Our school was recently lucky enough to witness the construction of a sand mandala. What I didn’t realize is that the tools that the monks use to place the sand makes a really interesting scratching noise. They used one tube with a small channel in it that had ridges on the top. This was scratched with another tube, which lets a small stream of sand flow. The organizers ran a short question and answer session to answer the reasoning and representation of the mandala, and then preceded to perform a ceremony and wipe away the sand into a jar, which was then transported to a nearby lake. They were working on this particular mandala for about a week, from nine to five.

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In this photo we are gluing the foam to the wooden plug we made of the boat hull. After the foam sets and dries, fiberglass will be laid on the outside hull and the inside. The motors will mount on the rear transom, which is strengthened with a special honeycomb layer.

More updates to follow.

Doc is the one on the bottom.

They’re gerbils purchased from the local Petsmart. I need to make their power generating wheel now so that they have some utility other than looking cute (see xkcd #231). Anyway, they’re quiet, not smelly at all, and don’t seem to bite (although they don’t enjoy being picked up yet).

Right now, they’re happily digging, digging, digging.

I used and abused my Rio Karma like any piece of electronics I own… which eventually led to breakage. The main power switch is mechanical, and due to its positioning between the cases’ button and the circuit board, it can separate and break the solder joint. (I boxed the switch in red). So I took it apart and touched it with some solder. Good as new. It took probably about another year for the switch to completely break, at which point I had two wires that stuck out of the case. Another common problem with the Rio Karmas was for the little scroll wheel on the upper right to come unseated. Fixing this also involves disassembly and gluing it back in place.

I currently use a Creative Zen Vision:M 30 gB(Awesome and cheap!).

Knots

• I got some new books for the holiday… One of them is The Ashley Book of Knots (Amazon link) published in 1944 by Clifford W. Ashley. Consider this the grand-daddy of knot tying volumes. It’s definitely a reference for any application that you can possibly think of (it even includes necktie knots). I had some 550 paracord that’s been kicking around, so I tried my hand at some of the decorative things. Below is a ‘Carrick Mat.’ It’s a very relaxing thing to do.

I have a coaster now.

Club Websites

• Also, I spent part of my semester designing a new website for one of my clubs, Order of the Golden Lion. Unfortunately, TCNJ hosting has just about every php function disabled (upload, gd library, you name it), and they use postgreSQL. The design isn’t built from scratch (no time, and others know better), and is not as pretty as MTW’s Asian American Homepage, but it works well enough. It uses Drupal, which is a different approach to Content Management Systems than Wordpress is… think Wordpress stripped down to nothing, and it’s up to you which modules (read: plugins) to install. The grand plan is to roll out some package of Drupal for the school so club websites are better.

Standards!? Who needs standards?

• RJ3Labs is now fully w3c compliant! Wooooo! Thanks goes out to the creators of this theme. Also, check the links pages for some new things.
• New CAPTCHA to catch evil spambots.

Upcoming Events

• You should all go see my buddy Vegas Lancaster doing his comedy thing in NYC at the Triad Theater on January 19th. Check the website for details.

Stay Tuned!

Photo c/o Wikipedia Commons, GNU Free Doc License.

*Drool* I just finished watching Long Way Round (pretty good series, will get you to want a motorcycle dearly).

As far as adventure/capable/long-haul bikes go, I’ve compilied a little list of possibilities. The thing that really links all of these bikes is their versatility and comfort on longer rides. Think: “Sport touring”

• Suzuki V-Strom DL650 / DL1000 (K4 on)
• Kawasaki KLR650 (This bike apparently has a little less oomph at highway speeds, which is why the V-Strom is appealing)
• Honda Shadow 1100
• BMW F650 Dakar
• BMW R1150GS (as seen in Long Way Round)
  

And the Royal Enfeild 350 is just sexy.

Check out my friend Ed Koloski’s deviantART page with some of his fantastic pictures of fireworks and urban decay. He currently shoots with a Nikon D200. *someday…*

I’m currently finishing up the last week of school, so I’ll have some posts on my CNC machine on the way. Stay tuned.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180135346858

Outdoor Products Vertical Compressor Bag Regular

One of the advantages of this style of kites is that there isn’t any frame to pack away. I can now keep everything portable and tangle free!

Pictures from the 2007 SAE Baja Competition in Rochester, NY. Click for more!

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