The 99.5%

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Well, there is the 99% and the 1%.

I think the bottom .5% of the 1% should be taxed at a lower rate than the 35% they get hounded with now. Most of that 1% is doctors, bankers etc who worked their asses off to get where they are, and deserve to buy that nice car.

The upper 0.5%, they rely on things like inheritances, investing, etc. In the 0.01%, we get into things such as the guy who makes $5M a year on wall street, and in the 0.001%, lavish lifestyles like Donald Trump. Tax those people at 50%,  but let the doctors and small business owners have their well deserved $500k.

What would I do with a laser cutter

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Looks like I’m in the lead on the buildlounge cutter contest. Awesome! (thanks internet)

If I do win that cutter, the first thing I’d make with it would be a CT scanner. I have a big x-ray tube that is just dying for a job, as well as a decent sized x-ray transformer that would love to power that thing up! CT scanners require a lot of moving parts though, so I’d need a laser cutter to cut the wood to the precise specs. A wooden CT scanner, heh it’d be awesome!

The second project I’d build would be to redo my ‘killer robot’ into something more awesome. A flamethrowing tank bot! Right now the thing has two 450W motors and can speed up to 30mph, but it’s pretty much a box on wheels. Now imagine that power in a mini tank. I’d add a pneumatic flamethrower, possibly made from some old tanks welded up. Dangerous, a bit. But kerosene isn’t that explosive.

The third thing I’d make would be… this.

Fourth thing? A 600kV marx generator. Yes, 2 foot 300J sparks. BOOYEAH.

Fifth thing, tube amplifiers. I’d finally be able to cut some awesome chassis.

 

Aside from that, I’d make nice enclosures for all my high voltage supplies and stuff. And of course, I’d be cutting things for all my friends. They have to supply the design and shipping/wood money though! As much as I’d like to give away free parts for things, this mad scientist can’t afford to…

The Result of December’s Internet Research: Investing is Smart

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The result of december’s research is as follows:

Becoming filthy rich is nothing but luck. Pure, dumb luck. To be well-off takes lots of hard work, but aiming to become incredibly wealthy is a waste of one’s time.

Take, for example Terrance Pegula. This man started an oil exploration and consulting company in 1982 with a $5,000 loan. Throughout the 80s and 90s, business was decent and the company did as any other would with its cash flow; purchase assets and equipment. By the 2000s’, East Resources Inc was an average company, nothing to special. But then an offer came along to purchase many of acres of land from Devon Energy who for some reason saw nothing interesting with it. By selling company assets Terry was able to purchase the PA land for $21 million.

Turns out, this land was filled to the top with natural gas and East Resources was sold to Shell Energy for 4.7 billion dollars. Terry joined the ranks of the people whom got damn lucky, people such as Zuckerberg and Robert L. Johnson. For the one Facebook, there are hundreds of other failed social networks. For that Black Entertainment TV, there were many failed attempts at creating similar networks.

Fabulous wealth is nothing but dumb luck. However, it is possible to be well off with hard work. Assuming you land a well paying job, investment is certainly a smart way to go. But first, remember that starting early is key to making it worthwhile. That said we’d all be better off with 200 year lifespans. Hear this:

To give you an idea of how good the stock market is as an investment, the S&P500 has continually returned an inflation adjusted 10% since 1976. A 20 year investment account with 10% interest compounded, 10K put in a year would equate to $697,299. A 100 year account however…

$1,653,563,480

Sadly we don’t live that long. Death is a bitch huh? Nonetheless, If you do invest in the stock market and average that non-atypical 10% a year, and you start investing at age 20 by age 60 you will have a gross portfolio of $5,321,110.

That is one hell of a retirement fund!

Now death is indeed the main limit to the portfolio’s growth, but assuming that you passed the portfolio onto your child with $500k already invested, another 40 years of growth would equate to $23,913,323. I certainly envy those with inheritances waiting, however I am well aware that most of the time, such endowments are simply spent uselessly. ‘Tis a shame.

Got me some 4-1000As!

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Look what I got in the mail today; a pair of 4-1000A tubes! These things can handle 1000W plate dissipation, and hard switched they ought to be able to push a few kilowatts w/o any damage. They also have a working lifetime of 30 years, so I sure won’t need to buy more anytime soon.

They sure get hot though. Just the heaters alone burn 150 watts (7.5V * 21A), and the tube becomes hot to the touch with no load. Forced air cooling will be a must when I use these for later projects.

In the pic I’m powering one tube’s heater with a homemade filament transformer, m&ms and a mosfet included for size comparison. That dirty work-rug makes one hell of a backdrop don’t it?

That thing used to be an x-ray transformer, but it caught fire and died. Finally found a use for that nice core though; 0.45V/turn, 16 or so turns gives me 6.8V under 21A load. A bit low, and it looks like I’ll need 12 or 10awg wire since this 14awg is getting toasty.