Wednesday again

[altivo]

It's Wednesday, and Midsummer's Eve, and (ugh) Summer Reading Club. Today's door count: 1420. Average for when it isn't Summer Reading? About 500. Screaming hyperactive kids, mothers shouting into their cell phones, compounded by hot, humid weather. Yay, lovely. Not.

Sonic screwdriver search ended early when I found a hand drink mixer/cappuccino frother on eBay for $5 and change, with free shipping. Runs on 2 AA batteries, looks to me very much like Tom Baker's version of the screwdriver. Comes with several different mixing attachments too. Hope it makes a suitable buzzing noise.

And that's the news for today. Oh, the new lamb appears to be doing well. I'll try to get some photos soon, perhaps tomorrow if the weather is decent so there's light.

Comments

[avon_deer]

There MUST be a way of developing a real, functioning sonic screwdriver. Being able to screw something in without having to make contact with the screw itself will render burrs a thing of the past.

Maybe a strong rotating magnetic field would do it.

[altivo]

Whilst googling for photos and information on the sonic screwdriver I did glimpse several headlines stating that researchers in Scotland had created a "real" or "working" version of the screwdriver. I didn't read the stuff, but perhaps there's something to it.

I don't recall seeing any of the Doctors using it to tighten or loosen screws, actually. It seemed more to have uses for picking locks and some kind of remote sensing capabilities.

[avon_deer]

This is true, which is why it's name always confused me. Sonic doo-dad might be a bit more accurate :D

[lhexa]

A field strong enough to turn a screw would quickly magnetize it, causing the screwdriver to stick to the screw. And you'd have a plain old magnet-tipped screwdriver again, but much more expensive.

Hmm... copper would respond, and is not magnetizable, but would corrode quickly. Bronze and tin have the same problem, just the corrosion occurs at different rates. Brass and aluminum are not conductors. Titanium, silver and gold are both good conductors and non-magnetizable (I believe, I might be wrong here), but way too expensive to use as screws.

This is why technological progress is always slow, contemporary self-delusions notwithstanding. :P

[casey382]

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/collectibles/8cff/

[altivo]

Yup, that's the much later version. But I want the look of the one Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker used back in the 1970s. Rather like one of those little paint mixers that you dip into a tiny bottle of model paint, or a tiny hand-held milk shake whisk.