Primer

Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to read this...

and you're going to listen, and you're going to stay on the line.

You're not going to interrupt. You're not going to speak for any reason.

Now, some of this you know. I'm going to start at the top of the page.

Meticulous, yes. Methodical. Educated.

They were these things.

Nothing extreme. Like anyone, they varied.

There were days of mistakes and laziness and infighting.

And there were days, good days, when by anyone's judgment...

they would have to be considered clever.

No one would say that what they were doing was complicated.

It wouldn't even be considered new. Except maybe in the geological sense.

They took from their surroundings what was needed...

and made of it something more.

- We haven't even set up an appointment. - What order date did you put on this?

- The 28th. Why? - I don't know... Yeah, I'm putting 28th.

Have you thought any more about what you want to put forward?

- Not really. - Because I was...

I mean I haven't changed my mind or anything.

Phillip and I were talking, and we think it could be good. It'd be fun.

Nobody's saying it wouldn't be fun.

The time for jacking around with Tesla coils and ball lightning in the garage is over.

Maybe you should try it on your own in your free time.

My free time? The free time after the 50 hours a week at work...

or after the 30 hours of free time I already spend in that garage?

And it's not a Tesla coil.

I could save a few minutes a day by eating on the toilet.

How many patents do we have? In the last 14 months?

- Did you sign the agreement? - Nobody signed the agreement.

Doesn't matter, we're sticking to the agreement.

Name one thing out of that garage that's remotely profitable.

I don't see anybody quitting their jobs because of it. Are you?

Abe just means that right now the JTAG cards are it.

When you look at the addresses, we have a lot of apartments. A lot of residences.

But these are not the bulk orders to the OEMs or retail giants.

- These are the quiet basement... - Hackers.

Yeah, hacker wannabes testing their dads' old motherboards.

And I know that a lot of that is my fault, admittedly, you know.

With everything last year,

and the doubletalk we were getting from Platts...

- and all the stuff we won't get into now... - We should get into it.

I'm sorry. What?

Go ahead. Tell him.

We should get into it. I talked to my brother today.

He knows of two other cases like that at his firm.

Let Platts know that we're talking about it.

Look, forget Platts.

This has got to be about what has the best chance of going to market...

and what is going to get us VC attention.

Look, I stuck by you guys when it was your turn.

And I wasn't 100% sure of what we were doing...

or even if I didn't agree, maybe.

But if it's my turn...

if we're still playing by the rules, then this is what I want to try.

Here, take it. They said it wouldn't hold a freeze.

Robert, please. It's not going to hold.

- It's going to go bad in my car. - It'll go bad here. Okay, thanks.

- Good night, all. - See you.

- We just got done giving this huge speech... - We gave the speech?

We just got done. It was five minutes ago.

I'm the one that forced the issue. They're onto us because I suck as the bad cop.

- You should do it. You could fake it better. - I don't know about that.

As long as we're going down this road where it's eighth grade physics...

and happy fun time out in that garage, I think we could stand to try this.

Phillip and Robert are gung ho on theirs, and that's fine.

But you know I have no interest in that.

I know you have no interest, besides the fact...

that Phillip and Robert don't even need us. They just want to use the equipment.

For what I want to do? We don't need them.

Not even Phillip, because it doesn't need software.

- Is she asleep? - No, and she needs a bath.

- She'll wind up in the closet if I do it. - That's fine.

You know, even if Robert's okay with it, and he won't be.

- I don't understand what that thing will do. - We'll let them go at it for two months.

- They do theirs, we do ours. - They said it'd take 14 hours.

Don't eat that. Seriously, it's bad.

We threw the first couple of batches out. The filter.

What about crushed?

These guys are funded.

- These guys are... What? - Liquid helium. These guys are funded.

That's what this is.

That's the whole difference. That's what the box is.

We don't have to play the game where we're going back and forth...

coming up with innovative ways to make it colder and unusable in the process.

- Aaron, I need the hexagonal set. - This is unmarketable.

By coming at it from the back end, rather than changing...

the surrounding temperature, we'll change the level it'll conduct...

the transition temperature. And by bombarding these edges...

They're dropping the ceramic, the temperature lower and lower.

It makes the ceramic less resistant and knocks out the interior magnetic field.

What I'm saying is we drop the box down on it.

Focus our own magnetic field to negate, knock out with the inverse...

what's going on inside the ceramic.

That should change the transition temperature to something we can work with.

- What are we saying that is? - Hopefully, near room temperature.

What is that about? The best mathematician is a lazy one?

- What did you ask for? - I asked. I need the hexagonal set.

- What did you call it? - Just come on.

- Are these Type One? - The superconductors?

Yeah, they're Type One.

Is that going to be a problem?

There's plenty lying around at work, but they're all bar coded.

- If I have to, I'll buy the kits. - What are you doing about the source?

What?

- I can get them. - You can... Are you sure?

I thought you didn't like this idea.

Buy them if you have to. Everything else we can take care of.

What about the source here?

You know that story about how NASA spent millions...

developing this pen that writes in zero-G? Did you ever read that?

- And how Russia solved the problem? - Yeah, they used a pencil.

Right, a normal wooden pencil.

It just seems like Phillip takes the NASA route almost every time.

- Palladium? - You've got their diagram, what does it say?

They use a ratio of platinum and palladium.

That's not necessary with the changes I made.

They're just showing off. If you have it, use it.

I want to get a replacement router.

- I'm putting down four ounces of palladium. - Did Robert look at it?

- I already got his. - I can't fix it.

- Okay. Where are you getting it? - Wal-Mart. It's $50.

- Okay. Can you get a receipt, please? - Yeah.

Wait, platinum or palladium is less resistant?

- Abe? It's not a... - Yeah, I don't care.

- So resistance doesn't matter. - I need an aye or a yes.

- Did you jiggle the... - The collet nut?

- Robert did it. - Well, yes. I guess.

- Well, then, which is cheaper? - You're not going to buy it, are you?

Well, unless you've got a few grams of palladium lying around.

Why would they put it in there if you didn't need it?

One catalytic converter. It's fine.

Remember to put it back. Your emission just went up 300%.

- Is there enough in here? - Yeah, should be.

If not, we'll pull the one out of my truck. Okay, copper tubing.

- This will be out of commission, right? - Without the tubing?

- We can use the Freon, too. - No, it's going to be room temperature.

I know, just in case.

No, wait. Stop. I'll just buy the tubing. This isn't saving us money.

- Jay? Hey, man. How are you? - Good.

Should we be wearing goggles?

- Should we be wearing goggles? - What?

Goggles. Should we be wearing goggles?

Wait. Phillip, you don't want to come out here.

Phillip, grab a mask, okay?

It is, though, right? It's not just me?

No, it's definitely smaller, but it just seems that way.

Take what they have.

Minus the coolant which we don't need.

The rest of it is the mercury bath...

which you would know better than I do, but they're probably just showing off.

I mean, you have it, you got to use it, right?

- What? Does it hurt? - No, I didn't feel anything.

That sound is just weirding me out.

- What does it feel like? - I don't know.

I don't know if I'm making it up.

Here.

- Next part. Let's do the next part. - Yeah.

Isn't there some sort of glass or a transparent...

Anything we can use as a window? Pyrex?

- Yeah, I'm in. - Okay, drop it.

I don't know of anything that won't leave a gap in the field.

But we got to see what's going on in there.

- How much did that cost? - Yeah.

- What? - You want to put my camcorder...

inside the box that's so dangerous we can't look into it.

If something happens, would you pay me back?

So we have a slightly negative pressure in the box.

So we're ready for the argon.

- Which one is that? - It's the blue one.

I weighed it at 77 grams.

I set the scale to decagrams, though.

I'm showing 7.7 decagrams.

Ready for...

0.05 liters of argon.

- You ready? - Just the plate first, right?

Right, first just the plate, and then we'll...

Let's just give it a second.

- You want to do the box now? - Yeah.

Let's go through the checklist. Aaron, hold on a second.

Let's make sure everything's set up right. Hold on, Aaron. Wait.

Just wait.

Okay.

Anything?

- Is this normal? - I don't know.

- I'm turning it off. - Wait! No.

- Okay, I didn't do that. - Did we blow something?

Yeah, we did. That's destroyed.

- You want to check your camera? - Yeah.

- Let's get this. - You ready?

One, two, three.

Hey. Tell me you're hungry. Kara's at her mom's and I'm starving.

Yeah, I'm hungry. What...

Abe, it's 7:00. Abe, it's 7:00 at night.

- Okay, yeah, I have food... - Okay.

- Wait, are those kids there? - Just a sec.

Yeah, they're here.

Okay, screw that, let's just go somewhere. I just pulled in, so come on down.

Come up first. I have some stuff I want to take back to the shop.

All right, but meet me at the door.

- Okay, all right. - Seriously, meet me at the door.