The trail to innovation

“Throughout history, people with new ideas—who think differently and try to change things—have always been called troublemakers.”

Richelle Mead

To program a blank avr you could use an Arduino and a lot of wires plus a few components like resistors and capacitors.  It's a bit of a chore actually, especially when you swap back and forth from program to prototype board.  Many a bug is introduced when a wire comes loose at the wrong time!

So - looking for a solution we found plans for an avr isp shield made by the innovative and very talented Jia Huang.  The files weren't in a format to be usable for manufacture, so after installing eagle and watching a heap of youtube videos on pcb production, we nervously sent off an order for 5 shield pcb's based on Jia's design.  Twenty four hours later the pcbs were made and dispatched, arriving in Margate Tas around a week later.  Total cost? $3.20 per board...delivered.  OMG.

Then the soldering began and hilariously the first attempt was upside down - let's put that down to the need for soldering practise?

Anyhoo emerging from the soldering haze was a beautiful board that actually works as Jia intended, with the ability to program a range of avr chips and also be used as a prototyping board (all pins are broken out to the shield).  Wonderful...

It's a beautiful thing...no?

To buy a cut down (single chip) "local" ugly commercial shield = $26.41 plus delivery.  That 10/1 ratio for the Australian "innovation" tax is fairly normal and a great discouragement for any kiddies (or kiddies in adult bodies) who wish to pursue IoT or other modern embedded systems, or indeed electronics in general.

For instance:
100uF capacitors - Australia 35c, China 4c
Arduino kit - Australia $198.35, China $31.77
...and so it goes on...

It's pretty disgusting how much price gouging is going on out there - no innovation at those prices Prime Minister!  Royal Commission!  Put Dutton in charge...er, no wait...

Back from the other side

“When we look up, it widens our horizons. we see what a little speck we are in the universe, so insignificant, and we all take ourselves so seriously, but in the sky, there are no boundaries. No differences of caste or religion or race.” 

Julia Gregson

Smelly Kelly etal is constantly at the vet due to internal bleeds from accidents involving high jinx, fast moving furry puppies and immovable objects.  We are crossing fingers and toes that it is not anything more sinister (e.g. a bleeding disorder or tumours).  Damn pure breeds - nothing but trouble, but so cute (even huge ones)!

The vet has recommended long slow walks to help with recovery, so...

Taking Smelly Kelly with the big fat Belly for a constitutional this morning, we wandered over to "The Other Side" of our little river.  The view back was mostly obscured by a lush treeline hugging the water, but on one rise you could see the white speck in our plot...

The little house on the Prairie

They have a nice view over there, but we still think we chose the right side.  Shhhh - don't tell them!

Out and about

“I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.” 

Robert A. Heinlein

There are quite a few Robert Heinlein books on our shelves, not all of them good!  When it comes to the book "Stranger in a strange land" it could be said to be a classic title, and used out of context in popular culture on many occasions.

It certainly wasn't always popular, and indeed was banned in the US for many years. Moving about as we do, the title seems to perhaps resonate more with us as we settle into new domains. With good fortune on our side perhaps we will be not be strangers here for long - particularly if our current freedom persists and grants us the ability to mingle outside our domicile regularly.  Like we did this week! Here's a taster..

The first two scenes are live music - last Saturday at the Italian Club for a big band experience, and then last night at our local cidery for a great night with Pepper Jane.  And finally today at the sandy interface for frolic with like minded humans and canines. Bliss!

Same as it ever was?

“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.” 

Socrates

Socrates wasn't a great fan of the unexamined life, and for some reason we were examining Alvin and the Chipmunks the other day (long story). In one episode were two vignettes showing professional women going about their daily tasks. The first was a teacher on an excursion.  She is depicted as overweight, harried, exhausted, shrill, etc. Well, see for yourself...

Later in the episode we see a slim, deeper voiced, calm and competent veterinarian...

Of course, the children's reaction in the episode to these two women are very different. You can see the students pushing past and ignoring the teacher in the first, and the hushed respect in the second.  It started a thought process about whether or not this situation is a reflection of societal views on various professions, or rather could it be that such media perpetuates the myths and stereotypes?

Being university trained does not give you automatic status it seems, and even though teachers traditionally kill it in the annual "most trusted professions" survey, maybe there is more at play here. 

Perhaps the fact that we have all been to school (and maybe are still carrying some adolescent angst with us into adulthood) means that we think we understand education. The corollary would be receiving surgery on a broken wrist and then assuming, post treatment, that the medical profession could learn from your deepened understanding of intra-articular malunited distal radius fractures.

Perhaps it's the perceived lack of remuneration in teaching, or the joyously long long annual holidays (vacation envy anyone)? Whatever the cause, please take us back to Walnut Grove school and the lovely and super confident Miss Beadle; she was a most trusted and loved member of the community, and she certainly seems to know her math...

A little slow, a little snow

I have a sequence to my creative life. In spring and autumn, I am above ground and commit to community. In the summer, I'm outside. It is a time for family. And in the winter, I am underground. Home.

T T Williams

A little lag between blogs, and for that we have a reason but not an excuse! Firstly there's the natural slowing down as winter solstice rocks around again. We tend to hibernate a bit and generally try to make the most of the 8 hours of watery sunshine that strains to appear through the deepening clouds. We have had a smattering of snow in the last few weeks, but overnight we had a much bigger dump and the drawn drapes this morning revealed quite a picture...

A sleeping beauty indeed

Also we have been duty bound to bound after three bounders as they lurch from crisis to crisis. Two have just moved on to the next lot of carers and one will remain with us for a few days more. We will get some of our life back in order to fix up the house after the Tasmanian Devils have trashed it, plus the garden is looking most forlorn! Soon we will be able to sleep the sleep of the just and recharge - what an interesting three months and certainly the story bin will be full for a few years to come.

We are daily thanking Summer Man who spent hours splitting, packing and drying wood for the darker months - we now have a warm and toasty house from morn 'til night - lovely! Sleeping by the fire is our 35.2 kg behemoth "Smelly Kelly with the Big Fat Belly" (Kelly for short) who is on anti-inflammatory medication after having delaminated her sternum muscles coming a cropper at the beach last week.

Peacefully draining the bank account

Kids and dogs! What a great combination for lowering the energy and money levels! Bonne santé...