Strummings

Baby pictures! As go all things engineering, continual changes and updates keep happening. So, for the show, we will have two different types, and here they are.

The one on the left is from the pilot run and is the previous design. The one on the right is a preproduction run, and it's what they will look like from here on out. It's about an inch across and weighs but 7 grams.

There will be 125 of the older design. There are 1200 of the newer ones in the works, though it's expected that there may be only about 180 of them finished by the show. If the gods are truly smiling, a few more might make it. If they are frowning, though...

They're lead-free, mercury-free, dolphin-safe, nuclear-free, contain no harmful propellants, and dipped in weatherproof epoxy.

Click through for larger images:





No rest for the weary. The web site due date is Thursday, and the dark-booth needs attention!

Yes, that logo means what you think it means. colletteshorses and I are all official and stuff for displaying the fireflies at the Maker Faire in San Mateo. The name of our little company is Humble Earth and we expect to be set up in the Dark Room, as the little fireflies aren't exactly a big deal out in the sunshine...

I've got a pilot run of 100 fireflies in the works right now, and we have to plan our booth and get something neato going. Selling price is still TBD, as we have a lot of calculations to do in order to try to just break even.

More info (and begging for assistance/assistants) to come as we get closer!

 It's been a couple of weeks now, and I have more results from and thoughts about the Handcar Regatta.

( The Past... )
( The Present... )
( The Future... )

So here is the scoop on Sunday. The event itself opens to the public (it's free) at 11:00 AM.

There will be several heats of side-by-side racing. The first heat is at 12:30, the second heat is at 1:30, the third is at 2:30. Then there will be a break, with the fourth heat at 4:30 PM. The final race is after that, and will be between the two fastest teams of the day.

I'll be in the first race of the second heat, at about 1:30 or so. My contraption is called "Cyclotron", and the team name is "The South Pacific Coaster".

And 'heat' will be the word of the day - the weather forecast calls for it to reach nearly 100 on Sunday in Santa Rosa. Joy...

As for clothing, I kinda have it together. If it's really that hot that day, I'll be in modern cool clothes for the day, and perhaps I'll change to the railroad engineer outfit for my race. Or I might just stay in modern clothes for the race as well and wear the engineer's hat as a token gesture. That will be up to the meteorologists.

Racers need to be on site by 10:00, and I want to have some extra time for setting up the bike for the Santa Rosa tracks. So, at this point, I'm planning to bring everything with me to Bardic and to leave from there, spending the night at the event site. I know this messes up carpooling plans, but perhaps we can work something out?

BTW, the speed is improving. Some tweaks to the bike have further improved the stability and brought the time down to 37 seconds for the 700-foot run from a standing start. The better track in Santa Rosa might just allow me to trim the time a wee bit more. Maybe that will make it fast enough to be at least somewhat competitive...

The last few days have been trying. I've been down a few side paths, but now I'm back on track (so to speak). 

( Much mechanical mayhem... )

Another run tomorrow morning!

What have I gotten myself into?

About a month and a half ago, some friends told me about the Great Handcar Regatta handcar-regatta.com. For years I've been kicking around the idea of building a railbike, and here was an opportunity. I sent in my registration, dubbed my soon-to-be-invented contraption "Cyclotron", and got busy at the drawing board.

My evenings are now filled with cutting, welding, finagling, and bludgeoning of metal, wood, and bicycle parts. What has emerged from the cacophony is in no way historic, whimsical, nor steampunk. But, it works - to a first approximation. There are some abandoned tracks near my house, and after several test runs, there is still a lot of refinement needed. Stability comes first, then speed. I'm a long way from maximum speed, and someday I'll want to be able to ride from here to Santa Cruz and back - but that's getting ahead of myself.

So, the day after Bardic (Sunday the 27th), I'll be in Santa Rosa at the race. acanthusleaf  will be along as my guide to all things steampunk, and I'll do my best to charge to victory. Or crash spectacularly. Whatever is more amusing to the collected gallery.

Either way, this is going to be fun! Heck, it's already a lot of fun!

Les Paul died last week at 94. If you're not familiar with his name, he was the Edison of rock.

Just about everything we do these days in recording and performing was either invented or deeply influenced by him. Things like, say, the electric guitar. Multitrack recording. Echo. Reverb. Distortion. Pitch and time shifting. Gibson licensed his designs and his name for the Les Paul guitar, a mainstay of rock for decades.

At his heart, though, he was a performer. He invented all these techniques to allow him to record the jazz and early pop he was writing with Mary Ford. Listening to their music now, it sounds almost quaint. But, 50 or 60 years ago, pulling that off was a big deal. I love what my modern recording systems can do for me, but it all really started with Les.

Today, anybody can walk in to Guitar Center with a few thousand bucks and walk out with a better recording studio than even the Beatles ever had. But, you can't get talent there. You can't get the chops to do a good job there. You can't get an ear for your vision, to mix metaphors.

Les Paul still played a weekly gig in New York all the way to the end. He will be missed.

Edit: And here is a commercial he did recently for Coors (!). Gives you a tiny glimpse of his playing.

 www.youtube.com/watch

 

We daytripped Crown. "Big, fat, hairy deal", I hear you shrug. Ah, but it was just a wee bit more exciting than usual. 

 

 

( Here's why. )

"Any trip which does not result in at least one good story has been a waste of time."

To Vytas, I'd like to exclaim, in my best Skipper imitation, "Thanks a lot!" Then I'd hit him over the head with my hat (after having found a suitably high surface on which to stand, such as, say, Uther).

At this very moment I should be in a large airplane, preparing to put my seat and tray table back into their fully upright positions and checking around my seating area for any personal belongings which I may have brought on board. I should be ready to take out my earplugs and experience the balloon-squealing roar of my fellow passengers as we collectively deflate the plane. I should be stumbling across the uneven floor of the jetway, filling my lungs with the scent of low-carb California-blend kerosene. I should be anticipating finding at least some of my luggage and heading off to dinner with Collette, Aimeric, and Chiara. I should be experiencing that half-heartbeat just as I open the door to my house, thrilled to both see my cats once again and to see how they have redecorated the place while I was away.

But, lo, I am not.

I am not on a plane. I am nowhere near home. I am not even moving. I have barely left the room in two days.

I have pneumonia.

This was to be the extended trip to Chicagoland to get together with my family for the holidays. My dad's mind is turning to mud at an alarming rate, and I won't have too many more chances to actually be able to talk with him in person during which he actually knows my name. My brothers are all in Chicago, and Autumn and I were going to spend a lot of time experiencing our particular extended family dynamic, while occasionally heading in to the Big City to see the sights it has to offer. All in all, we would have plenty of time for the traditional last-minute shopping, plenty of time for my pilgrimage to the Mecca of pizza (the original Giordanos), plenty of time for talking about everything or nothing at all, and plenty of brothers from whom to borrow cars.

We both came down with the flu the day before we left SFO. I could only wish that I had left any of my major organs in San Francisco, though it appeared I could most easily do without my lungs. Fortunately TSA took a look at us, a look at the plastic bag full of meds, and then another look at us, before dimly turning to the next people in line.

I don't remember much about the first three days or so here. We are in a nice B&B (shadyoaksbb.com) which is within rock-throwing distance of my brother Rob's house, but we were far too sick to go much of anywhere for much of any reason. Rob kept just bringing us drugs, and our inkeeper went out of her way to help. I could feel the warm breeze of recovery blowing my way when I was suddenly hit with a sizzling fever.

I knew I was in trouble when I could make out Collette using phrasings like "...104 degrees...", "...called your brother...", and "...emergency room..." I didn't want to make her feel put out, but I found that I had rather little energy with which to argue. The hospital had valet parking.

Jump forward to today, here, now. I'm back at the B&B. I'm propped up on pillows. I'm loaded with antibiotics, and I have supplies lain in for a long siege. I have Wifi.

I noticed Collette reading LJ and it slowly dawned on me that, hey, I have an account there, too. This means more stuff to read! And here I thought I'd run out of Internet.

Collette's flu has mostly been conquered. When her coughs get back up to ultrasonic range, it's time for more Robitussin. She has put up with a lot from me this past week, and only got a little upset with me when she found out how ill I really was. She said she is going to have to start treating me like one of her pets (hey, a promotion!). Then she said she'd have to ignore whatever I say and ascertain my health herself. That wasn't what I had in mind...

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Everyone needs a first post. This one is mine.