Week two of the Thing a Week challenge is a simple but effective modification to my bag, the addition of a second strap to keep my bag in place while cycling.
I’ve been looking for a decent bag for a while but stuck with this one as it’s yet to die or find one better, I think this will be a much abused item in this project and this wont be the last mod. Adding padding to the back is on the lost but I’ve not figured that one out yet.
At the start of every year there are things people embark on, more a new years hobby than resolution, like take a photo a day or go for a run each week. I hadn’t planned on joining in but found myself making a case for my tablet at the end of the first week and though, sod it, why not do this for the year? I’m also using this as a weekly excuse to use my DSLR and hopefully get more used to it, had it for a while but still useless with it if I’m honest. It’ll also spawn a weekly blog post so it’s a triple threat of productivity in the guise of a game.
The power of the game, once more shows itself.
Thing 1: Matching cases for my tablet and Kindle.
The only issue with these “{X} a {Y} per {Z}” projects is that people often hear of them after the year has started which is a shame as it has a tendency to dissuade people from joining in. I’m not sure if this is an artefact of the human nature to pattern match and that being out of step with the calendar is somehow offensive but it sounds plausible. The thing with the calendar is that it’s arbitrary, invented by man and easy to tweak or ignore.
TLDR; If you like the idea of making a thing a week, taking a photo a day or any other such thing then choose your own damn calendar just do it anyway and to hell with anyone who calls you for being out of step!
Quick update regarding the printer, the frame is built and all three axes are finished. Next up is sourcing the hot-end and electronics. I’m lucky enough to have a RepRap user group nearby in the Thames Valley RepRap User Group who have a custom electronics board so I’ll be sourcing a kit from them. They also hang out every month at a bar near me and are regulars at the Reading Hackspace. Speaking of which, it’s been way too long since my last visit…
Hopefully I’ll get the rest of the parts soon and have the printer up and running before Christmas, if nothing else it’d be nice to be able to print some custom presents for people. That and the parts for a mobile robot base, something I’ve wanted to build for years. For now, an obligatory photo;
Keegan
Happy (belated) halloween!
Keegan
When I started this blog, way back when, I started with a series of posts regarding a desk build. The idea was to make a set of Hungarian shelves, similar to the bookcase I’d previously built, as both DVD storage and a folding desk. This plan stalled when I couldn’t find a hinge mechanism that I liked. Since then I’ve lacked a desk, a fact which meant I’d no permanent location in which to make things. Typically I’ve been coding on my sofa and using a folding table, today that changes.
Earlier this year I had my kitchen replaced and there was a few lengths of wood left over and today I decided to ditch the previous plan, buy some legs from Homebase and call it job done. It worked better than expected, I’ve not only a sturdy workbench style desk to work on now but it’s also a thing of simplistic beauty.
The legs have plates which screw to the wood and the legs then screw onto those panels, I thought ahead when spec’ing them out as it will make it easy to move if needed or take down to make more room if needed. My cluttered shelves sit behind me when seated at the desk, I’m planning clearing the space to store tools and parts. The shelf parts from the previous build will be finished off as movie storage still and I’ll cut off the section that the desk would’ve sat in so they won’t go to wasted.
After pulling my finger out, I’ve a workspace to call my own.
Keegan
[Updated] “Gamification” is a term I first heard at a Microsoft internal conference a few years back when Jane McGonigal gave a talk on the topic. I’ll admit I was a little sceptical to start with but the talk she gave was very similar to the TED talk she gave not long after.
What prompted this random musing, and the recollection of that talk, was that today was a tough day at work. They happen from time to time, it’s work after all, but rather than sitting on the sofa and watching something random on TV when I got home, I fired up a game I’ve been meaning to try for a while and hit the road. That game was Zombies, Run! I chose a playlist and pressed start mission. The story unfolded while I ran, intermixed with my favourite tracks and as I ran I collected items and received radio messages from a nearby camp. I ended up running just under 2k, with a few walking breaks I’ll admit, but that is 2k more than I’d have run had I thought of this as simply running.
Now the interesting thing here is that I think of it as a game, because it is, but it has me running for the first time in a long time and the first time outside of the gym that wasn’t a race. Had I only had music and no narrative I don’t doubt I wouldn’t have run as far or fast as I did, there were times when the “radio message” said I was being surrounded and I ran despite being tired and didn’t give up. It’s spooky the effect the narrative had on my actions and the mental boost it provided to keep me going. I’ve not finished the first mission, and already I can’t wait to go for another run to finish it off!
With the proliferation of technologies that enable such games to be developed it’s an interesting time to be alive and it’s early days yet. AR (augmented reality) is still in its infancy and with developments in wearable technologies it’s only going to be easier to make these games more immersive and involving. For example, imagine a device that could monitor your metabolism and the energy you consume and expel. A health bar would be literal and if you over-eat you can see that in real-time. It would be more Xbox Life than Xbox Live;
This concept and the advancement in technologies combine have potential to have a massive impact on the way we deal with problems as a society, imagine the difference that could be made to our towns and cities if urban planning games required you to actually plant a tree, pick up little or help someone in need. I’m a sceptical optimist so the flip side of the amount of data about us that could be collected is an obvious concern but the potential remains nonetheless.
Now, excuse me while I go play LavaQuake which requires a clean home with my belongings secured away. I wouldn’t want them to hit the lava when the quake hits after all. Don’t be silly, it isn’t tidying, it’s just a game…
Keegan
[UPDATE] Not long after posting this article, io9 have posted an interesting story regarding the use of games in medicine and as an assistive aid for people with long term medical needs; The Rise of “Cyber Therapy,” or How Games Became a Medical Treatment
Today was a big day for science and for the advancement of space exploration in general, Curiosity landed on Mars.
I was up at the crack of dawn(ish) UK time to watch this online just to see the look on the faces of the guys and gals in mission control when word came through of success or failure. For the record, I was on the side of success but the skycrane manoeuver was balsy to say the least so was prepared for “the bad day” as one of the engineers put it.
The landing was only one of the many moving parts involved today and I wanted to highlight two of the others, Mars Odyessy Orbiter and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The former has been in orbit since 2001 and was recently saved by the activation of a spare part that had sat idle since launch and is acting as a relay for the rovers on the planet, the latter launched in 2005 and has been taking some stunning hires photos of the planet since.
Today all three missions came together beautifully; Curiosity landed without a hitch, moments after landing Odyssey was in position to relay photos and was relaying telemetry in the descent phase but most impressively is this photo from MRO;
All three of these missions had to align perfectly to achieve what NASA achieved today and this photo is by far the most impressive to me. Taking a photo of an object falling at around 200mph, from an vehicle that itself is orbiting at a hell of a rate of knots! I tried tracking down the orbital velocity but failed, if anyone knows please mention it in the comments.
The three vehicles came together in an epic event, perfectly timed, and the results are stunning. With day one on the planet coming to a close though Curiosity has a big act to follow, that of Spirit and Opportunity, with Opportunity currently on day 3116 of its 90 day mission and still returning stunning images.
There are plenty out there that don’t understand the fascination with such endeavours, I suspect few of them read this blog, but think of days like today as Science and Engineering winning a gold medal for the home team and you’ll not be far off the mark.
Keegan
There is nothing quite like the feeling you get when a long running project splutters to life for the first time. Be it an engine firing, a piece of software running bug free for the first time or even the simple pleasure of a set of shelves in place, it’s a wonderful feeling that I really wish non-makers could feel more often.
This random post was inspired by the story of the efforts of an epic few who have been working for decades to restore the original footage from early Moon surveys and one of the first photos that they recovered;
Hard work, well rewarded. LOIRP are considering a kickstarter to raise cash to recover the rest, a project that’s worthy of funding.
Keegan
via BoingBoing
I’ve added the new Facebook plugin for WordPress to the site, it’s going to take a while to get configured properly so bare with me.
I’m an avid follower of Lifehacker, particularly mind hacks. One that has appeared recently, and appears to be gaining momentum, is Jerry Seinfeld’s “don’t break the chain” time management technique.
The idea is simple, set yourself a few goals to achieve each day and if you manage them all you mark the day on a calendar with a cross. Put that calendar in an obvious place so you can’t help but see it and that’s it. I printed a year calendar from printfree.com and printed it out in A3 then stuck it to the back of my front door.
My long running problems are thus;
To try and fix this I’ve set myself three simple tasks;
Next to my door I’ve a blackboard wall, it has a list of my projects on it which include building my Mini, a clock for my dad, my 3d printer and brewing beer. The idea is I work on one per day and in the long run they all get a bit done rather than all stagnating. I’ve also decided to factor in my fallibility.
A lot of people who have tried this idea have been brutal in its execution whereas my aim is to average out. For example, if I miss breakfast one day then if I know I’ll not get that cross through the day. Despite missing that aim it’s counterproductive as mentally the day is written off before it starts. Instead, if I miss breakfast I have to double up on one of the other tasks. Today, I had breakfast but was a bit late for work. Rather than writing the day off I instead doubled up on tidying and tackled a particularly untidy area of my flat that I’ve been avoiding for a while; Behind my sofa.
I did so, and despite the fact I was a few minutes late for work I know that overall I have achieved something today. To a lot of people this may sound odd but personally, I need momentum. I need to feel that I’ve achieved something every day otherwise what’s the point? It doesn’t matter if I’ve tidied something, succeeded in solving some tricky problem at work or having a eureka moment in a personal project, I need to ride a wave. If I was anal about my tasks I’d be setting myself up to fail and I’d give up as all too quickly I’d lose momentum.
I’ve also decided to average out over the week to avoid burning out. If I’m at work on a Friday, when I get home I don’t need to tidy or build anything as long as the previous four days I’ve done so. This way I feel I’ve earned a pint, which if true then I have! For the weekends, I have to get out of bed before 10am so still get a lie in but still have to work on the other two tasks.
If anyone is reading this (huzzah, readers!) and you think it sounds too simple then I urge you to give it a go as today something peculiar happened; I felt guilty. Because I got in a few minutes late, not the end of the world I know, I felt I’d let myself down and had to make up for it. This wasn’t a conscious act but the simple fact that its working and the mind hack is settling in. As such, behind my sofa is now tidy and seeing it tidy for the first time in months is highly rewarding!
Fingers crossed this will continue and little by little my flat will get tidier, I’ll build and make more things and I’ll finally get my sleeping problems in check (after 20 years). The strangest thing is that these simple rules, on a daily basis, are almost trivial but the cumulative effect is astonishing. Long may it continue!
