Author: shaned

I’m supposed to be working on documents today but I must admit that I’ve got other things on my mind. One of these is how to turn my microwave oven into a personal foundary. I have a hankering for another japanese ceremonial blade (a nice new katana). but I haven’t figured out how to smelt in my house yet. However home based metallurgy is being brought a giant step closer using the Reid Technique (RT)

“a simplified ceramic-shell procedure for the casting of non-ferrous metals, patented in 1990. RT was first developed to avoid the problem of heat loss, which makes the the pouring of small melts very difficult – these difficulties arise however the metal is heated, and while the microwave technique set out here can be used for heating small amounts of metal in open crucibles, its greatest potential lies in its use as a flameless furnace in processes such as the Reid Technique. The crucial discovery, made during extended tests with various susceptors – materials which heat up when exposed to microwaves – was that two substances, graphite and magnetite, working together were required to achieve the kind of heating we were looking for.”

So there you go, clever use of microwave heat susceptors stuccoed to ceramic shells enables a mould to be created where small amounts of bronze, silver, gold and iron can be melted/cast in your very own home microwave oven. The whole process is described more elaborately here

Excellent article from Martin Fowler about the dangers of using metaphoric reasoning when comparing professions. To quote Martin

… it all comes down to how you use the metaphor. Comparing to another activity is useful if it helps you formulate questions, it’s dangerous when you use it to justify answers.

. However, while I agree with the sentiment of the article I think there’s a place for metaphoric reasoning in justifying answers aswell. For example lean manufacturing involves the reduction & indeed elimination of inventory in order to reduce unnecessary costs & improve manufacturing responsiveness. It depends on how you bound and interpret the analogy. Understanding both the articles and the aims. A certain amount of inventory will always be required “in the pipeline” to enable manufacturing to take place. In the same way that an amount of upfront documentation is required. Complete elimination of either is not the real goal, it’s optimisation of the manufacturing process through waste reduction & more appropriate & flexible task scheduling.

Don’t know if any of you picked this up from el reg. A US company called Force Field Wireless has created a paint containing “laced with copper and aluminum fibers that form an electromagnetic shield, blocking most radio waves and protecting wireless networks”. It does seem like a revolutionary idea but I have the following questions?

1. Are the radio waves being blocked or deflected? Not trying to be stupid here but the metallic elements in the paint are more than likely reflecting all electromagnetic signals back into the house? This may not be a great idea as depending on the amount of electromagnetic devices your operate in your house you’ll increase your exposure to background non-ionising EMR
2. Ignoring health concerns, which aren’t conclusive anyway, will it affect your ability to get a mobile phone signal in your house?
3. What about windows? (and I don’t mean the OS)

Wearable and completely ubiquitous media recording and transmission devices (possibly nanotech scale) will mean that live and automated newsfeeds are available everywhere. News will be a 3D immersive experience. A bit like the bullet-time effects in The Matrix but more impressive. Throw in smart spaces that record and replay psychological context and you have a whole different way to experience news, live & throughout the world.