The Inventive Tinkerer

The Fauxtar

2009-11-14T08:56:00.002-05:00

The Fauxtar:

It's a controller for Frets on Fire an open source version of Guitar Hero. Katie and I have gotten kind of addicted to it, so I decided to make a real controller for it. It's made from a lot of scrap pine, some pieces of steel and aluminum that I had lying around, and the control PCB from an old PS/2 keyboard. The game requires the F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, right Shift, and Return keys, so I mapped out the F-keys on the neck, and the right Shift and Return (alt pick and pick, respectively) to two switches in the body. I'm working on the second generation of buttons, made from the same lighted membrane switches as those on the Monome.

Good Weekend!

2009-11-02T10:08:00.004-05:00

Well, that was a good weekend! Katie and I recently discovered Frets on Fire, an open-source alternative to guitar hero, so I decided to make a guitar-shaped controller for it. I'm now half done, so here's a picture of Katie's Axe in its current condition:

Also, on a visit to Finger Lakes ReUse yesterday, we found an iRobot Roomba 400 for $20!

All in all, a pretty good weekend. More on the Axe, and what we do with the Roomba as events warrant.

New Work at Work

2009-08-05T06:24:00.002-04:00

Let's see... since the last post, I've worked on several things at work, but the most interesting thing coming soon will probably be the chimp-proofing project I'm going to be working on for sound recorders that are going to be used in central Africa. I'll have pictures of the new office in all its glory up soon.

Over a Month

2009-07-11T06:16:00.002-04:00

Lots of things have happened in the last month, but here's what matters:
1. Katie and I moved to Ithaca, NY after
2. I got a job as a "Mechanical Design and Manufacturing Engineer" with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Bioacoustics Research Program after which
3. I was told to I may be refurbishing this shop

CLO BRP First Week

and
4. Katie built a worm bin!

Today, I think we're going to the Dragon Boat races on Cayuga Lake, and watching from the Ithaca Farmers Market. And on monday, I have to write a justification for spending $1800, rather than $10000, on a milling machine.

Pine Siskin Patterns

2009-06-05T08:09:00.001-04:00

pineSiskin1
Originally uploaded by petmar0

I took a look at some bird songs in RavenLite, and when I saw this in the "twee!" syllable of Pine Siskin song, I realized something interesting was going on. Not only were there two independent signals, the melodies were going in opposite directions, and the composition led to a great deal of harmonics. The most interesting thing is the way you can tell that they are harmonics: the slopes of the lines increase geometrically as they increase in frequency, causing what looks to be an exponential increase.
Who says songbirds aren't fascinating?!

New Instructable

2009-05-19T13:21:00.001-04:00

Simple Bike Pannier - More DIY How To Projects
And next time, I think I need to rant about seltzer, and more importantly, soda.

It's been a while...

2009-05-08T06:55:00.002-04:00

Though, in my defense, I've been rather busy. I will admit that a lot of this time has been spent birding, and, strangely, I feel as though that's not quite the right subject matter for this blog. I may have to start a birding blog. Over the last week, I have had a lot of job search-related things to do, and so that is what's keeping me busy now. I think I'll probably get a little bit more update time, but I'm not certain how much, or when.

Trying out Shutterstock

2009-05-06T06:38:00.001-04:00

I'm trying out Shutterstock. Within the next couple of days, a gallery should appear in this post. When that happens, I'll probably put it in the sidebar.

My latest images for sale at
Shutterstock:

My most popular images for sale at
Shutterstock:

The Things People Give You...

2009-05-01T06:35:00.002-04:00

This happens to be a concrete core sample that was found outside of the Materials Research Lab at Penn State, under a bush. The person who found it is the technical staff machinist, Chris Jabco. Impressed by the smoothness of the core, Chris clear-coated the sample with urethane. Then, it sat on his desk for over a year and a half. Yesterday, on my last day at MRL, I was told that the tech staff had something they needed to give me before I left. It turns out that they all signed the core, and that it was now my going away present. Chris said, "That there is a conversation piece." I said, "I'll put it on the coffee table. No, it'll be one leg of the coffee table!"

Ah, the wonderful going away presents they give you at places where you make stuff.

More on the Birding Cup

2009-04-29T21:53:00.002-04:00

The Birding Cup has become an annual event for us. Katie first participated in the 24 hours of birding madness two years ago, and last year was my induction. In both cases, we competed for "The Boot", an award given to birders who spot the most species while only using human-powered transportation. After having won The Boot last year, our team, the Timberdoodles, proclaimed that it "smelled of manky victory!" Last year, we got over 40 species by hiking, and camping, around Bald Eagle State Park. This year, however, we're staying in town, and biking an undisclosed path, hopefully to more "manky victory"!

Birding Cup Preparation

2009-04-26T06:50:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, Katie and I were out all day on a bike ride and hike, preparing for the Birding Cup. We biked about 8 miles, and probably walked another 2, and saw about 24 species of birds. We're hopeful that we'll do better during the Cup itself.
Here's a link to an album of the day:

Birding Cup Prep, Kat's Kids, and Blue and White Weekend

AdSense

2009-04-25T06:19:00.003-04:00

Finally managed to get Google AdSense to work. Hope those of you who are still coming here don't mind, and don't mind clicking a few things.

Let me know what you think of it in the comments, especially if you'd like sidebar, between posts, or both.

Today's Special

2009-04-24T20:01:00.001-04:00

I saw this bird's nest today at work. I love it when birds actually use aviary netting in their nests!

And we biked over to Otto's for dinner today.

Check out the flickr photostream, and also the Picasa page over there on the right navbar!

Haiku

2009-04-24T08:48:00.003-04:00

Long morning shadows
Ever too quickly become
Long afternoon ones.

My Bike Ride Home

2009-04-24T06:39:00.003-04:00

Rode home from Innovation Park on my bike yesterday, and saw a Red Tailed Hawk, a Northern Flicker, a pair of sparkin' Goldfinches, and quite a few other birds. It's funny how much we miss by using cars.

Bike Ride Home

A Good Press Fit

2009-04-22T16:18:00.003-04:00

I should do an Instructable on this, but here's a brief word on press fitting. In the piece above, which is a counterweight for a dancer arm on a film stretching machine, there is a copper threaded fitting press fit into a brass part. I made this by first drilling out the copper piece to the right diameter, as seen in the video, tapping the hole for a 1/4-20 thread, and then turning the copper down to the right diameter, .318". The copper then had a shelf of this diameter, and an OD of .5". I then turned the brass piece so that the bottom had a .496" diameter hole leading into the .315" diameter hole. I put the whole assembly into the vise and pressed it together, then went at the bottom with a ball-peen hammer. Finally, I turned the center of the bottom in until the copper and brass were sitting coplanar to one another. Then it was file and sandpaper time!

I think it looks nice, if I do say so myself.

The Case for Patents

2009-04-20T21:52:00.002-04:00

As a maker of things, I want, nay, need for things to be open. I need to be certain that I can find documentation on whatever it is that I'm working with. This calls for open standards of information exchange. The best way to do this is open sourcing.
However, as someone who wishes to make a living making things, and make a living making lots of different things that will eventually be manufactured, I need protection. What I offer here is what I consider to be a common sense approach to intellectual property.

1. Thou shalt be able to license thy IP for cash money.
You can patent your product to license it to companies that will manufacture it. How you negotiate those contracts is up to you.

2. Thou shalt not hurt the little guy.
You should make companies or at least larger businesses pay to be able to reproduce/manufacture your stuff, but individuals and small groups should be encouraged to make their own if they can. Another way of doing this is by allowing access to additional documentation, and by writing a good patent, which according to the USPTO, should be usable to recreate the thing you're patenting by someone "skilled in the art".

3. Code is naught but a pattern in binary, and can occur in unenforcable locales: ergo, it is not a "thing" and should not be patented.
Shoo! Scram! Software should be copyrighted, like music, art, and other arrangements and patterns. This is about patents, not copyrights! Get out of here and discuss that issue somewhere else! Remember that the binary code for DOS could also be an arrangement of states in atoms of gases in the sun's corona. This means nothing, so don't try to pass it off as something physical.

4. Similarly, process patents need to go.
A process, like software, is made up of algorithms, which are patterns of something, not a physical unitary thing like a Pneumatic Boxing Glove, or a Shark Protector Suit.

5. Thou shalt not take ownership of biological patterns.
DNA patents, too, have to go. How many times do I have to say that, if nature could make it randomly, and probably has, you really shouldn't be protecting it as IP?

6. First to file shuts out the little guy; this should not be so.
Though our system is first to invent here in the US, it is practically first to file, and it is first to file in the rest of the world. If you get to the patent office late, it doesn't matter how much proof you have, the patent won't be yours. This shuts out all of the small inventors who can't afford marauding gangs of patent attorneys to rush their patents through.

7. Thou shalt admit that IP protection is necessary.
To allow for people to make more of their wonderful ideas, there must be a way for them to pay their bills without being tied to manufacturing hundred-thousands of their wonderful products. There will always be consumers who, whether for lack of skill, time, or energy, want to buy rather than build. The profits from these sales should enable the creation of more wonderful ideas.

And finally...
8. Thou shalt pay thy staff to develop their ideas, whether or not they are part of their job, and give them due compensation in the form of majority ownership and control of their patents.
In Germany, there is a strict legal procedure governing exactly this, and saying exactly that, which can be found in this paper.

Trademarks are fine and dandy, but I think that copyright is a bad concept to begin with, and that you should pay for the media or for the file size when you buy a DVD or download a song, plus some amount to go directly to the artist. Either way, this is a post about patents. I think they're necessary to avoid having people taken advantage of by large manufacturers. And now for the comments!

A Flag for Hack Pittsburgh

2009-04-18T22:13:00.002-04:00

After seeing this on hackerspaces.org...

I figured that Hack Pittsburgh, aka hackpgh, needed a flag, too.

The symbology is as follows: City walls of the coat of arms of Pittsburgh ascendant atop three bars horizontal in the blue of the city coat of arms' checker pattern; the bars represent Pittsburgh's three rivers, and the outer border of the shield is comprised of a Wheatstone bridge diagram, for the "City of Bridges", and also for its electronic significance as an amplifier, making a small thing larger, as does our organization.

Strain Test

2009-04-17T15:01:00.003-04:00

After the dancing wires, I began thinking that perhaps I should do a little more experimentation with this technology. The video below shows the end result of my testing. The wire, it turns out, extends when heated, and shrinks, even though it's under load, when cooled. Overall, I achieved a result of 1-2% Strain, meaning that the wire extends to 101-102% of its original length when a current is run through it.

The wire itself is Nichrome, and the setup includes a stand, which holds a BNC-to-banana (female) connector, which anchors the two halves of the heating wire. The mass is a spare part made of aluminum, of approximately 1-1.5 kg, and the wire is being fed current from a temperature controller set for 30 °C, which is connected via a relay to a transformer, sending 12 VAC to the wire. The temperature controller is interfaced to the wire via a K-type thermocouple wrapped under the wire at the top of the setup.

Hand-Drawn Madness

2009-04-16T11:43:00.001-04:00

I got to harken back to the olden days of pen, ink, paper, and a ruler when I had to draw up these mechanical drawings this morning at work. None of the CAD software was giving me any love, so over to the desk and out with the necessaries it was.

The Incredible Dancing Wires

2009-04-15T23:01:00.001-04:00

The Incredible Dancing Wires
Originally uploaded by petmar0

A couple of Nichrome heating filaments in the new heater bar that I'm designing hooked up to the new controller I built today began dancing. This is due to the fact that, when heated, they expand along their length. Since they're firmly anchored at each end, they flex away from the channels that they lay in under tension when they're at room temperature, thereby dancing when heated.

I'm going to see if I can find some time tomorrow to explore this with different wire forms. I know that the stress is proportional to heating, and that the heating, aka Joule heating or Ohmic heating, is a feedback effect which will keep going until it either melts the wire, or current is shut off. I think this could lead to some very interesting actuators, especially if I make a brush with a few of these wires together.

Flickr

2009-04-15T22:54:00.001-04:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

On the Importance of Z-transforms

2009-04-14T22:34:00.001-04:00

A response to a comment on the Make: Blog post about my former entry:

My recommendations are made due to my experience. Physics is THE best program, from what I've seen and done, to go into if you want to make new, interesting, and useful things. Chemistry ranks a close third behind the engineering disciplines. Of course, if you just want to perpetually use technology without understanding it, you could skip the whole math-based curriculum, but to actually make something new, you need to understand the first principles behind how things work.
Or you could just make stuff that's interesting in other majors.
At this point, my physics career has taken me from making optical acoustic transducers, to building and testing medical devices, to working with cool magnetostrictive materials, to designing and building tests and test setups for machine calibrations to building custom experimental setups, to being in charge of the refurbishment of a particle accelerator, all in about eight years. And it looks like the fun isn't going to stop any time soon!

636 of You!

2009-04-14T22:08:00.003-04:00

Wow! My Analytics tracker shows that there were 636 of you on my blog today! Given the huge response I've gotten off of the Make: Blog, I was wondering, what would YOU like to see me write about? I'm thinking of doing a project article for Make Magazine, and was hoping to get some inspiration in the comments.

Making in College

2009-04-14T06:31:00.003-04:00

There's an article on the Make: Blog asking about schools for making stuff. I'd like to respond to this: first of all, if you're into making things, you need to pick what kind of things to determine your major. Personally, if you're into making electronic or mechanical things, I'd recommend either going with Electrical Engineering, or Mechanical Engineering, respectively. However, if you're like me and like making anything, it's electronic or mechanical nature notwithstanding, go instead for a Physics major.
I went to two universities during my undergraduate career: the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Ramapo College of New Jersey. The former was a great place to make things, as they are a large engineering school. However, it is located in Newark, NJ, which is a bit of a crime-ridden pit, especially in the University Heights section where NJIT is located. My major there was Applied Physics. While there, I was mentored by a brilliant professor by the name of Dr. Gordon Thomas. On my first day in his lab, he showed me to the main room of the lab suite and said, "This is your playground. The most important thing is that you have fun, and create something new."
Due to external pressures, I eventually had to leave Dr. Thomas's lab, and moved to Ramapo College. Here I enrolled in the Physics program, which has since changed to Engineering Physics. I also made the acquaintance there of two similarly brilliant professors, Drs. Anderson and Halpern. Dr. Halpern is the reason that the Physics department at Ramapo got started the way that it did, and the reason that the students always have someone to talk to about various issues. He is a professor emeritus ("retired"), and as he says, is "unable to cut his ties with the students." Since he lives locally, that comes in the form of still showing up on campus most days, hanging out in the "Physics Lounge" in G116, and mentoring students.
However, the reason to attend Ramapo College as a maker and as an Engineering Physics student, despite its small size and Liberal Arts emphasis as a college, is Dr. Phil Anderson. Dr. Anderson (not the Nobel Laureate) is the inventor of the magnetic security tag that you see used in retail stores. He is also on the board of directors of a few companies, a licensed pilot who has also flown fighter jets for the Air Force, and an EE, technically; he's full of fun and inspiring stories of vaporizing small fruit with 55-gallon drum sized capacitors, and other fun things like that. In my opinion, however, his biggest contribution outside of his interactions with students is his work in crafting the college's intellectual property policy: thanks to Dr. Anderson, if you invent something at Ramapo, you own it in its entirety. This is very, very rare in a college/university environment, and I have several friends who have used Ramapo's facilities to create things that they later patented. Dr. Anderson also teaches an "Invention for Scientists and Engineers" course that focuses on IP policy and law, prototyping, and other issues involved in making making your profession.
More information on life as a student at Ramapo can be found on my old blog, "Tales from the Lab", and for general advice to Physics students, check out "The Informed Physics Student".

Later I might tell you why not to go to Penn State, where I'm now working, but just take my word on it for now.

Smoking Dremel!

2009-04-10T20:49:00.002-04:00

I hate it when a Dremel, especially a real, brand-name Dremel tool, begins emitting smoke. This happened to me today when I was cutting an aluminum case for a temperature controller that I was making at work.

I was making this controller for this heater that I made for our film-stretching machine.

Morser 5 VDC Out

2009-04-05T14:00:00.002-04:00

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog?!

MORSER

2009-04-05T10:31:00.003-04:00

After a long time sitting doing DCD (Dust-Collection Duty), I got my Arduino NG out, and realized it wasn't broken: I just needed to press the reset button before uploading a program! I just created a program on it to take text from a serial input and turn it into more code (CW for the hams reading this).

The output device is connected to pins D13 and GND, and a potentiometer is connected as a variable voltage divider between 5 VDC and GND, with the middle pin connected to A3. The potentiometer controls the speed of the code, and the output device receives TTL output for the morse code. Code follows:

/*
MORSER
cc 04/05/2009 Pete Marchetto
This program translates serial text input into morse code output. Morse code is comprised of five kinds of character elements: the short, or "dit", which is 1 u long, the long, or "dah", which is 3 u long, the intra-character pause, which is also 1 u long, the inter-character pause, which is also 3 u long, and the inter-word pause, which is 7 u long.
*/

int outputPin = 13; //pin for the LED
int inPin=3; //pin for the potentiometer
int val; //value passed from serial interface
int u=50; //unit value, for time

void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(outputPin, OUTPUT);
}

void loop()
{
u=1+analogRead(inPin);
if (Serial.available()) {
val = Serial.read();
delay(3*u);
if (val == ' ') {
delay(5*u);
}
if (val == 'A') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'B') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'C') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'D') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'E') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'F') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'G') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'H') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'I') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'J') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'K') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'L') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'M') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'N') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'O') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'P') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'Q') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'R') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'S') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'T') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'U') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'V') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'W') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'X') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'Y') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == 'Z') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == '0') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == '1') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}

if (val == '2') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == '3') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == '4') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == '5') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == '6') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == '7') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == '8') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == '9') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}

if (val == '.') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == ',') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
if (val == '?') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}

if (val == '!') {
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(3*u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, HIGH);
delay(u);
digitalWrite(outputPin, LOW);
}
}
}

Shroomery!

2009-04-04T21:34:00.002-04:00

Today, Katie and I went to a mushroom inoculating party! We drilled holes, plugged them with mushroom mixes for both oyster and shiitake mushrooms, and sealed them with wax. We now have three pet logs sitting on our balcony, while we wait for the fruiting bodies to grow.

Hack Pittsburgh, etc.

2009-04-03T06:35:00.002-04:00

Recently, while looking around at Pittsburgh, where I'll be moving at the end of next month, I came upon a new hackerspace that's coming online over there: Hack Pittsburgh. After perusing the forums, I quickly found that they want some classes taught. Meanwhile, I've also been in communication with dorkbot-pgh, which wants me to do a talk on AIAP and the accelerator in August. Plus which I also have a talk to do in October for MS&T in Pittsburgh. In short, it looks like my presentation skills are going to be in high demand, so I'd better brush up.

It's funny that, before I even move to Pittsburgh, I know that I'll have at least 3 evenings per month in meetings: Hack Pittsburgh, dorkbot-pgh, and 2600. I may also eventually join a wilderness SAR team to get back into that, so that's 4. Also, it's a very short hop from what I'm doing with the hacking/making groups to ham radio, so make it 5 with the Steel City Amateur Radio Club.

Not even moved yet, and already my schedule's filling up. Jeez!

Ups and Downs

2009-03-31T22:39:00.002-04:00

Today has been an up and down day. I got a lot done at work, including a good bit of the new tension balance system that we're building. Then I found out that I was not accepted into the University of Pittsburgh grad program in electrical engineering. At the same time, my hopefully-future-advisor recommended another way to get in, and agreed to meet with me in Pittsburgh this coming Sunday when we go to see the Westinghouse "Atom Smasher" together (for more on this, AIAPBlog). Finally, I got some info on Hack Pittsburgh, which I think I'll be joining, along with dorkbot-pgh, when I move down there at the end of May.

Acquisitions

2009-03-31T06:36:00.002-04:00

Things I really have to get for my workbench:
Tap and Die Set
Drill Press (at least 1/4" chuck)
Step Bit
Banana Clip Test Leads
BNC Breakout Box for my NIDAQ Card
BNC Male to Banana Female Adapter
MORE DRAWERS!
Magnifying Lamp
Scroll/Jigsaw

Anyone have any suggestions? Please put them in the comments!

Earth Hour

2009-03-29T08:18:00.004-04:00

Last night, Katie and I turned off all the lights and read by LED tealights for Earth Hour. This morning I did some estimates on how everybody did last night: Google Docs Spreadsheet
I have to say that the estimates are quite rough, based on 2005 estimates for personal energy use, and on press coverage versus population in various regions. The final line is based on the worldwide per person estimate from 2005, and on the WWF's estimate of 1 billion people participating.
I'm glad to say that we apparently saved between 3 and 30 GWh. Yes, that's Giga-Watt hours.

Ideas on solarCharge v.1

2009-03-29T05:47:00.003-04:00

First of all, thanks to Chris Connor for posting v.1 on the Make: Blog!

Now, some of the considerations I've come up with for v.2:

The lack of a good ferrite core may prove the undoing of this design. As it is, the ones that I have access to seem a bit large (over 1" long and .5" wide), and the more ferrite, the higher the flux density needed to achieve saturation, and therefore the higher the current needed to drive the dc-dc upconverter. This is also why I don't want to use a regular transformer. However, a small enough isolation transformer, like those used in VCRs, TVs, stereos, etc., might just do the trick.

Next time I'm building on a breadboard. Period.

The capacitor has to be limited to below 300 µF, since the upconverter runs at about 50 kHz. If you're wondering why this is, check out the concept of reactance.

Similarly, the original Joule Thief implementation of this upconverter ran a white LED. This means that they were using a half-wave rectifier on the circuit. If I manage to pump the voltage up to about 5.6 Vrms out (with a +2.8 V offset, meaning that the AC signal is all above the zero line), I'll be able to put a regular low-wattage diode in to trim some of the oscillations, and increase the size of the next capacitor downstream. However, I could make this an LED if I can get the design up to 6.7 Vrms.

Do I really need an LED in there, though? Somebody weigh in on this in the comments. I know that the higher the voltage (short of probably 8-9 Vrms) the better, so I'll build for this anyway, but it does seem to me that the LED might just be a waste of wattage, as might the rectifier itself.

Anyway, enough about v.2. I'd better get building.

solarCharge

2009-03-28T14:37:00.004-04:00

After having seen this article on the Make:Blog, I said this:

How about connecting a joule-thief circuit (DC-DC upconverter) to a cap on one side and a small solar cell (like the ones in calculators) on the other? You pull off of the cap to the cell phone directly. If I remember correctly, most cell phones have internal Vregs between the battery and the rest of the circuitry, so that takes care of your OV protection. I'll see if I can build this, and then get back to you.

I then went and built the solarCharge, v.1. This is essentially the Joule Thief with a small solar cell instead of a battery, and a large (50 V, 680 µF) capacitor across the Vout leads. I'm working with the materials that might be readily available to someone who's been able to scrounge through something like an old calculator junk pile, so I don't have a ferrite core, which is probably limiting me significantly. I think what I'll do for v.2 is build without limits to what the parts are, but with a minimum quantity of parts, and track the expense.

Skills

2009-03-22T21:06:00.002-04:00

I figured I eventually had to make this list. This is a list of fabrication skills that I have, and those that I want to learn.

Fluent:
Electronic design (Discrete Components)
Basic mechanical design
Scrounging for parts
Soldering (Electronics)

Conversant:
Blacksmithing
Board design
Milling/Drill press (Metal/Plastic)
Larger-scale carpentry
Rigging
Pipe soldering

Know how to order dinner:
Turning (Metal/Plastic)
MIG/TIG Welding
Sewing

Interested, and got my hands on:
Glass blowing/bending
Sheet metal work
Precision machining
PCB etching
Woodworking

Interested, and never got to try:
Composite work (i.e. fiberglass or carbon fiber)
Wood lathe
Knitting

If you or anyone you know can teach me any of the above, or at least more than I already know, please let me know!

Etsyness

2009-03-16T21:31:00.001-04:00

I'm now on etsy with a little electronics parts store. As I wrote on the Genteel Recessionista's comments:

Modular income spot number 1268: Electronics components.
Think about this for a moment: an old CRT is somewhere between $50 and $free these days. These used to be $200-400. The number of components inside is between 500-1500, and these are discrete components due to the high powers in a CRT. This means that you’re getting components that were originally 14¢ each on average for a maximum of ¢10. Electronic components one-off go for somewhere north of $1 a pop, even for the smallest diode. Notice where the profit comes in? Check out my etsy store to see this in practice.

Spring Constant Measurement

2008-08-03T10:11:00.002-04:00

Recently featured on the Make Magazine Blog here's my new spring constant measurement test jig.

Something I've Been Working On...

2008-04-13T16:59:00.001-04:00

Accounting of energy in USD/Joule...

More Building...

2007-12-25T12:37:00.000-05:00

P.S.
Just spent about an hour with my dad assemling this, and I got this for Christmas. Thanks Katie!

Christmas at Home

2007-12-25T10:31:00.000-05:00

I'm writing this from the kitchen table in my parents' house in Maywood, NJ. The last few weeks have been rather nuts, between Katie's graduation, plans for the wedding, and getting ready for the holidays, along with SAR drills and searches, etc.
But I've still made some stuff!
-An APRS setup using my PC and an old HT
-A number of new test fixtures at work
-The State College chapter of Dorkbot
-A new blog, "Apartment Gardening Documentation" to document the progress of our new garden, to be planted entirely on our balcony

Amp Mod

2007-11-13T01:07:00.000-05:00

I modified an amplifier, and made my first Instructable!
http://www.instructables.com/id/Amp-Mod/

Echo? NO!

2007-09-14T07:46:00.000-04:00

Well, here's the first thing I've made in a while. At work, we need to start calibrating sound level meters, so we need an anechoic chamber to test them in. This is literally a chamber that allows no echoes. I just finished building the first phase of ours yesterday. It's essentially an old rack mount box that we fished out of the trash, lined with fiberglass insulation, and with a door on the front and a back wall. More on exactly how I made it later.
In other news, Katie took me out to a They Might Be Giants concert last night. Well, THAT rocked! All I have to say is... 6 encore songs in 2 encores. Wow.

Another Brief Entry...

2007-09-04T07:22:00.000-04:00

Well, today's much like any other week day these days. Get up, get dressed, run to work, calibrate, calibrate, calibrate, make phone calls, calibrate, plan corporate strategy, file grant requests to take over the world, come home, clean, sleep. Yadda, yadda, yadda.
This past weekend was spent at Katie's Grammie's place down in southern PA, where we had a great couple of days doing absolutely nothing. (Ahhhhh...) But now it's back to the grind.
Later this evening perhaps I'll post about some of the other things going on, like how Notre Dame is like a snowstorm.

Fwd: Your Survey, answered

2007-08-04T21:12:00.001-04:00

Begin forwarded message:

From: Max Kingston <
Date: August 4, 2007 6:11:22 PM EDT
To: petmar0@optonline.net
Subject: Your Survey, answered

Hey Pete,

This was very cool. Hope you don't mind my answering too - I thought
the questions were wild!

1. Color of the walls - PINK
2. Doing - Diary writing
3. How long will I be doing it? - 10 minutes
4. Turn to wax the hotel - MINE, sadly always mine.
5. Visit large city in the next year? No
6. Pic of me doing something funny - not that funny but ok (see attached)
7. Fav veggie? Carrots
8. House to mailbox? 1-1/2 miles
9. House we live in now - apartment, second floor
10. Sun rose behind - 50 ft trees to my North and East
11. Yesterday at noon - I was on my way to Englewood Library
12. Particles of energy - Totally got me there, Pete - what are
deBroglie wavelengths and Planck lengths?
13. Reading right now - "The Art of Dreaming" by Carlos Castaneda
14. Best movie heard of not seen yet - Pan's Labrynth
15. Current fav music album - Mariah Carey's "Music Box"
16. Fav pic - see attached
17. Course of space program currently - I don't like moving away from
manned, re-useable shuttles. I don't want to see a Military or
Industrial or Colonizing or even Scientific Base on the Moon. I would
love to see manned flight to Mars. I would also want to see MORE Space
Stations like the ISS...
18. Dark, milk, white, or no chocolate? Dark chocolate (NO CHOCOLATE?
Don't make me panic, Pete!)
19. What do you do when you come to the end of the path? Watch where
the water and the animals go...
20. How far am I from Lat. N 40.81*/Long. W 77.89*? +N 0.08*/-W 3.91*.
21. How's the dating situation? Unfortunate. Enough said...
22. $4 I don't owe you? in the laundry money jar.
23. Can come and visit? After your honeymoon - let me know!
24. Create my own question and answer it - What is the best thing you
have EVER learned? To love and forgive myself, so that I can put
myself in other people's shoes and love and forgive them too.

God bless you and your future Mrs., Pete!

Love,
Jeanne (Harry's Mom)

Moving again.

2007-07-30T23:59:00.000-04:00

So.
brotherhood2.com. Go there!
It inspired me to make a survey. Here it is:

Hello,
If you are getting this letter, then you’ll soon find that I want some information from you. I recently was watching a vlog online where one of the persons involved sent out a survey to his friends and family. I liked this idea, and decided to duplicate it. Without any further ado, the questions:

1. What are the colors of the walls of the room you are in right now?
2. What are you doing?
3. How long will you be doing it for?
4. Whose turn is it to wax the hotel?
5. Do you plan on visiting a large city in the next year?
6. Can you e-mail me a picture of yourself doing something funny? (petmar0@optonline.net)
7. What is your favorite vegetable?
8. How far is it from your house to the mailbox?
9. What kind of house do you live in right now?
10. This morning, what did the sun rise behind?
11. Where were you yesterday at noon?
12. How can particles have an energy commensurate with a deBroglie wavelength less than Planck length?
13. What are you reading right now?
14. What’s the best movie you’ve heard about and mean to see, but haven’t seen yet?
15. What is your current favorite music album?
16. What is your favorite picture, and can you e-mail it to me? (see above)
17. How do you feel about the course the space program is currently taking?
18. Would you prefer dark, milk, white, or no chocolate?
19. What do you do when you come to the end of the path?
20. How far are you from N40.81234° W77.89308°?
21. How’s the dating situation?
22. Where did you put that $4 that you don’t owe me?
23. When can you come visit?
24. Create your own question, drawing, or whatever here, and answer it:

Thank you for your time and participation. My answers, along with yours, once I get them, will be up on my blog: http://petmar.blogspot.com/.

Sincerely,
Pete

My answers:
.mp3

Big Changes

2007-07-16T23:34:00.000-04:00

Well first of all, I graduated.
In short order, the rest of my life changed, too.
The following Monday, I confirmed that I had a job waiting for me in Innovation Park working for Calyx Metrology, a small equipment calibration firm. That same day, I asked Katie to marry me, and she said yes!
So, the following week saw us both moving out here to State College, PA. We moved into our apartments, and she started her research work, and I my job. All of this was in May, and I'm just writing this post now, so you could imagine how busy I've been. That being said, I'm finally getting to make some pretty cool stuff. In particular, I've been playing around with some PICAXE microcontrollers that I bought, and doing cool stuff with them. Stay tuned for more on that.

Forging Ahead...

2007-04-02T07:45:00.000-04:00

55 visitors to the Ringwood Forge yesterday!
Yesterday was the second day of our grand opening weekend, and so, dressed in 1770s-era garb, we made a number of projects. Rob and I had quite the time, and finished our first-ever forge weld.
Photos:

Another day of caching

2007-03-31T09:28:00.000-04:00

Had a blank in my schedule where a class was canceled, so I went caching with my friend Tim.

Geocaching 03/28/2007

Caching!

2007-03-28T08:36:00.000-04:00

So, it turns out that Tuesdays have become Geocaching day for Matt (Myers7) and me (petmar).
Yesterday, Matt bagged 5 caches, and I did 3 (I'd done two of the five before). What follows are pictures from the gerbiL cacHe, the oldest cache in NJ, and other sights along the way:

Geocaching 03/27/2007

If you're a geocacher, read no further

2007-03-19T00:28:00.000-04:00

Because this contains spoilers!
Elements (GC11FN0) is almost done! It's a labyrinth created using an interesting rectangular desing I thought up. In a square, the two axes (NS and EW) would be equal in length, and therefore C (the crossing of the axes), C* (the crossing complement, or the opposite of the crossing across the center), and X (the center) would be the same point. since the axes are not equal, and in fact meet in the IV quadrant of the rectangle (given that the origin is at the center), then I have the freedom to make people wander from clue book to clue book, checking the elevation and bearing of the next stage (but not range, eh!) along a nearly nautiloid spiral until I deposit them at a huge cache at X!
X. It marks the spot!

Geocaching!

2007-02-21T11:04:00.000-05:00

Well, I have a new GPS, a Garmin eTrex Vista C. So, of course, once I get a new toy, I have to play with it!
Yesterday, I went out Geocaching with Katie's brother, Matt. Matt is now known in the geocaching community as Myers7, and I'm petmar. We attempted 5 caches, and found 3.
The other fun thing to do with a GPS is, of course, track stuff. I found a wonderful utility called GPS Babel that allows me to download waypoints, tracks, and routes, as well as convert various forms of location file. Below is a view of our finds from yesterday in Google Earth:

Thanks Again...

2007-02-16T01:39:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Erica Henderson, I now have a great new header image on this blog!

My Talk

2007-02-14T23:33:00.000-05:00

A week ago, I did a talk for the TAS Journal Club on "The transition from galactic to extragalactic cosmic rays" by Todor Stanev.
Here's the link to my presentation:
http://physics.ramapo.edu/~petmar/CRTalk.mov

On Various Forms of Craziness

2007-02-13T01:06:00.000-05:00

So, now I have three blogs chugging along:
This one, "The Inventive Tinkerer" (IT), which is my personal blog, and a roll call of my creations.
"The Informed Physics Student" (TIPS), which is a bunch of advice to science undergrads and other students.
And...
"Tales from the Lab" (TFTL), which is a chronicle of amusing anecdotes from the labs I work/have worked in.

Super Science Saturday!

2007-02-13T00:07:00.000-05:00

Yes, that's right! It's March 3rd this year, and you can find all the info you want here.
The Ramapo College physics department will be bringing resources to bear on this one. So far we have planned:
- an egg drop class (how to keep eggs from breaking in a 30 ft. fall)
- a ray optics sandbox and wave tank
- a trebuchet for watermelons
and best of all...
- a 20 ft.-long kid-lifting lever
And to think... the chemists think they can out-do us. Feh!

A Quiz!

2007-02-11T17:16:00.001-05:00

Your Geek Profile:

Academic Geekiness: Highest
Music Geekiness: Highest
General Geekiness: High
Internet Geekiness: High
SciFi Geekiness: High
Gamer Geekiness: Moderate
Fashion Geekiness: Low
Geekiness in Love: Low
Movie Geekiness: Low

How Geeky Are You?

Chili and Cake

2007-02-04T23:38:00.000-05:00

So today was a marathon culinary event. All of the pictures (and movies) can be found in this directory. I made my chili, and then brought it to the Wyckoff Reformed Church chili cookoff. I won a bottle of wine. (Yay? I don't drink...)
So, then I came home, and my mom had made another cake. So... that needed decorating. Take a look at the aforementioned photos, and the flyover, complete with theme music.

It's Coming... It's Coming... It's Coming...

2007-02-02T22:53:00.000-05:00

Sunday will be Super Bowl Sunday... and to commemorate this fact, I purchased the world's strangest bundt pan. Yes, you read that right. My mom and I were at Chef Central when I saw it. Spurred by my mom's statement that my girlfriend's father would love a cake like that, I knew what I had to do. The result...

And the view from the blimp...

Let me know what you think. It's scheduled for delivery at 8.00a tomorrow.

Looking at things Cockeyed

2007-01-29T00:22:00.000-05:00

I just was over at cockeyed.com, and wound up writing the following letter:
Rob,
I was just reading your page about the crosswalk button sign that you made up, and I remembered something that I'd seen here (Yes, Walter Lewin is the man.) The effect is the same thing as a "halo" or "glory" generated by water droplets, so if you can simulate that, you can get reflective paint. Simple solution: wait until your latex paint is just tacky then throw sandblasting sand (little glass spheres) at it. Dry, and coat with a clear urethane coating. Viola! A wonderful reflective sign... and all for the cost of some sandblasting sand and urethane (which I'm certain you can find somewhere for less-than-cheap).
Best of luck in pulling off some awesome warning signs with this!

Regards,
Pete

Hope someone can use this advice... eventually.

And eventually I'll put up pics. In the meantime, look at Lewin's end-of-term video about rainbows. It's amazing!

Sucralose

2007-01-22T12:52:00.000-05:00

The "Truth" about Splenda
The Truth about Splenda
What's the difference? Well, the top site is run by and industry group that could use some... help getting consumer letters straightened out before becoming liable for their content. The second one is a pretty trusty wikipedia article. My contribution to the former? This:
"First of all, good work with creating this website. As a scientist myself, I usually require proof to regard something as true. This website gives a goodly bit of proof. Further information on splenda and sucralose at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucralose, which is where I found a link to this site.
Another thing that I must do as a scientist is to educate. First of all, yes, sucralose contains three atoms of chlorine, but remember that regular table salt is half chlorine, and you can't live without it. The thing is that the chlorine in sucralose is bonded covalently rather than ionically (therefore more strongly). This means that it's not able to get into your body as the dissolved chlorine ions that we all need to survive. Furthermore, since sucralose is a different molecular "shape" than sucrose, or any other sugar, not only does your tongue sense certain resonances which make it percieve it as sweeter than sucrose, but sucralose cannot be absorbed or processed as sugar can. This means that the various bacteria in your digestive system, not to mention the filtering tissues of your liver and kidneys, will be overworked to try to deal with this unfamiliar contaminant.
Remember also that anything that your body is unfamiliar with which has some effect on it is classed as a toxin, and that a certain sub-class of toxins which don't kill you in small doses are referred to as drugs.
So, what have we learned? From many sources, we find that sucralose can build up in the body due to inefficient removal from the bloodstream. We already know that many other artificial sweeteners have detrimental effects, yet are still on the market: aspartame contributes to brain tumors and lesions and lymphoma, and can break down into such toxins as formaldehyde (now considered to dangerous to even be used as it once was, in embalming); acelsulfame potassium is a known carcinogen; cyclamates cause bladder cancer, as does sodium saccharine, and the other saccharides.
However, consider also that bleached sugars contain trace amounts of sucralose due to the processing methods used in their manufacture.
Overall, sucralose may be the best of the horrible options which are artificial sweeteners, but personally, due if nothing else to the disgusting aftertaste, I'll stick with honey, maple syrup, and brown or unbleached sugars, thank you."

Oh, and what is "Chorine"?

ROV

2007-01-18T23:47:00.000-05:00

Well, it turns out that northern NJ and southern NY have a heck of a bunch of flooded abandoned iron mines. I want to know what's down there, but I don't feel like taking a confined space SCUBA course to do it. So, I've recruited a team, and we're going to build an ROV to see what's down there. More on the design as it comes together.

Clock

2007-01-08T00:10:00.000-05:00

I made a clock! Apparently A. C. Moore carries clock hands and slate rounds. So, with drill and masonry bits in hand, I took the old clock movement and made something new. Now I can chalk up my own times!

Dinner

2007-01-08T00:05:00.000-05:00

Dinner:

Caesar Salad

Roasted Stuffed Tomatoes

- 1 pint baby bella mushrooms

- 1 pint white mushrooms

- 3 cloves garlic

- 3 small onions

- 4 sun-dried tomatoes

- 4 large beefsteak tomatoes

- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

- 3/4 cups water

- 2 tsp. olive oil

- 1 cup grated mozzarella

- 1/2 cup bread crumbs

Dry mushrooms in broiler. Chop mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes into a bowl with the vinegar and water. Mush together by hand. Put some of the liquid from this into a small frying pan and add the garlic, onions, and olive oil. Sauté. Pour contents of pan into bowl, along with bread crumbs. Load contents of bowl into a food processor, usually in two batches: one will be chopped, the other puree. In the meantime, cut the tops off of the beefsteak tomatoes and empty them. Salt them, and them place on a grate over the kitchen sink to drain for 15 mins. After this, stuff the tomatoes, and place them in the oven at 450°F for 4-7 mins. When removed, they should not be wilting. Remove and top with mozzarella.

Tuna Steaks

- 3.5 lbs. Tuna loin

- 1 cup sesame seeds

- 1/2 bottle natural soy sauce

- 1 cup maple syrup

- 2 sun-dried tomatoes

Roast about 2 tablespoons of the sesame seeds in a frying pan. Chop the sun-dried In a large tupperware or other plastic sealable container, combine these with the maple syrup and soy sauce. Marinate tuna for 2-3 hours, and then broil for about 5 mins per side. Reduce marinade to a sauce for dipping.

New Blog

2007-01-06T23:38:00.000-05:00

Check out my new daily over at The Informed Physics Student.
I've always said that there should be a manual for handling academia, so I'm putting one together, one day at a time.

MIT researchers explore method of transferring electricity wirelessly - Wikinews

2006-12-23T07:23:00.000-05:00

This is truly news. I've read a lot of Tesla's works, and as soon as I had the time and money, I wanted to try this myself. His ideas were and are revolutionary, and if the MIT folks get this right... well, let's just say, "Hold on to your butts. This is gonna be a ride."

Becoming a Citizen of the Web

2006-12-22T15:21:00.000-05:00

It looks as though, due to classes, my geek factor has been suffering of late. I didn't even know what digg or del.icio.us were for until today. Took a look, and man, no wonder they're being used so much. Between these two pages, flickr, skype, slashdot, and facebook, you've got all you ever need for news and to stay connected. Truly, one seems unable to be a "citizen" of the web without having at least a blog and an account on all of these (or similar alternate) services.

Finals

2006-12-20T22:04:00.000-05:00

My mom brought me home a sandwich. When she asked me how it was, I responded, "You don't want to ask me anything right now. I'll respond by giving an answer in cartesian coordinates of where it's triggering taste buds on my tongue."
Yesterday I turned a Zip drive into a speaker. Details later.
This week:
Monday: GRE (680V/680M Yay!)
Tuesday: Mathematical Methods in Physics in-class final and Johnny Moseley at Campmor
Wednesday: Work, climbing, and take-home finals in Advanced Mechanics and Electrodynamics (Electricity and Magnetism or E&M to the uninitiated)
Thursday: Differential Equations paper due and in-class final, and Katie comes home!

Who said being a Physics major couldn't be fun?

A December Repreive

2006-12-13T00:38:00.000-05:00

Okay, so this blogging has not been going well.
But in the meantime:
- I've managed to become a member of NJSAR
- I've written a few short story bits
- I've run two hiking trips, one an overnighter with stargazing
- I've made the lab at school a little bit less of a mess
- I've applied to grad school (WE ARE... PENN STATE!)
- \lim_{t\rightarrow\infty}{(knowledge(LaTeX))}>>0
(If you can read that last line, you're almost as much of a geek as I am.)
- I've rapelled/abseiled
- I've made a good sized stack of lumber
- I've written yet another publishable paper and done a talk: presentation [PDF]
In short, I've kept myself busy, and even if I didn't build something physical and new every single day, the spirit of that commitment has been kept up.
By the by, I also discovered Piled Higher and Deeper. Read it.

And finally, I got my first issue of Make magazine.

Mission Failure

2006-06-14T10:58:00.000-04:00

Well, it seems as though I've failed rather miserably in keeping this blog up to date. However, I'll just put in that I've got a number of projects going on now:
-Optical Logic Gates
-SAR Balloon
-SAR Relay
-SAR APRS
-SAR probability mapping
-Biofuels
-Morse Code-to-Speech for the Disabled
Plus which I've just completed my semester at school, and my Wilderness First Aid course for NJSAR.
Oh, yeah, and I'm finishing my music minor with "The History of Rock and Roll" at school this June.
I'll update as I can, hopefully including some pics from the lab.

Birthday

2006-04-12T01:29:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we had a decidedly distracted evening, as Digital Electronics turned into Projectile Motion 101. At the same time I introduced the class to a magnetic velocity multiplier (see movie above), and Dave Russell, our professor, showed us all a vacuum cannon that he'd built to use at the high school he teaches at.
And then there was today, my birthday. A lot of talking on the phone to the Katie was involved, both yesterday and today, and for that I say, "Yay!"
My best present by far was the blackboard, pictured above. As you can tell, I went right to it, working out part of the math for the magnetic velocity multiplier I mentioned before. I find it very interesting that you have to prep the board by rubbing it with chalk and then erasing it so that the first marks on it will not be indellible. I must research that further.

Another Day, Another Demonstration

2006-04-07T00:20:00.000-04:00

Another demonstration of physics, my craziness, and stupidity, that is.
The stupidity isn't mine.
The Duke Lacrosse Case is quickly becoming a stormy story of outrage. The stupidity lies herein, but also in the fact that GoDuke.com, the university's athletic department's site, decided to pull the roster of the men's lacrosse team. Why did it still show up on Google's cache, then? [PDF]
Anyhow, I met with Dr. Halpern who showed me his immense boxes of physics demonstration tricks and talked with me about the future of physics teaching.
Then, the big project: this evening I cataloged and catagorized everything that's made it into my SAR pack. The list is here.

Well, Let's See...

2006-04-02T07:53:00.000-04:00

What have I been up to?
-Plotting the gravitational field of Saturn and its rings to see if there's some possibility of generating a perspective on gravity quantization from this data.
-Composing yet more music, and being asked to play at a concert at my church, among other things (details to follow).
-School work.
-Designing an amorphous metal-based pressure sensor.
-Reviving part of the trombum as a dijeridoo for Rob.
-Reading far too much Spider Robinson.
-More school work.
-Setting up a vibration-reducing coil housing for my independent study.
-Working at Campmor.
-Teaching myself discrete structures mathematics (since my professor's not doing it).
-Working on the energy audit of my school.
-Still more school work.
-Writing a review paper for my independent study.
-Etc., etc., etc.

Yes, it's been rather busy. I'll post as often as I can.

It's Been a While

2006-03-14T22:37:00.000-05:00

And here, for your viewing pleasure, is the most recent circuit I couldn't get to work for electronics class.
In the past week and something since I last made an entry, I've made so many things, such as circuits for my electronics class or a new waltz, or the experimental setup for my independent study, that I don't really know where to begin.
Katie was home last week for spring break, which was absolutely terriffic. We got to spend much more time together than I'd originally expected, which was beauteous. Not only that, but she spoiled me rotten with home-made lunches.
Tomorrow I'm off to Lehigh for the day to see Sir Roger Penrose speak about the universe before (yes, you read that right) the big bang. Link is here.

More Digital Design

2006-02-27T22:21:00.000-05:00

I made progress on some file manipulations that I'm doing for Katie today. Also, after working with my digital design professor David "Digital Dave" Russell, (I just had to say that.) I finally figured out how to properly modulate and demodulate the clock signal and data that I'm sending. More to come when I build. As for now, I'm trying (unsuccessfully) to get to bed early so I can get to school early and work on Discrete Structures review for my test on Friday. Yeesh!

In the Last Week...

2006-02-27T07:39:00.000-05:00

In the last week, I've definitely been busier than I've been since the beginning of the semester, or maybe even since the beginning of this school year. At the same time, I've been making a lot of stuff. I've been working on the experimental setup for my independent study, composing some new music, and creating a lot of interesting circuits for my digital design class.
I also have to make myself ready, this week, for two tests: Discrete Structures and Multivariable Calculus.
In other news, the quote that started a new game was put up by my friend Pete Oliver as an away message:
You're driving down the road, and you stop at a red light. The archbishop pulls up beside you, and rolls down his window. He asks: "Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?" You hand him a jar from your glove compartment, and he spreads some on a communion wafer. As he bites into it, you wake up screaming, and your pillow is missing.
My friend Pete HDP (the OTHER Pete) and I started making this into a very weird Mad-Libs. He said he'd post some of the ones he came up with, so a link will be up shortly to that.

Teodorian Natural Philosophy

2006-02-15T23:28:00.000-05:00

I'm in the process of trying to revive the physics club at school which, unfortunately, has been ailing of late. I got defaulted into the position of VP late last semester. So far, we've got an ambitious list of people we'd like to bring to speak, and a slowly growing new set of by-laws. So, that's what I've made today, other than a proposal to create a unique area at school for the science majors to hang out in. More to come as my insane schedule allows.

Oooh! Shiny!

2006-02-14T16:40:00.000-05:00

Wow. Check this out. Multi-Touch Interaction is quite a neat field. Now I'm working on something similar: on the proto board I have for my digital design class, I'm working out a simple LED/photodiode switch to use instead of the on-board buttons we have. Pictures to follow.

Finally I Get Back...

2006-02-13T17:34:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm back in the saddle again. This past week has been quite a whirlwind. I had quite a bit to do for school, and also some extraneous projects such as certain musical ones. I had Valentine's Day gifts to get for Katie... In short, quite a lot to do.
As for music, I'll put up a post on that soon. Needless to say, most of the things I've been making are assignments for school.
Also, I've made a change at Campmor: I'm now working in tents most of the time, as of this past wednesday.
In other news, this past tuesday I had an interesting hydrogen-roadmap fuel cell-related symposium to sit in and take notes on. More news and a link on that later, though.
And now back to schoolwork.

Nrrr... Nrrr... Chili

2006-02-05T14:00:00.000-05:00

Pete's Chili Fresca

2-2.5 lbs. ground turkey (or ground beef)
.5 lbs. sliced turkey
3 Holland peppers
2 frying peppers
3 Carib Chili Peppers
2-5 Habañero or Jalapeño Peppers to taste
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 can (19 oz.) black beans (drained)
1 can (15 oz.) red kidney beans (drained)
2 cans (16 oz. each) diced tomatoes (drained)
3 limes
4 cloves garlic
2 tsp. Cumin
3 tsp. Paprika
2 tsp. Oregano
2 tsp. fresh ground Pepper
4 tsp. chopped Cilantro (optional)

First wash and chop all peppers. Put these in a large bowl and mix. Juice 2 of the 3 limes over this mixture. Peel the garlic, and crush it under a fork. Place this in with the peppers. Juice the remaining lime over the pepper mixture. Chop 1 of the 3 onions and combine with the peppers. Mix thoroughly with clean hands, squeezing together all peppers and coating all of the mixture with the lime juice. Chop the remaining two onions finely, and add with the olive oil and ground turkey to a large pan. Brown the turkey, then add tomatoes, red kidney beans, and black beans. Slice sliced turkey into small strips and add to meat. Now add the pepper mixture. If using Cilantro, add it now. Mix Cumin, Paprika, ground Pepper, and Oregano in a small bowl, and add to the full mix. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring every 2.5 minutes. After 10-15 minutes, transfer mixture to a crock pot. Cook on high for 30 minutes. Turn heat to low, and simmer for 7.5-8 hours.

I brought this to church this morning for the Chili Cook-Off, and wound up winning a bottle of Merlot. That I gave to my parents: I don't drink.

TTL

2006-02-04T07:48:00.000-05:00

Here's the diagram of that XOR design I was talking about. Note also that the two not gates (the single-transistor ones) in the bottom left corner are slightly reversed, as the output lead should be on the top, rather than the bottom, of the gate.
Otherwise, yesterday was work, work, work. Then I fell asleep watching Grizzly Man on the Discovery Channel. Great film if you get the chance to see it.
Well, today's work, work, work again, and then make chili in the evening.

School Begins

2006-02-02T21:59:00.000-05:00

Well, I may have to tune down my expectations for what I can do postwise during the semester. As for what I've made:
Monday I composed a new piece for the piano amidst the first day of classes.
Tuesday I was the first person to make a counter chip work in my digital electronics class.
Wednesday I made an even better counter on my off-class time, and got two of them working in parallel.
Today I figured out and planned an NPN-transistor only version of an XOR gate. Talk about using what you know! I used my knowledge from my discrete structures class to figure the logic, and I used my electronics knowledge to create the real design.
I don't know when I'll be able to post next, but hopefully it'll be tomorrow.

Biofuel Blowout

2006-01-29T12:06:00.000-05:00

Well then!
Thursday morning I left for Troy's with my dad. We got up to Masonville, NY, and found Troy. It wasn't too long before we were down in the basement of one of the houses he owns, putting together plans for a WVO reprocessing system to be used with his oil furnace. With us were Troy's son Vaughn, a welder and car mechanic, Gary, an electrician/hvac tech/plumber, and Alex, a semi-retired manufacturing engineer. We were somewhat stymied by the whole filtering aspect of production, but we continued on, working on a 5:1 WVO/methanol mix which we found that evening to be quite good for our purposes.
I've also found out that Troy wants to do biofuels in a big way. As he says it, "I wanna F**K an oil company!" Much of the knowledge I gained from this visit was useful in deciding how to do that, such as that there are many people in the Delaware County region of New York who are currently farming Canola specifically for use as an oil fuel source.
So that's what took up Thursday and Friday. Yesterday, Saturday, I had work all day, and then my parents arrived back from Masonville that night. Later, I had the hard task of going through plans and articles online to see what the cheapest, easiest way of making biodiesel from WVO might be. This site has some of the best information out there.
And now to make the filtration system plans...

There's a Printer in the Car!

2006-01-25T23:04:00.000-05:00

Let me repeat that sentence, because it bears repeating. There is a printer in my dad's car. Hooked up to the cigarette lighter port, we have an inverter. There is a splitter on that, which hooks to my laptop and, yes, the printer in the back seat. Also, today I made an estimate on the burn temperature of an alcohol/oil mixture, and proved that such a mixture would work as a fuel. All in all, a very busy day. I can't wait to get up to Troy's tomorrow!

Craft Day

2006-01-24T23:45:00.000-05:00

Today was a day of craft projects. I made a lantern out of some tissue-paper mache, some wire, and an old LED bottle opener. I also started in on making the beads that I intend to sell next month. all of them are rolled paper. I also got a bit more done on my website.

And don't worry. Tomorrow I promise I'll make something a bit more... interesting.

The Site's Up!

2006-01-23T22:16:00.000-05:00

Today has been a productive day. Unfortunately, when I woke up this morning, it was to sleet and snow, and as I told Katie on the phone, there's no way I'm driving three hours into New York state in that. No siree Bob. So, I was forced to be productive at home, instead. Now there's a new website for me to show for it: petmar@physics.ramapo.edu. Check it out! It's what I made today!

Still in Limbo...

2006-01-22T23:02:00.000-05:00

I still don't know if I'm heading upstate to Troy's tomorrow. I will find out in the morning when I look out the window and see what kind of mess the weather has made.
Speaking of making things, I made a good bit of music today with my friend Rob, and we also got to talking about RONJA. Thanks to a VGA connector pinout, we were able to figure out how to make a multichannel optical link for a high-bandwidth low-loss remote monitor, via either fiber or air optics. You can see the basic layout above.

Cooking Again...

2006-01-21T23:21:00.000-05:00

Due to work and my parents' anniversary dinner today, the only thing I made, other than a few shoe sales, was breakfast. At that, I only really helped make it.
Also, today I discovered RONJA, Reasonable Optical Near Joint Access. Watch this space for more development of RONJA repeaters and RRNA (Reasonable Radio Network Access) projects. This seems like a cool project to jump in on.

Water Sensor, Take 2

2006-01-20T15:20:00.000-05:00

Sorry about yesterday. I spent the day with my parents and my Grandma, and had a good time.
Anyhow, today so far consisted of a lot of running around. My parents are very enthused about the water sensor, and so I've created the full-scale production model, which will be placed up in the basement ceiling, under the bathroom tub. Hooray!
My favorite part of this is the tensioning method I used. There are three little blocks holding wires that connect to the upper electrode: the screen. These are taught, and so suspend the screen above the metal contact plate.

Infinities

2006-01-18T23:13:00.000-05:00

Today included a goodly bit of hanging around, waiting for the weather to clear up. It didn't till the afternoon, so I worked on previewing some of the material we'll be doing in my multivariable calculus class. I also worked further on my newest piano composition, and made a Möbius chain, as you can see above. Yes, each of those little links is a Möbius strip. Fun, eh?

Water Sensor

2006-01-17T22:51:00.000-05:00

Well, yesterday my dad and I took down a panel on the basement ceiling due to an apparent leak above it. Above you see my solution to the problem: a prototype water sensor that will light an LED when more than a drop or two of water is on it.

The Makings of a Meal

2006-01-16T10:03:00.000-05:00

Today, I composed another song, made a commitment for tomorrow, and made dinner.
Dinner was tortellini with creamy garlic-marinara sauce, chicken with spinach and provolone, and a caesar salad. The new song, well, I'll probably upload a midi of that tomorrow. And the commitment is to take Katie's brother Matt down to school tomorrow. 9a we begin the road trip!

Dry Ice

2006-01-15T22:02:00.000-05:00

We got some ice cream today, and they packed it in with dry ice.
Obviously, when I got home, this meant time for fun. I first dropped
some in a cup of water and got that to bubble and fog. But then an
idea hit me: I put some in a used spring water sport bottle, and let
the pressure build up until the valve on top popped. Hmm... releasing
gases... That's when I put the drip of dish detergent into the cup.
Sure enough, a column of foggy bubbles began spilling over the edge
in what one might call a stable foam. I then put a drop or two in the
sport bottle, as you see there above. Quite fun!

Friday's Fun

2006-01-13T10:42:00.000-05:00

With all my running around today, I can say that I still got to make something: a mess. Yeah, I know. I barely have time to do this post, and I'm not certain if I'll be able to do one tomorrow.

More Google Earth...

2006-01-12T23:55:00.000-05:00

More fun with Google Earth...
The first one up there is a double overlay of a topographical map and hi-res aerial photo of a piece of real estate that my parents are looking at purchasing.
The next one is from a fun little project I did at school, the Drewcam. I overlaid the field of view (FOV) image onto the Google Earth landscape, and was able to profile the geographic features that you can see in the camera's view.
Finally, the last one is a map that my dad and I have been working from of Little Ferry Farm in the 1870s. This approximates the area where the supposed nitroglycerine blast was.
Neat stuff, eh? I've really gotta start working on making physical things again, though...
Although, I will say that my friend Terry's power supply project might afford that opportunity. Updates on that as events warrant.

Ah, Wednesday...

2006-01-11T23:11:00.000-05:00

And Katie's home from Costa Rica! Lots of running around today, and the only thing I got to make was a friend: Google Earth is out for Macintosh!!! Woohoo!!!
Oh, and Katie and her folks loved the pie. Oh, happy day!

Mmm... Pie...

2006-01-10T23:25:00.000-05:00

Today saw me make a weird scheduling lapse. I thought my girlfriend was coming home from Costa Rica today, but, instead, she's coming in tomorrow. Not much of a big deal there, with the exception that I was running around tracking flights all day for nought.
Anyhow, she's a big fan of cherry pie. To be precise, a fabulous version of it wherein tapioca is used instead of corn starch as the thickening agent. She's used this pie to "accidentally" ruin me to all other cherry pies. Well, as her welcome-back-present, I've baked her one such pie, the first I've ever made. Let's see how it goes over tomorrow...

A fool...

2006-01-09T23:57:00.000-05:00

Today, well, today was spent working on things around the house, and with helping my dad with some research. We're working on figuring out the case of a nitroglycerine explosion in the 1870s down in Little Ferry, NJ. We've made a good bit of progress. Also, today saw me make a fool of myself while trying on a renfaire costume my friend Rob had put together. Picture to come later.

Tracks...

2006-01-08T17:56:00.000-05:00

I know it sounds lame, but that's what I made today. I made tracks across the Anthony Wayne Recreation Area with the rest of the NJSAR crew. Afterwards it was come home and laze about time.

Par-tay

2006-01-07T23:35:00.000-05:00

Well, the thing I made today was music. I was out at the Campmor holiday party tonight, being one of the few people who were not drunk off their butts by the time they left. I have to get to bed, as tomorrow morning at 8.30 I've got a SAR drill.