Category: general

Lego of choice: The LegWay

http://www.teamhassenplug.org/robots/legway/

I’ve been able to put it on a table, and tilt the table, and LegWay continues to maintain its balance.

The Legway is a successful recreation of the famous, albeit a little expensive Segway, a transportation device which makes use of gyroscopes in order to provide stability with only two wheels. The Legway obtains the same results by adding proximity detectors (provided by hitechnic), to a mindstorms core. These sensors provide the core with precise and continuous measures of the distance to the ground, which are used to make the calculations that allow two motors to keep the thingy always up and proud.

The model shown is currently able to follow a line, and it can also be remotely controlled. Steve, the Legway designer, has also included links to the building instructions and the program he used, so you can try making one for yourself! (and if you succeed, next step is the real thing).

Shirtigami

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7502458538500026068&q=shirt+fold

Coincidentally, it happened that this morning I had a huge pile of tshirts waiting to be folded, and so I have spent some time putting in practice the method shown in this 33 second-long video.

I must admit that I have always had some problems with folding shirts, so this was a very good opportunity to try to refine my skills, and I have to say that the method works well, though you may need to watch the video several times to understand the “flip”. A bit of advice: make sure that you’re grabbing both front and back layers of the shirt when you first pinch it, and that you’re grabbing all the layers right after you take the neck to the bottom. Notice that I say “take” instead of fold. Folding would make the neck turn inside, while you want the neck to be looking outside all the time (they show this step in more detail in the video when folding the second shirt). Give it a try!

ps. Unfortunately, the method is not as efficient on long sleeve shirts, but you can always add some extra folds here and there until it looks good. 😉

Related Article: Tshirt Folding ex Machina: The FlipFold

Chocolate Chip cookies

Today we feature the recipe for the “world’s best chocolate chip cookies”.
They are very easy to make and taste awesome, so grab your apron and go for it!

 

  • In a large bowl, combine 1 cup of margarine with 1 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of white sugar.
  • Next, add 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, 2 eggs and a pinch of salt. Mix these together well and then add 2 and 1/4 cups of flour.
  • Finally, add 3/4 cup of chocolate chips (or M&M’s) and a pinch of love! Roll the dough into little balls and place them on a well-greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
  • Your cookies are now ready. Enjoy! 🙂

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    Related Article: Taste the Tril-o-bites

    Confucius of the day

    In the Book of Songs we read:

    “The presence of the subtle spirits
    can’t be experimented nor checked;
    However, we mustn’t stop searching for them.”

    These subtle, imperceptible particles show themselves through the corporeal beings; since they really and truly exist, they can’t stop showing themselves in one way or another.

    We can’t see these subtle spirits, since they are of a nature such that they hide from our senses. They identify themselves with the concrete things, but they are universal.

    Announcement

    First of all, I would like to wish you all the best in these days and the following year 2006. 🙂

    I am also pleased to announce that from tomorrow on this site will feature articles written by author Ángel Nogueira. Here is a little about him:

    Ángel is an entrepreneur who works in his own consulting company, edan xestión. He has written many short stories and articles for magazines and the radio, and is a talented songwriter too.

    Look forward to Angel’s articles, starting with “Christmas: a lovely bad dream”.