Category: hobby

Beginner Robotics: Dagu Magician Chassis DG007

Automonous Bot: Arduino, Ardumoto board, and the Dagu Magician Chassis

Late am I with this posting, but life gets in the way and takes over. The Little Weed wanted to delve into robotics, so we bought an Arduino Uno and the Dagu Magician Chassis. This chassis is a robot platform for a three wheeled vehicle, complete with two wheels and two motors, a single ball caster, and all the nuts and bolts to put it together. Programming of the robot is done with the Arduino IDE or in Eclipse. This posting steps you through our experience putting together this robot platform.

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Pharma Hack: Infected Again but Resolved

Damn I was infected by the Pharma hack yet again. While my web site content was without error, page titles into Google were being hacked, appearing as if I was flogging pharmaceuticals. I assure you that I do not do this. Google stated that my site might be infected, yet in Google Webmaster Tools they saw no malware and there were no fetch errors. This time I found four offending files and two offending SQL table entries. Here’s what I found and how I found them.

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Ripstik Mechanical Maintenance: Overview

Maintenance of any mechanical device is important for the smooth and trouble free operation. A ripstik is a kid’s toy, similar to a skateboard, and as a kid’s toy, gets vicious abuse. We bought a used Ripstik Classic and it really needed some TLC. Here is what we did. As a result of our maintenance the ripstik runs much smoother and glides farther, resulting in faster speeds and/or less effort. These are all benefits of a couple of hours of maintenance.

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Neighbour’s Tree Falls, Toronto, Canada

Trees are something I cannot live without. It was with great regret that I saw my neighbour’s maple tree downed, a huge branch ripped off and cast aside in their backyard. Such is life.

Apparently unbeknownst to us there was rot in the crotch of the limb, which became a stressor. With the recent windstorm this stressor proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. The crack was at the 12′ level, hidden from us puny humans. This downed limb was as thick as my waist and probably weighed in at about 1,000 lb. Overall this was just under half the tree.

The loss of this limb ripped half the circumference of the tree, severely weakening it. I am sure it will topple over sometime soon. It should be cut down.

We live in this area of Scarborough partially because of the plentiful canopy of trees. They are everywhere, providing shade, cleaning the air and habitat for birds and squirrels. They make the neighbourhood much more inviting.

Usually trees are quite strong, but they are also very resilient and will sway in heavy winds. Maybe we can all learn from this age old model. The tree that does not sway will break in stormy weather. Even the strongest will sway, something to keep in mind for the stiff upper lip crowd.

I have many trees in our backyard that I care for. With a minimum of pruning each year they reward me by growing stronger and taller, further beautifying our neighbourhood. One mulberry also gives us fruit, which tastes great. The birds feed on these as well. Our crabapple tree provides us with fresh blooms in the spring and shade in the summer. I simply prune it minimally each year, and it takes care of itself.

Maybe we all could learn more from trees.

My neighbours tree broke off a huge branch during a wind storm, Toronto, Canada

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Xubuntu 10.04 LTS: Initial Install and Impressions

Old PCs die a terrible death, lonely and forlorn. In the Windows world you need to upgrade your physical PC hardware every 3-4 years as well as buy the newest operating system, wasting money and stressing your budget. As an IT professional I not only do not buy into this propaganda, but rail against it. When the Windows operating systems on old PCs do not receive any upgrades, the PC slows down, often heavily laden with fat, bloated software. Ubuntu, a Linux OS version, and Xubuntu, it’s lighter version, may be the answer to unlocking the innate functionality of your old PC.

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Darren and Nick in Unicycle Basketball Game, Toronto, Canada

Some things stay the same, and that is just fine with me. When they stay the same and I see them in the news, I am ecstatic. Keep rolling, guys and keep your balance. Hey Nick, how is Zach? Learn to ride with the Toronto Unicyclists.

Nick (left) and Darren Bedford (right) and the Toronto Unicyclists play unicycle basketball at St. Josaphat Catholic School, Toronto, Canada

Darren Bedford (left) and the Toronto Unicyclists play unicycle basketball at St. Josaphat Catholic School, Toronto, Canada. A Bedford Unicycle with a fat knobby rests in front.

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Cookie Recipe for those with a Milk Allergy

Shule Cookie Press: Mostly aluminum, 20 dies and well constructed. Cookie dough consistency is key to success.

My big Weed has a milk allergy from little, so our family almost never cooks with milk products. We have become very adapt at modifying recipies to exclude milk. As we recently purchased a Shule Biscuit cookie press, we found a lovely recipe, which we had to substitute “no milk proteins” margarine for butter. Little did we know that not all margarines are the same.

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Psychology of Magic

Blurring the line between the real and unreal, magic does this without any sociological or physical penalty. When the lines blur between the real and unreal, people get committed to hospitals and take a regimen of drugs. People jump off bridges in an attempt to fly, only to meet their death. Lose control of this ability to judge and you are in big trouble. While losing this ability is rare and terrifying, magic does this on a daily basis, all in a safe environment. Magicians trick human nature all the time, and have been doing so since humans walked the earth. How much more interesting can this get?

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Deja Vu-like, the Morning Commute has not Improved

Going back to the commute routine has been eye opening, which caught me by surprise. It’s not like this is new to me, but getting used to the TTC and the quickness of pace has been eye opening.

The TTC seems to have stayed the same. I expected advancements, but this is not so. They struggle to keep from falling backward on themselves. While most bus drivers are courteous, I have met those who are not. Once there was a detour because of a crime and police had closed the road. This driver did not even announce why he was detouring, so many people asked. He got so mad.

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Clo-vents Chronological: I learn so much

Regret is how I feel about not posting these earlier. Still, life goes on and so I go. All these events have been memorable, and at each one I learn more as I continue on my way, either through technique, talking to people, or myself. Overall, it is 3 x win. Clovent clovents

C-vents:

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