Search found 74 matches

by VIRAND
Tue Jun 20, 2006 10:14 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: -JPKNHTP
Replies: 4
Views: 2580

Put them in a record lathe and backup your I-tunes!
They'll outlive your ipod and you too.
by VIRAND
Mon May 29, 2006 11:13 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: HD Radio
Replies: 4
Views: 2458

It's still legal to "fix" your free AM/FM radios.
You can even still buy mod-kits to get the old analog IBOC channels called "SCA-FM".
But I can see that the new signal is not quite as "fun" to tinker with.
by VIRAND
Mon Apr 03, 2006 4:46 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Oh Nooooo.....
Replies: 10
Views: 5246

"APRIL FOOLS!" :wink:

You'd have a better chance of surviving falling headfirst through the door of
a microwave oven than surviving tripping through and getting sliced in half
by the 7.2 ghz microwave power beam that is powering the oven!
by VIRAND
Fri Sep 30, 2005 1:04 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Green Laser pen
Replies: 71
Views: 27701

Re: Green Laser pen

In the west, the red lasers are restricted, because they are on guns, and if you see a red dot on yourself, you are going to get shot. The green ones are for aiming telescopes at the stars.<p>In the east, we have red and green lasers. If you believe anyone was arrested for playing with them, throw y...
by VIRAND
Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:23 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: NiMH cells go dead on shelf too quickly
Replies: 16
Views: 8249

Re: NiMH cells go dead on shelf too quickly

Take advantage of the "no memory" characteristic and leave them trickle charging on the shelf until you need them. I mean like 20ma up to 1.4 Volts.
by VIRAND
Tue Sep 06, 2005 10:58 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: LM 3909 near equivalent circuit...
Replies: 12
Views: 12371

Re: LM 3909 near equivalent circuit...

Lead acid cells are 2 volts and it is sufficient to light an LED by wrapping two strips of clean Lead (Pb) in insoluble cloth soaked with citrus, charging it up, and then for safety, maybe, potting it in epoxy. Beware:Chemistry is practically always toxic. Commercial lead+acid cells may be expensive...
by VIRAND
Mon Sep 05, 2005 10:43 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Converting VGA to RCA
Replies: 8
Views: 3983

Re: Converting VGA to RCA

VGA is totally incompatible with television video.<p>A Simple and obvious converter method from VGA to RCA is a television video camera pointed at an LCD monitor. (LCD doesn't flicker).
by VIRAND
Mon Sep 05, 2005 10:10 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: LM 3909 near equivalent circuit...
Replies: 12
Views: 12371

Re: LM 3909 near equivalent circuit...

This link has a replacement schematic for the LM3909.<p> http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/LM3909.html <p>I put the LED flashers in trees as a child for weird reasons and many of them are still flashing today!<p>The chip had a lot of incredibly obscure uses also, which had nothing to do with LED's an...
by VIRAND
Wed Aug 24, 2005 11:01 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Robot Vision (image recognition)
Replies: 6
Views: 3509

Re: Robot Vision (image recognition)

Tennis balls are yellow aren't they? And the background of a tennis court is clay that's either brown, gray, or green. Yellow is a peculiar color of high intensity second only to white.<p>I see a lot of high-tech sequential mousetraps where simpler ones or no sequential mousetrap is needed at all. T...
by VIRAND
Wed Aug 24, 2005 10:28 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Ideas For A Sensor
Replies: 31
Views: 12736

Re: Ideas For A Sensor

sorry don't be confused... one pixel per chip (game-piece) in the camera.
by VIRAND
Wed Aug 24, 2005 10:25 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Ideas For A Sensor
Replies: 31
Views: 12736

Re: Ideas For A Sensor

Assuming I was building this and with the "camera" that has only one pixel for one chip, scanned simply like a keyboard... (I think that is good because the game board is not full of wires.)<p>I would probably also program the robotic arm using programming which is used once on the first r...
by VIRAND
Wed Aug 24, 2005 1:24 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Ideas For A Sensor
Replies: 31
Views: 12736

Re: Ideas For A Sensor

SIMPLIFIED MACHINE VISION<p>1.Find a position where a "camera" can see all the chips, so that no chip hides another.<p>2.Camera=array of 64 photocells positioned inside
a box with a lens, each placed where an image of
a chip appears.<p>http://holodeck.virand.com
by VIRAND
Wed Aug 24, 2005 12:46 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Forget Hydrogen
Replies: 70
Views: 28971

Re: Forget Hydrogen

In the past we laughed at the idea of a car that could run on water or air. Lets have a look at a car that runs on air:<p>The compressed-air electric hybrid.<p>On the road, windmills power air-compressors, so when your car runs out of potential energy, the weather gives you more for free. And if the...
by VIRAND
Tue Aug 23, 2005 11:28 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Caller ID Privacy Manager
Replies: 17
Views: 8107

Re: Caller ID Privacy Manager

At the bottom of a heap somewhere I have a device and SOURCE from 2000, using PIC16C84 and 8220P CID-modem chip, if someone is REALLY interested. <p>My device displayed the CID stream and either prevented ringing or made a buzz if the call was "unidentified", as were all telemarketers that...