Yearly Archives: 2010

Adding color

Submarines are yellow, hook-ups are orange, red is the relief hatch chimney, the docking platforms are green with white. The purpose of the coloring is to identify objects in the murky deep.

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Spillinator and subs

In this version, the hook-ups are moved to the corners and placed on towers. Submarines carry tanks of oil from the spillinator to the surface, where the oil is offloaded onto tanker ships. The submarines then carry the tanks back … Continue reading

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cthulhu and plastics on 101 Theory Drive

Another month, another reading list. I’m reading another book on plastics, and then a book about the scientific effort to identify where human memory is, and then a book on giant molecules, called appropriately enough, Giant Molecules. And I’m also … Continue reading

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The Wright Brothers weren’t meager

I was surprised a while back to read that the Wright Brothers’ contribution to flight was regarded as ‘meager.’ So after reading two biographies about the Wright Brothers, what did I learn? The Wright Brothers built a wind tunnel to … Continue reading

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Sixty plus years of plastics

I just finished reading a book, The Production and Properties of Plastics. I won’t link to Amazon.com, because it probably isn’t there. The book was written shortly after World War II. I learned what a sprue is. I wonder if … Continue reading

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Life without risers

Risers are the pressurized pipes which receive oil from the wellhead. The problem with my design is that I didn’t want there to be any pressure on the wellhead containment (ie, spillinator). So instead, I have an ROV (remote operated … Continue reading

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Memory Palaces and Virtual Reality

Recently, I read The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci, which is about a sixteenth century Portugese monk who goes to China as a missionary. Why? That is, not why did he go to China but why did I read the … Continue reading

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Linear Analog Clock

We have round analog clocks and digital clocks, but I haven’t seen a linear analog clock. I think it sends a different psychological message to the viewer: that time is moving forward. Or at least, left to right.

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Spillinator Version 3

This design is somewhat downscaled from the earlier version but retains the essential features. The riser hook-up valves are on the side, and now they use the roof of the spillinator as a platform. The relief hatches are mounted on … Continue reading

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Spillinator Build

I’m going through a redesign phase on the oil spill housing. For convenience’s sake, I’ve decided to call it the ‘spillinator.’ Here are shown the first two levels. Note that these are 8’x20’x8.5′ intermodal shipping containers. In this design, there … Continue reading

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