Welcome! This is Open Thource - The Open Source for Open Thoughts. Open Thource is all about you and your mind, a location where any idea you have can be voiced, developed, expanded and implemented using the power of many minds.

The idea is simple - it's your idea! On many occasions our minds wander and are found standing in front of what could be a wonderful creation, a new way of looking at something or a look at something new. In a majority of cases there is something prohibitive that prevents us from taking our new idea and acting on it -- feasibility, lack of personal benefits or a question on whether such a thing is even possible -- and the idea fades away. Open Thource asks "Why let these ideas disappear from the minds eye?" and instead asks you to put these ideas out to the world as Open Source Thoughts. They may be far-fetched, they may never cause more than a ripple of giggles but it is also possible they will create the foundation for someone to build a towering new concept.

Open Thource has been described by members as:

Making it possible to record your epiphanies before/during/after their inception, laying the framework for an idea's evolution, provoking thoughts in others and finding the load bearing beams that your blueprint is missing. Open Thource is allowing ideas to survive past the first hurdle! -- Rakuli

It's an interesting forum and something I felt worthy of reading! -- Joshwa

Every day that I wake, I feel the fire within - and i know many are the same - this place could become their haven. -- Damien

No fancy pens, but you can make up with it with your fancy pants. Here's to domino-style inspiration! -- shine_on

Open Thource takes your not-quite-finished ideas and has them developed under the power of many minds, letting others brainstorm each idea into something they may use. Open Thource has Open Source Thoughts that you can expand upon and take away with you to start your "next big thing".

Find out more about the Open Thource philosophy

Well, as random thoughts tend to do, I had an idea this morning just as I was about to head to bed.

I was thinking about magnets -- of course I was thinking about magnets, what else would I possibly be thinking about? :p And visualising the way magnets attract and repel each other based on their pole alignment. That is, the north pole will attract the south pole of another magnet and two of the same poles will repel.

When I was a kid I used to muck about with the fairly powerful magnets that you find inside of speakers -- of course this was what I did as a kid, what else would I possibly do? :p I would play around with paperclips on strings and have the magnet make the paperclip hover in mid-air by fixing the string just far enough away that the magnet's attraction took hold but the string prevented the paperclip from ever touching the magnet.

** Rakuli! Quit your waffling and nostalgic nonsense and get to the point.. **

Alright, alright!

So I was thinking of the way magnets work by attracting and repelling and then started thinking about our desire to find a replacement for petroleum. There is a search for something clean that can power our vehicles. Hydrogen cells and ethenol are options that are being explored but...

What if we removed the need for fuel at all and instead employed the power found in magnets?


Here is what I envision as a way we could propel our "cars" using magnets...


Overlay the existing road infrastructure with magnetic material with the north pole facing the sky. This would provide the foundation.

Our actual cars could then be comprised of a strong magnet forming the floor of the car. The north pole of this floor magnet faces the ground (the north pole of the surface magnet). This creates the magnetic repulsion that suspends the car above the surface. The car is a weighted to a point where it remains a designated distance from the surface (say 30cm).

We now have a car that is suspended above the road so much of the friction found in land travel is removed leaving us to devise a way to propel the vehicle.

Propulsion could come from an electro-magnet in the front of the car, this can be powered up and down to control speed. The car is also heavily weighted at the back to avoid it tipping forwards onto its nose when the front magnet is active.

Now, the magnet at the front of the car has its south pole at a 45 degree angle facing down towards the road. When the magnet is active, it is attracted to the north pole of the road. Due to the weight at the back of the car preventing the front magnet from meeting the road, it is propelled along the road due to the angle it is facing. So...

Using no power except that required to power the front magnet, we create "flight" using magnet repulsion and attraction.


I have rushed to write this as I didn't want it to disappear but I am unsure how credible or possible this is. I will have a look into it and come up with some diagrams to illustrate my meaning better. I would appreciate any informed feedback or elaborations you might have on this.

Thanks for listening.

Latest Alien Discovery on Earth...?!

By - Jahphill
June 15, 2008, 01:41:33 PM

Hey..
Found this the other day, its brand new, and thought this might be the place to disgus it =D



Im to lazy to find the youtube video of it.. but its out there =]


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By - KarlDorn
March 22, 2008, 06:53:37 AM

There are old sewing machines that were powered by foot.  Why can't this concept be brought over to powering laptops so that we don't have to worry about finding electrical outlets or having the battery go dead?  Perhaps though, this wouldn't work with typical laptops becaus ....Read More

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By - Rakuli
March 03, 2008, 09:44:59 PM

I wake and cringe knowing that I will again wish a third of my day away
Time passes, eyes open day after day wishing it to be over
On a long enough line I know that I am wishing a third of my life away
But to depart is to enter an unknown, a potential return to idleness
 
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