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Personal experience, hearsay, unsupported rumors, famous examples, what are the best examples of "making do" with inferior, or an eclectic and seeming useless selection of parts to successfully solve a real problem?
Probably one of the best known Rube Goldbergs was the CO2 scrubber rigged that saved the lives of three astronauts during the emergency on Apollo 13.
I would bet that Danger, Zooby, and Wolram can name a few.
I have to make one tonight by using a collecton of PVC reducers and converters and flanges etc, and some standard HEPA filters, to make a down and dirty inline air filter. It probably took me an hour walking around the hardware store to figure out how to do this with off-the-shelf items, but the real filters were backordered and I need them tomorrow. This one will be running on the ragged edge, but I think it will work.
It should be noted that epoxy and PVC pipe have been a real boon for the Rube Goldberg industry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg_machineA Rube Goldberg machine or device is any exceedingly complex apparatus that performs a very simple task in a very indirect and convoluted way. It first appeared in Webster's Third New International Dictionary with the definition, "accomplishing by extremely complex roundabout means what actually or seemingly could be done simply." The expression has been dated as originating in around 1930 in the US[1] to describe Goldberg's illustrations of "absurdly-connected machines" [2]. Since then, the expression's meaning has expanded to denote any form of overly confusing or complicated system. For example, recent news headlines include "Is Rep. Bill Thomas the Rube Goldberg of Legislative Reform?"[3], and "Retirement 'insurance' as a Rube Goldberg machine"[4]
Probably one of the best known Rube Goldbergs was the CO2 scrubber rigged that saved the lives of three astronauts during the emergency on Apollo 13.
I would bet that Danger, Zooby, and Wolram can name a few.
I have to make one tonight by using a collecton of PVC reducers and converters and flanges etc, and some standard HEPA filters, to make a down and dirty inline air filter. It probably took me an hour walking around the hardware store to figure out how to do this with off-the-shelf items, but the real filters were backordered and I need them tomorrow. This one will be running on the ragged edge, but I think it will work.
It should be noted that epoxy and PVC pipe have been a real boon for the Rube Goldberg industry.