, motors salvaged from old coputer hardware, an old PC, and a good dollop of hot melt glue ;) )
The gears and other components are certintly NOT indended for accuracy by any stretch of the imagination. But they are fairly cheap, robust (except for those little 8-tooth gears...) and easy to assemble into just about anything you need.
I even built a joystick out of legos once. There was a bit of play in it, but not too much. What really killed it was the lack of a self-centering mechanism. You really go all over the place in an energetic game of Descent!
=Smidge=
Why would you need gyros to keep it upright? Typically the wheels act as gyros that help balance you. In fact, throwing off that balance by leaning causes procession, which, if the wheel is free to pivot (like the front wheel is), will cause it to turn.
That's how you can ride a bike without holding onto the handlebars - providing you have fairly good balance.
An extra set of gyros would be redundant, heavy and wasteful in both materials and energy.
Regenerative braking might not be all that fantastic either, since you're dealing with relatively small quantities of energy (unless you got a REALLY FAT guy riding it, and even then I don't think he'll get up much speed!)
=Smidge=
Well, if you bothered to RTFA, it talks specifically about how the process was used to study interactions with copper atoms, and how they are going to apply it to improving chip manufacturing.
:P
So yeah, I guess they did consider that this is going to impact the computer industry.
=Smidge=
Maybe they used an old Pentium processor...
=Smidge=
And I assume that, since you're not "part of the system", you've never been there to see how it really is. After all, anyone who gets their hands dirty in politics must be "part of the system", so you can't possibly take anything they have to say seriously because they're all corrupted by it.
But you, obviously, have been suckling on the teats of some political radical who has just as much a private agenda as the people he denounces. Of course, your view of the system is 100% correct because you got them from someone who isn't part of it, and therefore isn't corrupt.
Not saying there isn't any corruption on capital hill, but talk about naivete... do you have any opinions that are formed on sources other than talk shows and editorial columns? Do you really think those people have the best interests of the public in mind? (As opposed to an elected official - who would probably want to keep his job and therefore do his best to give the people what he thinks they want)
=Smidge=
Ah, but that's just turning opaque. This stuff doesn't turn opaque, it refracts. This allows for not just blocking the light but reaiming/controlling it as well.
... without any order in the drop size and spacing, these older liquid crystal systems simply scatter light in all directions ... In our case, ... we're able to steer light in specific directions"
Very similar concept, almost identical process, but quite a difference overall.
If you bother to RTFA, it says:
"The big difference between what we do and what has been done before is that older-style glass panes contain a random distribution of drops and drop sizes
=Smidge=
I had a math prof like that... he didn't *throw* the chalk - but he did pelt you with it.
The best response was: "Either you make your lecture more interesting, or you run out of chalk. Either way, I win."
=Smidge=
Quick, somebody donate a new webserver!
=Smidge=
After all, if insurance companies lost more money with each policy they sell, there wouldn't be so many of them. (And they certaintly wouldn't have lobbied to get some types of insurance mandated - like car insurance in New York).
They make money through volume, hoping that it'll be awhile before you collect, allowing them to accrue interest on your account. Still a gamble, of course.
I wonder if insurance companies need insurance?
=Smidge=
Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see how both sides can "win" with that arrangement.
I pay you $20M if you give me 25% of your profits. I only win if you make more than $80M (thus recovering my $20M outlay and more for profit).
But if you made over $80M, then *you* lose 25% of all profit over over $80M.
If you make less than $80M, then *I* lose out, since my 25% cut won't even over my "investment", but you come out slightly ahead.
That sounds more like insurance for the artists than an investment. - You buy insurance from me in ase your tour makes less than $80M.
Now who do you think insurance policies REALLY benefit in the long run? And with the amount of money tours generate, that strikes me as a pretty stupid policy to buy because you'ld have to really bomb to make a decent profit or really, really good for me to make a decent profit.
Maybe it is more like "protection money"...
=Smidge=
Yeah, it'll completely ruin the electronics for sure.
But if your PC bursts into flames, I think it's pretty much gone at that point anyway...
=Smidge=
Or, if you're looking for something that will be a tad bit easier to clean up and will have less collateral damage - why not just a regular ABC Dry chemical (monoammonium phosphate) system? It's fairly cheap, readily available and pretty safe.
Or what about plain old CO2?
=Smidge=
But if it requires an atmosphere, then it's not "antigravity"... and that's what it's claimed to be. People like to toss around the term "antigravity" because it seems to discredit established research.
:)
Kinda like "alternative medicine" - First they say your regular doctor doesn't know as much as they do and conventional medicine is a failure. Then they claim their products are 'clinically tested' and 'scientifically proven' to work.
Besides, there are other problems with this device. The lift power they generate is relatively low for their size. They also use the same principle of operation as the ionic breeze(tm) air cleaner thingy (not an endorsement, just an example). Here's a link to the US patent for anyone that wants a better look at how it works. (Gee, does that mean this "invention" is already patented? If it was "invented" in the 1920's, is that prior art?)
I wonder if these "lifters" are prone to "fouling", since they do work on the same principle as those air filters
=Smidge=
But if energy was cheap enough, I'm sure we could come up with a way to increase the rate at which heat is radiated back into space, and/or decrease the rate at which heat is absorbed from the sun. :P
=Smidge=
There are two such blindingly simple and (relatively) easy to retrofit solutions that it seems very few people have even considered.
First, don't have a passage way that lets people cross from the passenger compartment to the cockpit. Hijacker's can't take over the plane if they can't get into the pilot's seat... the only way to access the cockpit should be from an exterior door (and therefore only accessable then the plane is on the ground)
Second, what about biometric pilot identification? install a fingerprint reader on the control yolk to monitor the pilot's pinky finger. As soon as the pilot lets go of the stick, auto-pilot kicks in and ground control is alerted to the situation (which would probably just be the pilot getting up to take a piss of something, point is someone will know).
Granted, it may not be possible/practical for various reasons, but nobody seems to even bring it up!
Also, with all the stuff they record on the "black box", is there any room for some simple video data? I would think that a few snapshots of the cabin now and again would be extremely useful for investigators.
=Smidge=
(Presumably) being a sea creature, wouldn't bouyancy make supporting a large body mass something of a non-issue? A big bag of muscle can get around pretty good in a basically 0-gravity environment. (Giant squid!)
:P but like most everyone else, I'd like some pics.
Not to say that it's not an interesting find.
=Smidge=
You remember those stories about how drinking "moonshine" (homemade) alcohol can make you go blind?
That's because of methanol.
Methanol = industrial alcohol (poisonous)
Ethanol = grain alcohol (drinkable)
Gonna be awfully hard to use a laptop when you can't see!
=Smidge=
Too bad the ISS is far from complete, and I recall they were looking to mothball the project not too long ago (I can't seem to find any info about whether they did or not)
So maybe it's a less than perfect analogy.
Then let's consider the quality of workmanship and engineering that typically come out of china... those aging, rickety shuttles look pretty appealing!
=Smidge=
Why would anyone pay for RedHat or MySQL?
...and that's how free software makes money.
Simple, yoyu're not paying for the program, you're paying for the service.
Yes, you can (legally) download the program for free, but that's all you get. If you buy it, you get the software + support + nice, printed documentation (book > wasting your own paper) + (for lindows at least) practically effortless installation and configuration + other goodies.
BTW: Buy the friggin' program if you're going to use it a lot - help support the guys who made it available to your apparently ungrateful ass in the first place! If it conflicts with your "I deserve free shit 'cause I don't feel like paying for it" mentality, think of it as a tip for a job well done instead of "buying free software".
=Smidge=
As Plansedragon mentioned, most lawyers are generally good people on a personal level. Their cients are generally more of a problem.
:P~
I'd also like to point out two things you seemed to have overlooked that nullifies your statement:
First, I mentioned that earning your education would make you more patient and dedicated. Most lawyers (even the truly sleezy ones) certaintly fit this desription - so my statement holds true.
Second, the words "are more likely to" make it clear that it is not a blanket statement, allowing for a classification of being well educated AND immoral/impatient/not dedicated.
So nyah!
=Smidge=
I believe there's also a good quote:
To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society. -Theodore Roosevelt
A good education really needs to be earned, that way you (are more likely to?) get decent character traits like patience, dedication and sound morals instead of just facts.
=Smidge=
You're right, so based on his own ideals, we'll have to take another route...
:)
How many da^C^C hours until his site and/or personal computer is hacked into?
=Smidge=
Actually, to put that into the proper view of the typical home-based computer user, it would be more like:
People running their DNA from Microsoft will experience periodic downtime, intentional or not, and will occasionally have to have a friend or relative come by, wipe everything clean and replace it with a new copy.
People running their Linux brand DNA would have much less downtime than those using Microsoft's brand, however they would have to go extinct and re-evolve from the primordial soup every so often trying to get all their new hardware to work (or sometimes just for the fun of it). Fortunately, they will mostly be capable of doing this by themselves.
People running MacOS brand DNA would find themselves living fairly normal lives, but in tightly nit, closed-gate communities with limited resources and almost no support from the rest of the world. They wouldn't want it any other way.
People running their DNA from QNX would be truly immortal!
=Smidge=
Glass is easily recyclable though. You can crush it up into course particals and use it as aggregate in concrete and asphalt paving, or just melt it down and make new things out of it.
Plastic is a bit trickier, mainly because there's so many different types of plastic, it makes sorting a nightmare. Some products even use 2 or 3 different types of plastic in one unit! (eg: Tic-Tac dispenser uses a polystyrene container and a polypropylene lid)
different "types" of glass are mostly just heat treatments. eg: tempered/safety glass.
A plastic that dissolves in a special chemical would make it easier, especially if that chemical could be retreived after use. Dump all the plastic garbage in a big pot, add chemical, dissolve type X plastic, drain chemical and recover, add different chemical to dissolve type Y plastic, repeat...
I've also seen plastics (especially expanded polystyrene, like coffee cups) that have glucose in their polymer chains, which means bacteria aide in decomposing the material while it's in the landfill. No idea what happened to this stuff though...
=Smidge=