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Tue May 9 2006
Categorized under Geek Chic and I want to build this and Do It Yourself
If you are UberGeek, you may have enough courage to do what is called a Case Modification, or Case Mod for short. Although this so-called “Case Modding” can range from very simple to so incredibly complex it’s insane, it most often involves some semi-advanced knowledge of a computer’s guts - basically just enough not to screw stuff up. It is strange to me that this particular idea had never occurred to me before: and that is the fact that you can Case Mod things other than computers. I know that there has been the occasional Thumb Drive Case Mod, or maybe putting your built-from-scratch electronics project in the ever-popular Altoids Tin… but other stuff? Genius! My clock radio would look SO MUCH COOLER in plexiglass. And, for the same reason people put windows on their computers, Case Modding other electronic stuff is just as cool. How about Modding YOUR WHOLE STEREO??? With the sheer amount of electronic gizmos in the modern home, I’m sure you’ll find something. Clock Radio, though, is a good place to start. Good job, Mr. Carl Huber. Good job.
Mon May 8 2006
Categorized under I want to build this and Do It Yourself
I’m always one for well-done optical illusions. Here is a link to an invisible bookshelf, but like the lawn chair I reported on earlier, the fact that it is being sold on the wrong continent makes it a very nice DIY project. At first glance I was a little worried about what I might use to affix the right-angle steel piece to the inside-bottom cover of the bottom book. I realized, though, that the majority of the weight would be on the top of the steel brace, not on the glued face. You could probably just use Elmer’s: all the glue needs to do is keep the lower book cover from swinging downwards. Sleek project, and fairly easy to do, as well. Even though the only picture they provide for this project product is very small, it actually works out very well as a step-by-step guide to making your own. Probably not a very good business plan.
Fri May 5 2006
Categorized under What were you thinking?
Allright, so maybe this guy hasn’t heard of the Darwin Awards (okay, FINE, so the JATO story turned out to be fake, but whatever). I think one of the main things that gets me is trying to do something grossly outside of your technical ability. I an definitely under-qualified to attach a jet to anything, as are most people. But, apparently, not Ron Patrick. And, he’s local, so San Francisco Bay Area people, if you are ever on a long straightaway at 4 in the morning, and you see a VW Bug doing, oh, around 160mph - don’t worry about it. It’s just Ron. Before reading the SF Gate article, I would have liked to have make some sort of comment about Ron compensating for… something. But actually, he sounds pretty down-to-earth for a guy who has strapped a jet to his car. Do I always have to end my posts with a pun? FINE. Bla Bla he might not be so down to earth if something goes wrong Something Bla Something. There.
Thu May 4 2006
Categorized under Techno-logical and SpotLight
Okay, so if you have done a bit of stalking, you know that I am a somewhat-programmer. After taking a smattering of CS courses as an undergrad, I find programming interesting, but usually too involved and effortful to do on a regular basis. I mostly spend my time in JavaScript land, even though I routinely ask it to do stuff that it was never meant to do - only because JavaScript is so accessible. Even given all my laziness, which is quite paramount, Why the Lucky Stiff is a hair’s breath away from turning me back to coding all together. And it is all because of Why’s Poignant Guide to Ruby.
As a short side note I would just like to say that Ruby is an awesome programming language - easy to use and quite powerful. If you are halfway thinking about learning it, stop thinking and learn it.
Having said that, I was incredibly surprised to find Why’s Poignant Guide to be a wonderful mix of a Ruby lesson from the ground up, and some of the most awesome humor I have ever encountered. How he does it, I am not quite sure. Our guides on this Ruby adventure are the Cartoon Foxes, pictured here. It is incredibly hard for me to describe this document any further, but I will tell you this: I find myself reading this guide to Ruby just for the stories he tells, the comics he draws, and the overall absurdity. It is quite absurd. To give you an idea, here is an excerpt:
Bread Riddles
Question: Can one take five bites from a bread and make the shape of a bicycle?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Can one rip a bread in half and still fit the bread in an envelope?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Can one man take a bread and throw it while another man sits without bread?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Can four breads in a box be explained?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Can a clerical error in my company books be attributed to bread?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Can dancers break through a scrim of bread?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Can those same dancers, when faced with an inexplicably different scrim of bread, fail to break through?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Does bread understand my darkest fears and wildest dreams?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Does bread desire me?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Will bread be invisible to robots?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Can one robot take eight bites on a bread, without knowing it's there, and make the shape of a smaller bread?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Should my clerics be equipped with bread?
Answer: Yes.
Question: In relation to bread, will robots each have their own elephants?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Can one rip a bread in half and not let it ruin one's game of dominoes?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Will we always love bread?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Will we have more bread?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Can four breads marry a robot's elephant?
Answer: Yes.
If you find this at all amusing, and would like to learn a programming language, Why’s Poignant Guide to Ruby is for you. If you find this hilarious, and don’t want to learn a programming language, various stories, comics, articles, incidents, Five-Minute Plays for Twins Who Don’t Have Their Other Twin With Them and An Unlimited Supply of Animals, and quatrains can be found on his main site.
If you happen to be reading this Why, you are my hero.
Wed May 3 2006
Categorized under What were you thinking?
Okay, what does this look like to you? A Teddy Bear Gun, right? Well, guess what it really is… no, actually, you were right. It’s a gun that shoots a teddy bear. Luckily the teddy bear is equipped with a parachute - I don’t know how much of a consolation this is after just having been shot from a gun, but I guess it’s something. This is probably just the cultural tip of the Japanese-Weird-Stuff ice berg, but it has been floating around the interweb, so I thought I’d give it a post. Apparently it was developed by a Japanese paintball company, aimed at the wedding market. Clever pun (you can laugh if you want to)… but literally, people shoot this bear at wedding receptions. I hate to be culturally insensitive, but I don’t think there is a rice shortage over there. I can see it now…
Congratulations! *BANG* TEDDY-BEAR-IN-YOUR-FACE
Tue May 2 2006
Categorized under Do It Yourself
Here is a great Instructables article on how to use that shirt transfer paper to apply an image onto wood. This process shows you how to make coasters - involving transferring the image to wood, finishing the wood (sanding, varnishing), then applying cork to the bottom. This is a neat idea in itself, but this process is one of those things that immediately gets my mind jumping to other things. One idea I had was to create large print-outs of photos, transfer them to larger and thinner pieces of wood, then carefully cut your image-wood into patterns to make a collage veneer on some surface. I would be a little worried that the cutting would ruin the image a little, but it sounds like the ink from the paper seeps into the wood fairly well. Another interesting thing about all printers is that they assume you print on white paper, eliminating the use of white ink (except in highly specialized situations requiring highly specialized printers). So everything that is white, or lighter, in your photo will pick up the grain of the wood more, giving you some nice opportunities to play with wood gradients. A lighter colored wood would (ha, wood would) give you a more photo-realistic result, but a darker and/or differently colored wood might result in some interesting images. Anyway, I could go on and on. Duly filed under “neat idea to be used later”.
Mon May 1 2006
Categorized under I want to build this and Do It Yourself
Happy May Day! I don’t know what it is exactly you do on May Day, besides crash various vehicles (but only after you repeat uselessly into your radio the name of today’s holiday, only resulting in a blazing ball of glory and fire and brimstone that used to be you and said vehicle). Well, here is a good way to build such a vehicle (Wood is explosive… right?). This guy in Palo Alto has done some extensive bike building, and has lots of great pictures and instructions on his site. Most of the bikes look awesome in regards to them being rather un-rideable. The thing I like most about this concept is that wood is both 1) Readily Available, 2) Easy to Work With, and 3) Relatively Cheap. The only downfall is that it’s bulky, but when it comes to choosing a strong material for your project, Wood is actually a very good choice in Weight to Strength comparisons. That’s why they don’t make skateboard decks out of metal. I was thinking of doing some sort of Quad bike, maybe something similar to a “Horseless Carriage” type setup - and I was faced with a metal v. wood decision. Bikes are made of metal, yes. But unless you have a Tig welder laying around the house (ps - I want one), it’s probably way easier to drill holes in wood to bolt together a frame of whatever-the-hell-you-want. So, I say to you, intrepid DIYer, build yourself a wooden strangebike this May Day. Affix a radio, and spend all day crashing into things while yelling “MAY DAY MAY DAY” at the last second. Sounds like a good time to me.
Fri Apr 28 2006
Categorized under Geek Chic and Do It Yourself
Listen up, all you retro-cool kids. Remember boom boxes? Yeah, large square things that played music in the 80’s. Remember iPods? Yeah, sleek chic things that played music in the late 90’s and early 00’s. As it turnes out, with a little boom box hacking gumption, you can fit your iPod into a BoomBox cassette tape … uh… area, and interface the BoomBox buttons to control said iPod. This detailed PCMag article goes step by step (by step by step), showing you quite completely how this one guy did it. He ended up manufacturing his own button connections, and completely re-soldering connections to the iPod in-headphone-line control bud. Gumption indeed. He also uses handy around-the-house tools like a “bench top milling machine”. Yeah, right. I didn’t quite get why he couldn’t use the existing buttons, but if you ignore the fact that he completely machined and created his own buttons, this looks like a pretty reasonable hack. At the very least you could keep it simple like I’d probably do: make the iPod fit in the tape area, plug in an 1/8″ jack, and solder the other ends of the headphone wire to wherever the audio ends up. At any rate, way to be retro-cool, man.
Thu Apr 27 2006
Categorized under Do It Yourself and Techno-logical
So, once again I don’t understand Google’s business plan, and once again I’m not complaining. Google just released SketchUp, “an easy-to-learn 3D modeling program that enables you to explore the world in 3D”. First of all, Google, I’m pretty sure we already have the power to explore our world in 3D. But before this, maybe 3D modelling wasn’t so available to the general public. Second of all, as a consumer, I love the fact that you make really cool products, and give them away for free. As a business model, I would never expect it to work (goes to show how much I know). The SketchUp technology looks like the same that was used to model the 3D buildings in Google Earth (another piece of awesome Googleness). And, Google has also included the next logical step: a “3D Warehouse” where you can share and download 3D models. I have yet to mess around with this, but it looks like fun. It also weirded me out as I read about SketchUp this morning, because just after I woke up I had an idea that required just such a program. If You Dream it, Google Will Make it. And by “You” I mean “Me this morning”.
Wed Apr 26 2006
Categorized under I want to build this and Friggin' Amazing and SpotLight
Arthur Ganson is one of those artists that was introduced to me in one of my engineering classes at Stanford. If you’ve never heard of Ganson, it may seem a little odd that an artist would be relevant to engineering. Ganson doesn’t just do any ol’ art: and “Kinetic Sculpture” doesn’t even come close to describing some of his creations. Ganson creates incredibly elaborate mechanisms, most of the time out of wire gears that he has bent himself. These amazing mechanisms are definitely over-engineered, but they have incredible results that are amazing to watch. If you have any spare time, I highly recommend watching all the short videos he has posted on his site. If you aren’t immediately inspired to go out and build something incredibly complex and strange, then… you don’t think like I do.
Tue Apr 25 2006
Categorized under Do It Yourself
Ever caught in the middle of the wilderness amongst a surplus of Willows, needing to float down a calm river, and all you have is a large blue tarp and some wire? Well, then, you should read this Instructables article. Simple design, looks fairly easy to build, and also looks uncomfortable to the extreme. Well, it is pretty good for 4 hours of work. I remember doing something similar to this in Boy Scouts, except instead of a willow branch frame, we used an enormous amount of leaves to form a giant doughnut. Not the most stable thing in the world, but it capsized and dumped all of us into the freezing lake did float.
The “GripClips” are also interesting, I’ve never seen this product before but it does look like it would be fairly useful for avoiding ripping out your grommets (or in cloth that doesn’t have grommets to begin with). Their amazingly early-90’s website is here. Just FYI, if you don’t feel like paying $2-$3 for a little piece of plastic, just wrap one corner of your tarp in a small rock, and tie a rope around the base of the rock. Works pretty damn well, and it’s pretty damn free.
Mon Apr 24 2006
Categorized under I want to build this and Do It Yourself
I’ve seen this interesting idea floating around for a little bit, but I was just reminded of it when reading Life Hacker. It’s a “Lawn” Chair. Get it? Damn hilarious. But also pretty damn cool, if you don’t mind having a permanent chair in your backyard somewhere. The kit they are selling is £65.00, which is a) kind of expensive, and b) not on the right continent. Both good reasons to make it yourself. the PopSci Blog says that it is made out of wood, but they are just plain wrong - the actual product website says that it’s made of corrugated cardboard. In my mind, it wouldn’t really matter. Once you fill the thing with gravel, and after a few months of settling and roots taking root, the thing should be just as strong as a mound of dirt. At any rate, this project wouldn’t be that hard to replicate via 1/8″ ply and a scroll saw, or a bunch of cardboard and a box-knife. Definitely a conversation starter. I wonder if my parents want one…
Fri Apr 21 2006
Categorized under I want to build this and Do It Yourself
So this guy is my kind of electrician: he has an article on “How to hack a USB keyboard or any keyboard for that matter. Send inputs into the computer without a pesky microcontroller.”
Which is exactly what i’m talking about. Why would I go to all the trouble of dealing with “pesky microcontrollers” when I could get exactly approximately the same effect with something just as elegant fairly elegant? The answer is: I wouldn’t. Keyboards already have a plethora output options, and all computers have hookups for them. And, if you’re like me, you already have like 17 extra in your garage. All these factors make Keyboards a great device to hack into another type of input device that better suits your needs. The hardest part is mapping out the connections, which this article explains very well - with purty diagrams and all.
This dude also gets a nod from the Department of Redundancy Department. At the end of this article, he uses one of his hacked up keyboards to convert a typewriter into a keyboard. Way to go! That means that we are just steps away from being able to hook a typewriter up to a PDA - and combine this with an retro phone handset cellphone attachment, and you’ve got yourself the most cumbersome awesome portable workstation ever.
Thu Apr 20 2006
Categorized under Do It Yourself
 If you have never had the chance to see Stereo Photography in action, you really should. The 3D effect is simply amazing - much more so than any kind of red/blue glasses, or even a Magic Eye Stereogram. If you have never seen Stereo Photography, you might ask “Well, where can I find some?” As is the answer to many questions, my answer is “The Internet”; but more specifically, this great WikiHow article on how to take your own Stereo Photographs - and includes a link to making your own Stereoscope to view your new pictures. Just to round out the evening, go listen to your Stereo while doing this.
If you are feeling very adventuresome, try this: Flip the Left and Right image. I discovered this by accident. When aligned correctly, the closer objects in the picture appear closer (d’uh). But when reversed, the closer elements in real life appear in three dimensional space to be farther away. I encountered this with an arial landscape Stereo Photograph, and all the high points of the mountains looked like valleys, and the rivers rode on the highest points of ridges. Really bizarre!
Wed Apr 19 2006
Categorized under What were you thinking? and Friggin' Amazing
 Okay, so even though this is really friggin’ cool, i’m still putting this one under the WTF category. I feel like submarines are something better left to people who have more experience. This guy does have a lot of info up on his site, though - and he seems to posses the broad range of skills needed to actually build your own submarine (aluminum casting/welding, specialized computer, car-engine modding). Though I have mixed feelings about this, props to you, my friend, for having the money, time, and cajones to do this. (And I don’t usually give ‘props’ to people, unless there was an incredibly clever pun involved. Clever… yes)
Tue Apr 18 2006
Categorized under Enough Already!
 Allright allright! Ian can tie his shoes. Fine. Ian can tie his shoes in a variety of ways. Wow. Ian has a method of tying your shoes in a third of the time. All fine and dandy. I’ve even started tying my shoes with the “Ian Knot”. Even though this site is pretty interesting considering the mundaneness of the topic, it’s hype has outlived itself. I tire of seeing links to it. I also tire of the idea that people sending in pictures of their shoes is a popular feature on Ian’s site. That crosses the line. People, get a life. Enough with the shoe tying.
Mon Apr 17 2006
Categorized under I want to build this
 Allright! Who glued the phone to the blender! Actually, i stumbled upon this pic on a really old site. This guy actually took some time, pondered “Phone-ness” and “Blender-ness”, and then decided to fuse the two. The phones ringer actually triggers the blender motor, and to talk on the phone, you grab the pitcher part which is connected to the phone. To hang up, put the pitcher back in the base. Neat little project. And I gotta say, blending anything with a blender is… well… awesome.
Sun Apr 16 2006
Categorized under Do It Yourself
 Gluing stuff - such an integral part to so many projects. Yet, with the plethora of surfaces, and with an ever bigger plethora of glues, it’s easy to slip into stupid situations - like using Elmer’s to glue your electrical wires together, or maybe just using marine epoxy for absolutely everything. Enter: thisTOthat.com - a very simple tool that will help you through all your gluing woes. I will now summarize the site’s usefulness. Field One: enter first item to be glued. Field Two: enter second item to be glued. Press the “Let’s Glue!” button, and it will tell you what kind(s) of glue to use, and why. The why part is what makes this site extra useful. So, if you ever need to glue stuff (and I know you do), I would recommend adding thisTOthat.com to your gluing tools arsenal.
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