3d Printer?

So I'm come across an interesting site.

www.reprap.com

It is an open source community that is dedicated to building 'self-replicating machines'. Essentially, create a 3d printer with parts that can be created by that 3d printer to in effect be able to replicate itself. This will give the ordinary person a 'factory' in their own household (using thermoplastic extrusion) that they can then make another 'factory'. This can be exponentially branched out which will let more people have a factory and keep everything cost efficient.

Looking at the information, the 'hardest' part of this project is essentially the extruder part. What it does is take a spool of 'PLA' plastic (thermoplastic), heat it up and spread it layer by layer according to a design to make something. Looking at the videos on the site makes everything look amazing. Especially since a lot of their videos show them making the parts for the next 3d printer and some of those parts are complex.

I intend to create my own reprap. It will be made using wood (or even 'Cheese Plastic"), threaded metal rods, stepper motors and an arduino (for the computer interface). It will have a cmd line front end that will allow you to choose a folder of images (so even people without 3d designing software can create items).

We will have to see what happens.
It could just be another one of my 'wishes' but if things work out, could be really cool.

Things are not always what they seem...

It seems like everything is getting to the point of being 'news worthy'...

Since when are tips to remove information from a social networking website considered 'news'???

Is there really nothing else to report on?

Creating PDFS from virtually anything w/ linux

So recently I was asked (by my wife) if I would be able to join different web pages together all into 1 file for printing and storage. I thought it would take a very long time but turned out to be quite easy. Here's a lil how to:

• Print each page/image/document to file (i usually name it an autoincrementing filename aka  1,2,3,4,...)
• this stores the page as a PostScript file (even works in Windows) 
• Join all of the PS files together to form a huge PS file
• you do this using the ps-utility     psmerge
• psmerge -oOutputFileName file1 file2 file3
• you can include as many files as you want in order
• there is NO space between the -o option and the file name
• turn the PS file into a PDF file
• use the ps2pdf utility 
• ps2pdf psfile.ps pdffile.pdf

 This seems pretty straight forward but can be quite tedious if you have MANY MANY files to do at once.

Below is a python code that will make this process easier. It renames files (so they can be sorted properly) and generates the command (quite large at times) to perform the operation

 #!/usr/bin/python
import os
path='/home/paul/printer/dadsWorksheets/multiSpaceShip/psFiles/renamed/'
files = os.listdir(path)
files.sort()
##rename = True
rename = False
if rename:
    for i in files:
        name = i
        if len(name) < 3:
            name = '00%s' % name
        if len(name) > 3:
            name = name[1:]
        print name
        command = 'cp %s/%s %s/renamed/%s' % (path,i,path,name)
        os.system(command)
#print files
merge = True
##merge = False
if merge:
        com = 'psmerge -oCombined'
        #print com
        for i in files:
            com = ' %s %s' % (com,i)
        print com
        os.chdir(path)
        os.system(com)

 its simple and quite crude but it gets the job done quite nicely!!
give it a shot and you'll be storing stuff as PDFs in no time!

UFC Ultimate FIghter letdown...

I am completely disgusted... can they honestly NOT find decent competitors for this show anymore?

That first round on tonights TUF  was a fucking joke. Standing up with just punches and hands down the whole time... Anyone with ANY experience (hell even Kimbo slice...) would have ended that fight in the first 30 seconds... But no.. Dana White goes 'OMG OMG OMG' at the commercial break as if it was an amazing round... It sucked beyond comprehension!

People who know me, know that I studied martial arts for 8+ yrs.  If that round is the caliber of fighters that is available in todays market.... its a sad sad world indeed.. Even my 'out of shape' ass could have destroyed anyone of those jokers in that first round...

2nd round starting now... will it be better? i doubt it...

Friendship and its eventual let downs...

I have been pondering about friendship.

You have different friends during different times of your life. If you're lucky, you will have excellent friends during those times. These friends feel like they will always be friends no matter what happens nor how much time passes.

But, sadly, thats not how it usually happens. The people you thought were the closest to you drift away... People you would share everything with, be there for, spend some of the funnest/sadest/closest times with will slowly disappear.

If you're truly lucky and blessed, there will be the occasional few who will be there. Those are true friends. The ones where you can just pick up where you left off with minimal/no awkwardness... Keep them close to you. They're worth their weight in gold.

You will have nostalgic moments of envy for past experiences with friends. These feelings will bring emotions of joy, humor, and sadness. The only thing you can count on... just like your past close relationships, these feelings of envy shall pass.