Archive | March 2014
March 21, 2014  

Noticing people?

I read something the other day about sexism, and it got me thinking. As you go through life, you notice many things that get your attention. A nice sounding bird, a pretty sunset, a nice looking person, someone saying something really interesting, or funny.

All of these are considered ‘OK’, except for the nice looking person. If you see one of those you should ignore it. This is a bit odd I think. Physical looks and intelligence are both accidents of birth, why is it OK to value one but not the other? Is it ‘intelligenceist’ to value someone for being smart?

The thing is that whatever first brings another person to our attention, that is just a fleeting moment. From that moment forward, we can start to learn more about them, and discover that they have far more to offer than whatever it was that first made us notice them.

So if you’re the ‘noticer’, the important thing is not to get too wrapped up in the first feature you notice. Get to know the person more. And if you’re the ‘noticee’, then try to remember that the other person has just realised that you exist. Don’t assume that whatever brought you to their attention is all they see in you. Give them a chance to get to know you.

And of course there’s the other side. Don’t write people off because they don’t leap into your attention straight away, or don’t notice you straight away. Everyone has so much to offer. Be friendly, supportive, and give people a chance!

March 4, 2014  

Help, my Arduino is dying!

The Arduino/Raspberry Pi combo I’m using for my pizza oven failed completely last weekend, just in time for the biggest event the oven’s had!

We had a party Saturday night, so I lit the oven about lunch time Saturday and cooked a couple of pork bellies, then made pizzas when people arrived for tea. So the oven was fired for 8 hours or so straight. I would have loved to see how the temperature travelled through the walls being fired for that long. But it wasn’t to be.

I am powering the Arduino through a USB connection from the Raspberry Pi, which is I think a mistake. Still, it’s been fine until now. The whole thing is powered by a 12 volt power supply inside, feeding through the spare wires in the ethernet cable, which is fairly long. From the cable it goes through a cheap 12v -> 5v (USB) power converter into the Raspberry Pi, which has a USB connection that powers the Arduino, and lets the Pi pull temperature readings from the Arduinos thermocouple shield. It’s worked fine for over 12 months!

But now if I power the Pi up itself it works fine, but when I plug the Arduino in and initialise the serial the whole thing dies.

I have been wanting to build a decent 12v -> 5v power supply for a while, and power both devices directly from that. Or even better, find a thermocouple interface for the Pi that handles 8 thermocouples so I can get rid of the Arduino altogether.

I guess now that this is happened I finally have the incentive to built that power supply, or two of them, so I can use one in my car as well.