SpokePOV: POV for your bike

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I really like POV because of the way it tricks your brain into seeing images. I had a toy when I was younger that looked a lot like a flat “bat” that had a small keyboard on it. I typed in messages and then would wave it back and forth and it would “print” the message with red LEDs.

That toy is long gone– here to replace it is this is a kit that you can purcahse and assemble to give the wheels of your bike POV images. Bonus points for the Pac Man reference!

Link. Thanks, Micah!

MAME on iPod

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Classic video games meets ultra portability. MAME (or at least a small portion of MAME) has been ported to the 5G iPod (includes the video and nano). Currently it has no sound support yet and about 70% of original speed but those are small issues they plan to work out. Support for 4G iPods should be around the corner. Should play any game that was based on the original Pac Man hardware (Z80 based, most Pac Man variants, Crush Roller, Pengo, etc.). I'm pleased!

Link. Thanks, Ben!

We’ll see how long this lasts..

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Ok, so I broke a long standing promise to myself to never own a cell phone of my own. (And to all you h8rs out there that say “but you already have a cell phone”– it was from work, that doesn't count.) So this phone is also a camera phone. Sure, it's pictures look like a 1995 digital camera image at VGA resolution but sometimes it may be all ya gots. It's got that retro pre dot-com burst era that'll make you warm and fuzzy inside. Until I can code a nice camera-phone-to-blog-entry-post here (ohh yeah, I'll 0wnzor it sooN!!~1), you can visit my Flickr page and see the mopho stream.

Link to Flickr stream.

Video: 500kv Switch Opening at Power Substation

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I originally discovered this by casually clicking through Google Video and found it through the “popular” items. (Why are there so man duplicates??) Anyway, I came across a video that I've been mesmerized by since.

What happens when a 500kv switch attempts to open and fails? A terrific light show– in the daytime.

A search revealed someone that could explain what was happening (not that I really understand what a shunt reactor is) with subsequent remarks by the one who shot the video.

Link to Google Video. Link to Description.

BONUS ROUND

350kv switch opening
A power substation bursting into flames.

The Days Are Getting Longer

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With the winter solstice (Dec 22, 2005) now past us, we look forward to the ever so slightly increasing amount of daylight. It's always tough to go to work mostly in the dark, only to emerge 8 hours later– also in the dark.

The winter solstice reminds me of an elementary science class topic. Can you stand an egg on it's end during the solstices (or equinoxes)? This is supposedly due to the distance of the moon and the earth. Well, yes, but you can do it anytime of the year as well– they're not related. It only takes patience. But it makes for good eating afterwards.

Link.

Hi Resolution, Large Format Scanner Camera

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Damn it, I wish I thought of this first. This is what happens when you combine a large format camera (think 4×5) with a traditional flat-bed scanner attached to the back. You get a camera with oodles of megapixels and dizzying file sizes. Sure, your exposure times go to seconds to sometimes minutes instead of fractions of a second. But the results are well worth the wait and as you can see in the picture, you can have fun with this “limitation.”

This reminds me a lot of my first encounter with a Polaroid land camera for which you can no longer buy film for. Instead, I stuffed photo paper into the back and exposed on to that.

The great thing about this project, is that the current scanner-camera being used is a Canon LiDE 20 USB scanner, which I have. It's cheap, small, lightweight and is bus powered.

The site was slashdotted so you'll have to visit one of the mirror sites listed.

Link.