Busy hands | Disquiet mind

I've just had a really amazing evening. And I'm really surprised. Not that it was great, but how refreshing I found it, sitting there, listening to people talk about their passions, and be passions that involve changing some aspect of the world.

My own talk was first, and how at ease I felt with the material surprised me. It's something I've only been doing about a year, but I felt comfortable. I talked longer than I expected, people asked questions, we didn't make anything afterwards, people were too busy asking what stuff was (and I didn't leave much time). But when they started talking out ideas for projects! I was so happy. Overall, I enjoyed myself. (I'm trying to find some way to share an .odp file... it's like they don't want us sharing files...)

Then there was a talk on Arduino, and then Processing. Oh! I've fallen in love with the language. The demonstration was using OpenGL through JOGL library ports! And it was all done so easily, in so few lines, and so clearly. I definitely recommend Processing to anyone wanting to play with graphics, and isn't too concerned about performance. The presenter did a great job (though, imho, it is somewhat cheating if it's also what you do for your day job :), and there was great discussion afterwards about all manner of things that I was sorry to drag myself away from.

All in all, great day! And another one tomorrow!

Nothing's gone public about this yet, no timetables, no contact info, and no pretty descriptions, so this is just a friendly mention; from the 14th - 22nd August will be the first Irish Hackerspaces Week. There'll be talks, workshops, and more social things like screenings and quizzes, on all week in the participating hackerspaces.

The talk I'm most looking forward to is the Sugar learning environment by Julie Pichon on Tuesday. The blurb goes:
"Come and learn about Sugar, the learning platform for children. Sugar offers an innovative desktop environment designed to encourage collaboration and critical thinking through Activities. Initially developed as part of the One Laptop Per Child project, Sugar is now community led and can run on any machine thanks to Sugar on a Stick."

I'm also giving a talk/short workshop on Conductive thread and textiles on Monday. My blurb goes like this:
"A brief beginners look at conductive thread, conductive fabric, soft switches, and an introduction to sensors and wearable micro controllers for making your soft circuits that bit smarter. We'll take a look at some existing applications, and then there's a hands-on session where you'll make your own soft circuit."

I'll post the slide-deck and supportive material here afterwards.

More information will be provided when everything goes up live. There really is a lot to grab your interest. And I encourage you to drop by during the week and take a look at what people are doing simply because it interests them.

The aforementioned Craft Night last Tuesday went really well. Really, really well. So well in fact that it's becoming a regular event every two weeks! More details here. So, em, squeeee. *cough* Excuse me.

Wednesday 17th March. If you're Irish (and not working in hospitality) you likely have the day off. Before you head off to kill a few braincells consider heading over to tog for a hackaton painted green! There will be general green-/Irish- themed projects going on. And I'll be around with lots of things to share:
- Green fabric paint, green black-light pigment, green thermochromatic paint, glow-in-the-dark pigment (which is pretty much green), and hopefully some green electroluminescent wire.
- There may even be face paint and green glitter (if I can find it…).
- Will probably bring some wax and pre-made candles for decorating (everything looks better painted with shamrocks).
- Am considering throwing together shamrock-shaped handbags as well, just to see if I can.

It's free, it's open (in the sense that if you're a non-member just let me know you're coming beforehand), and it should be crazy fun. Even if you just want to take a look, that's cool too :)

I admit it, I'm awful at updating, especially when I have nothing to update about. I got distracted from my gloves project, and am currently working on how to use audio signals. I got myself a tiny microphone, and hooked it up to my Arduino Duemilanove via breadboard. Only, I've realised that I know nothing about audio sampling or analysis! So, I'm trying to piece together a working knowledge, all the while hoping that the microphone is connected up properly (I have a sneaking suspicion that the contacts aren't being properly contacted). So this is likely to take my full attention until I either crack it, or get bored.

In other news, there is talk of workshops in TOG. One on electro-clothing (essentially playing with EL wire) will be first, in the next two weeks. Also, there may be one on more traditional forms of sewing in the next few months. Keep an ear out if you're interested.