Well Mick has been hard at work collecting cans for our Aluminium can stirling engine projects....
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Got quite a collection there...
Well Mick has been hard at work collecting cans for our Aluminium can stirling engine projects....
New Idea for stirling fridge
I have been toying with an idea for a few days now, Mick is playing with acoustic cycle engines, more on them later with photos, but my idea is to reverse the cycle (ie. put motive force in) to get refrigeration out... hers a quick CAD mock I did nothing to flash but gives you an idea, active fan cooling on hot side at base of cylinder over fins, and passive fins in the cooling section, this should allow a large heat exchange area, in the center of the cylinder is the stack or re-generator, it holds the heat between the cycles. This could also be driven with sound as the motive force.
Unexplained Mysteries :: Doctors to try zero-gravity surgery:
Well they have a team of surgeons on an airbus modified in to an operating room, then vomit comet style (ie fly up and down like a rollercoaster) they will preform weightless surgery ona guy.. Hope they dont puke in the cavity, the infection would be a bitch
Brand new substance created from water
Well the new text books that we have to buy for my son next year will be out of date already after this discovery, brains over Los Alamos think tank have found by sheer luck a new state of "water" and it is an alloy of all things, but don't think about making this at home guys, with enough xray power to turn your sperm in to glow in the dark taddys and pressure 170,000 times what we feel at sea level which youll need to hold for ten hours (you paying the power bill) and you will have some of this stuff. Ohh and to keep it stable it has to be kept over 10.000 atmospheres.. So lets see we have Solid H2O-ice, liquid H2O-water, gaseous H2O-steam, Supercooled H20, Densest state of water at 4 degrees C and now a water alloy that makes 6 states of H2O double the amount I was taught about at school.
Well the new text books that we have to buy for my son next year will be out of date already after this discovery, brains over Los Alamos think tank have found by sheer luck a new state of "water" and it is an alloy of all things, but don't think about making this at home guys, with enough xray power to turn your sperm in to glow in the dark taddys and pressure 170,000 times what we feel at sea level which youll need to hold for ten hours (you paying the power bill) and you will have some of this stuff. Ohh and to keep it stable it has to be kept over 10.000 atmospheres.. So lets see we have Solid H2O-ice, liquid H2O-water, gaseous H2O-steam, Supercooled H20, Densest state of water at 4 degrees C and now a water alloy that makes 6 states of H2O double the amount I was taught about at school.
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
It's all a "little white lie" I tell you ...
It's all a "little white lie" I tell you ...
We have been living a lie since the 1950's, the record companies have had heads in sand long enough and it is now time for the listening public to take their earbuds in hand and flog the record company CEO's with them...
What we are listening to is a lie.... plain and simple.
There is a process that is just well mind blowingly realistic.
First a few basiscs, weve all heard of 5.1, 7.1, THX, Dolby Prologic and all the other flavours of surround sound, what all these have in common is that they try to replicate the sound at its source. For example if the sound comes from the left we hear it in the left speakers, so far pretty easy.
The numbers.. those 5.1 and 7.1 are the channels or speakers that are supported, so 7.1 has a total of 8 channels
1. Front left
2. Front right
3. Rear left
4. Rear right
5. Satellite left
6. Satellite right
7. Centre
8. Bass to Subwoofer or the .1
Now next time your out in the street stop, close your eyes and take in the aural landscape, listen to "how many" different directions the sound comes from I can be pretty confident that it is more then 7 and only 1 place for ALL the bass to come from.
Okay so as the new sound systems come out I guess one way to make it a more immersive enviroment would be to add more speakers, well the sound engineers can mix it in, we have faster computer cicuits to process the extra channels and spit them out to the speakers..
But how many speakers do you want, and they all need seperate tracks to play, 12 20 200 1000...(ohhh the wiring) where to stop, well the budget I guess would be one place to stop unless you just dont tell the significant other.
What if I told you that 2 would do.. and not only would two do but that 2 speakers will give you such an immersive experiance that when you listen to standard stereo recording again you will be really throughly disappointed.
But taking it even further lets ditch the speakers, get rid of those nice big 3 ways with 12 inch woofers to punch the bass out and replace the whole lot with the "lie", an iPod or one of its many competing products and a half decent pair of buds. I know, I know your thinking that this is bull but hear me out.
Now think about this when you are out in the street listening to "ALL" the places and directions those noises are coming from....how many ears do you have ?
Got the idea yet ? You only hear all those sounds in two places, the left of your head and the right of your head.
Now if we take two normal omni-direntional microphones and tape them to a pair of sunglass frames (this is a crude way) and then tape it as a normal stereo track you end up with a realistic (like scary real) soundtrack. There are USD$8000 Dummy heads with the mics inside fake ears to make it even better but that is what we what the record companies are for..
Ohh back to the story, what we are doing is recording th sound at its listening position, or the ears, we dont need multiple speakers we just need 2 small ones at the ear playing back exactly what was recorded at each ear, we let the brain do the work. It uses the slight delays that are present to each ear as sound travels around the head to pick distance and these microphones record this delayed sound, just like in an echo chamber. This recording is known as Binaural Recording or literally two ear recording
Now when we play it back our mind is tricked in to thinking that we are really there, we get true 3d spatial sound, and I am not talking left right front back I am talking 3D up and down is in there to, it sounds like the sounds are completly surounding you.
So the problem is that nearly all the music today is designed to be heard on loudspeakers, it appears to come from a single point, you might hear the drums to the left and the strings to the right but all 4 vocalists come from the centre.. not very life like.
50 years ago it would have been unsociable to listen to all your music on headphones, not that good ones were around anyway, but today when the "little white lie" rules it is the norm.. we wnat "real" sounding personal sourround experiances and we want it now.. We want the record companies to release 2 versions of live recording's, one for loudspeakers and one for headphones with the headphone track being recorded in all that HI-FI Binaural bueaty.
If you have a pair of headphones, any will do but a mid to high end pair of buds is best, dont ram them in to your ears buds need to be able to have ait get in and out of the ear to equalize the changing pressure from the soundtrack, a nice light fit that wont fall out is all that is needed and it wont hurt your ears so much..
Hmm ahh yes buds, if you have them check out these links to have a listen to some Binaural tracks, one site is recorded in MCP format or MP3 plus and you will need to install the plugin for your player, there is a link on the relevant page for it. It is worth it, The sound is better and the files smaller, if you do take the time to install the codec for MCP then you need to check out "straight out the door" (fireworks newyears eve 2002) I think, listen to it right through with your eyes closed. http://binaural.jimtreats.com/
also check http://www.xan.co.uk/volume_22.php which is a podcast done in Binaural
Now where are my earbuds Im off to flog a polition and then I need to make me some Binaural mics to go podcasting with
We have been living a lie since the 1950's, the record companies have had heads in sand long enough and it is now time for the listening public to take their earbuds in hand and flog the record company CEO's with them...
What we are listening to is a lie.... plain and simple.
There is a process that is just well mind blowingly realistic.
First a few basiscs, weve all heard of 5.1, 7.1, THX, Dolby Prologic and all the other flavours of surround sound, what all these have in common is that they try to replicate the sound at its source. For example if the sound comes from the left we hear it in the left speakers, so far pretty easy.
The numbers.. those 5.1 and 7.1 are the channels or speakers that are supported, so 7.1 has a total of 8 channels
1. Front left
2. Front right
3. Rear left
4. Rear right
5. Satellite left
6. Satellite right
7. Centre
8. Bass to Subwoofer or the .1
Now next time your out in the street stop, close your eyes and take in the aural landscape, listen to "how many" different directions the sound comes from I can be pretty confident that it is more then 7 and only 1 place for ALL the bass to come from.
Okay so as the new sound systems come out I guess one way to make it a more immersive enviroment would be to add more speakers, well the sound engineers can mix it in, we have faster computer cicuits to process the extra channels and spit them out to the speakers..
But how many speakers do you want, and they all need seperate tracks to play, 12 20 200 1000...(ohhh the wiring) where to stop, well the budget I guess would be one place to stop unless you just dont tell the significant other.
What if I told you that 2 would do.. and not only would two do but that 2 speakers will give you such an immersive experiance that when you listen to standard stereo recording again you will be really throughly disappointed.
But taking it even further lets ditch the speakers, get rid of those nice big 3 ways with 12 inch woofers to punch the bass out and replace the whole lot with the "lie", an iPod or one of its many competing products and a half decent pair of buds. I know, I know your thinking that this is bull but hear me out.
Now think about this when you are out in the street listening to "ALL" the places and directions those noises are coming from....how many ears do you have ?
Got the idea yet ? You only hear all those sounds in two places, the left of your head and the right of your head.
Now if we take two normal omni-direntional microphones and tape them to a pair of sunglass frames (this is a crude way) and then tape it as a normal stereo track you end up with a realistic (like scary real) soundtrack. There are USD$8000 Dummy heads with the mics inside fake ears to make it even better but that is what we what the record companies are for..
Ohh back to the story, what we are doing is recording th sound at its listening position, or the ears, we dont need multiple speakers we just need 2 small ones at the ear playing back exactly what was recorded at each ear, we let the brain do the work. It uses the slight delays that are present to each ear as sound travels around the head to pick distance and these microphones record this delayed sound, just like in an echo chamber. This recording is known as Binaural Recording or literally two ear recording
Now when we play it back our mind is tricked in to thinking that we are really there, we get true 3d spatial sound, and I am not talking left right front back I am talking 3D up and down is in there to, it sounds like the sounds are completly surounding you.
So the problem is that nearly all the music today is designed to be heard on loudspeakers, it appears to come from a single point, you might hear the drums to the left and the strings to the right but all 4 vocalists come from the centre.. not very life like.
50 years ago it would have been unsociable to listen to all your music on headphones, not that good ones were around anyway, but today when the "little white lie" rules it is the norm.. we wnat "real" sounding personal sourround experiances and we want it now.. We want the record companies to release 2 versions of live recording's, one for loudspeakers and one for headphones with the headphone track being recorded in all that HI-FI Binaural bueaty.
If you have a pair of headphones, any will do but a mid to high end pair of buds is best, dont ram them in to your ears buds need to be able to have ait get in and out of the ear to equalize the changing pressure from the soundtrack, a nice light fit that wont fall out is all that is needed and it wont hurt your ears so much..
Hmm ahh yes buds, if you have them check out these links to have a listen to some Binaural tracks, one site is recorded in MCP format or MP3 plus and you will need to install the plugin for your player, there is a link on the relevant page for it. It is worth it, The sound is better and the files smaller, if you do take the time to install the codec for MCP then you need to check out "straight out the door" (fireworks newyears eve 2002) I think, listen to it right through with your eyes closed. http://binaural.jimtreats.com/
also check http://www.xan.co.uk/volume_22.php which is a podcast done in Binaural
Now where are my earbuds Im off to flog a polition and then I need to make me some Binaural mics to go podcasting with
Monday, December 4, 2006
Mobile Blogging
How do you use your technology ?
I have a few gadgets (read toys) that I use to make my life a little easier. here is a list of the things I use...
Desktop running XP Pro
O2 smart phone
Freedom thumb board
Bluetooth dongle
Bluetooth headset
With this I have a mobile office so to speak. I can blog using my mobile (cell) phone and the mini keyboard like I am for this entry.
When I get home I use bluetooth to connect to my LAN and then have broadband speeds without the mobile phone call costs. The mini keyboard is wireless, it takes a few seconds to establish a connection to the phone but then it is all ahead.
I am having to get a used to the layout of the keyboard but it is a great way to be able to blog about my experiences in the real world, now I ust have to work out how to get this from my phone to my blog I am in a word processor so first get home and sync then add pics etc and email away..I hope.
I have a few gadgets (read toys) that I use to make my life a little easier. here is a list of the things I use...
Desktop running XP Pro
O2 smart phone
Freedom thumb board
Bluetooth dongle
Bluetooth headset
With this I have a mobile office so to speak. I can blog using my mobile (cell) phone and the mini keyboard like I am for this entry.
When I get home I use bluetooth to connect to my LAN and then have broadband speeds without the mobile phone call costs. The mini keyboard is wireless, it takes a few seconds to establish a connection to the phone but then it is all ahead.
I am having to get a used to the layout of the keyboard but it is a great way to be able to blog about my experiences in the real world, now I ust have to work out how to get this from my phone to my blog I am in a word processor so first get home and sync then add pics etc and email away..I hope.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Come Fly with me, Come Fly
Flying with Disability:
This looks cool, if you have a disablity and have the need to fly then this is the site you need, filled with lots of information on travelling, I havent had a chanve to check it out fully yet but will later
Monday, November 20, 2006
Hallmark | E-Cards:
I was looking fo a free website for sending ecards, after searching for a while I found Hallmark so if you "Care enough to send the very best" try hallmark.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Oscillating Steam Engine
Mick and I are working on a design for a simple steam engine, once we have it all ready we will have the plans available for you to make your own, all from easy to find cheap parts.
Aluminum can Stirling engine
Watch this space; I've built the engine but having problems with a con-rod and the timing more to follow as I get it together...
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Ukulele Gently weeps
This is really cool, makes you realize that the ukulele isnt just a "toy" musical instrument
Bible Plan
Bible plan is a great site where you can register to have emails sent to you daily to remind you to read, has a heap of diffrent plans from the whole bible in a year to the OT every 2 years. http://www.bibleplan.org/
ECS Motherboards
Over at hardcoreware.net is a "review" on the manufacture of motherboards in china so if you have a few minutes to spare and are intrested in the process involved to make your computer work then check out www.hardcoreware.net
Wednesday, March 8, 2006
"Enlightment" for the masses
Some people will stick anything in a microwave for dramatic effect, me I will just stick to CD's. On the subject of microwaves it is even possible to use a home microwave to "smelt" metals for that ring you where supposed to buy for your girlfriend but spent the money on a new laptop.
WARNING putting metal in a microwave oven is VERY bad unless you know what you are doing so if you have any reservations DONT DO IT...
WARNING putting metal in a microwave oven is VERY bad unless you know what you are doing so if you have any reservations DONT DO IT...
Junk Bots Unite
There is this guy over the other side of nowhere that is as twisted as I am, he is into robotics and does some intresting stuff with what other people would junk and throw in the bin. His site is over at sprocket.twistedsouls.com so if you are in to recycling and creating your own "lifeforms" head on over.
Disclaimer: The other guy is my brother who does live on the other side of the country and I do think his stuff is great for what it is not who he is.
Clowning Down
Some people love them, some hate them, Clowns.
This site is by someone that does not like clowns, he doesnt fear them just doesnt like them, he offers emaill address at the site as well. So if you dont like clowns head over to ihateclowns.com have a read and maybe get an email address as well.
Disclaimer: I used to be a bit of a clown, some people think that I still am.
This site is by someone that does not like clowns, he doesnt fear them just doesnt like them, he offers emaill address at the site as well. So if you dont like clowns head over to ihateclowns.com have a read and maybe get an email address as well.
Disclaimer: I used to be a bit of a clown, some people think that I still am.
The Man
Jesus Christ, known to the Christian society as the saviour was a great guy, if he had been on earth today what would he have been doing ? Over at JesusImages there are pictures of "Jesus" with people doing everyday things, just like he did when he was on earth, he hung with the masses...
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