[HN Gopher] Burning a Magnesium NeXT Cube (1993)
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Burning a Magnesium NeXT Cube (1993)
Author : leoapagano
Score : 90 points
Date : 2025-07-10 17:30 UTC (4 days ago)
(HTM) web link (simson.net)
(TXT) w3m dump (simson.net)
| tucnak wrote:
| Is it just me or does this read a little boring and a lot longer
| than it should..? So much of the email is just him calling random
| people... whole paragraphs of it
| wowczarek wrote:
| Dunno, I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was a, well, slow burn, but
| nicely written IMO, setting up the scene and all. Felt a lot
| like reading Neal Stephenson's Zodiac, with a bunch of
| engineers and the chemistry aspect. I didn't read it as an
| actual email; it's storytelling, and pretty good one at that.
| prmoustache wrote:
| That is what happened when you get used to modern tv shoes,
| doom-scrolling on social media, and immediate gratification in
| general: anything older than 2010 feels super slow.
| grues-dinner wrote:
| Alien is my official brainrot-ometer. If you start fidgeting
| and going "ohhh my gawwwwwd these old films are so slooooow"
| before the chestburster, you may be cooked.
|
| Also a good example of how hyper-optimised physiques are in
| films and media in general and the standards that produces.
| While I'm sure Ripley's underwear scene caused a fuzzy
| section on a million VHS tapes at the time, my (female,
| borderline zoomer) cousin, who failed the boredom test before
| almost falling off the sofa when the chestburster appeared,
| said "oh wow, actresses then had such ordinary, girl-next-
| door bodies!". Mind-boggling.
| v9v wrote:
| I enjoyed the emphasis on all the real life snags the author
| hit when trying to realize a simple idea. Really makes the end
| worthwhile.
| robobro wrote:
| TL;DR: Guy wants to burn a computer. He burns two computers.
|
| https://www.flickr.com/photos/nitroba/albums/721575944354804...
| maxbond wrote:
| The meandering and hyper detailed style was nostalgic to me.
| Maybe I'm misremembering but I feel like this style was a lot
| more common 15+ years ago. I wouldn't dream of including this
| much detail now, and I don't think my writing would be well
| received if I did. But there's a lot of character in it. It also
| had more and different typos than I'm used to reading now, typos
| on the Internet now are mostly the wrong correctly spelled word.
| valleyer wrote:
| Comma splices have also become more common.
| maxbond wrote:
| I had not noticed that, I will keep an eye out.
| relaxing wrote:
| I grew up reading this style of USENET news, BBS post, etc.
| I've never had the capacity to write at length in this manner
| (lack of patience? self-defeating inner critic?) but I agree,
| it is still enjoyable to read. And it instantly calls to mind
| the early internet and the Bay area.
| norrisiv wrote:
| You might be interested in checking out "Up in the Old Hotel".
| It's a collection of Joseph Mitchell's reportage for The New
| Yorker from the 30s on - people certainly don't write like they
| used to!
| sim7c00 wrote:
| liked the read but it gets a bit confusing at some point, its
| abut unclear whos telling the story. moved the cube from sophies
| to _your_ basement, from that part. whos you? its like it was
| being recalled or confirmed by someone else not the writer (thats
| good) but not completely put in the right 'person' for the
| article.
|
| totally love that the first thing on ur mind was burn the cube
| hah. also funny such an good opportunity eventually came by :D
| voidUpdate wrote:
| At the top, it has what looks like part of an email, addressed
| to "Dan Ruby, Editor, NeXTWORLD Magazine". I'm guessing "you"
| is Dan, and the narrator is "Simson L. Garfinkel, Senior
| Editor, NeXTWORLD Magazine"
| sim7c00 wrote:
| yes totally missed it thanks. o found it at the end , being a
| note to Dan. had me scroll back to top :') totally comment
| too soon!
| conartist6 wrote:
| Dear Dan,
|
| I am so sorry I went to such great lengths to incinerate
| what was meant to be your computer.
|
| LOL
| a3w wrote:
| No image of the backup cube?
| relaxing wrote:
| Based on the details given I think this is it?
| https://flic.kr/p/vhKHj
| chasil wrote:
| Jobs left Apple and formed NeXT in 1985.
|
| If he had chosen MIPS instead of the 68030, then the fate of the
| hardware line might have been quite different.
| pantalaimon wrote:
| For an article about photographing the burning cube, it contains
| surprisingly little pictures.
| voidUpdate wrote:
| The very first line of TFA: Note: We have recently posted (all
| the photos)[https://www.flickr.com/photos/nitroba/albums/721575
| 944354804...] from the cube burning on Flickr.
| WillAdams wrote:
| Stories such as this make me nostalgic, and wish my Cube still
| booted up, and/or that GNUstep would get some traction, or even
| that I had a better successor to Altsys Virtuoso than toggling
| the settings for my stylus in Windows so that I can run
| Macromedia Freehand/MX.
| shrubble wrote:
| What problem are you having with the boot? Is it power supply
| issues or something else?
| WillAdams wrote:
| Bad capacitor I believe --- unfortunately, since the problem
| developed I've moved twice, and then been forced out of my
| home by a flood, and still haven't gotten things sorted out
| since returning. Maybe when I retire.
| ethan_smith wrote:
| The NeXT Cube's magnesium case was chosen for its excellent EMI
| shielding properties and heat dissipation, but this same material
| burns at approximately 2200degC (4000degF) - making this likely
| one of the hottest computer fires ever documented.
| BuyMyBitcoins wrote:
| This record will be finally be challenged when Nvidia releases
| the RTX 6090.
| HPsquared wrote:
| A lot of cars use magnesium in components to save weight. Another
| hazard for firefighters in addition to the batteries / fuel
| tanks, airbags, tyres, etc.
| lo_zamoyski wrote:
| I imagine having a lab full of these during a fire would
| be...inconvenient.
| donatj wrote:
| Knowing magnesium burns as brightly as it does and is so
| difficult to put out once lit, having done both as a kid, I'd
| always just assumed magnesium was the name of the paint color or
| something - not what it was really made out of. As they'd
| mentioned briefly in the article, water just makes the flame
| worse rather than better.
|
| Seems like asking for trouble, but perhaps it's enough of a pain
| to light initially that it's not a concern?
| cat_plus_plus wrote:
| I make videos of burning foods like jelly beans for fun, with the
| idea that if something catches fire easily it's probably not good
| for you due to calorie density and low water content and, by
| proxy, lack of nutrition and unnatural components like petroleum
| based vax. For example, honey will not ignite unless dehydrated
| first.
| BenjiWiebe wrote:
| High fructose corn syrup won't either.
| bluedino wrote:
| A friend and I lit a bag of Funyuns in an ashtray as kids, we
| almost burned his house down.
| devilbunny wrote:
| Olive oil burns readily; it was a major source of light in
| antiquity over the entire range of olive trees. I doubt you
| will find anyone telling you to avoid it as lacking nutrition.
| You can't subsist on it, but you can't subsist on salad greens
| either.
| alnwlsn wrote:
| This reminds me of burning scrap VW engine blocks or transmission
| cases. It can be done on an ordinary wood camp fire. You'll
| probably want to cut up the scrap into more manageable chunks
| rather than go for the whole thing at once. Then, toss a few into
| the hottest part of the fire. For about a half hour, nothing will
| happen. Then, the chunks will begin to melt, forming puddles onto
| the bed of coals, where they will ignite.
|
| It is interesting that the pools of liquid metal burn quite
| slowly in the middle of the regular fire; you will only get a
| bright orange flame rather than the spectacle promised. Maybe
| only 5x as bright as a normal fire. But, if you scoop some up
| onto a stick (a long piece of steel angle iron is recommended)
| and pull it out of the fire into open air, it will burn with the
| brilliant white flame with which you are generally familiar.
|
| For the finale, plunge the end of the stick into a large bucket
| of water, where you will observe the magnesium blob continue to
| burn while submerged for several seconds. Do not attempt to do
| this the opposite way by dumping the bucket onto the fire; an
| explosion will result instead. In fact, keep all moisture away
| from the fire in general. If you need to put the fire out for any
| reason, too bad.
|
| After the fire burns itself out, the next day you might find some
| solidified blobs of unburnt magnesium. Be sure to remove all of
| these so you do not have an unexpected experience the next time
| you have a fire there. I have quite a nice piece where the
| magnesium flowed around a stick, but did not ignite.
|
| This comment comes with the obvious disclaimer that nobody
| anywhere should try this for any reason, especially not the
| reason of fun.
| ido wrote:
| Wouldn't a sufficient amount of sand (eventually) put out the
| fire?
| runjake wrote:
| +1! This was a relatively common thing to do at the Glamis[1]
| sand dunes in the 1970s-1980s. Glamis is a massive sets of sand
| dunes in California where bunches of people go to camp and ride
| offroad vehicles.
|
| 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glamis,_California
| sevensor wrote:
| One of the more memorable experiences of my youth was watching
| a VW microbus burn. It had been stored over the winter and
| evidently the fuel line had either deteriorated or been chewed
| on by an animal. After idling for a few minutes it went
| spectacularly up in flames. The firefighters weren't expecting
| magnesium and were quite surprised by the intensity of the fire
| and the bright white flames from the puddles of molten metal.
| incanus77 wrote:
| This is a common problem with rear-engine VWs if the fuel
| lines aren't maintained. Fuel pumping through rubber hoses
| directly over hot exhaust is a recipe for disaster. It's
| generally recommended now to replace the lines at least every
| ten years. You don't see them wearing as they do so from the
| inside. Things can even start up after sitting for a while
| after driving since the exhaust is still hot and there is
| pressure in the lines.
| alnwlsn wrote:
| On the '65 beetle we have, I always heard that the main
| culprit wasn't the fuel lines themselves, but the brass
| flange for the fuel hose being a (not great) press-fit into
| the zinc carburetor. And that's after the fuel pump, so if
| that flange comes out the loose end of the hose sprays
| gasoline all over the engine. It's not uncommon to tie that
| end of the hose on with some safety wire, just in case.
| sevensor wrote:
| If only we'd known! This was decades ago, before the
| internet, and perhaps the word had not yet got around. I
| loved that Microbus.
| shrubble wrote:
| "The first round of photographs were dreadfully underexposed. We
| set up a second bar of magnesium, set it burning, and discovered
| that an f-stop of 3.5 with an exposure of 1/60th of a second with
| 100ASA film was just about right."
|
| That part is truly retro: the professional photographer having to
| worry about exposure and capturing the scene with the flames.
| mproud wrote:
| I feel like there was a Wired article or something that covered
| this story. I remember reading something like this, or maybe
| exactly this article, on Hacker News years ago.
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(page generated 2025-07-14 23:02 UTC)