I concede many of your points, and don't understand some others, but it would seem that this

*related=http://videosift.com/video/nano-crazyfly-drone

is pretty damn close to the nixie already, except for the slap bands and the pretty cover. Maybe mount it on a gauntlet? Then it could be magnetically assisted in 'landing' on your wrist.
I know the 'crazyfly' isn't autonomous, but good software could make it remotely computer controlled. Close enough for me.

...and a compass only points to magnetic North, not true North. Pretty sure a religious compass works similarly.

Now lets see it work with a ferrous fluid (magnetic liquid). It makes way more interesting patterns than filings IMO.

Maybe, but I seem to understand that its shields would be magnetic (or some sort of forcefield) thus making it's outer physical structure mechanical only and not protective ?

I disagree with the fake phone vibrating being strictly mental re-wiring, or an itch from somewhere else being misinterpreted (by mental re-wiring). I get the fake vibrating ring all the time, whether or not I have my phone in my pocket, but it always feels like it comes from the same area where my phone usually is.

Being an engineer, I have always thought that the high intensity electro-magnetic field generated during a phone's ring has somehow damaged the nerves/muscles in the area closest to the phone. And since electrical impulses control muscle movement and the nervous system, they are a little screwed up (damaged?). Or they get stuck on repeat.

You see, I don't get too many calls, I don't answer my phone every time, I could care less if it rings or not, so why would my brain be re-wired to desire my phone to ring, creating phantom rings? It seems to usually happen when those muscles are in use (not just sitting down).

I thought this was really good. Give it a listen when you get the chance. http://videosift.com/video/Edward-Sharpe-The-Magnetic-Zeros-I-Dont-Wanna-Pray

Well sure, it's a gimmick. Increasing sound quality requires spending some real money anymore. Adding levitation just takes a couple of relatively cheap magnets.

When done properly


On a side note. He has a whole series of physics lectures here for free.
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-02-electricity-and-magnetism-spring-2002/video-lectures/

Spinning the iphone - it is possible to do, i've played with that effect with a tv remote as a kid, trying to flip it over once and catch it. That's when i found out about Dzhanibekov effect. I think that basically more mass lies along the plane in which it is spinning, and it either isn't balanced or isn't precisely stable as it's released, and so there is a net centrifugal force acting on the phone in the direction that it begins to rotate (if you don't do it right), gently at first but the further it goes into its spin the more it reinforces itself and it flips. (that's what i remember from childhood, but the wikipedia article itself is accurate so double check) I'd like to investigate this effect in space/vacuums though, it's still interesting.

The water one - this is just one scientific opinion and i imagine many exist, but i can't find any true source on this. My immediate reaction to his explanation about the uniform electric field is to consider the field projected by the cup - prior warning simplifications are rife. Approximate the electric field emitted by the negatively charged cup as being normal to the surface at any point on the surface. You bring that field towards the water, and if there is indeed a more positively charged side, then it would experience a force in an electric field. We can safely believe that the water molecules will fall facing in all directions (fluid dynamics ensuring a nice distribution of particles within the stream allowing us to believe that), and any that are not pointed exactly parallel to the electric field will experience some kind of force. However water can also have a meniscus, which might encourage the water to "stick together" a bit and head towards the negative source, but i'm not sure about that in a flowing/falling context.

The fundamental point here is that an electric field is introduced to the water which responds by moving towards the source of the field. He hasn't shown me anything to doubt the standard explanation, and i don't understand why he thinks that the molecule wouldn't experience a force if it is as described. Without using electric charge to explain it, and i'm quite certain it isn't magnetic (the only other associated phenomenon), he's basically saying it's magic?

@robbersdog49 got the cane and cereal ones, and the teabag one is of course just the fact that the burning teabag heats nearby air, hot air rises which causes cooler air to rush in from the side and below, which causes a bit of an upwards current of flowing air, and when the remnant of the teabag is light enough, it is lifted by that force. As it burns lower, there's less fuel (paper) and it's less hot, so the force drops, so it only happens when it's nearly ash and very light. The last piece almost doesn't make it.

The cereal one is simple, they add iron to the cereal and iron is attracted to the metal.

What surprised me about this is that I'd expect food additives like this to be in some kind of soluble form, just invisibly a part of the food. But when they add iron they literally just add little bits of metal, tiny iron filings. If you put the cereal in a blender a whizz it up to a fine powder and put the magnet through the powder it will come out covered in tiny iron filings.

The cane one is simple too, the finger closest to the centre of mass will always have more of the weight on it, therefore friction is greater on that finger, so the other finger moves more, until it becomes closest to the centre of mass and so on. Each finger gradually moves toward the centre of mass until your fingers are touching. Neither finger can move past the centre of mass because at the point where it lines up with the centre of mass it would take all the weight and the other finger would have no friction at all to push the centre of mass past the other finger.

The phone is a bit of a funny one. It certainly is possible, it's just that it takes more skill to do it. He just hasn't practiced enough. I'm a juggler and just gave this a try. I got clean rotations once every twenty throws or so, which I'm quite pleased with for a first attempt. It feels like something I could learn to do perfectly if I gave it the time (I'm not going to).

The instability is to do with the amount of force required to rotate the phone in each axis. The difficult one is the one that requires the most force and creates the slowest rotation. This means it's easier to add an error in the force when creating the rotation, and the slower rotation means the spin is less stable. All this makes it much harder than spinning it any other way. Harder, but not as impossible as he makes out.

The fallacy though is that there is a strong anti-gun movement. There isn't The pro-gun people desperately cling to that strawman fallacy any time there is a call for gun control.

The number of people who are actually "anti-gun" in the US are too small to politically matter, but who knows, as @ChaosEngine pointed out, maybe that will change someday as attitudes and technology changes, but that day is not today.

However, the majority of people ARE for gun control/regulation. The vast majority of Americans have no problem with armed citizenry. The debate is ACTUALLY about the level of armament. They want stiffer controls to keep them out of the hands of criminals and the mentally disturbed. And maybe some required training/certification for those that do choose to own firearms, just like we test periodically for drivers licenses.

Even the pro-gun people should (I hope) agree that nuclear arms should be under tight control and not in the hands of civilians. Should a civilian be able to own a cruise missile? a tank? A battleship cannon? How about one of those new magnetic rail cannons being developed? If you agree that these types of weapons should not be used by civvies, then you are pro-gun control.

The question is just one of degree. I completely agree that "assault" weapons is too vague a term and stricter definitions need to be created to define what civvies should and shouldn't have.

Precedent is already set. We have a constitutional right to bear arms as well as many other rights, but rights have been taken away countless times (with the consent of the governed) for people who have proven that they can be a harm to others, so you can't really argue that the 2nd amendment is inalienable. Many, if not all, rights have conditions to them.

There are ALWAYS exceptions.

I've harped on it before and I'll harp on it again. Bill Maher is exactly right. There is no "anti-gun" party. We have a "loves guns" party and a "likes guns" party.

There is NO significant anti-gun movement in America. But the pro-gun people are scared so they try to bogeyman you into thinking there is.

German Channel ProSieben - Galileo featured Miroslaw Magola who promotes Telekinesis. Real Magneto, X- Men, Miroslaw Magola's telekinesis is achieved by projecting a portion of his consciousness in the object that he want to move.

Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku : THE FUTURE OF THE MIND: The scientific quest to understand, enhance, and empower the mind.” And his quest to promote: “Telepathy. Telekinesis. Mind reading. Photographing a dream. Uploading memories. Mentally controlled robots.”

Kaku claims all of “these feats” have already been achieved. “These feats, once considered science fiction, have now been achieved in the laboratory, as documented in THE FUTURE OF THE MIND,” Kaku’s website declares.

Kaku notes that his “book goes even further, analyzing when one day we might have a complete map of the brain, or a back up Brain 2.0, which may allow scientists to send consciousness throughout the universe.” Miroslaw Magola alias "Magnetic Man," ( Magnet Mann ) known form Stan Lee's Superhumans - MInd Force who allegedly exhibits telekinetic powers aired on History and Discovery Channel born in Poland and now living in Germany. He claims he can lift objects off the floor, transport them through the air and force them to stick to his body - all using the power of his mind .

He was investigated by Prof. Dr. Dr. Ruhenstroth-­Bauer and Dr. Friedbert Karger of the Max Planck Institute and Dr. David Lewis (psychologist), a neurophysiologist at MindLab, one of the United Kingdom's leading neuro-research centers and Dr. Konstantin Korotkov, professor of Physics at St. Petersburg State Technical University in Russia and Alexander Imich from USA. More [url redacted]

Your video, Nifty Magnetic Levitation Device!, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'magnetic, levitation, device, pillow, millenium falcon' to 'magnetic, levitation, device, pillow, millennium falcon' - edited by brycewi19

The force of magnetism falls off quickly with distance. The force required to offer much pull at 6 feet (your theoretical head) would be huge at 6 inches, so tuning the 'suit' would be insanely difficult...and you would have to stay exactly the same distance from the magnetic force at all times (with all parts) or the balance would be off and you would fall up or down uncontrollably. I'm sure there are other problems, like subjecting yourself to a super powerful magnetic field for extended periods maybe?