July 31, 2008
Wow! Something Worth Posting about in SL
It has been a while since my last post. Probably been spending too much time in Second Life puttering around with things that are not worth posting about (or thinking about or probably doing in the first place at all). I ran across this old entry in the SL Education Blog: Spotlight: Virtual Chemistry for Real Student. I really like the idea of just chatting out a chemical name and having a model of it spin up before me. I’ll have to drop by this spot sometime very soon.
Filed under: Harmless Fun, Second Life, Education and Chemistry.
Posted by eric at 10:26 AM | Comments (1)
July 14, 2006
If the IRS Had Discovered the Quadratic Equation
Ran across this when I was hunting for a cheat sheet to refresh my memory on the quadratic equation (never could remember the discrimimant correctly) and found it particularly ammusing given my recent tax filing experience. A Math prof. at Amherst has reduced the equation to an IRS style form, Form QF. I particularly like the Negative Discriminant Worksheet.
Filed under Harmless Fun, Math, Quadratic Equation and IRS.
Posted by eric at 11:18 PM | Comments (0)
September 25, 2005
Friendship 7: Steps 12 through 15
It's been a while since I’ve made time to work on the Friendship 7 model (and the offspring is starting to get impatient). This afternoon was able to run through step 12, attaching the periscope, through step 15, starting on the retro pack.
Must say that the periscope came out rather nice. Could use a bit of black magic marker on the edges. Suppose I should have thought of that before attaching it.
Filed under Harmless Fun, Scale Modeling and Paper Models.
Posted by eric at 10:07 PM | Comments (0)
August 29, 2005
Further Work on Friendship 7
It’s a bank holiday here today and I imagine that most of the population not laying about in the sun in the parks around here has upped sticks and headed down to Brighton. Me, I’ve been ready for a nice relaxing day. I’ve gotten in lots of good walks lately and been quite busy when not walking so I just hung about the flat catching up on things.
One such thing to catch up on is construction for my son’s next present, the Friendship 7 model. Shown here is its progress today through steps 3 (attachment of the hatch) through 9 (assembling the recovery compartment collar). Thus far, it’s been much easier working with the larger pieces of the 1/14th scale capsule than the tiny 1/96th scale one that goes with the launch vehicle model. So far the most difficult piece has been fitting the inner top sleeve for the recover compartment. It looks like my fine point black marker is inadequate to the task of blacking out the exposed edges on the top of the recovery compartment. I’ll have to pick up one with a more substantial point.
Filed under Harmless Fun, Scale Modeling and Paper Models.
Posted by eric at 05:22 PM | Comments (0)
August 28, 2005
Starting on the Friendship 7 Capsule
It’s time to get back to work on the next present for the offspring. This time I’m working on the larger scale model of just the capsule from John Glenn’s Friendship 7. Completed steps 1 and 2 this afternoon; cut out the basic capsule, cut out the ports for the periscope and observation window, and form the capsule’s cone.
So far, it’s much easier working with the larger pieces. The cone was comparitively easy to form and it’s large enough that holding one end of the seam in place while gluing the other was a trival matter. This made getting the edges aligned properly much simpler than I’ve found it while working with the small scale capsules that go with the launch vehical models.
Tomorrow I should be able to find enough time to get at least the hatch, periscope and observation window fitted. I think that the end product may be a bit large to safely post through international mail; it is, after all, only made of paper. Perhaps I should keep this one as a surprise when he shows up here. In the mean time I can put together another Mercury-Redstone or maybe a Gemini-Titan that I could send him.
Filed under Harmless Fun, Scale Modeling, Paper Models.
Posted by eric at 06:50 PM | Comments (0)
August 13, 2005
Back to Work on MA-109D
I promised my son before I left North Carolina that I’d send him a capsule for the MA-109D model the booster part of which is still with him. With the a bit of real leisure time before me this morning, I made a start at take two of building the model of John Glenn’s mercury capsule. (Take one went horribly wrong with the capsule assuming a weird elliptical shape; just looked all wrong.)
Above are all the parts cut out, which I accomplished late last night, and to the right we have all of the tubes formed aside from the LES column. It’s going much more smoothly this time.
I was unable to find anything quite like ordinary protein glue (i.e. Elmer’s) so I’m using some stuff called Copydex. It seems like some kind of latex emulsion. It works OK but starts setting very quickly. The initial placement of the surfaces is absolutely key. I’ve also noted that if you fiddle with the fit very much at all, the adhesive just kinda gives out.
Filed under Harmless Fun, Scale Modeling and Paper Models.
Posted by eric at 04:47 AM | Comments (0)
July 20, 2005
Finally, a Bit More Progress on the Model
What with preparing to move, moving, and preparing to relocate overseas, there hasn’t been a lot of time to devote to quiet pursuits like model building these past few months. This are, for the moment at least, reasonably well settled. The offspring has been picking up the partially competed Mercury-Atlas model and admiring it, probably wondering when Dad’s likely to get around to finishing it. So, while I was playing with him last night, we gathered up the booster so far and the remaining parts sheets, collected some scissors, glue, and a toothpick and sat down at the kitchen table to make some more minor progress.
The results shown here include the construction and attachment of the LOX pipe and verniers. My LOX pipe looks like somebody took a ball-peen hammer to it with a will. The fairly heavy weight paper I printed the pattern out on doesn’t lend itself well to being rolled up into a tube that narrow. The Atlas portion of the assembly is taking shape. All that’s left to the booster are the engine bells. Then the Mercury capsule and we’re done.
Filed under Harmless Fun, Scale Modeling, and Paper Models.
Posted by eric at 01:25 PM | Comments (0)
June 11, 2005
New Best Video Yet on Overspun
OverSpun > Archive > A Humble Theory…
A couple of days ago McLusky posted an excellent video pastiche of some of the Bush administrationࢩs more recent antics. Itࢩs about 4Mb of .wmv and well worth the download (link).
Filed under Harmless Fun and Shrub.
Posted by eric at 12:01 PM | Comments (0)
May 27, 2005
An Outing for the Offspring
I´m playing Mr. Mom this weekend. Had to stop by the office this AM to start up a server that I neglected to leave running last night. Brought the toddler along and then, as it was only a little further down Duke St., we went on to the Museum of Life and Science.
The offspring has already had several enjoyable trips there. It´s a pretty reliable destination. The visit began on a top note when he noticed the Mercury-Redstone stack sitting out front. Dad has occasionally worked on constructing paper spacecraft models with him and so his knowledge of rocket taxonomy is rather advanced for one of his years. He immediately ran up to it exclaiming “Mercury Redstone!” He can also pick out a Mercury-Atlas and a Saturn-V. But I begin to boast. We haven´t gone much into the Gemini-Titan stack yet.
Inside we visited with a couple of space capsules. (The Apollo engineering test article was a big hit as he could climb around in it.) We also took long, repeated looks at the LEM test article they have set up in a lunar diorama; very interesting for the tot.
Outside we had great fun with the array of bells, some purpose built, most found objects. And after prying him away from them, went on to have lunch then make our way out – once more paying homage to the “big rocket”. Unsurprisingly, he was asleep almost as we pulled out of the parking lot. He´s down in his room now still sleeping this morning and afternoon´s activities off.
Posted by eric at 03:53 PM | Comments (0)
Vi Reference Mug: Too Cool
Boing Boing: vi command reference mug
Might just have to pick one of these up. Being a 22 year veteran vi user, now vim, I really don't need a reference. Heavens no! But it still might be worth having if for no other reason than to advertise the extreme abstruseness of one of my favorite tools.
I'm a bit curious about this picture though. Either the perspective is dead on top, bottom, and center or this is not a picture of an actual product but an artist's concept. Kind of a vapor mug. Maybe a Longhorn reference mug would be an appropriate vapor mug.
Filed under Harmless Fun.
Posted by eric at 12:06 AM | Comments (0)
March 29, 2005
A Tiny Bit More Work on MA-109D
Haven't had much time to devote to trivialities like model building lately. While the offspring was playing with his markers and paper this evening, I managed to cut, form and attach the fairings for the Atlas booster portion of the MA-109D model. Now all that's needed are the LOX pipe, the verniers and the main engine bells and the booster will be done. Then all we'll need is a Mercury capsule to put on top.
Posted by eric at 10:46 PM | Comments (0)
March 03, 2005
Further Progress on the Mercury-Atlas Model
The offspring was a bit more focused this evening so Dad was able to make more than trivial progress on the MA-109-D model, if only just. I managed to cut, fold, and attach the instrument pods to the sides of the booster. Each of these pods is an exercise in origami than modeling with some ten separate folds for each pod.
Posted by eric at 11:09 PM | Comments (0)
February 26, 2005
A Visit to NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Decided to take a bit of a break today; well not exactly, we're selling our house and we had to clear out to make way for a whack of Saturday afternoon showings. After stopping at McD's for a breakfast and visit, for the toddler, to the playspace (which, incidentally, was an absolute zoo around lunch time) we headed into Raleigh to visit the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, another local resource we've sadly neglected. Our primary goal was the current special exhibit on NC gems and minerals, "Treasures Unearthed." It's a good exhibit and is on until around June 15th so if you're in the vicinity and like rocks by all means drop by and shell out the three bucks or so it takes to get in.
There were some great pyrite samples along with many flavors of sapphire. An interesting curiosity was the first recognized sample of hiddenite collected in NC back in 1880. For school age children there's a hands on area where they can play with trying to puzzle out how to construct lattices conforming to various symmetry classes. We spent as long in the exhibit is the toddler’s attention span would permit and then went off to other exhibits.
Posted by eric at 08:31 PM | Comments (0)
February 24, 2005
A Smidge More Work on MA-109-D
As a demonstration of how our toddler now has a typical two year old's attention span, here's all I managed to accomplish tonight while he was at the Play Doh; a few folds in the smaller instrument package for the Atlas booster.
Posted by eric at 09:41 PM | Comments (0)
February 01, 2005
Mercury Adapter Added to MA-109-D Model
The toddler was quite a handful this evening with a shorter than usual attention span so but little was accomplished on the ongoing MA-109-D project. I managed to form the Atlas-Mercury spacecraft adapter (the little black section at the top) and attach it to the booster section. A bit of a surprise is that the adapter actually widens toward the top. The Mercury space craft must be just a bit wider than the then current nuclear warhead package for which the Atlas booster had been designed.
Posted by eric at 10:54 PM | Comments (0)
January 25, 2005
Now it's starting to look a bit like a booster
Managed to snatch a few moments to work on the Mercury-Atlas 109-D model while keeping the toddler from doing too much damage to the house, his toys, or himself. (In fact he was pretty well behaved but very full of energy this evening.) It's now beginning to resemble a booster. I think the lad will be much more interested when I start attaching the engine bells. You can use the play doh tiki in the background for scale, if you happen to know how big a play doh tiki is.
Posted by eric at 10:39 PM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2005
MA-109-D Step 2
Once again, just a little more progress on the Mercury-Atlas 109-D model. If the actual space program ran at this pace, Alan Shepard would probably only just now be getting ready for lift-off. Part the reason for my slow pace is that I only work on it when I both have some time and my son can watch. He's become quite a big fan of the early space program.
Posted by eric at 11:04 PM | Comments (0)
January 18, 2005
Some Slight Progress
As can be seen below, the offspring's attention span this evening with the play doh and markers was sufficient to allow just a little more progress on the MA-109-D model. I'm finding that the heavier paper is a bit more difficult to deal with in a couple of ways. First, there's a lot more ink on the photo glossy paper and one must take care not to over handle it lest it rub off or smear. Second, it takes a bit more finesse to shape the cylindrical components avoiding creases and such. Anyway, it looks like the glossy photo paper will make a nice shiny body for the Atlas booster which is as it should be.
Posted by eric at 11:05 PM | Comments (0)
January 12, 2005
Knit Your Own Apollo Guidance Computer
Say, if you're planning a quick trip to the moon (see earlier post), you're gonna need a guidance computer to have a hope of finding your way. Why not use the tried and true Apollo guidance computer? So far as I know nobody who used one ever got lost. You say your local Best Buy is fresh out? No trouble, John Pultorak has worked out how you can bolt one together in your basement (link). While you’re shopping for parts, don't forget you’ll need two; one for the LEM and one for the command module.
Posted by eric at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2005
How to Build Your Own Apollo LM
Picked this up as a gift for myself while Christmas shopping last month. If you find you need to pop round to the moon for a spot of cheese and need some plans for your ship or if, like me, you remember the Apollo Program and are still fascinated by it, or for those who are perhaps a bit younger but saw Apollo 13, and want to know more -- a lot more -- about how it was all done, this is a really fun book.
In this work Scott P. Sullivan, whom I can only imagine has either no life or far too much free time or possibly both, has exhaustively studied the remaining examples of the Apollo LM and as much remaining documentation as he could find on the engineering effort that produced them and has generated an impressively complete solid model of the whole craft. The book consists of some 250 pages of images generated from this model that together present to the reader the LM in all its engineering beauty. The picture that emerges is in enormous detail. There are, for example, eight pages of detailed images showing the structure and operation of the scientific equipment bay door assembly. All you will ever need to know about the landing gear is shown in seventeen pages of images.
As I won’t be building my own Apollo space craft, at least not for a while yet, and as I want’ have enough time to construct scratch models of the LM, I really can’t argue that I need this book. I do however read a lot about the early space program and this book, together with its predecessor Virtual Apollo which I definitely plan to get, will provide a handy context reference while reading about the various moon missions.
Posted by eric at 08:03 AM | Comments (2)
January 09, 2005
Starting Work on MA-109-D
As mentioned in a previous post, at some times when I've convinced my 2 1/2 year old to engage in some creative behavior such as drawing, coloring, or working with play doh, I join in by working along side him on something of my own. Of late, I've been working on paper spacecraft models. Unfortunately, the attention span of your average 30 month old child is not all his parents might wish it to be. Here's as far as I got on a model of John Glen's Friendship-7 during the last family craft session.
At this rate, it's going to take until July to finish this piece.
Posted by eric at 10:48 PM | Comments (0)
January 06, 2005
Completed Model of MR-8
Of late, while my 2 1/2 year old [Friends & Family link] has been fiddling with play doh or coloring in some book or other -- and on most occasions it has in fact been a coloring book -- I've been building a paper model of Gus Grissom's MR-8 suborbital ride. I finally finished it up and am happy enough with the result that I've ordered the CD containing the rest of the Mercury Program models. This effort would probably have ended up better had I printed out the PDF containing the parts on heavier bond. I used 26 lb. paper but 50-60 lb. photo quality paper would probably have worked a little better and made construction easier.
Posted by eric at 01:58 PM | Comments (0)