Robert Narracci's blog

So about 25 years ago I lived in a 5000sf loft space for $500/mo. The windows were falling out and the heat was splotchy but I was young and resilient and it was a great place to host parties with garage bands (NH post crack-war, pre-boom days, ahh nostalgia)… We had to build our own rooms which were more like little boxes inside of a big room so, fresh out of college I commenced to buying tools. One of my first buys was a Dewalt circular saw. I forget the model but it was simple, lightweight, trustworthy and I loved it.

 "Lies, damned lies, and statistics?"   http://journal.c2er.org/2013/09/how-can-i-create-my-favorite-state-ranking/

So Gina and I were having coffee this morning and chatting with our friend Katy, when I noticed her 18 month old Paul grabbing hold of a parked bike's chain. Even though I thought this was funny (becuase for no good reason I would have done the same thing ....from his age up until about a couple of years ago) I didn't laugh but warned Katy who noted that he just had a bath (bonus dirt points) and that he really wants to ride a bike and that maybe she should get him a tricycle.

With a little help from the internets I taught my self the basics of Grasshopper (Rhino plugin) this weekend for the purpose of analyzing a complex tower geometry. In the course of my research I came across this posting, illustrating a way to flex file parameters with ultrasonic sensors hooked up to arduino boards. Kind of cool. Thought you guys would be interested.

Video of the thing in action

http://vimeo.com/20004747

Blog Entry

So I attended last night's get together and learned what a stepper motor is and helped Kam fix one that was jammed (good clean fun), but the highlight of the evening for my own personal self was when Ian Applegate showed up riding a bright green vintage Schwinn Sprint wearing an Evel Kneivel motorcycle helmet AND, under the helmet, Dominique Pinon wrap around shades (VR glasses) that were electronically broadcasting to his eyeballs what his handheld camera (in his hand at that very moment) was seeing.