discofever's New Writeups

June 17, 2004 (idea)

2004-06-17T15:17:08Z

This text is mirrored in my homenode.

I have developed an eating problem. I am overeating. I am binge-eating.

I'm not too sure when it started. It has manifested itself occasionally since college, but only since September 2003 has it happened more then once a month. During January-February 2004 and during June 2004 I have been bingeing up to five times a week.

I am still thin. I have not yet grown out of my current clothes. I believe that I need to gain control of this binging problem before I begin to gain large amounts of weight.

Last night, June 16, I consumed a half-pint of Jack Daniels. After that, I went to an all-night Walgreen's in search of snacks. I found none. I went to a local convenience store (Wagner's Meat, for those locals who know their motto) and bought a bag of flavored potato chips I wanted to try. I ate them all. I drove to an all-night Rite-Aid and bought another bag of flavored potato chips I wanted to try. I ate them all. I drove to a…

The Tulse Luper Suitcase (thing)

2003-05-20T14:20:50Z

This writeup will have a half-life of roughly 48 hours. From the time of its inception it shall slowly lose relevancy as more information comes out in the next few days; the writeup will slowly lose relevancy, by half and half again, until its usefulness will be effectively spent.

It is fitting and proper that this writeup be measured by half-lives.

It is fitting and proper that this writeup refer back to itself as 'the writeup'. The subject of the writeup (that is forthcoming) has existed on the database, in skeletal sketches, for quite some time.

Tulse Luper was present at the creation of uranium. And he spent much time in prison. We know this to be true.

He owned 92 suitcases throughout his life, each filled with 92 items. The first suitcase put together in his first prison; a coalhouse his father locked him into, for punishment. The first suitcase contains 92 lumps of coal. The atomic number of…

Shoe-Fitting Fluoroscope (thing)

2001-12-02T22:34:32Z

A successful war effort is a wonderful thing to have, but there are always unforseen problems with anything. For instance : the massive industrial push in the World War II-era United States created a large quantity of unneeded goods. Unused one-ton bombs, shells scattered to and fro, airfields of B-52 bombers with few pilots and fewer targets. And a massive pile of Coolidge tubes.

A Coolidge tube is simply a type of radiation-emitting bulb, like a light bulb. But, along with light, a Coolidge tube emitted X-rays. The U.S. stockpile of Coolidge tubes was too large for all of the medical institutions in both the U.S. and Europe to use; and so they were released to the market for any entrepreneur to use.

Which is how the Shoe-Fitting Fluoroscope came into being.

Really, now, haven't you ever wished that Modern Science, as it labored on such improvements to the quality of life as robotic housecleaning maids and rocket-powered prostate warmers,…

Amonton's Law of Friction (idea)

2001-12-02T20:50:07Z

Amonton's Law of Friction is a very simple concept, first logged on the books in the late 17th century by Guilliame Amonton. (Incidentally, it was first discovered by Leonardo da Vinci, but never popularised until later.) It states, simply put, that the amount of force needed to overcome friction between two surfaces only depends on the types of surfaces being pushed together and the amount of force pressing them together. The actual surface of contact between the two surfaces is not related to the friction force at all; large, small, whatever, you have a two types of surfaces (expressed in a coefficient) and the amount of force between the two. Size Doesn't Matter.

This law was proven and proven again and again in experiments and taught up until the 1930s in physics classes. But then, people came to their senses.

Chances are, the surface you are considering, any surface, in fact, is not perfectly flat. There are many millions of imperfections,…

(Mostly) free satellite signals (thing)

2001-12-02T19:41:33Z

It's amazing, the fact that the ether's multitudinous vibratons all around (and through) me carried a symphony of conversations, conversations in anacronym foreign tongues (800MHZ IEEE80211 SWMI6NUMBERS ETC) that requires just the right kinds of black boxes to decipher. The air fairly creaks under the weight of information.

Focus on the 'C-Band' and 'Ku-Band' signals with a big unblinking satellite dish and a few boxes (satellite recievers, televisions, and others). If you are so equipped (and, for most people, those boxes don't come easy; come with a wad of cash and a stubborn mind), three categories of freely available, unscrambled signals are yours.

The so-called 'wild feed' is for the pure television junkie. Your average sitcom or drama, needing no special security, is shipped bitwise through public channels on a weekly basis. Simply find the feed and…

The Oath of the Tennis Court (thing)

2001-11-25T07:19:32Z

One of the grand properties of a mob is that mobs will often riot, regardless of what all-encompassing idea they may or may not have in their heads. See, a mob wants to fuck shit up, and really, when it comes to the actual upwards shit-fucking, one reason is as good as any other. This can really help out those who have an agenda... get the mob to sign off on your ideals and none can stand in your (mob's) way.

The leaders of the newly ascendant Third Estate were not this canny (or psychic, for that matter). But they were lucky. The mob that freed the Bastille Seven didn't want to admit that most of their anger was fueled by high bread prices. So they picked up the revolutionary drumbeat that was first sounded in a Versailles tennis court not a month before.

The rest of the story : the Kingdom of France was well and truly screwed in the spring of 1789. They were screwed for a…