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Technology Stocks : The New Qualcomm - a S&P500 company -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RocketMan who wrote (5042)	1/11/2000 4:15:00 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13582

*Fuel Cell Safety* Try buying some duty-free brandy, getting on your next flight, spilling it down your front and lighting a cigarette [allowed still on many flights in some countries and until recently was allowed in USA/NZ etc]. You get a nice flame! Safety is generally an overdone fanaticism to the extent that McDonalds can be sued for serving hot coffee and not warning people not to spill it on themselves. Anyway, a teleputer could have methanol or ethanol swishing around the electronics, cooling the ASICs, taking no storage space, providing a bit of shock resistance and enabling the device to act as a cooker or lighter too! Needing a tipple? Press button A! Methanol burns in a similar way to ethanol [invisible moderate flame which burns slowly - try pouring a spoon of whisky or brandy on a bread board or something and light it. You can't see, but can feel the heat. As the ethanol evaporates, the flame finally extinguishes, leaving the watery component as a little puddle. DO TRY THIS AT HOME! SHOW YOUR CHILDREN TOO! They like fun! In fact, go outside at night and pour a couple of litres of methanol or brandy [if you are wealthier] as a trail across the road. The dust on the road makes the flame visible and it looks really neat! Cars can drive through it without worry. You can make really neat patterns too [if you have artistic talent]. BUT methanol is toxic. Only 20ml, a spoonful, will kill you. Ethanol acts as an antidote - drink lots of brandy if you mistakenly drink some methanol. Best not to drink the methanol [though Russian villagers seem to do it with dismaying regularity]. Ethanol would be good as a fuel. If the fuel cell makers can use it instead of methanol and get as good a result. Only 20ml would run a phone for weeks. No big wet patches to worry about. Chemical energy is dense. Big power consuming screens would be no problem. Top up with fuel and off you go again! You could snuggle up to your teleputer on a cold night instead of a hot water bottle! Mqurice