Showing posts with label robots. Show all posts
Showing posts with label robots. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Analog Awesome in the Mail! (And randomish things)

Today I received the most amazing bit of analog awesome in the mail with an exhortation to seek the solace of the type bar and platen. And so I did, with a recently acquired Smith Corona Silent Super. The loop script looks fabulous with NOS silk ribbon I found at an estate sale last month. First, the card:
Nerdgasm! Photography and typewriters in one bit of awesome.
Thanks to the mysterious Typospherian from the Phoenix area who inspired me to do a first run with the new ribbon. This photo is going on the pin board in my office at work.

Yep, I finally got one! It showed up BIN on ebay and had been sitting there for two days. Maybe I will get lucky on the last Holy Grail Fractur machine. Or I will win the lottery.

This blog has been sadly neglected as I post my photography on Google+. The hit counts are based on some assumptions that only Google's data geeks understand. I assume that anytime an image is clicked on that counts and perhaps being refreshed inside a community does as well. Either way, last night when a number appeared on my profile page I was just shy of 2,000,000 views. It is only a digital ghost town to those who do not post and interact.

Interestingly enough, a Polaroid connection is one of the things that has kept me busy was attending and participating on a panel at the BuildWell 2014 conference located at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. The keynote speaker was John Warner of the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry. His career as a rock star chemist started with improving process and chemistry for Polaroid.

Normally, sustainable building policy is hatched in never-ending meetings in dark and poorly ventilated conference hotel spaces. This conference was an exception to the rule.

Everything is still brown and dead in Kansas. I hate/envy Californians.
It was a whirlwind trip featuring a loud and nasty turboprop to Denver and an unexpected Japanese toy exhibit inside the San Francisco airport. I had trouble leaving and took plenty of photos with my new traveling companion, the Fujifilm X100. Here are a few samples. There are more images on my G+ collection. San Francisco 2014

Hello, spinning blade of death! United did a bait and switch and changed planes from a regional jet to 1940s turboprop technology. The view was cool, though.
Kitty exercises mind control. All shall walk like her. Obey the Kitty.

Fly the friendly skies! These carnival ride parts might be better than a United regional plane. They might be better with luggage. My bag took more abuse in one round trip than in 30+ before.

Pay no attention to the robot army. Robots are your friends. Mostly.

Me, after United delays and crap planes arriving eleven hours after leaving home in Kansas City. I will avoid United like the plague if at all possible. Live trips will be replaced with webinars and Hangouts given the sorry state of air transport in general.

Well, this entry took a couple of unanticipated twists. It was good to bring the blog back to life. I am lurking on the Typosphere. Busy is a regular state of being with two teens and work. Teen one will start the college search next year. Life just blurs along and I shoot street and candid because it makes me happy.

Thanks for reading!

Obligatory Copyright statement: The words and images here are mine and mine alone. Please share the Google love by resharing, +1s, comments and linkage. Image borrowing without attribution is stealing. Beyond digital copyright issues, I has friends among the giant robots and Kaiju. You have been warned.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Geek Pride Day! The 2013 Edition

Happy Geek Pride Day!

Today we recognize one of the defining moments in modern Geekdom that was the release of Star Wars on May 25, 1977. As with last year, I will celebrate by featuring the some of the awesomely geeky things I have featured on this blog or photographed in the last year.

Sometimes I even surprise myself. What kind of a geek put this blog together, anyway?

This is the Army that turned the tide in the war against the Mayan Destructors.

Could it be the Mayans came up with that world ending calendar concept as an elaborate means to introduce a new typewriter acquisition?  Anything is possible in tinfoil hat conspiracy land.

The Christmas Squirrel is an astute military commander.

The freakingly amazing Curiosity!

Celebrating a special birthday.

Experts in green inspect a repainted machine.
Zombie on the streets of Kansas City. I hope no one steals their coffee.

The House Full of Nerds viewing the Transit of Venus.

Typecasting on vacation.

I got to see five separate Shakespeare performances since Geekday 2012.

A Maker, making.



You never know what will turn up at the local Maker Faire. Go, you must.

Your career at NASA

The Vintage Technology Obsessions crew visits San Francisco for Greenbuild 2012


Godzilla put up a valiant fight against the Mayan Destructors. Thank goodness the world didn't end!
The absolute highlight in my year in Geekdom was staying up to watch the livestream of Curiosity landing on Mars. This bit of awesome was brought to us via the great, modern disruptive force known as the Internet. It is gratifying to see personalities from the mission team become media rock stars. Really, we live in the Golden Age of Geek.

Photographing my screen.



That's without mentioning the amazing photos from the ISS courtesy of Chris Hadfield (my daily Twitter fix) and all of the awesome news rolling out of Elon Musk's technological market disruption empire. Tesla just became the first auto maker to fully pay back its government loans and is attempting to circumvent the dealer franchise model of selling cars. SpaceX completed the first commercial mission to the ISS. Geeks, without a doubt, are on a roll!

Oh, and thanks to Yahoo, Flickr and digital imaging, everyone is now a professional photographer!

Prom photos at the Duke University Gardens last week. Sure, Yahoo's CEO rolled back the snarky comment about professional photographers, but it appears she really meant it. Does that mean every 12-year-old that makes an app is on par with a Google system architect?

On a personal note, I am especially proud of my Geeklings. They have had an amazing year full of music, drama and obsessive academic over-achievement. Highlights include Geekling the Elder playing Curtis in a school production of "Taming of the Shrew" and Geekling the Minor (aka: gingercat) being recognized in the Duke TIP 7th Grade Talent Search.
 

In case you are interested, the 2012 parade of geek that is Vintage Technology Obsessions is at http://vintagetechobsessions.blogspot.com/2012/05/geek-pride-day.html

Thanks all for reading this little blog of mine! I would probably do it without anyone looking, but the hit counts (approaching 50,000), Google Plus Ones and comments from people like you are gratifying.


Friday, April 19, 2013

How green is the Olivetti Lexikon 80?

Just how green is our Olivetti Lexikon 80? Let's ask the experts!

Most Green Experts Agree: "So pretty!"

 A few weeks ago I received a functional Lexikon 80 purchased through ebay. The fact that it worked is a testament to sound engineering and design. It was covered in the all-too-familiar sludge patina of old nicotine, dried lube and fine dust. Over the years, the dull, gray body shell had been cleaned aggressively. The color was none too attractive to begin with and was only made worse for wear by embedded dirt and fine scratches.

The machine as shown on ebay. You'll have to imagine the sticky nicotine and oil film. The end of the carriage draw band came undone during shipping.
Why did I buy this ugly machine? I've been watching Lexikon 80s for close to a year and have only seen five listed on ebay. Of the two others confirmed as functional, one was pickup only and another had an extra wide carriage. One entertaining listing showed a Lexikon with a two+ foot or so carriage covered in rust with no hood. I saw one come and go on etsy priced at several hundred dollars. This beast was $49 plus shipping.

 Obviously, this machine needed a makeover. I looked at the rattle-can paint available at several local auto supply stores and was unimpressed. Ultimately, I picked a color available at a local hardware store. It is vaguely reminiscent of an Olivetti color. We think it looks nice enough to live indoors. As for the shade of green, we asked the experts to weigh in on our redecorated machine.

Little Godzilla approves of the keyboard feel. "Light and snappy!", he says.

Shogun Godzilla and the Attacking Martian find this shade to be appealing.
Getting color balance right can be tricky when shooting green objects. One of the images I posted on Google+ was trippy acid green. In some light it looks darker. If I were less lazy I would break out camera manuals and figure out how to balance against a gray card. Maybe someday.

The infamous Google+ introduction. I took this with an early iPhone in my garage under fluorescent lighting. The extreme does make an impression.


We could compare the Lexikon with another green typewriter. How about Keylime, our Duotone Royal?

I just spent a week running off an iPad and iPhone. Forgive the typos, etc.



Other Lexikon 80 posts from the Typosphere:
http://idreamlo-tech.blogspot.com/2012/07/holy-grail-reveal-olivetti-lexikon-80.html
http://writingball.blogspot.com/2011/11/olivetti-team-installment-1.html
http://writingball.blogspot.com/2010/08/olivetti-lexikon-80.html

And two Graphika machines:
http://writingball.blogspot.com/2010/12/olivetti-graphika.html
http://writingball.blogspot.com/2013/03/going-public-part-4.html
http://www.retrotechgeneva.com/2012/05/big-reveal-olivetti-graphika.html


Sunday, January 20, 2013

Opportunity Rover Ninth Anniversary: January 25, 2004

This post commemorates the 9th anniversary of Opportunity landing on Mars on January 25, 2004.  It is hard to believe a machine designed for a 90 day mission could still be functional in the harsh Martian environment for this many years.  I've included some highlights culled from various NASA and JPL sources. (Updated January 23, 2013)

Artist's rendering of Spirit or Opportunity rover exiting the landing platform.  The blobs in the foreground are airbags.  Prior to Curiosity, the primary means to land a rover on Mars was to enclose it in an airbag and let it bounce to scrub off the last bit of of momentum.
This is how the Spirit and Opportunity bouncy balls rolled on their landings.  The technology is still amazing, but it seems like stone knives and bearskins in comparison with the Curiosity skycrane landing platform.

Here is the official press release noting the first signal from Opportunity on January 25, 2004.
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20040125a.html
(excerpt)
NASA's second Mars Exploration Rover successfully sent signals to Earth during its bouncy landing and after it came to rest on one of the three side petals of its four-sided lander.

Mission engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., received the first signal from Opportunity on the ground at 9:05 p.m. Pacific Standard Time Saturday via the NASA Deep Space Network, which was listening with antennas in California and Australia.

"We're on Mars, everybody!" JPL's Rob Manning, manager for development of the landing system, announced to the cheering flight team.

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said at a subsequent press briefing, "This was a tremendous testament to how NASA, when really focused on an objective, can put every ounce of effort, energy, emotion and talent to an important task. This team is the best in the world, no doubt about it."



I remember reading the news that came out after the mission extension press release.  Having Spirit and Opportunity on overtime at day 90 was amazing then.  Getting one of these rovers to year nine was inconceivable at the time.

NASA Extends Rover Mission - April 8, 2004
(excerpts from press release)
"Given the rovers' tremendous success, the project submitted a proposal for extending the mission, and we have approved it," said Orlando Figueroa, Mars Exploration Program director at NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

 "Once Opportunity finishes its 91st sol, everything we get from the rovers after that is a bonus," said Dr. Firouz Naderi, manager of Mars exploration at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., where the rovers were built and are controlled. "Even though the extended mission is approved to September, and the rovers could last even longer, they also might stop in their tracks next week or next month. They are operating under extremely harsh conditions. However, while Spirit is past its 'warranty,' we look forward to continued discoveries by both rovers in the months ahead."

At the time of this writing, we are still several days away from the ninth anniversary.  Here is the eight anniversary press release.
Opportunity Eight Anniversary Press Release

JPL posted an image of the view from Opportunity on its eight anniversary.  Mars is only a little less lonely with the arrival of Curiosity.


JPL continues to provide regular mission updates at http://marsrover.nasa.gov/mission/status_opportunityAll.html  As of January 10th, Opportunity is in great shape with some memory cache issues similar to problems Spirit had in its first year.  After waking up from a long Martian winter last May, it has been on the move and doing science.  Fortunately, a good windstorm helped clean off the solar panels and increase power output to around 460 watt hours.  For perspective, Opportunity is working on just enough energy required to run one toaster slot and has run on far less depending on dust buildup, season and atmospheric opacity.

Update:  On January 24, JPL posted a fresh image of Opportunity hard at work on Mars on Twitter.  Great job, Opportunity!
Nine years on and still doing science... happy dance!
 Update:  On January 22, JPL provided a mission update and a ninth anniversary panorama view from Opportunity.
A high resolution version of this image is available at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/pia16703
Ninth Anniversary Press Release:  http://marsrover.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20130122a.html 

Once again, here are images to compare and contrast generations of Mars rovers from the U.S.  First, here are proving ground models of each rover.  We've gone from something the size of a dog to a nuclear pile powered, laser equipped laboratory in a very short time.




And, as a contrast, here is my favorite rendering of the Curiosity landing platform.  This is a long way from the bouncy rover approach of prior generations. 

I just found a fresh rendering of another view of the landing from Caltech.  Like!


 I'm wrapping up this entry the day before the 2013 Inauguration.  The NASA "Mohawk Guy" will be marching in the parade with part of the mission team and a Curiosity model.  Here is the model getting some finishing touches.



As for the Inauguration, my spousal unit, MEK of the House Full of Nerds, is in D.C. and just send some preview images of the bleachers I scored tickets for.  She is taking a friend and will get to sit right across from the White House!  I try to keep this blog as a Casablanca style politics neutral zone.  If you are interested, I posted photos from my trip to the 2009 Inauguration at 
http://digitalmemoryhole.blogspot.com/2013/01/obama-inauguration-2009-redux.html
 
Update:  The NASA photo set from the Inauguration parade is at 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/sets/72157632550413537/with/8395896054/ 

Yes, this post is supposed to be about Opportunity.  Ultimately, each rover generation is a stepping stone to the next.  I can't wait to see what our technology looks like in 2030!

Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas from the House Full of Nerds!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays/Holy Days from all of us to all of you!

Vintage Technology Obsessions passed the 30,000 page view mark sometime last night.  I appreciate your visits, comments and all your creative endeavors.  The Typosphere is a darned nice place to be.

As for the handsome guy at the center of this photo, be sure to read about the Origins of the Christmas Squirrel at
http://vintagetechobsessions.blogspot.com/2011/12/on-origins-of-christmas-squirrel-part-1.html
and
http://vintagetechobsessions.blogspot.com/2011/12/origins-of-christmas-squirrel-part-2.html