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Friday I left work early, drove two and a half hours toward then-tropic storm Karen, and found a lil' new friend. It's a 2dr 2004 Focus SVT. It is tiny, imperfect, and has 6 forward gears of fun-enough-for-me.

2.0L DOHC 4cyl, 6spd manual, 170hp, 106,000mi

Ok, it's kinda ricey I suppose...my 17 year-old-self would likely flip out. But it's mostly factory rice; slightly overstated and simultaneously bland. Unrefined, yet comfortable.

It drives pretty well and keeps me entertained (lots of shifting). From everything I can tell, it is in decent shape while still exuding enough quirkiness to keep things interesting. I'm thinking it's the toppest-o-the-line model. Heated seats (not tested), sunroof, HID headlights (90% sure those're stock), traction control(?), and little steering-wheel-mounted audio controls. It even has a 6-disc CD changer, because people still used CDs 10 years ago.

Now, some previous owner did try to "smoke" the tail and sidemarker lights. I'm a bit embarrassed by those, though it has a monochromatic appeal the red taillights wouldn't give... Regardless, they've hazed over and it looks like someone scratched it with their fingernail just to see what would happen. Also, the front bumper adorns some meaningless, faded numerical sticker. But no matter, the bumper's paint sucks anyway. Maybe some day I'll bother getting it repainted. Or not. (I'm really enjoying relearning the apathy of having a used car)

So far, the two broken things I know of are:

• the automatic passenger door lock doesn't work. Internets suggest this is $15 and a Saturday away from being fixed.
• only the bottom half of the rear defroster seems to work. Probably.

This is essentially the same car I found in town and test drove a few months ago. Not as clean, but has a few more options. Anyway, the above pictures, plus a few more can be found here.

Alright, the hardware portion of my Pi-controlled AC outlet project is done! The 4 outlets are independently controllable via software.

Now, I had trouble finding a thorough tutorial for this simple project. I might come back and update this post with a parts list, some novice-friendly wiring diagrams, snarky commentary, etc. I might even write up a Randomland-proper article, if we can straighten out our image hosting.

But for now, here are some pictorial highlights...or catch 'em all!

Pi'ers,

I started a little project to wrap the Rasberry Pi RPi.GPIO library in a more object-oriented architecture (meat). It's all woefully incomplete, but lets you do things like this:

Code Select Expand


from gpiocrust import Header, OutputPin

with Header() as header:
    my_led = OutputPin(11)   # create pin set for output. Defaults to OFF
    my_led.value = True      # or 1

# Cleanup is automatic.


I also wrapped up the pulse width modulated output pin functionality, so you can (effectively) get variable output levels.

Code Select Expand


from gpiocrust import Header, PWMOutputPin

with Header() as header:
    # Create software PWM'ed pin @100Hz, half-brightness
    my_led = PWMOutputPin(11, frequency=100, value=0.5)
   
    # Nah, go for epilepsy mode!
    my_led.frequency = 10
    my_led.value = 0.9


(You don't have to use with statements, it's just good for examples)

We can build this out for inputs and whatever else I don't even know about yet. The goal is just something a little more "pythonic" than the thinly veiled C library. Let me know if you all are interested.

[A step further:]

I dusted off my old Python pants and whipped out a very simple image server. Just feed it a path and the target image size, and you'll get an image back. Downsized images are stored on disk, then cleaned up every-so-often.

Its usage is simple enough, though could use some perfecting:
    host:port/[size]/[path]

Where:

• size is the longest edge of the returned image
• path is the path to the image on the server

For example, we could have

Code Select Expand

img.randomland.net/1024/zourtney/2013-campcamp/IMG_0001.JPG

I haven't stress tested it at all, and is probably an overly simplistic implementation. But! for our purposes, it could work ok. We could use it to pull from remote sources (ala Flickr, Google Plus), temporarily keep downsized copies on the Randomland server, then eschew them when no one has looked at them for, say, a week.

A step further: add a metadata service that outputs tags, face regions, EXIF data, etc. If there's an open API for it, the server can remain a middleman with no regard for datin'bases or such fancy extravagancies.

Ok, REALLY time for bed.

It's that time again -- car wanting time. (which seems to be loosely tied to the onset of spring)Most recently, I have been wanting a truck (which is nothing new, of course). Something I can throw some family in and drive down some soggy, sandy backroads. Or bash around until I find some remote patch of pines to spend the afternoon in. I've been looking at the 10 - 15 year old F-150s because they're almost cheap enough to afford.But then again, a smaller car would definitely be more practical for the everyday uses (work-goings). But yeah.So: what should I get?

Occasionally, I get the feeling I should implement some sort of backup system between all my computers. Other than that 5 year old external hard drive sitting on my desk.

Of course, there are those paid, online ("cloud") storage solutions. And they're plentiful. But I was wondering if anyone was interested in setting up a sort of private peer-to-peer type backup system?

Ideal situation:

• 'puter on
• I select the directories on my system to back up
• One of more other people select my computer as the computer to back up data from
• Those computer(s) save a copy of my files
• Yay.

A quick check shows that there are several programs out there that do this.

• Crashplan
• Buddy Backup
• DataHaven.NET

Anyone interested? I could always pay some company $50+/yr but... 

[Bam.]

I made an app. It's not good, or exciting (or on a popular platform), but I made an app.

Bam.

The unimaginatively named Windows Phone app is called Fire Danger. It pulls data from these two data sheets, parses them, and displays them in a phone-friendly way. You can make a "live tile" for your current region which will auto-update, showing an icon of your current fire-danger level (low, moderate, high, or extreme).

I might make a Windows 8 port of it, just because it'd be easy. Though I'm sure you need a dev membership to submit it, so maybe not.

Welp, I got myself a new phone (after somewhat tragically smashing my old one in the car door).

Behold, the Lumia 920. I apologize for the gigantic image. The thumbnail views haven't rendered...is our dang image system broken again? (It could just be slow, which is ok)

Eve and I are currently awaiting the arrival of Borderlands 2. It should be on our doorstep soonish.

I'm not really one for shooters, or fast-paced games at all, for that matter. But the original was RPG-enough and risk/reward-enough to enjoy it with the right company. We actually have been replaying it over the past few weeks. It's going much quicker, but still enjoyable. I'm hoping that the sequel meets or exceeds that.

But it's going to be impossible to find those 8-hour stretches of gameplay anymore 

Darn you loose cargo pockets. Darn you.

Tonight, my phone slipped out of my pocket and got crushed in the car door. The screen is mostly kaput. The board seems fine, as I was able to back it up. But the bottom 3/4 of the screen is utterly unusable. It's a shame too, because I actually liked my phone. Yeah, Windows Phone is pretty much the 3rd-world of smartphone OSes¹, but I liked it.

So...I'll probably wait a few months to see what schnazz the fall phone mill churns out. Any suggestions? I've been a little...out of it the past few months. But it does seem like good stuff should be coming in 2-3 months. I can use my iPhone Ancient for a while.

My brother, Kyle, is going to let me play with his Atrix loaded up with ICS. Maybe Android could grow on me². If so, I'm considering the Galaxy Nexus as it's "vanilla Android". And the price is almost stomachable at $350, off contract. But it's already "old"...

I'm also considering the upcoming, unannounced-but-the-cat's-already-out-of-the-bag iPhone. Guaranteed to be Apple and boring. That's a strength and a weakness.

Then there's the Window 8 Phones.....um, Windows Phone 8s, eehrm, Windows Phone 8 phones. Nearly disqualified on awkward naming, these things could still be interesting. But still, they're unannounced, not likely available before Christmas. And sadly, WP8 is still guaranteed to remain comparatively feature-light. I hate to facilitate its death (since I like WP), but....yeah.

All that to say...suggestions?


¹ ...well, as in a generation or two behind the times. Not like sectarian armies of machete wielding evil. That's vile. And hopefully the mere thought won't disturb my night's sleep.
² I'm quite tired of Verizon's robobadass schtick. Please, no more of this. Ever. Also, the "Android makes me awesome" thing churns my lunch. But mostly Verizon.

Make it happen.

Or not.

Let's discuss it here!


Carried over from the Hiking Database thread.

Last night, I installed the Windows 8 Consumer Preview on my work Macbook Pro. Under the guise of IE10 compatibility testing (which I will do). After "fixing" a few driver issues, it's up and running. By "fixing", I mean doing a clean install -- in-place upgrades still bite back).

All in all, I like it. Of coure, I've had a few of the apps crash, unwarranted Explorer windows pop up in the desktop view, and mouse navigation just kinda feels old-school. But it's a nice change and looks pretty dang nice on a 13" screen.

Anyone else tried it yet?

I figure we need a thread about junk. Junk we don't want, but others might.

I'll start by saying I have some scrap metal. It's actually my old bed frame which has a bent leg. It is decent gauge angle iron (well, steel), painted black(ish). If anyone wants it (or wants to get scrap money for it), let me know. I'm sure we could repurpose it for something...I'm just tired of tripping over it.

I finally got a new phone, the Samsung Focus S. Yep.

A few weeks ago, after changing my oil, Jacsveus and I intentionally (and somewhat cautiously) lit an oil soaked rag on fire.

It burned brightly for about 7-8 minutes, and finally petered out around the 11 minute mark. Not a super long burn time, but impressive enough for used engine lubricant...a substance many would assume to be completely non-flammable.

Here's a little video demonstration of our first run. (Note: rock band was not present at the time of demonstration)

While I was doing menial stuff, like splicing together that video, Jascveus  actually went out and tried it again, mixing it up a bit. He found that clean fuels such as kerosene burn brighter, but for a shorter duration. And tightly wound cloth doesn't increase burn time -- it just doesn't burn. Predictable results, but good things to know.

As time allows, we will expand this experiment. Because torches are fun.

I started posting some of my code to a while back. It seems a better, more permanent, and more public place than the old self-hosted repos. Randomland is now the "organization" randomnets. I'm not really sure what good that does...just a way to group accounts I suppose. So, let me know if you have a github account and want to join these randomnets.

Post articles to awesome, interesting, ludicrous, or stupid tech-related things. This is like our "Best and Worst of the Internet" thread, but more focused on computer stuff.

I finally got around to getting my Kershaw knife fixed. I took it in through their factory's "Warranty and Repair" door. Yeah, it took like 7 minutes. Coolness.

For those who don't know why it needed fixed: quit spying; I don't know you.

So last week at work, I was sent a MacBook Pro to experiment with. Mostly to see how the accessibility features work on OSX/Safari to help with the web-stuff I'm developing. The computer actually doesn't even belong to my employer, but I am "keeping it safe" for a while. I haven't spent any notable amount of time in the Mac OS since middle school...and it's nice to do it under the guise of "development"

Anyway, I realized how nice it is to have a usable laptop around. My old Dell (c. March '05) has certainly seen better days; it only runs Ubuntu (slowly), and the optical drive doesn't work, is about 3 times the thickness of my loaner...you get the point. All this is to say, Dang you technology! Stop making me want new stuff! I really don't really "like" spending money on more stuff that's very similar to what I already have...but this computer is screaming-fast...like addictingly fast. Even my newish desktop is now nearly 2 years old.

Time marches on. New computers are fun. Now I want a new computer. Yikes!

I just installed the SMF Tapatalk plugin. If you're unfamiliar, it's a forum browsing app for mobile OSes (iOS, Andriod, more?). The app costs a few bucks, but there may be a read-only version if you want to try it out. I finally broke down and bought it...and it's probably even worth it.

Let me know if you have any related issues. Right now, viewing the forum in the mobile browser pops up a "Tapatalk compatible" message. I may disable this. (When I come across this I usually say, "that's nice, whatever, go away".) Opinions?