Friday fun: I AM A GEEK! by The Society for Geek Advancement

This video from GeekAdvancement is for all you Geeks out there:



Check out the GeekAdvancement home page at: http://geekadvancement.com/

Take care and have a great weekend ~ Jim

Friday fun: The I Have a Cold Song

I have been fighting a cold for over a week now, and I am just trashed from dealing with it. As I a matter of fact I am so trashed I was going to skip posting anything for this week's Friday Fun and then I came across the video below. Thanks bigedude33:



Hopefully I can get over this cold soon and get moving on my Arduino project. If anyone else out there is working on an Arduino based weather station please fee free to drop me a line. I would love to hear from you.

Take care and have a great weekend ~ Jim

Friday fun: Seattle, snow, and sliding. Well, maybe not so fun.

** Caution: This weeks Friday Fun video may not be work safe due to some profanity at the end, so use your own judgment. **

Everyone knows that Seattle has a perpetual rainy season (wink, wink, say no more, nudge, nudge), but Seattle has another dubious distinction. That other distinction is for having some of the worst traffic for when it snows. To be honest our topography has a lot to do with it as well as the fickleness of our weather. Below is a video from November 22, 2010 that was taken by fsayre of a car crashing on Seattle's Queen Anne Hill:



Hopefully no one was hurt in that accident, but it does show how much the weather can impact our lives and this is one of the reasons I am becoming more interested in meteorology. This interest is why I am choosing a weather station as a project for my Arduino.

Seattle also has some very interesting personalities in the field of meteorology and to me the most interesting of them is Cliff Mass who's blog I routinely read. One recent post on Cliff's blog really caught my attention. In the last paragraph of "WeatherFest, Money, and the Aftermath" Cliff writes on the topic of "nowcasting" (describing what is happening now and during the next few hours), and how he is working with the city of Seattle to develop a series of nowcasting applications to help provide up to the minute weather information. The concept of nowcasting is really intriguing to me, and I am going to be watching Cliff's blog to see how the project moves forward. If you are interested in the concept of nowcasting then check out Cliffs blog.

Well that's it for this Friday's Fun post. By the way, I am sorry I missed posting last week, but I had several emergencies to deal with.

Take care and have a great weekend ~ Jim

Friday fun: Polar bears destroying a BBC nature show's spy cameras

GIZMODO recently posted this article on how some remote controlled spy cameras faired against some very curious polar bears. Below is the video from the article:



Here is the original BBC article on the polar bears vs. the cameras. I doubt any of my robotics projects, or Arduino weather station will encounter any polar bears, but the video does make me consider what my projects might face out in the real world.

Happy New Year everyone ~ Jim

Friday fun: Minuscule - Christmas with the spider and the fly

I hope you enjoy this Christmas Eve / Friday Fun video from Minuscule:



Merry Christmas everyone ~ Jim

Wayward - the road ahead

Recently the Wayward Coffeehouse which is one of my favorite haunts was shut down due to fire that occurred just before Thanksgiving. The one thing that I really like about the Wayward is that it appeals to the geek in me, and for some time now I have been posting weekly notices on behalf Wayward Coffeehouse over on the NWSFS News Blog that I help maintain.

The last few notices I have posted for the Wayward have of course been about the fire, the possibility of reopening the business, and of the efforts of the Seattle Browncoats and their Wayward Phoenix Fund. I really think what the Seattle Browncoats are doing on behalf of the Wayward is a great, and I want to help them with their cause in any way I can, so I thought it might help the cause if I reposted the latest notice here in hopes of getting the word out to more people.

Check out the posting below and if you feel inclined send a few bucks to Wayward Phoenix Fund.

Cheers ~ Jim

---

Greetings to all the friends of Wayward Coffeehouse. We miss you greatly and are wishing you all the magic of the season.

We have not sent out any recent updates as we had little new information to report and were waiting anxiously for word on when repairs would begin.

It is with great sadness that we must now report that we have been told that the property owners are refusing to repair the building. Although as far as we know the damage is well within the scope of repair we have no control over this decision.

But we believe in what we created with Wayward Coffeehouse and want fervently for it to continue. We have received your messages of support and encouragement and know that there is a need for Wayward Coffeehouse for the communities we embrace. We are reviewing our legal options in the matter and pursuing other means of reopening. But it is not an easy path.

Much of what still lies ahead is beyond the scope of our insurance and we are struggling to find the resources to move forward. Many friends and customers of Wayward have already made donations to the “Wayward Phoenix Fund” and we are immensely grateful for their support.

More help is needed as we face the continuing challenges of survival and reopening. If you would like to help us rise from the ashes, please go to: Wayward Phoenix Fund Donations (http://www.sbcharities.org/?page_id=16) and look for the Wayward logo to donate online or for information on donating by check. We again wish to thank SBCharities for their support and assistance.

We aim to keep flyin’ ...


Wayward Coffeehouse, it's better than a plan
Closed Until Further Notice
www.waywardcoffee.com
Twitter: WaywardCoffee
Facebook: Wayward Coffee House

Friday fun: Ladybug plays with sprinkles!

A friend of mine on Facebook recently posted the video below of a ladybug playing with candy sprinkles, and it reminded me of the "Minuscule hyperactiv ladybug" video that I posted on this blog a while back:



As for Arduino news I received my copy of the "Practical Arduino" book today, and also I found a page on the Practical Arduino site for building your own Weather Station Receiver. Now if I only had as much energy as the ladybugs in the two videos I would be making a lot more progress on moving forward with my own Arduino based weather station.

Have a great weekend ~ Jim

Friday fun: Arduino Weather Station / Power Meter Receivers

Even before I purchased my Arduino I had decided to use it for a weather station project that I had been thinking of for some time. This video from PracticalArduino is definitely inspiration for me, and I hope it is for you too:



Here are the links for PracticalArduino web site, YouTube channel, and the book: PracticalArduino.

I know I am getting way ahead of myself here, but I am thinking it would be really cool if a bunch of Arduino enthusiasts got together to link their Arduino based weather stations together through some sort of service that offered virtual servers such as http://www.gogrid.com/ to analyze the data that all their stations gathered. To what end? Well maybe the data could be used with Google Earth or Google Maps to display the data for an amateur meteorological project. Students, DIY'ers, and geeks in general could contribute to the project regardless of their skill level or specialty.

Like I said I am getting ahead of myself, but it is food for thought. Have a great weekend ~ Jim

Friday fun: Homestar Runner - Techno (aka The System Is Down)

I have always been a fan of Homestar Runner and this is without a doubt my favorite Homestar Runner / Strongbad video:



To be honest it pretty much fits the way this day is going.

Have a great weekend ~ Jim

Friday fun: Underwriters Laboratories Turkey Fryer Demonstration

It's "Deep Fry Your Turkey" season, but instead of showing the usual video of someone torching their backyard I thought I would post this video from safetyathome. While it's not funny, it is informative:



I hope you had fun, and safe Thanksgiving ~ Jim

Friday fun: What will your people do when the network does down?

Progress on the Arduino is null at the moment, and I really couldn't find anything for tonight's post. Then I came across this add from Cisco that does a pretty good job of explaining why network uptime important:



Have fun, and have a great weekend ~ Jim

Friday fun: Arduino 101 Accelerometers

It was back in 1982 that I started working in the field of electronics. My first job in this field involved the testing of accelerometers for use in both military applications such as missiles, and for commercial applications such as oil exploration. I find it very interesting that as I am just starting to work with the Arduino that I come across this video from makemagazine on how to add an accelerometer to your Arduino project.



The accelerometer used in this project is the Memsic 2125 (.pdf) from Parallax, and it costs around $30.00 US which is pretty reasonable. As is discussed in the video accelerometers can be used in a wide range of projects, and given the cost I think some where down the road I will be picking up at least one.

By the way, here is the Arduino tutorial for the Memsic 2124 accelerometer: http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/AccelerometerMemsic2125

Well, that is it for now. Have fun, and have a great weekend ~ Jim

Friday fun: Arduino 101 - The Button

My Arduino microcontroller board arrived late this week, so I didn't get a much of a chance to play with it. This next Arduino 101 video from makemagazine adds a proto-board and a button. It's a long video, so hang in there:



You can find out even more information this Arduino project at: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/02/howto_tuesday_arduino_101_the_button.html

Have a great weekend ~ Jim

Friday fun: Arduino 101 - The LED

Well my curiosity got the better of me and I finally decided to order an Arduino microcontroller board. It should arrive some time next week. If you are not familiar with the Arduino the take a look at this introduction video from makemagazine:



You can find out even more information about the Arduino at: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/02/howto_tuesday_arduino_101_blink_an_led.html

While looking for Arduino videos I came across another introductory video, "Intro to the Arduino", but it was just a little too goofy even for a Friday Fun post though you may want to check it out.

I guess I am going to have to brush up on my C programming, and that's a good thing. I will also be checking out the Processing language too. I'll try to post more as I make progress with the board, and hopefully I'll post more than once a week.

That's it for now. Have a great weekend ~ Jim

Friday fun: Mysterious Lightbulb Hack

Here's a great project from Kip Kay that's perfect for all you Uncle Fester wanna-bees - The Mysterious Lightbulb Hack:



For more great projects check out Kip Kay's Youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/Kipkay

Have a great weekend ~ Jim