Reading null's journal

So I've got a new pet since yesterday evening. An ant appeared out of nowhere and now lives in my wash basin. I've named her Keineahnung (Noidea) after Orchid's suggestion. Keineahnung has stayed in the bathroom all night and I can feed her with honey, so I guess she's gonna stay a while.

Oh yeah, Europa-Park was nice! Despite the missed opportunity to ride the Silver Star because everybody besides me chickened out, it was a fun weekend. (I hope the others liked it too!)
Now I should send Jaz the pics I've made so I can get his pictures in exchange. (Note to self: don't forget this again!)

Still no message from Italy tho. By the way, would anybody else be interested in joining us? We'll probably wander around, go to a movie, eat pizza, rent a pedalo and maybe go swimming (not necessarily in that order).

What else to say. I always feel like I'm ranting when writing a journal entry, but they still appear too short when I'm done. Oh, yes. A friend & neighbor has come up with a great lighting idea I might just plagiarize. He wants to cover the ceiling with white styrofoam boards in which he'll install 300 little lamps with different brightness levels. The goal is to simulate a starry sky. I'll wait until he's done and if it looks good I'll ask him if he minds me copying the idea.
Still no progress on my luminescent chemicals project, mainly due to lack of time. But next week I'll have time. Yay! Holidays here I come!

"*sigh* Some men are really hard to manipulate!" - Orchid

Sweeet post! :)

I'd nothing against a "sky looking" ceiling :) It's a totally romantic idea. :) But it seems to be much of work and not cheap.

Where do you have this banana katana thing from!? Sounds weird ;)

"Sie wollen nichts anderes. Sie wollen kämpfen! Sie sind Soldaten! Fucking Wahnsinnige!" - Noel G.

But it seems to be much of work

Aww yeah. Imagine soldering 600 small wires onto 300 small lamp sockets and tidying them all up afterwards before soldering the 600 wires to 4 big wires. Then you screw 300 small lamps into 300 small sockets and build 3 variable high-current power supplies. And then you somehow make the thing stick to the ceiling.
Should be fun to watch. :-)

and not cheap

Oh, our friends at Pollin sell the material dirt cheap! :-) One 'star' would still cost about €0.32 tho, plus the custom-made power supplies won't be exactly cheap. But I could build them myself so only the material would have to be paid.

Where do you have this banana katana thing from!?

Oh dear. I'd show you the place, but I couldn't find it anymore. It's somewhere among the comments in this dA gallery.

"*sigh* Some men are really hard to manipulate!" - Orchid

This post was edited by null on May 28, 2004.

:o *gasps* Update on the banana situation....

rumour has it that rachel got it from her friend Jo who got it from somewhere else.

oh :( this takes the novelty down a notch...just one though

-Mel :P

Look at me! I'm a prostitute robot from the future!

rumour has it that rachel got it from her friend Jo who got it from somewhere else.

I don't mind, it still sounds cool. :-) Plus someone will steal it from one of my posts and think it's me who invented it.

"*sigh* Some men are really hard to manipulate!" - Orchid

This post was edited by null on May 28, 2004.

Aww yeah. Imagine soldering 600 small wires onto 300 small lamp sockets and tidying them all up afterwards before soldering the 600 wires to 4 big wires. Then you screw 300 small lamps into 300 small sockets and build 3 variable high-current power supplies. And then you somehow make the thing stick to the ceiling.
Should be fun to watch. :-)

hmm, *thinks* this may be a stupid question, but wont that have a huge limitation on other forms of lighting in that room? ie; if its false roofing or something will it be able to support normal lights for everyday purposes?

and also, im not really sure what it is that you're after, but couldnt a very similar effect be achieved by just putting in some strategically placed down lights with dimmers and then drilling holes through some false roofing? we did the same thing with false flooring for theatre...very cool, we had the light shooting up otu of the holes, and we also had smoke machines underneath as well...very eery with the smoke floating up and out of the light...but i digress...

just my .02
-Mel

Look at me! I'm a prostitute robot from the future!

but wont that have a huge limitation on other forms of lighting in that room?

No, it's not a stupid question at all. :-) Actually you're right. The trick is a special switch that will set all the lamps to maximum power, thus creating an evenly-spread 300W lighting which is consistent across the whole room. So in most cases there would be no need for any additional lighting on the ceiling.
My solution would be to just cut holes in the construction where it interferes with other things hanging from the ceiling.

couldnt a very similar effect be achieved by just putting in some strategically placed down lights with dimmers and then drilling holes through some false roofing?

Well, that's a very good idea and would probably work, but I think it would not look exactly the same (in particular it's much harder to mix bright and dark stars). Plus you wouldn't really expect an electronics engineer to pick a simple non-technical solution when there's a complicated more technical solution around, would you! :-)

"*sigh* Some men are really hard to manipulate!" - Orchid

Ok, here's my lighting design questions that people don't tend to think about until they realise there's a problem AFTER they've done all the work.

No, it's not a stupid question at all. :-) Actually you're right. The trick is a special switch that will set all the lamps to maximum power, thus creating an evenly-spread 300W lighting which is consistent across the whole room. So in most cases there would be no need for any additional lighting on the ceiling.

what about heat? im not really sure what sort of heat those lights give out...but i do know that lights get hot fast. how's your ventilation? that many lights...you're gonna want good ventilation.

My solution would be to just cut holes in the construction where it interferes with other things hanging from the ceiling.

then allow for a method of cleaning. dust is a bitch.

Well, that's a very good idea and would probably work, but I think it would not look exactly the same (in particular it's much harder to mix bright and dark stars).

ahh, mixing stars...what you need to do is go visit your local lighting store and get yourself some gels...then you can vary the stars...and the good thing about hole drilling is you can vary the size of the stars...

Plus you wouldn't really expect an electronics engineer to pick a simple non-technical solution when there's a complicated more technical solution around, would you! :-)

no...how could i!? my mistake...*looks humble*

but you made the mistake of talkign about lights with me around...it's your own fault :P

it seriously sounds like a cool idea...but i wonder how logistically possible it is...

-Mel

Look at me! I'm a prostitute robot from the future!

what about heat?

I see, you're a real pro. :-)
Actually that was one of two reasons I suggested he use LEDs instead of regular bulbs (the other one being the lower power consumption). But he has a point when he says that only regular light bulbs have the correct light spectrum.
Anyways, I don't know what happens. That's another reason to let him build it first and see if it works. :-P The bulbs he'll use will emit about 600mW of heat, times 300, makes 180W. spread over approx. 24m². I don't know how well his styrofoam construction will handle this, but we'll see!

then allow for a method of cleaning. dust is a bitch.

No need to clean where nobody can see. :-P

what you need to do is go visit your local lighting store and get yourself some gels...then you can vary the stars

Yeah, but then you wouldn't get the magical all-is-bright switch. Plus it's not technical enough!

"*sigh* Some men are really hard to manipulate!" - Orchid

I see, you're a real pro. :-)

nah, i just have no life.

That's another reason to let him build it first and see if it works. :-P

heh heh heh, yes this too has possibilities.

No need to clean where nobody can see. :-P

hmmm, provided it wont get dusty anywhere that will effect the lights/cableing....

Yeah, but then you wouldn't get the magical all-is-bright switch. Plus it's not technical enough!

ahhh, i keep forgeting about the whole 'technical' angle

-Mel :P

Look at me! I'm a prostitute robot from the future!

nah, i just have no life.

now, THIS statement sound familiar. :D
although I would call it "having nothing useful to do because of unemployment"

btw: those Chicolo mini salamis from Herta taste LOTS of better than Bifi - just ate one that I brought with me thanks to having to wait yesterday for main train back home at Munich Central Station:)

cu, w0lf.

Multiple exclamation marks are a sure sign for a diseased mind!

although I would call it "having nothing useful to do because of unemployment"

I'm calling mine "procrastination" :P

btw: those Chicolo mini salamis from Herta taste LOTS of better than Bifi - just ate one that I brought with me thanks to having to wait yesterday for main train back home at Munich Central Station:)

*makes mental note in case ever travels to Munich*

-Mel

Look at me! I'm a prostitute robot from the future!

Heat!? Maybe it's a stupid question but why should some tiny little bulbs produce more heat than a regular lamp!?

"Sie wollen nichts anderes. Sie wollen kämpfen! Sie sind Soldaten! Fucking Wahnsinnige!" - Noel G.

but why should some tiny little bulbs produce more heat than a regular lamp!?

Well, the problem is not one single mini-bulb but a collection of 300 mini-bulbs.
You need to know that a conventional light bulb is extremely ineffective. A good one produces 1/4 light and 3/4 heat. In this special case, you have 300 bulbs x 0.9W = 270W, and 75% of 270W are over 200W of pure heat - five times the amount of a regular light bulb!

"*sigh* Some men are really hard to manipulate!" - Orchid

300!? That's a lot of work!
Okay, let's wait how it looks :)

"Sie wollen nichts anderes. Sie wollen kämpfen! Sie sind Soldaten! Fucking Wahnsinnige!" - Noel G.

Still no message from Italy tho. By the way, would anybody else be interested in joining us? We'll probably wander around, go to a movie, eat pizza, rent a pedalo and maybe go swimming (not necessarily in that order).

You talking 'bout coming to Munich during the next months or so, dont you? Like I said before, I would.

cu, w0lf.

Multiple exclamation marks are a sure sign for a diseased mind!

You talking 'bout coming to Munich during the next months or so, dont you?

Well, actually I'm talking about staying home and receiving visitors there. Originally andromacha invited us to stay at her place, but now that our holiday plans had to be changed she wants to visit us here instead. Although others are welcome to drop by and say hello if they happen to be around, it won't be an official NAO meeting at all. Just an Italian and an American getting to know Switzerland!

"*sigh* Some men are really hard to manipulate!" - Orchid

Now I should send Jaz the pics I've made so I can get his pictures in exchange.

I will send them to you right away. Ettena held my adapater cables hostage.

'Yeah, That's what Jesus would do. Jesus would bomb Afghanistan. Yeah.' - snowlion

I will send them to you right away.

Thanks! :-)

I've just sent you the link to my pictures. Note that you could always use the Poseidon pic to blackmail Ettena into giving you the adapter cable. (And no, it's not my fault that two people have a green head. It's the same on the original photo.)

"*sigh* Some men are really hard to manipulate!" - Orchid