FlashLadyBug.com

This is a very cool how-to.  This blog has instructions on how to make a fountain that can appear to run forwards, backwards, or suspend drops in mid-air, and not “run” at all.  Using a fountain, you create a stream of drops.  Using a strobe light, you can time the bursts of light to illuminate the drops at different times.   If you don’t want to try it, at least watch the video.  It’s cool.

 Timing the light to flash in sync with each drop should “freeze” the fountain.  Each flash is timed with the next drop, so you see a “frozen” fountain, while each “frozen” drop is really a new drop;  The strobe is simply not illuminating it while is fals.  I don’t remember the rest of the physics for this, but it’s a very cool expariment, and it really does work.

http://www.ohgizmo.com/2006/08/08/the-time-fountain-will-turn-back-time

Okay, I read this one, as was at first, what IS this, and why would I want to build one?
Well, I think I understand the first part, although Brian could probably answer the second part (Because he can….).

To sumarize, Cherenkov radiation is “is electromagnetic radiation emitted when a charged particle passes through an insulator at a speed greater than the speed of light in that medium. The characteristic “blue glow” of nuclear reactors is due to Cherenkov radiation. It is named after Russian scientist Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, the 1958 Nobel Prize winner who was the first to rigorously characterize it.”  (Wikipedia article)

(The speed of light changes through different mediums.  It goes fastest in a vaccuum, but slows down in air, and I believe is slows down further in water.)

So, in short, this thing detects small amounts of radiation.
Read more about it, in the Wikkipedia Article,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation

And, of course, the link to the how-to page with the insructions
http://inventgeek.com/Projects/alpharad/overview.aspx

Some office prankster named Mike finally got pranked while away on vacation.  He got a complete office rebuild, completely out of cardboard. 

Many more pictures in the links.

Here’s mikes Cardboard office.

http://www.geekinvasion.com/mikeprank/index.html

And, of course, Mike upon returning to work and seeing his office.

http://www.geekinvasion.com/mikeprank/reaction.htm

Ed. Note
(Yes, this gets the sharpie category, as the windowboxes, computer, telephone, cabinet, and chair were all accented with permanant marker, and theres some odd statistic that I don’t know, and can’t quote, that says is was probably a sharpie anyway.)

After a fwe weeks of reading up on high energy physics, the current list of projects that are happening in my basement is as follows:

1) Creating several peltier heat pumps to make a super cooler
2) From 1, create dry ice.
3) nitrogen laser
4) High efficiency vaccum pump
5) tesla coil
6) multiple high voltage power supplies
7) thermite

What i need right now:

ideas on how to make the peltier heat pumps efficient enough to get to about -80 C. and what exactly to do with thermite….i mean, its fun and all, but i really don’t like the idea of vaporizing holes in my basement or drive way….
any ideas on some other projects?
right now, thermites almost done.

*Edit: Nihar suggests a “EMERGENCY BUTTON” on my laptop. Find some space in it, add thermite. arm thermite with big red button. place vinyl box on hinges over said big red button. Wait patiently for real emergency. Flip said vinyl box, press big red button. ruuun away and warn those under the laptop. (Note: by that i mean, for example, if you were on the top floor of a 10 story building, please warn ALL those under you…)

For the cooler, Nihar has yet another idea…..well, someone has an idea, and nihars telling me…
Use a stupid cooling laser. DUH *Thunk.
Now…how to build one…….
And im off on a quest to find materials for a cooling laser.

ATTN: This post was placed under PSA-Types for the potential hazardous conditions created by these projects. Please…these ideas were mean’t for totally insane people like me, who, for some odd reason, has marginal experience in things blowing up, vaporizing holes in pavement, and dealing with the FBI. (jk)
I’ll post more on the status of these later….

Here are instructions on how to make a do-it-yourself mood lamp with LEDs.  It looks pretty cool.

There is quite a bit here to help you along, some pictures, electrical diagrams, and even some of the code used to run the processor to change the colors (which, I would imagine, is some of the hardest stuff to do for this project.)

Most of the parts used look easily availible, but because many used for the project were recycled, or hanging around, no approximate price is listed, although I suppose you could use this idea in other things (such as stuffed toys, computer cases, etc.)

http://tobe.nimio.info/rgb_mood_light.php

Do you have neighbors who share your internet? Instead of encrypting your network, stop broadcasting or SSID, or password protecting it, you can make it so that ”
Suddenly everything is kittens! It’s kitten net.”!

What do I mean?
Using some fun scripts, such as:

/sbin/iptables -A PREROUTING -s 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0 -p tcp -j DNAT --to-destination 64.111.96.38

Which, in the words of Pete…”
Suddenly everything is kittens! It’s kitten net!” Which….means that all traffic from those stealing your bandwidth, is being redirected….to kittenwar
And then…to make it even more fun….use another script that will…. download images and turn the upside down for those neighbors.
The net result? Neighbors see this:

Cheers! Read it here and start confusing your neigbors!
*Disclaimer: Flashladybug is released from all damages such as complete confusion, anger, etc. If you modify the scripts on this page to apply to every IP address, including your own….its your own fault. Go get em

This one’s for Joe.
You know the staples easy button right? Joe has one…You press the big red button, and it says “That was easy”

You can make it say something else! Brilliant! Although, i think Joe will have issues with the authors comment of the button being “a mindless toy and a moronic ad compaign.” hahahha….

Check it out here
so umm, joe, what if i went over to your place with a modded one and switched it over? 

Big update here. hehe, dont ask why, I really dont know either.

Heres a person who has 100 supercapacitors. Yes, 100 Cooper PowerStor Series A carbon aerogel capacitors, that run on 2.5 V, 1.5 F…1.5 FARADAYS. These things are nothing like the capacitors you usually see. This guy has em, and doesnt know what to do with em. You guve him an idea, if its the best, he’ll give you 10 of them. I can think of some right off the top of my head, sadly, they all have something to do with destruction, large charges, lethal conditions, etc. But….anyways, check it out here

Speaking about high voltages and dangerous electricity (wait a sec…that pops up at my house like every 6 min…) heres something i want to try…Its got something to do with tesla coils….capacitor banks….Check out the pictures, and the how to pictures, here and here.

And now…speaking of ridiculously powered stuff….ever think of your network card being too….wimpy?…Well…now, it IS.
Presenting, a network card that, ok, lets look at this: 400 mhz cpu, 64 MB dedicated ram, usb 2 ports and cat 6 port. Yes…a network card with RAM AND CPU. SERIOUSLY. Although, i wouldnt complain if i had one….hehe. Check it out here. Sadly, price is not out yet

Since we do NOT have this nic card, our communication methods are horrible. Which explains why we and the rest of the world got this wrong. (kidding on the reason…) Google is NOT, i repeat NOT just “letting click fraud happen” A huge blogger quoted Eric Schmidt, selectively…and screwed it all up. Thus, Google continues to monitor and catch click fraud…read googles blog, which i find to be more reliable.

On the subject of google….isnt google soo nice? You complain about having a headache, and google sends your acetaminophen ? hehe….
This spawned the comment:

i should write a blog titled “Dear Google, You Make Me Wish I Could
Afford College”.. and end the post with “and please make the check
payable to […]”

This person did indeed send mail to google complaining about how adsense changes gave him headaches. Googles response: Adam Lasnik, a google employee sends him a response, and a packet of acetaminophen. Absolutely Brilliant on googles part. Check it out here

And finally, here is a way to non destructively partition your harddrive. Its a linux program, but…*sound the trumpets, can come as a live cd or live usb package. Run it, and you can create, destroy, resize, check, copy partitions, and file systems. Its pretty nice, i now have it on my usb key, and this is pretty amazing, the timing. Just used it on ipod. check it out here

Phew…big post.

Okay, when I stumbled across this one, I was very happy for two reasons.  It’s a quick hack for disposable diigital cameras (especially the ones sold at CVS.)

1.  I bought one last summer to use while Kayaking.  It took decent pictures, better than I expected.  It’s got a limited number, and you can only delete the most recent photo, but it worked well none the less.  I’m not risking my $400 camera for kayaking.

2.  Regard the earlier post about IR cameras.
(http://www.flashladybug.com/wordpress/archives/699)
  They require a camera with no zoom, so that the focus isn’t screwed up if the IR filter is removed.  Hmm.  These cameras don’t have a focus.  I’ve used one before.  So, in a way, this should really be the $10 IR camera thread.

Either way, $10 is hard to beat for a cheap digital camera.
http://www.elephantstaircase.com/wiki/index.php?title=TenDollarDigitalCamera

Here are instructions on how to convert a normal digital web camera to take infrared images.
It looks fairly easy, and the author of the website seems to think cheap digital cameras are about $15….I dunno, I can’t say I’ve looked for a really cheap digital camera.  Anyway….

This project looks really cool, and fairly simple.  IR can show a lot of things.  For example, I believe certain US currency has IR ink in it, so view it with the proper IR light source, and a part of the image shows up.  If the image doesn’t show up, the bills not real.

Normal light

Infrared Light

Cool, huh?
(This is how bugs see the world.)

This is the first website I found, where I got the photos from
http://www.hoagieshouse.com/IR/

This is a second website (i’d rate them about the same, but the first one has some better photos, especially showing what the finished product looks like)
http://www.badacetechshow.com/nvc.htm

Okay, I think this one need a quick background on IR (Infrared light) to explain : Cameras “see” light.  Light is a little wave of electrons that move through the air in a wave.  We can only see certain wavelengths of light.  There are other wavelengths of light out there that we can’t see, such as infrared light (like the kind from a tv remote control - it’s shooting a thin beam of light at the tv, hence why it needs to be aimed at the tv to work.)

If that’s too confusing, think of it like a dog whistle.  We can’t hear it, but the dog can.  The air is still vibrating from the whistle, making a sound, we just aren’t sensitive to hear it.