TV advice

[Kitsune]

Originally Posted by Flint

Me too. I wanna buy a crappy old TV from the thrift store and play around with this. Make some "art."

Palm a potent neodymium magnet in your hand and tap on the glass of other people's CRTs at work. Neat effect and won't screw with the monitor permanently if it was made in the last ten years.

Oooo... magic powers...

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Kitsune

Palm a potent neodymium magnet in your hand and tap on the glass of other people's CRTs at work. Neat effect and won't screw with the monitor permanently if it was made in the last ten years.

Oooo... magic powers...

Hey, Flint. Here's what Kitsune meant to say. Find an old hard drive. Take it apart. On the mechanism that actuates the read/write head you'll find at least a pair of very very strong magnets. They're likely shaped roughly like a lima bean, and about that size. They may be chromed or painted white or orange. Interestingly, they're glued to the armature assembly. Try to scrape/pry them off. BE CAREFUL! They're very very brittle and fragile when subjected to hard shocks, like being attracted to it's mate of the opposite pole. They *will* shatter if you let them leap at each other. They'll still be just as magnetic-y but you'll have a handful of ceramic-sharp-shards much more difficult to handle.

These are the magnets Kitsune's talking about. I'm sure you already knew that though. You're some computer dude, neh?

edit--by the way, the magnets in the hard drive in the computer through which you're reading this post are guaranteed to perform as described. But you better print out these instructions because by following them you absolutely and irrevocably transform the hard drive from a computer component into a science project. This is a ONE WAY transformation only, no do-overs allowed and NO EXCEPTIONS. But you prolly knew that too. Carry on. [/mr science]

[Kitsune]

Originally Posted by BigV

BE CAREFUL! They're very very brittle and fragile when subjected to hard shocks, like being attracted to it's mate of the opposite pole. They *will* shatter if you let them leap at each other.

I have a set of these stuck to my whiteboard, but I don't mess around with them. Besides the ability to shatter, they pinch like a m-f'er. The skin between your thumb and index finger? Pinching it between two HD magnets will not only hurt it, it'll kill it.

I prefer the wee baby ones.