HacDC will be launching Spaceblimp-3 from Maryland tomorrow morning. You'll be able to follow its progress on Twitter, or you can watch the balloon's positional telemetry on aprs.fi as long as it's in the air. If you'll be out and about (or you're just allergic to Twitter) but want to keep track of the balloon, text the words "Follow hacdcspaceblimp" to phone number 40404 and you'll receive text messages with periodic status reports.
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If you've been following my blog for a while you've no doubt picked up on my interest in 3D printing and the open source fabber called the RepRap. It seems that I'm not the only person who's been keeping a sharp eye on this particular technology. The Gada Prize (formerly the Kartik M. Gada Humanitarian Innovation Prize in Personal Manufacturing) has been announced to advance the state of the art in 3D printing and personal manufacture by putting up $20kus to the person or team whose project meets certain criteria by 31 December 2012. The prize appears to be aimed …
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One of the trickiest things in the field of robotic engineering is getting the manipulators right. Look down at your hand: you probably have five digits, four fingers and a thumb which are articulated and largely independent of one another (modulo a bit of funny business with the ring and little fingers but, as with many things natural variation comes into play here). Each finger folds and rotates in ways that the science of engineering hasn't quite gotten the hang of replicating. Then a group of scientists discovered an insanely simple design: a small sack full of granules and a …
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The liver is arguably one of the most complex organs in the body due to the list of functions it carries out. Not only does it help to filter the blood but it synthesizes an array of proteins, strips worn erythrocytes out of the bloodstream, and produces a number of hormones. That's just the first page of the list. It's also unusual in that it is capable of regenerating and becoming fully functional once again given enough time and proper conditions. Except when it doesn't; there are a number of diseases and chronic conditions that can render the liver nonfunctional …
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Pictures taken at the Roger Waters concert at DC's Verizon Center in October. The zoom function of my camera really got a workout that night because we were up in the nosebleeds for the show. Certainly high enough up that looking down at the crowd (or even the seat in front of you) was enough to make one dizzy. Thus, I apologize for the rather low quality of some of the pictures, I had to make the most of what visible light there was.
I'd also like to point out that some of the funkier, most abstract pictures are of …
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While visiting some friends in Portland, Oregon in October, I did a little exploring of the Portland State University campus physics lab with Amberite. Here are some of the things we found.
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I finally copied the pictures I took at the Rasputina and Gary Numan concert in October off of my camera. I should have written about the show earlier but various and sundry things prevented me from doing so.
First off, Rasputina replaced Emilie Autumn as the opening act because she is going to undergo reconstructive surgery on her jaw (if indeed she hasn't already). Her tour has been rescheduled for January of 2011. I'm not that big a fan of Rasputina, to tell the truth. I've tried to listen to their work but it never seems to stick in my …
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As you no doubt have observed I've been conspicuously absent for the past couple of weeks, at least since returning from a long-overdue vacation with Lyssa in lovely Portland, Oregon. Much of my time has been spent at work doing the things that bastards like me get paid to do: run and fix backups, install software, patch systems, run audits, and generally keep things chugging along smoothly for the folks who do everything else. Due to the weather in the DC metroplex taking a turn for the rainy and cold (as it's wont to do every Samhain) my commute has …
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Still here. Still have lots of pictures to put up.
Busy at work and at home. Trying not to get sick.
Tired. About all I have it in me to do right now is read.
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