Homemade laptop sleeve

I got a new-for-me ($500!) PowerBook G4 and needed a laptop sleeve. Looking at them online made me think I could easily do that. So I headed over to MAKEzine and found all sorts of project ideas. People make laptop sleeves out of wetsuits, cable knit, an old sweater, and some weird stuff, like kitchen sponges. I settled on old pants, which seemed within my abilities. It's the kind of thing I can make with my very old Singer Featherweight. I'm very happy with it. I'm not putting up any step-by-step thingy because I wasn't nearly as careful and precise as the Sambot guy and didn't take photos along the way. I plan on making a velcro strap to go around the opening and a handle on the side for carrying ease.

Old Singer Sewing Machine

I like things that are made to last, so I like the Singer 221K5 Featherweight sewing machine my mom gave me. I've done a little research and found that it's from a Canadian factory and manufactured sometime between 1941 and 1965. There isn't much information among the collectors about the Canadian models. It has two speeds--off and fast--so it's a little hard to use, but it makes things look kind of messy, which is kind of my style.

Questionaut by Amanita Design

Amanita Design has done it again! The same outfit that brought us the Samorost game series has been commissioned (I assume) by BBC Schools to make Questionaut, a similar point-and-click game but this time with embedded questions, resulting in a more conventional educational project. The combination of logical and visual problem solving with factual multiple choice questions is a little strange. The two instructional approaches are at opposite ends of the spectrum philosophically, but the problem solving does turn out to be an excellent motivator for completing the questions. I doubt my daughter would have been interested in answering 40+ questions for her bedtime activity without the beautiful and imaginative quest, even if it is just to get a hat.

applescript with rsync and an external HDD

I've been working on a solution for easily syncing my files to an external hard drive for a while now. I'm almost there, but I thought I'd post what I have so far. I've culled ideas from many sources, specifically here, here, and here. Just one problem. I'd like the process to open a terminal window and echo the file copying progress while it's doing it so I can have an idea how much is being copied. The way this script works I don't know how long it's going to take, it just reports with a dialog when it's done. Hence the ineffectual options in the shell script--I would like them to be showing what they are doing. Here's the script:

display dialog "Backing up now."
do shell script "rsync -rlpt --progress --stats ~username/ /volumes/macdrive/username"
display dialog "Your backup is done."

If anyone knows how to make it echo the progress and stats, give a holler.

Pixel Pattern Madness

I can't stop with the pixel patterns. This gallery of gifs is pure pleasure. Tile them on your desktop, protopage background, everywhere! Now to try making some--that's when you realize how artful these are. Actually, when you think of it, there must be some techniques to making them tile properly.
Link

One reflector and the if command

Look here for the reason for these Logo posts.

Setup: Connect a motor to port A. Connect a reflector to port 1. The reflector is the blue piece with a wire attached to it.

To activate the reflector, type this in the command center and hit enter:
display reflect1
If the reflector lights up, it's ready to go.

A reflector is like a switch. If it sees a light color, it's on. If it sees a dark color, it's off. Download this program and run it. To test it out, put a white piece of paper or a white Lego in front of the red light.
to start
loop [spin]
end

to spin
if reflect1
[aoff]
if not reflect1
[aon]
end

Two switches and the if command

Look here for the reason for these Logo posts.

Setup: Connect one motor to port A and one lamp to port B. Connect one switch to port 1 and another switch to port 2. Download and run this program:

to start
loop [flash-and-spin]
end

to flash-and-spin
if switch1
[aon]
if not switch1
[aoff]
if switch2
[bon]
if not switch2
[boff]
end

One switch and the ifelse command

Look here for the reason for these Logo posts.

Setup: Use one switch connected to port 1 and one motor connected to port A. Download this program:
to go
loop [reverse]
end

to reverse
aon
ifelse switch1
[athisway]
[athatway]
end

One switch and the if command

Look here for the reason for these Logo posts.

Setup: Use one switch connected to port 1 and one motor connected to port A. Download this program:
to go
loop [spin]
end

to spin
if switch1
[athatway]
if not switch1
[athisway]
aon
end

One switch and the waituntil command

Look here for the reason for these Logo posts.

Setup: Use one switch connected to port 1 and one motor connected to port A. Download this program:
to go
loop [start]
end

to start
waituntil [switch1]
aon
waituntil [not switch1]
aoff
end

The waituntil command functions sequentially, just like other simple commands.