4th Sunset
Peace Out!
2017 4th
Michigan Rummy… Sort Of
We customized this Tripoley board to be more like the Michigan Rummy we had as kids. Over twenty years later we finally doubled the stakes from playing for pennies to 2¢. Almost 20 rolls of pennies are in play. It’s a high stakes game!
Dad’s Bear Hunt
My Dad shot a huge 560 pound bear in Manitoba earlier this year. Last night we created this movie from the videos captured on his bow camera. Due to cropping for stabilization and watermark removal it’s hard to tell he was as close as 5-10 yards from the smaller bear and probably 15 yards away […]
Amazon Dash Wand
Amazon is selling their new Dash Wand for $20 to Prime members. When you register it, you get $20 off your next purchase, so essentially it’s free! It’s out of stock, but was when I ordered mine last week as well. Eight days later it arrived in the mail. Since I left town for vacation I didn’t even get a chance to open the box.
A Quick Multimeter Fix
The last couple of times I went to use my multimeter, it wouldn’t read voltages or do a continuity test. I didn’t really need it at those times, so I set it aside. Well, I needed it tonight to diagnose something causing problems in a circuit, so it was time to figure out what was wrong.
After unscrewing the back of the multimeter and looking inside, I noticed there were contacts where each of the cables plug in. I got out some alligator clips to use as test leads and the device worked fine. Then I did continuity tests on the cables and the red one failed.
It was time for some surgery so I hacked the ends off. The wire inside was so small and fragile that it had pulled apart from the probe’s end. I cut a new cable using some silicon wire I bought last week since it’s really flexible compared to the wire I use to build circuits. Soldered the ends back on, put some heat shrink tubing over the connections, and I’m back in business!
10 Years of iPhone
Today is the iPhone’s 10th birthday!
I waited in line at the local AT&T store on launch day, but they only received 5 or 10 phones, so I had to place an order. I had been in the audience at MacWorld that January and got to witness Steve Jobs reveal the iPhone to the world.
I can still picture him repeating “a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough internet communications device” as if it were yesterday. The device and watching Jobs on stage were magical in many ways. I got chills from watching the video again.
Link Dump – 2017/06/28
- 0.47: Python Scripts, Sesame Smart Lock, Gitter, Onvif cameras
Home Assistant now allows writing Python scripts that are exposed as services. Should be fun. - Redditors design worst volume sliders possible
These are gold. - CJ Cummings Defends Junior World Title in Tokyo
The future of American weightlifting is looking better than it has in a long time. - Paul Ford: What Is Code?
I had this on my reading list when it came out, but it was so long (over 30,000 words) I never got around to it. Finally made the time. A wealth of info, but throughout the entire thing I couldn’t help but wonder how confused someone who doesn’t understand code would be.As a class, programmers are easily bored, love novelty, and are obsessed with various forms of productivity enhancement. God help you if you’re ever caught in the middle of a conversation about nutrition; standing desks; the best keyboards; the optimal screen position and distance; whether to use a plain text editor or a large, complex development environment; chair placement; the best music to code to; the best headphones; whether headphone amplifiers actually enhance listening; whether open-plan offices are better than individual or shared offices; the best bug-tracking software; the best programming methodology; the right way to indent code and the proper placement of semicolons; or, of course, which language is better. And whatever you do, never, ever ask a developer about productivity software.
- You Know You’re a Maker When…
I can definitely relate to a lot of these. - The Arduino Foundation: What’s Up?
There were questions when the WordPress Foundation was being created too and everything turned out fine. - Big Brother Cast: Christmas Abbott
I used to watch BB but cut it from my watch list because 3 episodes of a show every week was too much. - NBA Draft Positions
High draft picks matter. - The incredibly intricate badges of Def Con
They really do have the “world’s coolest conference badges.” - DED: Donut Email Dongle (part 1)
This is an awesome idea for a prank device. Sounds like something I’d do if I worked in an office. Maybe I’ll create a version that sends Slack messages to the announcements channel and use it at our company’s grand meetup. - Girl Scouts to offer badge in cyber security skills
Awesome! We need to keep getting girls interested in tech, keep them interested, and hire them. - Who Americans spend their time with
I guess I’m at that point in live where time spent alone will start to increase. Best news I’ve had in a long time. 🙂 - Arduino POV Fidget Spinner
This works off the same concepts as the multiplexing stuff I showed with 7 segment displays. - IRS Phone Scammers Mess With the Wrong Guy and Regret It Immediately
This is brilliant. A programmer wrote a script to flood the phone lines of scammers.
Golf Photoshop Gone Wrong?
His hands are swapped on the golf club. There is no way someone can swing like this; human anatomy will not allow it to work. I have to believe it was a poor Photoshop job.
Update: Apparently this is a real thing!
Nick Momrik 