“Favorite materials

clay, bones, fabric, feathers, circuit board, silver, leather,porcelain, light emitting diodes, stoneware, found objects,paper, anything“

See:  http://destructivetesting.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/word-for-the-day-bricolage

“Much of my work has been influenced by the dichotomies and juxtapositions of rural Alaskan living. I’m particularly interested in exploring the intersections between technology and nature, art and craft, destruction and creation. As inspiration, I look for the magical within the mundane, provoke thoughtfulness with the practical and animate the pragmatic with mischievousness. I work with any media that best suits my interests.”

http://www.etsy.com/shop/trudalakingglatz                           http://inaeent.etsy.com

Packed within the Virtue Redefined Board is new code guaranteed to upgrade the engine of your paintball marker and changing the performance at every level.

Some of the fantastic features included in the Redefined Board are:

• Featherlight Microswitch
• Dedicated Pulse Adapter / RF port
• 10 Modes of fire – Semi Auto, PSP Mode, NXL Mode, Millennium Mode, Auto Response, Full Auto, Breakout Mode, Ramp Mode, and Select-A-Mode™ and Training Mode.
• Player Profiles™ – Create and store two customizable player profile that make complex setting, rate of fire, and mode changes to your gun with the flip of a single dip switch.
• Wireless Upgrade Ready — Ready for future Virtue® wireless upgrades.
• Virtue Trigger Logic and Redefined Eye Logic constantly monitors the trigger to ensure every trigger pull is recognized, giving you the fastest responding gun, and highest possible rates of fire.
• Adjustable Debounce, Dwell, Closing Dwell (Mini), Anti-Mechanical Bounce, Eye Delay, Ramp Activation Speed, Ramp Percentage, Ramp Initiation, Anti-Bolt Stick, Max Rate of Fire, 10th BPS MROF, Breakbeam/Reflective Eye Modes (Shocker).
• Ultra Bright LED status indicator – instantly know the status of your gun. If it’s loaded, empty, has an eye malfunction and more.
• Increased Power Efficient Software – over 200,000 shots in testing.
• All settings are stored in non-volatile memory so they will not be lost when the battery dies or is removed.
• 10 minute idle auto-shutdown saves battery life.
• Low battery indicator software.
• Fail safe Factory Reset – reset all settings to Factory Defaults.
• Forced Shot allows the marker to be fired when the eyes are enabled, but no object is in the breech – just hold down the trigger for 1 second.
• Instant On allows the marker to be fired instantly upon turn on.
• Tournament Lock/Unlock allows the marker to be programmed through the trigger without having to constantly open the grip. With the tournament lock enabled, settings cannot be changed without opening up the grip.

Don’t skimp on the performance, reliability, and speed of your marker. Virtue paintball is advancing your game.

An iPad 2

Not these tablets…

Does anyone else find this slightly creepy?

My business teacher likes to think of himself as the technology guy. You know the type right? The type of person who’s first reaction to an unresponsive computer is not turn it off then turn it back on again, but to fiddle with the circuit board. Well, I’m pretty sure computers have a circuit board…

So recently he’s taken it upon himself to educate us on the wonders of tablets. I mean it’s clearly the obvious thing to teach a junior cert class about. Teaching the subject is sooooo mainstream…

According to him, tablets can do anything. They’ll cure world hunger, and make our school lives better, all in one go! He’s head of the small band of teachers in my school who are convinced that tablets and ebooks are the future. But I’m fairly sure they’re wrong.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against ebooks. I have a Kindle myself, and I think it’s great. Just not for school.

First there’s the obvious issue of the price. If the books or the tablet were free, the heck yeah, go for it, embrace the technology! But they’re not. Books are expensive enough without having to buy a tablet on top of it. I mean £200 (I’m using pounds because I can’t seem to find a euro button on my keyboard. Does that seem like a bad omen to anyone?) is remarkably cheap for a tablet. On top of that, you still have to buy the books. They’re not much cheaper than the actual paper books!

Second, tablets are valuable, but fragile. I can’t speak for anywhere else, but I wouldn’t put any money on a tablet surviving more than a week at my school. It’s not that my school’s rough, but with 600+ teenagers in a building, it’s a tad rambunctious. I don’t like the idea of telling my parents that they have to buy me a new tablet, because my old one got lost, or broken. It’s just not a good plan.

Lastly, I don’t even like tablets. I don’t have one, but I’ve messed with enough in stores to know that:

1. It’s almost impossible to type on them.
2. It’s almost impossible to go online on a tablet without clicking (or tapping) something accidentally.
3. Tablets are really only good for games.

So that’s my rant against tablets. I hope you found it exceedingly grumpy, and that after reading it, you are now inspired to have a more cynical outlook on life. Because as one of my close friends said the other day, critical thinking really is a life skill.

So until next time just remember:

Many keyboards don’t have a euro symbol on them, and jazz hands make everything better.

Ice Fever was a game we had in college.  It was not well liked, compared to the Comet which stood next to Ice Fever.  I’ll be curious as to whether my age and a better appreciation will change my not so high opinion of this title.

At any rate, the game is here to be repaired.  It uses Gottlieb’s System 80A Solid State system.  The lock to keep the backglass in was missing, so I carefully popped out the backglass.  The board with the score displays on it was cracked – apparently someone couldn’t read the “Lift Board Up Before Swinging Board Out” sticker…

On one of the boards in the head, there are several more cut wires.  This doesn’t look too good right off the top.  At any rate, I’ll be ordering a manual for the game on Monday.  I don’t want to get too deep into the game until I’m able to determine the score board problem is the result of a board, and then how much the board will cost to repair/replace.  The customer has given me a limited budget to repair the game.

omfg i look like a creeper. BUT COOL EARRING AND NECKLACE <3

omfg i look like a creeper. BUT COOL EARRING AND NECKLACE <3

PCB or Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing and Flexible Printed Circuit Boards are important equipments used in the electronic industry. Know more about them through this write up.

The history of Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing goes back to the 30s when Austrian engineer Paul Eisler used it as a part in a radio. Today, Flexible Printed Circuit Boards have become immensely popular in smaller electronics packaging.

Over the years, the Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing industry has only grown in volume as the demand for smaller electronic gadgets became higher and higher. The Flexible Printed Circuit boards help in the flexible electronic connectivity of an electronic device like the TV, the Radio, Music systems, Computers and so on.

Classification of FPC boards:

There are two types of flexible printed circuits boards viz; flex-rigid, single and double-sided. The basic material for the production of single & double-sided flexible printed circuits boards is capton (polyimide) with the thickness of 50µm + adhesive 25µm + Cu foil 35µm. The flex-rigid FPCs as the name suggest combines using flexible and rigid printed circuits.

The nuances of PCB Manufacturing:

The finer nuances of Printed Circuit Board manufacturing require a series of sophisticated steps to produce single or multilayered printed circuit board. This is through any of the following processes viz; mechanical, chemical, electrical or optical. However, it should be noted that the manufacturing process leads to the emission of sufficient amount of chemicals that are hazardous to the environment. Hence, it is always important to go for quality checking before and after the Printed Circuit Board manufacturing process.

Ordering online:

It is always advisable to order both flexible printed circuits boards and, rigid printed circuits boards online. This is to ensure that you get the very best from some of the best Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing inventories across the world. However, while ordering online you should consult the production data, the manner of design, the price and the delivery date with the technician of the order reception.

Recently I made this necklace charm by chopping up a PCB/circuit board out of an old electronic item. I had to use a screw driver to pry open in this case a remote to get out the circuit board. From there I’ve been told hand saws can work for this in terms of cutting it, and I tried it myself, and frankly it did not seem to cut. However it can be easily cut by any type of electric saw, be it a band saw, or in my case I used a scroll saw. From there I simply drew with a permanent marker where I wanted to cut it and cut it out in shape and size  I wanted. Next you will need to drill a hole. I used a hand drill and used a clamp to hold it in place while drilling out the hole. Finally you’ll notice the edges will be rough with some copper wire sticking out which can be sharp. Simply get a piece of sandpaper and sand it down a bit till the edges are no longer sharp. From there I attached a jump ring to the hole I made and simply added on a chain I had lying around. There you go, a way to show off your inner geek!

Let me know if you have any questions!

I figure we will easily be here another three weeks (possibly more). It all depends on how smoothly everything goes from here on out. You never know in this business.

Since we have traffic in & out I’m living dangerously… cooking up a soup bone and chicken breasts for homemade soup. When I went outside to tend the gate, it smelled even stronger outside than inside. O–k–a–y… let’s hope I haven’t just rung the dinner bell for the coyotes!

They howled indignantly night before last when some frac tanks went down the road near what must be a den. It’s across the fence (thank goodness) and just a little ways away. I don’t think they liked the intrution. But, they have been pretty silent since then. Hopefully they went to their vacation home… far, far away!

I’ve seen posts about the Cotulla post office being very easy to deal with. I’ll be going to the post office Friday to go get our mail package from my daughter. She gets all of our mail and packs it all in a “if it fits it ships” priority box and sends it to us upon request. Since I can’t find anything I’m used to buying in the stores around here (remember, I’m used to big city stores), I order online and have it sent to her house. She then ships it to me. Sounds expensive, but actually it’s cheaper than trying to get the companies to send stuff via USPS. They all use UPS or FedEx. And of course, general deliver addresses are not good for those delivery companies.

Perhaps the post office would not be going broke if they’d make shipping to remote locations a bit more friendly… just sayin…

This will be my first time, since we arrived here three weeks ago, to get out and go to the store. I hope the Super S Food Store in Cotulla has more to offer than the HEB in Carrizo Springs. But I’m not getting my hopes up. I may have to make a trip to Laredo next week!

Bob is going to take a look at the dishwasher tomorrow to see if a connection just worked loose on the way out here or if a circuit board went out. It acts like a loose connection, sometimes it works right and then it will give a trouble code. Hopefully he can get it working again. We sure do miss it. It is still in warranty, but that doesn’t do much good out here!

Looks like I have a line of trucks coming in…

Till next time,

Vicky

acrylic paint on circuit board, 10×16 cm, 2012

1. The internet, the internet has fucked up the “compliment” now compliments have lowered in value because of the thirstiness that is running rampant on these internets! It used to be you could muster up the courage to tell a girl you really thought she was beautiful and you migth stutter cause you meant it! And you were kinda like, “I don’t know what she is going to say” then after you say it, you see her eyes light up and you kinda feel good about yourself cause what you said meant something. NOW, we have compliment gas stations like twitter and fucking facebook. When you have an over abundance of something it loses its value quickly because the demand shrinks to damn near nonexistent….economics apply to just about everything so PLEASE read up on your econ….PLEASE!

2. Hooking Up, I fucking hate this stupid ass shit…….NO! I don’t just hook up. And I am a guy but fuck playing Russian roulette with my health and the possibility of becoming a father before I am ready is not cool. I am 28 with no kids, and I enjoy that, I fucking love it! Do I want to be a dad? Hell YEAH! But with the right girl when we are BOTH ready! My dreams of parenthood are owning a house, 2 cars, having insurance on all of it (humans included), a budget already set aside for the baby and extra for expenses that may arise, being MARRIED……….yes motherfucker, MARRIED! I am NOT doing that baby daddy shit…no way, no how!

3.  The Club, the club is a business that thrives on relationships being BAD and not working out! Because if you keep women single they will flock to the club to get in free. These women coming to the club bring out the dudes who actually PAY to get in, in HOPES of getting some chicks to take home! The guys buy the girls drinks, and try to sweet talk them with their hot ass club breath smelling like liquor, spearmint, and a egg! Now the club isn’t a invention of 2012 but the atmosphere of it NOW is a reflection of the times. So there….BOOM!

4. Normal Idiocy, my problem with alot of people when it comes to dating is, it seems like they have a tin foil hat on tuned into to stupid. I see people date the same kind of shit bag over and over and never understand why they get the SAME results. Why do I notice this? Because I’m different….I’m black, and people tell me I act white….which is not fucking true! I just act like me, and I happened to be a pretty happening kind of guy! I COULD be a dinner and a movie kinda of guy, but no I take girls on EVENTS not dates….we have fun fun fun! Not sit down and watch a movie…hells no!

5. No fun, my babe, no fun!…. <—Thats a line from a song by The Stooges….don’t know who they are?…wake the fuck up! Anyway this one pertains the girls who accept a guy who never calls them til like 10:30PM! and wants to come over. I hate bitches who think this shit is protocol. No its not, why don’t you respect yourself enough to deal with a guy who appreciated you enough to want to call you (in the day time) and spend time (in the day time)? I have seen girls think a guy is corny is he does call them in normal day time hours! Its crazy!

6. No sense of investment, NOBODY wants to deal with anybody or worj through ANYTHING! Its like we are all disposable and the second we make a mistake “We’re not meant to be together!” Come the fuck on, I see so many so called relationships end because of NOTHING! But yet and still people want to play house and make 10 kids like its all good.

7. No loyalty, there is no loyalty at all anymore….its like guys have programmed women to not want to be loyal because some of these corny ass niggas think that “player bullshit” is fly. Its not, nobody thinks you’re cool cause you have a main chick and a side chick….men with sense think you are a idiot. I never had a side chick, never will…..cause well, damn it I am different….I value the process of cultivating a real relationship its a beautiful thing when you look back and see what you have been through together. Its like WOW, look where we came from….

Thats it for now, but its like everyone is on microwave levels of tolerance, like if something isn’t done in 30 secs its not worth waiting for.

I think this is my most personal blog, cause I am single and alot of my friends are now single lol

But I’m just too different from these other fellows I think….

Anyway, til next time motherfuckers!

*Cue Heavy Ass Chimaira song…………”Pure hatred”*

Exhibit 1: the tablet case.

Robot print on the outside, circuit board print on the inside, this beauty was intended for my dad’s tablet.  No velcro or clasps to scratch it up, there are magnets sewn into the inner faces.

In my defense, it fit my iPad with loads of room to spare in both dimensions.  Fluffy quilting make it soft padding for crashing into things, like dogs (my parents have 3 enormous siberian huskies).   How was I to know that his tablet is like 3 times thicker and an about 25% longer than an iPad?

V2:

By repositioning the magnet onto a little flap, I extended the reach of this baby by several inches. It can be closed either with the flap on the inside OR the outside of the body.

My cousin invited my family to her place for dinner… she said not to bring anything, but I wanted to bring something nice for her.  Enter flavored Schnapps… and pretty bag to put it in!

and looky inside!

And lastly, a bag all for me!  This is based on that cute little earbuds case… just bigger. Can you believe I got this stuff on super-duper clearance?  So cool.

It’s seriously neon green!

All set up at our first gate

We’ve now been at our first gate for a week & 1/2. I will get some daytime pictures tomorrow hopefully. Bob is putting up our satellite dish here. Can’t wait till we can get a roof mounted unit. We have the original King Dome on top of the Silver Bullet, but it’s 2004 technology and if we use it we can’t get HD or use our DVR… that’s not an option. We’re saving up for the roof-mounted dish!

What a great gift while we are here in the middle of nowhere!

They also let us take our trash to their trash trailer and give us 5-gallon water jugs when we need them. Truly great guys to work for.

We met our ranch owner our first day here and he was very nice also. Gave us his cell phone number and told us if we need anything, call him 24/7… We’re off to a great start.

We are guarding the gate for two wells at this location. Both have been drilled, now the fracing begins. Thankfully, we’ve had the last week and 1/2 to get ourselves acclimated to working and sleeping in different shifts. We are both liking this new adventure. It was indeed time for a change!

Last night was the quiet before the storm. At 7:15 am today my first fracing truck arrived and when I looked up from my clipboard I had a line up of rigs as far back as I could see. Every time I looked up to see if I could see an end, it kept getting longer and longer and longer. I had a good system going so I could process them quickly. At times I’d hear an airhorn go off. I asked a couple of drivers why they were honking. They grinned and said, “They are messing with you.” I asked a couple of drivers if they had a hole in the fence somewhere and were going out and getting back in line… it was absolutely endless!!! They liked that one

We are having fun meeting all of these really nice people. We joke, we laugh, and they do like to mess with me. I’ve had three of them now, all with complex Mexican names give me their first name & last name, then they rattle off a string of names as their “last name.” Then they split a gut laughing. I’m on to it now!

We have our CB radio turned on so we hear what the guys are saying when they are approaching the gate. Remember, we are about 8.5 miles from the main gate and there are many gates off to the side on the way to ours. One trucker tonight told us he was instructed to go until he got to the big bus. I heard another one say on his radio, “Yeah… they said to just keep going till you see the big Winnebago.” Our bus is a Travel Supreme, not a Winnebago, but they must use that term for motorhomes like they use Coke for soda here in Texas. Add that to your list Debbie

Fracing on well #1 is due to start next week, and then on well #2 after #1 is done. This job was originally a 3-5 day job. Looks like it will be 4-6 more weeks at this point. Where did the first estimate come from??? After this job is finished, we will need to go get a few maintenance items taken care of and a warranty repair on our dishwasher. When we started up the GGS generator, I think it blew my circuit board (from now on we’ll throw the breaker for the dishwasher before we start the generator). We really miss it too! At least the washer/dryer is working. I’d hate to travel that service road every week to go do laundry!

It’s a good gate and we are grateful to have it as our first job. Postings may get slow over the next few weeks since the company man says we will be very busy with round-the-clock traffic during the fracing process.

Hope everyone else is having a good time at their gates. It’s not a bad way to add extra $$$ to the pocketbook!

Till next time,

Vicky

Wearable displays have been used to make a high-tech game of tag, and some have been made into tattoos. One tinkerer in Arizona decided to make one that could be worn as a jacket and show his favorite characters from The Simpsons.

David Forbes, an electrical engineer by trade, wanted to build something really cool to wear at the Burning Man festival. So he re-purposed a relatively simple flexible circuit board covered with LEDs. He made the first with 30 rows of four LEDs each and then contracted a manufacturer to build 175 more of them. He attached them to an old coat and was able to build a display with a 160 x 120 resolution, which he notes on his blog is exactly

Part of the set-up is the same kind of chip used to scale down the images for security cameras, and another is the same type of chip used to control the big LED signs used for advertisements. Adding a small set of circuits that convert the video output of the iPod to the smaller resolution, he was able to put together his wearable display.

The only down side seems to be getting through airports. Forbes also noted that he wasn’t able to create a pair of pants, as the curves over the thighs proved complicated. But he has designed vests.

If you want a coat like this it will be expensive, largely due to the cost of the LEDs. For $39,995 Forbes will make you one that is a full wrap-around display; a front-only will set you back $24,995. Wait time is about four months.

Besides creating a walking billboard one idea is to attach a camera that transmits a picture of the scene on one side of the wearer, creating a kind of optical camouflage. On the other hand, it could be great dance club wear — this might be a big seller among trance music and Daft Punk fans. Text by Jesse Emspak. Via Discovery News

Yay!  My first product, the circuit to drive the Shields Up Display Plaque (available from Laserfirecreations), is very nearly available!

I’m just performing a “soak” test to make sure everything is as stable as planned.  I also just have to etch some connector boards (to simplify the connection of the display leds to the circuit board) and take some new photos and a video.

Check it out in the shop!

The connection between the primary sketches and circuit boards became apparent; leading to an investigation into pieces utilising the nature of circuit boards.

I was interested to see the use of circuit boards by other designers. One example, Budibudz “Circuit Board” font utilised the connecting elements of a circuit board to form letters.

Budibudz, 2010. Circuit Board Font. [online] Available at: <http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/081/7/2/circuit_board___font_by_budibudz.jpg> [Accessed 6^th December 2011].

Here the use of the circuit board is very literal, Budibudz has used the effects available in Illustrator to create a realism with each element of the typeface. I do not wish to recreate this representation style of a circuit board, however it is interesting to compare to the work of other designers. Each letterform is instantly recognisable as assembled from circuit board components, however I find the spacing between each component makes the letters themselves unappealing if used as a typeface to form a word or sentence. Therefore for my own development I wish to ensure I include the following;

- Smaller components to ‘break’ each letterform into smaller geometric elements

- Larger spacing between the components to prevent the piece looking compressed and disproportionate with repetitive use of the letters and components

random-international.com

The ‘Swarm Light‘ is an experimental light installation with a real ‚collective consciousness’ that subtly reacts to the viewer’s audible presence. The installation is a contemporary example of how the arbitrary boundaries of fine and decorative art, design and utility are no longer of immediate aesthetic relevance. An apparently inanimate object, ‘Swarm‘ unites crucial aspects of rAndom international‘s continued experimentation with light, behavioural responses and interactive spatial environments.

LEDs, polished brass rods, custom circuit boards, custom driver software and hardware, behavioural algorithm, sound sensors, computer & interface

Dim: 3 cubes, each cube 81cm by 81cm

How to build an Atmega8 development board

If you ever wanted to build a robot but do not know where to start, then this tutorial is for you. For building a robot, you need a circuit board which can transfer your thoughts to the robot controllers. Once you have this board in hand, you can utilize the resources in this site or across the web to build your own robot. The board developed here acts as a platform for further robot development. Although there are many tutorials which shows DIY development boards, most of them lack a step-by-step tutorial with relevant pictures for a beginner to understand. They also include complicated schematics which are difficult for a beginner to understand. I intend to make this tutorial so detailed with relevant pictures that you might find it difficult to find an equivalent one

Basics

In this tutorial, I would take you by hand (literally) and help you build a development board based on an atmega8 microcontroller (don’t worry if you don’t understand this yet). Since this is the first step in making robots, I would give a little background on this development board and continue with the tutorial.

First of all, what is a robot and why do you need to build one? Unless you have come to this site by mistake, I would presume that you know what a robot is, and would like to build a robot. If you are awestruck seeing a robot in a robot club or a competition, then take up this challenge today and start making robots.

…..

Source & Continue: http://www.robotplatform.com/howto/dev_board/atmega8_dev_board_1.html

So…

Our friendly repairman returns on Saturday, right when we’re having lunch of course. He whistles his way to the fridge, wrestles it out of its hole and decides to change some circuit board in the back. Spent half an hour on this.

Goes back to the front, looks at the control panel — trusty electric drill/screwdriver still in hand — and openly asks us if we have any idea how to remove the part. I was under the impression it was his job to know this sort of thing. But I’m stupid that way.

“I’m not really familiar with these new models. I’ll come back in the next week with somebody who knows something about this.”

At this point, I have no answer aside from “Whatever.”

But later that night I have myself a Coke and the thing is not ice cold. Then I think it’s probably because it was put in the fridge only a few hours ago. Whatever. Just before going to bed I have some water which has been in the fridge for over 24 hours. It’s warmer than a newborn’s butt hole! It’s late, I’m tired, and fiddling with the controls isn’t doing anything. Again.

The compressor doesn’t work anymore. The fridge is dead.

The next day, Sunday, a call to the company gets unanswered. It’s inconceivable people might have appliances conked out on a Sunday. Obviously. In the meantime, it’s Operation Little House on the Prairie in my abode. Our only saving grace is a tiny wine cellar which we quickly empty and stuff our most precious perishables. I’m sorry to announce that my half-full bottle of ranch dressing did not get a spot on the survival arch.

On Monday we call the company and they assure us they’ll find somebody to fix our problem. They call back and will have someone come over the next day between nine and five o’clock. Because clearly this isn’t a fridge emergency.

So on Tuesday we’re having lunch and the guy shows up. Yes, the same clueless repairman and his trusty electric drill/screwdriver. He goes back behind the fridge and removes the circuit board he changed Saturday, putting the old one back in place. Lo and behold, the compressor starts working again! Now it’s time to try to replace the control panel he doesn’t know how to remove. Guiding and nudging from us who have more than two brain cells between us to rub together eventually make him succeed.

But you know what? I still don’t have any ice or water. Our resident genius says there might be another circuit board in the back worth changing. He’ll just have to order it.

Thank you, SmitchenAid!