beware of the bears

Payton loves her play-doh
she forcing me to constantly manufacture bears... or swiper...

here is a shot of her lineup. I didn't pose them she did. cute.





But I am thinking there will be a time
when the bears will exact they're revenge.

constantly forced into confinement,


















massacred with blunt scissors.






















they can replicate very easily.

bewarned....

what standard??

I have been doing a bunch of thinking, lately.
I drive an hour each way to work it leaves me a lot of time to think.


Robotics was expected to progress just as quickly as computer technology.
the big let down.( if you don't know I am a Robotics engineer).
computer tech progressed faster than anyone thought.
Robotics nada, minor changes.
a lot of people think it has to do with unforeseen hindrances.
I think that is only part of the answer ( a small part).

I think it has to do with the lack of standardizations in the hardware.

computers had standards all most from the get go. standard RAM, standard HardDrives, serial, etc. everything was interchangeable.









Robotics....... well you can look for interchange motors...
..... and maybe the computer attached to it.......

if your lucky you used a stock Drive to power the motor. even more lucky if the drive you used is still available when(if) it dies(breaks).


unlike if a computer from 10 years ago had a harddrive or monitor break.
you can still goto the store and get a new one that works.

if you look at what the Hobby(RC) control guys use. they have standard servos(motor that don't go far) and controls to control them. they can spend less time( no time in fact) on circuit design. more time to spend on function of the machine, or overall appearances.


I have been working on a 9 foot Robot arm at work. designed in the late 80s.
(the robot will control a chainsaw, follow my progress at chainsawpete.blogspot.com)
the machine works ok(it moves), but the controller that came with it simply sucks.

they went with some unorthodox ways of controlling this robot. even the manufacture says that controller sucks and there is nothing they can (or are willing to do) to help.
so do get it to do what we need it to, I need to redesign a controller for it. FROM SCRATCH!!!!. lucky for me, there is motor drives that I can interface to. but unlucky for me not a note/diagram/hint of what wire does what. I am left to cutting wires and see what errors show up on the old controller. and examining the circuit they designed.very very big circuit board, it is 2 boards about 2feet by 2feet each. the ones I designed to replace them with about a 12"x6".

and my circuit is USB so I control it directly from a computer. I can move the joints on the robot. but I still am hunting down wires to see which one is does what. cause if I blow up one of these motor drives, it is game over! Dead robot! scrap metal!.

if there was some kind of standard controller I could have used that had a standard output that the drive used (also not standard) I could just rewrite a program for it and be done.

instead I am taking months just to follow wires guessing what they do and how.
and lookup what did that chip was used for.

why Rudolph

ever wonder who or why someone thought up Rudolph the red nose reindeer.

I stumble across this.

photos from today

a mix of photos from today
































there were lots of birds at the birdfeeder this morning so Payton and I refilled it.
well even the woodpecker came out for some grub.

is that a sign of bad weather coming?
when a woodpecker is willing to give up looking for bugs and eat seeds.

most of the birds were huddling close to the house and door either waiting for the feeder or keeping warm. they all flew away when it got dark. at one point I counted over 30 birds and about 6 different breeds. I am still looking up the names or all of them.

mii??

well the wii is coming. and I am stoked...

twilight princess(legend of Zelda) can't wait....

all my gamecube stuff works well with it.(good cause it hasn't work in months)

it is a true full motion controller. you swing the sword. fire the arrows, drive the cars,fly the planes, etc...

wifi....

custom avatars...called mii.. make your own here

you can download the old games.

also there is going to be a "Bob Ross painting lesson game". happy little trees....

I can't wait....

Denver airport

yah free WIRED internet at the Denver airport this week!!

quest is setting up cubicles with wired connections. and the server still isn't work so they are giving away free internet this week.

I got a hr video chat over MSN with michelle and payton Yah!!!

some quotes

I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.
- Terry Pratchett

Sometimes glass glitters more than diamonds because it has more to prove.
Terry Pratchett

The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.
Terry Pratchett


God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of his own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players, to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.
Terry Pratchett, "Good Omens"


In the begining there was nothing, and it exploded.
Terry Pratchett, (on the big bang theory)

Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Terry Pratchett, Discworld

driver trouble.

I have the Microsoft streets and trips with the GPS.

it works very well. so well infact I use it to go geocaching.

but we went looking for a cache today. and well the GPS driver quit on me. weird.
I stole some wireless from a nieghbourig household. but. still no install.

damn,

the microsoft website. no help.
went home. tried the actual disk. no help. hmmm hope it isn't fried.

jump to the manufactures website (PharosGPS)
the driver installed. opened streets and trips, and did a com port scan to find the GPS.
and it didn't say microsoft GPS. just gps device. sofar so good.

run outside it finds satilites .. YAH it works fine!!

probable cause. most USB devices have a small EEPROM that says who made the device.
even though the USB to serial chip is made by someone else. so if the memory got erased the microsoft driver will not install cause it can not confirm it is the correct device. and the driver I downloaded is the actual driver for the chip. USB-TO-SERIAL.

yah GPS not fried!!!

gas update. and no response.

well I have been waiting for a response from my MP.

well the mileage for the second tank of chevron. was 15.8 km/ltr
and I filled up at petrocan to get more accurate data for their gas station.
and I got 15.0 km/Ltr

note that the petrocan tank wasn't very pure.
I still had about 5lts of chevron in the tank. meaning that 14% of that tank was still chevron gas.
the second tank should better reflect petrocan mileage results. doing the math, with regards to that ratio I should expect approx 14.8km/lt on the second tank. we will see .

but I can already tell I am not going back to petrocan. even at a 1km/ltr difference
that comes to a saving of 2.50/wk. (gas at 99.9/ltr) $130/yr.

A Big Concern: my letter to my MP

I have talked with a few people, and we are quite concerned over recent Taxation Changes implemented by your Government.
the changes I am talking about are.
to the Personal Tax Exemption( I believe it's called.), changing from $9000 to $8600 (approx) thus meaning more tax is taken off each paycheck.

coinciding with the GST dropping.

Now the GST dropping I agree with, but it only really benefits people that Spend more.
it doesn't really benefit people in the lower income bracket. especially now, since that the lower income bracket is now getting less Net income to spend.


to sum up what I am asking Why is your Government Taxing the Poor?!?

I am currently awaiting an reply. I will post what ever is replied to me.

note, to people that do not pay much attention to politics this is a federal issue not a provincial one. I notice people get them mixed up quite regularly.

history repeats its self

I was standing in line at saveon and read the cover of time magazine.
it said Hilary clinton was considering running for presidency.

seriously Bush then clinton then another bush and now another clinton!!

something is sounding fixed.

todays gas results

well running some on Cheveron 87 fuel.
I traveled 506Km. and filled to 32litres.
15.8Km/lit (6.33 lit/100km)

hmm I didn't expect the milage better.
I did notice a performance increase over using Shell.

i think my next fill up will be at petrocan again so I can get exact amounts.
my last posting was running off of memory for the petrocan results.

better gas?

since I have to fill my tank about every 4 trips to work.
I work in surrey so I commute about 120k/day.
I have started keeping track of the millage.
now I am comparing gas stations with the milage I am getting.
so far I am getting interesting results.

from petrocan can I drive about 495Km for about 36 litres, 7.2 lit/100km (13.9km/lt)

now, cause of the blackout I had to get Gas at Shell,
the first tank lasted, 485Km for 32litres, 6.6 lit/100km (15.2KM/lt)

thats roughly an 9% savings going to shell!! over petrocan.

now that shell gas was not pure shell gas, I still had some petrolcan in the tank from the last fill, so I am interested in tomorrows millage.

now there is also an adverse effect to using the shell gas. I notice the car has less power when using shell gas. I expected this though, cause of the performance vs endurance. do not go hand in hand. you have to give up some power to get a better millage.

for the next tank I am going to try out Chevron. and see.

finally

Google maps has finally has data for mission in high detail.
it appears that the data is about that the data is about 1yr and a few months old.
yo can actually see our car in our driveway of where we live now.
the leisure center has the new ice arena, but it looks like the pool hadn't been expanded yet.

and looking at the angle of light I think the approx time is about 11am.

sunday bloody sunday.

PC vs MAC

WJD is comming soon

July 20, @ 3:39:13am
world Jump day.

lets fix the earths orbit!

the sesame street I used to know

Payton and I where flipping channels saterday morn, and sesame street came on.
she promptly said "NO, NO, NOOOOO!!"
with her hands beside her face(home alone style).
asking me to change it in her fashion, like I have done very wrong with changing to this channel.
so I made her watch a little. it's not the same. it is much different then I remember.

well how about let these bring back some memorys.

The pinball song



the subway song


Telephone ROCK.


even stevie wonder came to sesame street, back then.

I should have done this

happy morning

only if more commercials were this good.



after watching the commercial the website is pretty good to.

my fathers day today

well it started out with breakfast in bed.

picked up michelles dad.
went to church. Cooper got dedicated.
went for lunch at the ABC.






picked up my fathersday gift.

A BBQ tank for my BBQ. and some nice Rib steaks. mmmm.....












hit a small bird on my street. right into the windshield. THUMP.
turned around saw it still sittin in the middle of the Road. picked it up.
brought it home.






spotted towhee (mabey eastern) it is the one that sounds like a small kitten.


after a few hours we figuared it must be fine. We let it go. it flew faster then we could take photos of it so didn't manage to get any photos of it being released.









then after payton went to bed we grilled the steaks!.


mmm rare...

who are the people in your neighbourhood...

michelle spotted this little guy on the way home
from my grandmas 80th birthday party.







"if you go out into the woods today..."

I want one

go here

my new favorite blog

the monkey chow diaries

calling all geeks

Paramount is Auctioning all of thier StarTrek props,
about 5 warehouses worth.

go here

you know it is not good when...

your at the doctor and he asks,

"So... are prescriptions covered on your medical plan?"

luckily yes

life lessons from batman

I have been meaning to post about program alternatives
that are much safer, easier, more powerful, and free.
to the mainstream programs that are used.
for example IE, office. etc..

anyhow this video covers that so nicely

what I am upto at work.

I am building a Control for a Robotic Arm to operate a chainsaw.

we have nick named the Robot ChainsawPete.

the control system that came with the robot only allows us to to move from one point to the next point. after teaching the robot the points. so we can't tell the robot move one inch up.
so it isn't good enough.

follow my progress at this site. I am blogging it.

I am such a geek.....

I just heard word of the "Legend of zelda" movie coming to theatres this fall.
and I can't wait!!

Nintendo didn't want to do it, exspecially since the faliure of mario bros movie.

so some Zelda fans have gotten together and have started their own movie.
they have finished all the filming, now they are working on the CG.

also I heard "Twilight Princess"(the next game in the series) is getting postponed until christmas.( it is it's 5 time postponed I think)

sigh...

if there weather station says the humidity is 50%,

is an empty glass half full?

now would that be taken orally?

scientists doing a study of the effects of the chemical Capsaicin. the chemical that makes Jalapeno peppers hot, on human prostate cancer cells in mice. an found that it causes the cells to basicly commit suicide.

currently in orlando florida and about 20min away from the kenedy space center

and I don't have the time to go!!!!

I landed here at 730am
and am out of here a 550pm

we've been caught!!!

at work there has been a bit of compition regarding what radio station gets played.
there is only one person in the office that likes country music. and gets very active about changing
it to "his" radio station

well we have found a great solution to this.

I bought a radio transmitter that is tunable. and tuned out the local country Radio station.

for about 6 months now it has been regarded that the radio is broken or doesn't like country music.
I said it must have developed a sense of taste.

well last week he bought a new radio!! even though we told him not to.

today he found transmitter. he took like a good sport.
knowing we had the upper hand in the battle.

testing new OS

I am installed Debian Linux, on my old celeron 366.
I put 256 ram in it with 2.5g HD,
for a 366mHz system it runns pretty quick, I think I may duel boot my .
P4 1.6gHz.

Debian comes pre-installed with Gimp, OpenOffice.ORG(which I have been using at work, I recamend it), and a ton of other programs. All LEGALLY FREE!


and the big bonus for you paranoid people. Virus' usually do not attack linux based systems. People think attacking microsoft is much more worth while.

haha

Donald Rumsfeld is briefing president Bush: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed."
"Oh no!" exclaims the president, "that's terrible!"
His staff is stunned at this unprecedented display of emotion, watching as Bush sits, head in hands.
Finally, he looks up and asks, "How many is a brazillion?"

what to do with telemarketers

normally I would send a link to the page, but it had popups.
that even the popup blocker could not stop.
but it was funny so I cut and pasted it below.

The Direct Marketing sector regards the telephone as one of its most successful tools. Consumers experience telemarketing from a completely different point of view: more than 92% perceive commercial telephone calls as a violation of privacy.
Telemarketers make use of a telescript - a guideline for a telephone conversation. This script creates an imbalance in the conversation between the marketer and the consumer. It is this imbalance, most of all, that makes telemarketing successful. The EGBG Counterscript attempts to redress that balance.

Good luck!

a cool vid

here is the british army testing the effects of LSD.
on 25 troops.

very funny

testing is being done on treating depression with Magnetic waves

Wired News: Shock Therapy, Version 2.0: "magnetically induced current travels in a distinct path, "

baby

we were sitting on the couch with Payton.
and she points to her favorite doll, and says "baby"
then lifts up my shirt and points at my stomach says , "baby"

misty has been trying to to say baby while pointing at her tummy
for months now.

thanks misty....

and now the wait.

being the geek that I am, I am mixing science and food.

this experiment involves picking eggs(or atleast attempting to pickle eggs)

so far within my background study of the subject(about an 1/2hr on google),
I think I have a good idea.
I actually thought pickling involved more salt(lots more salt)!
It a good thing I looked it up first, I hate experiments that
fail badly enough to make it inedible.

lucky for me my last failed experiment with a potroast did hurt anyone.
It was done hrs before I thought it would be, and was really tender.
I mean I can cut it with a spoon tender. so I made stew with it.
well I thought the meat and broth didn't have enough flavor(from the peppercorns).
so i crushed some more up with my motor and pestle (I love that thing).
and added it in.well it was hot, good but wow it was hot. apearently
whole black peppercorns take a long while to soften up.

back to the topic at hand, this type of food prep is unlike the usual type of cooking I do,
if I am making some meal, I get an idea if I am on the wrong track right
away with taste tests. and correct the error and move on.

there is no error checking with pickling. Now all I can do is wait.


heres what I tried.
11 eggs ( I ate one to see if the hard boiling went well)
1 cup of White Vinigar(the Magic ingredient, not salt)
1 cup of water
1 tbs of coarse salt(a small fraction of what I thought)
1 tbs of crushed white peppercorns( I got to use my motor and pestle)
1 small peice of broccoli (I got that from a scottish recipe)
1 small tbs of red chili peppers.

other than the eggs a light covered simmering boil for 20min
to get the flavor out of the peppers.

a look at abortion

this guy comment on my site, so I read his.

I thought this blog was worth linking to.

Turn your departed pet into a work of art

want to keep your deceased pet around. but
don't like the look of urns. now you can get thier bones made into a scupture.

Link

today with payton

paytons car seat is in the house while michelle is out with the girls.
well payton spent about an hour studying the seatbelt clips.
I think she is planning an escape!!

well that beats my best time

the new worlds record for solving the rubix cube is now 11.13 sec.
mine best is 32 secs.

worlds best fishing hole?

here is a video of the best fishing hole.

at about 1:30 into the vid and near the end it's the best. so wait for it.

there and back again

I have Ribs 2 nights in a row today.
from embers tonight. and yesterday I had ribs for lunch in
Atlanta GA. Ribs from both coasts.
I was only there about 10hrs before coming back home.

I have spent more time in the air then I had outside the airports yesterday.


and I had to get a jumpstart at the airport last night at about 1130pm.
no one else was around for about a half hour. not a car, not a person around anywhere.

just go here and enjoy a good laugh

wild life

we started driving to michelles dads house an
saw a cougar crossing our road, yesterday.

I first thought thats too big to be a dog.
and it was walking only like a cat can.


I know there is a black bear that lives near by
I have seen her twice now.

there is a couple of deer that hang around.