Some problems of my own, but nothing too bad. I have a back that’s been haunting me for over two weeks now, so I’ve finallytaken the step to have it looked at. Hope it’s just a muscle but the doctor warned me about it might being a prolapse.

It’s summertime and I have a lot of work to do, both paid and personal. Having a big ‘ol garden is good and all, but dang… it takes a lot of effort to maintain. And I don’t even like gardening. Spent 4 hours out today cutting grass and I’m not even half way through. Have some old logs lying in the backyard and need to cut it up for firewood. Having an education in mechanics comes in handy every once in a while. This time I’ve had to do some service on my chainsaw prior to using it. It’s not done yet, but I’ve taken it apart to clean it.
Lucky I did it looks like, as the saw seems to have a stuck piston ring. I’m not sure I’ll change it now, but I’ll have to change it before I run it too hard.

I started the project to just clean it, but looks like I’ll be pimping it a little as well. I’ve taken the muffler off and given it a good going over with my wirebrush. Got rid of all the rust and I’ve actually painted it to look brand new. Next I’m getting rid of years of muck and also polishing it up a bit. I’m currently running it with a 15″ bar (unknown chain) but I’ll be upgrading it to an 18″ and special chain. Below I’ve posted two videos; One where I’m testing the saw for the first time in over 18 months, and one where I’m showing the ammount of muck and dirt on/in the saw.

I’m also making videos of my progress and I’ll make it into a run-through after I’m finished.

I made this one thing (sort of) following the steps found here: Aaron Alai’s EMF Detector. As I didn’t happen to have the right resistor lying around (and didn’t want to scrounge through my parts) it only sort of works. I guess I could tweak the code and such, but I’m still just starting to learn this Arduino it’s still sketchy at best.

Robotics has been a passion ever since I first found BEAM bots (made by Mark Tilden). I’ve made a few different ones, but never had the frame of mind to photograph them. Living in Norway, having no RadioShack or even something similar…Scrounging from older projects is the way of life. I have to order parts (which is normal) but they take forever to get here and they’re NOT CHEAP. Even the simplest little beam bot takes parts that equal +/- $50!

I bought the Arduino Duemanilove and the Protoshield from eBay, at a total cost of about $27, including shipping to Norway. That’s pretty cheap in my opinion. When it came time to use the Arduino the first time, that was as simple as can be. I downloaded the latest software from Arduino website, and installed it. Running Windows 7 there’s a feature that installs all (ok, most) drivers automatically. I read the guide and prepared to install the drivers. When I plugged in the Arduino the first time, the computer thought about it for a few seconds and then it was all ready to go. I didn’t have to do anything. It told me it had assigned the Arduino to com4 and upon selecting com4 and the correct board in Arduino IDE, I was ready to upload.

If you like tinkering with microprocessors but you feel it’s costly and too complicated.. Buy this thing! I used to play with PIC micros and tried to use the ASM language, but felt it was too hard. I’m a trained computer technician and I’ve been a software programmer and web programmer, but this was too much to get a simple little micro to work. This thing uses what looks very much like C/C++ and it’s filled with great possibilities!

I’ll cover the latest episode as you’ve probably already seen the previous.
Leonard gets the opportunity to visit the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. He breaks the news during lunch at the university, and as Sheldon hears the news (without noticing the hints put in front of him, that Leonard intends to bring Penny along because of Valentines day) he immediately shoots of home to pack for the trip. Leonard gets home and breaks the news, and Sheldon breaks out the rulebook. After a lot of funny pranks and stuff Leonard ends up going with…….. (You didn’t really think I was going to say, did you??)

You’ll just have to watch the show and episode to find out

First: I’ve been into model rocketry almost as long as I’ve been tinkering. Started out with some simple store bought rocket and moved into (of course) making these things myself. Rocket motors are dangerous and when firing you should be a safe distance away. A 9V battery is sufficient to fire the starter but that’s not a decent solution for a maker. I did some searching and thinking and came up with the VERY high voltage circuit from a disposable camera. This thing cranks out about 400V and is VERY DANGEROUS! You should only attempt to make/take apart such a circuit if you have some electronics knowledge.

To make the modified circuit I simply took out the circuit board, got a hobby box and soldered in some wires to extend the trigger. The switch must be rated for high voltage, as there is a lot of “juice” running through it. 30 feet of armature wire was enough for a safe distance for me, and was hooked between the trigger-box and the motor.

I don’t have any images or schematics of the thing availlable but I’ll upload some when I can dig it out.

Second: As you can see from my previous posts, photography is a hobby of mine. I like to capture the unexpected and high speed photography is awesome. It requires some really expensive equipment (or some tinkering and modification). One simple solution I hadn’t considered was this simple little hack (also funnily enough using a disposable camera). WARNING! As with the previous hack, this involves a high voltage circuit and is highly dangerous!

I’m a huge fan of mr. Bre Pettis and his ideas. There’s just something about the way he thinks and presents his ideas that makes you want to make and/or hack stuff.

This was, as seems to be the way I post, a very late night blog. My cat hunkered down in the couch next to me and a movie running on the TV. Can someone please kick me in the behind and whip me until I’m done cleaning out my hobbyroom/workshop? How can I expect to get some of my ideas from my head to paper and even further realized, when I can’t even straighten out a simple little room….?

It didn’t take all week to catch up in episodes, but I’ve been watching a whole lot of make: magazine’s makers videos. Those videos and the site is such a great inspiration. My head is full of ideas after a few days of watching. I need to get a few of them down on paper!

One of the great things I came across (an idea I always wanted), was the Arduino. I’ve been a tinkerer (won’t presume to call myself a maker) for as long as I can remember. Micro controllers have fascinated me since the start, but I’ve always used and thought about the PIC micro. My first experiment with one was using the PIC16f84. Using the PIC was easy enough, but programming could be teadious.. I used a home-made programming board and it was OK. Now with the Arduino it’s easily connected to the computer and can inout/output just about anything you can think of. I have ordered one (along with a ProtoShield) but it’s shipped from Hong Kong so I have to wait about a week or two.

I’ll post some “sketches” and/or ideas for what I have in mind, as soon as I can get it to paper. For now I’ll send you in the direction of a few sites I visit very regularly:

Bre Pettis

Makerbot

Make: Magazine

KipKay

NYCResistor

If you, like me, enjoy taking things apart and putting them back together (might not be in the original shape/way/form), this site is a must-read for ideas.

Someof the ideas and videos are superb. It’ll take you into a whole new mindset and should inspire you to start making and/or modifying your own stuff. One of the neatest ideas I came across, is this retrofitted oldstyle handset to include bluetooth!

Now, you should have a basic understanding of electronics and disassembling before you try some of the stuff. Even still, there are some great projects to fit even the greenest of “hackers”.

Had it not been for my workroom being a mess (I mean REAL mess), I might have dug out some of my old stuff and started a project or two this weekend. Being a bit under the weather, I just couldn’t get myself to start the cleaning process but I’ll have to start that real soon. I got the inspiration to do some tinkering again, reading the site and watching a bunch of the videos.

Be sure to bookmark makezine.com for future visits. The site is updated regularly.

I’ve got work bright and early monday morning, and have to be fit for that. Maybe I can watch a movie or two and also try to get some personal stuff done.

Hellboy II: The golden army is on the TV now, but I’ve seen it allready so I’m not really watching. The movie is OK and all but I think it’s too much like the first and looks like it was made just to make a sequel.

I happened to browse the channels earlier and watched the better part of Eagle Eye. Now.. For some reason, last time I tried to watch this movie I just couldn’t. I started watching it but got bored quick and stopped. Guessing that was a mistake by me, because this time I just couldn’t stop watching the thing. The movie has everything a geek could want. Action, high-tech computers and high speed chases. Oh, and Michelle Monaghan didn’t exactly hurt the eyes .

The movie stars Shia LaBeouf, known from Transformers. As I only happened to watch some of the movie I can’t write a decent review of it’s plot. I can only write that I really liked the movie and I plan to buy it as soon as I can and watch the whole thing.

I’ve had the chance to play with the new theme of the site a bit, and I like it! There’s just something about it I find much more pleasing than the old. The theme is written by BOB, as was the old one. BOB has some really great themes for WordPress so if you have a site running WordPress and you’re looking for a new theme I’d suggest you swing by the site. I’m still configuring some of the options and I’m also customizing a few little things. I’m not making writing this blog to make money but I do have some ads on here. Can’t hurt to try to make some money while in the comfort of one’s livingroom.  The site is using Google AdSense but I haven’t figured out how to truly customizing the ads. Some time in the future I’m also going to write a page on how you can get in contact with me in order to maybe get your own ad on this page.

On a “personal” note, I’ve upgraded my system to Windows 7 (skipping Vista alltogether). While using XP I had serious issues using the wireless network. It wouldn’t connect to my router when I wanted it to, and when it did it lost connection waaay to often. Now, I’m online using the WLAN and so far it’s working great (knock on wood). I usually upgrade to the next OS when it’s successor is out. That means I should now be using Vista… Vista is NOT usable for my work and I will certainly not use it. Windows 7 seems to work just like I’d expect it to and I’m keeping it.

This post ended up a bit longer than was intended but hey… When you feel like writing, write!

Once I’ve played with it a little and worked out a few kinks, I’ll post a better update on this.

I guess this is why I found the movie 21 – The movie so great. The story behind the movie was known to me, as I’ve played poker for some years now and Andy Bloch (a member of the actual MIT Blackjack Team) is a well known player. He’s never lied about once being a member and he’s taught the game to a number of people. Beating Blackjack I guess has changed the game a bit and not in favour of the house.

21 portraies a student at MIT who has his mind set on medical studies at Harvard, at the sum of $300.000! The movie starts by showing the viewers “Ben”, who’s applying for a scholarship worth $300.000. Being that the scholarship is granted to only one tudent each year and having close to 100 applicants, there is some difficulty in getting it.

One of Bens teachers (played by Kevin Spacey) realize the potential in Ben for mathematics and cognetics, approaches Ben and offers to teach him the fine art of counting cards. Ben is reluctant but decides to join the “team” after some consideration and mentoring.

From here the movie takes you on a cruise of the Las Vegas scene and manages to keep you interrested (I think even those not very interrested cards and math should find it somewhat exciting). The movie even manages to throw you a curveball or two and thus there’s even more to keep you from turning the TV off.

I’m not too keen on using ratings but on this occation I will. I’ll give it a 4.8/6.

Leonard and Sheldon get home to find their apartment burglarized and Sheldon goes off on one of his normal rants.

This, of course, takes it’s toll on Leonard and Penny. After getting hit by an electrified net and “no longer being master of his bladder”, Sheldon decides to move to a much more friendly part of the country. Being greeted by another theif, Sheldons new life is abruptly halted and moves right back (which is to be expected).

Beer for my horses
This is a country-comedy, starring Toby Keith and Rodney Carrington. I only watched it because I like Rodney and because I saw some writing about it online saying it was very low-grade. Since I never listen to stuff like that, I decided to get the movie and I wasn’t disappointed.

The movie basically portray the life of two local deputy-sherrifs who both have some “trouble” in their life. After being ditched by his girlfriend, the character of Toby visits and old flame (Claire Forlani) and finds his way back to old times. Both deputies get in trouble after arresting the brother of a big-time mexican drug-dealer.

The mexican doesn’t like having his brother in jail, so he kidnaps Tobys new/old sweethart. The boys then decide to pursue this dealer and breaks the brother out of jail, only to bring him to Mexico and “trade” for the girlfriend.

There is some specialized humor in the movie, but the singing talents of Mr. Toby Keith and Mr. Rodney Carrington can’t be underestimated. I thouroughly enjoyed the movie, and I can honestly say it (in my opinion) would be a great movie to watch with friends on a weekend night, while having a brew or two.