

Zero-Volume Glass Klein Bottles: 3D Immersion of 4D Shape - grhmc
http://www.kleinbottle.com/

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CliffStoll
Yikes - I'm mentioned on YCombinator! I'm honored, but a bit taken aback.

Umm - what to say? Whatever I'm accused of, it's probably true. And yes, I
make those Klein bottles. A way for this physicist to tweak the noses of his
mathematican friends...

Warm cheers all around, -Cliff (sunny afternoon in Oakland)

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grhmc
Six years ago I called you to ask you to be my advisor on a high school
research project. You cried out of honor, and declined, because I lived too
far away (Florida.) You're my idol!

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radio4fan
I bought one of these about 15 years ago. The packaging was great, with lots
of funny cards and stickers. Apparently now you get photos of Cliff with your
actual bottle, and a personalised drawing on the box.

I'm permanently on the move, so I've got it stored in my parents' attic. I
told them to be careful with it, as it contains the entire universe.

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Sharlin
I love the wine bottle variant [1].

"Guaranteed to frustrate even the most dedicated wine connoisseur: it's
difficult to fill, difficult to pour, and difficult to clean."

[1]
[http://www.kleinbottle.com/wine_bottle_klein_bottle.html](http://www.kleinbottle.com/wine_bottle_klein_bottle.html)

~~~
csmattryder
Sounds like a friendlier version of the Pythagoras cup [0].

I'd take a slow pour over being drenched any day.

[0]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_cup](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_cup)

~~~
genericuser
Which he also sells
[https://www.kleinbottle.com/Tantalus.html](https://www.kleinbottle.com/Tantalus.html)

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pi-rat
Clifford Stoll is awesome, definitely check out his TED talk!

I have one of these bottles made by him:
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/stianeikeland/2489219187/](https://www.flickr.com/photos/stianeikeland/2489219187/)

They're pretty neat, but people often think I've a bong on display on my
bookshelf. :p

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ecaron
As a side note, if you click that link and see Flickr's homepage, just close
the tab and click it again. I think Flickr has launched a new feature...

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platz
They seem neither one sided nor zero-volume. The spout simply is routed
through the bottom instead of coming out the top. It may be more "smooth" than
a wine bottle, but if this zero volume then a wine bottle also must have zero
volume, putting the spout somewhere else, and making the spout concave instead
of convex, doesn't change this.

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unfamiliar
They are "zero volume" because they don't have an inside. Everything that
looks like it is inside can be reached from the outside without breaking the
glass. The same can't be said for a (corked) wine bottle.

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saalweachter
So if these are zero-volume, can you take them as carry-on on US flights?

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joezydeco
They hold less than 300mL of liquid, so yes.

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lwhalen
I thought they contained the entirety of space-time?

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ElijahLynn
Clifford Stoll kind of debuts the Klein bottles in this video here =>
[http://youtu.be/Gj8IA6xOpSk?t=4m24s](http://youtu.be/Gj8IA6xOpSk?t=4m24s)

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madcaptenor
I keep meaning to buy one of his portraits of Gauss
([http://www.kleinbottle.com/gauss.htm](http://www.kleinbottle.com/gauss.htm))

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jonah
Fantastic writing on that site!

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JonAtkinson
The author, Clifford Stoll, is quite a character. He wrote "The Cuckoo's Egg",
which was (I think) one of the first hacker-thriller novels, which I hold
directly responsible for getting me into UNIX as a 12-year old in the 90's. I
still have a very old battered copy somewhere.

He's become something of a technology curmudgeon now, and I recall him writing
a few articles in the 90's with titles like "Why the Internet is a failure".
Interesting guy.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Stoll](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Stoll)

edit: Whoops - the book was "The Cuckoo's Egg", not "The Cuckoo's Nest".

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jboynyc
_The Cuckoo 's Egg_ is nonfiction, based on Stoll's work as a sysadmin. It
tells the other side of the story portrayed in the German cult film _23_
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23_%28film%29](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23_%28film%29)).

I have defended his curmudgeonliness here:
[http://axyl.us/post/479929158/clifford-stoll-was-
right](http://axyl.us/post/479929158/clifford-stoll-was-right)

~~~
JonAtkinson
I didn't know it was non-fiction! To be honest, I've not read the book for
probably 15 years, but that adds a really interesting spin on it. Thanks for
pointing that out!

