Nyssa

Our dear friend, Vern, of Nuts & Volts fame (among other things) was asked to contribute a chapter to a book about the “Parallax Propeller Multicontroller.” He came up with the idea of controlling air vents.with servos and a Propeller Chip, so that each room in a house could have it’s own ideal temperature.

If you’ve ever worked in an office, you know how painful it is when people of different ideal temperatures get together and are tormented by central air conditioning/heating.

Vern spent many months working on the challenges of his vision. At one point, he gathered together his team of experts to come over to our studio and to spend a day or two getting things figured out. It was a really great working weekend, even though a huge storm blew through, causing everyone to find shelter from the hail, for their cars. Paul drove his newish, Honda Hybrid into the studio (through the garage door) to protect it from the storm. Everyone else parked on the concrete patio.

Now, the reason I’m writing about it is because James was an integral part of the process! He, amongst our other tech friends (Rick, Paul, Jake, & Gray), are mentioned BY NAME on page 424, during the “Many Thanks” part of the chapter! Marvin, our resident super-hero artist grumbled at his lack of mention, so he’s mentioned here!

Now, back to the book, James did the software design, the 3D CAD design and some testing/assembly, along with many hours of advice during phone conversations. He also produced the actual flow charts, a ton of advice (positive & negative ) the CAD drawings used in chapter 11, and the space for great minds to meet. Very Cool!

I got to do some proof-reading, idea-bouncing, concept-testing, and the listening/questioning during many lunches with James & Vern.

So, if you want to know more about Parallax Propeller Micro controllers, pick up this book. Amazon already has a few glowing reviews!

• Here is the Amazon Link:
• Here’s the official Parallex link
• And the book is being discussed on the Parallax Forums

I am so proud of Vern for being involved with a dissimilar pack of tech geniuses (including Andre Lemonthe) and creating something new in the world. It’s an idea that we can all relate too, and Vern has the beginnings of a system that may actually work! Vern, congratulations for becoming a published author, and congrats to his team of loyal geniuses that created something new!

The horse and the mailbox

We decided that the time had come to replace the mailbox in our neighborhood… every time you

opened the door, it would fall to the ground, underneath the car. It had been welded and glued and welded again, yet it’s time had passed.

So, we purchased a mailbox and began the surprisingly arduous task of replacing the old, rusted one.

I’ve developed a terrible habit of feeding random animals the food I have in the truck. Guess what

happens when you do that? Do they go away? No. They actually become intensely interested in what you’re doing.

Sadly, I forgot this lesson when we were replacing the old mailbox… our neighbor’s delightful horse “Pepe” came over to say

“Hello” (at least that was my interpretation). So, I gave him an apple that I had lying around. Yeah, BIG MISTAKE!!!

I guess in the horse world, when you get a delicious apple, it means that REALLY INTERESTING THINGS are happening…

So, Pepe (after eating the apple and drooling on the tools, and sticking his head in the mailbox) became actively helpful in

our proceedings. Pepe was having so much fun that “Cowboy” (our neighbor’s more mature horse) came over to say “Hello” as well.

Now, we’re trying to work with two giant horses “helping” us, as only horses can…

After we got the new mailbox out of the packaging, Pepe walked over and began to explore. At first he licked the box, and then he picked it up. I was like, “Whoa! Hey, hey! We might have to return this…”

Yeah, apparently horses don’t care about return policies…
He picked up that box and well… this video should demonstrate what happened next:

Pepe completely destroyed the box, even tearing it into little pieces. He threw it in the air, stomped on it, and even tried to carry off bits of it.

We rescued the remaining cardboard, horse-spit-soaked pieces and put them safely away. Pepe did not actually eat any cardboard… i.e. “no animals were harmed in the making of this video…”

Our neighbor came by in a pickup truck. We stopped to chat. Pepe (the horse) started to pull stuff out of the back of the pickup! He pulled out a plastic bag full of pecans! Our neighbor said, “I forgot that those were back there…” So, I separated Pepe from his pecans and returned them to their rightful owner.,

Anyway, at the end of our hard labors, we got a new (non-returnable) mailbox and some highly amused/amusing horses. We are considering giving them more cardboard to abuse, before recycling, as they seemed to really enjoy boxes!!!

We got to hang out with a bunch of relaxed, life-loving, safety-relaxed, people on New Year’s Eve… It started with a few fireworks being shot into the air, then fireworks started being thrown into the camp fire…

Eventually, it ended with A BOX OF FIREWORKS (many different varieties…) being thrown into the fire… Giant explosions, ducking flying bottle rockets, a cactus, falling into the river, covered in mud… what a great night to remember! VIVA 2010!!!

That is a blurry photo of an M-80 firework exploding, as I am running and ducking AND taking photographs…

And here is an unidentified man chucking a firework into the fire…

What a fun night!! (Kids, don’t try this at home…)

With minutes to spare, I submitted my entry for this year’s Hunting Art Prize. We shall see what happens. I really like participating in this contest because it’s free, and winner-take-all. The prize is $50,000, and their online submission system is easy to use. This year, I submitted “Woman in Darkness.” Last year, I submitted “Woman in Fear.”

Holy cow!

James’ “International Man of Mystery Photo Shoot” by David Friedman has made it to the pages of TIME MAGAZINE’S WEBSITE!!!

It is part of David’s photo series called “Inventors & their Inventions.” If you will notice, #2 in the line up is the INVENTOR OF THE POST IT NOTE!!! Hah! That is some very fantastic company we’re keeping… virtually, anyway!

One year, we ran David at South By SouthWest. He was looking for inventors, and we were showing off our latest creation, a total match! The photo shoot was really interesting, David taught us a lot about lighting and attitude. Even though James has spent years pointing his camera at people, he was finally in front of the lens…

Wow! This incredible photo lives on! As children during the awesome reign of Time Magazine, this is an amazing event! If you look in the background, you can see my Robot Wars T-shirt, and to the left you can see part of my brain sketch! Also featured are a Roman Spatha Sword (replica, from our days of selling swords online) and a soldering iron (from our current days of selling stuff at Nuts & Volts Magazine…) Heh! Enjoy this fabulous picture of James, at the Times Magazine’s Inventors & their Inventions Photo Essay… Woot!

Please click on this link to read David’s blog about the photo. It is totally worth it!

Unfocused Brain & I wrote an article/side bar for Nuts & Volts magazine about a magnet detector we created. We modified “Das Blinkenboard” (a previous project of Unfocused brain & friends) by adding a few components, and then we were able to play with magnetic fields. But the more exciting thing is that WE’RE PUBLISHED AUTHORS in a national magazine!!! Hooray! To read more, please pick up a copy of Nuts & Volts at your local bookstore.

Last night, I stepped outside to heavy scent of Axe Bodywash. I froze in
shock when I heard the soft grunting coming from the bushes. I backed
slowly towards the door and then turned and quickly ran into the studio.
When I told JD about the strange noises outside, he ran for the shotgun
and the earplugs. I grabbed the spotlight and we cautiously stalked
outside.

At a party last month, our neighbor had ominously announced, “The Hogs
have arrived…The Smiths have already taken out 16 of them. So if ya see
one, shoot it!” Wild boars are bad news. The most frightening thing is
that they will actually attack with a lot of mass. We aren’t planning to
shoot any ourselves, but we wanted to be armed, to scare them off.
We carefully walked the perimeter while spotlighting the landscape. It
was quiet. There was no grunting and there were no glowing eyes reflected
from my big light.

We got in the car and drove around a bit, spotlighting, but we could find
no wildlife. The area was secure.

When we went back inside, I was totally frazzled and kept straining my
ears to listen for any more strange noises.

I heard something.

I walked outside. “Meow…meow…meow” It was coming from the same
bushes as my phantom hog. “What the…?” A LARGE orange cat, came
bouncing out of the bushes, meowing gleefully.

So, what does this mean? Do we have wild boar terrorizing our yard, or do
we have something more terrifying?

The worlds first were-cat-pig…? Or maybe a giant tomcat with allergies?
Who knows?

Now, you may be wondering why the patio smelled of Axe Bodywash? We spent
the evening trying to make push molds for a part by taking commercially
available products and altering (heat, hammer, etc.) to fit our piece.
We’ve been melting tampons, glue stick containers, and even part of a
Styptic pencil (used for stopping blood loss). The Axe container needed
to be emptied and modified, so we emptied the contents of the small
container and then hammered to the mold. Thus, hours after application,
the outdoors was still coated with a fine layer of teen boy scent.

Antler Head is finished!

I carved a big wooden bone, hollowed it out, filled it with electronics and then affixed the Antler Head stone to the wood. I also deepened the grooves of the teeth to make them more pronounced.

The eyes are marbles glued to washers. It was important to have translucent eyes so that the lights from the LEDs would make them glow.

I’m really happy with the result. It looks great with the lights on… and it looks great with the lights off! The sequencing LEDs make the eyes glow and it makes the space behind the sculpture glow as well. It sequences between dramatic lighting, gentle fading, and blinking. It’s really cool!

There are 6 LEDs on the board, and 2 for the eyes. This give off a lot of light in a dark room and the effect is mesmerizing. It runs on 3 AA batteries. The board is homemade with an attiny22/44/84 chip running the LEDs.

The board is held in with a homemade bracket. The bracket allows me to remove the board in case I need to fix anything. The stone head is removable from the wood. I did this so that I can replace the LEDs, if they ever quit working.

I got to play with so many tools when making the different elements for this guy. Table saws, files, moto-tools, drill press, and various sanders and grinders. I even got to use an angle grinder with a blade that looks like a chain saw! What started as neat natural objects (stone, twigs & rock) are now a fabulous sculpture.

To see another video of the lighting effect, please watch this below or here:

I’ve been working on a series of paintings called “Woman in…”

The purpose of this project is to imagine and paint women in a bunch of different emotional situations. So far, I’ve painted 5 (but only photographed 3) and I have 3 more works in progress that are ready to show and another 3 works in progress that I’m still playing with.

I’ve really enjoyed this process because it makes me think a lot about the usually hidden, emotional life that exists in us all. I’ve really gotten to think about the characteristics and symbolism of different emotions.

Every painting contains thoughts that are both practical and philosophical. Much like Barbara Walters asking, “What kind of tree would you be?”, I ask practical questions things like, “What is the color of despair?” or “What emotion does thin stripes evoke versus thick stripes?

Then there are the philosophical questions; “What would a woman in trouble look like… What would her interior space show? How do you paint the feelings of being under attack?”

Combining these two worlds of practical painting issues with philosophical questions, I’ve come up with images that I think people can relate to. So, I’m going to bring all the ladies in my series out to show on one page, including the works in progress. This way you can see the emerging picture of some of the different worlds and images I’ve been exploring.

I don’t know how many women are going to end up in this series. I’m just going to paint until I run out of interesting emotions and symbols that appeal to me.

Here they are:

First are the completed works; Woman in Flames, Woman in Fear, and Woman Intense:

Here are my works in progress; Woman inside, Woman in Trouble, and Woman Inhaled:

Here are more works in progress; Woman In Darkness, and Woman in Sacrifice:

We have a trail that winds through cedar trees and grass lands and a big hill. The trail is winding and both dark and sun-speckled as sun light filters through the trees. There’s lots of stumps and rocks and perfect places to display art in a dramatic outdoor setting. But outside art needs to be designed in different ways than inside art. It needs to be durable, waterproof and repairable if it gets knocked over during a wind storm. So, here are a couple of sculptures that I made to put on the trail that should meet those criteria.

Sardonicus was a stone that I found that had a most enigmatic smile. He even had an eye already sculpted by nature. All I had to do was create a matching eye, widen the smile a bit and flatten the base. This stone was so ready to become “Sardonicus.” This piece is 8.5″ x 5″ and is made of stone and washers.

The Emperor is made from wood, washers, stone, cedar bark and marbles. The cedar had an expression on it’s bark that said, “Make me an Emperor!” So, I added some washers, bark, and marbles and attached the whole thing to a big, sturdy rock.

I will post photos later, of these sculptures in there new, wild habitat.