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[Virex]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyOtIsnG71U

Quantum Levitation is cool.

So, how long until the make a room temperature one with enough finesse and grunt to freely support itself in Earth's magnetic field?

That's pretty freaking looking, I'm curious how the doubled-over part works, but I guess there's no reason that stacking would matter at all.

The earth's magnetic field is really freaking weak, you'd need a table-sized magnet to lift a spoonful of salt so to speak. Though you could just line anything you want to float above with permanent magnets and be done with it.


The big problem right now with making room temperature superconductors is that we have no clue about how 'hot' superconductivity even works.


Edit: Someone asked for a hoverboard?

[ToonyMan]

You know it is getting close to 2015...

[kaijyuu]

And our clothing fashions are no where near as awesome as they were in that movie.

[klingon13524]

I finally got around to donating. I've been playing DF and using these forums for free for far too long.

[Virex]

You know it is getting close to 2015...

Yeah, unfortunately, the Meisner effect only works effectively along a rail apparently (though you can hop lanes so to speak by applying a lateral force), for complete freedom, you may want to use a Hoverbike instead (last post on his own site was apparently from February, so don't count on this coming into production though scatch that, was looking at the wrong part of the site. Last change was earlier this month). Plus, it looks a lot cooler then a floating skateboard. Imagine parking that thing outside of a night club 

[SalmonGod]

Two things I'm determined to have eventually:  a castle (designed and built mostly by myself) and a hoverbike

[Nadaka]

the hover bike is "real" as in someone built it. But they built it badly. It has no software stability control. It has no variable aspect rotors, so you have to adjust the speed of the rotors to control lift, its center of gravity is to high and it has a single axis of stability. It is relying on its multipoint tether to remain upright even at a foot off the ground.

A real hover bike needs at least 3 rotors, the rotors should sit a little higher, and the rotors need to be able to pitch its blades so attitude can be controlled without an  infinitely variable transmission.

[RedKing]

Recently rediscovered Jim Henson's "The Storyteller" series. John Hurt + muppet dog, narrating as actors and animatronics re-enact old folktales from different cultures. I remember this used to come on right after Amazing Stories (another brilliant TV show).

Can't believe it only went 9 episodes. Somewhere there's a TV exec that deserves to be eaten by an ogre.

<crotchety old man rant>
They don't make good, imaginative TV shows like this anymore. Now it's all reality TV and forensic/medical/legal dramas.
</rant>

[Virex]

the hover bike is "real" as in someone built it. But they built it badly. It has no software stability control. It has no variable aspect rotors, so you have to adjust the speed of the rotors to control lift, its center of gravity is to high and it has a single axis of stability. It is relying on its multipoint tether to remain upright even at a foot off the ground.

A real hover bike needs at least 3 rotors, the rotors should sit a little higher, and the rotors need to be able to pitch its blades so attitude can be controlled without an  infinitely variable transmission.

Meh, the Bensen B-10 allegedly flew without incident, and that also had only 2 rotors. Also, the reason it's relying on tethers is because the controls haven't been tuned properly yet, which became evident during his first tetherless flight, as the bike jawed left due to the chassis warping (which has allegedly been fixed. He's also redesigning the control scheme a bit as the roll and yaw controls were on the same handlebars, meaning every time he rolled he started to jaw as well)

[Leafsnail]

The big problem right now with making room temperature superconductors is that we have no clue about how 'hot' superconductivity even works.

And yet we keep making them better anyway!  Science at its best.

[Vector]

One ear: Chinese

Other ear: Daniel Lavoie singing

I love working in the language lab.  I won't be able to anymore because we apparently aren't allowed to print anything in English (especially not, say, rhetoric assignments), but it's got some nice atmosphere going on.

[Virex]

I wonder what the viability of a moat of molten metal is. Certainly, true lava would be to viscous and hot to be effectively pumped through a furnace and back into the moat, but molten zinc at, say, 550^o is both less hot and a lot less viscous. If you stage a lot of heating steps I think it could be viable.

Spoiler: Plus, liquid zinc just looks awesome (click to show/hide)

[sonerohi]

A kid in my Chemistry class got served. He always wheedles the teacher for every single point and homework problem, and generally just tries to get grades without spending the time or energy to do it like everyone else. He had a 98.49% a week ago, when the quarter ended. The day before, everyone turned in a completion assignment for 2 out of 2 points. She bumped this assignment to second quarter. It would have gotten him a 99%. A versus A+. I know it's awful, but it just seems so just a thing.

[Cthulhu]

Just get a mercury moat.  If you fall in there's no way you're ever getting out even with help, and even if you somehow manage to get out you still have mercury in your lungs and on every inch of your skin so you're still gonna die.

[Truean]

Won condominium collections precedent case! Client now owes condo association nothing; now if only I can get paid something from the $16K I saved him!

Opposing, overconfident counsel is furious; I have done well.... Let's just hope he doesn't have grounds to appeal!