tw's blog

New robot chassis

Submitted by tw on January 22, 2011 - 12:38am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QR0RnFN2S4 For some reason, I’ve always wanted to build a robot with tracks, and I’ve lusted after the Tamiya tank tread kit at SparkFun. So, when I scored $40 of credit on their recent Free Day, I bought it and the relevant accessories. read more...

Oscar 1994 - 28 November 2009

Submitted by tw on November 28, 2009 - 9:05pm

Oscar on the sidewalk

(the photos below and more are in a gallery of Oscar photos)

I first met Oscar at a party given by Mary Crinnin. I was playing guitar, and he came up and sat next to me all while I was playing. read more...

Beard trimmer from cordless to cordful

Submitted by tw on September 21, 2009 - 9:05pm

Finished trimmer with power supply

Some people are not men (it’s true). Some men don’t shave (or trim their beards in any way). Some don’t use electric shavers (or beard trimmers). All those people may not find this article the least interesting.

Those who do use electric shavers (and I will use that word to include ‘trimmers’ henceforth for simplicity), however, are likely familiar with the dominant shaver design paradigm: the cordless shaver. read more...

Finally getting albums posted

Submitted by tw on February 28, 2009 - 1:09pm

I’ve now got the first batch of songs moved over from my old music page. It’s my most recent album (now nine years old), called off line. Took me a while to work out the right way to represent songs and albums in the Drupal content management system, but now it’s all quite easy to deal with and I hope that (and my weakness for shiny new technologies) will help accelerate the process.

Compact[ed] discs

Submitted by tw on December 12, 2008 - 9:35pm

We had our first real snowfall of the season last night, about eight inches. I successfully shoveled without apparently hurting my back! Yay!

In celebration, and in response to all the Christmas songs playing all around me, I’d like to bump an old post of carol parodies. The first one is the one I had in mind, though I still like the second too.

Letter to the Dull Men's Club

Submitted by tw on November 9, 2008 - 1:25pm

Dear Sirs,

I enjoy visiting your web site, and as a computer engineer and Buddhist meditator, I have always felt confident that I could be considered a member.

Like many dull men, my breakfast rarely varies - every few years the particular brand of breakfast cereal I eat changes due to factors out of my control, but otherwise, the menu is soothingly consistent.

However, yesterday I noticed a carafe of orange juice in the refrigerator. This is an unusual occurrence; I think my wife obtained it for some visiting child. Well, something came over me, and I poured myself a half-glass. read more...

Ithaca Journal covers my SHIP site

Submitted by tw on February 27, 2008 - 10:13am

The Ithaca Journal published an article [no longer available online] about my SHIP site and the new maps I’ve been working on. Thanks, Krisy!

Here’s a direct link to the newest map, which is mainly cool because you can click on it to see details. I’ll be integrating that into the other maps soon.

Manos found guilty

Submitted by tw on February 8, 2008 - 12:07pm

“Manos found guilty
Jury convicts Ithaca woman of murder, abuse of niece, 2”

Life recovers.
But not completely.
Wounds heal into scars, sometimes beautiful scars.
But not always. read more...

Mancala picked up on Make Magazine

Submitted by tw on January 25, 2008 - 10:07am

Philip Torrone posted a link to my Mancala game on Make Magazine’s blog. Thanks, Phil!

PICkit 2 automator

Submitted by tw on September 13, 2007 - 12:49pm

Since I made my first mod to the PICkit 2 applet source, Microchip completely rewrote the applet. They use .NET, which I consider to be pretty much a virus, but I was considering getting all the MS development tools installed and getting up to speed with C# to work with it.

But then I realized that it would be simple to just automate the existing applet with an external program, and that would mean I wouldn’t have any changes to integrate into the Microchip source (as well as not having the dreaded MS tools installed). read more...