SharQ's New Writeups

September 11, 2011 (log)

2011-09-11T18:44:46Z

Wow, it's been rather a long time since the last time I did a day log. The occation of this one is to note a few things, including the fact that I'm coming up on having been here on E2 for ten years.

A lot changes in ten years. 10 years ago, I had just moved to the UK, and I was about to start university, which turned out to be a colossal waste of time, but was the first step towards an interesting progression of places to live, people to know, and places of employment.

I finished my degree, I wrote a book, I wrote about cars and gadgets a lot. I learned how to code, I launched a few web-sites, and I produced a major website for a big TV company. I loved, and lost, and loved again. I wrote more books. I travelled a lot. I invented a gadget, and became a policeman.

I married off a noder, and saw other…

Terror attack on Norway 22 July 2011 (event)

2011-07-22T20:59:20Z

On July 22, 2011 at 15:26 local time, there was an explosion close to the Regjeringskvartalet (The Government quarter), a collection of buildings in the centre of Norwegian capital city Oslo. The complex houses several of the key offices of the Norwegian government, and is located around 300m away from the main Parliament building.

Two hours after the explosion, there was a shooting incident at UtÃ¸ya, an island around 35km away from Oslo. Apparently, a "tall and blonde" male dressed in a police uniform had opened fire at a Labour Youth conference that was taking place on the island. Around 700 people, mostly aged 15-16, were on the island during the attack.

Preliminary reports indicate that seven deaths resulted from the explosion, and there are ten confirmed deaths after the shooting incident. Later figures put the death toll from UtÃ¸ya at 'more than 80'.

One person has been arrested. Norwegian police confirms that the arrested male is a Norwegian citizen.

According…

Triggertrap (thing)

2011-07-09T10:46:09Z

Triggertrap is an universal, Arduino-based open-source camera trigger developed by SharQ.

Universal: It works on all cameras that have the facility for using a remote control

Arduino-based: Being based on everyone's favourite rapid-prototyping platform means that it's easy to add your own functionality, if that's your thing

Camera trigger: It connects to your camera, and triggers it when an event happens; It has light and sound sensors built-in, can do time-lapse photography, and has an Auxiliary port built in as well, if you want to trigger it in any other way.

The project was launched on Kickstarter in late June 2011, and is expected to be fully crowd-funded via the Kickstarter platform on July 31st, 2011.

Trigger modes

The Triggertrap has have 4 modes built-in (although you can add your own, if you want to. More about that later). Just as a quick refresher, the modes are:…

Google+ (thing)

2011-07-09T10:29:05Z

Google Plus is a new social networking site launched by some little start-up that nobody has ever heard of. Oh wait - no; it's a grand, bold launch by everyone's favourite search engine.

Realising that Facebook was ridiculously popular, but with some huge problems, mixed with a certain "We can do better than that", Google launched their new service on June 28, 2011, using the same invite-only approach they took when they first launched Gmail back in 2004.

Google+ integrates several popular Google services, including Google Buzz and Google Profiles. Plus also integrates the "+1" button, visible in all search results, and integrate-able into websites and blogs, encouraging users to share their favourite sites with their Google Plus followers.

Tackling Facebook's 0.75 billion user-base head-on, Google+ certainly have their work cut out for them. In order to take on the world's favourite social network, Google introduces a series of new features:

C…

Postcard from the apocalypse (poetry)

2011-06-09T07:40:42Z

This postcard's picture
Taken from the balcony
Spells the end for us

Forgive the eCard
The brevity of Haiku
and my epitaph

Card front: Bon Appetit

PQ11 | -30-

diving mask (thing)

2011-04-09T04:58:38Z

A diving mask is a mask worn for being able to see under-water. It differs from swimming goggles in that it has a nose pocket built-in.

The nose pocket is vital because as you are scuba diving, the ambient pressure increases. Because your mask has air in it, if you don't equalise it, the pressure inside your mask will suck it to your face, which can cause discomfort, including pressure marks, bloodshot eyes etc.

The other reason you need the nose pocket is that you need to be able to pinch your nose shut, so you can blow against your pinched-shut nose. This helps you equalise other air spaces in your body; your ears and sinuses.

Clearing a dive mask - Because your nose is inside your mask, you can clear water that has leaked in from your mask: Simply look down with your head, apply pressure to the top of the map frame, and gradually tilt your head to the surface whilst exhaling through your nose. The air will stay in your mask whilst the water is…