The Science_Jector

I guess its about time I blog about the one thing thats been on my brain constantly for the last few months.

The Science_Jector

Many years ago I was introduced to some people who found LumenLab.com They showed me the basic idea of taking an LCD screen, putting a light behind it and with the help of a few optical lenses.. whabam! DIY projector. (DIY = do it yourself)

So.. I thought it was cool and really want to make one some day.. but a long time passed and I never did get around to it until years later when I was living in Virginia and lot more serious about it. So.. I bought up a bunch of parts and got ready to build it. Only needed the LCD screen. So.. what happened? I moved back to utah.. giving all my jector stuff to my dad. (I think it was a trade for something but I cant remember what)

So years pass by again.. my parents also moved back to utah and finally.. me and my dad spend a few days in the garage.. and ... we built him a projector.

So.. my desire mixed with determination for a Jector of my own was for real this time.

A few weeks ago I ordered all the parts on line and then got to work. Once the parts started coming in.. I started building the enclosure ..

It turned out to be a 3ft long 18 inches high monster!

Here are some of the guts of the Jector. Looking at the LCD screen, Controller and power supply for the controller.


So everything needed to be put into a sturdy frame. We made them out of oak. This is the LCD mounted in it's frame.
Then I painted it all black, inside and out. Here are all the framed lenses, LCD and Lexan (heat shield) Also the red thing is the ballast (it powers the bulb which is a street light bulb made in germany) Then we have the switches at the bottom. One for the main power and for of the bulb.

Here you can see the exhaust fans and the bulb mogel.
Anyway lastnight we got it all put together and did the first test run. And got this. You are looking at a 13foot screen (corner to corner) from 16ft away. Projected on a tan painted wall(not white). There is a lot of reasons why this should not have looked as good as it did.. but it still just looked awesome. I can't wait to tweak a few things and get it on a nice white screen. So here is a scene from Gladiator.
and here is another.
and here is a little taste of what it will be like to play computer games on a 13 foot screen!

is the moon crazy? or am I?

ok so wednesday I was coming up the hill from walmart in orem at about 6:20pm, as I got to the top of the hill I saw the moon just above the mountain line and it really suprised me.. I was sitting there alone in my truck but I was still like "holy crap!"
The moon just looked so big and abnormally close and easy to see.
Then last night at about midnight.. I swear it was the brightest moon ive ever seen. Straight up in the sky it made it perfectly easy to see into my truck as I was climbing into drive back to lindon.
Then this morning.. I took this picture.. it still seems abnormal to me..

anyway.. Im glad we have a moon.. I think its cool. So much stuff on the planet has a direct effect coming from the moon. Like tides of the ocean and currents. here is a nice little animation..



Animals such as salmon and turtles are also greatly effected by the moon.
Surfers depend on the moon.
The moons also shields us from a lot of space debris hitting the earth.
The speed and direction of the winds are result of the moon.

The craziest one to think about though is how it effects time on our planet. If we didn't have the moon the earth would spin a lot faster and there would be a lot less hours in the day. Some say it would be something like 8 hours. Thats crazy!

geez.. this doesnt seem real

Samsung is a huge company in korea.. they make everything under the sun as far as electronics go. In my oppinion their phones are absolute trash and good for nothing but subtracting a few good years of your life. however.. they do make some pretty sweet LCD screens. I own a 20 inch widescreen LCD for my computer at home. But this is incredible.

So heres a 10mm thick(0.39 inch) 40" LED lit 1080p HD LCD TV.

A great idea for microsoft

So they are working on the new windows. For now they are calling it "windows 7" or "windows vienna". I just read a few articles about what they are trying to do and the changes they are making.. it actually sounded to me like they had a few great ideas.. we will see what actually happens.. but here is my idea.

Microsoft should re-release windows XP.. call it "windows 7 or vienna" and just forget vista ever happened.

that would make me happy.

haha

 

what you are looking at is one of those things you can buy movie tickets from at the provo mall theater. this picture was taken from my phone a long time ago but i was looking though my files when i saw it..

anyway its a windows blue screen of death.. it happened when i tried to buy a few tickets.. it made me laugh pretty good..

my dad looks like the fonz

 

 

this is my sexy bike..

 

 

 

 

yep more

 

 

 

 

more pics

 

 

 

 

Some bike pics..

 

 

 

 

windows vista: an honest account

I have been inspired to tell the world what i think about windows vista. This is based only on my own experience.. not from what i have read on the internet or from what other people say. This is an honest accounting of everything i have experienced.

Things I like about vista:

1. I like that while you are uninstalling a program through "programs and features" it allows you to scroll the list and click on other programs.. (you couldn't do that in xp)


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Now things that I hate about vista:

1. First of all I hate the fact that I was forced into using windows vista. Many people buying new computers or laptops have had the same experience. Right now it is hard to buy a new computer (no matter where you get it from) with with windows xp because microsoft has been trying to shove it down or throats by not allowing us to have a choice in the matter. (this to my knowledge has slightly changes recently, at least for HP they are now allowing "downgrades" to xp. this is great news.. although i have yet to get xp on my laptop. bottom line is.. it is still ridiculous to try and get xp on a new laptop)

2. Vista is a resource hog. I have all the frilly bells and whistles turned off (meaning i have every setting i can think og set to performance over what "looks good"), I have all the preinstalled computer crippling software removed (including and especially nortons or any other anti-virus) and it still just crawls.. I really cant believe it. As far as hardware goes this computer should be better than any other computer I own..

3. UAC Do i really need to go into this? I cant tell you how annoying this really is. You may have seen that mac commercial where the pc had to say "allow" for everything.. it really is like that.. except even worse. You absolutely have to disable this to use your computer and not what pull your hair out.

4. It honestly feels like nothing is easy now in vista. They have changed names and places for things i used all the time. like in the control panel add/remove programs was right there near the top.. now its called "programs and features" and is a ways down the list. I can think of a ton of little things like that.

5. the wireless and network settings.. are RETARDED! before it was so easy to just click the start button then click network connections. From there you had everything you needed right there.. and they were separated into wireless and local connections.. man.. I long to have that the way it was. now its some hellish maze to get to what you want to.. and they have all these extra network profile settings that drive you nuts. and i find this whole "network and sharing center" to be very buggy and freezing all the time.. i just completely hate it.

6. What used to be "my documents" is now your username with a ton of extra confusing stuff in there. I used to enjoy a nicely kept my documents folder now i hate trying to find something in there. the folder icons all blend together and it makes it hard to find what you want.

7. and what the heck is with google first of all and now microsoft that wants to put such an emphasis on searches... i like to be able to search files on my computer .. but for freak sake.. i dont want my computer indexing everything i do and saving the searching i make and putting them into a folder for me to just delete later.. honestly ill take the slightly slower regular search for when i actually need to find something. this is one of the first things i disable.

8. "windows photo gallery" .. well it sucks.. i dont know why this has to be the default application to launch when you double click on a picture. why does the big blue middle button have to be the annoying instant slideshow button? Honestly how often do you really want to see a slide show of all your stuff. maybe never.. the bars at the top and bottom take up way to much valuable screen space.

9. windows explorer sucks now. again.. taking up way to much space with all the buttons you never use.. when you try to customize it how you want it.. guess what happens. the only thing you can do is unlock or lock the tool bar!?!? why does that even matter if you cant do anything else to it! why not just disable it totally!? and what happened to thumbnail view!? i hate the new explorer.. i cant get it even close to how i like it.

10. oh here is something that really bugs me.. why did they make it so easy to accidentally delete the trash can off the desktop!? i just want to empty the trash once in a while.. not delete the trash completely. I have seriously done this more times than I want to admit. and why does that really need to be an option on the right click.. im sure we were all fine with it not being there before.

11. this one doesn't matter to me that bad because i use firefox or any number of other browsers. vista forces you to use the new internet explorer 7. It sucks.. it sucks.. it sucks. thats a whole other blog.. so i hate that on those rare occasions that i do need to use IE now i have no choice but to use IE7.

12. Rhapsody doesn't work very well at all and i don't know if it is because its just windows vista or if its because it uses IE. Either way.. judas its annoying. I have to completely reset IE7 back to factory settings all the time just to get rhapsody to login sometimes.

13. here is a big one. this one kills me as well. when you click the big red power button on the start button.. what do you think it "should" do? exactly.. it should shut down the computer!! but no.. its just does a hibernate or sleep mode or what ever it is.. and there is NO way to change it.. at all. here's the truth.. none of those features have EVER worked right.. so they should just admit it and implement them as beta until they actually do work. until then i don't want to see em.

14.


this is a work in progress and im getting sick of this post.. ill update it as i feel like it. until then.. IF you have the choice between XP and vista.. please make sure you get a gun and blow your brains out before choosing vista..

thank you

the circle of life

there is a special moment that happens only once a year. its that moment where the stark realization that summer really is over and that a bitter winter is in close proximity. today could have been any other day.. I checked the weather the night before and it said it would be like 69 degrees today..

I run out the door hoping for a warmer day.. i get to my truck and see the condensation on the windows. I start the engine and then hit the wipers.. horror strikes me when i realize the morning dew is frozen solid on my windshield..

and so begins the drudgery of scraping ice off car windows every morning.. soon everywhere I go.. the futile walk between tire tracks trying not to get snow on my exposed feet will begin as well.

*sigh*

so that special moment happened today october 15th

New apartment and dentist

Me and branden are moving into a 3 bedroom house in lindon this weekend. We need furniture.. keep an eye out and let us know if ya got anything.

things needed:

a bed
a few couches
a dresser
a kitchen table and a couple chairs
a few more couches
some kind of shelve units that can hold a frick of a lot of dvd's cd's and books.
things to sit on...

one more thing.. im going to the dentist on tuesday for the first time in years.. so please pray for me!

thanks

What is that smell

Ok what is the deal going on in orem! I swear everywhere I go I get blasted with a potent wall of invisible raw sewage! I ride around on the motorcycle most of the time so I probably notice it more than most people do but trust me.. its there!

So WHAT is it!? What is causing this to happen?

Is global warming to blame? Are the sewers getting heated more than they have been in the past and therefore the acrid air expands and seeks its victims outside its usual containment?

Is it the rapidly expanding utah county? More people therefor more muck? Is the populace growing faster than we can handle waste?

Is it El Nino coming back for round two!?

Is it freaking Pangaea coming back together again!?


Anyway.. im hoping the bitter cold and most awful winter we are about to be thrust into will stay this awful stench for a time. But being as its been a warm few days guess who back in town... and thus the reason for my pitiful banter.

Jason's Deli Review

I really like Jason's Deli. Its nice and clean in there. Its kinda different than most places in general.. not in a big way but just kinda nice. All the soft serve ice-cream you can eat after your meal.. thats kinda cool. lots of good looking food.. it all looked impressive to me. it was easy to order and not too long of a wait. The price was right I think. I will be coming back a lot.

And they have the best meatball anything ive ever had.. it was so good! so yeah.. im very pleasantly surprised.

sprint

sprint is the worst carrier on the planet. They have cut off my service more than a few times.. they have charged me for ludicrous crap! They fail to tell me important information. They are impossible to hear and understand! Their supervisors are the last people you want to talk to and their phones suck. Their customer service is staggeringly useless. They cut me off again today and now after i tell them to fix it they say it will take 4 hours to turn it back on.. for something that was their fault.. everything has been their fault and im not kidding.. ive never been so frustrated ...

I like that my plan is so cheap.. 30 bucks for 600 min and all the internet and text i can throw around. But.. its not worth the agony.. I need therapy...

The other day they made me so mad I actually cussed out a supervisor on the phone.. judas .. I've never ever done that before.

I am honestly considering not having a cell phone.. ever again. If pagers were still mainstream and cheap id downgrade in a second.

I look forward to the day that wireless internet covers the map just as well as cell phone towers do so you can use free internet phones.. or for google to finally release their free ad supported cell phone.

honestly.. im sick of it.. 90 percent of the day im near a computer with internet or a wired phone anyway.. are cell phones really that much of a convenience?

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just a side note.. it took a great deal of effort to not use a lot of 4 letter words in this post.. you should all be proud of me...

This is too cool to not post!

Brandon sent me this today.. i was glued to the screen for the whole video.. this would be an incredible feeling.. can you imagine doing this!?