More and more, I'm starting to think that people should have to be tested for competency before they're allowed to use different kinds of technology.
What I mean is that before someone is issued, say, a debit or ATM card that requires them to use something like the little terminals in the grocery store, there should be some way of ensuring that the individual actually knows how to use the card before being turned loose on an unsuspecting public. If they can't demonstrate competency, they simply aren't given it in the first place.
I bring this up because a couple of days ago, I was in line (yes, at the grocery store) behind someone that wanted to use a debit/credit card of some kind to pay for their stuff. The problem was that the person basically had no idea how to do it: first, they ran the card through the reader the wrong way no less than 3 times, then had to have it explained to them which button to push for their particular card (after they guessed wrong TWICE), another explanation of what a "PIN" was (followed by much soul-searching as they tried to recall what it was), and ending with being told that they also had to press another button to actually approve the debit. All in all, what should have been perhaps 30 seconds ended up occupying a good five minutes. Throughout it all, the clerk demonstrated an inordinate level of patience and tolerance; I'd have been tempted to tell the moron to give up and go home.
Similarly, I've been behind people at an ATM who act like it's the first time in their entire life that they've encountered such a thing: that all the menus and other on-screen information is in a foreign language, and that each press of a button results in the machine doing anything BUT what they want it to -- so that they have to completely stop what they're doing and try it again (perhaps even a couple of times) from scratch while the line builds behind them.
As part of the 'licensing' process, there would be a probationary period after someone gets a particular bit of technical equipment -- the idea being that they not only have to demonstrate they know HOW to operate it, but WHEN, as well: an induhvidual using their shiny new cell phone in a theater gets the phone taken away for a period equal to the probationary period, for example.
I don't think it'll ever happen, but I can always dream, can't I?
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
The (inde)Terminator
I'm continuing to make progress on my 'bot project.
I decided to make the circuitry for it modular, so I can incrementally improve on (or add to) each section without having to completely redesign everything with each upgrade. Toward that end, I've got the main control and (motor) drive boards; I plan to add a sensor board, and then perhaps an 'environment' board. The way I'm going to accomplish all that is to stack the boards one on top of the other, and use one of the built-in capabilities of the microcontroller to let each of the drive/sensor/other boards pretty much do it's own thing with oversight by the main logic by using what is called a 'two-wire interface' (an alternative to the trademarked Inter-IC [or I2C] system developed by Philips).
I've breadboarded the main controller, and verified that it does what I need/want, so I've gone ahead and laid out a printed circuit board for it:
The board is actually only 3-1/2 inches on a side; the four big dots are where the spacers will be between the boards, and "J2" there on the bottom left is the TWI connector that all the boards will share. The stuff along the righthand side is the power supply and regulation, while J3 and J4 along the top are the digital input/output lines. J5 is to let me add 3 additional analog signals, Just In Case :-)
If you're into this kind of thing, here's the schematic diagram:
When I go to a more advanced 'bot, I can swap out the circuit above with something with more computational horsepower; going to a larger platform means just changing out the motor drive board, and so on. It's a little more effort up front, but will simplify future updates or upgrades by limiting the number of ways I can shoot myself in the foot: I'll only have to figure out what's wrong with the 'new' section, instead of troubleshooting the whole 'bot...
I decided to make the circuitry for it modular, so I can incrementally improve on (or add to) each section without having to completely redesign everything with each upgrade. Toward that end, I've got the main control and (motor) drive boards; I plan to add a sensor board, and then perhaps an 'environment' board. The way I'm going to accomplish all that is to stack the boards one on top of the other, and use one of the built-in capabilities of the microcontroller to let each of the drive/sensor/other boards pretty much do it's own thing with oversight by the main logic by using what is called a 'two-wire interface' (an alternative to the trademarked Inter-IC [or I2C] system developed by Philips).
I've breadboarded the main controller, and verified that it does what I need/want, so I've gone ahead and laid out a printed circuit board for it:
(click to view 'full size')
The board is actually only 3-1/2 inches on a side; the four big dots are where the spacers will be between the boards, and "J2" there on the bottom left is the TWI connector that all the boards will share. The stuff along the righthand side is the power supply and regulation, while J3 and J4 along the top are the digital input/output lines. J5 is to let me add 3 additional analog signals, Just In Case :-)If you're into this kind of thing, here's the schematic diagram:
(click to view 'full size')
When I go to a more advanced 'bot, I can swap out the circuit above with something with more computational horsepower; going to a larger platform means just changing out the motor drive board, and so on. It's a little more effort up front, but will simplify future updates or upgrades by limiting the number of ways I can shoot myself in the foot: I'll only have to figure out what's wrong with the 'new' section, instead of troubleshooting the whole 'bot...
Monday, October 6, 2008
Congress? We don' need no steenkin' Congress...
At least that seems to be the result of an opinion poll courtesy of Rasmussen Reports.
From the article:
From the article:
If they could vote to keep or replace the entire Congress, 59% of voters would like to throw them all out and start over again.and
Only half (49%) believe that the current Congress is better than individuals selected at random from the phone book. Thirty-three percent (33%) believe a randomly selected group of Americans could do a better job and 19% are not sureand
...there is agreement across party lines when it comes to whether or not most Members of Congress understand legislation before they vote on it—25% of Democrats say yes along with 24% of Republicans and 24% of unaffiliated voters.Anybody with me on implenting the first option?
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Recreation
Went out with a couple of friends last night to a local microbrewery by the name of "Angry Hank's".
I'd never been in the place before, but after last night's experience, the only thing I can think of that might be making "Hank" angry is that so damn many people are drinking his most excellent beers.
I started the evening off with an obligatory trial of something they call "Dog Slobber" -- I mean, come on, doesn't that just BEG investigation? Well, it was pretty damn good beer: a brown (but not 'dark') ale, it had a nice flavor and a little more of a kick than I expected. When I looked at the big chalkboard that Hank's has on the wall, I saw that they were nice enough to indicate the alcohol content of their different brews (as part of the descriptions). The lowest alcohol level they serve is 4.5%; the highest is 6.5 -- that is, anywhere from half again to double the strength of regular 'commercial' brews such as Budweiser, Michelob, and the like.
After I finished my Dog Slobber, the next thing I sampled was their Griz Wizz (are you noting a 'theme' here?). Definitely a different flavor, it was more of a pilsner -- though still a trifle darker.
The last thing (by Montana law, brewpubs must limit customers to 3 beverages per evening; Hanks issues everyone a wristband that they put a mark on each time you make a purchase -- 3 strikes and you're 'out') was their seasonal beer "Oktoberfest": more of a red than brown, it was 6.5% and bloody fucking good. It kinda snuck up on me, though; it was good enough that I really didn't realize how fast I was drinking it until the alcohol started to kick in. I was feeling pretty good and mellow about that time...
Nice thing about Hank's is that they offer what are called 'growlers': a glass jug (with their logo on it) that can be filled for home consumption. Growlers appear to be half-gallon sized, and I'm told that they hold four pints. I don't know if there's any limit on how many growlers can be bought at a time, but I may well find out -- Hank's offers some damn fine brews!
I'd never been in the place before, but after last night's experience, the only thing I can think of that might be making "Hank" angry is that so damn many people are drinking his most excellent beers.
I started the evening off with an obligatory trial of something they call "Dog Slobber" -- I mean, come on, doesn't that just BEG investigation? Well, it was pretty damn good beer: a brown (but not 'dark') ale, it had a nice flavor and a little more of a kick than I expected. When I looked at the big chalkboard that Hank's has on the wall, I saw that they were nice enough to indicate the alcohol content of their different brews (as part of the descriptions). The lowest alcohol level they serve is 4.5%; the highest is 6.5 -- that is, anywhere from half again to double the strength of regular 'commercial' brews such as Budweiser, Michelob, and the like.
After I finished my Dog Slobber, the next thing I sampled was their Griz Wizz (are you noting a 'theme' here?). Definitely a different flavor, it was more of a pilsner -- though still a trifle darker.
The last thing (by Montana law, brewpubs must limit customers to 3 beverages per evening; Hanks issues everyone a wristband that they put a mark on each time you make a purchase -- 3 strikes and you're 'out') was their seasonal beer "Oktoberfest": more of a red than brown, it was 6.5% and bloody fucking good. It kinda snuck up on me, though; it was good enough that I really didn't realize how fast I was drinking it until the alcohol started to kick in. I was feeling pretty good and mellow about that time...
Nice thing about Hank's is that they offer what are called 'growlers': a glass jug (with their logo on it) that can be filled for home consumption. Growlers appear to be half-gallon sized, and I'm told that they hold four pints. I don't know if there's any limit on how many growlers can be bought at a time, but I may well find out -- Hank's offers some damn fine brews!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Geek mode: ENGAGED
I've gone ahead and gotten one of the little $15 Tonka toys (that I previously mentioned) with the thought of using an Arduino-based controller as the 'smarts' for experimenting with robotics. What I ended up getting was the skid-steer 'Bobcat' front-end loader (that's a 6" steel ruler right in front of the tread, to give you some idea of size):
There were other variants I could have gotten (a dump truck, bulldozer, and a different design of front-end loader), the others all ran at what I considered to be a little fast for what I want to do. You can see that the thing is remotely-operated from the little handset on the right; the three buttons result in the thing making 3 different noises: (L-R) a spoken "Caterpillar!", generic rock music, and air horn. The left joystick is forward/reverse, while the right joystick raises/lowers the bucket.
I've already disassembled the thing, and gotten it into a form that I can build on -- removal of the hand controller and some of the extraneous (for my purposes) bits, and added some mounting posts for the circuitry I'll be building:
I've basically pulled the 'cab' and bucket (saving both with the idea of possibly using them later), leaving all the innards available. The yellow and white wires are to the drive motor, and the red and blue pair are for the bucket motor (yes, I've left it in, though I dont plan to use it right away -- later, maybe). There's plenty of space between the motors (underneath the top cover) that I'll likely end up filling with more Stuff :-)
I'm not expecting to do anything dramatic with this lashup; this is just the basis for a learn-by-doing period so I can get the basics down.
There were other variants I could have gotten (a dump truck, bulldozer, and a different design of front-end loader), the others all ran at what I considered to be a little fast for what I want to do. You can see that the thing is remotely-operated from the little handset on the right; the three buttons result in the thing making 3 different noises: (L-R) a spoken "Caterpillar!", generic rock music, and air horn. The left joystick is forward/reverse, while the right joystick raises/lowers the bucket.I've already disassembled the thing, and gotten it into a form that I can build on -- removal of the hand controller and some of the extraneous (for my purposes) bits, and added some mounting posts for the circuitry I'll be building:
I've basically pulled the 'cab' and bucket (saving both with the idea of possibly using them later), leaving all the innards available. The yellow and white wires are to the drive motor, and the red and blue pair are for the bucket motor (yes, I've left it in, though I dont plan to use it right away -- later, maybe). There's plenty of space between the motors (underneath the top cover) that I'll likely end up filling with more Stuff :-)I'm not expecting to do anything dramatic with this lashup; this is just the basis for a learn-by-doing period so I can get the basics down.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Goofy shit
Sometimes, some really goofy shit pops into my head. F'rinstance:
It's said that the measurement unit of a 'foot' came about because it was the length of an actual person's foot. So... if a mile is made up of 5280 feet, does that mean some poor bastard had to walk heel-to-toe for a mile, counting how many times he had to put a foot down? If so, I gotta wonder how many times he had to start over again when he lost count. Were there people around, deliberately trying to fuck up his counting ("873. 1,719. 88. 3,944.")?
It's said that the measurement unit of a 'foot' came about because it was the length of an actual person's foot. So... if a mile is made up of 5280 feet, does that mean some poor bastard had to walk heel-to-toe for a mile, counting how many times he had to put a foot down? If so, I gotta wonder how many times he had to start over again when he lost count. Were there people around, deliberately trying to fuck up his counting ("873. 1,719. 88. 3,944.")?
Saturday, September 27, 2008
But wait! There's more!
Almost forgotted to mention that I got my workbench finished, too. Granted, it isn't big and pretty, but for roughly $25 in assorted parts and materials, it does the job:
The machine on the left is one that I was working on -- assembly, install the OS, configuration, and such. Underneath the bench, you can (sort-of) see another couple of computers. The one on the left needs a new AMD Athlon CPU. The one right under the scissors is a second-generation Proliant ML370 server box. When it's fired up, it sounds like a jumbo jet, which is why it's holding the floor down at present; something else I plan to do One Of These Days™ is get my utility closet set up to hold my various servers (I can remotely admin them over the network) -- right now, they all live in my bedroom :-( Kind of hiding behind the left bench leg is an old Mac G3 All-in-One that I need to get Mac OS9 installed on (the machine is old enough that it can't handle OSX). I have it just because it's one box that has everything in it: monitor, sound (including speakers), the processor, and so on, for me to 'play' with.
Most of the rest of my online hardware is on a table next to the workbench:
What you're seeing there is 3 file servers (the two towers and the bottom one of the two desktop boxes). The top desktop machine is my webserver. Don't know if you can read the labels, but silly me, I put IP addresses and machine names on all my hardware -- and give them hostnames that actually mean something. You've also got a better view of that Mac All-In-One (which will have a hostname on the network of "wormy" :-P ) That bottom machine on the left is an HP Netserver LPr; though not as bad as the ML370, it's still a little noisy, too. Again, when I get my machines moved, I'll likely move my webserver and firewalling over to it. What you can't see is that I've got a 4-port KVM switch that lets me use just one monitor, keyboard, and mouse with all the servers; each server is clearly labeled as to what KVM port it's connected to :-)
You can also see that I've been getting some shelving installed to hold some of the stuff that I want to keep handy -- spare drives, cables, and so on.
What you also can't see are that the workbench has been wired to allow me to do some different kinds of networking: RS-422, 1-Wire (actually a misnomer), RS-485/488, and some others; or the various bits of test equipment I have (digital multimeter, signal generator, and the like). One of my upcoming projects is to make it easier on myself to fabricate my own PCBs, from schematics and board layouts created with the Eagle system. I have mentioned that I'm (mostly) a hardware geek, right?
Anyway, this should give you some idea of what's been keeping me busy these last couple of weeks, and what kind of mischief I get into to keep myself amused...
The machine on the left is one that I was working on -- assembly, install the OS, configuration, and such. Underneath the bench, you can (sort-of) see another couple of computers. The one on the left needs a new AMD Athlon CPU. The one right under the scissors is a second-generation Proliant ML370 server box. When it's fired up, it sounds like a jumbo jet, which is why it's holding the floor down at present; something else I plan to do One Of These Days™ is get my utility closet set up to hold my various servers (I can remotely admin them over the network) -- right now, they all live in my bedroom :-( Kind of hiding behind the left bench leg is an old Mac G3 All-in-One that I need to get Mac OS9 installed on (the machine is old enough that it can't handle OSX). I have it just because it's one box that has everything in it: monitor, sound (including speakers), the processor, and so on, for me to 'play' with.Most of the rest of my online hardware is on a table next to the workbench:
What you're seeing there is 3 file servers (the two towers and the bottom one of the two desktop boxes). The top desktop machine is my webserver. Don't know if you can read the labels, but silly me, I put IP addresses and machine names on all my hardware -- and give them hostnames that actually mean something. You've also got a better view of that Mac All-In-One (which will have a hostname on the network of "wormy" :-P ) That bottom machine on the left is an HP Netserver LPr; though not as bad as the ML370, it's still a little noisy, too. Again, when I get my machines moved, I'll likely move my webserver and firewalling over to it. What you can't see is that I've got a 4-port KVM switch that lets me use just one monitor, keyboard, and mouse with all the servers; each server is clearly labeled as to what KVM port it's connected to :-)You can also see that I've been getting some shelving installed to hold some of the stuff that I want to keep handy -- spare drives, cables, and so on.
What you also can't see are that the workbench has been wired to allow me to do some different kinds of networking: RS-422, 1-Wire (actually a misnomer), RS-485/488, and some others; or the various bits of test equipment I have (digital multimeter, signal generator, and the like). One of my upcoming projects is to make it easier on myself to fabricate my own PCBs, from schematics and board layouts created with the Eagle system. I have mentioned that I'm (mostly) a hardware geek, right?
Anyway, this should give you some idea of what's been keeping me busy these last couple of weeks, and what kind of mischief I get into to keep myself amused...
Progress
Okay, of the eleventy-seven different things I've had going on, I've gotten ONE of them as complete as I can: getting my webserver back in service.
I still need to deal with my ISP to get the Networking Magic straightened out, however -- the DSL modem I have is pretty much a POS, and I have to get my DSL connection set up so that my firewall has my Internet IP address instead of the modem; once that's done, I'll be hosting my own web pages again.
Rather than go through the dance of firing up my Different Lemming blog (again), I'm just going to stay on Blogger -- though I'll be linking to the website for various and sundry things. My web server will also be handling my other Internet services, too -- things like DNS and email.
Granted, it isn't a LOT of progress, but it's something...
I still need to deal with my ISP to get the Networking Magic straightened out, however -- the DSL modem I have is pretty much a POS, and I have to get my DSL connection set up so that my firewall has my Internet IP address instead of the modem; once that's done, I'll be hosting my own web pages again.
Rather than go through the dance of firing up my Different Lemming blog (again), I'm just going to stay on Blogger -- though I'll be linking to the website for various and sundry things. My web server will also be handling my other Internet services, too -- things like DNS and email.
Granted, it isn't a LOT of progress, but it's something...
Friday, September 26, 2008
I call 'Bullshit!'
In the last couple of weeks, I've gotten no less than six phone calls from outfits wanting me to participate in a 'survey'.
Now, normally, I'm willing to go along with such requests if I have the time. The thing is, every single one of the survey calls has been from someone that specified they were calling for political purposes (i.e. from the McCain campaign, the Democratic party, etc).
Since none of the political parties or candidates (or politicians, for that matter) has bothered to ask what I thought about things before this (I've gotten more political opinion calls in the last two weeks than I've gotten in the last two YEARS), I've got to figure it's all about the current election cycle.
Which is what causes me to call "Bullshit!".
If these assorted shitheads really wanted to know what I think about this or that, they'd have asked before this -- but since they didn't, I've got to figure that the calls are either 'push polls', or simply a way for a particular candidate or party to 'adjust' their position to garner more votes. Either way, it's bullshit: I figure if a candidate or party has to resort to that kind of nonsense in order to get votes, then they shouldn't be running for an elected office -- when I cast a vote for someone, I want them to have enough of a spine to take an actual stance on something, and MEAN it. If they believe in something, then they should be able and willing to lay out their reasons in such a way as to convince me with the FACTS -- not by playing games with how they phrase something. If someone wants to represent me in an elected office, ask me what I think about things BEFORE you need/want my vote.
The sad part of this is that these various assclowns will get enough people to respond (I hung up on them) to convince them to keep doing this kind of crap. Too bad that more of us Ordinary Citizens aren't willing to stand up and let the 'mainstream' politicians and parties know we don't like the game they're playing by casting our votes for 'none of the above'.
Personally, at this point, I'd vote for that moonbat Ralph Nader before casting a ballot for either of McCain or Obama.
Now, normally, I'm willing to go along with such requests if I have the time. The thing is, every single one of the survey calls has been from someone that specified they were calling for political purposes (i.e. from the McCain campaign, the Democratic party, etc).
Since none of the political parties or candidates (or politicians, for that matter) has bothered to ask what I thought about things before this (I've gotten more political opinion calls in the last two weeks than I've gotten in the last two YEARS), I've got to figure it's all about the current election cycle.
Which is what causes me to call "Bullshit!".
If these assorted shitheads really wanted to know what I think about this or that, they'd have asked before this -- but since they didn't, I've got to figure that the calls are either 'push polls', or simply a way for a particular candidate or party to 'adjust' their position to garner more votes. Either way, it's bullshit: I figure if a candidate or party has to resort to that kind of nonsense in order to get votes, then they shouldn't be running for an elected office -- when I cast a vote for someone, I want them to have enough of a spine to take an actual stance on something, and MEAN it. If they believe in something, then they should be able and willing to lay out their reasons in such a way as to convince me with the FACTS -- not by playing games with how they phrase something. If someone wants to represent me in an elected office, ask me what I think about things BEFORE you need/want my vote.
The sad part of this is that these various assclowns will get enough people to respond (I hung up on them) to convince them to keep doing this kind of crap. Too bad that more of us Ordinary Citizens aren't willing to stand up and let the 'mainstream' politicians and parties know we don't like the game they're playing by casting our votes for 'none of the above'.
Personally, at this point, I'd vote for that moonbat Ralph Nader before casting a ballot for either of McCain or Obama.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Okay, so here's the deal...
Yeah, I know... I haven't been posting anything for a while.
Any of you old enough to remember Ed Sullivan and his show, it seemed that about once a month, he'd have a guy on that would spin plates on the ends of long, thin sticks. The guy would get maybe a couple dozen of these things going, then have to start running around trying to keep them all going -- which was a losing proposition; eventually, all of the damn plates ended up on the floor.
Well, I've been kinda like that guy: every time I thought about posting something that came into my head, one of the other things that I had going on would distract me. Stuff like:
Any of you old enough to remember Ed Sullivan and his show, it seemed that about once a month, he'd have a guy on that would spin plates on the ends of long, thin sticks. The guy would get maybe a couple dozen of these things going, then have to start running around trying to keep them all going -- which was a losing proposition; eventually, all of the damn plates ended up on the floor.
Well, I've been kinda like that guy: every time I thought about posting something that came into my head, one of the other things that I had going on would distract me. Stuff like:
- Installing and testing the Jeebus out of Sun's Open Solaris operating system (free for the downloading). [Informal review: not quite ready for desktop usage yet, but definitely worth considering for server usage.]
- Taking a Tonka "RC" (remote- [not radio-] controlled) frontend loader (similar to this truck, from Radio Shack) and modifying it for use as the base for an Arduino-based robotics platform, with the plan to keep building on it until I either overload the Arduino or the toy :-)
- Getting my webserver (the original TwoOfEverything.org system) repaired/replaced, the operating system installed, and back online.
- Performing all manner of bizarre and unnatural experiments on/with my Arduino.
- Building myself an electronics workbench (surplus countertop, outlets, on/off switch, lighting, etc).
- Sorting through all my assorted salvaged electronic/computer parts (motors, connectors, heatsinks, cables, power supplies, gears, sensors, etc) and getting them organized so I can find shit again.
- Writing a couple of programs to learn Java through the 'total immersion' system: read how to do something I want to do, try it, then keep hacking at it until I get it right. Lather, rinse, repeat...
- Doing the occasional bit of computer service for friend-of-a-friend or referrals -- something that makes me realize more and more just how seriously fucked up MS Windows(tm) is, and just how incredibly naive, stupid, thoughtless, or just plain ignorant some people can be.
- Designing, building, and debugging a couple of not-too-large electronics projects for myself. If you're interested, they are a logic analyzer, a computer-based oscilloscope interface, and a small instrumentation and control system (home automation).
- Continuing to write monthly Science & Technology articles for a local weekly newspaper.
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