Today I tried to design a laser-cut set of Soma cube pieces. The pieces (shown above) are (conceptually, and sometimes actually) made of 3D blocks glued together.

I've seen a particular style of joinery for acryllic, called finger joints. Those looked easy to cut and easy to put together (if hard to design).

I wrote a python script that takes a description of a piece, like this:

Piece E
xx x-
x- --
-- --

And draws all the flat faces I need to cut.

I was already running far behind, time-wise. I ran out of time before I could get the joinery working. Honestly, I don't think I'm very close, either.

How to do a three-piece corner join was especially confusing me.

I wrote a player for #ircpuzzles, a yearly puzzle hunt hosted on IRC. Many people who might like to try the puzzles don't know how to use IRC. So, now you can replay past years online.

I didn't have time to finish this one. It only has one year, and is missing a little polish. I'd call it about 80% done. It worked as a warmup for hack-a-day, my yearly project to complete one project a day in November.

Demo is here. Source is on github.

So I’ve decided on my next project! I’m going to spend a month learning new things. Unlike hack-a-day, where the focus was mostly on doing something every day, here I’m trying to cultivate a different attitude. So the following are all encouraged:

• Being curious about stuff
• Getting distracted
• Having fun
• New experiences
• Being goofy, even if I don’t “learn” anything from goof experiences
• Naps
• Hanging with other people

And these are discouraged:

• Completionism
• “Grinding” through a nonfiction book I’m not that into
• Rigorously writing up everything
• TV and other mindless activities
• (tentatively) reading?

The game can be played here. Source code is on github.

Info about the original 1989 Hillsfar game is linked from the demo! Enjoy.

See also the previous blog post about the spritesheet.

More followup for my house blueprint maker. The project is now done.

New features include:

• Premade icons for windows, doors, etc
• Polygons (not just rectangles)
• Pan and Zoom
• Move and Delete text and icons
• Share your finished project with a link

See the demo here. The source code is on github.

Hack-A-Day 2023 is complete. I did 20 projects in 30 days. Pretty good considering I got a new job and moved!

The overview of the month is here and highly recommended.

I plan to do a little more followup this year than last. Today’s last-minute fixes:

• Perquackey (01) works on phones, tablets, and with the mouse. There’s an easter egg that displays any words you missed at the end.
• Typewriter (10) saves progress, and lets you type more than 1 page of content.
• Screensaver (12) works on more screen sizes, including phones.
• Synth (14) looks better on a phone-sized display.
• Stuff.md (23) has an example from the database
• Timelapse (24) has a partial video
• Speed Reading (29) works better on a phone. It also saves your progress.
• Music of the Spheres (30) works on a phone. It’s also louder.

Hack-a-Day is a challenge to complete ~30 fun new projects in 30 days. In my case, I aimed for 20, because I knew I was getting a job and moving. I just barely made it with this last entry, a collaboration with nsh.

Music of the Spheres lets you hear songs on different tonal scales. Listen to the warped melodies. Watch the pretty planets orbit. Surely their sizes and orbits are significant and connected to the tonal scales? Go mad with afterimages of… okay, well it’s kinda fun, anyway. Demo is here, code is on github.

Yesterday’s project was Speed Reading. Experience what it’s like to read Don Quixote faster than you’re comfortable with. Source is on github as usual.

Two friends and I wrote the intro to “Pint-Sized”, a 90s sitcom that never existed.

We used DALL-E and stable diffusion for images, Photopea to add captions, and Google’s AI Test Kitchen for the backing music. Cheers were added with audacity. The video was edited together with ffmpeg.

Credits: za3k, stetson blake, jeremy mcintyre

I’m moving, so I have to pack. I thought I’d make it fun with two projects.

First, I entered everything I was packing into a text file, stuff.md. That way, I can find stuff later. I have two friends who have done something like this, so I’m curious how it will go for me. Here is a sample:

Box 01 - banker
======
- USB Receipt Printer - in trapezoid box
- Thinkpad 460 Charger (x2) - cardboard box (x2)
- Cardboard box "eink"
    - eink communications converter for 7.5" eink display
    - Piece of fiberglass sized for 7.5" eink display
    - 1.54" eink display 152z152px never used, with notes on yellow paper
- Airtec electric duster (AC) - cardboard box
- Tiny UPS for Raspberry Pi - cardboard box
- Wireless receipt printer - cardboard box
- Playstation Eye (x2) - cardboard box
- Mini-router (2 eth, 1 usb), unconfigured - in cardboard box
- Pipe-sealing tape for vacuum - loose
- Multimeter, Kaiweets brand - in cloth case
- $1 in pennies, and penny sleeves - plastic bag
- Engraving pen - loose metal case
- LED Light bulbs (one white, one red) - cardboard box

Box 02 - banker
======
- HDD Copier - cardboard box
- HDD Dock (x2) - cardboard box (x2)
- Butane soldering iron - metal box
- Doxie Go adapters - loose plastic bag
- "Faces" M5Stack development. Stacking keyboard and screen, etc. - plastic case
+ Magnetic metal parts tray
+ Neodynium magnets, two disc sizes - Loose box
+ Receipt paper roll - loose

Box 03 - banker
======
- empty

Second, I took a time lapse video of packing. I wish I had time-lapsed moving in at my current place, but I just wasn’t set up for it. Sadly, my camera battery died after 90 minutes, so I only have a very short video. Next time I’ll plug in a power cable. Here is a short example video.

Both are much too personal for me to post on the web in full.