Soap Opera & The SimsPlaying The Sims and watching a soap are nothing alike as activities, but they nevertheless share an important theme: they're both purely about our reaction to the behaviour of other people, and the pleasure we get from them is the vicarious pleasure of watching something relatively abnormal happening in a very mundane and familiar situation. While games are usually a series of interesting decisions, The Sims hits the same notes as soaps, offering a series of interesting situations too.
I'd like to think that a good part of the art of worthwhile commentary is in seeing the kinds of connections between this and that piece of culture, and then figuring out why they might matter. The idea that The Sims and soap operas are fundamentally linked seems to me like an important connection, and one that will only grow in importance in the coming decade.
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Greetings, people of BoingBoing! It's an honor to be here...
I thought I'd start things off with a little anecdote that came into my mind as I was reading the paper yesterday morning in Seattle, on the first leg of my West Coast book tour...
It's mid-November 2001. My wife and I are living in the West Village, about a mile north of Ground Zero. We have an infant son, our first, who was born three days before 9/11. We've stuck it out in the city for two months through the external chaos of that period, and the internal chaos of being new parents, but finally mustered enough courage to pack our little family onto a plane to fly down to see relatives in Florida. As we're taking off from Newark, we have a spectacular view looking eastward across Manhattan and Brooklyn. And in the distance, at the very edge of the Atlantic Ocean, we can see flames and a plume of dark smoke billowing out from a spot on the Rockaways. I say to my wife, "That's a very ominous location for a big fire -- it's right in the departure flight path out of JFK."
My suspicions, unfortunately, turn out to be correct. That black plume was American Flight 587, which crashed after takeoff when its tail fin snapped off over Jamaica Bay. Interestingly, our pilot doesn't mention it until after we land, explaining that the authorities quickly identified the crash as an accident and not terrorism-related.
That was seven years ago. I bring up this story now because American 587 was the last fatal crash on U.S. shores involving a full-size jetliner. That is an incredible run, and for some reason it is almost never talked about. Seven years of a perfect track record is more than just a statistical anomaly; we have clearly taken what has always been a safe form of transportation and made it into a staggeringly safe mode of transportation. In an age where we are bombarded by fear media at every turn -- from the household menaces of local nightly news ("Something in your kitchen may be killing your children -- tune in at eleven for more!") to the endless scaremongering about international terrorism, you'd think there would be an appetite for news about how ordinary life just got a lot safer. Yes, if it bleeds it leads and all, but still, if you look at the history of aviation accidents, seven years with no fatalities is much more unlikely (and thus newsworthy) than a crash or two each year.
So it was heartening to see in my hotel copy of USAToday that the latest good news -- zero fatalities on any US commercial aircraft in the past two years, a first in our jet age history -- managed to get on the front page. My favorite quote was this:
[MIT Professor Arnold] Barnett calculates that it's more likely for a young child to be elected president in his or her lifetime than to die on a single jet flight in the USA or in similar industrial nations in Europe, Canada or Japan.
Those of you still suffering from a fear of flying might think about those odds next time you hit a little turbulence. And for the rest of us, let's just savor a little good news about the modern world for once...
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
... well it certainly looks capable of inducing 'force choke' at the very least. Either way - Thomas built this masterful ring of sequential synthesizer control around the 16-step sequencer project from MFOS. The prominent layout was created using Front Panel Express and design files are available on his site. But as with most complex control panels, the really impressive stuff work lies behind the scenes -
Another reminder that all that tedious wiring work we endure is indeed worth it. Behold more of Thomas White's synth DIY work @ Natural Rhythm Music [via Synthtopia]
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Next Meeting:
27 January 2009
7 PM - 9 PM (ET)
ALWAYS FREE!
Location:
Smith Hall of Art, Room 114
George Washington University
801 22nd St NW
Washington, DC 20037
Schedule for the meeting:
James Mallos : BEAMbots and Wrapping Paper
Sculptor James Mallos will talk about two interactive sculptures exhibited at the FLIK Film Festival last summer, "Blow," a BEAMbot that subsists on gallery illumination, and "Today Now," a live video application programmed in Processing and Automator that lets gallery visitors create original repeating patterns from their own appearance and donate them to the public domain. Of interest to BEAMbot fans is the use in "Blow" of a thread tourniquet, a simple mechanical stratagem that turns a pager motor into a muscle-like actuator, and the use of a curvigami paper carapace instead of skeletal mechanism. A new convert to Processing, Mallos will try to impart his enthusiasm for the programming language that has been embraced by artists around the world. He will also try to justify his obsession with the p6 symmetry group.
James Mallos is a sculptor and toy designer. Educated as an engineer, he has been in and out of programming episodically, becoming in the process a combination old fossil and newbie. He introduced his construction toy TWOGS at the Austin Maker Faire 2007, and way of making baskets by computer at Bay Area Maker Faire 2008.
More Info at Dorkbot DC
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I linked to Christoph Niemann's New York Times blog late last year. He's a delightful illustrator who creates art in an appealing, simple style that I love so much.
His new book, The Pet Dragon: A Story about Adventure, Friendship, and Chinese Characters, is the story of a little girl who gets a baby dragon, then loses it and goes looking for it. As you can see on the cover, Chinese characters are cleverly placed over some of the things. After reading to book to my 5-year-old, we got to the back inside cover, which contains all the characters presented in the book, and I asked her the meaning of each one (there are about 30 in all). She knew at least half of them. What a fun way to learn the written Chinese language!
The Pet Dragon, by Christoph Niemann
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For a taste of what's in store for you when you camp at Bedrock City in Custer, South Dakota, check out the photo gallery.
From the MAKE: Flickr pool
Phozon posts pics of the "Lunchtime LASER project", a follow-up to one of his previous works. The pocket-sized light show is put in motion by what appears to be two CPU fans and power comes courtesy of a spare USB port. Lunchtime LASER = awesome.
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Team,I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.
In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June. I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple’s day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.
I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.
Steve
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"I picked up this unique watch/lighter at a garage sale as a teen in the late 80s for $2 (price tag remains on box). I've never seen another one like it. Always thought it was an interesting combination. I have a small collection of vintage novelty watches, and this is my favorite."
From the MAKE: Flickr pool
Morten rigged up an LED lantern for his yard that turns on with a breeze -
I read about a lovely project yesterday on Inhabitat, where a team of Japanese guys and girls created some lovely solarpowered lights. When hung in trees, these lights only came on if there was wind (and dark enough I suppose).Nice and simple - and hey, achieving functionality is first priority. Aesthetics can always be considered after you've got an idea up and running. Check the site for the step-by-step - Creating a flickrering garden lantern triggered by the wind Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in DIY Projects | Digg this![...]
I didn’t have what I needed to make a solar powered version, but I did make one powered by a button cell battery instead.
My version is very bare bones and not as techy and beautiful as the “original“, but it works, and is hanging in my garden right now, blinking away happily.
(link to video)
Make: television producer and author Bill Gurstelle talks about Make: and goes over a few projects from the upcoming season. Bill appeared on Almanac, the Twin Cities Public Television weekly public affairs show.
New episodes of Make: television appear each week on makezine.tv or on Public Television. Check out our broadcast listings page for air times.
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Our stormtroopin' cosplayin' pal Danny Choo in Tokyo writes, "I just put up a post of yesterdays Coming of age Day in Japan. Cultural stuff where the traditional clothes may be interesting to boinboing readers. The empire got a 'trooper to go along to try and recruit some, now that they are old enough to join ;-) " That's Danny, above, in the hard-case outfit.
Here's a snip from his blog post:Yesterday was a public holiday known as "Seijin no Hi" [????] or "Coming of age day" where those who have turned 20 are declared adults meaning they can now do SDV (Smoke, Drink and Vote). In the past, the coming of age day was celebrated only among samurai families - for boys it was between 12 - 16 and for girls it was between 12 - 14 (Wikipedia). Went with writer and art director comrade Andrew Lee (who took these pics) out n about to look for fluffy rabbits - and we found many.
• The folk theory of everything being connectedFolk Theories Of Guru-Based Spirituality
• The folk theory of ancient wisdom
• The folk theory of holiness
• The folk theory of sex being a loss to the spirit
• The folk theory of harmful technology
• The folk theory that only the heart knows what is true
I loved this video produced in Afghanistan by Globalpost contributor Gregory Warner. For Which It Stands: Afghanistan, an accordion journey (Globalpost, via Bigthink, thanks Sepideh Saremi!)
I'm happy to welcome our new guest blogger, Steven Berlin Johnson! I've long been an admirer of Steven's extraordinary writing. He's the author of six books, most of which will be familiar to Boing Boing readers, including the recent bestsellers Everything Bad Is Good For You and The Ghost Map.
His new book is The Invention Of Air: A Story Of Science, Faith, Revolution and the Birth of America. Cory described it as "a wide-ranging, learned, engrossing biography of the polymath pioneering scientist, Joseph Priestley. Priestley, a contemporary of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, was a kind of radical scientist/politician/theologian, an all-but-unimaginable combination in today's world of politicised science and deep fractures between faith and empiricism." (For other in depth reaction to the books' political implications and Steven's work in general, see these reviews from Daily Kos and Salon.)
Steven's also the founder of three influential web sites: the late lamented online magazine FEED, the community site Plastic.com, and most recently the hyperlocal service outside.in. He'll be blogging at Boingboing from his book tour over the next two weeks; if you want to see him in person he's posted a schedule of events on his blog.
Please give Steven a warm welcome!
Lenticular imagery, the types of photos which change depending on the viewing angle, are really common in children's books and display advertising, but it's also possible to create a simple lenticular image yourself using your own photography. You won't need a zig-zaggy plastic lenticular lens to place over your photo, but you will need a bit of patience, as it requires a bit of photoshop and a lot of folding.
Here's how:
You can tape your new lenticular photo to a firm backing to evenly space each fold of the accordion. The trick is to get all of the angles to be exactly the same. The ideal angle depends on how wide the strips are, how far the viewer will be from the photo, and how far you want the point of view to have to change to see the two images.
If you end up making one, make sure to post it to Flickr and share a link in the comments.
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Evil Mad Scientist Lenore has posted a project to zombify a freebie plushie pony from Wells Fargo. Watch Mollie the pretty pony be transformed into MAULIE, the evil zombie pony who eats children that don't eat their vegetables (okay, I made that last bit up).
When I was at the Steampunk Convention last November, I was amazed at how many people had bought toys at Toys R Us just to cannibalize them for an LED circuit 'cause they didn't know how to build one. It really couldn't be easier. No need to zombify perfectly good toys before their time. For Mollie, it was time.
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"They'll also have to talk to media from time to time about what they're doing so they can't be too shy and they'll have to love the sea, the sun, the outdoors," said acting state Premier Paul Lucas."Australia offers 'best job in world' on paradise island" (AFP), Best Job in the World (intermittently down)
"The fact that they will be paid to explore the islands of the Great Barrier Reef, swim, snorkel and generally live the Queensland lifestyle makes this undoubtedly the best job in the world."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Someone from China is selling a large number of original oil paintings of monkeys and dogs like the one shown here on eBay. The "Buy It Now" prices range from around $20 up to $100.
Take a look at this one. It's 24-inches by 36-inches and costs $100. It must've taken many days to paint!
Here are a few of my favorites: flying pickle, nostril smoker, giant pickle. (Via PCL Linkdump)
Jeff, he of the mightyOhm, asks:
Have you ever wondered why standard 5% resistors have strange values, like 330 and 470 Ohms, instead of nice round numbers like 300 or 500 Ohms?
It turns out that standard resistor values form a preferred number series defined by the EIA. 5% values are part of a standard called E24. The standard is based on a geometric series - each value is approximately 1.1 times the previous one in the set.
EIA Resistor Values Explained [via The Steampunk Workshop]
Consider Mr. Chadwick's case. In 1994, during divorce proceedings, a Delaware County judge held Mr. Chadwick in civil contempt for failing to put $2.5 million in a court-controlled account. He says he lost the money in bad investments; his wife's attorney claimed he had hidden it offshore. In April 1995, Mr. Chadwick was arrested and detained. Nearly 14 years later, Mr. Chadwick, who suffers from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is still in jail -- even after a retired judge was hired to help locate the money, and failed.No Charge: In Civil-Contempt Cases, Jail Time Can Stretch On for Years (Via The Agitator)"The money is gone," says Mr. Chadwick's lawyer, Michael Malloy. "The coercive effect of this order is gone; it has turned into a life sentence." The judge who held Mr. Chadwick in contempt in 1994 couldn't be reached for comment, but he has said publicly that he doesn't believe Mr. Chadwick lacks the funds.
Jolt reviving Zork as browser-MMO, Discuss this on OffworldToday's guardedly optimistic revival: casual MMO developer Jolt (they of the recent Google Maps enhanced long-distance trucker MMO Trukz [which friend of Offworld Mathew Kumar recently detailed]) have announced a revival of Infocom's foundational text adventure Zork as a browser-based casual MMO.
Though they haven't yet detailed how the game itself will operate, they have said Legends of Zork will provide a persistent world for all its players, who will take the role of a "laid-off salesman and part-time loot-gatherer, as he explores the Great Underground Empire."
Our books might feel like your current book – for a minute. They are written by leading experts, and are peer- reviewed, edited, and highly developed. They are supported by test banks, .ppt notes, instructor manuals, print desk copies, and knowledgeable service representatives. There the similarity ends.The business model definitely matches the economic principles we've discussed in the past. Specifically, they focus on charging for scarcities, with the main one being convenience:
Instead of $100 plus, our books are FREE online. We don't even require registration! Students just enter the URL they're given by their instructor and start reading. It's that easy. No tricks. No popup ads. No "a premium subscription is needed for that". In fact, our free books go beyond what standard print editions provide with integrated audio, video, and interactive features, powerful search capabilities, and more..
Even better – read our books where you are! If you are a student in Facebook, then read our book using our Facebook app. Still free. If you are an instructor using an LMS like Blackboard, you can integrate our book into your LMS. Yep. Still free.
Are you reading this feeling a bit jaded? Something must be coming – some advertising, spam, a charge after a trial period, lock-in to a product, something. Breathe. Relax. It's just not coming.They've certainly picked an industry that is wide open for such a change. Unfortunately, it looks like the site is just now launching, so I haven't been able to look at any of the actual books to judge their quality. They might want to talk to the economics professor we recently mentioned who's already giving away a great free econ textbook.
Our business model eliminates the catch. We're giving away great textbooks and making them open because it solves real problems for students and instructors. In so doing, we are creating a large market for our product. We then turn around and sell things of value to that large market – more convenient ways to consume our free book (print, audio, PDF) and efficient ways to study (study aids). Sure, we'll make less money per student than the big guys. But that's okay. We'll be selling to a lot more of them, and we'll be doing it for a lot less money (thanks to technology like web-hosted services, XML, print-on-demand, and more). Like we said... just a smarter way to do business. For all of us.
Our Joel Johnson at Boing Boing Gadgets says,
We got a chance to sample the motion simulation gear from D-BOX at this year's CES, including this fantastic new GPH-120 "Home" model that starts at a low, low $3,000. Pricey, yes — but it makes most other home interactive motion systems seem chumpy. If you'd like a direct MP4 download, there you go!And by "we," he means the Gadgets crew with special guest gadgeteer Drew Carey, comedian and host of the long-running CBS game show "The Price is Right."
Discuss this video over yonder at Boing Boing Gadgets.
Previously:
BB Gadgets at CES (Video): Drew Carey and Son Hunt for Cars, Robots
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Dale recently posted about the similarities between making different fermented foods; now, you can make your cider and cheese with the same tool:
Here is how I built my own combination cider and cheese press. After a great apple harvest this year, I was inspired to obtain my own cider press. However, after pricing one and seeing that they cost exactly one arm and one leg to purchase I started thinking about building one myself. While no advanced rocket engineering degree is needed to understand the basics concept of apple cider making (apples+ pressure=cider), it took some thought as to how it all fits together. At the same time, I was interested in learning cheese making so I put a homemade cheese press on it as well. So, I looked at some other press variations online and in magazines and this is what I came up with.
This project's from the same Instructables user who made the bicycle wheel solar tracker I blogged about yesterday. Great work, bwitmer!
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Carlo Longino is an expert at the Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Carlo Longino and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.
Catalog: The Illustrated History of Mail Order Shopping, Mail Order Catalog Brilliance
While it is knee slappingly funny to gawk at the shag bathroom sets of the 1970's, the richest bounty lies in the early catalogs from a time that the Sears catalog really meant something. Before the interstate highway system and the internets tube system, the Sears catalog was a profoundly important and optimistic source. It was a catalog of empowerment. One day, you are Joe Nobody, without a fiddle or an egg for breakfast. Weeks pass and it must have seemed like a miracle when that new fiddle, kerosene-fired incubator and careful wrapped fertile eggs arrived in the mail. A community event, I suspect.Having used inflation calculators, I have compared the 1932 prices of the everything from screen door hinges to chore jackets. Selvedge denim dungarees from North Carolina mills were the equivalent of $25, while bicycles were terribly expensive. Of course, the world changed. Labor, materials and container shipping have shifted business so radically, that it is a testament to Sears that the doors are still open.
Jesse Thorn, host and producer of The Sound of Young America radio show and podcast, interviews Ben Karlin, the lead writer for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. It was fun to see what Jesse's office looks like, since he produces the show in his living room.
From the home studio of "America's Sweetheart" Jesse Thorne, meet the comedic guru Ben Karlin. In this interview for Jesse's show, The Sound of Young America, Karlin tells us how he went from making peanuts as The Onion's Chief Editor to becoming an eight-time Emmy Award winning television writer/producer. Jesse talks to "the man" about being lead writer on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report and his new endeavor as an author of a book called You Too Will Get Crushed which, if we judge by past successes is poised to be the next step to Karlin's total takeover of comic media.Jesse Thorn interviews lead writer for Daily Show and The Colbert Report
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I came across this PC build on the interwebs the other day and it really caught my eye. Built by a modder known as "Geno" for a contest, it's meant to honor the game Half-Life 2 in case that wasn't completely obvious.
Let's take a closer look!
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Number of members of the rock band Anthrax who said they hoarded Cipro so as to avoid an “ironic death”: 1Harper’s Index (Thanks, Mr Jalopy!)Estimated total calories members of Congress burned giving Bush’s 2002 State of the Union standing ovations: 22,000
Percentage of the amendments in the Bill of Rights that are violated by the USA PATRIOT Act, according to the ACLU: 50
Carlo Longino is an expert at the Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Carlo Longino and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.
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Pretty sure someone in the Bush Administration is going to get prosecuted for war crimes. And the lower-downs were smart this time, they made sure the higher-ups were on the hook, at least according an interview on Fresh Air last summer with Phillippe Sands, an international expert on war crimes prosecution.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
O'Reilly author Wei-Meng Lee has published a short free PDF that will get you started building iPhone applications with Apple's SDK:
If you have always wanted to learn iPhone development but don't know how to get started, download my free eDoc on Getting Started with iPhone Development. Try it out and see how easy it is to get started!
Developer Learning Solutions: Free eDoc on Getting Started with iPhone Development
If you want to build apps with the unofficial SDK, check out the iphone-dev Google Code page. Jonathan Zdziarski's iPhone Open Application Development covers the SDK and how to build applications with it.
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Cheap Vegetable Gardener is having seed starting success with a grow box that uses cheap LED Christmas lights. It looks like a nice portable system, and they reported that the seedlings seem to be getting enough light so far.
More:
Plant growing LEDS
This 2004 piece by Osman Khan, the Art Dispensing Machine (ADM):
The ADM plays with the notion of creating art in the age of digital reproduction. Using Market-Of-One strategies, where companies wish to market and provide goods and services targeted at individual preferences, the ADM produces unique prints, for the visitor to take with them, based on the card swiped. Is the print precious or as disposable as crumpled receipts wasting in our wallets and purses? The visitor may slide as many different cards as they like. The face seen on the print is generated by the visitor's name and will be unique to the visitor, other imagery and text is generated using the other information contained on the purchase card. The text is generated from the top 100 marketing slogans.
It doesn't store your info or charge your card, just makes art! Via VVORK.
More:
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?Instructables has a really nice how-to on building your own "Mr Fusion" ala Back to the Future in order to allow your car to run on garbage. This mod uses a Honda Accord to do the trick creating a "gasifier" which basically converts any "any solid dry organic matter into a clean burning, carbon neutral, gaseous fuel". Check out the link below on how to build this and scare the hell out of your neighbors.
via DVICE via Instructables
After struggling with marred and misshapen metal for his instrument panels, Aris discovered the savior of panel-makers everywhere - the step bit.
Making holes for panel pots and switches has always been a major pain in the butt for me.Hmmm … I also sense a nibbler in his future - Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Toolbox | Digg this!
I tried lots of times to make different sized holes with standard metal drills on tin sheets but the holes always came out at the wrong places or, due to the fact that I don't have a drill stand, triangle shaped because of my inability to keep the panels from sliding up and down the drill. They also came out with lots of scrap attached to them (I cannot find the right word but I mean the metal goo that remains at the opposite side of the drill entrance).Today, I received in the mail a... STEP DRILL!
[...]
If you are careful with the step drill you get instant holes at the desired diameter (the numbers on the drill are mm). And since there is a taper leading to the next, larger diameter on the drill, you get instant metal-goo cleaning and flattening. No more scrap at the holes...
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Carlo Longino is an expert at the Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Carlo Longino and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.
Martin documents his experimentation with Arduino and realtime audio signal processing and generation -
The first set of examples alter an incoming audio signal and put it back to an audio output. We achieve effects like Reverb, Phasor, Flanger or Ringmodulator. The second set of examples are outputting computed waveforms like Sinewave, Bell and Xylophone sounds.Along with a helpful tour through the often confusing world of timer interrupts, source code is available for all the tasty effects mentioned above. This is an excellent starting point for those looking to delve deeper into Arduino audio. - Arduino Realtime Audio Processing Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arduino | Digg this!
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
This talk at UC Berkeley by Leah Buechley (MIT Media Lab) inventor of the LilyPad Arduino, (one talk in their "Design Futures" lecture series that I also spoke at about my work back in November), is a really great intro to the project, with some interesting insight about artwork people have made with the device. It's a long talk, but well worth a watch and she even gives a shout out to Make/Craft's own Becky Stern! Check out more of the talks from this series at the link below.
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"Sounds of Room" by Michel Dudek consists of several speakers and sensors in a space that echo the normal sounds of the building into a cacophonous chorus of daily activity in the space. Really interesting construction on this piece which looks like it's part of an alien space craft.
Sounds of Room Medianovercontrol
via Bartholl
Dhananjay shares this demonstration of 3D imagery displayed via cathode ray oscilloscope. The circuit responsible is revealed later on in the vid sporting an ATMega644 and two R-2R DACs.
More:
Oscilloscope art
"Content" by Cory DoctorowI've included a bonus chapter at the end with Barlow's "Economy of Ideas" plus a somewhat impassioned reading of "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" to round out the whole experience.
Sometime in the next month or two, I'll also upload some afterthoughts of my own as a final entry (but first I'm going to listen to the whole thing through from start to finish).
Three Garbages in One Garbage
The left pedal opens the highest can in a traditional way. This can is for general discarding. A bag dispenser is available here. The middle pedal makes the second can rotate around a decentered axe. This can is for packaging, plastic etc. The right pedal makes the last can move towards the user. The last can is for glass discarding.
Breeze Systems has announced the availability of its NKRemote 1.0 remote capture software for Nikon DSLRs. Building on its products for the Nikon D90 and D300, the software now expands coverage to the D3, D700 and D200. It enables users to control focus from a PC, shoot time-lapse sequences and display live images. Comments Off [link]
SparkFun has a nice roundup of various power supply protection plans. It's a great place to start learning about how to protect your prototypes from inadvertent power supply mistakes. I think most of us can recall frying at least one chip from switching polarities. Got a good story? Share it with the rest of us in the comments. Thanks!
When designing a board, power is always a concern. Not matter if the power supply is batteries or a wall wart, you have to consider how the user is going to attach the power supply. Given the opportunity, we have to assume that power will be hooked up wrong. This brings up the discussion of 'reverse power protection'.
More about Power supply protection
In the Maker Shed:
DIY Design Electronics Kit
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This is definitely one for the remake category. In fact, I think these have already been remade, right? I remember the LEGO Dulcimer and midi guitar, but I don't remember a LEGO MP3 player? I think it would be a lot of fun to make a whole bunch of these types of products from old sets of LEGOs.
Digital Blue and LEGO have announced a licensing agreement that will bring several LEGO branded kid's tech products to market. The line is scheduled for release this summer and will include digital cameras, video cameras, MP3 players, walkie talkies and other electronics.
More about the official LEGO digital products
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Carlo Longino is an expert at the Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Carlo Longino and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.
EULA - End User License Agreement. Edison invented that, too (Thanks, Mark!)
Patented in Great Britain, Germany, France and other Countries. This record is sold upon the condition that it shall not be re-sold to or by any unauthorized dealer or used for duplication, and that it shall not be sold, or offered for sale, by the original, or any subsequent purchaser (except by authorized jobber or factor to an authorized retail dealer) for less than 35 cents in the United States, nor in other countries for less than the price given in the current Edison catalogues of the country in which it is sold. Upon any breach of this condition, the license to use and vend this record, implied from such sale, immediately terminates.
See also: Record industry DRM from 1907
This is a really simple project that would fun for anyone getting started with an Arduino. Check out the 'more info' section for a link to the source code. There aren't any schematics, but the code is well documented.
More about the Imperial March on an Arduino
In the Maker Shed:
Make: Arduino
Fun stuff!
The Little Engine That Could Kill (Thanks, Rich!
You waddle through the Bar Car into you room. You waddle past the Violinist who is sitting on your bed red-faced and angry. You open the door and waddle forward with a last desperate step as your lungs burn with every breath and you see the Barman entering the Magician’s quarters. Your sweaty fingers clasp the bottom corner of his white apron, but they are too wet and slippery and you are too drunk on capitalism and whiskey to maintain your hold. The Barman pulls himself into the room and swiftly closes the door. But you are out of control. Your weight is propelling you forward and you can’t stop in time. You crash into the firm metal door and crumble into a pile of flesh and bones – more flesh than bones -- and the voice of Adam Smith, now wheezing and hacking with exhaustion, whispers “A true capitalist would tear down barriers to entry. A true capitalist would. A true capitalist. Capitalist.”You shove your flabby shoulder against the door, but you are shoving against more than just a steel barrier. You are shoving against fair trade, shoving against the public school tax, and shoving against...no, you can’t say it, but you can think it. You think, “I am shoving against the the not-for- profit charity. You shove with the full force of thought conviction, but your weak shoulder bounces off the door and your bulky body makes a soft wet thud against the cool tile floor...Mr. Smith, are you there?...Mr. Smith?...You call to him through the darkness of your mind, but he’s not there anymore and you pass out.
The top Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial has concluded that the U.S. military tortured a Saudi national who allegedly planned to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, interrogating him with techniques that included sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity and prolonged exposure to cold, leaving him in a "life-threatening condition."Detainee Tortured, Says U.S. Official (Thanks, Cyrus!)"We tortured [Mohammed al-]Qahtani," said Susan J. Crawford, in her first interview since being named convening authority of military commissions by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in February 2007. "His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that's why I did not refer the case" for prosecution.
Crawford, a retired judge who served as general counsel for the Army during the Reagan administration and as Pentagon inspector general when Dick Cheney was secretary of defense, is the first senior Bush administration official responsible for reviewing practices at Guantanamo to publicly state that a detainee was tortured.
Crawford, 61, said the combination of the interrogation techniques, their duration and the impact on Qahtani's health led to her conclusion. "The techniques they used were all authorized, but the manner in which they applied them was overly aggressive and too persistent. . . . You think of torture, you think of some horrendous physical act done to an individual. This was not any one particular act; this was just a combination of things that had a medical impact on him, that hurt his health. It was abusive and uncalled for. And coercive. Clearly coercive. It was that medical impact that pushed me over the edge" to call it torture, she said.
January 27th is the birthday of Lewis Carrol, author of ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND. Alice fell down a rabbit hole into a place where everything had changed and none of the rules could be counted on to apply anymore. I say, let's do the same: January 27th, 2005 should be the First Annual LiveJournal Rabbit Hole Day. When you post on that Thursday, instead of the normal daily life and work and news and politics, write about the strange new world you have found yourself in for the day, with its strange new life and work and news and politics. Are your pets talking back at you now? Has your child suddenly grown to full adulthood? Does everyone at work think you're someone else now? Did Bush step down from the White House to become a pro-circuit tap-dancer? Did Zoroastrian missionaries show up on your doorstep with literature in 3-D? Have you been placed under house arrest by bizarre insectoid women wielding clubs made of lunchmeat?Mark your calendars: January 27th is Rabbit Hole Day (via Warren Ellis)Let's have a day where nobody's life makes sense anymore, where any random LJ you click on will bring you some strange new tale. Let's all fall down the Rabbit Hole for 24 hours and see what's there. It will be beautiful.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Zelda ALTTP Map
(via Wonderland)
Well, good news if you're worried about sexual predation on kids. Not so good if you're worried about bullying. But of course, now that we know that kids are more threatened by the (less-sexy, less-mediagenic) scourge of bullying than the (incredibly scary, totally mediagenic) risk of sexual predation, we'll divert funds and resources to the real risk, right?
Right?
The 278-page report, released Tuesday, was the result of a year of meetings between dozens of academics, experts in childhood safety and executives of 30 companies, including Yahoo, AOL, MySpace and Facebook.Report Calls Online Threats to Children Overblown (via /.)The task force, led by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, looked at scientific data on online sexual predators and found that children and teenagers were unlikely to be propositioned by adults online. In the cases that do exist, the report said, teenagers are typically willing participants and are already at risk because of poor home environments, substance abuse or other problems.
PLAYGROUNDS IN THE SKY (Apr, 1957)
There, a few yards from the tenements where they live, on their very roofs, in fact, is a regulation-size baseball diamond with real springy turf! But the kids aren’t interested just now—they played ball all afternoon. Instead, they enter the locker room and in a few minutes are cavorting noisily in a big, broad and very cool swimming pool. Afterwards, they troop onto the ball field, where chairs have been set up, and watch a movie under the stars.What’s it all about? “This magic land for kids doesn’t exist in my city,” you say. No, it doesn’t—yet!
But it darn well could! It could exist in your town and in hundreds of other communities throughout the nation. Every city could construct huge, all-encompassing playgrounds and recreation centers, using the enormous, readily available space now going completely to waste on the rooftops of their congested areas!
ElectricityWorst Apartment Rental Ad Ever
* Heat – Maintained at 21 degrees with lock box to prevent unauthorized tampering. Additional heating available for $20.00 per extra degree of heating per month. You may not use your oven to heat the apartment. If you do, you will be fined $50.00 per occurrence.
* Air conditioning – Maintained at 25 degrees during the summer with lock box to prevent extra cooling from being dispensed. Additional cooling for sale for $20.00 per degree of cooling requested per month.
* 25" Zenith color television set with basic cable service - INCLUDED IN RENT!
* Wireless internet (with content filter applied to block forbidden/immoral websites) - INCLUDED IN RENT!
* Provision of coin laundry services - You will have your own personal coin laundry washer and dryer machines. Washers and dryers are paid using a token system. Tokens can be purchased through the landlord. Washer tokens cost $4.15 each and dryer tokens cost $3.60 each. You are not allowed to use foreign currency or slugs in the washer and dryer. Violators will be fined $100.00 per infraction.CLEANLINESS: You are responsible for the cleanliness and orderliness of your apartment. Beds are to be made before leaving your suite, countertops must be wiped down, and you must remove all trash. Upon inspection, if the tenant's basement suite is not clean, the cost of cleaning services plus a fine of $100.00 will be levied.
LIGHTS: The lights in your basement suite and in the day room are not to be tampered with. If a light needs repair, report the condition to the Landlord.
WAKE-UP: Wake up will be at 5:30am each morning. All ceiling lights in the suite will be turned on automatically.
LIGHTS OUT: Ceiling lights in the suite will be turned off at 11:30pm.
CONTRABAND: The following items are considered contraband – alcohol, illegal drugs, tobacco, weapons, lock picking equipment. If any contraband is discovered to be in your possession, you will be subject to a minimum $1,000.00 fine. In addition, your items will be confiscated permanently. Second offense – you will be evicted without notice. A bailiff will escort you and your belongings off the premises. Your security deposit will not be returned.
Remote control toy helicopter 'used to fly drugs into prison' (Thanks, Francesco!)
A spokesman said: 'A remote control helicopter was flown into the grounds of HMP Elmley on December 23.'As a result of this, a search of the prison grounds and an accommodation block were carried out and nothing was found...'
'Using a mini-helicopter to get contraband into jails is unprecedented. When officers spotted it they nearly fell off their chairs', a prison source told the Sun.
'It could have been drugs or a mobile phone in the package. It is possible it was a dummy run.'
1-Up Mushroom Bicycle Helmet Rain Cover -- It gives you an extra life (Thanks, Jonathan!)
* Not an actual guarantee
Carlo Longino is an expert at the Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Carlo Longino and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.
Often finding herself without the ability to swing, Rachel Griffin designed the swing skirt:
Equipped with ropes that can be swung easily over any horizontal bar, the Swing Skirt allows for a lighthearted experience in the dreary urban landscape. Using existing city terrain, one can swing on anything from the traditional tree branch, to a cross-beam scaffolding.
Via Cool Hunting.
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Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Over at the Creative Commons blog, Fred Benenson writes:
Al Jazeera is releasing 12 broadcast quality videos today shot in Gaza under Creative Commons’ least restrictive Attribution license. Each professionally recorded video has a detailed information page and is hosted on blip.tv allowing for easy downloads of the original files and integration into Miro. The value of this footage is best described by an International Herald Tribune/New York Times article describing the release:Al Jazeera Launches Creative Commons Repository (Via Sean Bonner) and here is the Al Jazeera Creative Commons Repository.In a conflict where the Western news media have been largely prevented from reporting from Gaza because of restrictions imposed by the Israeli military, Al Jazeera has had a distinct advantage. It was already there.
More importantly, the permissive CC-BY license means that the footage can be used by anyone including, rival broadcasters, documentary makers, and bloggers, so long as Al Jazeera is credited.
Carlo Longino is an expert at the Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Carlo Longino and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Shoot the Baddies, by Flickr user Olly Moss, whose portfolio site is here . (Thanks, Wayne de Geere!)
Carlo Longino is an expert at the Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Carlo Longino and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.
Because I get seasick, I suffer at sea. I think there has to be a better way. I want to fix that.Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Transportation | Digg this!If I have a problem I tend to solve it with my engineering capabilities. I was born an engineer. I have to work with my hands. Most important. And then I have to make it. I can't escape these new things. It's actually a problem sometimes. You go into crazy things like this.
Somebody has an idea, and doesn't have the money and doesn't belong to a big company, he goes into the garage and makes it. So we go into the garage.
GPSd is a TCP daemon that displays location data that's been polled from a connected GPS device. The are a lot of unix location-aware applications that use GPSd instead of communicating directly with a GPS device since it allows more than one application to access the device at a time.
Seth Just sent us a howto on getting GPSd working under OS X, along with a few useful applications.
Luckily, there's a wonderful open source project called gpsd which provides support for a wide raft of devices and protocols, and talks to an even wider assortment of software. Primarily, I wanted to be able to get my gps to talk to the network scanner Kismac, and Randall Munroe's cyborg.py script. Both of these were built to take information from gpsd, so I was in business. However, gpsd, which is designed to play nicely with Linux, takes some coaxing under OS X. This is meant to describe how I got it all running.
The documentation also walks you through getting GPSd working with the free gpsdrive navigation software. If you have a Mac laptop and a GPS, it's worth your half hour of time to get all of this running. You never know when you'll need to find a public access point or get last minute directions.
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