tokyohackerspace

Meeting of founders, members and those interested in planning for a solvent future of THS.
Please bring your ideas, and motivation to keep the dream alive

Come out to help us prepare for 10/10!

This meeting is open to all groups, individuals, and organizations willing to get to work to help slow global warming!

Agenda:

* Final location - Yoyogi park (hopefully) - permit updates
* Activities - Solar Cooker Challenge, solar lanterns, build a wind generator, presentations (how to lower utility bills), speeches, games, fun, whatever! (Perhaps a GPS challenge around the park?) Something for kids, kit building in the park

* Groups to invite - green organizations, companies who sell green products (such as solar panel installers, etc)

GOAL:
To make THS a spooky house during Halloween.

IDEAS:
Talking robot skull with eerie eyes and moving jaw
Spooky sound tracks which play when somebody passes from near the house
PIR detectors to activate spookiness
Pumpkin carving (?)

GOAL:
Developing a better white cane for blind people.
The ultimate goal is to be able to navigate Tokyo without being run over.

IDEAS:
GPS
Digital Compass
Vibrating feedback
Voice recognition
Speech synthesis
Solar rechargeable
Bone-conducting headphones

POSSIBLE IMPLEMENTATION:
Have a "compass" circle on the cane or something that constant puts out a
tiny tangible signal indicating what direction you are.

Giving directions (using a map and the GPS) via speech synthesis (ie: You are now on Megi-dori, turn left).

MRE just finished teaching his window farming class at the space and it went extremely well. Seven window farming towers got put up. More details from MRE:

Thanks Akiba!
Right, so we had several people show up. More so than I was expecting! And the list of places from which they heard about the event was long.
At any rate, they(we) all came together for one reason: We've killed everything else we tried to grow!

that is the nice thing about a window farm - put it on a timer, fill the tank, and watch the magic grow.

I went to Akihabara today and got inspired by some things I found. I’ve been wanting to test out some indoor gardening at the space and since MRE is working on window farming, I thought I might try working with artificial lights. Anyways, I picked up some necessary supplies from Akihabara and Tokyu Hands and went to work.

The fixture to hold the LEDs was made by cementing an acrylic tube to an acrylic box. The LEDs are 1W power LEDs with external focal lenses. The LEDs can swivel up and down too. I’m only using two colors: red and blue. Green is no good since the plants reflect it all.

10am-12:30 PM

[NOTE: To those who would like to take the workshop again, all new songs will be used for the listening and writing exercises; also, you are encouraged to bring in your original songs, music and/or lyrics, completed or not.]

Have you ever wondered what it takes to write a commercial song? Do you feel you have a knack for writing lyrics or a great melody, but are unsure how to put it all together? Have you written a song but don't know what your next step is?

Harmonica players usually have a tough time getting both the right volume and tone without carting around a heavy custom amp rig. The Harp Commander III specialist Harmonica preamp from jfet magician Ron Holmes (http://www.holmeseng.com/) is a great solution, allowing harp players to DI into a PA (or amp) and have full control over their feedback free sound level and tone.

I was coming back from a jam session in a few weeks ago and my backpack split at a pedestrian crossing, dropping my Harp Commander III onto the hard bitumen. Initially I thought it was ok, but it the next morning I had an online gig and it was dead. On further closer inspection it appeared one of the xlr output volume controls had taken a hit, and it was off axis. I sent Ron Holmes a quick note, explaining what happened and that I was willing to take a shot at repairing it myself - something I would never have done pre-hackerspace soldering skills days.

Ron sent me back some detailed tear down/repair instructions, and part replacements specs which I ordered from mouser online. It was my first big desolder/repair/resolder and went pretty smoothly thanks to the detailed instructions from Ron, and over the shoulder checking from fellow TokyoHackerSpace members.
All back together...and ready to Boogie the Bitstream. Thanks Ron!
(fyi detailed info on Ron's design approach -> http://www.holmeseng.com/index_files/Page937.htm )