How Many Final Fantasy Fans Do We Have In The Audience Today? I Found Something You Guys MIGHT Like.

How many Final Fantasy fans do we have in the audience today? I found something you guys MIGHT like. Maybe. 

A long time ago my brother and I used to make tops out of Legos and battle to see whose top could keep spinning the longest while battering the other top. It was really fun - I remember making size classes, battle arenas, entire tournaments, and, most importantly, dozens upon dozens of tops. My brother was the strength player, building tops that could withstand multiple hits while dishing out some of their own; of course, being the smart guy, I made intricate stuff (that didn't always hold its own).

Today I stumbled on one of my favorites.

Please excuse the poor photography.

This is Jet. It's rather large and has a defensive feel to it, but other than that, it kinda looks like a boring old top, doesn't it?

Well why don't we open it up for a sec.

Jet's not-so-boring insides.

On the inside lies a giant machine! Jet actually takes in the wind rushing by it to propel it longer than it would normally go and to help keep it stable.

I would have zoomed in, but my camera got fuzzier when I got closer, so I recreated it in Lego Digital Designer instead:

Now with an actual color scheme!

And here's a better view of the insides.

The central shaft on each wing is the intake. The wind is split into two streams, one of which helps with stability, while the other keeps it spinning longer.

One more picture (last one, I promise!).

A diagram of the wind direction.

Air comes in through the pink and green lines. The green intake spirals within each chamber until it is let out on the bottom. Having one of these on each wing helps push back if any one of them leans toward the ground.

The pink streams are all directed toward the center. As a result of the way they're let in, they spiral around in the center (yellow circle) until being let out through the orange outputs. However, the outputs are small, so it takes a little pressure to get through.

I bet none of the physics actually works like this, but I did test what happens if I just block off the intakes entirely. Not only did it output less air (you can feel the whirlwind it creates normally), it also consistently spun for less time. This wasn't because I spun it with less power, mind you - I tried this multiple times, and every time I tried to be consistent.

I wonder if something like this could be applied to actually important things, or if it would be practical at all. Probably not; in our competitions, my brother broke this one a couple of times.

Here's the file I made, if you want to have a look.

Hey man you should get a tumblr, it's this cool blog site

Hmm maybe, I'll think about it.

For anyone out there who also liked Sonic Rush's music, here's an unreleased track: the original version of Ethno Circus.

I'm hoping Naganuma also releases the original Get Edgy at some point. I just wish I could buy this track instead of having to listen to it online... IT'S SO AWESOME

Today for one of my classes, we had a scavenger hunt. My group walked all around campus, taking the least efficient route possible, just trying to find out what the clues even meant. We went over class time and gave up on the last question, only to realize when we got to the final destination that our teacher had texted us twenty minutes beforehand saying to just come whether we had finished or not.

:(

Plus, the first group to finish took ten minutes.

The song's composer, Hideki Naganuma, posted it to his Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/hideki-naganuma). It was the first thing he put up, so it's all the way at the bottom. There's some more good songs on there, if you browse around.

For anyone out there who also liked Sonic Rush’s music, here’s an unreleased track: the original version of Ethno Circus.

I’m hoping Naganuma also releases the original Get Edgy at some point. I just wish I could buy this track instead of having to listen to it online… IT’S SO AWESOME