i'm in a tree.

alternate futures

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 23:07:07 -0700

we all evolved from the same people, so all of the world’s cultures are just chance-based offshoots from the initial state, separated by the the random and deliberate events of history. your culture could just as easily have evolved exactly like any other, or completely differently from anything we know. all of this thought because of an explanation from a friend last night, that “anime is a medium, not a genre. saying you should watch anime is like saying you should watch tv shows.” people who watch anime are just peeking into the media world of an alternate culture, just like people who like BBC programming are enjoying the fruits of another branch of the world tree.

Mind Honey

Sun, 26 May 2013 20:02:57 -0700

Reading, came across this:

“They found nothing remarkable there except the numerous swarms of bees; all of the soldiers who ate of the honey went out of their senses, and vomited and purged, and not a man of them could stand stand straight on his feet. Those who ate only a little seemed very drunk; those who had eaten much were like madmen, some even like dying men. So they lay in heaps as if there had been a rout, and there was great despondency. But the next day no one was dead, and about the same time of day they began to return to their senses; in another three or four hours they were getting up dazed as if they had been drugged.”

Footnote: “The bees are still, after 2,300 years, making this intoxicating honey from the flowers of the wild azaleas still growing in this region”

- Xenophon’s Anabasis: The March Up Country

Did a little research, found this:

Honey made from the plants has been reported to cause cardiac arrhythmias, emesis, mild paralysis and convulsions in humans and is known as “mad honey”

Photo

Mon, 13 May 2013 23:21:13 -0700

londonprophecy: rusty-chevy: randomredux: natreidess: While...

Thu, 09 May 2013 20:38:32 -0700

londonprophecy:

rusty-chevy:

randomredux:

natreidess:

While trying to find Chekov Bones stops to do some awesome doctoring

Bones’ reactions in the hospital in this movie were some of the best moments.

SOUNDS LIKE THE GODDAMN SPANISH INQUISITION

This will always be one of my fav Bones moments

really now?

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 10:51:53 -0700

really now?

laughing because cheese on a tray flying through a park.

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 10:29:29 -0700

laughing because cheese on a tray flying through a park.

4wheel device coding

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 23:58:00 -0700

in my last major arduino project, an autonomous sailboat, i shied away from object oriented coding. setting up hardware driver classes for every component would have taken more time than it saved, and just didn’t seem worth it. that’s different this time around, since i’m going going to be simultaneously controlling four motors and reading four encoders. i started out writing something similar to what the boat used, and saw myself drowning in variables in my arduino file.

so this time around, i re-learned how to make a class, and set up an arduino library to run and control a motor. four motors, four motor objects, makes sense. i also fussed for awhile with making my own encoder library, and gave up—arduino’s attachInterrupt() function doesn’t play well with classes. instead, i found an awesome, highly optimized library from PJRC.

after getting the two libraries set up and running, i wrote a simple proportional position controller that read the encoder value on one wheel and moved another to match. then something on the motor driver board apparently tried to draw too much power from the arduino, and my computer restarted. but it was a fun demonstration while it lasted.

tonight i resolved to work out a speed control. after fussing and trying to figure out the best place to put the code, i decided to dump it in my motor driver library, again with proportional control for now. it’s sloppy, but for now, the function that gets called in the main loop takes in a setpoint speed and the current speed, by calling another function that takes the current encoder count and time:

motor.run_motor(setpoint, motor.calc_speed(wheel.read(),millis()));

i used my handy trick of encoded-wheel-as-input again, and used an unpowered wheel as a dial to adjust the setpoint for another. magical workage ensued, so i decided that was a good enough success for now, and now i’m caught up.

next steps:

clean up up the speed control, maybe add an integral term
get all four motors wired up and running with controlled speed
start working on higher-level control like steering and strafing

4wheel device

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 23:26:00 -0700

new project, and i’m already bit behind on posting about it, so i’ll break up my progress so far into a couple-few posts. now that i’m employed and rolling in a comfortable amount of money, i’ve decided it’s time to get back into mechatronics as a well-funded hobby. i’ve always been intrigued by mecanum wheels, and wanted to build a wheeled something or other that’s equipped for sweet sideways strafing. ordered some components from Sparkfun a few weeks ago, and i’ve been poking at assembly and coding on and off since then.

their Rover 5 platform is a pretty nifty all-in-one chassis that includes four motors, each equipped with a quadrature encoder and gear train. i took off the belts and pulleys, and replaced them with a set of mecanum wheels. the wheels require a bit of assembly, and their mounting holes are too small for the Rover 5’s axels. one of these days i’ll get around to getting a drill press, but for now a hand drill and vice worked fine to get them on. i also hit each of the roller axels with some lithium grease, and may still need to glue the rubber rollers in place. we’ll see once i get the thing moving.

also got a fancy new arduino board, the Due. i’d been meaning to get one for awhile, attracted by its native USB host hardware, and generally badassery. it’s got a 32 bit ARM cortex M3, so it should definitely be overkill for this project.

lastly, a rover 5 motor drive board, which i was disappointed to find doesn’t actually line up with the mounting holes on the rover 5 chassis, despite being designed for it =/. that’s not too big of a deal though, as i’m sure whatever i end up using this for will require some construction above the chassis anyways.

before i get too much into what i’ve done code-wise, here’s the assembled and mostly wired-up 4wheel device:

"Never let a fucking clown juggle your phone"

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 15:24:07 -0700

“Never let a fucking clown juggle your phone”

- Julia Bluff

"I have the choice of being constantly active and happy or introspectively passive and sad. Or I can..."

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 00:06:14 -0700

“I have the choice of being constantly active and happy or introspectively passive and sad. Or I can go mad by ricocheting in between.”

- Sylvia Plath (via ganeagla)

reblogging because this gif was immediately below on my dash, and just seemed perfectly fitting:

thought i overheard a co-worker saying “hippograph.”...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:07:00 -0700

thought i overheard a co-worker saying “hippograph.” this was my interpretation.

original image from Simba Nia’s Blog

oh yeah! i was about to post this, then i got distracted,...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 01:45:18 -0700

oh yeah! i was about to post this, then i got distracted, probably because of alcohol. sam and i followed up a totes legit game of trek!clue with a very short and to-the-point game of pretty pretty princess. ~~samantha~~ suddenly- won by a totally unexpected but obvious combination of birthday default and nature-given prettiness. GG.

uu: I REALLY FIND IT HARD. TO COMPREHEND WHAT SORT OF ASSHOLE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT A JUJU IS.

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:48:18 -0700

uu: I REALLY FIND IT HARD. TO COMPREHEND WHAT SORT OF ASSHOLE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT A JUJU IS.
uu: BUT SINCE I AM YOUR PATRON MANBRO. I WILL PUT ASIDE THOSE FEELINGS. AND ATTEMPT TO BE A LITTLE MORE GAY.
GT: That would be hunky dory.
GT: In my view distinguished gentlemen should always strive to be as gay as possible with each other.

Photo

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 21:17:19 -0700

rebubble

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 19:21:58 -0800

rebubble

Yep. I’m done with this week.

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 16:46:11 -0800

Yep. I’m done with this week.

Friday, Sam, and Ray-shades. Post-eccc shenanigans.

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 12:45:11 -0800

Friday, Sam, and Ray-shades. Post-eccc shenanigans.

First cosplay, first comicon, best times for sures holy crap. Met Sir Patrick Stewart and had him...

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 08:25:37 -0800

First cosplay, first comicon, best times for sures holy crap.

Met Sir Patrick Stewart and had him sign my library reading poster:

And my first costume, Jake English from Homestuck, made possible by Suddenly-’s crafting magic and sweet green contacts:

Oh and Hussie signed my glasses.

Photo

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 13:47:00 -0800

corgi-osis: Grimlock: “Ughh, Me Grimlock not Kisser, Me...

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 15:52:06 -0800

corgi-osis:

Grimlock: “Ughh, Me Grimlock not Kisser, Me Grimlock king!”