Zhzhzh & Burdock
Burdock
I was thinking about the idea of making a natural compass using river stones and a tiny circuit—like a hybrid of wilderness and tech. What do you reckon?
Zhzhzh
Sounds like a cool hack—rock‑in‑the‑wild meets microchip. Get a batch of river stones, magnetize them with a strong magnet, then embed a tiny hall‑effect sensor in the center. Wire that up to a tiny MCU and a low‑power display or BLE transmitter. Just remember to calibrate for local magnetic noise and keep the stone’s natural texture for the “wild” vibe. Easy, efficient, and pretty badass.
Burdock
Yeah, that’s slick, but you’re missing one thing: the stones aren’t just magnet, they’re a story. In a real trail, you’d stick a single magnetized pebble in a shallow pit, cover it with moss, let the moss dry. Then when you’re on the move, you can feel the slight pull and read the direction by the moss’s growth pattern. It’s low‑tech, low‑cost, and you never have to worry about a dying battery or a bad Bluetooth signal. Think of it like a living compass, not a gadget. You want that kind of wild reliability?
Zhzhzh
Nice twist—turn the stone into a living sensor. Moss growth as a direction indicator? I like it, but I’ll bet the moss gets all the attention while the circuitry is still in the weeds. Still, it’s a cool low‑tech hack—just make sure you can read the moss fast enough or the trail will be too slow. Maybe layer a tiny RFID tag for backup? Anyway, solid idea.