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[lake_wrangler]

An unexpected twist on construction workers and catcalls... (and funny, to boot)

Disclaimer: the tag line at the end of this commercial breaks it, for me, as it implies that they wouldn't be doing this if they had had a snack...

[Dave]

My mind has been blown and I have SO MANY IDEAS

That... is rather amazingly cool. The "spring" alone will have all sorts of uses.

[GlytchMeister]

My mind has been blown and I have SO MANY IDEAS

That... is rather amazingly cool. The "spring" alone will have all sorts of uses.

I KNOW RIGHT?!? And the latching one! ZOMG. *head asplodes*

[ShneekeyTheLost]

My mind has been blown and I have SO MANY IDEAS

There's plenty of applications in all sorts of fields (I owe the pun jar for that one, don't I...).

General household uses for that 'spring' are simply astounding. Like he said, it can revolutionize doorknobs and cabinet latches. It might even be child-proof! Well, at least until the child figures out 'twist the knob, don't pull'. The repulsion effect is equally useful, but offhand I'd say use as a shock absorber is going to feature pretty prominently.

Pistons being driven with magnets rather than small combustive explosions. Twist, they attract, keep twisting, they repel. Rinse, wash, repeat. As they rotate in place, they pump pistons to generate mechanical energy.

And lets not forget defense contracts. Magnetized flack jacket plates, no more near-misses, everything goes into the plate. The area of effect is small enough that it won't generate hits from near misses, but powerful enough that it will draw hits that otherwise narrowly miss the plate into it.

[Dave]

There's plenty of applications in all sorts of fields (I owe the pun jar for that one, don't I...).

You know you do!

Pistons being driven with magnets rather than small combustive explosions. Twist, they attract, keep twisting, they repel. Rinse, wash, repeat. As they rotate in place, they pump pistons to generate mechanical energy.

Would make an interesting sort of rotary-to-linear motion transformer... less friction and wear than a gear interface.

Just remember, it will take more mechanical energy to twist the magnet through one full cycle, than you will be able to harness from the piston. Free Energy Machine Designs need not apply... people have been trying to harvest free energy from differential magnetic attraction for at least a century, and failing every single time.

And lets not forget defense contracts. Magnetized flack jacket plates, no more near-misses, everything goes into the plate. The area of effect is small enough that it won't generate hits from near misses, but powerful enough that it will draw hits that otherwise narrowly miss the plate into it.

To the extent that the bullets have intact steel jackets, there will be some effect... but I suspect that the math won't work out to make it very interesting as a bullet deflector. It would take a huge amount of magnetic flux to apply enough acceleration to make a meaningful change in the trajectory of a bullet which is already moving at a couple of thousand feet per second.

Things would get even more complicated when one considers the effect of eddy currents induced in copper or lead... these would act to repel the bullet away from the magnet.

[shadowinthelight]

And lets not forget defense contracts. Magnetized flack jacket plates, no more near-misses, everything goes into the plate. The area of effect is small enough that it won't generate hits from near misses, but powerful enough that it will draw hits that otherwise narrowly miss the plate into it.

To the extent that the bullets have intact steel jackets, there will be some effect... but I suspect that the math won't work out to make it very interesting as a bullet deflector. It would take a huge amount of magnetic flux to apply enough acceleration to make a meaningful change in the trajectory of a bullet which is already moving at a couple of thousand feet per second.

I would hazard a guess that to significantly change the trajectory of a bullet within the final moments of its flight would require the kind of high power magnet that only exists in laboratories.

**********

The time came for me to change my car's oil for the first time instead of taking it to the dealer. There is so little room underneath that lifting it is a necessity. Oil should be changed while a car is level, though. My solution? Half-assed carpentry:
click for larger

Yes, the top level was almost too short because I forgot to account for the extra length necessary for the backstops when buying the wood. Let's just call these things prototypes. Miss Julie stood by to make sure I didn't destroy my car in the climb.

[lake_wrangler]

You wouldn't have that kind of problem, if you had a Suburban (or any kind of pickup truck...)

Then again, you wouldn't have the same fuel economy, either, if you had a Suburban (or any kind of pickup truck...)

[DinkyInky]

Needs tweaking, but...

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Needs tweaking, but...

Sounds like someone's car alarm. No thanks.

[lake_wrangler]

Needs tweaking, but...

Sounds like someone's car alarm. No thanks.

Just what kind of car alarms do they have in YOUR neighbourhood???

[GlytchMeister]

Needs tweaking, but...

Sounds like someone's car alarm. No thanks.

Just what kind of car alarms do they have in YOUR neighbourhood???

I can actually see where he's going with that... It's repetitive and frequently hits... off notes.

[Dave]

Just what kind of car alarms do they have in YOUR neighbourhood???

I can actually see where he's going with that... It's repetitive and frequently hits... off notes.

The Chorale Larms? Wasn't that a competition by P.D.Q Bach? "Off notes" sounds right for him...

[Catawampus]

I would hazard a guess that to significantly change the trajectory of a bullet within the final moments of its flight would require the kind of high power magnet that only exists in laboratories.

I don't know all of the details as it was still in development last I heard of it, and I want to be a bit cautious describing it in case some of the details that I do know turn out to be classified and I inadvertently violate the Official Secrets Act somehow, but there is a practical electromagnetic-field armour that is being worked on for vehicles. It's periodic in its action, only coming on for a fraction of a second and then having to recharge (which doesn't take that long), but it seems to be promising. The initial type was a sort of sandwich of different layers of material: when the incoming round penetrates the first layer, it sets off the capacitors and they zap it into oblivion. The later versions actually mess with the projectile before it impacts the armour. They don't deflect the projectile, but rather just break it up. And it apparently doesn't take much energy at all.

There is so little room underneath that lifting it is a necessity. Oil should be changed while a car is level, though. My solution?

Lift the front of the car, and then readjust the Earth's mass so that its gravitational field's center pulls on the oil as though the car was still level?

[Dave]

Lift the front of the car, and then readjust the Earth's mass so that its gravitational field's center pulls on the oil as though the car was still level?

Those draggable quantum black holes are on back-order. No telling when they'll actually be shipped (and how they're shipped is a tricky question, too!)

[Catawampus]

No telling when they'll actually be shipped (and how they're shipped is a tricky question, too!)

Relativistic jetplanes. The tricky part is actually keeping track of the shipping records, as the information always seems to end up lost somehow. . .

[Dave]

Relativistic jetplanes. The tricky part is actually keeping track of the shipping records, as the information always seems to end up lost somehow. . .

♫ Yesterday... all my quanta seem so far away... ♫

[shadowinthelight]

Relativistic jetplanes. The tricky part is actually keeping track of the shipping records, as the information always seems to end up lost somehow. . .

So it's like tracking an Amazon order from China?

[Hansontoons]

And lets not forget defense contracts. Magnetized flack jacket plates, no more near-misses, everything goes into the plate. The area of effect is small enough that it won't generate hits from near misses, but powerful enough that it will draw hits that otherwise narrowly miss the plate into it.

To the extent that the bullets have intact steel jackets, there will be some effect... but I suspect that the math won't work out to make it very interesting as a bullet deflector. It would take a huge amount of magnetic flux to apply enough acceleration to make a meaningful change in the trajectory of a bullet which is already moving at a couple of thousand feet per second.

I would hazard a guess that to significantly change the trajectory of a bullet within the final moments of its flight would require the kind of high power magnet that only exists in laboratories.

**********

The time came for me to change my car's oil for the first time instead of taking it to the dealer. There is so little room underneath that lifting it is a necessity. Oil should be changed while a car is level, though. My solution? Half-assed carpentry:
click for larger

Yes, the top level was almost too short because I forgot to account for the extra length necessary for the backstops when buying the wood. Let's just call these things prototypes. Miss Julie stood by to make sure I didn't destroy my car in the climb.

Nonetheless, creative! I had to make something similar a while back. My daughter had a VW Jetta, the air dam on front bumper would touch the ramps I had before the tire (tyre for Al) would start up the ramp, so i constructed ramp ramps! A little plywood and 2x4 screwed together and eureka, problem solved! Just had to make sure to not run off the back side of the ramp once on top. They worked fine, I actually gave them to the guy that bought the car from me. Tossed them in the trunk (boot for Al) and all was good.

Edit: Just remembered I dated a girl that had a car with a VW motor, don't recall what the car was, this was back in the early 80's. I offered to change her oil. Long story, bottom line is I pulled the right side up on the curb next to the house and that gave me enough room to crawl underneath to get to the oil filter that was positioned between the engine and the firewall. Many bad words were spoken. Got the oil changed despite the challenges. And never hammer a screwdriver through the filter to act as a lever to remove said filter. It is not a pleasant experience. Trust me, I know.

[AnotherFairportfan]

Latest avatar embiggened:

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[shadowinthelight]

And never hammer a screwdriver through the filter to act as a lever to remove said filter. It is not a pleasant experience. Trust me, I know.

That is not even an option. This is my first vehicle with an exposed instead of self-contained oil filter. Removing the cap to pull it out was probably the biggest challenge of the experience. It required bending a coolant hose much more than I was comfortable with out of the way.