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The man with 1,000 Klein Bottles UNDER his house - Numberphile

Numberphile8 HN recommenders · recommended in 8 months, 2015-2024
YouTube
2.2M views · 11 years ago · interview · evergreen

Numberphile visits Cliff Stoll, the man behind ACME Klein Bottles, and sees how he stores a thousand glass Klein bottles in a crawlspace under his house. A remote-controlled forklift fetches them.

HN commenters love Cliff Stoll's earnest, playful personality and point to this as a delightful look at his unusual warehouse.

Recreational & visual mathMagic, puzzles & curiosities#cliffstoll#kleinbottle#numberphile#acmekleinbottles#eccentricmakers

14 comments from Hacker News

@superice2024 · in “Acme Klein Bottle”

If you don't happen to have the time to visit him, here is a playlist of videos Numberphile did on Klein Bottles, his basement warehouse, the intrinsic curvature of pizza, and a whole bunch of other interesting things: ▶ this video

RecommendsView on HN
@fsckboy2024 · in “The KGB, the Computer and Me – The Cuckoo's Egg Story (1990) [video]”

this numberphile/Cliff Stoll video is on a different topic, klein bottles... or maybe more the travelling salesman/knapsack problem, but it's a must see. Cliff is a cool guy (whose geewhiz excitement I can only take in small doses but) he's worth following ▶ this video

Strongly recommendsView on HN
@jacknews2023 · in “How a Berkeley Eccentric Beat the Russians – Then Made Useless, Wondrous Objects”

Bah they forgot to mention the best bit. He keeps already-made klein bottles in the crawlspace under his house, and built a remote controlled fpv mini-forklift to retrieve them on demand: ▶ this video

RecommendsView on HN
@JshWright2021 · in “4D Toys: Klein Bottles”

No discussion of Klein bottles would be complete without mentioning Cliff Stoll's Acme Klein Bottle company. link His warehouse is pretty unique: ▶ this video

CitesView on HN
@lopis2021 · in “A foreign seller has hijacked my Amazon Klein bottle listing”

So in 2015 [1] you said you ordered enough bottles for about 10 years, but you're already running out? That's quite the success story you have there! [1] ▶ this video

CitesView on HN
@garaetjjte2021 · in “Running a fake power plant on the internet for a month”

Everything this guy does is hilarious and entertaining. See later talk about this event: link And he drives RC forklift under his house to store Klein bottles he's selling! ▶ this video

RecommendsView on HN
@jacobolus2020 · in “Earnestness”

> Earnestness, for example, is pretty far away from my conception of "playful" or "flirty" or even "fun". Cliff Stoll is the most earnest person I have talked to in the past year, and also one of the most playful and fun. See e.g. ▶ this video I think you have a non-standard personal definition of “earnest”. As I understand the words, earnestness and playfulness are completely orthogonal/unrelated attributes.

CitesView on HN
@loco5niner2020 · in “Being OK with not being extraordinary”

> Of course, these days, he's the best dang Klein bottle glass blower in the game. And of course, he hires out the manufacturing. That's why he has (an awesome, little) warehouse under his hour full of them. ▶ this video

CitesView on HN
@Balgair2020 · in “Being OK with not being extraordinary”

Cliff is an amazing person. Just a joy! Every time I see him on Numberphile , my life is made better. link ▶ this video P.S. Cliff, we know you're on HN. Please continue being yourself, it seems like a really great person to be!

Strongly recommendsView on HN
@jacobolus2019 · in “Get an Acme Klein Bottle”

To learn about the operation, watch the Numberphile video, “The man with 1,000 Klein Bottles UNDER his house” ▶ this video

RecommendsView on HN
@R_haterade2018 · in “CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work”

It's been implemented to some degree by Cliff Stoll for his klein bottle business. Or rather, he started a warehouse in his crawlspace. Same difference... ▶ this video

CitesView on HN
@EvanAnderson2017 · in “Acme Klein Bottle”

Numberphile did a video a couple of years ago that featured the forklift in question: ▶ this video Cliff is a really neat guy. I met and talked to him briefly once (at Dayton Hamvention, 20ish years ago). He's a really, really nice guy.

CitesView on HN
@joshschreuder2016 · in “Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?”

I thought I recognised the name... turns out Cliff is the guy from the Numberphile videos who loves klein bottles. He is such an enjoyment to watch. ▶ this video

Strongly recommendsView on HN
@newman3142015 · in “Cutting a Klein Bottle in Half [video]”

You should also watch the related video about how he stores Klein bottles under his house. It's fascinating. ▶ this video

RecommendsView on HN
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