A Long Time Ago My Brother And I Used To Make Tops Out Of Legos And Battle To See Whose Top Could Keep

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.

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

Internal conflict

(WillWare is sitting on a couch with a laptop. Enter Smart Alex.)

Smart Alex: What are you doing?

WillWare: Very little.

Smart Alex: Well, I could tell that much. You're just sitting there.

WillWare: Actually, I could be doing a number of things by "just sitting here," but I'm not even doing those right now, for some reason.

Smart Alex: Then why don't you do something?

WillWare: I want to do something... but I don't really feel like it.

Smart Alex: So you want to, but you don't want to...?

WillWare: Yeah, I guess that sums it up.

Smart Alex: Well, you'll never do anything at that rate. Are you at least breathing?

WillWare: I'm always breathing, smarty.

Smart Alex: Then you ARE doing something.

WillWare: How does that help me at all?

Smart Alex: It helps justify you doing nothing else.

WillWare: I don't NEED justification, else I'll do nothing more than I already am. What I need is motivation.

Smart Alex: You could go make some friends. That might help.

WillWare: And be social? No thanks.

Smart Alex: (looks over at laptop screen) Says the guy sitting at the home page of a forum.

WillWare: That's just words, though. I can take my time formulating them instead of coming up with them on the fly while keeping up with the conversation at hand.

Smart Alex: Yeah, I can tell you're not very good at that.

WillWare: Thanks for the encouragement. And besides, the hardest part of making friends for me is just that - talking to a complete stranger completely out of the blue and asking to be their friend or however it works.

Smart Alex: How did you EVER make friends at school?

WillWare: I don't know. I think most of them just talked to me first. Whatever it is, I don't have the motivation to make friends, so it won't help me do things here anyway.

Smart Alex: During the school year, didn't you always say you wanted to be able to just do nothing for a while so you could have a break? How's that working out for ya?

WillWare: It's not. I guess I did have motivation then, though - I would "take a break" and do something else besides work so that I could willingly procrastinate.

Smart Alex: You're doing that right now!

WillWare: No kidding.

Smart Alex: No, I mean you're taking a break from all these things that you consider "fun" because they're so much work. You just need some time to do absolutely nothing, because the school year was draining. It was your senior year, was it not?

WillWare: Yeah, but that doesn't mean I want to take the whole summer off from having fun. That's what summer's about. This is the last summer I can willingly take off and not have to work, so I want to spend it doing fun things.

Smart Alex: So you have the exact same reasons for working and not working?

WillWare: ...what?

Smart Alex: You don't want to work because you spent the whole year working, and you'll have to work for the rest of your life after this. Yet you want to work (on fun things) because you spent the whole year working, and you'll have to work for the rest of your life after this.

WillWare: I guess that about sums it up...

Smart Alex: Looks like you're stuck in a loop, then. Either you want to do something or you don't. You won't figure it out like this. And with you stuck in your reasoning, trying to figure out how to motivate yourself, you end up doing absolutely nothing in the meantime. You may just have to tell yourself to do something.

WillWare: But--

Smart Alex: No, wait, let me answer that one for you: "But that takes work!"

WillWare: That's not what I was going to say.

Smart Alex: Then what was it? Or does saying that require effort too?

WillWare: I was GOING to say that it wasn't enough to get me moving.

Smart Alex: No willpower? What's your name again?

(WillWare stares sternly at Smart Alex.)

Smart Alex: Anyway, I have somewhere to be. I'd invite you, but it involves... other people. And effort. You have fun with whatever you decide for yourself. (Exit.)

(Momentary silence.)

WillWare: (to himself) I think I need some friends.

(WillWare resumes typing on his laptop.)

Some days I just make things by accident...

I've learned something interesting about the weather:

If the clouds get darker than your morning coffee, it's probably going to get really bad.

This is true no matter how you like your coffee, and it holds for tea drinkers as well.

This chart should give you an idea of what I've been doing recently (read: all summer).

Each color matches up with an activity; the size of the circle is how much I've been doing the activity; the overlap between circles is how often the activities happen at the same time.

It's kinda depressing until you realize that I've had little better to do all this time. Strangely, I can't wait for college just so I can stop waiting for something else to happen.

Also, INTERNET.