enthusiams: linear motors, full bridge rectifiers

1) Sorry if everyone alreay is completely hip to this, but it was new
to me. Go to baldor.com (or your favorite motor mfr) and request
their "linear motion products" or equiv catalog. I had no idea this
stuff existed--linear motors existed only in futurama fantasies of
bullet trains in faraway lands. But no--future generations won't need
no stinkin' ballscrews. Baldor even makes an X-Y motor, like the
physics class hockey puck on an air table. Has anyone ever used
linear motors in any HSM projects, or is all this stuff still DOD
priced?

2) Again, sorry if this is old hat; it sure was new to me. Full
bridge rectifier butter pat _600V_ and _40A_, 1" x 1" x 3/8" thick.
$5.00, new/surplus, C&H Sales. The last time I played with rectifiers
(approx 30 years ago) they were big, painted orange and had fins like
motorcycle engines. (This unit does have a precision cast aluminum
shell and a 1/8" hole thru the middle, maybe it'd like to be bolted
to a heat sink?)

--Jack