I got my sister one of these a while ago. The series of pictures of the bottle being packed and shipped, along with (iirc) the handwritten note that it came with, were absolutely delightful. 11/10 would recommend and buy again. :)
Get an Acme Klein Bottle
71–80 of 84 posts
Re: Get an Acme Klein Bottle
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wish I lived in the area, I would love to meet Mr. Stoll. I only recently watched The Cuckoo's Egg, which is from the 1980s and which he is the star of. A tremendously interesting story for anyone unfamiliar with it who uses this site I am sure, he was basically the first person to really track international hackers and did so at a time when law enforcement didn't even know if any laws had been broken despite milit…
It's funny, I've read "The Cuckoo's Egg," Clifford Stoll's book, probably twenty times now. I had no idea there was a documentary about it (The KGB, The Computer, and Me - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308449/ ) until just now so thanks.
"CYBERPUNK: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier"[1] was pretty interesting related reading, as it covers the same story from from the other side. (DISCLAIMER: I read the book quite many years ago..)
https://www.amazon.com/CYBERPUNK-Outlaws-Hackers-Computer-Fr...
Re: Get an Acme Klein Bottle
#73https://youtube.com/watch?v=-k3mVnRlQLU
and "Klein Bottles": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAsICMPwGPY
Re: Get an Acme Klein Bottle
#74Oh, man, this nearly brought tears to my eyes...
An ACME Klein bottle was my first purchase of a physical object from the internet, more than 20 years ago.
I was a teen, then, and my father was going to buy it for my birthday. At the time, it seemed wickedly crazy that you could just make a few mouse clicks on a computer and have a physical object delivered to your home. If I recall correctly, we had to send a credit card number by fax! We were really scared that something bad would happen.
A few weeks later we received the package with the Klein bottle in it, but unfortunately it was broken. It was just a small crack on one side, but thick enough that it leaked water when it was "filled". I remember being very excited and very disappointed at the same time. Then, I sent a mail to Cliff explaining that my bottle arrived a bit broken, but I could not really prove it (there were no ubiquitous digital cameras back then), just to inform him to try to make the packaging safer. He replied immediately something like "Oh, sorry about that! No big deal, I'm sending you a new one." And indeed he did. I was in awe!
To this day, both klein bottles are proudly displayed at my home, and I count them among my most prized possessions, together with a few old editions of math books. The chipped one is actually more visible since I am less afraid that it breaks! The good one, is reserved for running water experiments on special days.
Thank you Cliff, we love your glasswork!
Re: Get an Acme Klein Bottle
#75Hot tip: Cliff only charges for the prime numbered bottles in each order (or at least he did, many years ago). I made a group order with friends and ordered 16.
So, it is better to order them individually, then it's free!
Re: Get an Acme Klein Bottle
#76I finally broke down and ordered one, and an hour later I got an email from Cliff Stoll with a long series of photographs of him packaging my Klein Bottle – including the packaging and invoicing, with my name on it.
Sure — the photos are as much fo me as you. When I make a missteake, I can look at the pix and see how to prevent the goofup next time.
I was impressed.
Re: Get an Acme Klein Bottle
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm fairly certain his robot was designed and built before Arduino's existed. The barrier to building robots and electronics has come way down in the past 15 years.
Funny you should mention it— I built a line-following system into the forklift, using an Arduino: I put a row of 16 downward pointing leds on the bottom of the chassis; the Arduino sequentially scanned all 16 leds. A photocell detected reflected light from the floor, and fed this into the Arduino’s analog input. In turn, this let the Arduino decide which side of the line it was on, and how much to turn to get back on…
>it turned out to be more reliable (and fun) to simply move it using a RC controller.
Perhaps this is a small scale look into the future of the self driving car industry.
Re: Get an Acme Klein Bottle
#78I bet Cliff gets an "HN Bump" in sales !
Re: Get an Acme Klein Bottle
#79And so were we, my CZ / PL friend, so were we. Ptazec and Still for the win. Two legends in the same thread.
Re: Get an Acme Klein Bottle
#80I fondly remember when Clifford Stool's family pictures were leaked for a couple of months through Google Images. Really loved to see hus train adventures with his grand daughter and in general how toxic and subconsciously intrusive Google is. You others missed out but I did truly enjoy it. Welcome to the Google Bezos future.