Evan and Michelle’s Meanderings - Latest Comments

Re: Discovery of the Week: Clementine Music Player

evan — Mon, 16 May 2011 07:18:00 -0000

Hi Robert and thanks for the feedback. The apparent randomness isn't quite as random as you may think if you know some of the history behind Clementine's origins, but you'll have to figure that out for yourself 'cause to explain it would spoil the joke.

Sorry, but I have zero experience with Macs and no idea about how to pull music out of your iDevice.

Re: The Petting Problem

evan — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:38:00 -0000

Hi Aiden,

No, never got around to sorting this out. With the [passing](/content/memory-murray) of [Murray](/content/do-you-have-cat-named-murray), our older cat the urgency on this project went way down, and other less ambition undertakings have distracted me.

Re: The Petting Problem

Aiden — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:33:00 -0000

Hi,
Did you ever sort this out. I am looking to build one for our pets, we have the same type of pets to you 1 large dog, one small dog and 3 cats. The range if the RFID reader would want to be around 6 inchs or so.

regards

aiden

Re: My Life With Pets — Bedtime Blitz

uj — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 20:44:00 -0000

Keep it up, at least it's a great stress reliever - perhaps. At leat the cat gets a bit of excercise. lol

Re: The black hole that is a woman's handbag

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:59:00 -0000

Hi Michelle! If you don't like black holes, I'd suggest you to buy a more colorful handbag so that you have it of another color. But I believe that the hole in any of your bags will be persistent :) Lol

Re: The black hole that is a woman's handbag

evan — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:51:00 -0000

…and she wonders why I wont pick up the damned thing when she asks me to get it for her…

Re: The Petting Problem

Aaron Eiche — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:48:00 -0000

This is a very cool project, and you've got my brain working... unfortunately, I think I'm about as familiar with this stuff as you are. Couple of thoughts:

I don't think bluetooth would be a valid solution. Bluetooth works in pairs and has an operating range of ~150 feet in doors, and ~300 feet unobstructed. BT is probably not the best solution for close (3-5 feet proximity).

For your mechanism, I think your best shot would be running a geared motor that would lock and unlock the flap on a full revolution. If you use a tab (stronger than the one you have currently), the tab could be geared to the motor, and half a resolution would set it locked, and another half would set it unlocked. You would likely want to have some sensor to determine when the tab was closed or not (a light sensor would work well) , as the motor's turn speed will not be reliable as it wears.

One thing I'd be concerned about is the logic involved when multiple animals show up. If the cat and dog get there at the same time, can your program decide who wants to go outside? Another thing is tag positioning. The antenna will be able to read tags that are parallel to it, but not necessarily in other positions...

Re: Do you have a cat named Murray?

Janice — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:16:00 -0000

Well Even what a gift you have for telling a yarn! I cant think when last I laughed so much. I certainly needed it today. Janice

Re: The Petting Problem

Raena — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:38:00 -0000

Talk to your vet about the tags used for identification microchipping and see what's up there. It'd be great if you could use your pets' ID tag for the door as well as the obvious identification benefits.

Re: Quick tip for the day: Problems installing or updating Adobe Air under Linux?

evan — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:07:00 -0000

I didn't have to do anything special. Just have Firefox running when I try to upgrade Air. Happened a few times before I had the idea to close Firefox and try again, upon which it worked the first time.

Re: Quick tip for the day: Problems installing or updating Adobe Air under Linux?

syed — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:16:00 -0000

I wasn't able to see this problem on 32-bit OpenSuse 11.1 (gnome as well as kde).
Are you able to see all the time, or was it one time issue? What are the steps you do, if you see the issue again.

Re: Do you have a cat named Murray?

Karen C — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:51:00 -0000

How many lives does that magnificent creature have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a joy for you - I do hope you take photos when you introduce him to the kittens. Give him an enormous hug for us.

Never heard of a cat going on the Wallaby before...

Re: Quick tip for the day: Problems installing or updating Adobe Air under Linux?

evan — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:03:00 -0000

32-bit, openSUSE 11.1.

Re: Picture of the day: Find x

KarenC — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 06:45:00 -0000

Took me more than a moment to figure out what was wrong with this answer <vbeg></vbeg>

Re: Quick tip for the day: Problems installing or updating Adobe Air under Linux?

syed — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:03:00 -0000

I wasn't able to see this problem on 32-bit Ubuntu 904.
Your linux is 32-bit or 64-bit? and which distro is it (ubuntu/suse/fedora).