Another quick post

I'm afraid I've had a pretty busy week, so this blog entry is rather an afterthought rather than something to be proud of. I spent much of the week finishing my DT coursework - apart from some minor corrections and amendments, it seems that I'm finished, with 5 weeks spare. Certainly a rare occurrence for me.

I also rediscovered one of my old favourite games this week:

Jak 3 - One of the defining games of my childhood.

The Jak and Daxter series are, put simply, some of the best games on the PS2, both technically and in terms of pure enjoyment gained by playing. The gameplay and mechanics aren't complex, and the game isn't particularly challenging, but the simplicity,appealing art and beautiful graphics (especially given that it was designed and written over a decade ago for a machine with less ram than the average mobile phone), combined with a simple but effective storyline, make for hours of pure fun. If you haven't played the series, start with the original Jak and Daxter - you won't be disappointed. It simply isn't possible to dislike these games.

Signing off now, since I have to wake up in less than 4 hours. Fun.

Oh, and Benji? I note a severe lack of post for the week...

Over too soon?

That Sunday night feeling kicks in especially hard after half term... That and the massive mound of homework.

So, I spent much of the last couple of days working through my DT courseworks. The plural was used because I pretty much finished the one I was meant to have finished last term (year), polished up my "current" one, and spent a fair amount of time wiriting up the 3D printer, for use as my coursework next year. In related news, I'm still waiting on the electronics for the 3D printer. I'd like to thank Dave R for his kind donation of some bits and pieces towards the printer, but I'll say so properly in an email once I have a bit more time on my hands.

In non-DT related news, I saw Inception for the first time. My mind was well and truly blown.

Sorry this post is so short - as partial compensation, I leave you with this video. I'll make another post to make up for the inadequacies in this one.


There is still hope left in the world.

Charlie

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Points for the first person to work out the significance. Mega bonus for naming an author who uses a similar system of chaptering...

Some of my project updates

So, one project I've been working towards over the last few weeks (well, a bit over a month, on and off) has been a 3D printer. It works by "squirting" out molten (ish - plastics behave oddly) plastic through a nozzle, and working upwards in layers. I spent a fair amount of yesterday writing that up in typical DT coursework style. Progress so far is that I have a set of motors (3 NEMA 17s and a NEMA 23), nozzles, materials for the extruder, electronics (some still in the post), and a fairly decent idea of a design in my head. More on this to follow in upcoming posts...

The weekend before last, I took some time and finally rebuilt an old laptop I had lying around. I wasn't too fond of the original scratched and worn red look, so I might have made some small alterations. Before, the laptop started as a (particularly horrific) shade of red. Now, nearly 2 cans of spray and a good few hours of work later: 

Because Photoshopping (badly) is easier than tidying your desk...

The ugly scratches on the lid are because I didn't lacquer-coat it afterwards. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how that turned out. In future, I won't leave out the protective after-coat though!

Apart from that, I spent a pretty straightforward weekend at a family meeting of sorts, attempting to tidy, and accomplishing a fair amount of coursework.

Until next time,

Charlie

PS The sun hasn't risen yet, so no slaps owed ;)

An eventful weekend...

So, my Saturday was a pretty eventful day. I got up, headed to the post office (well, sorting office) to pick up some stuff I'd missed, despite being home when they claim they had tried to deliver it. Delivery people are skilled at that. In the collection of parcels was an F/1.8 50mm prime lens. Those of you who are into photography will probably already know what that means. For the others, it's a lens which allows a metric shit ton of light through it - yes, that's a non-standard (read: made-up) unit of light. It also means that I have to walk around whilst using it since there's no zoom, that it's very light indeed (the entire camera with lens weighs about 650g), and that it has very shallow depth of field. It's low-light performance is pretty amazing, although it takes some getting-used-to.

From the post office, I went along to Auto Soc (if you go to school with me and have an interest in mechanical engineering or cars, ask about it!), before moving smoothly into building a laser. This isn't your average 1mW pointing laser though....

Much like a Mafia boss, looking at this guy the wrong way can lead to some very nasty consequences...

It outputs roughly a thousand times more power than your average pointing laser in the UK. The "actual" colour is a royal shade of blue - 445nm, not violet as the picture would seem to suggest, but cameras aren't exactly designed for handling the focused intensity of laser light. More on this laser to follow before too long.

After having some fun with my new lens around town with some friends (but completely failing to take any decent photos due to my incompetence at focusing), I ended up home. I watched a film (the original Rush Hour - not particularly deep or moving but amusing enough) before going to bed. I promptly wasted most of Sunday procrastinating my homework time away. Now here I am.

That's all for now, but expect some more shortly..

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(Scott Pilgrim reference combined with Benji reference FTW)