Just showing a picture of the work done so far on my new camera.. For those of you interested. Basically the alluminum tube has been machined down using the ME machine shop at Sac State — thanks for letting me use it. Also I used my dad’s drill press to make the inner end cap (the clear plastic/acrilic) with some device I don’t know what it’s called (a drill bit in the middle with an arm and a blade sticking on the other side. In the shape of an h). I might need to make a new one because this one slipped when I cut the second one and there is like two holes in it. The first one is better. I still need to sand the outside down and perhaps use some glue/epoxy/adhesive to attach the inner endcap to the bearing. The outer endcap is fine because it will be sandwiched in by the bearing. Basically all that’s needed is to mount the inner stuff and add some teeth to it. I’m thinking about making some bars/spikes and welding them to the drum in a spiral pattern to save on weight instead of using a pair of long bars across the length of it. It shouldn’t really need to spin as fast as some of the other drums though because it will have a higher KE simply by being as big as it is, so I don’t think welding the teeth on should be any problem. Of course, actually making the teeth, and actually welding them on will be a bigger problem, as I don’t know how to do either :).

If you noticed I said I got a new camera today. I did. It’s a digital camera made my Minolta, the Dimage S414. I saw it advertised on slickdeals.net along with a printer for $220 total after rebates. I didn’t really need a printer, even for $20 more so I just got the camera and a 256mb CF disk and some batteries to get over $250 for the $50 coupon amazon was offering. I like it so far. It’s nice and big and sturdy unlike the other tiny cameras that seem like they’ll break in your hands. It’s not too big or heavy though, it fits nicely in your hands (well mine at least). Although I like heavier things, perhaps that’s why I like the Logitech MX700 because of its weight. Anyways, without further ado, here’s the picture:

Also, I finally solved the google problem (see the post below). I had a filter running on the primes because I thought it would be much deeper into the depth of the digits of e, but it wasn’t. I removed the filter and found the right answer right away :). The second problem was much harder, but I read a spoiler for it (it just beckoned me too much since I was already on the page), so I won’t claim to have solved it. I was on the right track though.

I saw this neat puzzle on google’s blog. I mistakenly read the problem as the first 10 consecutive digits of e which are prime, which the answer is of course 1838606261 after a quickie c# program to determine that (I thought the number would be much deeper honestly). Grr.. I’ll have to go into work on the harder problem now to figure it out. Thanks google for keeping me up so late working on interesting things!

Of course, I love google. Don’t let the title of this entry fool you. I’d work there in a heartbeat if I lived in the Bay Area, I was finished with College, and they would hire me. Hopefully in another few years that will be a possibility.

It looks like spammers have been using spam bots and putting their web page in my referer thing.. That has to go so I’m going to remove it. Sorry to all the folks that liked it (I liked it mainly).

Also, Poker Saver alpha 02 is coming along nicely for those of you that are interested. Also, I’ve got all the parts for FryDrumBot, including the aluminum tube, but I’m not sure if it’ll be the one I’ll use. Currently it’s 3″ diameter, 1/8″ wall, and 1.77oz per lineal inch. The electronics weigh 6oz, and the two endcaps weigh 2oz total, and the wheels weigh 2oz total, so that leaves 6oz for the drum, stabalizers and chassis mounts, which isn’t quite enough. I may end up buying a thinner wall for half the weight (but less momentum), or a smaller diameter which will cut down on the weight of the endcaps as well.

I’ve decided to release version alpha 01 of poker saver. Right now all it can do is import the complete game information about Party Poker games only and display the game information back, with filters for game types, money type, and limits. Not much yet, but I can see it coming together. If anyone wants to, then you can download Poker Saver alpha 01. Simply extract the zip file to a new directory and run pokersaver.exe. It should be self-explanitory. Post any obvious bugs in the comments if you want to. I know about parsing bugs with Omaha and Real money no-limit games, so don’t bother with those

For those of you coming to my page about FryDrumBot 1.0, I haven’t started building it yet. I’ve got some plastic for the endcaps and the stabalizer (that’s not in the picture), and all of the electronics for it, but not the drum yet. I plan to get that on Tuesday or so and finish building the entire thing by next Friday. I’ll take pictures this time.