h a l f b a k e r yNot so much a thought experiment as a single neuron misfire.
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A parcel is made with the address visible through a clear window on the front.
The address is printed on a long scroll. A GPS detector inside the parcel advances the address scroll when it detects it is in the distribution centre near to the destination. The window now shows a different address, far
away.
The process repeats lots of times.
[link]
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(+) but... how would you get around the postage? |
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I think the point is that the postman, as he is about
to deliver the parcel, suddenly realises that the
address is not what he thought it was. |
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I was thinking it would be at the distribution centre that the sorters realise it's at the wrong distribution centre. You are right, you don't want it to get too close to the delivery destination otherwise it may accidentally come out of the system. |
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It should also somehow inflate a little each time
making more room for additional post office marks,
and becoming more cumbersome, while slightly
changing appearance. |
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and heavier: make it hydrophilic, sopping up ambient humidity. |
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When no one's looking it should sprout tiny legs and waddle to another part of the warehouse. |
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If the package contained a battery powered flywheel, then suddenly applying the breaks would cause the package to flop around if that helps... |
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If you've got a flywheel in the package, you don't
need to apply brakes to it in order to make the
package move. Just move the axis around which the
flywheel spins, and precessional forces will do the
rest. |
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Well yeah... but if the flywheel were constantly spinning, it would precess in the handlers hands as well, and the jig would be up.. |
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use two flywheels spinning in opposite directions so that the
precession cancels out, then just stop one flywheel as needed. Or,
allow the flywheel to move freely inside the package. My vote is for the
tiny legs though. |
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[+] You'd have to put a cellular transmitter in the
parcel so it could report its position. You could save
battery by only powering up the GPS unit and
transmitter every few hours or so. |
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Ideally, you'd want to update the address while the
parcel was traveling at vehicle speed, since that's
probably when it's on its way to the distribution
center, and besides, it's unlikely that anyone is looking
at it at that point. |
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Does the parcel contain a fruitcake? ( I know people
who do this with a fruitcake!) |
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