Eclectic Views

    
> one always tended toward the average girth of the crowd one was with

Imagine the garment seeking to wrap a tape measure around everyone as they
enter the room, and the ensuing mirth or other reaction. Especially if it
got tangled.
  

    
What if everybody in the room was wearing one?  Would the settings
converge, or might there be some kind of runaway feedback situation?
  

    
Waves of fatness and slimness sweep the room, increasing in frequency
and amplitude . . .

All claims were settled out of court, along with the case of serious
injury done to a man suddenly surrounded by fashion models, and that of
 a plump woman nearly suffocated when a group of men gallantly assumed
her size in a crowded elevator. All these bugs were fixed in the beta
version.
  

    
Note to self: be careful entering elevators.
  

    
Several years ago I wanted to use an elevator at a bank in San Francisco. It
supposedly held 16 people, but when it arrived with 9 occupants it was
completely filled on account of their girth. I remember it looked just like
an egg carton.
  

    
Packed elevators!  

Last year in August, visiting Portland OR with friends for a
shopping/good eats weekend, we were stayed at a hotel.  One evening on
our way to dinner I was one of the first ones (along with three
friends) on a hotel glass tube elevator(occupancy 16 people)and before
I knew it more and more people got in.  We were far past the suggested
occupancy and packed. There had to be at least 20.  I was smacked
against the glass and feeling the pressure of other bodies. Then four
more people and a woman in a wheel chair showed up and people started
yelling for them to come on in and join us. "More the merrier." My
friends and I suggested that the four people and woman in wheelchair
wait for the next elevator.  There were three elevators for goodness
sake. Then we got remarks from the other people we were party poopers
and hated people in wheelchairs.  

Ummm -- my body was slammed against the glass and I was suffocating.
It was hot, my nose practically touching people's neck moles, other's
hair was in my face and the pressure against the glass was
overwhelming. My chest hurt. Here is the elevator door still opened and
two more people showed up and were invited in. that's when I yelled
"let me out!" and we left. We could hear people yelling and asking what
our problems were.  

Hey, I am all for a good time but that was ridiculous.  I have
discovered the older I get the more important it is to me to have open
space.  I have become claustrophobic.  Last month I had to go into the
hospital for a MRI and was in the trap for just a few seconds and found
myself yelling to get out of it.  

   
  

    

I hear that MRI machines are famous for inducing that feeling. In fact, I
understand there are newer versions that are ... um... roomier or something,
so you don't feel like things are closing in on you.
  

    
The newer versions have the open space for the head.  The closest one
for me was 60 miles away.  I still haven't made it.  

The doctor knew my problem about my recent episodes with
claustrophobia so he prescribed a couple of pills to make me
sleepy-happy-I-don't-care.  I was told to take one when I checked it. 
Nothing.  They postponed my appointment by a 45 minutes and took
another.  Nothing.  So I decided not to be a sissy went ahead.  They
have headsets and you can listen to any kind of music. The tech gave me
a cold washcloth to put over my eyes.  The tech moved me in and I
couldn't do it.  It was horrible! 

I came out apologizing and the tech told me not to worry and that it
happens all the time.  She said she has seen patients five years ago
that the MRI experience never phased them and all of a sudden they
panic years later.  I asked to try it one more time because no machien
was going to get the best of me. The tech said she didn't want to put
me through it again (thank gopod).  The crazy thing?

I got home and felt tired so I went to bed to take a short nap.  Woke
up at 9:00 pm in a panic.  I looked at the clock and thought it was
9:00 am.  I thought I was late for work!  The damn pills finally
worked.  
  

    
My only attempt at an MRI resulted in panic in seconds as well. 
This was before the "open" kind. Luckily, the doctor was convinced it
was not absolutely vital, so we blew it off. 

I hope if I ever have to have one again, it can be done in one of the
open ones (not all procedures can).  I'd drive halfway across the
state if needed, just to avoid the "tunnel" kind. 
  

    
Now being in a fat suit *inside* a tubular MRI, that would be bad!
  

    
That's like me in a Miata!
  

    

Instead of term limits, we need term sabatacle leave.  Been in the state
senate for two terms, and your district loves you but you're termed out?  No
problem.  Do something else for a term -- lobbying not included -- and you
could then run again. You would not have incumbancy, but you'd have
recognition, so if the people really loved you they could get you back, but
you wouldn't have a lock on it.
  

    
I recall hearing that some state had something like that for their
Governor.  You can't serve two consecutive terms.  I also recall an
instance of some sort of tag team, two people taking turns as governor. 
  

    
Seconded.
  

    
Love that idea!
  

    
Butt tattoo Barbie (doll) and her playfriend Krackkeisha.
  

    
New Mexico's Governor can't hold more than two terms in a row.
However, you can come back after two terms and win again. Look at
Governor King as an example. It seemed for a while the incubants just
traded every four years(8?).<lol>
  

    
Yeah, there's no real formula that is a guarantee against dumb choices  
and the power of money in the electoral arena!  Still, the typical
term limits are not exactly tossing the baby with the bath water...  they 
are tossing the "baby" whether good or bad and keeping the bathwater 
of lobbyists and bureacracy stewing and intensifying for the next baby. 
  

    <hidden>
  

    
Hey, I don't promise never to act on this one, but if you get around 
to it before I do, more power to you...

First have a look at this Engadget report:
<http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/13/wall-mounted-picture-frame-tetris-features-240-led-buttons/>
or this one from Gizmodo:
<http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/spark-fun-electronics/led-tetris-better-than-plain-tetris-260033.php>

Now think for a moment about one of those pin-array toys that takes 
the shape of whatever you set it on.

Now imagine an i/o device composed of a dense array of small, hexagonal
lucite rods (with mirrored sides to reduce light leakage), in a honeycomb
arrangement that allows significant vertical movement, each with it's own
red, green, and blue LEDs, and each capable of reporting not only whether
it had been pressed, but how far and how fast (velocity).

What could you do with this that you couldn't do with a touchscreen?

Oh, maybe turn a high-strung musician loose on it without damage either 
to the display or to the musician's finger joints.
  

    <scribbled by ckridge Tue 22 May 07 06:12>
  

    
Name for a body lotion to be used during sex: The Liniment of
Gratified Desire. The slogan, of course:

What is it men in women do require: The linement of Gratified Desire.
What is it women do in men require: The linement of Gratified Desire.
  

    
science.647.22: fish heads (satyr)  Tue 4 Sep 07 10:05

 I've been looking around for conductive or semi-conductive yarn.  The best
 I've been able to come up with is silver plated nylon, but I'm wondering if
 there are any fibers that are at least semi-conductive, without being
 metalized, that you can buy on a spool.

science.647.29: fish heads (satyr)  Thu 6 Sep 07 10:51

 > [snippet from another member's post]
 
 http://members.shaw.ca/ubik/thread/thread.html
 
 That page doesn't tell what the thread is made of.  I found a variety of
 metalized nylons and polyesters, a few of which I expect you might find at 
 a better crafts store.  I also found some discussion of semiconductive 
 organic fibers (spider silk), but nothing that's a retail product.
 
 Carbon fiber filament is available on spools, of course.

science.647.31: fish heads (satyr)  Thu 6 Sep 07 21:54
 <hidden>

 That's a possiblity.  I'm thinking thin, high strength wire, like the
 thinnest guitar strings, with the free end dipped in molten brass to form 
 a curved bead on the free end.  It might work.

science.647.32: fish heads (satyr)  Sat 8 Sep 07 14:01

 BTW this came up in the context of invesigating whips for use in BDSM play,
 specifically horsehair whips.  When I noticed that a site mainly devoted to
 electrical apparatus (violet wand) had discontinued their one whip model,
 and that it had been constructed from strips of mylar, it occurred to me
 that there might be a better way to make them.  One thing lead to another,
 and pretty soon I was looking for conductive, nonmetallic fibers.
 
 I'm thinking that, for this purpose, the ideal design would combine
 bead-tipped fine wire or conductive fibers with other fibers or with a
 coating having a low dielectric constant (insulator), for its ability 
 to store charge.
 
 Carbon fiber filament is an interesting option, and might have the same 
 stinging quality as does horsehair, which would appeal to some.
 
 Personally, I'd prefer to use silk, but without a metal plating it's an 
 insulator.  It could serve as the 'other fiber' above, of course.
 
 Along the way I discovered that polycarbonate is an excellent insulator, 
 which makes it a good candidate for a handle.
 
 Anyone breathing hard?
 
 (No, I'm not really into this stuff, just curious, and thought I recognized 
 an entrepreneurial opportunity.)

science.647.33: fish heads (satyr)  Sun 9 Sep 07 16:07

 I see that I've misused the term "dielectric constant" and that what I
 really want is a material with a relatively high one.  For example, rubber,
 with a Dk of 7, would be better than Teflon, with a Dk of 2.1
 
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dielectric_constant

science.647.34: fish heads (satyr)  Sun 9 Sep 07 19:05

 There seems to be three ways to go...
 
 piano wire
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_wire
 http://www.mapeswire.com/
 
 metallic fiber (coated metal filament rather than metallized fiber)
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallic_fiber
 http://www.lurex.com/index.html
 
 conductive polymer
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conductive_polymer
 http://www.conductivepolymers.com/available.htm
 
 Of the three, I lean towards using piano wire (spring wire), since there's
 no doubt about it being conductive, and I think the springyness could prove
 interesting.  The tips can be blunted (and slowed) by dipping them in molten
 brass to form rounded beads, and the rest can be coated, wound with thread,
 or covered with a fabric, as desired.  Other fibers or fabric can also be
 included in the bundle of wires and/or ring the outside of it.
 
 If you have any friends who are into either whips or electrical play, please 
 feel free to pass my part of this discussion along to them.  I've probably 
 already done about as much with it as I'm likely to.
  

    
<48> is part of a conversation from another conference, with others'
comments removed.  There's probably not a $Million in what it describes, 
but there might be $10,000, especially if you already have a clue about 
how to make things in moderate numbers and market them effectively.
  

    
<48> unhidden because hidden responses are no longer visible 
without a login.