Thursday, May 15, 2008
I have trouble spelling minutiae |12:10 AM| Yesterday was spent cooking at Joe and Tara's, her double boiler rules.
Vegetarian diet means more cooking, which continues to be educational. I learned how to properly add corn starch to a marinade, so that it turns into a sauce instead of a glue. My previous attempt at a General Tso's recipe was delicious, and could have served as wallpaper paste in a pinch.
I'm still getting ready for the camping trip.
Man these entries seem more like press releases. That reminds me. A friend added me to his "Twitter" account, twitter being a service to aid in spamming your friends with the minutiae of your life. While I'll admit to some egomaniac tendencies, letting everyone I know about, oh, that I am late for the bus, that I am currently eating dinner, or my, that was a loud noise outside seems to be a horrid idea. My tendencies to over talk and over-contact are not the sorts of things I need encouraged. I find the whole thing distasteful. If someone needs an odd update on my status they can go track down whatever bizarre statement I've made my AIM status message.
The problem is that my memory is so flaky that if I don't blog about it, or talk to someone about it via a logged instant messaging service, it falls away from my brain like so much frost on a car window. When I review photos or log entries, I am reminded of huge swathes of my life that have otherwise faded into the background radiation of my day to day thoughts. Are there life lessons in there that I am forgetting?
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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Cooling suit |10:54 PM| I have come up with a very possible idea for the LED lit, art project I wish to build for the upcoming camping trip. This idea would also take care of the cooling issue I will likely run into while in the wilderness. It would be a personal cooling system, much like the NASA system used by astronauts as one of the layers of the space suit. In fact, I think a similar system is now in use by athletes. Essentially you have tubes running around the torso and the limbs, which allow for the circulation of cooled water.
Follow the arteries and such a thing could be very effective at temperature regulation. As long as I'm going to the trouble of lining my body with silly tubes and a power source, I could rig up an LED based lighting system, turning the whole thing into an art project.
The main challenge at this point is a pump. I have aquarium pumps, one is air and the other is for a filter circulation system. Adapting them to run on such a system should not be difficult.
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Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Art project |7:16 AM| Since I seem to think things out more clearly when I try to type/talk them out, this blog entry is a hodge podge of the design ideas for an installation art project that I need to have complete in just under 8 days.
Skipping it would probably be a lot less frustrating than picking through it, as it's just a long outline of thoughts.
Final Ideas
Framework with rotating spheres
Tube system resembling the organ structure of a creature
Chaotic motion generator See demonstration:
Large scale spectrum levels indicator, maybe a sound wave generator with 2 large knobs?
Tacky Representation of some cultural artifact, Easter Island Maoi, Pyramids, Rosetta stone, Cuniform tablets
Boom. The parallel relay controller: http://www.electronickits.com/kit/complete/elec/ck1601.htm
Already built so I don't have to learn how to do it in 8 days.
http://vixenlights.com/
http://www.spiffomatic64.com/lightshow/
What sort of art springs to mind
The "Enchanted Tree" at the exploratorium, which reacts to sound. (Light "travels" up the trunk into the branches)
Tree Picture
Tree Article
Wind powered kinetic sculpture, like
Theo Jansen 1
Theo Jansen 2
Or perhaps:
Alexander Calder
Sculpture on Ste-Hélène island
More
Calder
This is likely beyond my abilities but, interesting:
Solar Kinetic Mobile - Daniel Chadwick
LED art, like Tensor, by the late Kevin McCormick:
And then of course, there's that insane Christmas Light show, about 2 orders of magnitude beyond my current abilities
What have I learned from previous "crash" projects
Why is it that a lot of my projects end up a lot less elegant than their original designs?
![]()
src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/Cecil137/SCmOYQbvZuI/AAAAAAAADFc/9Ant6REQHHY/s144/3-2-2007%20015.jpg" />
Lack of practice at the arts involved
Lack of planning and preparation
Subset: Use of the incorrect tools or improper materials (See light beacon)
Stubborness to not change course in the face of project-threatening issues, conflicts with preconceived notions
Resources available:
Enough computer components to make at least one, functioning though low performance machine.
I can borrow garage space, variety of hand tools, dremel
2 Stamp 2 chips, with one I/O board, and the components to make another
100 feet of 6 part wire harness
batteries out the wazoo
Supplies for making 1 Cmoy amplifier
hodge podge of resistors, LEDs, switches, knobs
Aspects: Necessary
Portable or at least, easily break-down-able
Weatherproof
Low power
Sturdy or fault tolerant in case someone stumbles into it.
relatively inexpensive in case of theft, destruction, and just general fiscal responsibility
Aspects that would be nice
Light
Interactivity
Self powered
-Solar?
Things I wonder if I can learn/build
3 component (Red Green Blue/Purple) LED array for a wider range of color options with a mixing system for same.
Self controlling electronic system (no Stamp, no computer, just capacitors/switches)
A mercury switch control arm ("senses" position of control via mercury switches in post)
Things I know I can do:
PVC pipe framework
Liquid filled plastic tubing with LED light sources
Motor control system through the Stamp 2's
"brush" power leads
Momentary switches (that wooden, 4 D-cell rocket igniter design)
The independent LED system used in "Throwies"
Links to relevant tutorials and products
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/09/control_a_led_matrix_display_u.html
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/present.php?p=Ethernet_LED_Matrix
(0) comments
I have trouble spelling minutiae |12:10 AM| Yesterday was spent cooking at Joe and Tara's, her double boiler rules.
Vegetarian diet means more cooking, which continues to be educational. I learned how to properly add corn starch to a marinade, so that it turns into a sauce instead of a glue. My previous attempt at a General Tso's recipe was delicious, and could have served as wallpaper paste in a pinch.
I'm still getting ready for the camping trip.
Man these entries seem more like press releases. That reminds me. A friend added me to his "Twitter" account, twitter being a service to aid in spamming your friends with the minutiae of your life. While I'll admit to some egomaniac tendencies, letting everyone I know about, oh, that I am late for the bus, that I am currently eating dinner, or my, that was a loud noise outside seems to be a horrid idea. My tendencies to over talk and over-contact are not the sorts of things I need encouraged. I find the whole thing distasteful. If someone needs an odd update on my status they can go track down whatever bizarre statement I've made my AIM status message.
The problem is that my memory is so flaky that if I don't blog about it, or talk to someone about it via a logged instant messaging service, it falls away from my brain like so much frost on a car window. When I review photos or log entries, I am reminded of huge swathes of my life that have otherwise faded into the background radiation of my day to day thoughts. Are there life lessons in there that I am forgetting?
(0) comments
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Cooling suit |10:54 PM| I have come up with a very possible idea for the LED lit, art project I wish to build for the upcoming camping trip. This idea would also take care of the cooling issue I will likely run into while in the wilderness. It would be a personal cooling system, much like the NASA system used by astronauts as one of the layers of the space suit. In fact, I think a similar system is now in use by athletes. Essentially you have tubes running around the torso and the limbs, which allow for the circulation of cooled water.
Follow the arteries and such a thing could be very effective at temperature regulation. As long as I'm going to the trouble of lining my body with silly tubes and a power source, I could rig up an LED based lighting system, turning the whole thing into an art project.
The main challenge at this point is a pump. I have aquarium pumps, one is air and the other is for a filter circulation system. Adapting them to run on such a system should not be difficult.
(0) comments
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Art project |7:16 AM| Since I seem to think things out more clearly when I try to type/talk them out, this blog entry is a hodge podge of the design ideas for an installation art project that I need to have complete in just under 8 days.
Skipping it would probably be a lot less frustrating than picking through it, as it's just a long outline of thoughts.
Final Ideas
Framework with rotating spheres
Tube system resembling the organ structure of a creature
Chaotic motion generator See demonstration:
Large scale spectrum levels indicator, maybe a sound wave generator with 2 large knobs?
Tacky Representation of some cultural artifact, Easter Island Maoi, Pyramids, Rosetta stone, Cuniform tablets
Boom. The parallel relay controller: http://www.electronickits.com/kit/complete/elec/ck1601.htm
Already built so I don't have to learn how to do it in 8 days.
http://vixenlights.com/
http://www.spiffomatic64.com/lightshow/
What sort of art springs to mind
The "Enchanted Tree" at the exploratorium, which reacts to sound. (Light "travels" up the trunk into the branches)
Tree Picture
Tree Article
Wind powered kinetic sculpture, like
Theo Jansen 1
Theo Jansen 2
Or perhaps:
Alexander Calder
Sculpture on Ste-Hélène island
More
Calder
This is likely beyond my abilities but, interesting:
Solar Kinetic Mobile - Daniel Chadwick
LED art, like Tensor, by the late Kevin McCormick:
And then of course, there's that insane Christmas Light show, about 2 orders of magnitude beyond my current abilities
What have I learned from previous "crash" projects
Why is it that a lot of my projects end up a lot less elegant than their original designs?
src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/Cecil137/SCmOYQbvZuI/AAAAAAAADFc/9Ant6REQHHY/s144/3-2-2007%20015.jpg" />
Lack of practice at the arts involved
Lack of planning and preparation
Subset: Use of the incorrect tools or improper materials (See light beacon)
Stubborness to not change course in the face of project-threatening issues, conflicts with preconceived notions
Resources available:
Enough computer components to make at least one, functioning though low performance machine.
I can borrow garage space, variety of hand tools, dremel
2 Stamp 2 chips, with one I/O board, and the components to make another
100 feet of 6 part wire harness
batteries out the wazoo
Supplies for making 1 Cmoy amplifier
hodge podge of resistors, LEDs, switches, knobs
Aspects: Necessary
Portable or at least, easily break-down-able
Weatherproof
Low power
Sturdy or fault tolerant in case someone stumbles into it.
relatively inexpensive in case of theft, destruction, and just general fiscal responsibility
Aspects that would be nice
Light
Interactivity
Self powered
-Solar?
Things I wonder if I can learn/build
3 component (Red Green Blue/Purple) LED array for a wider range of color options with a mixing system for same.
Self controlling electronic system (no Stamp, no computer, just capacitors/switches)
A mercury switch control arm ("senses" position of control via mercury switches in post)
Things I know I can do:
PVC pipe framework
Liquid filled plastic tubing with LED light sources
Motor control system through the Stamp 2's
"brush" power leads
Momentary switches (that wooden, 4 D-cell rocket igniter design)
The independent LED system used in "Throwies"
Links to relevant tutorials and products
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/09/control_a_led_matrix_display_u.html
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/present.php?p=Ethernet_LED_Matrix
(0) comments
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