As I’ve said before on these boards, when I was still a child, I used to think up these unique inventions (as I’ve said before, some day I am going to have to share with all of you my idea for using Einstein’s theory of time dilation for food preservation). Anyways, once while I was still in grade school, or perhaps starting high school, I thought about a hypothetical situation where someone was holding you in your own home at gunpoint, and you had to somehow notify the police without him being aware of it. I concluded one way you could do this was to have a small remote control in a special ring you were wearing. To the crook it would look like you are just fidgeting with your ring. But in reality, the ring would be a remote control that would set off a device hooked up to the phone lines that would call the police with a message like “This is a recording, but this is not a joke! Please send the police to 123 Elm Street. This recording has been tripped because the owner of this house is the victim of a crime, possibly a robbery. Please hurry.”
For some years this idea had receded to the back of my mind. Until recently when I thought to myself that this might actually make a good burglar alarm. But perhaps the best kind of burglar alarm alarm–a homemade one (thus with no monthly fee). So now, using the same basic idea, once a person enters your home while you’re away or without you permission, motion sensors, etc. pick up his movements. Again, a recording is sent to 911, saying something like “This is a recording, but this is not a joke! Please send the police to 123 Elm Street. This recording has been tripped because a motion detector has detected an unauthorized person in this house. . Please hurry.”
Sounds like a good idea to me so far. I do have a couple of questions about its use though. Would doing this be legal? For that matter, would it be practical? And is there any future in my idea? I really would like to know:) .
The only fly which I perceive in your ointment is that police departments and dispatch centers stopped dealing with directly connected alarms during the 1980s, handing off that responsibility to central stations, where it should be, IMHO.
I’m actually interested in this time dilation idea. Wouldn’t it take a lot more energy than would be practical? Or is that the point?
BTW, despite taking AP Physics back in high school, I’m still not clear on this time dilation thing. Like, how can one twin stay younger when to him the people on Earth are the ones moving? Or is acceleration the crucial factor? Anyone have a link to a relevant site or thread providing an explanation for numpties so as to derail my hijack at the station?
While since you asked, I actually was interested in Einstein’s theories about time when I was still a child, but didn’t have them explained to me (or partially explained to me) until I was in high school. His theory of time dilation says that the closer you go to the speed of light relative to things not going the speed of light with you, the slower time goes for you (or again, so it seems to things not going the speed of light with you–my description might have some flaws in it I’m sure). Back in grade or high school, it seemed to me that going very fast just for the time dilation effect had some flaws. Where, for example, would you go to at such a speed? Soon I concluded (while still very young, realize) that if you simply vibrated at a high speed, this would solve the problem of where to go to (vibrating, you would remain relatively still I reasonned). The next question was what to use time dilation for. Time travel seemed fascinating, but had all kinds of paradoxes associated with it. So, I concluded the best use of time dilation (to me as still a young person, again) was for something simple like food preservation. After all, food with its time slowed way down would seem to never spoil (though in reality it would be spoiling still, just at an infinitessimal rate). You asked for it, so I gave it to you:) . Anyways, as I’ve said, this is when I was still very young. I now realize that moving so fast just isn’t possible at the present time, and won’t be for some time (as I"m sure I realized back then too). Far more practical advances in food preservation will probably come before my idea even becomes possible.
Eh, not to go too far off-topic…but you started it Jim, lol
Personally, I think a centrifuge-like device would work better for your food-preserver…the problem would be in overcoming the squashed squash (or whatever you were storing in your agitator)
Your alarm idea would be fine. But the police would start billing you for the false alarms. For the times when a cat or random quirk in the system trips the phone call. I think around here you get one free false call. After that, the city starts billing you $20 everytime they send a cop out for no reason.
But that definitely beats paying a monthly fee.
I did something similar a while back, although it was a bit simpler in some ways. For my own reasons, I wanted to encourage intruders to leave as quickly as possible, but I wasn’t keen on the idea of blaring sirens and strobes.
Instead, I had the alarm close a relay that provided power to a cheap-assed radioshack cassette player hooked up to a small amplifier. I’d taped an actual 911 call – that is, I dialed 911 and recorded the operator saying “Emergency-- Police, fire, or ambulance? Hello? Hello?” and then quickly explained that I’d accidentally autodialed as soon as I had what I wanted on tape.
The finished tape was edited together like so:
Nobody ever broke in, so I don’t know how effective it would have been, but it made me feel all MacGuyver like and cool.
According to a few websites I visited, it’s a misdemeanor to call 911 and provide false information, even to provide information that wrongly requires emergency services to be dispatched. So, to go along with Bear_Nenno’s line, if a cat trips the alarm, and your alarm wrongly sends the police out to the house, you’re in trouble.
Jim B., don’t know if this furthers your idea, but are you aware that ALL cell phones are able to dial out to 911 - even phones that have been without service for a long time. Thus, any old cell phone with a charged battery would be able to be used for your alarm. And as most phones, even the older ones, have memory speed dial, perhaps the easiest method would be to use old cell phones as the “brains” of your invention.
Now you just need to get your magic ring to remotely dial that pre-programmed cell phone. Course, the problem is that the cell phone wouldn’t give your location, so you would have to yell your address while the mugger was pointing a gun at your head…
Well, it is illegal to knowingly make a call like that. So if you called wolf or just called and told some lies – something willful and wanton like that would get you in trouble. But a security system that made a mistake once or twice shouldn’t be a problem.
On a related note: I’ve talked to some operators and sat around at the dispatch center for a day during one of my law enforcement internships. There was an old lady calling up just to ask what time it was. And some other kooky lady who called almost every night saying someone was peeping in her window. These two were referred to as “regulars”. Then there are people who call 911 to report crimes that happened earlier in the day or to give a report or something… People abuse 911 all the time and not much is done about it. People are just ignorant. And some of them are just clinically insane… And those people never get in trouble.
There is nothing willful or wanton. No evil or malicious intent. So I don’t see a problem in his alarm. Unless it is excessively calling 911 for no reason.
YMMV, IANAL… DSMIUEUIJOT*
[sup]*dont sue me if you end up in jail over this[/sup]
I personally get all my burglar prevention ideas from the Home Along movies. Lots of mishaps, but never been robbed!
I think the near-light-speed centrifuge idea would work best for food preservation. Just need to come up with a stasis field to put it in and your all set. Better yet, find a way to digitize it (a la Star Trek transporters), store the pattern, and just replay the pattern reintegration any time you want a steaming, home-cooked 7 course meal!
The snag here is going to be when your alarm calls 911 and hears “You have reached 911. If you would like to report a violent crime, press 1 now. If you would like to report a property crime, press 2 now. If you would like to report to report a medical emergency…”
