h a l f b a k e r yAssume a hemispherical cow.
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In the 30's and 40's, airplanes relied upon low-frequency
radio
signals, called the four-course radio range to determine if
they
were on course or not. The system would provide audio
dip-
dahs, or dah-dips depending on which side of the beam
the
plane was on in a radio frequency that
pilots tuned in to.
This
way they could tell if they were on or off course. It's
actually much
more complicated than that but that's not relevant for our
purposes.
When adding wires to already-finished houses, an
electrician or
DIY-er uses a semi-stiff "fishline" or Wire Snake to feed the
wire
from one open hole in attempts to guide it to another.
This is
not so easy nor is it fun, as walls and ceilings have dumb
things
like boards and insulation and other wires and plumbing in
the
way from one side of the room to the other.
What would be helpful would be a navigation beacon that
you
could poke into the target hole that could sense where the
tip
of the fish line was at, whether it were to the right of the
hole, left, and roughly how far away it was. Simply insert
the
beacon into the target hole and align its pointer to the
insertion hole and off you go. The device could pipe out
dip-
dah if the snake tip were to the left and dah-dip if it were to
the right, with of course increasing intensity the closer to
the
hole.
Skull-crusher headphones optional.
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Annotation:
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Smaller species of Mustelid are available for very confined spaces, but they are neither as docile* nor as trainable as ferrets. |
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Ferrets are used to help install** the cable runs in oil platforms. |
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*Even tame ferrets bite their handlers sometimes. This may merely be in play, or as a gesture of affection, but is still exquisitely painful, as they have needle-sharp teeth. |
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**This consists of pulling a leader cord from one aperture to another, often through a complex route. The ferrets do not, however, get involved in making terminations, as they cannot read the wiring diagrams, and have great difficulty grasping screwdrivers. Worst of all, they are notoriously lackadaisical about updating the "as-built" drawings, causing endless problems for subsequent maintenance operations. |
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Oh, [+] for adapting the Lorenz blind-landing system for simplifying the running of cables. |
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Not a Hissing Sid shoutout in sight.. |
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// they cannot read the wiring diagrams, and have great
difficulty grasping screwdrivers // |
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Shhh! If word gets out Biden will set his hand to yet
another Presidential Decree, this one to educate, train and
improve manual dexterity and tool handing capability of
ferrets, to the tune of another $billion or so. |
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He's already got a congress packed with skunks and weasels, so that'll at least be consistent ... |
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Of course a signal emitter on the snake tip would be
easier in that an "x-ray app" could be developed to
show its position. Or maybe a bit of an active
isotope... |
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//Shhh! If word gets out Biden will set his hand to yet
another Presidential Decree, this one to educate,
train and improve manual dexterity and tool handing
capability of ferrets, to the tune of another $billion or
so.// |
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Of course the Republicans wouldn't want that sort of
competition for their seats... |
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// a bit of an active isotope... // |
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An intense gamma emitter, so it can be tracked through floorboards and drywall with compact, lightweight equipment. Cheap, simple, easy to use, lethally dangerous if used correctly. What's not to like ? |
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[+] for the idea.... There's a hidden benefit, a strong
potential workforce derived from unemployed air crew
will mesh well with this idea. "So you ran a new cable to
the outlet in the corner" "Oh yeah, bit tricky that one,
had to start it from a pole in the garden in order to make
a constant 3 degree glide slope... first time in I thought
the plasterer had left a contaminated surface so I ran the
cable around the perimeter of the whole room and
slotted her in nicely second time around, I'll get to the
other one after mandated rest and if you want the coax
doing, well, I'm not type-rated." |
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Balancing the retail shelf life with the optimal amount of
radioactive matter for best effectivity without a big
warehouse worker healthcare bill, and getting it all shipped
through customs could be challenging. I trust Sturton's
Specialty Imports can handle the job though? |
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Our legal* advisors have suggested that we politely but firmly decline to answer that question. |
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*No known outstanding warrants - amazing. |
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No warrants? They're clearly not experienced in the field. |
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I thought this was an obscure British exclamation. |
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It can be, and indeed on occasion, has been. |
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No doubt it will be again.For example, it is far from unlikely that an electrical installation engineer working on an oil platform might open an access panel, and say "Ferrets !" |
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This might be an expression of mild surprise on finding unexpected ferrets, or could simply be a call for his or her furry co-workers to complete their task and come out of the hole, dragging their pull-cords behind them. |
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