SubVersion (SVN) for fun and profit

Lifehacker had a reference to a really excellent posting on “Using SubVersion for Writers.”

This is a really good overview, with examples, of how to use SubVersion for writing, web projects, etc.

Free for a limited time: how to keep raccoons out of your green recycling bin

Toronto uses a ‘green bin’ system to recycle and compost organic waste. Toronto also has a highly active raccoon population, which quickly tips, opens, scatters, and eats the leftovers in the green bin.

There are many solutions to this problem. Without further ado, here is mine, and a bit of description of the design space.

The requirement: keep the raccoons out of the recycling.
The solution space: cheap, people-friendly, does not require locking the bin in an enclosure, since many people do not have a convenient place for the enclosure.

Typical solutions involve locking straps, multiple screws, and some sort of buckling mechanism.

Mine is one loop of Velcro One-Wrap, and a screw. Tools needed, a screwdriver, a sharp knife point, and a drill or small flat screwdriver bit suitable for making a pilot hole in the body of the green bin. (A Leatherman tool will frequently have all of these. I favor the ‘Juice‘ line for everyday use.)

1. Take the roll of One-Wrap. Hold the end of the Velcro in your hand. Wrap it around your hand until it completely overlaps on your palm.
2. With a sharp penknife or utility blade, cut a 5mm slit in the velcro so that you can pass a screw through it, just below the overlap region. You will use this hole to securing the loop to the body of the green bin with a screw, below.
3. Push the screw through the velcro, so that the head is inside the loop
4. Place the velcro loop on the bale of the green bin, and close it. Use the sharp end of the screw to mark the body of the green bin.
5. Using your drill or small screwdriver bit, make a pilot hole for the screw
6. Drive the screw into the body of the green bin

Notes on using this device:

• The velcro must be firmly and fully coupled on the overlapping part to keep the raccoons out
• When you take the bin out on the morning of recycling/garbage day, remember to undo the velcro
• In practice, the loop lasts for about a year

Feedback, requests for clarification, commentary, kudos and complaints are all welcome.
I’ve thought about illustrating this posting; please let me know if you think that would be valuable, or would like to do the art for it!

HOWEVER, I make no warranty or claim of suitability, as I’m NOT selling this to you. It does work for me. It won’t work for you. Seriously, you’ll lose a load or two of recycling to the raccoons because you’ll forget to close it properly, but it’s radically better than nothing, and very inexpensive.

As a helpful commenter notes, below, there’s also a good commercial solution (http://www.raccoonsolutions.com/).

Regards,
Dak

Tieing it all together [tips, opinions, musings]

So, what, on earth, do all these postings have to do with each other?

Like you, I am a “person in the loop” system. I observe, tune myself to what’s going on, act, observe what happens, and repeat. What I’m sharing with you is what I’m currently observing, that’s “on the fringe” that is my “reading outside of my area.”

I personally view reading outside of my area as being critical to success. We have to be able to bring all kinds of ideas into play when we are looking for creating consulting and management solutions, and bring them up in a heartbeat.

The challenge is maintaining focus while doing this. One solution is setting a limited time budget, and a low energy time, when other, more critical things need to be done, so that it adds value rather than rationalizing distraction. It’s also a heck of a lot of fun, which is all the more reason to put it as a ‘time reward’ or ‘play period’ with limits.

Best,
Dak

High-speed digital camera

David Pogue just reviewed the new Exlim EX-F1.  This is another interesting data point for the ‘cheap and fast’ versus ‘high-end cutting edge.’

In my opinion, it’s both:  the cheapest digital high-speed camera, but high-end for a ‘digital camera’.

But what’s really interesting about this camera is that it changes what’s possible for analysis (product development, amateur and professional athletics, fault diagnosis).

Have a look, and weigh in!

Best,

Dak

Application extensibility

Today I’m fiddling with the concept of application extensibility; going back to my roots, as it were

This application, “Delicious Library” is an *amazing* book scanner, that uses the built-in iSight camera in many Macs to scan bar codes, look it up in Amazon, and add it to a catalogue of your library.

The ergonomics are excellent. This is an excellent product.

It has one thing that I’d really love to see added to it: a way of programmatically sharing the bar-code scan data that it has found (or NOT found), so that other sources of codes could be checked…for example, the wine product list of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.

Dak

Design trade-offs, and the virtue of cheap (part 2 of 3)

Another data point (for delivery over the web).

This is a Vlog of an interview of fixed gear bike rider. (Thanks to Bruce Sharpe for twittering this one).

High end gear vs. the “flip video” camcorder (not a lot more than $100).

Good Enough not to distract from the task at hand. There’s a lesson here (a whole flock of them, really). What do you think it is?

Dak

Announcing Dakworks, and doing today’s "idea warmup"

Dakworks is an information technology, software development, editing, and management consultancy. As the principal consultant, I believe that systems and software must be built to make great things possible, to generate new possibilities, and to liberate people from onerous and repetitive tasks.

At present, the purpose of this blog will be occasional commentary, opinion, and links to “things that I found interesting” in the spirit of the new, trendspotting, and nifty uses of leading and trailing edge technologies.

Today’s cool toy spotting (Thanks to Malcolm Stanley at Strategic Thinking and Execution for pointing it out):

This uses the Arduino controller and an add-on sensor package to monitor plant status and post the results on Twitter.

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/02/how_to_make_plants_talk_t.html

The application itself is silly, but think about the implications: Twitter can serve as a personal mash-up dashboard for your home, your car, your pets, your pre-writing kids, and not just your blogosphere and mobile device friends.

For example, imagine an outdoor motion sensor and camera *as a Twitter feed*. Outdoor motion sensor goes off, not worth an alarm…but if you get a call from your alarm company, AND the outdoor motion sensor went off, you’d check your camera and confirm that it’s likely NOT a false alarm. Twitter’s ongoing ‘low quality’ information stream is a great way to moderate and present this data, since it’s redundant, and truly a ‘value add’ rather than a primary source of data.

The key here is to put people in the loop when interpretation is required. This is exactly what Dakworks is all about.

Thanks for reading,
Dak