Balance Board Roomba hack floors us - Nintendo Wii Fanboy

This gives a whole new meaning to COUNTER-intelligence!

Balance Board Roomba hack floors us - Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Wireless recharging one step closer to reality - CNN.com

Yeah, but how will that effect this metal plate in my head?

Wireless recharging one step closer to reality - CNN.com: "Wireless recharging one step closer to reality"

My first Moleskine(s)

I just bought my first Moleskines. I got three pocket sized, graph cahiers. Ruled paper is annoying for me and my left-hand slop, but I figured the grid would be something to try that might help me write on paper similarly to how I write in code--nice, tabbed and nested short lines. If this goes well, I'll be looking for a larger form for larger ideas. For now, the small form will help me get a start on how I'm going to begin organizing my life of thoughts. I spend a lot of time in my mind but time spent actually expressing myself is at an all time low. I hope that getting some things down in paper will both inspire me to share more and help me actually realize more of my ideas. These ideas, sometimes are just "things I should do or want to do, and other times they are creative ideas.

I was inspired to regroup on paper (in a Moleskine) by this blog entry by a guy who is really into graphs and the like:

The importance of a good quality notebook

Next, I went looking for more info on the brand and found this awesome water color on a site dedicated to exhibiting the art of moleskine users:
» http://carloscaminha.blogspot.com ’skine.art. - Moleskine Art

Watched Pot: The New Yorker

Clarence Thomas: If you got 'em, smoke 'em! Who knew?

This is from a New Yorker from back in 2005. I found it while looking for a way to share the awesome story in there a couple of weeks ago about the Medical Marijuana industry and sub-culture in California. All I could find was some audio commentary by the author.

The following is from the older story:

Watched Pot: The New Yorker: "“In the early days of the Republic, it would have been unthinkable that Congress could prohibit the local cultivation, possession, and consumption of marijuana”) could have been written by Justice Cheech or Justice Chong. Thomas’s private views on marijuana are unknown, but if he had his way, as expressed in this particular opinion, any federal interference with homegrown, home-smoked pot, whether for medical or recreational purposes, would be ruled out as an unconstitutional usurpation of the states’ powers “to protect the health, safety, and welfare of their citizens.”"

We really ought to get off our butts and get the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment passed. It "would deny the Department of Justice funds to surveil, arrest, or prosecute patients in states that have medical-marijuana laws."

A 'Frankenrobot' with a biological brain - Yahoo! News

I'm not sure I understand all of this, but what I THINK I understand is MIND BLOWING--pun intended!

A 'Frankenrobot' with a biological brain - Yahoo! News: "From the very start, the neurons get busy. 'Within about 24 hours, they start sending out feelers to each other and making connections,' said Warwick.

'Within a week we get some spontaneous firings and brain-like activity' similar to what happens in a normal rat -- or human -- brain, he added."

E-Bike Battery Condition

So, I just spent a pretty penny on a kit so I could turn my old Huffy 3 speed into an electric bike. The kit includes a cargo rack to mount over the rear wheel, a rechargeable battery pack, a carrying case for that, a battery charger, a power converter, a controller, all the cables and a replacement for my bike's front wheel with an electric motor in the hub and a high performance rim.

Everything seemed to assemble fairly easily. I spend about a half-hour the night I got it checking out the parts and assembling the rear rack and putting that on the bike. The next day, I spent about 45 minutes mounting everything else on the bike.

I got to ride it around the block a few times and it was GLORIOUS. Later, when I was showing it to the neighbors though, the front wheel jumped off of the forks. Luckily, no one was hurt.

It turns out that the motor puts out way too much torque for this old huffy with its stamped fork ends. I'm guessing it's a combination of the torque and the weight of the motor all right there on the fork end.

So now, I'm without a bike, I don't have the cash right now to get another bike and I have all this expensive equipment sitting around laughing at me.

Anyway, I'm still hopeful. Most people agree that I should not replace the forks on the bike with forged ones and then use the bike for this. They all think it's too dangerous. So, eventually, I've got to save more money and buy another bike.

In the meantime, I did have some trouble with the battery. Here are some pictures:



See the little connectors sticking out one end for the red and black wires? These are NOT permanently connected to the battery. They are only held on by TAPE! This is not the intention of the seller. He has asked me to send it back to him so he can repair it.

The other problem is how the red and black wires attach to these connectors. The connectors just have these little tubes on the wiring end that I guess you stick the wire in and clamp the tube down on the wire. What I found when testing it all out was that the wires came loose very easily at this connection and each time I hit a bump, I lost power for a second.

Sigh--I hope to reduce my carbon footprint by a full commute before winter. We'll see.

Number One Reason to see Elegy

. . .lengthy scenes of the two actors just talking to each other, mixed with lavish but respectful attention to [Penelope] Cruz's body, especially her bare chest, which is treated as one of the wonders of creation. [Emphasis added!!!]

David Denby, The New Yorker, Aug. 11 & 18, 2008

Number two, by a nipple, it's based on a novel by Philip Roth.

I have to admit, Penelope looks a lot better in the promos for Vicky Cristina Barcelona than in elegy, both movies look very good!