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These are the notes for "The Best Gifts Come from the Heart."


"The best gifts come from the heart, not the store."
-- Sarah Dessen

See Halley's Italian brocade gift box and jeweled flash drive.

Dendropolycarbonate is a gizmotronic material made from leaves, which resembles clear plastic. The rigid form is lighter and stronger than glass. The semirigid form is more elastic, rebounding to its original shape. The soft form is flexible and resilient. Although naturally clear, it can be tinted in various colors, or attached to smartware that changes it between clear or clouded. Originally biodegradable, it can be treated to make it last longer and resist scratching or yellowing. It is cheap to make, although doing so in mass quantity would require investing in a new factory. Dendropolycarbonate is something Halley invented after China tried to steal Edison's car plans. The formula was presented to the Marionettes as a gift, with the stipulation of keeping it out of Chinese hands. It was first used by Ferrari, and later passed along to Lamborghini to keep things sporting. Compare with other types of plastic such as polycarbonate, which can be made into sheeting. Polycarbonate can also be used to make upholstery fabric or imitation leather. These are less environmentally friendly than dendropolycarbonate.

[From "A Boycott with Teeth" by Dialecticdreamer]
"If Edison’s patents have been compromised enough to give the Chinese a way to beat him to production, I am going to take a dive into chemistry, create a plastic that’s made from… I don’t know, leaves or something, and make sure that it doesn’t cause more pollution than the average box fan to produce." Halley crossed thon’s arms. "Then I’m giving the process away, with conditions to keep it OUT of Chinese hands."

A skill tree is a set of techniques organized into a logical progression that shows which ones someone should learn first and how to move from easy ones to harder ones. This most often appears in games, but applies to many other situations such as card magic or computer programming. It is much easier to acquire new skills in this format, because you don't frustrate yourself trying to learn things that are too hard or waste time on things you don't need. SkillBonsai is one example of a site that offers skill trees on different topics. Some people find it helpful to view life as a game, such as this strategy guide. In this case, Halley decided to cram a new field, chemistry, where thon only had basic (probably high school or college level) knowledge. Raising that to professional level required identifying the skills needed to achieve a goal (Gizmology: Chemistry) and then sorting those into a logical progression to learn. A teacher familiar with chemistry, Mr. Fortino, was able to help design an efficient skill tree based on what Halley wanted to accomplish, which was inventing new materials.

Safety glass includes tempered and laminated versions.
https://www.pleasantonglass.com/whats-difference-safety-glass-regular-glass/
https://www.karseyglass.com/single-post/2019/06/24/tempered-glass-vs-laminated-glass

Lamborghini is making zoom wagons for Italian police.

Ferrari makes zoom wagons for the Mafia. (Enzo had some shady friends, and was always a rival of Lamborghini.) See the exterior and the interior.

Semi-synthetic fiber, such as rayon, comes from a natural source but requires chemical processing.

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