A blog about all kinds of vintage technology from simple mechanisms of the late 1800s through electronics and robotics of the 1980s. Many posts will be typecast and some will be off topic bits from everyday life. The blog will wander and meander with my quasi-evolving and ever changing interests.
Ooo... such a beautiful sequence of numbers this is! Today is the day that Pi and time collide and for an infinitesimally long bit Pi is repeated forever...
At least in the artificial construct we call time. All I know is that we don't have enough of it. Even Elder Spawn got to experience little of the small death known as sleep this week with homework and rehearsals. She is a number fanatic and obsesses about sequences, but is opting to sleep in. We have another chance in the PM, but we will be watching Joshua Bell from the third row center at the Kauffman Center.We could be on a cruise ship full of Spring Break extroverts instead. Nah.
I know a lawyer who memorized Pi out to 2,000 places, backwards and forwards. I'm consistently remember 3.14. But for today, we can contemplate the great beyond:
3.141592665335989793238462 etc.
Today I received the most amazing bit of analog awesome in the mail with an exhortation to seek the solace of the type bar and platen. And so I did, with a recently acquired Smith Corona Silent Super. The loop script looks fabulous with NOS silk ribbon I found at an estate sale last month. First, the card:
Nerdgasm! Photography and typewriters in one bit of awesome.
Thanks to the mysterious Typospherian from the Phoenix area who inspired me to do a first run with the new ribbon. This photo is going on the pin board in my office at work.
Yep, I finally got one! It showed up BIN on ebay and had been sitting there for two days. Maybe I will get lucky on the last Holy Grail Fractur machine. Or I will win the lottery.
This blog has been sadly neglected as I post my photography on Google+. The hit counts are based on some assumptions that only Google's data geeks understand. I assume that anytime an image is clicked on that counts and perhaps being refreshed inside a community does as well. Either way, last night when a number appeared on my profile page I was just shy of 2,000,000 views. It is only a digital ghost town to those who do not post and interact.
Interestingly enough, a Polaroid connection is one of the things that has kept me busy was attending and participating on a panel at the BuildWell 2014 conference located at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. The keynote speaker was John Warner of the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry. His career as a rock star chemist started with improving process and chemistry for Polaroid.
Normally, sustainable building policy is hatched in never-ending meetings in dark and poorly ventilated conference hotel spaces. This conference was an exception to the rule.
Everything is still brown and dead in Kansas. I hate/envy Californians.
It was a whirlwind trip featuring a loud and nasty turboprop to Denver and an unexpected Japanese toy exhibit inside the San Francisco airport. I had trouble leaving and took plenty of photos with my new traveling companion, the Fujifilm X100. Here are a few samples. There are more images on my G+ collection. San Francisco 2014
Hello, spinning blade of death! United did a bait and switch and changed planes from a regional jet to 1940s turboprop technology. The view was cool, though.
Kitty exercises mind control. All shall walk like her. Obey the Kitty.
Fly the friendly skies! These carnival ride parts might be better than a United regional plane. They might be better with luggage. My bag took more abuse in one round trip than in 30+ before.
Pay no attention to the robot army. Robots are your friends. Mostly.
Me, after United delays and crap planes arriving eleven hours after leaving home in Kansas City. I will avoid United like the plague if at all possible. Live trips will be replaced with webinars and Hangouts given the sorry state of air transport in general.
Well, this entry took a couple of unanticipated twists. It was good to bring the blog back to life. I am lurking on the Typosphere. Busy is a regular state of being with two teens and work. Teen one will start the college search next year. Life just blurs along and I shoot street and candid because it makes me happy.
Thanks for reading!
Obligatory Copyright statement: The words and images here are mine and mine alone. Please share the Google love by resharing, +1s, comments and linkage. Image borrowing without attribution is stealing. Beyond digital copyright issues, I has friends among the giant robots and Kaiju. You have been warned.
Since I never seem to get around to long form posts, here is my short form greeting on this sunny and warmish Sunday.
My Spousal Unit and Elder Spawn went to a Kansas City Symphony concert featuring Joshua Bell on violin. The latter got a photo and a signed CD. She is in violin nerd heaven!
Meanwhile, Spawn the Younger and I did some tidying, took a walk and had a light saber dual. I combined some of the Lego collection into a single bin. Yeah, my girls have no use for the fake, tween themed Lego creations.
Cleaning up toy bins can be a little depressing. Someone had a little too much playtime.
Welcome to the Kansas City Maker Faire! I took my younger daughter, the Gingercat, to the pre-show party Friday night before the show and the first day of the show. These are a few of the things we saw. A larger collection is located on my Google+ stream at https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/114811329730901691376/albums/5895075333409105857
As is typical in geek events, cosplay characters roamed the show. The Iron Man entourage was a big hit! The female Iron Man was a little scary.
Gingercat was wielding my old Sony NEX-3. She now has a weapon to shoot back when she catches me aiming a lens her way!
Behold the little Raspberry Pi processor that now drives this beast.
The creator had fun wandering around is costume as well. The Hammerspace makerspace and the Cowtown Computer Congress shared space and projects at the show.
And in the fun and weird category, here is a creation from one of guys at Hammerspace. He built this contraption in two weeks out of scraps laying around the shop. Children fish for babies to feed to the mother. No worries; new babies come along just as quickly.
Inky goodness! The lino cut print goes in my office. The best part about Maker Faire is getting to meet and talk with people about their projects.
This sculptor does large scale bronze. His pantograph device is pretty amazing!
Maker Faire wouldn't be complete without PowerWheels racing! This is what you get when you mix adults, battery powered kiddie cars and a whole bunch of modifications. They staged racing heats and endurance runs over the two day show.
We were happy to see Super Awesome Sylvia and her Dad, the Tech Ninja. Sylvia was showing her home brew WaterColorBot. She earned a spot at the White House Science Fair and got the run of the house while the parental units chilled.
This one is for Richard P on the current state of 3D printing. I reread his comment from last year regarding 3D printing. It was everywhere and is barely a novelty among the maker crowd today. Later this year, Staples will carry a household printer for less than $800. Kinkos may start printing services in stores. People are using Google Hangouts to collaborate on countless useful projects including mechanical hands, artificial limbs, machine parts and casts. Auto parts are made out of sintered, printed metal and MIT is experimenting with printing entire buildings.
Kansas City even has its own R2D2 builders club. These are not your run-of-the-mill models. Note the machined joints. Gorgeous!
Members of the Airship Noir group ran a little experimental station. I think this guest is being reprogrammed. Be sure to read the sign on the Jacob's ladder.
With almost 300 makers in the house, Union Station is getting pretty crowded with overflow in the parking lot and most of Science City. We almost didn't stop in one of the side rooms. Good thing we dropped in or we would have missed this cool device. What a great way to use unloved analog technology!
The photos here and on Google+ don't even scratch the surface. The show is a phenomenal success. The maker movement is strong in Kansas City with abandoned buildings being turned into maker hives. There is a reason why Google chose Kansas City for its first fiber Internet project. For more technology and artistic greatness, checkout #makerfairekc on Twitter.
I'll leave you with one of the headliners taking one of Nikola Tesla's inventions to the next level.
Yet another Copyright notice *sigh* Yep, the words and images are Copyright DwayneF of Vintage Technology Obsessions. Having tired of vague threats, I will simply remind the reader that all content creators deserve their due. Please like, share, post, Google +1, etc. and share the social love. Follow and I will likely follow you back. Commercial use requires prior written authorization from the Copyright holder. And so on...
Today we recognize one of the defining moments in modern Geekdom that was the release of Star Wars on May 25, 1977. As with last year, I will celebrate by featuring the some of the awesomely geeky things I have featured on this blog or photographed in the last year.
Sometimes I even surprise myself. What kind of a geek put this blog together, anyway?
This is the Army that turned the tide in the war against the Mayan Destructors.
Could it be the Mayans came up with that world ending calendar concept as an elaborate means to introduce a new typewriter acquisition? Anything is possible in tinfoil hat conspiracy land.
The Christmas Squirrel is an astute military commander.
The freakingly amazing Curiosity!
Celebrating a special birthday.
Experts in green inspect a repainted machine.
Zombie on the streets of Kansas City. I hope no one steals their coffee.
The House Full of Nerds viewing the Transit of Venus.
Typecasting on vacation.
I got to see five separate Shakespeare performances since Geekday 2012.
A Maker, making.
You never know what will turn up at the local Maker Faire. Go, you must.
Your career at NASA
The Vintage Technology Obsessions crew visits San Francisco for Greenbuild 2012
Godzilla put up a valiant fight against the Mayan Destructors. Thank goodness the world didn't end!
The absolute highlight in my year in Geekdom was staying up to watch the livestream of Curiosity landing on Mars. This bit of awesome was brought to us via the great, modern disruptive force known as the Internet. It is gratifying to see personalities from the mission team become media rock stars. Really, we live in the Golden Age of Geek.
Photographing my screen.
That's without mentioning the amazing photos from the ISS courtesy of Chris Hadfield (my daily Twitter fix) and all of the awesome news rolling out of Elon Musk's technological market disruption empire. Tesla just became the first auto maker to fully pay back its government loans and is attempting to circumvent the dealer franchise model of selling cars. SpaceX completed the first commercial mission to the ISS. Geeks, without a doubt, are on a roll!
Oh, and thanks to Yahoo, Flickr and digital imaging, everyone is now a professional photographer!
Prom photos at the Duke University Gardens last week. Sure, Yahoo's CEO rolled back the snarky comment about professional photographers, but it appears she really meant it. Does that mean every 12-year-old that makes an app is on par with a Google system architect?
On a personal note, I am especially proud of my Geeklings. They have had an amazing year full of music, drama and obsessive academic over-achievement. Highlights include Geekling the Elder playing Curtis in a school production of "Taming of the Shrew" and Geekling the Minor (aka: gingercat) being recognized in the Duke TIP 7th Grade Talent Search.
Thanks all for reading this little blog of mine! I would probably do it without anyone looking, but the hit counts (approaching 50,000), Google Plus Ones and comments from people like you are gratifying.
