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#mechanism

1 post1 participant0 posts today

Big Guns' backbox bagatelle game sounded somehow off. I investigated and sure enough, all 4 bolts that hold the upkicker mechanism onto the light panel were loose, with two nuts missing completely.

After some cabinet bottom searching and Loctite later it works and sounds as it should.

The old and the new #mechanism - part 2
- Explanation attempts for the understanding of the #reductionistic and #positivistic world view -

In this 2nd part of the article, in my opinion, the #complexity of #biological #systems is taken into account and in this respect the #mereological #fallacy in the old #mechanistic #world #view, that the whole is always more than the sum of its parts, is referred to as a #construction #error in #reductionism.

More at: philosophies.de/index.php/2022

The Twilight Zone has so much cool stuff for a 90s pin I don't even know where to start, but this magnetic mini playfield has always amazed the players.

It has two player controllable pulsing magnets and the objective is to bounce the ball around to hit the scoring switches behind the rubbers and just before you run out of time, make the top shot to double the score and start a mode.

It's also used in one multiball mode, where the top exit scores the jackpot. You can get multiple balls in this thing at once!

Technically, for a mini playfield, it has a lot of stuff in it. It carries two big magnets, several controlled lights, couple of flashers, in addition to several micro and optical switches. It's also really heavy!

The underside is not bare when it's in the game, there's this cardboard-like cover preventing damage and short from the balls moving under it.

video.apz.fi/w/e7HpWfreTDBPoxx

Sometimes you get progress and at times cheapening out backfires.

A lot of classic pins had their playfield slide along wooden rails for when you needed to rest it against the backbox. For some reason, Williams came up with a single hinge version around mid-80s, that caused the playfield to tilt so 1/3 of it was below the cabinet sides. Working on stuff around the back of the playfield was painful to a degree it was just easier to pull the whole playfield from the machine.

The sliding rails introduced in '92 was like a godsent for the people repairing pins. You could pull the playfield out and it'd rest on rails and you could lean it against the backbox at a sane height.

Naturally they tried to cheapen this out by getting rid of the nice sliding rail and just make it slide against grooves CNC'd into the cabinet wood, which was like worst of the two worlds. They must've gotten some feedback, as the next released game used the metal rails again!

video.apz.fi/w/xhtFGRwDLsYfVR5

Replied in thread

Preliminary Observations of the 5 April 2024 Mw 4.8 New Jersey Earthquake
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doi.org/10.1785/0320240024 <-- shared paper
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doi.org/10.1785/0320240020 <-- shared paper
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doi.org/10.1177/87552930231215 <-- shared paper
--
[This is ‘unusual’ seismic activity and shaking patterns for this part of the USA, on an ‘unmapped’ fault, and seemingly challenging existing models of earthquake risk in the region; while a 4.8 is not big, it must have been quite a surprise for the people in this heavily populated U.S. Northeast not used to such things (per the paper, the USGS estimated it was felt by some 42 million people.]
#GIS #spatial #mapping #earthquake #risk #hazard #spatialanalysis #model #modeling #NewJersey #USA #geology #engineeringgeology #seismic #USGS #seismology #fault #faulting #Tewksbury #DidYouFeelIt #geotechnical #NIST #remotesensing #InSAR #strikeslip #mechanism #thrust

Time for the mandatory Williams Fire! mechanical fire animation appreciation video. How this worked puzzled me so bad back in the days.

Under the playfield we find a rotating drum with a transparency over it and some lights.

The game came without the graphics over the drum, so what you see here is actually a photo of a friend's couch, printed onto a transparent sheet with a laser printer. The real thing looks pretty much like this.

New Explanation For Siberia’s Permafrost Craters
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news.agu.org/press-release/new <-- shared technical article
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doi.org/10.1029/2024GL108987 <-- shared paper
--
"KEY POINTS
• Surface ice-melt water can migrate downward driven by the osmotic pressure associated with a cryopeg, a lens of salty water below
• Overpressure can cause the frozen soil to crack resulting in mechanical explosion.."
#permafrost #hydrates # Russia #YamalPeninsula #BatagaikaCrater #Siberia #climatechange #geomorphology #mechanism #process #climatechange #methane #thawing #frozen #soil #Yamal #Taymyr #cryopeg #ice #water #hydrology #infiltration #osmotic #pumping #explosion #greehousegas