This last weekend my first friend from childhood came into town. We'd spent our afternoons hanging out from shortly after my memories start until I went off to boarding school at 16, making up stories and taking turns running games for each other. We'd met back up on and off over the years,whenever we were in the same town, including a time he gave me... Read More
It was excellent. If the movie had nothing else going for it, the scenes of training Ariadne, and all the tricks she pulls on her imaginary Paris would have been worth the price of admission. And happily it has much more than that.
But there was a twist I was expecting in the end, and one I came to... Read More
The good people of this site have introduced me to so much good music over the last few years.
Just the other night Ms. Nixon mentioned being so very entranced with The National's latest album, so naturally I looked it up. And now I'm entranced, too.
It was only a matter of time until I heard about Zoe Keating from one of a half dozen... Read More
Looking back, it's been an uncommonly lovely week.
First, this art show.
Then prototyping my latest boardgame idea with the laser cutter. No pics here yet, but I'm chamed with the pieces. The laser literally etches the graphics into the art board I'm using, so you can run a finger over each of the symbols and feel its dips and edges.
Sadly they do not glitter and I think it is a key element of the cupcake. I have not seen edible glitter though, which is what made those cakes in the shop even more awesome.
Of course I know that. We were hoping to see you that weekend.
And thanks for the offer. We actually have a place to stay in Palo Alto, which isn't exactly ideal for immediate access to the Bay Area, but it's free!
I can be a pessimistic bloke, but I have to say: It's an exciting time to be alive.
I've just come back from the MakerFaire, where you can't help but notice that the next revolution is on it's way. The same hacker ethic that made computers great is coming to the physical world. Anything you want to build, it's suddenly getting a lot easier... Read More
Someone with a MechE degree tell me why this wouldn't work, regarding the Gulf Oil leak:
We drop a brick on it. A giant freaking brick.
Sail out over the leak with a giant box. Lash some floaters to it by heavy kevlar straps, so that they run under the bottom and we can let the box sink by unrolling the floaters farther along the... Read More
Since the oil is gushing out of the hole, it is at a higher pressure than the force exerted by the water above the hole.
Water pressure = .03593 lbs per square inch x 12 inches/foot x 5000 ft depth = ~2170 psi. The oil pressure is higher than this. No matter how big the brick is, the pressure below it will be greater than the pressure on its top surface, and it will be pushed up. Unless the brick is sealed and anchored to the seabed, it will get out. As they found out, trying to pump the oil-water mix is the big problem.
My leading idea at the moment is to set it on fire right above the hole. Pump large amounts of oxygen down, then a heat source to get it ignited. Would need to make an oxygen ring to fit around the hole. And have a big air separation plant on a barge nearby to make the oxygen from air, and a power barge for the electricity. These are available for rent.
C12H26(liquid) + 18.5O2(gas) = 12CO2(gas) + 13H2O(gas) would be the rough equation, which works at 2200 psi. I just picked that hydrocarbon as a representative species, which is liquid at low temperatures. Heat release would be about 12 KW per kg, which is probably enough to keep it burning. A gas pocket would form around the hole, then the gas would come to the surface. Given the situation, a little more CO2 won't really hurt.
So you're developing a board game? Cool! For fun or for work?