HycoSpeed, on May 18th, 2013
It has been a pretty long time since I have been to a movie theatre to watch a new film that caught my eye. No, we’ll take the kids to see new stuff on occasion, but for the grown-up movies, it is easier just to wait and see if they make it to Netflix (although I will admit to wanting to see Wreck it Ralph about as much as my kids did. Maybe more). Sure, you have to wait a little longer, and since I am not crazy into a home theatre system, my TV is a little smaller that the giant screen, but you don’t have to worry about other people.
I’d imagine that most of you probably know the people I am talking about. The seat kicker. The what-did-he-say-er. My favorite was a fellow back in my teen years, who fell asleep and was snoring during the movie, and then was awakened by his phone. (This is the early-ish days of cell phones taking off, back when some people still had pagers, and nobody really used texts.) He answers “I’m in a movie.” Then, “No, it’s okay, I can talk.”
That’s what you think, buddy. The people around you are going to give you about 2 minutes to shut your pie hole. Luckily, whoever he was talking to seemed to have a little common sense and quickly ended the call. Now, I certainly hope that today’s Quandary doesn’t get you frustrated so! There is even a bonus picture after the jump! Plus, I will offer up this little hint, if you have been a faithful follower of this Saturday series, an item like this has graced these pages before, although this particular one harkens back to an earlier time.
Continue reading Q³: Yelling in a Theatre
HycoSpeed, on May 11th, 2013
Yesterday I discovered, well I should say re-discovered, that I am completely horrible at video games. Now, I am not just bad in a move the controller and tilt my head to try to make my character move sort of way, although I do certainly do those things. I also cannot ever remember what buttons do what, and often struggle at very simple tasks like moving forward, and looking in the direction that I want to walk. Even worse than console games with a controller are games on the computer, where an odd assortment of letter keys and mouse movements and touches on the space bar make different things happen. If I can’t remember if the A or the B button make me jump, how am I supposed to remember what 13 different keys do?
So I was attempting to play an older WWII game with some other fellows on a LAN, and failing miserably, and I remembered–I am not good at video games. I never have really been, and most of the time I don’t feel like investing the time in playing the computer long enough to get good at such games. I suppose I spent too much time during my formative years doing other things, and missed out on my window of gaming oppportunity, and now I am just lacking in that area. You are probably thinking to yourself at this point, that stuff in the picture up there looks absolutely nothing like a video game, and you would be right. But it is something of and related to one of those other activities an adolescent could find themselves involved in instead of just going home and playing video games. So consider than your hint, and see what you can do with today’s Quixotic Quanutm Quandary!
Continue reading Q³: Bill Clinton
HycoSpeed, on May 4th, 2013
A friend and co-worker has recently brought up in discussion that sharks are grossly misunderstood creatures; that instead of the vicious killers smear films like “Jaws” have made them out to be, they are in fact quite friendly. The term he uses is “Shark Hugs”. You see, sharks are really gentle giants, and they would love to give everyone a hug. But they are physically limited, through no fault of their own, in that they have no arms. So what is a shark to do, with a strong desire to hug, and no arms to hug with? Why, they just give you a “Shark Hug” with their mouths!
I may be way out to lunch here, but I feel there just maybe some validity to said theory. I am not really a stranger hugging type though, so I’ll probably just steer clear one way or the other. But one thing no one should steer clear of is today’s Quixotic Quantum Quandary! I have included two equally grainy and out of focus images of two integral pieces of today’s piece of lost technology, so lost in fact, that one just might question what ever became of such things!
Looks like the little sub was somewhat of a mystery a couple of weeks ago, although Batshitbox was closer than he knew IDing the fish in the background! Last week’s Q3 was a whole different story, and clearly shuttle tiles are far too simple for a bunch of shuttle-philes. Nicely done! I like the haiku from Metric Wrench! Hit the jump to see two explanatory images on that yellow submarine.
Continue reading Q³: Hugs for Everyone
HycoSpeed, on April 27th, 2013
Do you ever wonder if Tesla really figured out how to do some of that stuff that he is rumored to have figured out? Like, for example, figuring out how to transmit electricity without wires, by tapping into the Earth’s electro-magnetic field or some such? Sure, it sounds hokey and farfetched, but how [...]
HycoSpeed, on April 21st, 2013
After a brief hiatus for absolutely no good reason whatsoever, your favorite Saturday afternoon puzzler is back to challenge the obscene level of esoteric knowledge that abounds here at Atomic Toasters. That’s right, I am talking about the Quixotic Quantum Quandary! For those of you that may have forgotten, what we’ll do is [...]
HycoSpeed, on March 31st, 2013
 
Here it is, time again for Quixotic Quantum Quandary! I came across this little bit of slightly old tech the other day, and while it is a bit of a simple small device, it has been long enough since I have seen anyone have a need for this, or the ability to use it for that matter, that I think it is well suited for our little mystery game.
You all proved once again last week that when it comes to knowledge of anything related to wood and trees that the commenters here are top notch. Solid knowledge of various properties of hardwood lumber isn’t going to help you much today, so I have found a musical hint, you just have to listen carefully to the words of the song. Plus one more blurry picture after the jump!
Continue reading Q³: What’s Up, Doc?
HycoSpeed, on March 24th, 2013
 
Yesterday I was able to spend a little time exploring a little family history and reminiscing some, which is a good way to spend a day. In the course of that exploration, I came across this little something you all may or may not be able to ID. I have seen such things before, once or twice, but it is certainly quite uncommon in this day and age. Hit the jump for another look, and to see the good word about last week’s Quandary!
Continue reading Q³: Materials Technology
HycoSpeed, on March 16th, 2013
 
Does it ever seem like as a major deadline for a big change approaches, the level of activity in the rest of your life seems to increase exponentially, so that the time you thought you had to get stuff taken care of before the change just vanishes? Perhaps I am just prone to excessive procrastination, but I have a bit of a personal deadline coming up very soon, and this last month has been quite the hectic time at work. This has limited free time for taken care of those around the house things that sometimes get pushed aside, like as for an example, the grass out back is nigh on about a foot high around the fence, and is in need of some serious weedeating action. Last week, maybe some of you were in the same boat, and limited on Quandary deliberation time. That, or maybe it was just way too serious of a challenge! The answers that you seek from the previous Q³ can be found after our little jump, but before we get to that, let’s take a look at this week’s rustic item.
Today we have a bit of old tech courtesy of commenter Renchick (Thanks!) who found this while out and about exploring the mysteries of the world. She was kind enough to include a couple of image, to help you analyze possibilities and eliminate the dregs to get to the heart of the problem. See what you think, and let us know your solution to the Quandary Question in the comments!
Continue reading Q³: Busy, Busy, Busy
HycoSpeed, on March 10th, 2013
 
Sometimes much of success or failure in life endeavors is really all about timing. Perhaps you could call it luck, or karma, but being in the right place at the right time can certainly make a difference. Take a homeless fellow, a bum is you will, trying to get a dollar closer to, well, the next meal or the next bottle, depending on your outlook on such things. If the person you ask is feeling good, or emotional, some such as that, well, you just might be in luck. But if you have the misfortune to ask someone who is feeling a little under the weather from the night before, and just got asked not twenty seconds before by another homeless fellow for a dollar, well, you just might get a really emphatic NO! And I mean, really emphatic. Hypothetically speaking anyhow.
You won’t need an extra dollar to solve today’s Quixotic Quantum Quandary, but you might find it uplifting to get the right answer! Last week, we had a bit of a tag team for the quick solution by Felis_Concolor and OA5599. Nice job guys! It seems that perhaps the town of origination, Olathe, Kansas, might have been a little bit of a better hint than I thought, at least for the Atomic Toasters crowd. The King brand course indicator was suggested by none other than our very own engineerd™, as inspired by his Flight Computers post.
Now it is time to go after this week’s challenge! I have been kind enough to delay posting for an extra day, to give you something to test your mental strength on this day of less sleep (in the old US of A anyhow). Hit the jump for another image or two, and let us in on the mystery on the comments!
Continue reading Q³: Can I Get a Dollar?
HycoSpeed, on March 2nd, 2013
 
Call this a Shutdown style Quixotic Quantum Quandary, better late than never! We have shown that in our readership we clearly have some lumberjacks, and they’re okay! Last week’s old tech bit from down under was solved in the time it takes to chop down a little sapling. This week may present more of a challenge, but if you have been paying attention to the posts last week, you well have a definite advantage. I won’t say just which one of our contributers suggested this, since that would make it a bit too easy. But credit will be given where credit is due, when you ask come through with an answer! Behind the jump you’ll find one more image, which might help in your quest.
Continue reading Q³: Eagle Eyed Reader
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