I visited a national laboratory for an experiment and saw the tungsten bricks the size of a normal building red brick) they used to shield parts of experiments from high energy particles. They weighed about 60 lbs each.
Melted gold is just as valuable as gold jewelry, since they melt it down anyway when you sell it. It might be worth marginally less than an intact piece of gold bullion that can be resold without processing.
Diamonds don't have resale value anyway. They're literally a scam.
Diamonds do have significant markup depending on where it is purchased but they do still have some value. As long as the buyer can verify the certificate and the diamond is of significant quality, size, clarity, etc. it still retains value. A gemstone buyer may offer less than a private buyer (just like with cars) because they are in the business of selling the diamond later for a profit. Obviously, there is artificial inflation from the manufacturers but everyone else still has to play in the inflated market.
As for gold jewelry, this can swing both ways. An intricate piece with some sort of history attached may fetch a higher price from a buyer that is interested in that versus a scrap buyer that will just melt it down.
Similar analogies can be found with cars. A factory stock 1996 VW Golf will only be worth slightly higher than scrap value. Meanwhile, a 1996 VW Golf Harlequin will be worth $8-9k, its the same car but with a different factory paintjob. Effectively no difference in manufacturing costs since it was just made from different stock-painted panels but worth way more to a buyer simply due to the history and rarity. The cars both still have the same scrap value, a junkyard would buy both of them for the same price.
One thing I've wondered, exactly how easy would it be to find a gold puddle after a fire anyway? I mean it's not going to vaporize or walk off on its own, but is it just going to be a little solidified glob there to pick up or what?
Yes, it might flow around in the fire but it would be in the same area. A metal detector would be the fastest way to find it. Likely less time to find it solidified than looking for jewelry on a beach. Certainly less time than mining the gold.
I've found aluminum globs under fires that had cans or trashed roofing thrown in. Pretty clean, since nearly everything floats on it, and easy to spot in ashes.
Once the core of the fire is mostly charcoal temperatures can climb up to 1100C. It doesn't have to be windy or even a large fire. Just need to be burning charcoal and not evaporating water or burning off volatiles.
The fires I have found aluminum globs in were long burning beach campfires and a bonfire to burn brush(big fire). The beach campfires were moderately sized but they certainly weren't bonfires built with 6-8 foot logs.
5KHz is pretty low, it would be difficult finding anything in the ham category because no ham bands are that low. You would need to probably build your own receiver. The good news is that 5KHz is super low frequency and could easily be received with a crystal detector. Antenna connects to an LC resonator centered at 5.3KHz, pass the result of this through a diode and then into a microcontroller. Many have analog input pins and analog comparators built-in that can trigger an interrupt. You would need to figure out what voltage level you expect to see from the detector when a heart beat signal is sent and then apply that voltage to the other side of the comparator. Some microcontrollers even have a real analog voltage output that could allow you to adjust the voltage through software. The microcontroller would then trigger an interrupt and do something every time a heart beat signal is received (send it through serial to a PC, compute heart rate, display something on a LED screen, etc).
If you need to broadcast at 5.3KHz, that's pretty easy too. There are numerous designs out there for a basic CW transmitter (https://makerf.com/posts/ten-minute-transmitter). You may have trouble finding a crystal centered at your 5.3KHz frequency.
I haven't used a LimeSDR but I have used the mini version which is just about the same hardware minus the extra TX/RX channels. It's a great little device that covers a massive spectrum with a decent bandwidth as well. Comparable devices from Ettus are much more expensive. I'd love to own one for ham stuff but haven't had much time for that hobby lately. The Lime rep did give me a mini PCB on a keychain once, coolest trinket I've ever gotten at a conference.
You can obtain a medical exemption if necessary or just refuse to attend school or work for the employer that is requiring the vaccine. You can be homeschooled/attend online college or find an employer that lets you work from home. No one is being forced against their will to receive the vaccine, there is always another option.
I like my mouse with programmable macro buttons. It doesn't have any fancy lights, just a small multi-purpose indicator that shows battery level, sensitivity level, and which set of macros I'm using.
I also like my $0 basic USB mouse that works with everything I plug it into. I think it came with a Dell PC but who knows as the logo has worn off. My fancy macro button mouse never leaves my desk but my cheap mouse has had plenty of travel. Same with my keyboard, I've got a nice one for my desk and a dirt cheap compact one that travels.
Dell sells (because i am pretty sure they don't manufacture them) really crappy input devices nowadays. I sent countless back directly to their Munich HQ.
We stopped extensions since there were multiple exchanges being used on campus so you have to dial someone's entire number. But, you will have to dial 9 and 1 and then the number. Everyone has externally accessible phone numbers so why are we still dialling 91 when youve got to dial the whole thing anyway?
I don't see typical commercial drones carrying major shipments but they could be used for small drops or for ISR operations to check on border crossings or overwatch during other activities.
I've traveled for work to Ronkonkoma many times. The variety of cuisine is embarrassing. There is some good seafood but you have to travel relatively far. I grew up in the suburbs of another large city and you could get just about anything with only a short drive. The quality might not be best but at least there is always something new down the road. Next time I go there, I'm tempted to just stay in a hotel with a mini-kitchen and just shop at the grocery store to avoid eating at chain restaurants every night.
