Dave at Dorkbot

I could have read about how to spend a few dollars to make a microphone worth about $150, but somehow, going to the Ottawa Dorkbot meeting last week and seeing the one that Normand made and hearing him talk about it, has made it dramatically more likely that I will start making my own microphones.

And then seeing Jordan's Arduino controlled audio sequencer and another fellow's $30 amplifier has made it more likely that I'll be making those too.

I don't think I'll be doing the circuit bending on old video titlers that Sean does, but he gave me some great ideas for what I can do with the toy electric guitars I've been collecting.

They invited suggestions for future meetings, I'm going to ask if someone might have ideas for "things to do with discarded VCRs" [other than build inuksuks with them].

 
Links

• Build your own microphone circuit [Normand suggests varying capacitors from 2.2 to 10 microFarads  and resistors from 2.2 to 10 k-ohms.]
• Digikey.ca for the WM-61A and other Panasonic electret microphone capsules
• Outdoor Flowerpot Microphone
• Tiny amplifier kits
• Arduino Tone Sequencer
• Puredyne audio software
• ArtEngine Blog
• Signup for the Dorkbot Ottawa Mailing List

Instead of Blogging - Managing the Email

I am excited because my inbox is approaching zero. 14 items right now (and 31 in the DMZ).

One of the emails contains an exchange between me and a kind reader:

My New (Old) Organ, photo by dailyinvention

From: Sheila

Sent: August 27, 2008

To: David

Subject: Could you use organ keys for art?

My musician hubby came into possession of an old (70s perhaps?) electronic organ. It doesn't work, and he's taken what bits of electronic whatnot from it that he can use in other projects.

I'm wondering if the cabinet, keys, brightly coloured buttons, etc. might be of interest or use to a found-objects artist. The poor object is otherwise destined for big-blue-truck day next Monday.

It's not a lamp, light bulb or umbrella, but is it of use to you or anyone you know? Perhaps as something to hide behind in case of zombie attack? I'm more plugged into the literary and writerly community than the visual arts, but I do hate to see old tacky 70s stuff go to waste...

From: David

Hi Sheila, I'm truly grateful that you thought of me when you had something this cool to offer me. Alas, I don't dare take it. Things are out of control right now and I've got to make a bunch of stuff with what I have on hand before I take more stuff in. If all the electronic stuff is out of the organ, maybe you could use it as a box to hold other stuff. Or, you could put somebody's birthday present in it, and have fun for the first few minutes when they think you've given them a messed-up old organ. Mind you, you have to choose the real gift carefully so that the recipient doesn't wish they actually had the organ instead.

From: Sheila

Oh, that is tempting. We've a birthday in-house today... Thanks,

From: David

Let me know how it works out.

p.s. May I blog our email exchange? If so, how would you like your name expressed? Would you like a link to a webpage?

From: Sheila

Blog away! I tried the Ottawa Art Gallery as well but (holiday weekend and all) no takers.

Alas, the organ is now gone, taken by the giant blue crunching truck.

No link to my website, (tho' very kind of you to ask) it's not really relevant to the organ anyway, and my site and blogs are in my real name (which I'm guessing yours, and Jo Stockton's are not) so now I'm thinking on screen names.

As I type this, I can't believe I turned down the stripped out organ. I keep thinking about the coloured keys. They have words on them, don't they?

Meanwhile, another email I am about to delete is from Google Alert that lets me know what I'm up to every where. I'm happy to report that one of my good twins is having another fine cricket year. At least, I assume it's good. He "took 4-23 for Denbigh" earlier this month.

On the other hand, I seem to have acquired an evil Google Twin. I'm sure he's not really evil. Probably. It's just that he's scared of "fcuk all", his favourite movie is Scarface, and he's happiest when he's "tattooin or gettin tattooed" (i.e. getting stuck with needles or sticking them into someone else.)

I have to admit I'm starting to wish my brand consultants had pushed harder for Michael Intaglio's Blog when I started this project.

Try the Marriage of Figaro

Two weeks ago, we were out to see Ball and Chain at the Elmdale. They were promoting tonight's birthday party for Hank Williams at Irene's. "Are you coming?" They asked me because I was sitting right up front.

"Going to the opera," I said.

"Not the opry?"

Nope. It was the opera. Mozart's Il Nozze de Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro).

Odds are you are not an opera fan. Please keep reading anyway. I'm not going to go on about Mozart and how brilliant he is and I'm not going to go on about how incredible this opera is. You can read articles about that by people who know more and write better than me.

But I can tell you that I've seen about ten operas here in Ottawa and this production was the most moving one I've seen and that includes a different staging of The Marriage of Figaro.

If you'll try anything once and that extends to going to an opera, this is the one to try.

That is because if you don't like this staging of The Marriage of Figaro, you are never going to like opera, but you'll have given opera an honest shot.

Be forewarned, this is not the opera with the famous Figaro, Figaro, Figaro song. That song is in the Barber of Seville.

But it is an opera with genuine laughs and stunning performances of emotional depth. And for 1786, highly controversial, for both sexual and political content.

Le Nozze di Figaro«If, my dear count, you feel like dancing it’s I who’ll call the tune.» - Figaro A day of intrigue, mayhem and desire grips the household of Count Almaviva. Figaro, the Count’s valet, is to marry the Countess’ maid Susanna – but the unfaithful Count seeks to seduce her first and Figaro must act quickly to thwart his master’s plans. A parade of impetuous and scheming characters contributes to a comical day of seduction, trickery and a clash of the social classes!

Sung in Italian, with English and French Surtitles

September 13, 15, 17 & 20, 2008 [8:00 PM]

Southam Hall, National Arts Centre

Hipster Travel Kit 2.0

Remember the Hipster Travel Kit? Zander is about to be off on a big trip, so I thought I should put one together for him. But Zander will want to travel light and I'm sure he's already got a bandana or two. So I came up with a new trimmed down model.

The Hipster Travel Kit 2.0 Contents:

• Large pill bottle with water proof and child proof cap;
• 2m of Gorrilla brand duct tape wrapped around the bottle;
• Loop of elastic cord: clothesline, fastener;
• Tea candle and half a match book;
• Earphones with convertible plug for airplanes and regular use;
• Ear plugs: for sleeping in noisy places and protecting your hearing in clubs and at concerts; and

External to kit:

• Binder clips; and
• A microfiber towel (did you know that many European hotels do not have washcloths in their bathrooms?)

Ginger Concord Tea

It has been a busy weekend here at Scrimshaw Labs. Amongst the usual hustle bustle, I've invented a new beverage and and it's ready to be brought to the market.

I caught a cold last week and Manon kindly made me ginger tea with honey and lemon. It's fantastic stuff. (Some consider it to be the best cold and flu home remedy there is, others suggest avoiding sweeteners.)

Of course, when Manon came down with the same cold and I started getting better, I was obliged to make ginger tea for her. But you know me. I can't leave an ancient recipe alone. I have to mess with it.

Did you know that the southern-side of Ottawa homes provide a perfect microclimate for growing concord grapes? They do; and, every year at this time, the grapes at the ScrimChateau are ripe and ready for eating or being turned into grape jelly. Unfortunately, there is some sort of labour issue at the jelly factory and so I am having to find alternate uses for the grapes.

And one of these is now Ginger Concord Tea!

1. Cover the bottom of a pot with a layer of concord grapes, roughly two grapes thick.
2. Smush the grapes with a potato masher.
3. Grate a ginger root into the pot (the more ginger the better, for a 4-litre pot, I'd recommend using a root about the size of your hand.)
4. Fill the pot with water.
5. Bring the water to a boil.
6. Let the tea sit for a while.
7. Drink warm, luke warm or chilled.

Notes:

• You may quibble with my use of the term "invent", but nobody seems to have come up with it before me.
• The FAO says that ginger tea: "Improves digestion, energizes, relieves diarrhoea and stimulates appetite. Used for treating common colds, flu and nausea."
• And the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition says that concord grape juice "flavonoids are potent antioxidants that may protect against oxidative stress and reduce the risk of free radical damage and chronic diseases."
• The European Journal of Clinical Nutrition says that drinking regular tea is better for you than drinking water.
• Just about anything seems to be better than drinking carbonated soft drinks whether sweetened naturally or artificially.
• But I make no health claims for ginger concord tea. [For all I know, it may have a long list of possible side effects.]
• The only claim I make for ginger concord tea is that it tastes great.

Also see New Product: Ginger Concord Cubes

It's fine with me if you don't use Facebook

I have admitted it before. I am on Facebook.

Here are the things I do on Facebook:

• Confirm as Friends people that I actually have met;
• Occasionally update my status to say that "David is" doing something innocuous;
• Respond to an invitation by indicating that I may go, so that I can easily copy the event into my Google calendar;
• Look up ex-girlfriends;
• See if friends have posted embarrassing or sexy pictures of themselves;
• Seek damaging information about people suing my client;
• Delete invitations to join political groups;
• Reject all invitations to sign up for games, contests, quizes, etc; and
• Respond to personal emails from people for whom I do not have a proper email address.

Here are things I don't do on Facebook:

• Instant messages (they creep me out);
• Games, contest, quizzes, etc;
• Ask people to have lunch with me by posting a message on their "wall";
• Send messages to people I already have a proper email address for; or
• Send out party invitations.

When you send me a message through Facebook, I get an email that tells me so and tells me what the message is. I can reply directly from my email system, but I will have to type over the "noreply" address with enough of your name that your address pops up. If I have your address. If I don't have your address, I will have to click on the Facebook link in the email, possibly log in to Facebook, and reply there. I'll delete the Facebook messages, but I won't be confident that Facebook isn't keeping it all in an archive somewhere.

Like many of my generation, I have an unfortunate tendency to get cranky. The extra clicks, typing, and possible privacy breaches I just described bring out that crankiness. Now that I have mentioned it here, I am more likely next time to remind myself to not get cranky about this and your using Facebook rather than email will help me on my path to not getting irritated by little things. On the other hand, depending on how slow my computer and browser are, you might have wasted 30 seconds to a minute that I could have spent writing something you'd like to read.

If you want to stalk me, you may find you're better off going with this blog, my Google calendar, and Flickr than with Facebook.

Bonus Link for people who have read this far and are not fond of live squirrels, a Youtube video that shows you how to hunt squirrels and make sandwiches with them. [I think it might be for real.]

Bonus news about my life for people who care, it occurred to me that since the used components that made up the urban inuksuk aren't all going to leave the house soon (so far only the little TV and 2 smashed VCRs are gone), they might as well be stacked in the inuksuk shape and when I mentioned this to Manon, she was actually enthusiastic. So it lives again. For a while.

I Wish You Would Use Google Calendar

This is the first post in a news series. I was going to call it "Social Applications That I Use That I Wish You Would Also Use", along with its sibling series, "Social Applications I Use That I Wish You Would Not Use", but my experience with "Things I've Been Doing Instead of Blogging" is that a long title for a series has disadvantages that I prefer to avoid.

You would improve my life if you used Google Calendar.

With Google Calendar (or "GCal"), I can send event listings, appointments and tasks to my Outlook calendars at home and work. I can send event listings to friends and if they use Google Calendar, Outlook or any of the many other compatible calendars, these dates will go into their calendars as well. If I've put the address in correctly, there will even be a link to the Google Map for the place.

When an event is in your electronic calendar, not only do you see it when you look at your calendar, but you can get email or pop-up reminders. As many as you need. (And I often need a lot.)

If you used Google Calendar to tell me about an event, I wouldn't have to cut and paste the details into the various fields of my calendar. I would just have to "accept" and it would be done. If I want to invite someone else, I put them on my invite list and they can do the same.

Added bonuses:

1. Using a GCal notice, You're less likely to leave out critical details like time and location.
2. Many more people RSVP to calendar requests than to ordinary email invitations.
3. You get most of the benefits of one of the eVite type sites without the annoyances. /li>

Additional Tips:

• The Quick Add feature is pretty smart at figuring out what various ways of writing dates and times are. If you type "at 414 Bank St" it will figure out that 414 Bank St is the venue for the appointment.
• If you want Google Maps to show the location for a building, but you have other information, like the name of the building and what part the event is in, put the additional information in parentheses after the address. (Here is an example.)
• You need to be careful about your "private" and "public" settings. I once came across the calendar of an Alberta sociology professor because she'd set her calendar to "public" and, after she added a conference in Ottawa to it, it showed up in a listing of "Ottawa" calendars. She may not have minded strangers knowing her lecture schedule, but probably didn't want us knowing the names of her doctors and how often she saw them.

Finally, if you are not going to use Google Calendar to tell me about an event on your web posting or email, please at least use actual text to do it and not a jpg or gif of a poster advertising the event. I really hate typing when I shouldn't have to.

TIBDIoB: The Urban Inuksuk

A couple of years ago, I told Keane I wanted to make an inuksuk. (According to Wikipedia, "inukshuk" is a mispronunciation and"inuksuk" is the preferred spelling. The weird thing is that it seems that what I wanted to make is actually an "inunnguaq" because I wanted to make a cairn representing a human figure. But, "inuksuk" means "something which acts for or performs the function of a person," so why is a person shaped inuksuk supposed to have a different name? I'm afraid the discussion page on Wikipedia is no help on this question and only goes over the "s" or "sh" spelling battle.)

Unlike on the barren tundra, flat rocks are hard to come across here in the centre of Ottawa. So I decided to use urban materials. Keane happily agreed to help me in the quest and between the two of us we amassed a good collection that was kept, of course, in my basement.

Because of the decluttering mission, today was building day. Keane came over, we carried the pieces out to the driveway and we put it together. We could have consulted a reference on building inuksuit, but it was obvious how everything should go together.

We took photos, and then took the head off and waited in the driveway to get sunset pictures. (We took the head off because it belongs to Kaye and she'd be upset if it fell off and broke. We stayed in the driveway because Keane felt that people would steal the pieces of the inuksuk. I thought he was imagining things, but it is garbage night here and there were a bunch of guys on bicycles who kept circling past. They could have been fans of cultural art.)

Quite a few cars stopped. Some people took pictures. A couple of kids really liked it. "It's a robot," one shouted.

I didn't want to contradict him and maybe turn him off Inuit art, so I said "Not a very smart robot."

"But it's cool," said the kid.

I thanked him for the compliment.

Finally the sun got low in the sky, we took our final shots and then brought the pieces back into the house.