This might like an unlikely blog for nerdy stuff, but then, always expect the unexpected. Maybe it's more a story about persistence than about technology, be warned though, I will mention nasty tech stuff.
Some month ago I heard about 3d printing, and got on a mad internet hunt to find out more. The reprap series took my liking, and I found someone in Adelaide that offered ready built Prusa Mendels for a reasonable price.
However, by some stroke of fate my machine arrived elsewhere, and the replacement machine came with a broken z-axis connector. The dream of plug'n'play was gone, well, I knew beforehand that setting up a print host would be enough of challenge, but instead of figuring out 'soft' problems I needed to get out spanners and screwdriver to get things back into action.
Luckily, I received a good amount of spares for the broken part, although I couldn't find too much documentation about the bits I needed to do. Some glued parts were in the way, and I didn't feel too confident in my fixing attempts. It took me literally ages to level the printer, and to dare to connect to its supposed host.
Dealing with Windows installation of Java, Python and some more bits and pieces turned into a nightmare. I relived my frustration that I experienced during my first professional exposure with Windows 1994: An orgy of badly organised system structures and confusing dialogue boxes, an utter lack of common logic, a training in obedience to the machine.
Anyway, the mechanical setup looked okay, what did I know, I never saw a 3d printer in action before. And after remembering that problem-solving with win software usually meant deleting everything and starting over, taking care each step in down in the right sequence, I got a bit further in having something like a printer interface up and running.
I think it took me only half a day to have figured out how to talk to the printer via the interface, and I could dare to see it moving. I could move x and y axis fine, I didn't understand how to move the z-axis. When I used the z-home function, disaster stroke. The side of the z-axis that had survived the transport crashed down, and without a z-stopper (which I moved out of the way without knowing what it was) the z-steppers kept spinning and spinning, until I removed power.
I waited until the next day to get the spanner and screwdriver, replaced the connector with a spare, which took quite some reaming, and had another go. However, in my attempts the night before I changed a driver setting (it's a not a nix system, it still needs to reboot to learn new things), which effectively removed the usb-to-serial driver.
Three or four reboots later I was where I was the night before: A 3d printer that seemed mechanically okay, a software talking to it, and eager to get this thing to print something. I pushed the connect button, and saw the 'start' reply from the printer controller. I spend some time moving the extruder along its axis, noticing that it was tricky to level with the print surface.
When I got ambitious and tried to print, the feeder for the extruder moved, but the temperature sensor for the hotend always showed 500 degrees, and nothing seemed to happen. I aborted printing, and played with the manual switches for hotbed and hotend, yet the mystery remained.
Then the next disaster stroke. While I tried again the homing functions, strange noises occurred while moving the y-axis, and a nut rolled underneath the printer. I was happy enough to print a model on the edge of the build platform (still haven't figured out how to move around with the print tools), and then the y-axis belt came off.
While my hope went up during the last couple of days, the number of obstacles seem to multiply. Even the small model I want to use as test needs plenty of PLA, but as yet I haven't really seen it moving at all. So while I'm relatively confident to fix the y-axis (relatively), the extruder looks like a bigger problem.
At least I had the opportunity to revise my OpenScad skills. Surely, I could use an online printing service, but I'd rather do this after fine-tuning (rapid prototyping, innit) at home. So tomorrow, it's back to some real tools, while searching the interwebs for info about hotends and temperature sensors.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Unacyclist
I did many things as hobby in my lifetime, yet unicycling is something to last. Most urban environments offer sufficiently levelled surfaces, it's a bit faster than walking, much more fun though, and it reminds me of my work as Alexander Technique teacher in a mindful and non-intellectual way.
I also love the reaction of people I encounter along my cruises. Today's ride on a sunny autumn day was action-packed like never before, with some big surprises along the way. At the moment, quite a lot of the bike paths I usually take are blocked off, finding a safe route into the CBD can be quite challenging.
Off peak hours, Lygon Street doesn't scare me much, as long as the cars stay on their lanes the parked cars offer enough space for a slow moving unicycle. Bikes overtake me a lot, and while I soaked in the sunny afternoon, a MAMIL (middle-aged men in lycra) overtook me on his racing bike. He swerved over the tram tracks, and threaded his front wheel into the tracks on the way back. Ouch.
In Dr ABC fashion, while some helper guarded the cyclists from traffic, I moved his bike out of the way, before helping the guy to the side of the road. Assuring he was fine, besides some bruises, I cycled on. At the next set of traffic lights, someone had ripped the metal casing for the button open, when I started my index finger hooked into the sharp end and cut it.
Slightly bigger than a needle prick, the wound bled a bit. When I found something to wrap around the finger, I swerved a bit to the 'wrong side' of the bike track, which was greeted by another MAMIL with an 'Fuckwit!' outcry.
At the end of this section of the bike path, a school class was gathered next to it, spotting me early and spreading excitement. "You're awesome! I saw you yesterday! A unicycle!" And when I finally passed next to them, a round of applause accompanied me. After bowing and thanking it was hard to wipe the smile off my face.
The cruise along Royal Parade and the uni campus went smoothly, yet I kept my guard up for a potential encounter with Melbourne Bike Patrol. The center piece of the most liveable city of the world is currently a nasty construction site, with most of the pavement fenced off for a tight pedestrian squeeze. So unlike in the good old days (last December), when there was hardly any car traffic from the State Library down to Flinders Street Station, I had push along the pavement, and then switching to the road whenever possible.
Finally, on the block of Melbourne City Hall, I spotted two blue-shirted bike patrollers on the other side of the road. I continued my ride, swerved onto the pavement to walk over the pedestrian crossing, when I heard my name. "L, can we talk to you for a moment?"
It was the same constable that gave me last fine, however, his approach was this time much friendlier. He told me that a letter is on the way to me, revoking the fine. It become obvious that they had researched the current road code, and wanted to stop any further processing. More importantly, it seemed as if now the entire bike patrol knew about the lack of compulsory helmets for unicycle. At the next block of Swanston Street, one patroller I hadn't seen before, addressed me by name to spread the good news.
I still don't know how happy I can be about the change of events. Even the short talks I had indicated how much the police knows now about me, and at least the Unacycling incidents. Although I get myself prepared to stand my case in court, I don't insist on turning this into a hilarious spectacle.
I also love the reaction of people I encounter along my cruises. Today's ride on a sunny autumn day was action-packed like never before, with some big surprises along the way. At the moment, quite a lot of the bike paths I usually take are blocked off, finding a safe route into the CBD can be quite challenging.
Off peak hours, Lygon Street doesn't scare me much, as long as the cars stay on their lanes the parked cars offer enough space for a slow moving unicycle. Bikes overtake me a lot, and while I soaked in the sunny afternoon, a MAMIL (middle-aged men in lycra) overtook me on his racing bike. He swerved over the tram tracks, and threaded his front wheel into the tracks on the way back. Ouch.
In Dr ABC fashion, while some helper guarded the cyclists from traffic, I moved his bike out of the way, before helping the guy to the side of the road. Assuring he was fine, besides some bruises, I cycled on. At the next set of traffic lights, someone had ripped the metal casing for the button open, when I started my index finger hooked into the sharp end and cut it.
Slightly bigger than a needle prick, the wound bled a bit. When I found something to wrap around the finger, I swerved a bit to the 'wrong side' of the bike track, which was greeted by another MAMIL with an 'Fuckwit!' outcry.
At the end of this section of the bike path, a school class was gathered next to it, spotting me early and spreading excitement. "You're awesome! I saw you yesterday! A unicycle!" And when I finally passed next to them, a round of applause accompanied me. After bowing and thanking it was hard to wipe the smile off my face.
The cruise along Royal Parade and the uni campus went smoothly, yet I kept my guard up for a potential encounter with Melbourne Bike Patrol. The center piece of the most liveable city of the world is currently a nasty construction site, with most of the pavement fenced off for a tight pedestrian squeeze. So unlike in the good old days (last December), when there was hardly any car traffic from the State Library down to Flinders Street Station, I had push along the pavement, and then switching to the road whenever possible.
Finally, on the block of Melbourne City Hall, I spotted two blue-shirted bike patrollers on the other side of the road. I continued my ride, swerved onto the pavement to walk over the pedestrian crossing, when I heard my name. "L, can we talk to you for a moment?"
It was the same constable that gave me last fine, however, his approach was this time much friendlier. He told me that a letter is on the way to me, revoking the fine. It become obvious that they had researched the current road code, and wanted to stop any further processing. More importantly, it seemed as if now the entire bike patrol knew about the lack of compulsory helmets for unicycle. At the next block of Swanston Street, one patroller I hadn't seen before, addressed me by name to spread the good news.
I still don't know how happy I can be about the change of events. Even the short talks I had indicated how much the police knows now about me, and at least the Unacycling incidents. Although I get myself prepared to stand my case in court, I don't insist on turning this into a hilarious spectacle.
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
28 Khwei
Life is just a ride, it goes up and down and round and round. The more riders we meet, the more obvious the arbitrariness of social conventions become. Among all that seems superficially different lye some fundamental similarities.
We get trained to accept the current society as necessary for our survival as species, and even more importantly, as 'nation'. The need for 'a leader' is hammered into our heads from multiple directions. We tend to forget that those moment in life that shaped it essentially, when we fell in love, when we witnessed birth or death, when we felt one with the universe, know no leader.
Life happens, within us and around us, and while we can pay attention to some events others evade us. Luckily, a lot of interesting events require the participations of a large number of people. You have already missed out on a lot of fun (and some less fun) action if you didn't hang out with occupy yet, yet the evolution needs you as well.
Technology has created a wealth that can easily support every human being on this planet, although most of it found its origin in weapons research. War is still an accepted tool for inter-'national' relations, and a highly profitable area for the application of high tech. The abundance of technological achievements, especially fuelled by Open Source and Creative Commons, could mean an end of all toiling as wage slave.
Some people just do the things they consider beneficial to the well-being of their community. Mankind got mindfucked to believe that technological abundance would lead to a breed of couch potato imbeciles. Well, the experiment in social engineering succeeded to some degree.
The retaliation wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, not to mention Pakistan, were never declared, just started. The same holds true for the war against the population of the Western World, which started in 2008 with the first so-called GFC. De facto, it opened the gates to legal economic slavery, just like the feudal system that plagued Europe for many centuries.
The Icelandic people understood that bowing to the IMF meant slavery to bail out the gambles of a feudalistic banking system. The Greek, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and many other European citizens realise that they got sold out by their Goldman-Sachs appointed heads of state.
Let's minimise the use of 'war' money, and experiment with our own currencies. Why not design fancy notes and pay occupiers for the time they spend for the movement?
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Evolutionary mathematics
How can a group of people bring about a fundamental shift in society? Can we analyse civil movements with mathematical metrics to improve the efficiency of strategies and the definition of goals?
The occupation in Melbourne is still in its Early Adaptor stage, although it seems to resonate enough with a potentially 'critical' mass that can bring things to a tipping point. Allow me to set out some hypothetical numbers while forgetting about ideological bullshit. Melbourne has roughly 4 million citizens, which means if 5% of the population constitute a 'critical mass', it would take 200.000 Melbournians to liberate this city from its oppressors (if the same thing happens globally).
200.000 sounds like a lot, it's probably more than the 'alternative' parties count as members in whole Australia. But occupy isn't a political party, it's more like a life style choice. So metrics from other areas of life might better reflect such a number can be achieved or not. For simplicity's sake and inspired by sometimes shaky optimism, I assume that theoretically 200,000 could be convinced to commit their alliance to the idea of leaderless, consensual direct democracy.
Between now and 200,000 Melbourne occupiers lies the growth of the movement. Growth happens cyclical, linear or exponential. Although most systems and structures based on exponential growth constitute a big part of the problem, a phase of exponential growth is required to save this planet before the greedy few have wrecked it entirely.
Time for some calculations. Let's take 100 people, committed to contribute to the growth of the movement. The goal for each of them is to find a single ally per week. Even for people with a daytime job this sounds like an achievable target. In a linear model, it takes 2,000 weeks (roughly 38 years) to get our magical 200,000 together. A job for a lifetime, a Sisyphus task. Farewell, Mother Earth, will be late for your rescue as we got sidetracked supporting the system of destruction.
Now let's bring some magic in, exponential growth. Our 100 people win allies, not consumers or subscribers, and show their alliance by doing the same. After a week there will 200 'members', after two weeks 400, and so on. Now guess how many weeks it'll take with this growth rate to get to 200,000. Don't peer ahead and spoil your fun. I happily distract you for a while - isn't distraction the real opium for the masses, be it sport, politics, porn, drugs, drama and media?
Already after two months the barrier to 10,000 allies is broken, and the numbers will jump within the next month (after 12 weeks) over the 200,000 mark. Even with only 10 people as starting point it would take a mere 19 weeks to grow to a number where even a 10% mobilisation rate would exceed the size of most rallyes that took place in recent history in Melbourne.
While this might sound like a pyramide scheme, there's an essential difference. In a flat hierarchy, everybody is allowed to take their share from the gains of the operation. The idea of property, especially of land, contradicts the common interest, especially in highly populated world. And alliance (or membership) wouldn't necessarily mean membership fees (do we really need money on an abundant planet?).
Before we can agree how to heal the planet and to evolve mankind the system of madness needs to be stopped. Dr. ABC, first of all, remove the danger. 200,000 people in Melbourne's streets would certainly bring many things to a stop, and initiate a wave of civil disobedience that potentially brings back justice into society.
The occupation in Melbourne is still in its Early Adaptor stage, although it seems to resonate enough with a potentially 'critical' mass that can bring things to a tipping point. Allow me to set out some hypothetical numbers while forgetting about ideological bullshit. Melbourne has roughly 4 million citizens, which means if 5% of the population constitute a 'critical mass', it would take 200.000 Melbournians to liberate this city from its oppressors (if the same thing happens globally).
200.000 sounds like a lot, it's probably more than the 'alternative' parties count as members in whole Australia. But occupy isn't a political party, it's more like a life style choice. So metrics from other areas of life might better reflect such a number can be achieved or not. For simplicity's sake and inspired by sometimes shaky optimism, I assume that theoretically 200,000 could be convinced to commit their alliance to the idea of leaderless, consensual direct democracy.
Between now and 200,000 Melbourne occupiers lies the growth of the movement. Growth happens cyclical, linear or exponential. Although most systems and structures based on exponential growth constitute a big part of the problem, a phase of exponential growth is required to save this planet before the greedy few have wrecked it entirely.
Time for some calculations. Let's take 100 people, committed to contribute to the growth of the movement. The goal for each of them is to find a single ally per week. Even for people with a daytime job this sounds like an achievable target. In a linear model, it takes 2,000 weeks (roughly 38 years) to get our magical 200,000 together. A job for a lifetime, a Sisyphus task. Farewell, Mother Earth, will be late for your rescue as we got sidetracked supporting the system of destruction.
Now let's bring some magic in, exponential growth. Our 100 people win allies, not consumers or subscribers, and show their alliance by doing the same. After a week there will 200 'members', after two weeks 400, and so on. Now guess how many weeks it'll take with this growth rate to get to 200,000. Don't peer ahead and spoil your fun. I happily distract you for a while - isn't distraction the real opium for the masses, be it sport, politics, porn, drugs, drama and media?
Already after two months the barrier to 10,000 allies is broken, and the numbers will jump within the next month (after 12 weeks) over the 200,000 mark. Even with only 10 people as starting point it would take a mere 19 weeks to grow to a number where even a 10% mobilisation rate would exceed the size of most rallyes that took place in recent history in Melbourne.
While this might sound like a pyramide scheme, there's an essential difference. In a flat hierarchy, everybody is allowed to take their share from the gains of the operation. The idea of property, especially of land, contradicts the common interest, especially in highly populated world. And alliance (or membership) wouldn't necessarily mean membership fees (do we really need money on an abundant planet?).
Before we can agree how to heal the planet and to evolve mankind the system of madness needs to be stopped. Dr. ABC, first of all, remove the danger. 200,000 people in Melbourne's streets would certainly bring many things to a stop, and initiate a wave of civil disobedience that potentially brings back justice into society.
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