Arduino Five Ten Egg Timer circuit - John LeMasney
English: Photograph of an Arduino Duemilanove (2009b Revision) Português: Fotografia de um Arduino Duemilanove (Revisão 2009b) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The next Princeton PC Users Group meeting is August 26, 2014 at 7:00 pm at the Lawrence Branch of the Mercer County Library, New Jersey.
John LeMasney on “Hands-On Arduino”
Arduino is an electronics prototyping platform that allows you to scratch your own itch. It exemplifies the making movement, in which we are moving away from off-the-shelf solutions, and moving towards regaining a sense of how things work. Come learn how to gain a new control of the technology that we use everyday.
Bio:
John LeMasney is a technologist, designer, and artist working in New Jersey.
Arduino Five Ten Egg Timer circuit - John LeMasney
I love the five-ten egg. It’s a hard-boiled egg that leaves the yolk just a bit soft and the outside done. Simply boil water, drop your egg, and watch your time. At 5 minutes, ten seconds, pull and ice bath the egg to stop cooking. Peel, enjoy.
I have been relearning my Arduino chops, and one of the ways that I’ve done this is by recreating the Arduino starter kit projects, including one for a digital hourglass.
I decided to repurpose the digital hourglass to light an LED each minute through five minutes, then blink the last LED for ten seconds. Here is the circuit:
Arduino Five Ten Egg Timer – John LeMasney
Here is the code:
/*
Arduino Starter Kit example
Project 8 – Digital Hourglass, modified to a Five-Ten egg timer.
This sketch is written to accompany Project 8 in the
Arduino Starter Kit
Parts required:
10 kilohm resistor
six 220 ohm resistors
six LEDs
tilt switch
// named constant for the switch pin
const int switchPin = 8;
unsigned long previousTime = 0; // store the last time an LED was updated
int switchState = 0; // the current switch state
int prevSwitchState = 0; // the previous switch state
int led = 2; // a variable to refer to the LEDs
// 60000 = 1 minutes in milliseconds
long interval = 60000; // interval at which to light the next LED
void setup() {
// set all of the LED pins as outputs
for(int x = 2;x<8;x++){
pinMode(x, OUTPUT);
}
// set the tilt switch pin as input
pinMode(switchPin, INPUT);
}
void loop(){
// store the time since the Arduino started running in a variable
unsigned long currentTime = millis();
// compare the current time to the previous time an LED turned on
// if it is greater than your interval, run the if statement
if(currentTime – previousTime > interval) {
// save the current time as the last time you changed an LED
previousTime = currentTime;
// Turn the LED on
digitalWrite(led, HIGH);
// increment the led variable
// in 1 minute the next LED will light up
led++;
if(led == 6){
// the 5 minutes is up, light up fifth LED, then blink last LED for ten seconds, then leave solid.
digitalWrite(6,HIGH);
for(int b = 1;b<6;b++){
digitalWrite(7,HIGH);
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(7,LOW);
delay(1000);
}
digitalWrite(7,HIGH);
}
}
// read the switch value
switchState = digitalRead(switchPin);
// if the switch has changed
if(switchState != prevSwitchState){
// turn all the LEDs low
for(int x = 2;x<8;x++){
digitalWrite(x, LOW);
}
// reset the LED variable to the first one
led = 2;
//reset the timer
previousTime = currentTime;
}
// set the previous switch state to the current state
prevSwitchState = switchState;
}
all you can eat sushi retro diner sign - John LeMasney
all you can eat sushi retro diner sign – John LeMasney
I love when retro ideas are mashed up with contemporary trends, and so I decided to make this retro style diner sign about ten-dollar all-you-can-eat sushi. The original that I worked from was a sign for five-cent bottomless coffee, and this was the contemporary equivalent that came to mind.
Tonight, I had the opportunity to see the first of 8 films offered as a series on the artist in society at Princeton Public Library, and I enjoyed the first immensely. I’m not sure if one can describe the following discussion of the film as spoilery, but be warned that I discuss the entirety of the film’s impact on me below, no holds barred.
Art and Craft is a documentary about Mark Landis, a schizophrenic, compulsive art forger and philanthropy addict. He’s a fascinating figure, but only one of a few fascinating figures in the film. The site for the film synopsizes as follows (emphasis mine):
“Mark Landis has been called one of the most prolific art forgers in US history. His impressive body of work spans thirty years, covering a wide range of painting styles and periods that includes 15th Century Icons, Picasso, and even Walt Disney. And while the copies could fetch impressive sums on the open market, Landis isn’t in it for money. Posing as a philanthropic donor, a grieving executor of a family member’s will, and most recently as a Jesuit priest, Landis has given away hundreds of works over the years to a staggering list of institutions across the United States. But after duping Matthew Leininger, a tenacious registrar who ultimately discovers the decades-long ruse and sets out to expose his philanthropic escapades to the art world, Landis must confront his own legacy and a chorus of museum professionals clamoring for him to stop.“
On art and originality
The film explores the question, subtly, of whether a forged copy of a piece of art is art itself. I believe that the film’s stance is that it is very much so, and I believe I agree. Mark is an amazing draftsman, a master forger, and both a recluse and a social butterfly. He is certainly an artist of the highest caliber, even if the work is not original. In one portion of the movie when he faces his fans and critics, he is repeatedly asked why he does not do original work with his masterful skills, but the film shows the obviously missed point: The reason for the bit of fame he has is in the deception of it. His original work, such as the rendering of his beloved mother, has very little to offer in terms of originality or insight. It’s just a nice picture. Art gains value because of persona. Major questions also arise about the ethics of what he does: He donates, rather than sells, the forged works. In the final part of the film, we learn that Mark is looking to forge stolen works and use his priest persona (one of many) to give the masterfully forged works to the owners as though from penitent thieves, and my own question is what is the harm in that? If it returned some joy to the robbed, then what is at loss? If the owner who lost the work wants the work back (and not the monetary value of it) then are they not made whole?
On sickness and madness
Mark is an alcoholic, has several illnesses including schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, and related ills. And yet, I personally felt that Matthew, who is obsessed with Mark’s forgeries is not only derailing his life with his focus on Mark, but also passing on his illness to his daughter. I asked in the Q & A after the film which of the figures, Mark or Matt, was more tragic, and the answer from co-director Jennifer Grausman was that they were both kind friends, fine people, who both felt very good about their role in this effort. In my opinion, Mark is heroic (Quixotic?), and Matt is tragic. The sad reality of the film is that Mark has triumphant, funny moments throughout, and Matt is just sad, obsessed to the point of job dismissal, and a bit toxic, due to his anger. Still, the framing and editing of film paints a picture that may not exist in reality. This is the plot of this film though. A question was raised in the Q&A after the film about the potential effect of the film on Mark, and it was said that the filmmakers were “concerned for his health”, but that he came to showings, and enjoyed the reaction of the audiences.
On the irony of a curated show on Landis’ forgery
In about the middle of the film, it’s revealed that there is going to be a show of Landis’ forgeries. Matt celebrates the show as a revelation of a sham, but everyone else seems to treat it as fascination and celebration of Mark’s genius. Mark agrees to appear at the opening for the show, and Matt sees it as an opportunity to confront him. It is an electric, uncomfortable moment in the movie that seems to be lost on Mark, and a disappointment for Matt. Matt is critical and overbearing in the reception, and Mark asks Matt at one point “Are there any nice people here?” It is fun, cringeworthy stuff. The gentle way in which the curators treat the forgeries is delicious. They use all of the care that they might handle the Mona Lisa with in arranging and examining the work. There are UV lights, white gloves, and care given in equal measure to pieces that Mark throws about with no care at all. The juxtaposition of those ideas shows the genius of the film’s editing.
On the state of mental health care
Part of the documentary is Mark’s madness. His working through his mother’s 2 year-old death, his father’s dismissal, his creation and manipulative use of a non-existent sister, his role-playing as a priest to manipulate the kindness of others, and his deceptive puppetry of Matt and others. In the film, he visits with case workers and nurses who seem to be adverse to his care, ignoring his state, and pushing him through a system that is clearly uncaring and not working.
On the film itself, and the series
The film is beautifully directed, edited, and told. The interspersion of classic film clips that explain Mark’s thinking, the painful way in which Matt’s madness is exposed, and the tale of the difference between art and craft are all done in a spectacular way. Anyone remotely interested in mental health, the “art world”, or craftsmanship should run to see this movie. I especially appreciate the series being offered on the next seven Mondays at 7pm at Princeton Public Library on the Artist in Society. The discussion is necessary, the films are brilliantly curated, and the work of a contemporary library is to expand the minds of its patrons. PPL is doing that. Special thanks to Janie Hermann and Susan Conlon for their curation and arrangement to bring this work, and its creators, to our attention.
67 of 365 Dance by Antoinette Marchfelder & John LeMasney via lemasney.com
67 of 365 Dance by Antoinette Marchfelder & John LeMasney via lemasney.com
This is a collaboration between Antoinette and I. Antoinette has a lovely drafting ability, and makes the most beautiful, colorful, jungle-inspired work. We’ve worked together in Inkscape, to help her expand her digital working style. In this case. I asked her if she had ever used a Wacom tablet, and she said that she had one, a small one. I brought out my lovely 24 inch Wacom, handed her the stylus, and she made this inspiring dancing figure you see above. I added the text below her illustration. We used an image of a lit match as the palette, and applied a range of tones from the very bright parts of the flame, to the darker smoky background. Fun work, and thanks Antoinette!
nowhere placemark geolocation by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
nowhere placemark geolocation by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
I was alerted to Toby Greenwalt’s great blog theanalogdivide by Sophie Brookover of Library Link NJ, in which Toby just proposed a series of design problems as they relate to libraries. I love a good design problem. Here he introduces the first problem, and below I answer it in my own way.
“Your first challenge? Create a online library card signup. You could say that signing up for a library card is our equivalent of what websites refer to as onboarding – the process with which a user becomes part of that site. Sites invest significant work-hours and enormous sums of money to make this process as appealing as possible?
Libraries? Not so much. Whether through requiring in-person visits, confusing policy, or resorting to PDFs, libraries tend to get in their own way when it comes to attracting new users. We can do better than this. I’d like to use this inaugural Challenge to prove it.
Your criteria:
Design a workflow that a hypothetical user would use to sign up for your hypothetical library. You’ll need to use this design to address the issue of proving residency.
If there’s a policy that needs to be set in order to make your design work, you’ll need to explain that policy.
Any medium is OK. Pencil-and-paper. Google Form. Flowchart. Photoshop mockup. Working prototype.
If you draw inspiration from somewhere, cite your sources. I’d love to hear a bit about your process.
You must have your design published by Monday, May 5th. Remember to email me (toby at theanalogdivide dot com) with the link. If you don’t have your own web space, feel free to send me the design and I’ll publish it here.”
~ theanalogdivide » Blog Archive » The Librarian Design Challenge –
So my answer is as follows:
Advertise a shortened URL (via whatever advertising channels you wish) to a Google Form in which you allow a new patron to fill out a form. Form logic should require all required fields, such as full name, address, email, and phone number, etc. If payment is required, payment information can also be collected, but should occur later in the process, after address is verified.
As you may or may not know, all google forms publish results to a spreadsheet, which can be exported to a CSV for use in a mail merge.
Daily or weekly, a mail merge can be used to create mailable postcards with a unique code (autogenerated) that is sent to the address of the new patron.
A patron who receives the postcard at the indicated address will submit the code and payment information to a second URL (encrypted) if any payment is required. The code validation reasonably proves residence to the degree that this is possible through electronic means.
Upon code submission and or payment processing, the patron’s new card is mailed out, or made available for pickup, depending on the patron’s preference.
This mimics Google’s own location verification process for business registration listing in Google Places service https://support.google.com/business/answer/2911778?hl=en&visit_id=637299706572194876-2550561397&rd=1).
Related articles
Library to excuse fines in exchange for food donations
John LeMasney to defend Android vs. iOS tonight at Princeton Public Library
Infinity Table Being Built for Arduino Build Night
Control an IR Device with a Spark Core
Library to excuse fines in exchange for food donations
John LeMasney to defend Android vs. iOS tonight at Princeton Public Library