RSSArchives: August 2007
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August 19, 2007
Hair art
Wenda Gu's "united nations: united colours" made from 7 or so miles of hair...
...artist Wenda Gu's latest installation provokes aren't because of its size, but its contents: 420 pounds of human hair. A viewer's first impulses are to lean forward and scrutinize the swirling, flattened locks; stealthily sniff (it doesn't smell); and fight the urge to touch it -- and perhaps quickly recoil.Hair Art Show Fascinates, Disgusts - Link.Hair for the 80-foot-by-13-foot banner was collected over several months last year from 42,000 haircuts of Dartmouth students, faculty, staff and local residents in Hanover. It was shipped to China, where workers in Gu's Shanghai studio dyed and shaped the locks into paper-thin panels held together by a film of Elmer's glue and tied together with twine. It and a second work, ''united nations: united colors,'' displayed in another part of the library are the latest installations in Gu's worldwide ''united nations'' project, begun in 1993 and all made from human hair.
More:
Related:
- Chiengora Chic - Handspinning Dog Hair - Link.
- Panda painted onto single hair - Link.
- Micro-paintings on human hair - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 19, 2007 12:00 PM
Arts |
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DIY Segway
There's a new DIY self balancing transpo in town... a student-made DIY Segway... project details and more here - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 19, 2007 11:45 AM
Robotics, Transportation |
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August 18, 2007
Mini UAV using Parallax Propeller chip
Here's a work-in-progress, from a guy who's building a mini UAV, using a Blade CX2 R/C helicopter and the awesome Parallax Propeller Chip. He writes of the build:
The CX2 controller has 4 potentiometers into which I spliced a breadboard. A Parallax Propeller (prop chip) is used to read the control stick voltages through a simple Delta - Sigma ADC... receive live data from another prop-based system resident on the heli, some control laws are (will be) applied, and the new voltages are output using a PWM based DAC (couplea caps, couplea resistors...). The prop also can talk to a laptop thru its USB port. I have some java code which displays various outputs (very much a work in progress and not currently a high priority).
From the pages of MAKE:
Propeller Chip. BASIC Stamp's Chip Gracey puts a new spin on microcontrollers. Read this article in MAKE: 10: Home Electronics, Page 76. To get MAKE, subscribe or purchase single volumes. Subscribers--read this article now in your digital edition!
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 18, 2007 05:32 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Flying |
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1,700 arcade manuals
Jason Scott posted a collection of 1,700 arcade manuals in PDF format, he writes -
If you were saying to yourself "Now, where can I browse over 1,700 arcade manuals in PDF format?", your prayers were just answered. This is over three gigabytes of manuals, schematics, and general information about arcade machines, scanned in by an anonymous army of dedicated people, and going back up to 30 years.ASCII by Jason Scott: Arcade Manuals - Link & download.My collection was previously at around 300, but that initial collection was from a different source, and the filename structure isn't compatible with what I got in my latest set. So I've knocked it to a separate section from the main collection. They are likely doubles, and I'll deal with that in the future.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 18, 2007 05:00 PM
Gaming, Retro |
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Matryoshkus - Russian dolls
These are great! bit, byte, kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte and terabyte figures - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 18, 2007 02:00 PM
Arts |
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Design Patterns for Starting a Hacker Space
I'm sitting in C4's presentation room watching Jens and Lars give an awesome presentation about the design patterns for developing a hacker spaces. Download it now if you're interested in creative communities. - PDF Link
C4 has been in their current space since 1999 and it's version 3.5 for them. They've been through a lot and these design patters are really simple but go really deep into having a successful hacker space! What follows are my notes! They made it clear that these are just guidelines that have worked for them and that they contradict each other, but these are design patterns, not golden rules!
Infrastructure before projects. Get the place and the people and the infrastructure all set up and folks will come up with the most amazing projects. Get the space, power, servers, connectivity and all that kind of stuff all set up so that projects and community can be supported. You need to have a mailing list, wiki, and an irc channel (or jabber server).
You need 2+2 people. Two idea people for scheming and and two implementation people to get real work done. Don't start until you have 4 and then once you've got it going, expand to 10 to start off. These people who start off should be really strong personalities who have experience. "Look for people who have authority (and get respect), not for people who use authority (and get laughed at)."
So you've got your seed group and it's time to find the ultimate hacker lair. Don't let anyone live there, privacy issues come up. You want to have good neighbors who are chill and ok with noise all night and a landlord who is hands off.
You should have smaller separate rooms so that different rooms can be used for all sorts of things. Smoking is an issue in all hacker spaces in Europe and it works for C4 to have a smoking room.
Food is a good thing. It's good to be able to feed people and go beyond pizza. You'll need fridges, dishwasher, and kitchen equipment. It's good for nerds to eat healthy food. Selling soft drinks works to help raise money for the rent. A shower will make people smell less funny and really work on projects for an extended time. A washing machine is a good idea to wash the smelly towels.
Have couches, sofas, a stereo, video games make people comfortable and hang out and daydream and feel cozy.
Have 3 months rent ahead. Larger projects need to be funded. Elect a totalitarian treasurer. The treasurer doesn't say names, but will say that there are three people who haven't paid and he will go seek them out and make them pay!
Don't meet at a company or a university. Independence is important!
Meet every week. Have an agenda and make people commit to tasks. This meeting is for members only. Have a monthly talk or lecture that is open to the public. If smart and interesting people arrive, you can invite them to your weekly meetings. Don't invite weirdos to your weekly meetings.
To resolve conflicts you can use a number of different patterns. You can use consensus, democracy, or boss people around (as long as you are participating too!) People may slack off and it's important to remind people about taking pride in their work! When having discussions, it works well to have people with actual social skills lead the discussion. Learn from them and learn not to interrupt others. You may also want to have private conversations with people who are trouble makers.
This presentation was one of the highlights of my hacker space tour around Europe! I've been thinking a lot about social networks and creative communities and this presentation was really fantastic!
Photo set from C4 - Link
Posted by Bre Pettis |
Aug 18, 2007 09:15 AM
DIY Projects, MAKE PDF |
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August 17, 2007
Revenge by gadget
WSJ on the effort to combat some of the annoying things out there about technology (my FM hack was in there)... -
Attention loud cellphone talkers, overzealous horn honkers, inconsiderate cab drivers and other everyday pests. Your days may be numbered.Revenge by gadget - Link.Thanks to the falling cost of microcontroller chips and the lure of easy online sales, inventors are turning out record numbers of gadgets. One growing subset of these inventions: products that help people neutralize antisocial behavior at the push of a button.
Debate in the comments!
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 17, 2007 05:00 PM
Electronics |
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| Comments (7)
Geek Knitting - Make: Video Podcast
I had the chance to hang out with FBZ for a bit in Berlin and we made this video for you to learn how to knit!
So break out some yarn, string, cassette tape, dental floss, cat5 cable or fiber optics and knit it up into some fabric! Knitting is fun, productive, and a great way to spend time alone, around friends, or on public transportation!
Posted by Bre Pettis |
Aug 17, 2007 09:00 AM
Crafts, MAKE Podcast, Weekend Projects |
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Geek Knitting - Make: PDFcast
This week's pdf comes to you from Shannon Okey of knitgrrl.com. (Update: The Knitgrrl site is down this morning due to outages at Dreamhost. Please check back at her site later today.) She stepped up and made a pdf with the parts of her book, Knitgrrl2, that have the diagrams that step you through casting on, knitting, purling, and binding off. - PDF link
If you subscribe in iTunes, this pdf is already there! - Subscribe Link
Posted by Bre Pettis |
Aug 17, 2007 09:00 AM
MAKE PDF, MAKE Podcast, Weekend Projects |
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Mashing up your own action figures
Wired.com has a nice package of three articles covering action figure modding. "Action Figure Modders Aren't Just Toying Around" introduces the concept of custom figures, "Zap! A Gallery of Customized Action Figures" shows off a bunch of builder mods, and in Wired's How-To Wiki, "Make Your Own Action Figure" shows you how, or at least tells you how. Pictures would have been nice.
Action Figure Modders Aren't Just Toying Around - Link
Zap! A Gallery of Customized Action Figures - Link
Make Your Own Action Figure - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 17, 2007 08:00 AM
Arts, DIY Projects, Toys and Games |
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Is the "FUBAR Xtreme" worth it?
I SO wanted the Stanley FUBAR Xtreme, until I saw the price. Forty bones for a glorified pry bar with a weight problem. Apparently, Will O'Brien (of Hack A Day and DIY Life) had similar sticker shock. But he ponied up and began terrorizing the walls of his new home. He's happy with his shinny new tool and thinks that its added weight (over the lighter, cheaper vanilla FUBAR) and lean profile make it truly deadly for demo.
Is the FUBAR XTREME worth $40? - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 17, 2007 07:00 AM
DIY Projects, Reviews, Toolbox |
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| Comments (6)
More VEXplorer details
Our buds over at Robot Magazine have an online exclusive, with lots of photos, of the forthcoming new VEX Robotics Design System, dubbed the Revell VEXPlorer. As you probably know, the VEX system, first sold by Radio Shack, was sold to Revell Monogram. The Robot mag piece has details about the content, pics of the components, and details of the partnership with SolidWorks, who's developing a Student Design Kit (3D CAD and mechanical design software) to go with the VEX system. And as far as I can tell, all of the previous VEX components are compatible. The VEXPlorer is available for pre-order on Amazon. It'll retail for $199. The Amazon page also has a goofy Ronco-esque Flash commercial that's worth the click-through.
Vexplorer Update! - Link
Related:
- The Vex Robotics Design System - Versatile, powerful design raises the bot in prefab robotics construction kits. Subscribers--read this article now in your digital edition!
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 17, 2007 06:00 AM
Computers, Electronics, Robotics, Toys and Games |
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Amazing monocycle replica
You may have seen images of this gorgeously crafted "monocycle/monowheel" replica (of an 1873 French design) making its way through the series of tubes. It was for sale, briefly, on eBay (with starting bid at US$13,000).
1873 Monocycle/Monowheel Replica - Link
1873 Monocycle Replica Is a Mechanical and Engineering Marvel - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 17, 2007 05:00 AM
Bicycles, Retro |
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| Comments (3)
Wood practice amp
Beautiful wood practice amp, check out the build gallery... Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 17, 2007 04:16 AM
DIY Projects, Music |
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| Comments (3)
Fonera internet controlled switch
cryptonoid writes -
First thing i did was flash dd-wrt firmware on it. Since FONera router has gpio pins i decided to use one of those pins to control AC loads or turn a switch ON/OFF remotely. There's a similar/better way of controlling AC loads - check out dd-wrt wiki. However, i only had one NPN transistor some resistors and leds. So i decided to build a small circuit that will turn a switch ON and OFF thru the Router's Web Interface. Now i can turn anything ON/OFF from anywhere in the world.....cryptonoid: f.i.c.s. - Fonera Internet Controlled Switch - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 17, 2007 03:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Telecommunications, Wireless |
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HOW TO - Paint with smoke
wikiHow shows you how to paint with smoke! -
Beginning with Wolfgang Paalen, visionary artists, including well-known surrealists such as Salvador Dali, practiced the fine art of "painting with smoke," otherwise known as "fumage." More delicate than charcoal, providing intriguing textures and patterns, fumage can serve as a standalone media or as an innovative approach to guiding the application of other media.How to Paint With Smoke - wikiHow - [via] Link.
More:
Sculptures made with smoke - Link.
HOW TO - Photograph smoke - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 17, 2007 02:00 AM
Arts, DIY Projects |
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$100 DIY preamp
Ruel Oquindo writes about his DIY preamp for under $100 -
$100 DIY preamp - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 17, 2007 01:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Music |
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Safe stunts with fire for the home chemist
writes -
Popular Science 1934 -
OF ALL home chemistry experiments, tests with combustibles offer the most in spectacular fun and harmless excitement. For even after some 60,000 years of use, fire still holds a mysterious fascination.Modern Mechanix ยป Safe Stunts with Fire FOR THE HOME CHEMIST - Link.Although we are accustomed to kindling a fire with a match or some other small flame, a spark or a flame are by no means necessary to start some substances burning. Many materials ignite spontaneously when subjected to nothing more than a slight rise in temperature. Carbon disul-phide, a liquid often used as an ant exterminator, is one of these substances and for this reason presents a serious fire hazard if not handled carefully.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 17, 2007 12:00 AM
DIY Projects, Modern Mechanix, Science |
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| Comments (1)
August 16, 2007
Cobbling together broken solar panels
In this well-written how to, the builder shows you how he collects broken photovoltaic (PV) cells and panels (sold on the cheap at places like Electronic Goldmine and Silicon Solar) and then wires them up and re-cases them to create new PV panels.
How to MAKE PV Solar Panels - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 16, 2007 08:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Green, Instructables |
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Kitchen tabletop letterpress
This Instructable shows how to use a small tabletop letterpress. The press is built with little more than plywood, long threaded rods, and a woodworker's veneer press screw. Unfortunately, the maker didn't actually take pics of the construction process (the Instructable shows the letter-pressing, not the building of the press itself), but things seem reasonably clear from the included photos.
Build a Letterpress & Use It to Print Things - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 16, 2007 06:00 PM
Crafts, DIY Projects, Instructables, Retro |
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