Catchy headline for Halloween, but a real problem… -
A force as insidious as Dracula is quietly sucking a nickel of every dollar’s worth of the electricity that seeps from your home’s outlets. Electronic gadgets running in standby mode use 5 percent of electricity in the United States. Insert the little fangs of your cell phone charger in the outlet and leave it there, phone attached: That’s “vampire” electronics. Allow your computer to hide in the cloak of darkness known as “standby mode” rather than shutting it off: That’s vampire electronics.
New kind of ‘vampire’ - Sucks power out of homes - Original link.
We know that you were planning on buying an expensive gas mask to foil the next bio-terror plot, but who’s got the cash? Now for a whopping $0 of materials including an empty CD-ROM case and a plastic bag, you can make your own mask just like the pros use. Remember, evil could be everywhere and you must be prepared!
Build Your Own Gas Mask Out of Computer Parts - Original link
In case you need any more encouragement to learn how to solder (or want to bone up on your craft), Hack-a-Day has a really nice tut (the Grand Guru of Hardware Hackerdom himself Forrest M. Mims III even chimed in a good word in the comments).
I was planning to make a MiniPOV Cylon Jack-O-Lantern, but I remembered I didn’t have a MiniPOV at home. I placed an order for one to remedy this, but I figured the order wouldn’t get here in time for Halloween, so I whipped something else up instead. It’s a Jack-O-Lantern that’s designed to look like it’s got a flickering candle in it… until you get up close. It has a proximity sensor and brings the LEDs up to maximum brightness as soon as you get near it. The source code is based on an example from Tom Igoe’s Making Things Talk, which I now keep on my bench within reach of all my Arduino boards - Arduino-powered pumpkin Instructable
Simple Tesla turbine made out of CDs housed in a plastic CD “cake box” disc pack. Several different experiments are tried, using air, water, magnets, no magnets, saw blade attachment(!), etc. See the other videos on the YouTube Original link.
Revin’ Up the Tesla CD Turbine II With Magnetic Disc Pack - [via] Original link
Related:
HOW TO - Build a 15,000 rpm Tesla Turbine using hard drive platters - Original link
Big Dipper is a machine that mechanically creates twenty-four candle wax chandeliers by dipping. The principle is inspired on the technique of candle making, where straight strings of wick are dipped a number of times to become candles. Suspended from the ceiling, the machine itself looks like a chandelier with two ring tiers that are counter balanced to move up and down using a pulley system. On each of the two big rings, twelve smaller rings are suspended. They are the frameworks for strings of wick, hanging down in loops. Whenever one of the big rings moves down, the wick hanging from one of the smaller rings is dipped in a drum of melted wax standing below. A layer of wax attaches to the wick and slowly grows a chandelier with eight arms and eight candles.
One of our writers found some nice kits that let you get started making your own yo-yos regardless of your woodworking skill level. The company sells parts, blanks and cutters to make your own, and even a mandrel for turning your own blanks if you own a lathe. I think I’m gonna pick one up.
