Weird and Wacky Engineering
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zooglen
Reminds me of the story in which the police were interrogating a known criminal ...
WKetel
When I was in third grade I "invented " a shock machine. It was a small ...
Robotic lie detector
Clive Maxfield
12/4/2012 1:16 PM EST
When I was around 12 years old, one of my best friends at school was a guy called Carl Clements. Carl was extremely clever and gifted – I often wonder what he ended up doing.
When the other kids were kicking a soccer ball around during the breaks, Carl would be sketching out circuit diagrams in the dust with his finger, showing me how to make an amplifier using a single bipolar junction transistor and stuff like that (we knew how to have a good time :-)
I remember one day when Carl brought a lie detector to school. It boasted all sorts of coils and wires and suchlike attaches to a wooden board. He would persuade people to hold the two contacts while he held the main board.
Carl would start by asking their name – they would reply and nothing would happen. Then he would say "Let's make sure it's working – I'm going to ask you a question and you tell a lie." So he would ask them something like "Are you a girl?" (The chances of the person being a girl were zero because it was a boys-only school). Upon replying "Yes" to this question the boy would receive a substantial electric shock.
Carl would then proceed to ask a bunch of other questions. Of course the whole thing was a spoof – Carl was triggering the shocks by hand using a hidden switch mounted under the board – he was only caught out when the victim received a shock and indignantly proclaimed "But that's true!"
The reason I'm waffling on about that here is that I just saw a rather good joke. I'm sure this one is an "old chestnut" but it's the first time I've seen it:
In turn, this reminded me of those snippets from the Jimmy Kimmel show where he puts a fake lie detector on a kit's head – for example, take a peek at the following video:
Did anyone at your high-school come up with a spoof like this?
If you found this article to be interest, visit Microcontroller / MCU Designline where – in addition to my Max's Cool Beans blogs on all sorts of "stuff" – you will find the latest and greatest design, technology, product, and news articles with regard to all aspects of designing and using microcontrollers.
Also, you can obtain a highlights update delivered directly to your inbox by signing up for my weekly newsletter – just Click Here to request this newsletter using the Manage Newsletters tab (if you aren't already a member you'll be asked to register, but it's free and painless so don't let that stop you [grin]).
Last but certainly not least, make sure you check out all of the discussions and other information resources at All Programmable Planet. For example, in addition to blogs by yours truly, microcontroller expert Duane Benson is learning how to use FPGAs to augment (sometimes replace) the MCUs in his robot (and other) projects.
When the other kids were kicking a soccer ball around during the breaks, Carl would be sketching out circuit diagrams in the dust with his finger, showing me how to make an amplifier using a single bipolar junction transistor and stuff like that (we knew how to have a good time :-)
I remember one day when Carl brought a lie detector to school. It boasted all sorts of coils and wires and suchlike attaches to a wooden board. He would persuade people to hold the two contacts while he held the main board.
Carl would start by asking their name – they would reply and nothing would happen. Then he would say "Let's make sure it's working – I'm going to ask you a question and you tell a lie." So he would ask them something like "Are you a girl?" (The chances of the person being a girl were zero because it was a boys-only school). Upon replying "Yes" to this question the boy would receive a substantial electric shock.
Carl would then proceed to ask a bunch of other questions. Of course the whole thing was a spoof – Carl was triggering the shocks by hand using a hidden switch mounted under the board – he was only caught out when the victim received a shock and indignantly proclaimed "But that's true!"
The reason I'm waffling on about that here is that I just saw a rather good joke. I'm sure this one is an "old chestnut" but it's the first time I've seen it:
A father buys a lie detector robot that slaps people when they lie.
He decides to test it out at dinner one night. The father asks his son what he did that day.
The son says, "I did some schoolwork." The robot slaps the son.
The son says, "Ok, Ok. I was at a friend's house watching movies."
The dad asks, "What movie did you watch?"
The son replies, "Toy Story." The robot slaps the son.
The son says, "Ok, Ok we were watching porn."
The dad says, "What? At your age I didn't even know what porn was!"
The robot slaps the father.
The mom laughs and says, "Well, he certainly is your son!"
The robot slaps the mother!
End of Story
P.S. Robot for sale!
In turn, this reminded me of those snippets from the Jimmy Kimmel show where he puts a fake lie detector on a kit's head – for example, take a peek at the following video:
Did anyone at your high-school come up with a spoof like this?
If you found this article to be interest, visit Microcontroller / MCU Designline where – in addition to my Max's Cool Beans blogs on all sorts of "stuff" – you will find the latest and greatest design, technology, product, and news articles with regard to all aspects of designing and using microcontrollers.
Also, you can obtain a highlights update delivered directly to your inbox by signing up for my weekly newsletter – just Click Here to request this newsletter using the Manage Newsletters tab (if you aren't already a member you'll be asked to register, but it's free and painless so don't let that stop you [grin]).
Last but certainly not least, make sure you check out all of the discussions and other information resources at All Programmable Planet. For example, in addition to blogs by yours truly, microcontroller expert Duane Benson is learning how to use FPGAs to augment (sometimes replace) the MCUs in his robot (and other) projects.
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Duane Benson
12/4/2012 6:00 PM EST
When I was in jr. high school (8th grade), I also had an extremely gifted and talented friend who would bring little electronic gizmos to school. I remember flashers, beepers and a pill bottle set up to shock people. Kids in our boy scout troop called him "Mmmm Buzzz Click."
We'd be walking though the school hallway and he would stick out his hand with the shock bottle toward someone and say: "Here. Hold this." Anyone who complied, of course, got a nice little shock.
One day he was talking about an oscilloscope that he had made from an old TV. When I asked him how he knew how to do all of that, he said: "I don't know. I just know." To this day I find that a fascinating answer.
Sadly, brains weren't all that well respected in the little logger town I grew up in.
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David Ashton
12/4/2012 10:43 PM EST
Tell us more Duane, do you know what happened to him?
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Duane Benson
12/5/2012 3:19 AM EST
David - He moved away the summer before high school so I lost track of him. He was back in town very briefly a few years later with some stories about both breaking into the school computer and helping administer it where he had been living. But I have no idea after that.
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pilfee
12/4/2012 11:05 PM EST
What happened to Carl Clements....?
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Max the Magnificent
12/5/2012 4:53 PM EST
I don't know -- i still keep in touch with a few friends in the UK, but Carl wasn't part of that circle...
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Rcurl
12/5/2012 10:19 AM EST
When I was in High School back in the 60's I got a plastic box and mounted a 10 microamp meter on the front. Inside the box I had a 9-volt battery in series with the meter connected to two screws with their heads exposed on the bsck cover of the box. I printed an official-looking "Marijuana Detector" label and put it on the front. I could wet my fingers and then when I pressed against the screw heads I could make the meter go up and down. It was fun to walk down a row of lockers as if the device was "sniffing" for drugs. I had some upperclassmen sweating bullets.
My Dad was in charge of Security and Safety for a grocery store chain at the time. When he found out about the device he asked if he could take it to work. He came home that afternoon laughing. It seems that he had pulled the prank in one of the stores. When he got close to one of the lockers an employee approached him and asked if he could resign without any further questions being asked. I guess the device really did detect marijuana after all!
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Max the Magnificent
12/5/2012 4:53 PM EST
LOL
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WKetel
12/8/2012 10:46 PM EST
When I was in third grade I "invented " a shock machine. It was a small cardboard carton, about 1x2x3 inches, that had two leads with ring terminals on the ends. IT was called the shock box, which was quite amazing since inside the two wires were simply tied in knots so that they would not pull out. But then result was just as effective as if it had been a powerful shocking device. Of course the school authorities didn't take to it very well, but when it was opened for examination they realized it was harmless. But the fact that something could be believed with absolutely nothing to back it up is still amazing.
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zooglen
12/13/2012 2:20 PM EST
Reminds me of the story in which the police were interrogating a known criminal at the police station. They used a photo copier as a "lie detector" - when the thug answered a question, they would hit the copy button and out would come a piece of paper with the words "He's lying" printed on it.
The thug was not too bright and actually believed the copier was a lie detecting machine. He eventually confessed.
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