Categorie archieven: Mind bending

after reading these articles, some headache can occur.

Nagenieten van Maker Faire Gent

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Wat was het een geweldig Maker feest daar in Gent afgelopen weekend (30 april / 1 mei)

De ambiance was geweldig, met veel mensen, maar niet té veel, met een lekker zonnetje, maar niet te warm. En dan de prestaties van de Lichtenbergmachine; ongelofelijk. De bezoekers hebben gemiddeld over de 2 dagen (van 10:00 tot 18:00) 1 plankje per 3 minuten gemaakt. Een absoluut record. Er stond bijna continue een rij van 4 of 5 mensen die een plankje wilde branden.
Door deze flinke populariteit habben we maar weinig tijd om andere makers te bekijken, Gelukkig hebben we wel iets gezien, bijvoorbeeld de geweldige Wasmachine-borstel-bots!

Ook hebben we nog wel andere kunnen helpen met Lichtenbergfiguren.
Meneertje Theelepel heeft een prachtige ge-lichtenberg-de houten lepel gekregen en sommige kopers van de super coole elastiekgeweren van de Platkit boys lieten hun kolven decoreren met Lichtenberg-tatoages.

Hier zie Meneertje Theelepel’s versie

De Zaterdagavond sliepen we aan de katedraal en hebben de avond afgesloten in de middeleeuwse crypte van The Glengarry. Daar waaide ook nog wat Hagenese aan in de vorm van Arjan  en Rolf.

De Zondag was nog drukker en gezelliger.
Het is echt zo leuk om met kinderen en jongeren in gesprek te gaan over wat je voor je ogen ziet gebeuren in de Lichtenbergberg-machine. Soms ontstaan er ingewikkelde natuurkundige gesprekken, soms willen kinderen alleen een mooi moederdagplankje!
De meest gestelde vragen van afgelopen weekend:
– Wat smeert u op de plankjes? [water met baksoda / eenhoorn-sap]
– Hoeveel stroom gaat er doorheen? [5000 volt en 45 mA]
– Hoe werkt de machine?

Het was het laatste optreden van de Lichtenbergmachine op een Make Faire. (vorige maker faires: hier en hier) Het is super leuk om te doen, maar na meer dan 1200 plankjes gebrand te hebben moet er een nieuw idee komen. (Ook begint het wel wat veel geld te kosten 🙂 )

We komen volgend jaar zeker terug naar Maker Faire Gent.
Misschien als deelnemer (dan moeten we wel iets nieuws weten te verzinnen…),
maar anders zeker als bezoeker.

Maker Faire Gent / Henk bedankt!

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Uit de oude doos; links van 8 jaar oud

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Bij het zoeken naar spullen voor het 200 posts artikel kwam ik iets tegen in de concepten box:

8 jaar geleden maakte ik een lijstje van TED talks en zo om ooit te gebruiken in posts. Het artikel is er nooit gekomen, maar het mooie van internet is dat niks zomaar vergaat. Dit zijn de video’s van toen, die nu vaak nog verdacht actueel zijn….
Ik vond het erg leuk om deze weer eens te bekijken.

1 van de korste TED talks is meteen voor mij 1 van de leukste.
Waarom is er ooit voor X gekozen als onbekende en niet voor C, D of T?

Terry Moore: Why is ‘x’ the unknown?

De rest van onderstaande video’s hebben me allemaal aan het denken gezet en m’n doen en laten beinvloed.

Dale Dougherty:

 

Pam Warhurst:

Peter Norvig:

Luis von Ahn:

Dave Meslin:

Dan Ariely:

Jill Bolte Taylor:

Ken Robinson:

 

Changing education paradigms:

EXTRA’s:

Dan Ariely: Free Beer; the truth about dishonesty

Arthur Ganson – moving sculptures:

Theo Jansen: standbeesten (TEDxDelft)

EXTRA – EXTRA’s:

Deze zijn niet zo oud, maar ik wilde ze graag hier toevoegen, want Hans Rosling is een heuze inspiratie voor mij geweest.

Hans Rosling:
Wat was hij een geweldig mens.
Ik hoop ooit zo iemand in mijn leven tegen te komen en een tijdje mee te wandelen!

Er zijn tal van video’s, maar de filmpjes met Lubach zijn minder bekend maar een erg goed voorbeeld van hoe populair wetenschappelijke boodschappen overgebracht moeten worden.

interview met Hans Rosling.

 

 

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Unexpected beauties – part 1: Willem Twee Studio’s

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In 2019 I want to tell you about interesting meetings, planned or unplanned I experienced / encountered.

I call them “unexpected beauties, because they give me a lot of joy or provided me with a totally new perspective / insight.
First in line is the unexpected encounter with the Willem 2 Studio’s in Den Bosch.

10-11-2018:
Some time ago I was invited to join a “open soldering evening” in Den Bosch.

I met the organizer, Martijn Verhallen years before at the first Maker Faire Eindhoven.

The synth boxes Reverse Landfill makes are very cool and easy to solder and they make a hell of a noise!

The unexpected part of this soldering night was the location.
The outside of the building cannot prepare you for what is inside.

When entering the building it felt like a shift in time; all of a sudden you are in a 1950’s audio studio, with all these cool old fashioned boxes with Bakelite knobs and switches.

The next room is filled with 1960’s and 1970’s stuff with some unbelievable analog synth that had a huge footprint on the foundations of modern day music.

This beautiful video from Albert van Abbe is recorded at the Willem Twee Studios.

I can really recommend visiting this studio to anybody who’s interested in sound building / composing.
They offer all kind of courses like “introduction to the çlassic ‘ analog studio or a 8 lessons long course to learn to make compositions on classic analog material.

Thanks Martijn for giving me the opportunity to visit the studio’s!

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If you can’t fix it, you don’t own it – follow-up

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After exploring the wonderful world of “State of repair“ from the Motherboard, I kept a  Close eye on other documentaries they put online.
And today I spotted a fantastic item (with a great title): “The Rogue Tesla Mechanic”.

It shows (in a painful way), what direction we are heading with our own capabilities to diagnose and fix stuff we buy (and though we fully owned)

The more I think about it, the clearer it gets that this really is an issue. Not only for professional users like the farmers and their tractors, but also for us, consumers who buy produces and automatically are ‘held hostage’ (in a friendly way…) by the companies that makes the products. It has been like that for many years, but recently I feel it has become part of the business plan / strategy. Before it was more the unwillingness or lack of interest to do something about it.

Just like with trying to improve the safekeeping of our private data with GDPR, I could be an idea to legislate diagnose and repair capabilities on a larger (European) scale, to force companies to design differently.

The reality is that new technology (upcoming IoT products) are so bad when it comes to ownership / control / secure that it becomes funny. just check “The internet of shit“.
(or check their Facebook page)

Eye-watering funny (and sad…)

The below example shows that selling you expensive headphones (300 euro) is only the beginning of the milking process…

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If you can’t fix it, you don’t own it!

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Motherboard has a fantastic series titled: “State of repair“.
I’ve seen a couple of episodes now and was amazed how modern day technology is more and more unrepairable (or at least that’s what the OEM-er would like you to think).
I like to way the documentaries are filmed and directed; it shows respect for the people that are portrayed and time is spend on delivering the story.

Quote from Motherboard

The future is wonderful, the future is terrifying. We should know, we live there. Whether on the ground or on the web, Motherboard travels the world to uncover the tech and science stories that define what’s coming next for this quickly-evolving planet of ours.

Take a look at the guys who keep the (aging) newspaper machinery running for the New York times. It got me thinking about my own work and the pride I take from fixing stuff, teaching it to my son and anybody else that wants to listen. But it takes so much time in today’s world.

And then the farmers in Nebraska with John Deere Tractors, completely filled with proprietary software and firmware systems, impossible to fix yourself. (as they always did in the last 150 years of mechanisations) When reading a title like “Tractor Hacking” I’m sold man!

The right to repair is now adopted by 18 states in the US and looks like a spreading awareness that an owner should be able to at least diagnose what is wrong and be able to know what’s inside.

And not to miss in the overview are “the last Pinball technician in New York city”.
Are these jobs the new jobs that will be added to these kind of lists soon?
I love Pinball machines and come to think of it, it’s probably because of the direct connection between me doing something and influencing mechanical / electrical stuff; addictive!

Finally on this list (so far), the crew from Motherboard follow the Ifixit guys in their hunt to get the latest Iphone X to be able to tear it down as quickly as possible to show the world what’s in it!
I was truly amazed when the Ifixit lady sad: “chip manufacturers want us (Ifixit) to tear down stuff and to show the world that their chip is inside the Iphone, because they can not say than themselves due to NDA, etc”.
Ifixit, just as repair.org want to create awareness for the (electronic) world around us and how it influences us. See also this video.

Somehow all the above mini-documentaries are also an ode to Makers and tinkerers. To those who just dare to pick up stuff and say: “O really, I’m not supposed to know what’s inside or to repair it? But I own it! I paid for it, so I will fix it (or break it even more 🙂 )

NB; here a link to the Ifixit Iphone X tear down movie on youtube.

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A new Link-o-Rama

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Lumen mixed reality; interesting concept.
Then I remembered that Arvind is the guy from DIY Hacking…. yep.

A very old idea in a new and hip(ster?) way: The Ground fridge

If you know the sounds of these things, you are older then me 🙂
Great project that is ‘saving’ sounds from the past.

»Conserve the sound« is an online museum for vanishing and endangered sounds. The sound of a dial telephone, a walkman, a analog typewriter, a pay phone, a 56k modem, a nuclear power plant or even a cell phone keypad are partially already gone or are about to disappear from our daily life.

A giant Ship-hull-breaking Hexapod robot from the TU Delft.

Raspberry Pi’s can be used for everything!
Just take a look at this flying sensor board.
Great fun and very DIY.

 

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So, what are robots up to these days?

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Back in 2015 I linked to a story about a Dutch company planning to 3D-print a bridge.
Now, 3 years later the bridge is almost done.
And I must say, it looks beautifully!

It’s not only a nice new way to 3D print stuff, but because of printing the bridge, it is also a engineering revolution.

When completed, I’m sure many tourists will gather to see it.

If you hate putting together IKEA stuff, but love their designs, these two robots can help putting an IKEA chain together in 20 minutes. The remarkable thing here is not the time, but the simultaneous motion, the visual capabilities, the motion planning and cooperation to get the task done. The Nanyang Technological University in Singapore is investigating this with the use of mostly “off hte shelf robot parts”.

Fully autonomous robot snow plough, isn’t that a good idea?

Yes, why not? meet YETI.

 

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2018 – Let’s have another link carrousel!

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  • I know the english adage: hidden in plain sight” but this build is too much if you ask me…. read the story and it becomes even creepier!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • The Leaning Tower of Lire.
    Michael from Vsauce works together with Adam Savage to find out the secrets behind “the leaning tower of Lire”.
    Wauw, there is NO Wikipedia page on this subject 🙂

Some more info on the subject can be found here.

 

  • Short movie: Sight, contact lenses with augmented reality.

Nicely made, but a bit too much for my tasting.

I do like the Wingman app 🙂

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