Electricity explained? Oh yes!

Hi there

Tube generator, from www.creative-science.org.uk

Did you ever want to build your own electricity generator? For instance from wind or water motion?

Actually, I've been thinking of making a real wind turbine and have created 2 different designs. I made the paper models and they worked perfectly with a fan. Well, they didn't generate electricity though, yet :)

So, the following is kinda insight to electricity. I picked up some really really good videos over the Internet.

Here we go!

1] Simple electrical generator by Dr. Jonathan Hare, YouTube. (5:53)

With some simple circuitry and a homemade hand powered generator Jonathan makes AC and DC electricity that could be used for charging a mobile phone or attaching to a wind turbine.

2] Shake-a-gen electrical generator by Dr. Jonathan Hare, YouTube. (4:23)

The generator is based on the principle of Faraday induction where a changing magnetic field creates (induces) a voltage in a coil of wire. Shaking the can causes the magnetic field to change with time and so generates electricity in the coil - the LED lights!

3] How to generate electricity using a Faraday (Magnetic) Coil by Dr. Jonathan Hare, YouTube. (3:48)

4] Simple wind turbine from paper by Dr. Jonathan Hare, YouTube. (9:04)

Jonathan makes some simple paper windmills/turbines and experiments with a simple generator to power house hold devices such as torches, calculators and even a radio.

5] Electricity from water waves by Dr. Jonathan Hare, YouTube. (4:48)

Jonathan describes three different ways of generating electrical power from water waves.

6] Piezo Electricity by Dr. Jonathan Hare, YouTube. (3:00)

Some minerals such as quartz can produce electricity simply by squeezing or bending them - these are called piezoelectric crystals. Here is a simple and cheap demonstration you can do.

7] Sea water battery by Dr. Jonathan Hare, http://www.vega.org.uk. (3:43)

When two different metals are placed in a salt solution (an electrolyte) the chemistry produces a voltage. This is called a cell. By wiring up a number of these cells we can make a battery and use it to power electrical circuits.

8] Potato battery by Dr. Jonathan Hare, YouTube. (6:35)
How to make a battery from a potato!

9] Solar cells by Dr. Jonathan Hare, YouTube. (6:09)
How do solar cells convert sunlight into electricity?

10] How to build a wind turbine by GeneratorBlue, YouTube (playlist)

Overall, I count 3 ways to generate electricity:
a. via converting mechanical energy;
b. chemical reactions;
c. from converting solar energy (the light).

In addition, if you got interested and would like to make something yourself, which is a definite fun, go here:

11] Making 6 kinds of generators, by http://www.creative-science.org.uk/

So, stand up, and get some free electricity! You'll love it!

The letter from the past

I was enjoying a morning shower, when I suddenly got a call from my boss. He's always in the office before the work starts. Barely do we see such hard-workers nowadays. I picked up the call and heard a very excited voice of the boss:

- Paul, Paul, do you hear me?! I've got such a peace of history today! It's a replica of a paper letter from an archaeological site in the Europa City! Come fast! You must see it! Amazing! We'll put it on the first page! Come!

- I'm on my way, Mr. Hudson! - answered I, wiping myself with a towel.

All the way to the office I was anxious to see how the letter looked like. In the last k5 years archaeologists had found only seven paper letters. And this find promised to bring shocking news; and I wanted to be the one who would write about it.

It took me a while to get to the office, and when I finally met Mr. Hudson, he was already reading the letter.

- Paul, come in, come in, my friend! What a wonderful day today! See this? - he showed me the letter and the photo, - Have a look and read it. This photo was in the letter! Extraordinary! The Europa University says its age is k6 370 years. I haven't seen such a peace of history in my entire life, ever. And once again, I'm glad our company has the ultimate right to publish scientific achievements!

I took the letter from the table and quickly looked over it and the picture. Although it was just a replica of the original, to us it had the same value. The text was written with neat calligraphy, and the picture was well preserved. Perhaps the paper technology they had used then allowed it to be in such a good condition. I asked for some time to read the letter through, and went to my office, opened the paper and urgently started reading.

*********
Hello Jetu,

How are you?

Haven't seen you for like 28 years!

How is your life in the Australia Zone? How is your beautiful wife?

Lots of work recently, I guess?

Are you in the team fixing the Australia - Africa tunnel? I heard that shakewaves from the Antarctica Research Centre damaged it. Yeah, the climate control doesn't work well. Those homos can't do the things properly!

I have this week off, and a few days ago came to Sevilla, the Espana Zone, to relax and forget about the work. I was at the second Africa - S.America tunnel. They've been enlarging its traffic and housing capacity. More growth, they say.

And you know what, Jetu? Recently I had a terrible experience working with homos. I just can't put up with them anymore. They disrespect us. They have to accept us as we are. Evolution made them and us! We have our rights to live freely on this planet, together. We are part of society! I hate it when homos say we're just monkeys. They are wrong! Monkeys live in the rainforest! Why do we work only as a workforce? And we also want to have an access to education, medicine and recent technologies. I definitely don't like that they restrict our population growth and keep us in ghettos. I often wish I had enough money to run to another planet and start living there. Perhaps the Earth's becoming too small for us and them! I hope our representatives in the planetary union could make the difference.

How about you, Jetu? What do you think about it all? Lucky you! Your wife is unique as I've known only of a few chimpanzee-human marriages. She's very brave, I'm sure. Is she still facing so much criticism?

My friend, along with the letter, I'm sending you a picture of me and my loyal pet Duzy. Behind us you may see the Mediterranean Sea. Jetu, it's so beautiful here by the sea! Oh, I didn't introduce Duzy, did I? He's from the Sidera Multa galaxy, and as it's common there, his planet doesn't have nighttime. Imagine, among all planets in the planetary system, there're 4 stars orbiting the biggest star! And Duzy has a plant-like growth, that's why his skin is fairly black, to gather more starshine. So I always carry a UV-box, because without its constant light he will die.

I'm glad there's still a company accepting paper letters and postcards. If you happen to be by any chance in the Western Africa Zone, let me know and we will meet.

Warm wishes from the Europa City!
Your friend,
Zuzu.

Date: m1k7 076*
Place: Sevilla, Espana Zone, Europa City.

**********

I turned my eyes away from the letter and thought for a while about the life k6 years ago. I could not believe that at that time chimppeople were in such unfair conditions compared to homos. Since then, our society has changed dramatically, and now homos and chimppeople live and work so close to one another as if it's always been this way. I never considered my chimpfriends as something strange.

Coming back to the reality, I got even more excited to write about the find. I also got curious why the letter had never left the Europa City...
With this, the upcoming issue of our scientific newspaper must be extremely interesting. Not to waste any time, I headed to see Mr. Hudson, who is an actual chimpman.

--------------------------------------------------------
*m1k7 076 = 1 million 7 thousand and 76.

The freaking dream

You know that feeling when you suddenly wake up at night sober and scared to death saying "oh damn, oh damn!". That freaking thing happened to me yesterday!

I currently run 3 blogs, and one of them is about Artificial Intellect. And I guess that was the reason why I had such a dream. Since I was in a deep sleep, I remember only last moments from the dream before waking up.

The story:

I was working in my own laboratory on the AI, Artificial Intelligence, project. The laboratory was a two-storey warehouse where on the first floor I had working area, and the controlling room, which is my office, on the second floor. The working area was well-equipped with mechanical parts of different machinery, conveyor belts, cranes - everything to build robots. All these were controlled from my computer on the second floor. The area looked messy as it always does in such places. In the middle of the room there was a robot under construction. It had literally nothing, apart from a basic skeleton and wires connected to its main computer from my labroom.

After I finished ordinary uploading the new version of my software to the robot's system, I went out to smoke a cigarette. After 15 minutes, as I walked in, I was stunned with the sight: nearly everything in the room was on the move, some machinery was being attached to the robot, some parts of the robot were being disassembled in order to free the place for new details. All these were making such a noise that you might think ten men were working in the area. Although being in a state of shock, I fast realised it was the robot who was manipulating and coordinating all around. It paid no attention to me, continuing attaching and detaching everything it could possibly find useful for its body. The robot was not only controlling the conveyors and cranes, it had also found an access to the welding devices. I froze with terror, and the only thing I did was shouting out "You are not supposed to do that!"

And suddenly I woke up with eyes wide open, repeating "No way, no way it should be this way". I found myself awake and fully alert sitting on the bed. The idea of a robot behaving the way I could not control freaked me out. I felt absolutely powerless at the moment over the robot, and then I understood what danger robots might pose to our society and humankind itself.

Kolobok, the little bun

In the Russian language class I take we're currently reading Russian folklore stories. And I'm going to post my favourite tale.
The story "Kolobok" is about a bun that comes alive and travels, meeting several animals on his way and singing them a song. As it's common in folklore stories, the ending always carries the meaning you've got to understand.

Kolobok, the little bun

Once there lived an old man and old woman.

The old man said,
"Old woman, bake me a bun."
"What can I make it from? I have no flour." "Eh, eh, old woman! Scrape the cupboard, sweep the flour bin, and you will find enough flour."
The old woman picked up a duster, scraped the cupboard, swept the flour bin and gathered about two handfuls of flour.

She mixed the dough with sour cream, fried it in butter, and put the bun on the window sill to cool. The bun lay and lay there. 

Suddenly it rolled off the window sill to the bench, from the bench to the floor, from the floor to the door. Then it rolled over the threshold to the entrance hall, from the entrance hall to the porch, from the porch to the courtyard, from the courtyard trough the gate and on and on. 

The bun rolled along the road and met a hare.
"Little bun, little bun, I shall eat you up!" said the hare. 

"Don't eat me, slant-eyed hare! I will sing you a song," said the bun, and sang:
I was scraped from the cupboard,
Swept from the bin,
Kneaded with sour cream,
Fried in butter,
And coolled on the sill.
I got away from Grandpa,
I got away from Grandma
And I'll get away from you, hare!
And the bun rolled away before the hare even saw it move!

The bun rolled on and met a wolf.
"Little bun, little bun, I shall eat you up," said the wolf.

"Don't eat me, gray wolf!" said the bun. "I will sing you a song." And the bun sang:
I was scraped from the cupboard,
Swept from the bin,
Kneaded with sour cream,
Fried in butter,
And coolled on the sill.
I got away from Grandpa,
I got away from Grandma
I got away from the hare,
And I'll get away from you, gray wolf!
And the bun rolled away before the wolf even saw it move!


The bun rolled on and met a bear.
"Little bun, little bun, I shall eat you up," the bear said. 

"You will not, pigeon toes!"
And the bun sang:
I was scraped from the cupboard,
Swept from the bin,
Kneaded with sour cream,
Fried in butter,
And coolled on the sill.
I got away from Grandpa,
I got away from Grandma
I got away from the hare,
I got away from the wolf,
And I'll get away from you, big bear!
And again the bun rolled away before the bear even saw it move!

The bun rolled and rolled and met a fox.
"Hello, little bun, how nice yor are!" said the fox.

And the bun sang:
I was scraped from the cupboard,
Swept from the bin,
Kneaded with sour cream,
Fried in butter,
And coolled on the sill.
I got away from Grandpa,
I got away from Grandma,
I got away from the hare,
I got away from the wolf,
I got away from bear,
And I'll get away from you, old fox!

"What a wonderful song!" said the fox. "But little bun, I have became old now and hard of hearing. Come sit on my snout and sing your song again a little louder."
The bun jumped up on the fox's snout and sang the same song.
"Thank you, little bun, that was a wonderful song. I'd like to hear it again. Come sit on my tongue and sing it for the last time," said the fox, sticking out her tongue.

The bun foolishly jumped onto her tongue and- snatch!- she ate it. 

Pictures are from Diafilmonline.ru

The advertisement

When I came across the advertisement in the local newspaper offering used dental equipment collection, from 1930s to present, it became apparent to me what was being sold. That advert took me back to the time when I was involved in the story behind.

It was early October 2007. At that time, I used to drink beer in a small pub every Friday. I remember everything as clearly as if it happened a minute ago. I was watching the midnight news in the pub when good-looking pretty woman came in and sat at the bar. She was wearing a black sleeveless dress and black stilettos. I was in a good mood, and so I quickly decided to approach her before someone else would do so.

I sat next to her and started chatting up - "Hey..!". She didn't even blink. "How are you doing?" - no response. "Ouch, what a pity you're deaf", and finally she slowly turned to me. I noticed a sweet smile on her face. She looked very cute, had long chocolate wavy hair, kind brown eyes, long eyebrows and a freckle beside the nose. I went on flirting. 


- I'm Edward, or just Eddy.
- Diana. Nice to meet you, Eddy.

While we were shaking our hands, I stole a look at her left hand and found that she wasn't married. A pleasing thought struck me, and I got lost for a while till she asked why I was alone.

- Well, - started I, -  I just want to relax after the working week without friends. And how about you?

- Same, - she drank some red whine as she replied, and her cherry lips left some lipstick on the glass. In order to fill in the silence, I carried on:

- So, Diana, what do you do? 

- I'm a doctor.

- A doctor? - I asked surprisingly.

As she was telling me about her job, I was looking at her closer and more carefully. I found she was very sexy. Her dress was so thin and skin-tight I could see the underwear. Every time she breathed, her breasts moved up and down, making me more interested. Her naked shoulders, mouth, and her neck made here so sexually attractive that she could read it in my eyes.

From her story I understood that she was a dentist with a good reputation, and one of the best students at the former university.

- I'm so afraid of doctors..., - said I with a smile.

- Come on, Eddy...

- I'm serious, I'm afraid of them, especially dentists. - I gave the slight hint.

- Dentists? There's no reason for that. Let me show you I'm right.

Diana gave me the eye with a wide bright smile. She stood up and came close to me. I also stood up so that there was no space between us. She touched my nose with hers, looked in my eyes and smiled. We closed the eyes, and she leant on me and kissed the lips. Her hand was in my hair while her wet and delightful lips were kissing mine. I hugged her so that I felt every single heartbeat she had. Her soft breasts were rubbing my chest as her tongue was exploring my mouth. After a minute she whispered:  "Come with me", inviting me to follow her rose perfume.

It was already 2 weeks since we met in the pub, and during that time Diana took me away, made me feel high and gave what a man wished to have from a woman. I got the satisfaction. I also met her parents, and they were well-known dentists too.

One day, after  a hot passionate night I woke up in a dental chair. I was tied up with rope to the chair so that I couldn't move at all, not even the head. 

- Eddy, good morning. How are you, darling?

- Honey, what's going on?

- Noting special. It's just the time for you to pay.

- Pay for what?

- For my love.

- Are you crazy? Have you gone mad? Let me go now!

- Today I'll need you by my side. Mum, dad, come here, he's waken up. I think we can start.

They made an injection, and I felt dizzy and sleepy. What I remember before I fell asleep is some dental equipment next to the chair. When I woke up, I found myself still in the chair, but something was wrong with my mouth, and very soon I realized the lower jaw was absolutely without tooth. Every time I tried to touch it with the tongue, a strong pain went through my body. I cried for hours till they came back and continued their experiments. 

The night came, but they didn't release me. During the course of the night I found that the rode became less strong. I pushed myself over the pain and managed to release the hands, and the whole body in a few minutes. I easily found the way out from their countryside house since they didn't expect me to escape. I run as much as I could in the night, and after 11 or 12 kilometres I broke in the local police office.

There I told everything that had happened to me, and I received some medical help. Soon, the police caught the family, and after the investigation the news came out that starting from 1928 all members of this family kidnapped people to practice dentistry. This was the reason why they all became good dentists. In the summer house they had dental equipment from 30's up to present days as a collection and practical material. 

As the terrible memories left my mind, I threw the newspaper away and left the place, wondering if anyone wanted to by that collection from the police.

Where will technology take us in the next 30 years?

Where will technology take us in the next 30 years? Good and interesting question!

Many think that it will be a new world with new technologies such as robots and nanotechnology. But despite my supporting this point of view, I have another opinion.

In May 2010 I read a paper that changed my mind dramatically. Before, as many of us, I'd thought that the world would be served by robots. That paper brought the shocking news from the USA: "Craig Venter creates synthetic life form". After 15 years of work on his project, his team finally created a new form of life, a synthetic life, which didn't exist before. And it seems to be a new way of developing our world.

What is the definition of life?

Life is the ability to be born, grow, reproduce and die. I would like to highlight the word "reproduce".  The synthia has this important ability, and that means it might grow and reproduce on its own without human's control.

Now the question is whether it'll be used in the right way or not. For instance, it might be used in filters absorbing CO2. That for sure would help us to clean the environment, or synthetic life form might be used in the medicine to cure diseases.

On the other hand, the further development in creating a more complex life would allow new bacteria, plants and even animals to grow, the ones that our planet has never met before. And that, as a result, in case of losing control under experiments, would bring a difficult situation without a prompt solution.

Nowadays we could see that many viruses and bacteria have been evolving due to their environment, and they are still searching for new ways to reproduce and stay alive. In my view, if the synthia appeared in our real nature full of such forms of life that had never seen such an unusual life as the synthia, it would be a disaster. It is possible that the synthetic life would get used to living in the air, in ocean and forests out of laboratories.

The next question is  "Which way will the synthia choose to protect itself in our environment?". There are only two possible ways: to be a victim looking for a safe place, or to be an aggressor, a predator looking for victims and thus survive.

Which way the synthetic life will choose only time will show.

Anyway, I think in 30 year time it will be a totally new world, a different world.