Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with rig

There's no oil in Southwark

qwip — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:17:38 -0800

So, what is this orange platform on the Thames? We noticed this rig east of Tower Bridge a few weeks ago and now it's set up to the west. Makes a lot of noise some of the time. Anyone know what it's for?

Car fuse poor man rig up

Eiwalker — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:29:26 -0800

How to turn my car's dome light off w/out pulling out the fuse. I've got a car -- a van, actually -- whose interior lights won't turn off unless I pull the fuse out. If I pull the fuse out, my power windows don't work either. But it's a hassle to keep putting the fuse in and out. Furthermore, I cant afford to fix it right!

For under $5 or so, I'd like to rig something up where I can have a switch -- say, in the ashtray compartment -- such that flipping the switch on is equivalent to putting the fuse in, and flipping the switch off is equivalent to pulling the fuse out.

I need five things:

1. switch
2. wire
3. fuse (to hook up SOMEWHERE along the wiring)
4. MYSTERY DEVICE to hook the fuse up with the wiring
5. MYSTERY DEVICE that plugs in where the fuse used to plug in

I'd like help with (5) and (4) for sure, and possibly (3) if you think a different kind of fuse would be easier to install.

Thank you!!

Help me play Left 4 Dead 4 Cheap

bettershredder — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:54:07 -0800

What is the cheapest pc gaming rig you can come up with that can run Left 4 Dead at a playable and decent framerate? here's what i came up with.. though i'm thinking this PSU will probably crap out in a couple months and it'll probably be worth it to invest in a better quality one.

-CPU- AMD Athalon 64 X2 5000+ 2.6ghz $60 - http://tinyurl.com/33auhu
-GPU- EVGA 8600GT 256MB $40 (rebate) - http://tinyurl.com/57s4ep
-RAM- Corsair 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2 800 $24.99 (rebate) - http://tinyurl.com/3rm25d
-HD- Seagate 80GB 7200RPM $38.99 - http://tinyurl.com/2kkm9j
-CD/DVD- Lite-On 20X Super Allwrite $21.99 - http://tinyurl.co/39wk6l
-Mobo- BIOSTAR nForce 520D $33.99 - http://tinyurl.com/5podvh
-CASE- Linkworld /w 400W PSU $36.99 - http://tinyurl.com/5hcjo6

total = $256.95

lemme know what you guys think!

I can haz job? will travelz.

sully75 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:35:09 -0800

I'm interested in jobs where you go to some possibly unpleasant place, work really hard and come back flush. I just spent 3 weeks hitchhiking in Atlantic Canada and heard of many, many people going to Fort McMurray to work in the oil fields. I also have a friend who works as a merchant seaman, and does well (although he's often gone for 3 months at a time).

What other jobs are there like this? I'm thinking about doing something like this, maybe just for a year, to build some capital for some other projects that I'm working on. But I'd like to know what the possibilities are for situations like this before I commit to one.

For the record I'm healthy and strong. Would prefer to avoid extremely dangerous situations but I've worked in boatyards and with machinery before. I'm pretty handy and can usually fix things, but not a mechanic and don't really understand IC engines. But otherwise I think I'd be good at something like this.

Documentaries About Living in Hi-Tech Artificial Environments

jimmyjimjim — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 15:15:33 -0800

Is there any one definitive, super-evocative portrait of life on on offshore oil rig? Preferably with lots of oh-cool gnarly imagery? ....that I can buy on DVD, download from iTunes or GUBA or torrent, etc? I know there are lots that sort of fit the bill, but I'm looking for extra transportive, extra in-depth cool treatments. Also of interest: looks at life on aircraft carriers, antarctic base stations, etc. I'm into transportive experiences of living in really artificial (and preferably somewhat high-tech) environments. Very XY chromosome I guess...

How to build a budget gaming PC?

Drexen — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 04:40:57 -0800

Help me build a really mediocre gaming PC! I've finally got the resources to sink a bunch of cash into a somewhat up-to-date PC for gaming. However, I don't want/need to spend enough money to get me to the top of the gaming curve - I don't mind waiting a while before I can play modern games like Bioshock. I'm happy to stay back where the relatively cheap, but still nice games are - specifically I want to be able to play Half-Life 2 at a decent res/detail, but I don't need to max it out necessarily. The most recent game my now-defunct rig could (just about) play was Battlefield 1942, so it seems like there's plenty of great games to get through that were released between that and HL2 (and there's plenty of pre-BF1942 games I haven't got around to as well). My aim is to go for maximum cost-efficiency!

I've got a monitor, keyboard/mouse, printer/scanner and speakers, two DVD/RW drives, and I'll also have a ~300GB external HDD, but not much else I can add. Ideally I'd like to spend less than ~£200, but that's somewhat flexible. It would be good if the PC was pretty quiet. Bonus points if it'd be easy to upgrade it in the future. I can probably put the thing together myself (I've got a friend who can help if necessary). I live in London, UK.

Thanks in advance!

Finding an Object Rig for QTVR

lemonfridge — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 04:10:47 -0800

I've been asked to find and purchase a piece of equiptment for producing (in considerable quantity) QTVR images/videos of products. It has to be as automated as placing the product infront of the camera and pressing a button (if possible). I've found what appears to be an ideal rig, but I would like to explore some alternatives if possible. Ideally we want to have it demo'ed to us before throwing down the cash, so a UK supplier would be preferred.

Has anyone got experience with such object rigs? Or any recomendations?