When we got up this morning baby #2 was swimming in his pond. Baby #1 was still very quiet. He had been on his back in shell. We had turned him over last night. He seemed weak and still. So we dipped him egg and all in water. The second time when I put him on shore he came out. Now he is swimming and doing good. He is smaller then the other one. #3 is still just poking his beak out. He should be out by tomorrow.
My mom wrote me an email today about some baby turtles she is hatching:
Two weeks ago Dave dug up a turtle nest when working on the bank of the pond. He saved 4 eggs and gave them to Mike. We looked up how to take care of them. We found out we may have hurt them already with the move. But 3 had something in them when I candled them. So I fixed a tank with heat lights and misted them several times a day and talked to them. Sunday morning Cari saw one was hatching. By night 2 had opened up. It says it will take up to 3 days for them to turn over and come out of the shells. As of this morning one is winking at me and one just waves when I mist them. They will be about the size of a quarter. This is their first pictures. The are little red eared sliders. Not the giant anaconds I was afraid they would be. I’ll keep yopu updated. They say the first year is the hardest. BUt atleast they are hatching. Mike hasn’t named them yet.
I’ve invented an amazing device that will revolutionize transportation! It will be even better than the Segway! It was inspired by the two patents shown below:
Obviously, just cramming these two together to make the gas-powered pogo-copter isn’t enough. Anyone can see that the pogo-copter patent wouldn’t actually work. The inventor added a wheel to the bottom of the shaft it seems would make even an ordinary pogo stick unusable. Also, his method for rotating the blade works on the concept that if you push hard enough on a screw it will twist itself in. However, I have read accounts of the gas powered pogo stick actually being produced and working.
My solution to combine the two rests on a third invention, a minature gas turbine engine just created at Tohoku University.
Jumping on the stick will pump fuel into the engine and spark the flame. The jet exhaust can then be routed into the shaft to cause it to spring back violently, so it acts much like the gas powered pogo stick above. The turbine is used to drive the propeller blades.
I realized that there is a good chance the rider would end up spinning around very quickly while the blade barely moved, but I have a solution to that as well. Using two blades that rotate in opposite directions would balance out the forces, so the rider stays pointed in the direction he wants to. This approach can be seen in several tiny remote control helicopters because it eliminates the need for a tail rotor and makes them easier to learn to fly.
I can’t wait till investor’s money starts pouring in and I can build a prototype. I would ride it to work every day. I imagine it would sound something like:
hissss - BOOM - chchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchch - hissss - BOOM - chchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchch - hissss - BOOM - chchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchchch
The site is running slow, but there are some really neat pictures of Kristan Horton’s realization of scenes from Dr. Strangelove, one of my favorite movies. Link
