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Last Visit 2012-11-09 18:06:58 |Start Date 2005-09-01 15:28:14 |Comments 1,246 |Entries 866 |Images 935 |Sounds 4 |Videos 95 |Mobl 173 |Theme |

Category: politics

09/04/08 10:52 - 68ºF - ID#45561

Election

This is a freaking 4 hour news cycle election.

I usually try very hard to stay out of commenting on politics on (e:strip), and confine my anti-religion rants to 2 or 3 per year, but I'm falling under the weight of an urgent need to talk about every little detail of the political season.

Aaargh. 2 more months to go.


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Permalink: Election.html
Words: 57
Location: Buffalo, NY


Category: politics

09/01/08 09:30 - 70ºF - ID#45534

Republicans Flailing

So, after a couple days of revelations about Sarah Palin, the nail in the coffin comes: she was a member of an organization that sought Alaskan sovereign nation status.

Yes, that's right: John McCain choose a secessionist for his running mate, and his slogan is "Country First". Clearly they didn't check Palin out at all. He just sort of panicked, I suppose.

Can you imagine if Obama had belonged to a 3rd party that in any (even minor) way challenged the US's legitimacy?

Alaskan Independence Party. Source:
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Permalink: Republicans_Flailing.html
Words: 94
Location: Buffalo, NY


Category: electronics

09/01/08 03:18 - 80ºF - ID#45531

Microcontrollers Part 3

I'm building a DIY version of this Tengu thing ( ) for my first full project.

I've got the LEDs for the eyes in and programmable, and have the face matrix assembled but that's not yet programmed. It will eventually be hooked up to sensors to react to the environment as well.

So far this weekend I've spent a lot of time relearning C and especially pointers. Matrix and timings for the rest of the animations will be challenging, too. Trying to fit everything in a few Kb of space brings me back.

::Download Flash Video::



Watching myself on video makes me realize I really need to work on my um's. :(

Here's a video of what it should end up looking like, although mine won't look so polished:



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Permalink: Microcontrollers_Part_3.html
Words: 136
Location: Buffalo, NY


08/25/08 03:03 - 67ºF - ID#45453

How To Break A Window

On a slight tangent from yesterday :)

Don't break a window with a brick and your bare fist. I'm an idiot.

Next time I'll wrap a shirt around my hand! I think taking a photo of my hand afterwards is due to Paul's blogging influence. He's my blogspiration.

image

image

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Permalink: How_To_Break_A_Window.html
Words: 51
Location: Buffalo, NY


Category: life

08/24/08 04:15 - 80ºF - ID#45439

Sad Day

So, my boss has been on sick leave for 6 weeks or so with cancer. It was actually treatable and I think his prognosis was at least somewhat hopeful. Last night was the first night he was home alone, and today no one could get in touch with him on the phone.

I volunteered to go to his house to check on him, but there was no answer and he is not well enough to drive so eventually I broke in through the window. He'd committed suicide last night and I found him on the floor.

I guess it was better that I found him instead of a family member, but still... not the way you want to last see someone. Too late for me to do anything about, I wish there was more I could do.

He was the best boss I've ever had, and a friend.

Goodbye, Luke.
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Permalink: Sad_Day.html
Words: 149
Location: Buffalo, NY


Category: electronics

08/23/08 04:14 - 84ºF - ID#45424

Microcontrollers Part II

So, this is just the getting started lesson from this page: although I did deviate in the programming a bit to use functions instead of nested if-blocks. It's supposed to be a bike safety light (although not in a pretty / finished package).

Nothing special, but it is flashy and blinky so I made a video of it working.

::Download Flash Video::



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Permalink: Microcontrollers_Part_II.html
Words: 68
Location: Buffalo, NY


Category: electronics

08/23/08 11:27 - 76ºF - ID#45421

Microcontrollers

I finished soldering together my microcontroller board and the prototyping shield which fits on top. The microcontroller board you can't see in this photo, it's the first layer.

image

Soldering is a lot of fun, it turns out.

Now, the little switch on top of that board I can read from inside of programs on my computer, like so:

image

Not bad for a first little project.

I'm going to construct some camera triggers, so that I can take pictures from sensors like motion, heat, laser, etc.

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Permalink: Microcontrollers.html
Words: 89
Location: Buffalo, NY


Category: cute

08/22/08 03:34 - 87ºF - ID#45410

MOST CONTROVERSIAL JOURNAL EVER?

No, it's a puppy and a bunny.

Try #2: Random newf footage.



Ah, Friday.
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Permalink: MOST_CONTROVERSIAL_JOURNAL_EVER_.html
Words: 21
Location: Buffalo, NY


Category: internets

08/20/08 01:02 - 69ºF - ID#45375

Manga Face Generator

Kinda cool:

Here's an idealized version of me :)

image
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Permalink: Manga_Face_Generator.html
Words: 18
Location: Buffalo, NY


08/19/08 09:03 - 63ºF - ID#45372

Word Clouds

Wordle

This one is from the last few posts across all of estrip:

image

If you create a new one, you can base it off your own journal by typing in for the RSS/feed address username.estrip.org, like mine is jim.estrip.org, which looks like:

image

(You might have to mess with font/layout/colors/etc to make it look fun)
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Permalink: Word_Clouds.html
Words: 71
Location: Buffalo, NY


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