The man with 1,000 Klein Bottles UNDER his house - Numberphile
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters love Cliff Stoll's earnest, playful personality and point to this as a delightful look at his unusual warehouse.
What it is
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.
Recommended by 8 HN commenters across 8 different months, 2015 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec joshschreuder · 2016-08 · on “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]
Strong rec Balgair · 2020-08 · on “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!
Strong rec fsckboy · 2024-01 · on “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]
Recommends newman314 · 2015-11 · on “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]
Recommends jacobolus · 2019-06 · on “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]
Recommends garaetjjte · 2021-01 · on “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]
Recommends jacknews · 2023-03 · on “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]
Recommends superice · 2024-02 · on “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]