It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Quickies

It's been a long time coming, so lets start off the quickies with some acts of senseless damage. Old Wolf sent us a link to a bunch of pictures of someone Defrosting a Freezer in the best way ever, and an anonymous reader sent in a site that shows what happens if you put a CD in Microwave. Don't use AOL CDs., send them to this lady who collects them (from gr8fulnded). On to the sex! An anonymous reader submitted a story about the Robot Pet Vibrator which is I guess AIBO gone wrong. elkm discovered Computerized Contraception. And with all this digital doin' it going on, its good know that MITs Erotic Computation Group is here to research it (thanks Chris Moon) The world is full of strangeness, but little of it is as scary as MissNachos's link to the Hello Kitty laptop, srini's link to the Single Pixel Webcam, and aneanti's link to a collection of the strangest canned foods you'll ever see. Finally, since it is the holidays, check out mrv's link to LED Christmas Lights which sure beats the hell out of finding the broken bulb.

I love my AOL cd's

[suffering.bot]

I supper glue them together(two cd together reflective sides out) and string them with fishing twine(tying knots so that they don't slide all together) and use them as interior christmas decorations with my lights. All ways gets a few looks.

Re:LED Christmas Lights

[diesel_jackass]

how much do they cost?

Re:coupla things

[CoolVibe]

If you don't mind the mess, try nuking raw eggs. The one cleaning will love you forever! :-)

Oh, on an additional note; A friend of mine told me that nuking CD's is the official US gov way of destroying data. Somehow that makes sense...

Hello Kitty Laptop = Casio FIVA

[Simulant]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/2/17055.html

It's got Crusoe processor in it.

And guess what? It dual boots to Linux. There is a switch on the right side, Set it to A and it boots Windows (2k I think) set it to B and it boots a very stripped down Linux that only runs Winamp. (for obvious reasons)

Re:caution (warning, slightly OT)

[CoolVibe]

Actually its not that dangerous, but you must know when to stop and make sure you do it outside or in a controlled environment so you can get the fuck out of the way when stuff goes awry. Your kitchen is definately _NOT_ a good place to do this kind of stuff in.

There are lots of cool science you can do with your microwave, like creating floating plasma balls for instance. They make cool filming/photographing material.

Check here [tripod.com] for more wacky fun with that kitchen appliance. It has even more links to microwave science and stuff you can do with your microwave.

DANGER WILL ROBINSON, DANGER:

If you _do_ one of these experiments, make sure you get all the safety precautions [tripod.com] right, and don't over-experiment. If you go blind and everything looks fuzzy you should stop IMMEDIATELY, since you are busy boiling your cornea and the inner fluids of your eyes solid. This is a sure sign that your microwave is leaking and you are standing too close. Luckily, his is a temporary infliction if you're out of the way quick enough, but certainly not healthy for your eyes. This same thing happened to a bud of mine who was messing with microwave antennaes and signal-amplifiers. He actually took a microwave apart to hook up to his amplifier. And yes, he was standing too close. It took a few months until he had his full vision back.

Why DOES tinfoil spark in a microwave?

[Brant]

Can someone explain to me why tinfoil sparks in a microwave? I've thought about this a bit, and had a few bull sessions with fellow physicists about it, but I've never heard a convincing answer. The first thing everyone says is photo-electric effect, but that can't be right because the work function for most metals is ~1 eV, and that's in the visible or near-infrared.

My only other guess is induced eddy currents. Anyone have a good answer?

Thanks,

Brant

Re:coupla things

[Piels]

For more egg fun, make a note of exactly how many seconds it takes for the egg to explode. Subtract 3-5 seconds, and do it again. If you did it right, the egg should be fairly pressurized, but not yet exploded. Take the egg out and throw it at something you don't like. Run away, laughing.

Oldest AOL (floppy) disk

[bjb]

Thinking of that woman with the AOL disks, it makes me think about my AOL collection: a pre-release AOL 1.0 5.25" floppy disk for the Apple ][.

Back in the day, AOL was once called AppleLink. I used to beta test for them, and one day they sent me a letter and two new disks for the new renamed service.

"We're renaming AppleLink to America Online..."

Thus, I have two floppys for the Apple ][ that say America Online, and an accompanying letter. I think I even keep it in the original mailing package.

I've figured that I'll keep it around and one day I'll sell it on eBay or something. Just curious what that would draw...

Oh well...