So I was doing some research on building a Tesla coil, (one of those mad scientist looking contraptions that shoot huge, but harmless sparks out) and came across what might be the very definition of the word "geek", and not in a bad way in my opinion. Anyway, these guys built one of the aforementioned coils and developed a way to rapidly turn it off hundreds of times a second based on input from an audio source. This allows them to generate a variety of tones, as the rate at which it's turned on and off varies the frequency of the sparking you hear, generating notes. How do you make a geeky pursuit even geekier? Throw in a tribute to a classic video game.

I spent a LOT of time playing Mario Brothers (thanks Mom for such an awesome Christmas present over 20 years ago) so this made me grin the whole way through.

I also have my schedule for the fall semester almost complete. I'm in the 1st wait list spot for one class, but everything else is good. The best part? Every single class has "Engineering" in the title. No more unnecessary physics*, questionably useful ethics, or boring economics classes. I haven't been this excited to start back to school since my return two years ago. It doesn't hurt that I've spent most of the last several weeks out in the sun all day splitting wood, but that's beside the point......

*this only applies to last semester's physics which focused on quantum mechanics. Interesting stuff, but unless you're building very tiny aircraft, not really applicable to my field

Stuff's about to get real ugly.....................

For those of you who saw the brilliance that is the Landlord, Pearl's made another, possibly funnier follow up.

Good cop, baby cop

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Saundra's brother William

For those of you that know Saundra, I thought I'd post a quick update just in case you missed her mass emails somehow, changed email addresses, or have a persnickety junk mail filter.

Ok, long story short, her brother William is in the military, was recently in Iraq, and during an attack on the fuel truck he was in, was severely burned and is either currently getting, or preparing to get, some extensive skin grafts. From her emails he sounds like he's in pretty good spirits all things considered, and I think his mom is in San Antonio with him now, with Saundra rotating in shortly thereafter. I have a mailing address for him, and I'm sure he'd appreciate whatever letters, cards, magazines, or dirty pictures you'd be willing to send him. If you want it, just leave a comment, or email me, and I'll hook you up.

Quick catch up

Ok, I've been very remiss, I know, in doing anything with this blog. It's even more scandalous considering the hours I waste at the computer. So what keeps me occupied you ask? Here's a quick rundown of the time sucking sights I visit almost daily.

Diggnation - Kevin and Alex do a brief rundown of the top stories on Digg.com, usually under the influence of alcohol. The stories are all user submitted, and ranked, so they don't pick what news to report so much as offer some commentary. As expected most of the news focuses on technology, the internet, or anything viral. The stories themselves though aren't the draw, it's the way these two relate to each other, and that they have absolutely no filter between their brains and mouths. Did I mention alcohol was involved?

zefrank - Sadly, his daily podcasts are over, but luckily (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it) they're all still available online. It's not for everyone, but I can't recommend it strongly enough. Even if you don't agree with his opinions, or enjoy his humor, you have to respect how he brought the podcast to a new level.

boingboing - One of the great original blogs, it started as a fanzine, and eventually migrated to the web. As it's title page states, "a directory of wonderful things". Not every post is my cup of tea, but their batting average is pretty remarkable, and I'd wager half the cool things I find on the web started from there.

Aint it cool news - A pretty good site for movie news, totally unreliable for reviews. Harry, the ringleader of that circus, has varying taste depending on how chummy he is with the producer/director/actor of whatever he's reviewing. User submitted reviews are often fakes, so it's hard to even take them seriously. The saving grace of the site is that they frequently get scoops on the latest films and television shows sooner than most other sites.

Wired - Definitely a technology focused site, but they come at it from a multitude of angles, with frequent submissions, so it's a good place to waste some time. My only complaint? A lot of the lead stories come from the magazine, which I have a subscription to. The upside is that I know when to start looking for it in the mail when I see new articles go up.

And then there's the usual suspects......

Wikipedia - How I ever manage to close this page I'll never know.

Instructables - Previously discussed, but always worth mentioning again.

Washington Post crossword - It's not the New York Times puzzle, but it's free.

Homestarrunner - If you haven't heard of this yet, go there now. Don't read any more just go. Ok, crawl out from under that rock, leave your cave, return to civilization, then go.

Lastly, there's a few geek-a-rific sites (yes, even geekier than the ones above) that I'll include just for completion's sake. Heavy on gadgets and techno-junk, you've been warned.

AnandTech

TechEBlog

Engadget

Ok, there you go, a fairly comprehensive list of my guilty pleasures. Anything I should add? (cause obviously I need a few more.......)

Where was this when I was trying to quit smoking?

I'm not sure this would cause OCD, but if you suffer from it, it might be your best friend or worst nightmare. Leave it to the Japanese to develop Virtual Bubble wrap. Follow the link for more info, but no word on price or availability in the states. I would expect to see this in Wal-marts and convenience stores soon though.....











Virtual bubblewrap: the best / worst gadget ever made - Engadget

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As much as I loved Ms. Nelms, I wish I'd taken machine shop

I was recently reading an article in MAKE magazine about an Industrial Arts school in California, called The Crucible. It's basically a place where people that have no reason to weld, machine, or just generally make stuff, go to learn how just for the pleasure of it. There's actually several schools like this across the country, which fascinates me. I remember in High School, there was a stigma associated with vocational tech classes. Of course teenagers are fickle, and think they have things figured out, and there's firmly established guidelines about what's "cool". I wish I'd taken some welding classes instead of the AP classes I took and didn't get much out of. Sure, being a little more prepared for college is great, but I've had many more opportunities to learn chemistry, math, and english than I have had to fire up a MIG welder. Besides, you can get science out of a book, MAKING stuff requires hands on experience.

The other thing that occurred to me is that what was once considered blue collar labor has been transformed into a hobby. I'm sure for some it's always been a hobby, but there seems to be a surge of interest in the art of making things with your hands. I know a lot of schools have cut their vo-tech curriculum, and from what I've read there's less demand for those type jobs due to cheap overseas manufacturing. The demand for this specialized knowledge has started to shift from being a necessity, to a passion. This is the point where a craft becomes an art, and that's pretty amazing to see.

The cool thing about this happening now is the internet. Anybody can become a teacher or student, and learn the basics, or just see enough to gain an interest. Arguably this surge is because of the internet. People have never before in history had so much access to information, and large numbers of people are actually using it, not just passively viewing it like they would television. People also have an unprecedented ability to share their passions. Now instead of one widget maker alone with his art, he has a web page, a forum, a community. If you need proof, go check out possibly my favorite site on the entire inter-web.

Instructables

This site is basically an instruction book for things you can't normally find instructions for. Need to build a desk out of things around the house? Make a huge batch of pesto? Build a (non-lethal) gun out of a ball point pen? Do you know how to do something that people might find interesting? Post it, it's open to everyone. And if you need help the users are generally very knowledgeable, with more than a few PhD's (if you value such things) floating around in the forums, and some even smarter people too. Not every project will interest you, some are dangerous, questionably valuable, or just plain boring to most, but if you spend more than a few minutes, I'm sure you'll find something you're interested in, or find that you're interested in something you didn't realize.

Wish I was this crazy

Wow. Horses made from drift wood. Don't you wish you had the time (and probably the excess money) to do something like this?







I don't necessarily mean make lifelike horses out of pieces of beach detritus, but wouldn't it be great to just totally indulge some "out there" obsession. And I can only imagine that a certain amount of obsessiveness is required to comb through tons of wood looking for suitably horse-like pieces. And she didn't make just one, she's got a whole herd.



Heather Jansch: lifesize driftwood sculpture