Payton Place

In today’s printed issue of USA Today (Section D – Life / Destinations & Diversions) is an article entitled “15 Unforgettable Summer Vacations.” The cover page has a gorgeous photo of the Cedar Street Bridge Shopping Mall that crosses Sand Creek in Sandpoint, Idaho.

I spent the bulk of my adolescent years in this small Northern Idaho town (population 4,500 at that time) and used to regularly cross the bridge that the shopping mall uses as a foundation. I ice skated under the bridge in the winter. I popped-wheelies with my motorcycles on that bridge as my cousin ?Derek?and I raced to a riding area we called “Bum Jungle!”

The newspaper article leads with comments?about Sandpoint and I felt proud to have come from that place. The opening paragraph states:

I was smitten with this lakefront town from the moment I saw it, tucked between the Selkirk mountains in Idaho’s Panhandle like some Northwoods Brigadoon. I relished my sunset tour of Lake Pend Oreille, the state’s largest, followed by a solo, late-night foray to a meadow where a dazzling meteor storm punctuated the enveloping darkness.

Interestingly enough to me, that’s quite often how I remember life in that small town. So many experiences and?such a beautiful place see during every season. I miss that little town. [sigh] Although it may not be quite as idyllic now as it is in my remembrance, it’s still nice to stroll down memory lane every once in a while. Especially?when national news or local events remind us of those “Good Ol’ Days.”

Perhaps one day I’ll get back there for a little summer diversion . . . I’d love to take my boys there. ?I’d like them to see where I grew-up.

~SP

I guess I’m one of the lucky ones who have several 2,5″ HDD laying around without a box – thereby rendering them somewhat useless. I went down to the local computer pusher to buy a suitable case (with both Firewire & USB2 of course).

I found a case that met my demands – however it was rather hideous, and being a Mac-guy and all, I knew something had to change… So what to do? Paint it? Hmm nope… Painting plastic and aluminum usually leaves a result worse than what I started with…

So I thought “Hey… Let’s wrap it to go with the new OSX”.

Tadaaaa! A furry OSX Leopard ready portable harddrive.

A special thanks to Jason at O’Grady’s Powerpage For good advice…

EDIT:
Here is what you need: 50×50cm of Leopard patterned (furry) plush (5$ – any decent girlfriend should be able to drag you to her nearest fabric-pusher), some fabric glue suitable for both cloth and aluminum (5$) and of course a suitable HDD-cabinet – preferably one that is made like a tube with end-pieces (around 65$). Then it’s just play n’ pray and you’ve got yourself an external harddrive to go with Leopard.

Inspired by the motion picture “The Jackal”, where Bruce Willis built a mean-ass automated gun (aka turret, aka sentry gun), I have always wanted to build something similar myself.

One of the hurdles I had to overcome was to automate the trigger… Iv’e tried loads of different solutions including electromagnets or weird solutions with strings and a rotary motor.

A major goal in this process is finding a way to get a rapid linear pull when flipping a switch upon which the “finger” should return to its original position… Ready for the next pull…

The solution I came up with (as shown in the pictures) was using the linear motor from the central locksystem used in a car. This was mounted on the gun with some pieces of aluminum from a studio rack mount and some parts for mounting a lock on a bike. I added a springcoil on the linear motor so it would go back to its original position. Finally I strung a wire from the “finger” and around back of the handle of the gun, thus making a soft but strong pull to the trigger.

Et voil?. Add 12v to the equation and you’ve got a lightning fast remote trigger and the ability to deploy rapid fire down range.

Be sure to read “The Turret #2″ – Mounting the gun. Coming soon.