Saturday, January 31, 2009

DD-WRT for Airlink101 AR430W

The DD-WRT open source WiFi firmware works just great on the inexpensive---I have picked up a few of these routers for $15 on sale at Fry's---Airlink101 AR430W Wireless G router, but the standard instructions for flashing the DD-WRT firmware are slightly incorrect. Here is a corrected version.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Simple Example of the Lenz Effect

Someone posted a YouTube video to Reddit Science of the Lenz effect (or Lenz's law) on block of aluminum in an MRI machine that was intriguing. Since I do not have an MRI machine or any other superconducting magnets, I followed the advice of another poster that the effect is observable with hard drive magnets and sheet aluminum. It worked. The magnets are from a dead DeskStar hard drive that failed with the "click of death", and the aluminum strips are from a soda can. Contrast the way a piece of cardboard falls between the magnets with the way the aluminum strip falls through.



Be sure to click on the video and then click the "watch in high quality" link below the video. It's much clearer.