electricity – St. Eutychus

How to “humanely” kill an animal

Right. It seems people didn’t like the idea that you can’t “humanely” kill anything you’re going to eat.

Perhaps this is what the soldiers from Townsville should have used. A photocopier shaped “taser” that stuns lobsters so that you can then kill them without them feeling the pain… except the pain of 110 volts passing through their exoskeletons.

The application of a stun (110 Volts – 2-5 amps) causes an immediate interruption in the functioning of the nervous system of the shellfish. By interrupting the nerve function, the shellfish (be it Crab. Lobster or other) is unable to receive stimuli and thus by definition, cannot feel pain or suffer distress (Dr. Dave Robb 2000 – Bristol University – paper on sentience in Crustacea, Baker 1975, Jane Smith 1991, Bateson 2000, Sherwin 2000 & Gregory & Lumsden 2000). The prolonged application of the stun causes a permanent disruption which kills the shellfish.

November 25, 2009

Bare essentials

This product – called Bare – is a conductive ink. You can put it on your skin and it’ll conduct electricity. This means you can turn your body into a circuit board. This is pretty cool.

“This innovative material allows users to interact with electronics through gesture, movement, and touch. Bare can be applied with a brush, stamp or spray and is non-toxic and temporary. Application areas include dance, music, computer interfaces, communication and medical devices. Bare is an intuitive and non-invasive technology which will allow users to bridge the gap between electronics and the body.”

They’re currently looking for artistic collaborators rather than selling it.

It looks cool.

November 16, 2009

What could possibly go wrong

I am really enjoying “There I Fixed It” – you should be too. Just in case you missed last week’s feature here’s another piece of Darwin Award inspired brilliance.

July 8, 2009

Failblog: Coffee Machine

Everything electrical in my life is dying. Painful deaths. Yesterday, before dismantling my breadmaker (and killing it), I discovered my trusty desktop PC is dead. I think it’s the power supply. Anyway, it’s gone.

The breadmaker situation was all my own doing, and has been well documented.

My coffee machine, the appliance I am most dependent on, gave up the ghost this morning.

It was working last night before we went to bed. We only turned it off as we traipsed up the stairs to bed. So I haven’t done anything to hurt it. The waste water bottle was backed up which meant it wasn’t draining properly – but I couldn’t find any water that was interacting with the electricity.

When we came downstairs this morning everything was off. We couldn’t figure out why. I checked the fuse box. Our circuit breaker was on “off”. Something was wrong. The usual suspect at this point is the coffee machine. And sure enough, when I turned it off power was able to be restored to the house.

Subsequent testing (including pulling the machine apart and looking at all the wires) showed nothing structual was wrong with the machine, no wires were frayed. None were touching each other causing any short circuiting. All the earthing wires were still earthed. I am at a complete loss to figure out what’s going on.

Could it be all the moisture in the air from all this rain?

February 8, 2009

A powerful punch

nanananananananananana Batman

I grew up watching reruns of the 1960s Batman serial starring Adam West. I bought the DVD of the Batman Movie spin off from the same series for about $7. It’s probably the worst Batman movie ever made. Even worse than the one with Arnie as Mr Freeze. But I digress. The thing that made that Batman series so good was the super imposed, jagged edged, comic book style “sock”, “pow”, and “zap”. Action onomatopoeia at its best.

If, like me, you grew up wanting to pack a punch like Batman – then this 950,000V infusing knuckle duster will give your self defense a real “wham” effect. The best bit – a set of these – for your own fists of fury – will only set you back $US100.

Zap, Pow, Wham

See what’s happening here? It’s the X-Men effect. Asking “what would your mutant power be?” is a great ice-breaker. And today’s inventors are going about developing all the cool mutant powers you can think of… these knuckledusters will help aspiring Surges (from the “new X-Men”) discover their electric personalities.

It seems invisibility isn’t far off either. What would your mutant power be?

December 23, 2008

Remember: Electricity can kill

I know. Electricity can be fun. And creating a massive Tesla coil in the backyard sounds like heaps of fun. But electricity is dangerous people. And this guy, Bre Pettis, wants to warn you through this Flickr set.

Be on the lookout for powerlines

Be careful where you stick that breadknife

Be careful where you stick those scissors

December 19, 2008

Electrifyingly cool

Anyone who has played Red Alert knows that Tesla Coils are the ultimate home base defence system. And anyone who hasn’t, but knows what a Tesla coil is knows that they’re totally awesome.

That’s why this guitar amp is cool:

And, why this photographic re-enactment of Red Alert is also cool.

Red Alert: Tesla Coil

If you’re not convinced that Tesla coils are the coolest thing since electricity then check out this gallery from the Red Alert Tesla Guy (an Australian) on the SMH.

December 19, 2008