So last night at 11PM it was 63° (that’s 17°C; metric-speakers) and we were under a tornado watch. Tonight it’s 28° (-2°C), still very windy, and spitting snow. Tomorrow the high is only supposed to be 34° (1°C). Apparently the Grinch stole Autumn!
According to this story from my local news, a guy on a bicycle ran a stop sign and hit a car.
Police said the cyclist may have been distracted; evidently he was wearing headphones, carrying two backpacks and (here comes the crazy part) a cage with “some kind” of an animal.
The cyclist, sadly, is in serious condition. No word on the condition of the (I’m guessing) marmot.
When I was younger I used to love tinkering with electronics, but I haven’t done much of it in years. A few months ago when I broke out the soldering iron to solder up a wiring harness for a new car stereo, the smell of hot rosin and solder reawakened something.
So anyway… I came across this page. Having always been a sucker for pointless flashing lights, I was particularly drawn to the 16 Stage Bi-Directional LED Sequencer. If you’re old enough to remember the TV show Knight Rider then you can probably picture exactly what this looks like. If not, I’ll help you out: It’s a row of (16!) LED’s that chase back and forth, from side to side (thus the “bi-directional” part).
I got to thinking; “why couldn’t I mount the LED’s in a 5 1/4″ computer bay cover, power the circuit with 5VDC from an unused Molex (hard drive) connector, and have groovy (KITT-style) flashing lights on (one of) my computer(s)?” (Yes I know, I’m a dork.)
Unable to think of one good reason not to, I ordered the necessary parts and assembled the circuit on a breadboard. Reasonably satisfied with my handiwork, I powered it up. The lights flashed, in sequence, but alas, in only one direction. After carefully going over everything again I found my wiring mistake and was as giddy as a school-girl when I hooked it back up and the lights sequenced in a bi-directional fashion, just like they were supposed to.
Now I just have to decide if I want to stick with traditional red LED’s of if I should switch to violet or insanely bright blue for the final installation. Even Der Hasselhoffer himself will be envious!
Yep, I’m just an over-grown 12 year old with a job and too much free time.