So here’s me fettling the Mitochondrion, mark 3. I’m not as happy with it as I could be, coz it’s good, but it’s not as good as it could possibly be, given bleeding edge technology and a rocket scientist’s sense of maximising performance, coz that’s just what we do. In the time it’s taken me …
As tieke mentioned, the second half of the paperwork for the house consent is sorted. This is the paperwork: Yes, it’s more than three inches thick. Yes, that’s just the second half, not all of it. Ok, we can get on with building it. And, as mentioned before, Wellington City Council says “We are committed …
It’s a Mitsubishi i-MiEV, lithium batteries, 130 km range, twice the torque of the petrol version and able to break any speed limit in the land. It’s dinky, but four seats and the inside looked surprisingly roomy for something that easy to park. Charge it from Meridian’s power and you’ve got zero-carbon transportation, right there. …
Isn’t this what every house-wife has hoped for? But no, it’s a cruel trick. This cat is entirely unwilling to perform the advertised service, leading to widespread disappointment. Remember – make sure your cats are correctly labelled.
It’s been a weekend of learning how to avoid heartache and trauma, of learning how not to put myself in situations where I feel trapped and vulnerable and like I’m letting everyone down. And my main learning? Everything should have a power switch. Not one controlled by software, a big red one that cuts out …
On friday evening, the 4 kb of program memory on the Mitochondrion was 98.9% full. I’ve had a weekend of rewriting code neater, tinier and more flexible. Squeeze code down, write more patterns, fill up memory, squeeze down again. I’m trading off between program space, limited numbers of variables and limited other storage space. But …
Does anyone have a dog stake or two that I can borrow for Kiwiburn? By “dog stake”, I mean one of these: Or indeed any other means of making a fixing into earth that can take a substantial vertical load? Tent pegs, even big ones, are great for horizontal or low-angle loads, and can be …
There will be stealth missions with the Mitochondrion. Umm… yes, carrying around a five-foot long, 600 lumen, colour changing strobe that can be seen from a mile away is not that stealthy, but I reckon we’ll brazen it out. I’m getting the hang of this procedural code thing! There will be more shininess. People took …
There was general dissatisfaction about the number of pictures of me last year. So, in a general challenge to myself, this year there will be more. Here’s number one: Pic by tieke The more astute amongst you will notice the travelling overhead crane in the background, two tonne SWL and worth drooling over, as all …
Back on the Mitochondrion head-banging trek. It was doing weird stuff, as usual, but when it’s doing really weird stuff then there’s probably a problem deep, deep down in the code. Spend the day looking, and trying to sort out other things. Power regulator still exploding. NFI but I have a backup plan. Can’t reproduce …
Gotten round to it, finally. This holiday was not a time for reflection, it was a time for getting stuff done. And then heading off into the wilderness, where they were playing dubstep. That’s my kind of wilderness. (Last year)