Stopping Time (Visually) Recently, Nate True of Cre.ations.net posted a very nice project involving some water, some electronics to provide the illusion of time distortion. (Time fountain) I have been long since interested in high-speed photography. The basic concept is this: You are in a dark room. In the case of the Time Fountain, as Nate likes to call it, it has been always an interesting and fun phenomenon to watch at museums, or at home if you own a strobe light. We start with a water stream or constant rate. is equal to the dripping rate , i.e., both will coincide at every time step. Now, if we want to give the impression of time moving forward but in slow motion, all we have to do is record the time between drops and slightly increase it by a time delay [pmath\delta t[/pmath] for each consecutive drop. , where n is each time step. Nate has done this using a trigger mechanism based on an OP AMP comparator circuit and an PIC microcontroller to provide the flash timing. There is a shortcut. Option #2 .
Brilliant Print Ads Show How ‘Life’s Too Short For The Wrong Job’ We have previously featured some really great print ads, but these ingenious ones from German job-hunting website jobsintown.de is certainly one of the best ones we have ever came across. Aiming to show that “life’s too short for the wrong job”, these ads are plastered on automated machines like ATMs, jukeboxes, instant photo booths and coffee machines. Featuring images of unhappy-looking people working at awful jobs, these ads make it look as if there are actual people working within the cramped confines of the machines. For instance, the ad that is placed on the side of a washing machine in a laundromat depicts a distressed woman washing clothes manually in an uncomfortable space. If you were stuck in an unattractive job that is wrong for you, you would probably be able to relate to them—see the rest of these clever ads below. [via Imgur and AllTop Holy Kaw] Receive interesting stories like this one in your inbox
Sortira-t-il autre chose que des “Crottbjets” de nos imprimantes 3D Par Hubert Guillaud le 27/02/13 | 5 commentaires | 4,845 lectures | Impression Justin Pickard (@justinpickard) est écrivain, futurologue “gonzo” au sein du collectif de designers Superflux et doctorant au Steps, un centre de recherche international sur les facteurs sociaux, technologiques et environnementaux de la durabilité. Sur la scène de Lift (vidéo), il est venu parler de l’impression 3D, pour tenter de renverser notre perspective sur le phénomène technologique du moment. L’impression 3D est encore chère, bien plus chère que nos imprimantes de bureau. Image : Justin Pickard sur la scène de Lift, photographié par Ivo Näpflin. Justin Pickard choisit d’attaquer par des objets étranges, comme ceux trouvé à l’exposition itinérante 3D Print Show, notamment l’inquiétant Foetus Project de Jorge Lopes Dos Santos, étudiant au Royal College of Art. “En tant que designer, une grande part de l’anxiété que génère l’impression 3D est liée à la désintermédiation du design. Hubert Guillaud
Physics Toy Portal A Low Temperature Stirling Engine is a closed cycle heat engine . To understand how a Stirling Engine works, we need to identify its major components. Take a look at the picture below for a run down on the major parts. How does a Stirling Engine work? The Stirling Engine requires a temperature difference between two plates in order to run. In order to power the Stirling Engine, we need to have one plate hotter than the other. The gap between the two plates is sealed, containing a fixed volume of air. As the piston rises, the flywheel is turned. The turning flywheel raises the displacer again, pushing air back to the hot plate, and so the cycle continues while there is still a sufficient temperature difference between the two plates. Low Temperature Stirling Engine Running On Hot Coffee Temperature Difference Because the Stirling Engine needs a temperature difference between the top and bottom plate to run, you don't need a heat source to power it. Free Piston Stirling Engines
Click, Print, Gun: The Inside Story of the 3D-Printed Gun Movement Being a 3D-printing novice, I was once somewhat skeptical of the promise behind what's being billed as a truly game-changing technology. I saw Makerbot CEO Bre Pettis on the cover of Wired, and while the novelty of the process incited wonder in my inner 10-year-old, I didn’t think much about it after the fact. Enter Cody R. Wilson. Wilson is a 25-year-old University of Texas law student working to build semiautomatic weapons using 3D printers. I was intrigued. Soon enough Wilson showed us the CAD file on his computer for his lower receiver. Social niceties aside, we were there to watch Wilson build some guns. It is also the part of the gun that’s considered a gun by the government. Wilson is also focused on 3D printing 30-round magazine clips in anticipation of Senator Dianne Feinstein’s assault weapon ban bill, which would limit magazine size.
Blog Archive » DIY Fog Screen If you’ve ever ridden latest iteration of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland, you will remember how, right before you hit the first drop, you are greeted with the ghostly image of the tentacle-faced Davey Jones creature warning you that “dead men tell no tales”. I certainly did. The effect uses rear-projection video, shined onto a screen of water vapor created by ultasonic atomization, that is sandwiched between 2 laminar airflows, which keep the sheet of fog contained. The commercial Fog Screen that spits out this screen costs tens of thousands of dollars for the small one. I attempted to create my own cheap version of this system using a wooden box, a window fan, some drinking straws, and a cheap fog machine. I almost succeeded. The original idea was to mimic the commercial unit, and sandwich the fog between 2 sheets of air. I made my fog chiller with a 25 foot length of dryer duct coiled inside a garbage can. Thoughts on further development: Here are some more build photos.
usinette.org