brainwagon

Well, the other day I was scanning the logs of what people had accessed off my site, and found that someone had apparently found my website while looking Thad Walker’s paper Holography without Photography. Walker wrote on how you could write a simple C program (a dubious example was included in the paper) and use [...]

Today is Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day: a day where a simple hole and the wave nature of light conspire to create art. I was meaning to construct a simple pinhole camera, but didn’t quite get around to it, and today might be too late, but if you are interested, try checking out the forums on [...]

I hadn’t heard of inline holography before, but apparently it was proposed decades ago by a short article in Nature by Gabor. Basically it is a technique by which interference patterns between an object and a reference wavefront is recorded, and then reconstructed in using clever math and the FFT.  Very neat.  Laser Pointer Holography [...]

It’s been a busy week for me, wading through piles of SIGGRAPH sketch reviews, so I haven’t had too much inclination to spend more time in front of a computer.   But I did find this article linked on the make blog: little tips about making rc micro_helicopter.  A very cool micro helicopter, which used a [...]

This week I’m busy at work trying to complete dozens of SIGGRAPH sketch reviews, so it seems like an opportune time to present the usual link to  online copies of the SIGGRAPH 2006 Papers that have been accepted.  I haven’t had a chance to review these yet, but there is usually something good in this [...]

Ever wanted to learn Latin? Well, perhaps it is just me then, but if you ever had the urge, you can check out Latin for Beginners by Benjamin Leonard D’Ooge courtesy of Project Gutenberg. Perhaps then you could figure out: Antiquis temporibus, nati tibi similes in rupibus ventosissimis exponebantur ad necem. Technorati Tags: Project Gutenberg, [...]

Apparently Bruce Shapiro was showing his “eggbot” at the Maker’s Faire, but I didn’t get a chance to see it.  But his instructions online give many details of how you might actually do something like that, and it all seems very clear and straightforward.   Interesting. Technorati Tags: Robots, Maker’s Faire, Eggbot

Engadget mentioned me in their Maker’s Faire writeup! Yes! Front row! I hope my poor little server can handle the strain! Technorati Tags: Maker’s Faire, Atari, Atari 2600, Enigma Addendum: For those of you who didn’t get to see this or talk to me, here is a brief writeup. Check the bottom of that page [...]

What kind of blunt force trauma made someone stupid enough to actually publish this? Math Proves Christ’s Resurrection? [Via Good Math, Bad Math.]

Well, I spent all day yesterday demoing my Enigma 2600 project in Hall A at the Maker’s Faire. I printed out sixty little info sheets and some business cards that described the project, and somehow got it exactly right: I gave away my last one just minutes before the end of the show. My voice [...]

David Cortesi has a nice page on scoring baseball games.  I haven’t done this myself, but I think it might be a cool way to record games that you enjoy and keep you focussed on the action around you.  David uses the Project Scoresheet way, which records more information than traditional scoresheets do, and are [...]

I’ll be showing off my Enigma 2600 at the Maker’s Faire this Saturday in San Mateo. Click on the link to read more about the project: I hope to see some of my readers there. Addendum: I’ll shoot some more pictures tonight for the page.

Children’s books are kind of cool, especially for the illustrations. Try checking out The Project Gutenberg eBook of Raggedy Ann Stories, by Johnny Gruelle for a nifty, fun example. Technorati Tags: Raggedy Ann, Children’s Books, Project Gutenberg

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire. The best online resource is the Bancroft Library at Berkeley, which has over 17,000 photographs collected and available online. Technorati Tags: Earthquake, San Franscisco

I found the following chart of post office branches that will remain open late useful.   Unfortunately.