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smug n stuff
Jul 21, 2016

A Hobbit's Adventure
When I was like 11 I thought hey, when you move one end of a stick the other end moves at the same time. So, I thought, why not make a huuuuuuge stick that went from Earth to places wayyyy far away. You could move one end of the stick on earth, and the other end would move on mars or whatever, and you'd have faster than light communication.
I legitimately thought this idea would revolutionize communications and thought I was a genius.

Anyways, post ITT really stupid ideas you had when you were a kid that you thought were smart.

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Sponge Baathist
Jan 30, 2010

by FactsAreUseless
Thought the ambulance and fire truck noises were coming from my friend's house across the street. IDK why I have a vivid memory of a firetuck in their living room.

VendaGoat
Nov 1, 2005
:negative: that I would find love. :negative:

a shiny rock
Nov 13, 2009

don't give up on your dreams op make the stick

Mozi
Apr 4, 2004

Forms change so fast
Time is moving past
Memory is smoke
Gonna get wider when I die
Nap Ghost
why don't people just dry out any liquid and add water later when they need it

ArbitraryC
Jan 28, 2009
Pick a number, any number
Pillbug
When I was real young in in one of those early second language programs I was super confused at the concept of different languages. I was like "if people say dinero and just mean money, why not say money in the first place". Like the idea that people weren't thinking in english was just beyond me.

Harald
Jul 10, 2009

LINKIN PARK


hot dogs stuffed with spaghetti

smug n stuff
Jul 21, 2016

A Hobbit's Adventure

Harald posted:

hot dogs stuffed with spaghetti

wait like spaghetti in a hot dog bun, or like a hollowed-out frank with spaghetti shoved inside?

Harald
Jul 10, 2009

LINKIN PARK


smug n stuff posted:

wait like spaghetti in a hot dog bun, or like a hollowed-out frank with spaghetti shoved inside?

the second thing

a bone to pick
Sep 14, 2011

by FactsAreUseless
you could save sunlight by keeping it in a chamber made of mirrors

a shiny rock
Nov 13, 2009

the stick would totally fuckin work dude :350:

Tite Barnacle
Jun 4, 2014

Meowdy Purrdner

Grimey Drawer
For awhile I used to think traffic arrows applied to airplanes as well as cars, particularly the green up arrow

Second Hand Meat Mouth
Sep 12, 2001

I was like 12 when I registered my forums account so I guess that

smug n stuff
Jul 21, 2016

A Hobbit's Adventure

Parallax Scroll posted:

the stick would totally fuckin work dude :350:

thx for ur support, I'll shoot an email to NASA asap, I think they'll be real interested!

VendaGoat
Nov 1, 2005

a bone to pick posted:

you could save sunlight by keeping it in a chamber made of mirrors

Had to explain to my brother why this was impossible. He was in his early thirties.

Second Hand Meat Mouth
Sep 12, 2001

smug n stuff posted:

thx for ur support, I'll shoot an email to NASA asap, I think they'll be real interested!

Isn't it basically just a space elevator?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator

Cursed Lumberjack
Nov 14, 2006
A rather unfortunate logger indeed.
"Huh, something awful dot com? Wow, seems like a funny place full of cool people! Definitely worth :10bux:"

Dave_Indeed
Feb 22, 2004

by FactsAreUseless
If I'm on an elevator that gets hosed up and starts falling down the shaft.... or an airplane that's going down... jump, just before impact and I'll be aight.

Second Hand Meat Mouth
Sep 12, 2001

VendaGoat posted:

Had to explain to my brother why this was impossible. He was in his early thirties.

We actually do "store photons" on a regular basis in a different way: inside a resonant cavity. Once the photon enters the cavity, it remains there as a standing wave (rather than traveling in a circle as you suggest). Losses in the cavity cause the photons to be eventually absorbed. To my knowledge no optical or microwave cavity will preserve a photon for more than about 1 second, and they typically can't store many photons (maybe a few billion or even trillion, but that's a tiny amount of energy). But yes, conceivably you could make a resonant cavity with such little loss that you could store a photon for a year, and conceivably this cavity could be robust enough to hold the ~10401040 or so photons that hit the Earth in a day, but realistically probably not.

Valko
Sep 18, 2015

When I was five I used to think firemen sprayed fire on houses instead of water. I guy in my class father was a fireman and he used to threaten us by saying his father would come and spray fire on our homes.

VendaGoat
Nov 1, 2005

500 good dogs posted:

We actually do "store photons" on a regular basis in a different way: inside a resonant cavity. Once the photon enters the cavity, it remains there as a standing wave (rather than traveling in a circle as you suggest). Losses in the cavity cause the photons to be eventually absorbed. To my knowledge no optical or microwave cavity will preserve a photon for more than about 1 second, and they typically can't store many photons (maybe a few billion or even trillion, but that's a tiny amount of energy). But yes, conceivably you could make a resonant cavity with such little loss that you could store a photon for a year, and conceivably this cavity could be robust enough to hold the ~10401040 or so photons that hit the Earth in a day, but realistically probably not.

So nothing actually like a box of regular house mirrors? Gotcha.

Second Hand Meat Mouth
Sep 12, 2001

VendaGoat posted:

So nothing actually like a box of regular house mirrors? Gotcha.

idk I didn't read it

smug n stuff
Jul 21, 2016

A Hobbit's Adventure

kinda but I thought you could use it to communicate instantaneously
like you could push one end of the cable in a morse code pattern or something, and the other end would move at the exact same time, so you could communicate faster than the speed of light.
Space Elevators are different I think?

Dave_Indeed
Feb 22, 2004

by FactsAreUseless

VendaGoat posted:

So nothing actually like a box of regular house mirrors? Gotcha.

Same concept you stupid bitch.

Your brother is a genius and you're a loving idiot.

God.

ArbitraryC
Jan 28, 2009
Pick a number, any number
Pillbug

VendaGoat posted:

Had to explain to my brother why this was impossible. He was in his early thirties.

To be fair it's sorta possible, you could hypothetically capture photons bouncin around in a container made out of mirrors, you'd just lose them over time by nature of how mirrors work. Sorta like how there's no such thing as a perfect thermos, only on a much shorter timescale.

phasmid
Jan 16, 2015

Booty Shaker
SILENT MAJORITY
Pictures were black and white because no color existed before the 60s or so.

ArbitraryC
Jan 28, 2009
Pick a number, any number
Pillbug
when I had to read the giver I had the dumb "what if the blue I see is different from the blue you see" stoner moment.

Second Hand Meat Mouth
Sep 12, 2001

smug n stuff posted:

kinda but I thought you could use it to communicate instantaneously
like you could push one end of the cable in a morse code pattern or something, and the other end would move at the exact same time, so you could communicate faster than the speed of light.
Space Elevators are different I think?

oh I get it now, that's a good idea you should call nasa

VendaGoat
Nov 1, 2005
Lotta people :salt: about mirrors not working at 100% efficiency.

Light boxes, controversial subject, who knew? :shrug:

Harald
Jul 10, 2009

LINKIN PARK


i think the trick is you could never close the box fast enough

the good fax machine
Feb 26, 2007

by Nyc_Tattoo
I was going to build a trading card shop in my front yard out of old fence wood. I'm sure it would have been code compliant. :downs:

Second Hand Meat Mouth
Sep 12, 2001

VendaGoat posted:

Lotta people :salt: about mirrors not working at 100% efficiency.

Light boxes, controversial subject, who knew? :shrug:

nice meltdown

Toadvine
Mar 16, 2009
Please disregard my advice w/r/t history.
for like, far too long I was hung up on the question of whether everybody perceived colors differently

myDad
Jan 20, 2010

ce n'est pas ma mère
College Slice
A gun that shoots swords

a shiny rock
Nov 13, 2009

Valko posted:

When I was five I used to think firemen sprayed fire on houses instead of water. I guy in my class father was a fireman and he used to threaten us by saying his father would come and spray fire on our homes.

lol that owns

Dave_Indeed
Feb 22, 2004

by FactsAreUseless

Oh my god, everyone.

Who popped a quarter in this water head?

Jesus f'n C.

Dur I'm VendaGoat I'm typing on a computer.

Holy poo poo.

Second Hand Meat Mouth
Sep 12, 2001

smug n stuff
Jul 21, 2016

A Hobbit's Adventure

ArbitraryC posted:

when I had to read the giver I had the dumb "what if the blue I see is different from the blue you see" stoner moment.

I remember having that moment, it seriously freaked me out! I was 11, that was a good age for idiot ideas for me.

VendaGoat
Nov 1, 2005
I thought brown cows gave chocolate milk.

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a bone to pick
Sep 14, 2011

by FactsAreUseless
a plane can take off on a big enough treadmill

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