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Midsummer madness? — Parallax Forums

Midsummer madness?

Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
edited 2013-08-04 04:12 in General Discussion
We just hit the middle of midsummer's day (In proper time anyway)

I wonder what madness the forum members are up to.

Sadly I have no Propellers here to help with that digital sundial project that's been on my agenda since the idea hit me round about midsummer 1980.
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  • Hal AlbachHal Albach Posts: 747
    edited 2013-06-21 06:23
    Heater. wrote: »
    We just hit the middle of midsummer's day (In proper time anyway)

    I wonder what madness the forum members are up to.

    Sadly I have no Propellers here to help with that digital sundial project that's been on my agenda since the idea hit me round about midsummer 1980.

    Perhaps you are considering a self-powered sundial that will automatically correct for daylight savings time by rotating the pointer, dial ring, or the entire structure?
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2013-06-21 06:38
    Midsummer fun!!

    Fireworks: The bracket that holds the grass catcher bags on my lawn tractor broke and needs to be welded - welding is always good for fireworks!!

    Water sports: The filter on our pond needs cleaning before we put some new fish in there.

    Partying: Play with Spring Roo (Java rapid development environment) for integration into project at work!! (woo Hoo!!)

    Food & Drink: Quick, easy and cool since the first three will keep me busy and it's going to be hot.

    Friends & Family: Seriously? How many people do you think would really want to join in on the first three?? :lol:
  • prof_brainoprof_braino Posts: 4,313
    edited 2013-06-21 06:40
    I'm kitting out a small mountain of parts into separate bags for the LittleRobot workshops. I have one guinea pig session with a couple high school and college kids booked, and a junior high "birthday party" session pending (Imagine ME doing birthday parties! They always said I'd go far!) There's also one large gig (12 seats) booked solid, and another REALLY large gig (50 seats) pending.

    I'm hoping by end of summer to bring 100 new robots into the world and sprout 100 potential engineers.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-06-21 07:28
    Hal Albach,

    Yes, my digital sundial needs to be solar powered, with battery backup of course. It will need a regular crystal clock to keep time in the dark. It needs to be able to track the sun and turn that position into a time signal. GMT would do for me. It needs a wireless link back to the house where the time signal finds it's way to seven segment LED display. Nixies would be a bonus. Or perhaps some Roman numeral display just to be traditional.

    So far I have got as far as sticking a strip of sticky tape on the wall of our balcony and marking the time on it as the sun goes by.
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2013-06-21 07:36
    Rather than getting all geeky and technical, you might just consider a sundial in a bowl... like the Korean's invented.

    I have actually seen the original in Seoul.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seoul-Gyeongbokgung-Sundial-02.jpg


     As for Midsummer's Night Madness...
    I actually went shopping for some RS422 chips locally. .... all I could find were SN75176 chips and nothing else... no SMTs and no 3.3volt.

    it is true madness to ever expect Taiwan's retail electronics to ever have the latest chips.
  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2013-06-21 07:51
    Midsummer Madness.. Yep.. It's happening here too.

    Parties : Currently organizing & promoting Propellerpowered EXPO 2013. The only problem is, that once it's expo time, summer is pretty much over. :( (August 17th)

    Outdoor computing: Recently purchased a 9.7" Android Tablet from a friend. This is nearly the perfect counterpart for the Propeller. Bluetooth connection is a snap!

    Jeff
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2013-06-21 08:31
    Heater. wrote: »
    I wonder what madness the forum members are up to.

    Same old Smile, just twice as much! His & hers flamethrowers for a wedding today. There's a scorched earth policy in effect for this particular marriage. :)
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2013-06-21 08:39
    Kinda makes "cake in the face" at the reception seem kinda dull..........
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2013-06-21 08:48
    Yes, I hope to post a reception video at some point (barring TV news headlines, "Tragedy Strikes Southland Wedding"). :)
  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    edited 2013-06-21 09:20
    erco wrote: »
    Same old Smile, just twice as much! His & hers flamethrowers for a wedding today.

    You know, they shouldn't let you out of the house.

    Word to the wise for the folks at Walmart: Don't let Erco near the hairspray and cigarette lighter aisles. He might get ideas!

    -- Gordon
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2013-06-21 10:58
    Actually, Walgreens is my preferred venue, since they stock lots of different hairspray brands and the piezo lighters that make flamethrowers so darned easy to make. And yes, on occasion I have done burn tests in store when no one is looking, because some makers have switched to non-flammable propellants. Aqua Net (formerly good) is useless to me now...

    Cleanup on aisle five...
  • Ken GraceyKen Gracey Posts: 7,392
    edited 2013-06-21 11:52
    Heater. wrote: »
    We just hit the middle of midsummer's day (In proper time anyway)

    I wonder what madness the forum members are up to.

    Sadly I have no Propellers here to help with that digital sundial project that's been on my agenda since the idea hit me round about midsummer 1980.

    Heater, would be pleased to pack up a package and send it to Suomi. PM me about your latest needs - we have USPS for these circumstances and we can get them to you quickly enough that you can still catch a shadow.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2013-06-21 12:06
    Heater. wrote: »
    Sadly I have no Propellers here to help with that digital sundial project that's been on my agenda since the idea hit me round about midsummer 1980.

    Here's the ultimate digital sundial. Folks are lined up in Chaco Canyon, NM on equinoxes & solstices.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMXwN8nU3JA

    See also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS73UpIy7zs The ranger interviewed here (GB Cornucopia) lives in the park and is Chaco Canyon's equivalent of our own Mike Green. :)
  • ctwardellctwardell Posts: 1,716
    edited 2013-06-21 12:22
    erco wrote: »
    Same old Smile, just twice as much! His & hers flamethrowers for a wedding today. There's a scorched earth policy in effect for this particular marriage. :)

    Those would work great on spiders in the garage!

    C.W.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2013-06-21 12:36
    Those babies can get rid of most everything in the garage!
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-06-21 12:46
    Erco,
    Those babies can get rid of most everything in the garage!
    I was wondering about that. Aren't you the guy who makes everything out of plywood? I can see some potential hazards there...
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2013-06-21 12:54
    Interesting factoid about times zones & Summer Solstice 2013 from http://www.almanac.com/content/first-day-summer-summer-solstice :

    The solstice heralds the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. In 2013, the solstice falls on Friday, June 21 at 5:04 Universal time, which is 1:04 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time and 12:04 A.M. Central Daylight Time.

    But this year, the solstice happens on Thursday, June 20 for places in North America west of the Central Time Zone, occuring at 11:04 P.M Mountain Daylight Time and 10:04 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2013-06-21 12:57
    Heater. wrote: »
    Erco,

    I was wondering about that. Aren't you the guy who makes everything out of plywood? I can see some potential hazards there...

    The good news is.. the Corvair has been sitting there so long, all gas and fumes have left the building. :)
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-06-21 13:04
    The Sun Dagger is interesting. As you know I'm into computers that are a bit older. Here is one that sems to have the longest up time of any in the world: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge
    . Or at least some of it is still standing up.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-06-21 13:04
    The Sun Dagger is interesting. As you know I'm into computers that are a bit older. Here is one that sems to have the longest up time of any in the world: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge
    . Or at least some of it is still standing up.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-06-21 13:17
    Ken,

    That's a great offer. I will decline. I do have a couple of Prop chips and boards in my toy collection, even a DE0-nano with the P2 configuration on it. It's just that mid summer is a big holiday around here so I've ended up being separated from my toys. In a day or so I'm off to the forrest where an internet connection is a very hit a miss affair. Kind of makes it hard to make any progress for a while.

    Thanks for the thought.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2013-06-21 20:57
    Great wedding tonite. Nobody went to the hospital from my flamewthrowers, anyway. Hope someone got video. Will advise...
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2013-06-22 05:53
    Not sure why any wedding requires flame throwers.... very California sort of oddity.

    Or Erco misunderstood what was required for toasting the bridge and groom.
  • Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
    edited 2013-06-22 05:54
    Loopy Byteloose wrote: »
    Not sure why any wedding requires flame throwers.... very California sort of oddity.

    Yeah - save the flamethrowers for the divorce!
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,069
    edited 2013-06-22 15:51
    aha - the days are now getting longer here on oz, but the real cold is august!
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2013-08-02 15:26
    Heater. wrote: »
    Sadly I have no Propellers here to help with that digital sundial project that's been on my agenda since the idea hit me round about midsummer 1980.

    @Heater: Check out this "digital sundial", or as the inventor calls it, the Bulbdial. Clever thinking, PWM, and lots of LED wiring.
  • lanternfishlanternfish Posts: 366
    edited 2013-08-02 19:52
    Cluso99 wrote: »
    aha - the days are now getting longer here on oz, but the real cold is august!
    Always makes me laugh when my family members and friends in Oz say has been cold but our weather girls show us temps at least 10 degrees warmer than what us Mainlanders experience in July/August.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-08-03 00:09
    erco,What a cool LED clock. Thanks for that. I would never have thought of making my own sun! I just happen to have a pile of bright orangey looking LEDs that world do fine for that.
  • ajwardajward Posts: 1,130
    edited 2013-08-03 00:53
    Midsummer Madness? Hmmm... for me that goes on all year long. Occasionally substituting other seasons or holidays. :smile:

    @
  • doggiedocdoggiedoc Posts: 2,243
    edited 2013-08-04 04:12
    erco wrote: »
    Cleanup on aisle five...
    That made be laugh out loud. :D
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