GeeksOK.com » Miscellaneous

Fulgerites

troycoon — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:05:11 +0000

Here is a picture of a fulgerite that a firefighter friend of mine gave me. He says that he got them from a call he responded to for a downed power line. I have been thinking of ways to make these for years, just like in the movie Sweet Home Alabama.

Another Tounge Drum

troycoon — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 05:37:39 +0000

Just wanted to share a picture on another one of the tongue drum that I built. It turned out pretty good and it sounds pretty good. I am planning on changing the tongue layout next time, whenever I have a chance to sit down and make the CNC code that is.

Dulcimers and Tennessee Music Boxes

troycoon — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 05:29:39 +0000

While I don’t blog near as much as I would like, I’m not just sitting around. I have been somewhat busy (obsessed) lately with instrument making, especially dulcimers. I have been doing copious amounts of research and applying it directly in the shop. My first instrument was the strum stick that I wrote about in a previous post, it incidentally is in the process of being reworked and improved. Here are a couple of pictures of my first dulcimer. Well it is really a modified Tennessee Music Box. I found a great set of plans at the Everything Dulcimer Website The sides and fret board are made of maple and the top and bottom are oak. This dulcimer has a 24 inch string length and only three strings, it is ultimately intended for a child. It can be played either on a table or on a lap. It is very heavy and durable, just what a kid will need. I did not use any screws or nails, all the joints are glued. The two tone finish was my wife’s idea and I really like the way it turned out. I have gone on to make two more like this with four strings and slightly different dimensions. I am still experimenting and building up to my masterpiece. As soon as I get the shop band saw up and running I will be build much lighter and more traditional models with bent sides. I would like to mention and give thanks to the Dulciaddict He has been kind enough to share his plans and I have seen that he is very active on different forums helping aspiring dulcimer builders.

Latest Projects, Tongue Drums and Stick Dulcimers

troycoon — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:47:00 +0000

Here are some pictures of some of my latest projects. I hope to have my stick dulcimer ready for the Oklahoma City Traditional Music Meeting this Saterday.

Stack of Tongue Drums for the school

Making a Cut

Computer controlling the CNC machine.

Stick dulcimer getting a polyurethane coat.

Picture of where I will glue the fret board.

Been Awhile

troycoon — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 01:49:24 +0000

I know it has been awhile since I last blogged but with the school year going I have been a very busy boy. Besides driving the bus, starting an afterschool program and spoonsoring a robotics team I have been busy building a prototype Tongue Drum and researching Dulcimers. The good news is the robotics team placed 8 out of 18 and took the award for creative design also, my prototype Tongue Drum was an unparrelled success. I will be posting pictures of the drum as well as instructions soon so don’t give up on me yet.

Wanted: Organic Farmer

troycoon — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 05:24:01 +0000

It this time of greening and saving the environment I have come up with a plan. I want to hire an organic farmer to grow local, in season vegetables for our family. I can’t afford to hire a farmer alone so what I want to do is get a group of people from the surrounding area and we could all pitch in and hire an organic farmer. Now I’m not saying that I want the farmer to do all the work. I want to form a cooperative group that is led by the farmer, each person in the group would spend some time working and learning how to grow organically. By forming a group of people we could give encouragement to those who need it and gain motivation from others in the group. What we need in American agriculture is a complete culture change. I think one of the best ways to accomplish that would be with structured support from a farmer and from those that are in the group.

Eating from a local source is undeniably good for the environment and a way to reduce the stress on the planet. As a teacher for the past 10 years I have observed many students that don’t know anything about where their food comes from or the processes that it must go through in order to make it to their plates. We have become disconnected from our food and consequentially the planet. In order to be effective at achieving sustainability we must take ownership of our lives and reconnect with the planet and each other.

An open letter to ASUS

troycoon — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:31:57 +0000

Dear Asus,

I have found that the EeePC is an awesome product. I have purchased two of them and helped many other people make the decision to buy one. I also look forward to the release of the EeeTV. As an ASUS consumer and advocate I would like to share my views on the use and function of the Linux operating system on the Eee line of pc’s.

The decision to go with Linux was a great move. There are not enough manufacturers supporting Linux to the extent that ASUS has. I would, as a Linux user like to see ASUS extend support beyond the Xandros operating system. I am not a linux purest who thinks that ASUS must release the source code for all the software that makes the Eee Pc a great little machine. What I would like to see is precompiled packages that can be plugged into the most popular of Linux distributions like SUSE, Debian, Ubuntu, Mandriva and Fedora. I would also like to see full synaptic support to Xandros Repositories and full desktop support.

ASUS one of the reasons that you have done so well and had so much success is that you gave users more options with your Eee Pc’s. Linux users have been very excited at the prospect of having such a neat little computer with Linux support. The same Linux users that have helped ASUS succeed prefer operating systems and computers that offer freedom. It is up to you to foster that good will by understanding the Linux consumer and his philosophy. The Linux user will work around obsticles that hamper his or her computer operating experience, but they will praise and avidly support the company who makes that job easier. With so many compact computers popping up in the market these days, your early out of the chute advantage may dwindle. It would make good sense to build stronger relationships with those users who support ASUS.

Mac vs. Windows vs. Linux

troycoon — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:18:39 +0000

I have had the responsibility of working a bunch of different operating systems lately, which prompted me to reflect on which operating systems I use and why.

For my own use I prefer Linux because it is stable, secure, powerful and free. Linux gives me the ability to work with just about any file and not deal with proprietary BS or DRM. I try to find Linux equivalents to all the Windows software that I would want to run and many times I find software that just works better. Linux has come a long way in the past 8 yrs that I have been using it and it can be used as a viable desktop replacement however, I personally need to resort to the command more than I would like and probably more than many users could tolerate.

I made a pledge to my wife that next time we bought her a new computer that we would get here a MAC. I chose to get her a MAC because it is stable, secure, powerful and offers a greater chance of hardware support for printers and external devices. She has had a very good experience with her MAC and the only complaint that I really have about it is the cost. MAC’s are expensive and the software tends too be expensive.

We do have a windows machine which we keep around because of the greater variety of low cost commercial software available. It is sometimes necessary to pay for software in order to get things done. I have used Windows machines for about 15yrs so I am fairly adept at getting them to do what I want, and I have tons of software that I have accumulated over the years. The problem with windows is that they in general lack stability. Blue screens of death and rebooting is not what I consider fun. I know that the new Windows Vista is out and some people think it is great, but the few times the I have had to work on it I have found it to be a resource hogging pain in the butt.

Homeschool Classroom

troycoon — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 02:44:07 +0000

I have put up the structure for the homeschool classroom and will start putting up content and lesson plans this week. I would like to emphasize that GeeksOk is a community and as a community we welcome any suggestions or help that you may want to give. If you are a homeschool parent and want to manage one of the classes just e-mail me and I will help get you started.

School Starting and Oklahoma Homeschool

troycoon — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:18:06 +0000

Well, it’s time again to start school in Oklahoma. I think it’s crazy to start this early with temperatures just now staying in the upper 90’s and 100’s but no one really asked me.

Some of you may not know that I am a science teacher by profession, so I have been busy getting ready for school to start. I will be teaching Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Environmental Science and Principles of Technology as well as driving a bus route and manageing a network of 200+ computer workstations. As you might imagine this leaves very little free time ;however, I am determined to create new blog posts regularly. Which brings me to my next point.

I will be creating a resource for home schoolers. My wife and I home schooled our two boys for grades 4th – 8th and my wife being the really organized one saved all of our lesson plans. I will be posting the lesson plans and making book recommendations on our GeeksOk Online Classroom The classroom will be free to use and share and I hope that you will find it useful.

The motivation to share these resources stems from the fact that my nephew will start homeschooling this year and is in the 4th grade.I hope to also encourage my wife to share some of her experiences as a homeschool mom. You can help by asking lots of questions.