December 21, 2004

2:46 AM

Hack a fibre optic display. Blow up smarties. Make a lava lamp (that actually works). Things to make and do from Big Clive.
posted by nthdegx (12 comments total)

Awesome!

... but what a waste of smarties!
posted by Chunder at 3:08 AM on December 21, 2004

Colloidal silver! Big Clive seems to think he'll be all right if he limits himself to a glass a day...but what about this guy?
posted by DrKatz at 3:26 AM on December 21, 2004

Hah, John Major's been doing the mechanoid, silver-sheen look for decades.

posted by NinjaPirate at 4:07 AM on December 21, 2004

v. sad that the lava lamp guide didn't have pictures to illustrate the process. But otherwise, awesome!
posted by contessa at 5:37 AM on December 21, 2004

I clicked on the Lava Lamp link first with great interest. Though he had some success, the author came to the conclusion that it's a better idea to buy than to make one. It's a credit to the inventor of the Lava Lamp that nobody has come up with a really good home-brew model.

By the way and kind of on-topic, American Science and Surplus is a great place to get stuff if you're a tinkerer or want to build that USB turd. Their subsidiary, Labwarehouse has a neat 50,000 Volt Tesla Coil that I'd really like to see under my Xmas tree.
posted by SteveInMaine at 6:17 AM on December 21, 2004

Here's the Tesla Coil.
posted by SteveInMaine at 6:19 AM on December 21, 2004

Neat stuff. I'm not quite sure what he did to the fiber optic lamp to make it different, though. I guess he was just playing with the circuitry for kicks?
posted by fungible at 7:45 AM on December 21, 2004

Here are some pictures of argyria sufferers, including Stan Jones (ref. by DrKatz above).
posted by plasticpool at 7:48 AM on December 21, 2004

This post tricked me into thinking that the fiber optic display would be hacked in order to blow up smarties. I'm disapointed and asking for a refund.
posted by NewBornHippy at 9:36 AM on December 21, 2004

Can't forget the sparky link as previously seen here.
posted by gren at 2:27 PM on December 21, 2004

This thread wouldn't be complete without mention of The Science Hobbyist.

Full of interesting science and thought experiments, including:
Hand Drawn Hologram.
Unwise Microwave Oven Experiments
The Smoke Ring Blimp

And don't miss the Pratical Jokes for Evil Geniuses.
posted by Laen at 3:52 PM on December 21, 2004

My Christmas wish is never to meet Clive in person.
posted by rodgermorrow at 4:51 AM on December 22, 2004