a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

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dubbleyew eight
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a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#1 Post by dubbleyew eight » Sun Nov 29, 2015 1:48 am

really this is a brilliant project.
high technology fun.

[bbvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7REmfZ6O5U&feature=youtu.be[/bbvideo]

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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#2 Post by probes » Sun Nov 29, 2015 8:38 am

but you could use John's candlestick right there? :)

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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#3 Post by Joy ride » Mon Nov 30, 2015 9:48 am

I love it! Thanks for posting.

I am currently building a 2nd "Gallinae Priemis" (Spring Chickens), similar basic mechanical appeal but no magnets: turning the handle drives a chain which takes marbles to the top of a spiral, while a hen and 6 chicks (on the top) flap wings and pick up worms. Very loosely based on Gallileo's crinkle-crankle for studying acceleration.

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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#4 Post by Lone Ranger » Mon Nov 30, 2015 7:30 pm

I always liked the simplicity of the BOX
Oh Blimey

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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#5 Post by rgbrock1 » Mon Nov 30, 2015 7:44 pm

Personally, I'd like to build a "Word Processor of the Gods" which has but one key on the keyboard: the delete key. And every time I think of someone who pisses me off - and there is a long list of such people - voila: the delete key gets pressed. :D
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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#6 Post by Joy ride » Tue Dec 01, 2015 8:04 am

The box is fun but the Magnet Machine is much more interesting mechanically and I love the way the balls are magnetically chained and looped, very nicely thought out. Happy and relieved to see that I have not (yet) been deleted by RGB's WPOTG.

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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#7 Post by dubbleyew eight » Tue Dec 01, 2015 12:13 pm

JayCar electronics in maddington had a large stack of the useless boxes sitting beside the cash register.
a month later when I returned for another component they had all been sold. :-o :-o :-o

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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#8 Post by Joy ride » Tue Dec 01, 2015 1:17 pm

"Useless" is clearly a tautology. These simple mechanical/electrical devices appeal to us, entertain us, and even sometimes impel us to buy them, therefore they are not useless at all, but triply useful!

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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#9 Post by OFSO » Tue Dec 01, 2015 4:27 pm

Personally, I'd like to build a "Word Processor of the Gods" which has but one key on the keyboard

One thinks also of the box with one push button on top: depressing the key causes one person in the world to die at that moment and you get $100,000 deposited in your bank balance. Of course you don't get to select who the person is.

What I'd really like is a life remote control with fast forward, fast back, stop and pause buttons on it.

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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#10 Post by John Hill » Tue Dec 01, 2015 6:53 pm

rgbrock1 wrote:Personally, I'd like to build a "Word Processor of the Gods" which has but one key on the keyboard: the delete key. And every time I think of someone who pisses me off - and there is a long list of such people - voila: the delete key gets pressed. :D


I thought you were a Yank so how come you use the term "pissed off"?
Been in data comm since we formed the bits individually with a Morse key.

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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#11 Post by rgbrock1 » Tue Dec 01, 2015 6:57 pm

John Hill wrote:
rgbrock1 wrote:Personally, I'd like to build a "Word Processor of the Gods" which has but one key on the keyboard: the delete key. And every time I think of someone who pisses me off - and there is a long list of such people - voila: the delete key gets pressed. :D


I thought you were a Yank so how come you use the term "pissed off"?


Pissed off, in Yank vernacular, means something entirely different than the British version. Pissed off as in I'm quite angry.
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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#12 Post by 500N » Tue Dec 01, 2015 7:18 pm

RGB

In "my" British version, pissed off means the same thing.

"Piss off" when said to someone means "go away" in "no uncertain terms".

It "pisses me off" means it gets me angry.


Of course like everything, words and phrases have different meanings around the world.

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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#13 Post by rgbrock1 » Tue Dec 01, 2015 7:19 pm

500N wrote:RGB

In "my" British version, pissed off means the same thing.

"Piss off" when said to someone means "go away" in "no uncertain terms".

It "pisses me off" means it gets me angry.


Of course like everything, words and phrases have different meanings around the world.


I'm well aware of the difference 500N, thank you very much. (Remember, the ex-wife - continued-Bitch - is a Brit. So I learned quite early on what "piss off" means and I used it regularly in that context.)
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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#14 Post by 500N » Tue Dec 01, 2015 7:21 pm

RGB

What does "Pissed off, in Yank vernacular"

mean then ?

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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#15 Post by rgbrock1 » Tue Dec 01, 2015 7:38 pm

500N wrote:RGB

What does "Pissed off, in Yank vernacular"

mean then ?


It means exactly that: I'm pissed off or stark-raving mad/angry. No one in the US ever uses the term as in "piss off you ***** for brains"
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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#16 Post by Bull at a Gate » Wed Dec 02, 2015 12:55 pm

Well this is an entertaining chat about language. If I tell someone here in Oz that I am pissed it means that I am intoxicated. But in USA I understood it to mean that I am angry. Is that true rgb?

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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#17 Post by msdad2 » Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:16 pm

Ok so
Piss Off, UK = Go away, Aus = Go Away, US not used

Pissed Off, UK = Mad/Angry, US= Mad/Angry, Aus = Mad Angry

Pissed, UK = Drunk, Aus = Drunk, US = Mad/Angry

Is there a device that stops thread drift? :ymsmug:
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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#18 Post by 421dog » Sat Dec 12, 2015 7:38 am

Well, it must be said that "Piss off" in US English is actually an infinitive compound verb meaning "to make angry" as in:
"You piss me off, you fvcking jerk"

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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#19 Post by 421dog » Sat Dec 12, 2015 7:46 am

Or: "Needlessly pedantic people really piss off those of us who are kind of pissed, off and on, when we have to clean piss off of the toilet seat because our pissed guests find the trajectory of their piss off."

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Re: a device so stupidly useless it is a good project

#20 Post by 421dog » Sun Dec 13, 2015 4:01 am

Or this:http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hDYfaR9TdzI

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