In June 1995, physicians Angus Wallace and Tom Wong were waiting for their flight to depart Hong Kong to London when they were asked to examine a woman complaining of arm pain caused by a "fall." After takeoff, the doctors returned to the woman to put a splint on her arm but they quickly realized that her injuries were much more serious than she had first reported. Not only did the woman have arm and rib fractures, her lung was punctured and air leaking between her lung and chest wall had caused a pneumothorax. The condition is life threatening if not treated and Wallace believed the change in air pressure upon landing would kill her. So Wallace and Wong had to improvise. From Wikipedia:
The medical kit had lidocaine – a local anaesthetic – but the catheter in the kit was designed only for urinary catheterisation and was too soft for use as a chest tube. The doctors fashioned a trocar from a metal clothes hanger to stiffen the catheter, and a check valve from a bottle of water with holes poked in the cap. They sterilised their equipment in Courvoisier cognac, and began surgery by making an incision in the patient's chest, but with no surgical clamps available, Wong had to hold the incision open with a knife and fork while Wallace inserted the catheter. The whole surgery lasted about ten minutes; the doctors successfully released the trapped air from the patient's chest, and she passed the rest of the flight uneventfully, eating and watching in-flight movies.
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A man in Nevada is accused of running a homemade gas station in a backyard. Read the rest
If you like to repair your own electronics, this set of screwdrivers probably has what you need. It comes with the following drivers: Phillips (PH000, PH00, PH0, PH1), Torx (T5, T6, T7), Torx Security (T8H, T9H, T10H), Pentalobe (P2, P5, P6), Triwing 3.0, and Slot 2.5. It also comes with a number of other useful tools: spudgers, tweezers, and scissors. It comes with a pouch and Amazon is selling it for Read the rest
Farmers are increasingly sick of high-tech tractors that are expensive to buy and usually impossible to fix yourself due to their integrated digital technology. According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, "Tractors manufactured in the late 1970s and 1980s are some of the hottest items in farm auctions across the Midwest these days." To be sure, the farmers buying these old machines aren't luddites. In fact, they often customize and retrofit them with contemporary tech like GPS for automatic steering. From the Star Tribune:
“The newer machines, any time something breaks, you’ve got to have a computer to fix it,” (BigIron owner Mark) Stock said.
There are some good things about the software in newer machines, said Peterson. The dealer will get a warning if something is about to break and can contact the farmer ahead of time to nip the problem in the bud. But if something does break, the farmer is powerless, stuck in the field waiting for a service truck from the dealership to come out to their farm and charge up to $150 per hour for labor.
“That goes against the pride of ownership, plus your lifetime of skills you’ve built up being able to fix things,” (Machinery Pete founder Greg) Peterson said...
The cheaper repairs for an older tractor mean their life cycle can be extended. A new motor or transmission may cost $10,000 to $15,000, and then a tractor could be good for another 10 or 15 years.
Folland has two Versatile 875s manufactured in the early 1980s in Winnipeg and bought a John Deere 4440 last year with 9,000 hours on it, expecting to get another 5,000 hours out of it before he has to make a major repair.
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I just discovered Pavel Chilin's YouTube channel. There's only five videos there so far but, my friends, they are glorious.
As near as I can tell, Pavel's love of trains has translated into his building a rat-rod-as-all-get-out steam engine just big enough to conduct himself and a pal around a good length of track, which again, I'm guessing that he built himself (but please correct me if I'm wrong.) I'd love to see how much work it took to put all of this together if, for nothing else, it might lead to other folks to do it as well. Read the rest
Security officers at Lithuania's Vilnius Airport built a Christmas tree from "items that are prohibited to carry in hand luggage and which were taken away from passengers during screening."
"With knives, scissors, lighters, blades and all other sorts of dangerous goods on it - this Christmas tree has it all," they wrote on LinkedIn.
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I'm not an engineer, but I can't stop watching this hypnotic and oddly satisfying video of tying rebar. Read the rest
There are DIY projects, and there are HOLY CRAP HE MADE A VIKING AXE REPLICA. This is one of those. Read the rest
I've often wondered what having Jörg Sprave as a neighbor would do for your home's property value. Read the rest
Pallet wood pencils. Genius! Read the rest
The creator of the CodeParade video channel made an interactive pushbutton busyboard for his toddler. He bought a bunch of knobs and switches, wired them to an Arduino, LEDs and beepers, and put them in a craft box. It has a simple mode, in which pushing a button triggers a sound or light, and an advanced mode, which includes a Simon game. It looks like something people of all ages would enjoy playing with. Read the rest
Oh, I am seriously here for this DIY-maker-recycling project that's all about giving street kitties safe homes. Wow this is cool.
Making feral cat shelters from an old cooler.
Says IMGURian @petsncharge, “Cat Tested and Approved Shelters.”
We designed and built these durable cat shelters-Donating to the many Rescues that need them for the Homeless Cats they care for...TomTom Tests each new Design
So cool. Watch the whole video.
Cat Tested and Approved Shelters
This is the QA tester!
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I have long thought of 'Coke and Mentos' as a less fun 'liquid plumber and aluminum foil' science fair trick, no longer...
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Marble Machine X is an ongoing project by Martin Molin of the band Wintergatan to create an amusingly-complex mobile marble-powered instrument. Read the rest
At Field Mag, Andrew Szeto explains the fundamentals of building a basic A-Frame cabin. He writes that you can get it done for about $8,000, not including land.
The most major lesson learned is I should have gone bigger. Don't get me wrong, the cabin is awesome, but heck, an extra 5-10 feet in both directions would have been a game changer and made it a little more habitable. But to see a thing you built come to life is the greatest gift you can give yourself in my opinion.
A strong theme is not to go cheap on materials: don't use thin plywood for the interior, don't use polycarbonate roofing, don't build without properly levelling the land under it. Read the rest
This DIY hovercraft styled like the Doc Brown's DeLorean in the Back to the Future films is up for auction on Bring A Trailer. Current bid is $22,500, half of what maker Matt Riese was asking when I posted last year that the DeLorean was listed on eBay. Apparently he's done quite a bit of work on it since. From Bring A Trailer:
The vehicle was constructed with plywood and fiberglass built over a styrofoam slab. The seller reports it is approximately the size of a DeLorean DMC-12, and the bodywork was recently repainted. Equipment includes gullwing doors, as well as working headlights and side markers. Dummy tail lamps flank the rear-mounted fan.
The seller reports that the vehicle is capable of 31 mph on water under ideal conditions, with speeds in the high twenties being more typical. Hovering in choppy water is not recommended.
More: The Delorean Hovercraft
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