Just thought I’d post a couple pix I took of last night’s total lunar eclipse. They were taken with a Nikon D200 through a Questar reflecting telescope. Clouds covered the moon until right after totality so I missed the first part. I had to crank up the gain on the camera so some of the pictures are very grainy, but they still came out okay. The blurry edges on some of them were caused by the moon moving during the exposure.
Sunday is the day that KITT fans have been waiting for since 1986; It’s the return of Knight Rider! (Yes, I’m choosing to ignore Knight Rider 2000 and Team Knight Rider.)
I’ll show you how to build a pneumatic confetti cannon that sprays bits of paper all over the place at the push of a button. It is safe to use and easy to build, and the confetti shower effect it produces is excellent for stage shows, dances, parties, and those times when you need to make the biggest mess possible in just under one second.
Gary Adams was kind enough to send in this great article on how to repair the pump in a Lite F/X fogger. Gary reports that he was surprised to find that it was a spring in the pump that had broken, not the O-ring that he suspected would go first.
This is part 2 of the Rooftop Flying Crank Ghost article. In this half you’ll see how to make the ghost itself, connect it to the motor and install it on your roof for all your neighbors to see.
The “Flying Crank Ghost” has become a popular prop to build amongst home haunters. There are plenty of instructions on the Intertubes on how to build them, but I decided to go a slightly different direction with mine. I wanted it to be more cartoony and ethereal than most. It also had to be pretty big because I wanted to put it on my roof. Also, I wanted to be able to adjust the motion fairly easily without having to drill new holes each time. It turned out pretty well, so now I’m going to show you how you can make your own Scott-style cartoony roof flying crank ghost.
Your doorbell works hard day in and day out letting you know when somebody wants you to come to the door, but it probably doesn’t see as much action all year long as it does on Halloween night. Just in time for the scariest night of the year I’m going to show you how to transform your boring old doorbell button into a creepy disgusting eyeball that must be poked and squished by unsuspecting victims if they have any hope of summoning you to give them candy.
It’s sad news for those of us in the Pacific Northwest; Boeing Surplus will be closing down.
Boeing Surplus is a place in Kent, WA where Boeing sells off surplus tools, machinery, computers and material. For years it’s been a fun place to go to look at weird stuff and even occasionally buy something. Their computer deals were typically hit or miss (you had to get there early in the week when they put out the new stuff), but every once and a while you’d walk out of there with the perfect tube or just the right block of aluminum. Where else could you go in with $1 and come out with a bucket full of safety glasses?
The fun ends on December 21, so plan to make your final trip to this great place before then.
George Mattson, the guy who invented the first performance synthesizer (the Syntar) back in 1979 is at it again. He’s created a modular synth that is affordable and extremely portable. The small folding case measures 11-3/8″ wide x 15″ high x 7″ deep.
Pixelh8 has been developing a Game Boy based synthesizer cartridge called Game Boy Music Tech. It’s a fairly simple, straight-forward synth with some fun features like pitch sweep up/down, wave duty, volume envelope and octave. You can also have the sound of 2 game boys with unison, 1/5th and octave modes. It also has a few drums and sound effects.
The cartridge is on sale now and will be limited to a run of 100 units. It is scheduled to be released on October 14, 2007.
Check out Pixelh8’s web site for more information and a Java-based demo of the synth.
