I finally got a universal remote control programmed to control all of the TV/stereo stuff. It’s great! It actually works when you press the buttons (unlike the old TV remote), and it controls the volume on the stereo at the same time you have access to pause/play/etc on the DVD player.
It was getting silly with so many remotes. For something so cheap, this really made movie watching easier.
I was faced with a conundrum this evening. It turns out that last night I forgot to put away the baked potatoes. They were out of sight and out of mind in the oven, wrapped in foil and ready to eat. I just didn’t remember to put them in the fridge.
Normally you would leave a potato out in the open for days or even weeks before worrying that it’s going to go bad. Why is it that after baking it to temperatures that should have killed any germs, I am worried that these baked potatoes are no good to eat? Sure, they spent the last 24 hours at room temperature, but they were wrapped in foil and baked! Shouldn’t they be sterile inside the foil, and therefore even more likely to be just fine?
I will eat one and find out.
This weekend I came up with a project and kind of built it- I made a set of surround sound speakers. Here’s a photo:
The speakers are Aurasound NS3-193 three inch wide-range speakers. They have fairly low distortion, and big bass capability for a three inch driver. Other than the cheaply made stamped steel frame, I’d give them a thumbs up.
Last night Kendra and I watched Saw 2 with these set up, and it was awesome! I don’t know how much I really noticed the sound from them, but I really felt like I was sucked into the movie more. I’m really starting to get into this home theater thing.
I just saw this video online, and I had to blog about it:
http://stream.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/0509/21/manoi.mpg
Look at how fluid that thing looks! It reminds me of a toddler. I have no idea how tolerant it is of environmental disturbances such as an uneven floor or a breeze, but it sure looks like it’s balancing itself.
A little while ago my friend Gabe recommended that I check out Pandora internet radio. I finally signed up for an account today, and it seems to be exraordinarily cool. The sound quality is as good as any mp3s I’ve downloaded, even rivaling mp3s that I ripped from my own CDs. This is good stuff! I’m learning new bands, something I haven’t done for ages.
Well, it seems that nobody’s selling a 12″ x 48″ sheet of UHMW at 3/8″ thickness, so I’m going to have to buy one that’s twice the size and cut it down.
McMaster part number 8752K614
I’ll pick up some 3M DP8005 epoxy for the job, too. The stuff is formulated especially for polyethylene- which is important because the stuff has a surface like Teflon.
I also found this little piece on bending plastic. I’ll take this guy’s example and use a broken hair dryer to create a heating element to bend the plastic. This method should provide a far more professional looking bend than anything I can do with a heat gun.
I’m still having some trouble with mounting hardware for attaching this thing to Kendra’s wheelchair- but I’m confident that a bent sheet of this material will be far stronger and more resilient than anything I could easily put together with steel hardware. With the leftover material I can add a couple of ribs, and that will be the final touch to make this thing strong enough to count as “overkill”.
I found a much cheaper source of UHMW HDPE- here: http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=897
My only concern right now is about whether or not I can bend 1/2″ sheets of this stuff. I’m confident that I can do 1/4″ sheets, but 1/2″ seems a bit more difficult. Anyway, this source is far cheaper than McMaster Carr. I believe I can get some good epoxy to join some reinforcing shapes, and have a monsterously rigid and resilient foot guard for power soccer.
Kendra called me at work today, and apparently there have been some robberies in our area lately. There was an armed robbery on the path we take from the train to our house, the police report is available here:
http://www.el-cerrito.org/police/weekly_060904.html
I don’t want to worry anyone, but Kendra also told me that there was recently an attack inside our building. I don’t have more details, but she told me it happened right by the laundry room.
Sure there was a higher than enjoyable level of public defecation/intoxication/regurgitation/fornication on the sidewalks of berkeley, but it seemed safer there.
I’m making a power soccer guard for Kendra, and right now I’m shopping for parts.
Unless I read something bad about it or decide I really need an adhesive bond to it, I’ve settled on ultra high molecular weight high density polyethylene (UHMW HDPE) for the main material. It’s extremely impact resistant and has very good impact resistance. They use it for the bottom of snowboards, and for truck bed liners. It’s relatively cheap at McMaster Carr, so I think it’s a good material for the job.
Next, I’m looking for something to mount the guard to the chair. The guard kendra is borrowing right now uses steel U-bolts to connect to the footrest bars. This scratches up the paint, requires a wrench to remove, and also requires duct tape over the outside to protect the ball and other players from the exposed screws. I think I can do better.
I thought back to drums and percussion, and I found this pipe clamp at Musician’s Friend. I will keep looking for a better one, but this might be the one. I need something that will securely grab the bar without screwing it up, preferably something that will connect to the chair without tools.
Ok, that does it. I received four spam comments this morning, all for some dumb online casino. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to clamp down on comments. I want ANYBODY to be able to comment on here, if they actually have something to say- especially my friends and family. What I don’t want is for some spammer to use me as a resource to make money.
Later today I’m going to see what else Wordpad has for preventing spam comments.
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