Creating a new material is something that per individual, nowadays happens probably one per lifetime. Most recently I received an RFI that requires among the other challenging things a new material in order to be called a revolution and not an evolution of something that already exists.I have been chasing for the last several years two types of materials one purely organic and plant-based and another exclusively synthetic, silicon-based that reacts homogeneously to electrical stimulation.This recent RFI request reinvigorated my stereotypical inventor stubbornness in pursuing the quest for either of those new materials. So I start reading up again on things that could be of use to try new creative approaches to the problem at hand and I discovered the achievement of the team Proteus. It's a material that is almost impossible to cut! The team sees Proteus as an ideal option for protective gear and construction materials. It could provide a barrier against tools and accidental damage…

A few nights ago the Filini team was at our place for strategizing about our next two MTB challenges:St HelensMohabCompany, fire, backyard chilling and some impromptu parmigiana by my WIF-i led to pretty late night. Tim had shown up with his bike and wanted to go home, without lights.
I remembered I had bought lights for night rides with my WIF-i (Vickie). After grabbing I realized the batteries exploded for sitting for too long in the hot bike shed.
A new set of batteries didn't resolve the issue since the corrosion was all over the contacts. Several random advice from the crew were tested, one of them was "scratch the contact with a car key"... yah that didn't work either.
Tim went home and bravely survived the low light sidewalks. Such a big boy our over 50s team player! Today I decided to look into this issue and this is the story of how I got it back on track. Don't throw away corroded electronics, this recipe will work for the vast majority of exploded battery …

You might be surprised by the fact that house numbers are a deco-thing. We re-invented the front yard this year. One more reason to thank COVID from the bottom of hell where it belongs... I guess...We built a pathway to be used when the driveway is busy with cars or otherwise deliveries. At the end of the pathway, there's a ramp and a short fence for decoration purposes. We wanted the numbers to stand out on that fence and work at night as good as during daylight.

So we went fancy and solar. This is the story of how we pulled that off.
We purchased deco numbers, they are supposed to be used for interior but the plastic is mostly UV resistant and the LEDs are sealed with hot glue (as purchased). So effectively can be used outside as well or if you really want to go wild you can use them as a mold for concrete casting. Which was an option I considered before I realized how much welding I would have to do to make them stay in the location we wanted them to be.

Once we received the numbe…