There’s an old math trick that goes like so – choose any number… say 171…. add the digits and subtract.
171-9 = 162
Take its sum of digits and subtract them…
162 – 9 = 153
Take its sum of digits and subtract them… Continue reading “Analyzing Scott Flansburg’s Nines Trick”
Adding BLM Land Use Maps to Osmand on Android
In the US, various hunters and fishers use the Bureau of Land Management’s maps. There are of course several apps that can let you add BLM maps…
- Avenza has some maps provided by BLM specifically for avenza app.
- Gaia maps pro has had the public lands feature for years.
- Osmand has not the greatest support for viewing what land area you are in and looking at, but many local points of interest are in this app that are not in others as it uses the Openstreetmap which can be added and edited by locals with places they actually care about. Also unlike most other offline mapping apps it is open-source, available on F-Droid store, and very extensive, and respects user freedoms and an active developer community.
For some time I have wondered why the public domain BLM land use maps aren’t an option in Osmand, I tried mobac but found no way to get the maps I wanted, but after a bit of research I found the answer! Here are the steps to add land use maps to Osmand. Continue reading “Adding BLM Land Use Maps to Osmand on Android”
Neural Networks Part 2: Learning Pi
Thousands of years ago, probably around the invention of the wheel, and before the time of Solomon, humans must have been measuring various objects… calculating some distances, and wondering, is there a better way to measure how far around the outside of a wheel is compared to its diameter? Continue reading “Neural Networks Part 2: Learning Pi”
The only metric guide you may need
Kilometers, Centimeters… microfarads, farads… They units are all a multiple of 10, but that doesn’t make them that much easier as you are first learning them. What is 1.09km in cm? or 1205cm in km? With a quick jotted down note card you can very quickly see what any commonly used metric unit converts to!
Setting up AREDN node with Ubiquiti Nanostation with Ubuntu
If your area has other ham-radio operators that are using an AREDN network, an Ubiquity router is a great way to connect to the local LAN network. Note that you will need:
- An amateur radio license.
- An Ubiquity Nanostation (the “loco” one is cheaper but it has less range 🙁 )
- POE outlet to 2-ethernet adapter (included when you buy a new Nanostation)
- Two ethernet cables (You will want at least one outdoor-rated cable if you will put it outside, which will likely be necessary for good signal.)
Continue reading “Setting up AREDN node with Ubiquiti Nanostation with Ubuntu”
Think outside the box for the most optimal recycling solution.
Today we did some up-cycling of political ad signs. After elections these generally go in the trash, but Talent Maker City had a public event to build some cool stuff out of these corrugated plastic boards! (Update- see the howto for version 2 of a durable cargo bicycle box here)
Continue reading “Think outside the box for the most optimal recycling solution.”
Into Neural Networks! Part 1
Keras is a library that makes machine learning easy to run and train without knowing too much of the math behind it. It has many tutorials including an excellent howto by Egghead.io, Pyimagesearch and of course the official documentation and books…
…but what if you want to look into the details of how it works? Neural networks are a series of functions that are adjusted over time, and we can “see” what happens in a simple example. Continue reading “Into Neural Networks! Part 1”
Candy-throwing Robot with Arduino, recycled parts, and Dlib
Looking for a fun way to hand out candies at your local harvest fair? In this howto I show how to use a wood frame and old computer/printer parts to build a robot candy thrower:
https://www.instructables.com/id/Candy-Throwing-Robot-With-Arduino-Recycled-Parts-a/