Brainwaves of Sken

Remember the massager-cum-raygun?

I’ve been inspired to get to work on the interior of this device. I can always build onto it later, so the interior is on my mind.

My original idea is to have LEDs inside that shine through the air-holes in the front and rear of the device. As there is a lot of room in there once you take out the huge ancient motor, I was thinking it could have a rotating circle of white and yellow lights.

The specifics of how to make electronics that rotate are, though, perhaps beyond me. I don’t want to buy PCB-making equipment because I need a lead that rotates with the board (and besides, I think I’d have to leave it vulnerable to the elements, which sounds dangerous in a metal device). rbradakis mentions there are motors that have electronic connections that funnel through the turning mechanism, but I don’t know where I’d even begin with that.

Less impressive, but still interesting would be keeping the lights stationary and rotating colored gels above them. The color shift wouldn’t be gradual, sadly, but it’d be less expensive (requiring only two white LEDS instead of four or six, half being yellow). And no rotating electronics foofaraw.

So, with the assistance of LEDcalc and the advice of more electronically inclined friends, I think I can make it happen.

Now, I’m considering sound.

There may be enough room in this thing to also include a sound board or some sort. I’d like something that would work like those greeting cards you can record your voice onto – something I could make produce an ‘electronic sizzle’ sound that would repeat endlessly while the switch is on.

How to do this, though? So far, I’ve found a few related links (that last one being the best so far), but nothing that’s exactly what I’m looking for. I even have a disposable USB music player, if that would help.

Anyway, if any of you have any advice or directions I could look, I’d be grateful!

EDIT: Oooh. It’s somewhat heavy, maybe I could build a brace into it that attaches to my forearm with a leather strap.

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put a word that reminds me of you into image.google.com. Pick an image from the first page, and post it as a comment here. Hilarity may ensue.

I’m not going to see sex in the city tonight with jessi – I only saw half a show, can’t connect with rich middle-aged women who can’t maintain a relationship to save their lives, and I’d pay half as much to see it on a weekday, anyway.

I’m also not going to go hang out with KT and her family, awesome as they are, because they’re far away and fridays are stupid long right now.

Maybe I’ll go to Charley’s, my favorite local restaurant, and get me some yummy chicken kebobs. Someone come visit me, we’ll play games! Okay, that wasn’t very persuasive. :D

In other news, work sucked today, my finger still hurts, and I’m feeling lazy. Yay!

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What are you up to tonight?
—
Skennedy

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i like cheese.
—
Skennedy

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A Tiny Fruit That Tricks the Tongue

CARRIE DASHOW dropped a large dollop of lemon sorbet into a glass of Guinness, stirred, drank and proclaimed that it tasted like a “chocolate shake.”

HOW’S IT DO THAT? Franz Aliquo, who calls himself Supreme Commander, right, supplied miracle berries grown by Curtis Mozie, left, to party-goers in Long Island City, Queens, last weekend.
Joe Fornabaio for The New York Times

Those who attended sampled the red berries then tasted foods, including cheese, beer and brussels sprouts, finding the flavors transformed. Beer can taste like chocolate, lemons like candy. Mr. Aliquo says he holds the parties to “turn on a bunch of people’s taste buds.”

Nearby, Yuka Yoneda tilted her head back as her boyfriend, Albert Yuen, drizzled Tabasco sauce onto her tongue. She swallowed and considered the flavor: “Doughnut glaze, hot doughnut glaze!”

They were among 40 or so people who were tasting under the influence of a small red berry called miracle fruit at a rooftop party in Long Island City, Queens, last Friday night. The berry rewires the way the palate perceives sour flavors for an hour or so, rendering lemons as sweet as candy.

The host was Franz Aliquo, 32, a lawyer who styles himself Supreme Commander (Supreme for short) when he’s presiding over what he calls “flavor tripping parties.” Mr. Aliquo greeted new arrivals and took their $15 entrance fees. In return, he handed each one a single berry from his jacket pocket.

Teenager wins science fair by making plastic bags decompose in 3 months instead of 1000 years

Daniel Burd, an 11th grader at Waterloo Collegiate Institute, has discovered a way to make plastic bags degrade in as little as three months—a finding that won him first prize at the Canada-Wide Science Fair, a $20,000 scholarship, and a chance to revolutionize a major environmental issue.

Burd’s strategy was simple: Since plastic does eventually degrade, it must be eaten by microorganisms. If those microorganisms, as well as the optimal conditions for their growth, could be identified, we could put them to work eating the plastic much faster than under normal conditions.

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The video that kept me here late on the Friday before last (located at www.autonews.com/zvideo, no I’m not making a link :D ) has had about 2200 views since then. When you consider that is almost entirely out of our small subscriber base, that is very impressive.

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http://gizmodo.com/393124/sony-video-glasses-will-turn-everyone-star-trek-chic

Answering Mark’s prayers and bringing us all one step closer to looking like Geordi La Forge, Sony has unveiled eyeglasses that can show full-color video images. The prototype supports a QVGA resolution, weighs 120g, is 3mm thick at the lens, and has a contrast ratio of 50:1.

The glasses use a proprietary holographic waveguide and an optical engine made up of a LED light source and a transparent LCD panel. Video coming from the optical engine is reflected by a film in the holographic waveguide. It then bounces off a glass plate and is diffracted to the eyes by a second holographic film.

Before it brings the glasses to market, Sony is trying to slim the prototype down to 80g and make the lenses transmissive enough to be used in dark places. The company says it’s hoping to commercialize the produce by 2010.

I love the phrase in the second picture in the article: “A simple waveguide with a conjugate reflective volume hologram pair is our solution.”

It just makes me think of, “What do you think a secret phase conjugate tracking system is for? A big mirror makes a big beam.”

Anyway, when they get it to 80 grams, I’ll be totally geeked. QVGA is 1280×960 – that’s big enough for some reasonably hi-def movies. match that with a camera the size of the one in the lids of laptops, and a gps system, and you’ve got the nift-o-matic “turn your head toward Red Lobster and see the address and daily discounts on your display” awesomeness.

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Tags: covet

We’ve finally made it home after over 2000 miles of srs driving. Lucy has passed out on my couch while waiting for me (how cute), so I’ll make this quick.

People visited on this trip:
theferrett and zoethe in Clevelandish, OH
yakavenger and blazepoet in Lowell, MA
minkrose and blondbaron in Worcester, MA
rach1331 (my sister) and my grandma, Uncle John and Lupe, Aunt Sue, Terry, Mike, Jenny and their children and significant others in Telford, PA
Lucy’s family friend Carla near Pittsburgh, PA
quiglin and alatheaseeker in Cincinnati, OH
karinny in Ontario, OH and
Lucy’s parents in Cleveland, OH

We had a ton of great food on this trip, mostly provided by our wonderful hosts across the east coast. In fact, this was almost entirely a social trip, with the only ‘touristy’ things consisting of a visit to York, Maine and the Taste of Cincinnati.

My Mazda3 performed beautifully, getting something around 32 miles a gallon with no complaints other than what may be a tiny chip from two gravel trucks occupying both lanes of the freeway.

Lucy also performed admirably, being an excellent partner in crime and agreeable to anything I could possibly suggest. We laughed all the time, and I’m totally not sick of her yet; that’s good, because she’s no longer going to MN for three weeks – instead, she’ll be here at the SkenneHome on most days until August. Woohoo!

I’m looking forward to driving no more than 30 minutes at a stretch for some time to come – I love to drive, but I’m kinda done for a bit, y’know?

We almost surprised our friends at Marcon with a visit, but the timing didn’t work out. Being the social butterfly, I really wished I could have been on this road trip AND seen all of my great friends at home, but now that we’re back the party can really begin, right? Speaking of which, I miss Reggie, and look forward to taking custody of him back from Castle Bradaki tomorrow. I do hope he hasn’t been too much trouble.

I can’t thank our hosts across the east coast and mid-west enough for making our trip possible, let alone so damned enjoyable. We had a place to stay wherever we went, and kindnesses showered upon us at all times. We feel the love – we really do. *big massive group hugs* You’re always welcome here.

Full set of photos from RT:BF

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