Press "Enter" to skip to content

nuxx.net Posts

Salty microSD Card

Published January 9, 2011

On Friday while out at lunch I found a microSD reader and card in the parking lot of a local Biggby Coffee. While it had been run over, was caked in salt, and appeared to have a cracked microSD card, I decided that I should try and see if it’ll work anyway. Unfortunately, after washing it in water and alcohol and drying it I found that the crack damaged the chip inside. Thus, when placed in a microSD reader, the card wasn’t detected and no data could be read.

Comparing the image above to this one (from Bunnie Huang‘s excellent article On MicroSD Problems) shows that the crack ran through the area where silicon lies. This photo, where I finished breaking open the card after failing to read it shows a thin silver line which I believe to be the chip itself.

If you’d like to see more photos of the microSD card that I found and my attempt at recovering data from it, check them out here: Salty microSD Card.

Leave a Comment

Roomba is Not So Smart

Published January 5, 2011

Upon arriving home today I found this. Danielle’s Roomba had driven away from next to its dock, leaving telltale tire marks the whole way, and died. Before leaving for work I set the Roomba up with a virtual wall so that it’d run in a small part of my living room and the kitchen, all of which is within sight of the dock and no more than 20′ long. Once again the Roomba died before it found its way back to the dock.

I’m starting to think the battery is going dead. Thus far it hadn’t docked successfully except for the few times that I placed it in front of the dock and commanded it to charge itself.

Leave a Comment

First Ride of the New Year

Published January 4, 2011

With the recent thaw and freeze the deep snow of the last two weeks has been replaced with pleasantly hard ground and a light dusting of snow over ice; perfect conditions for winter riding with studded tires. The new single track at River Bends was like pavement with trivial bits of ice and far, far more fun than the last time I attempted to ride it.

Tonight’s ride netted just under 16 miles, which is not bad for the first ride of the year, only one day later than last year’s first ride of the year. It was pretty uneventful, save for some weird car traffic in a local neighborhood. First I had someone pass me then pull in front of me while turning into a driveway, but this wasn’t close enough to be properly threatening. Then, a few seconds later, someone turned right in front of me, realized that they’d just pulled in front of someone and pulled over, then almost rear-ended a parked car while doing so. It’s really silly, especially considering that I’m essentially wearing a car headlight on my head and with a multiple-mile-visible blinky red light on the back of my bike. I guess it’s better than daytime riding when people just don’t see you at all.

Tonight I finally also tried out the Pearl Izumi Barrier GTX shoes that a friend of mine is trying to sell. While my toes were numb after 1.5 hours of riding they were just fine for the first hour, and they seem to be quite a bit better than my Sidis with neoprene shoe covers. They also come with toe studs, and it won’t be possible to get snow inside of them like I can my shoe covers, which makes my feet rather wet. The whole shoe is insulated, they fit reasonably well (perhaps a little loose), and were quite comfortable when coupled with long tights and tall wool socks. I think I’ll purchase these from him.

Leave a Comment

New Year’s Eve Preparations

Published December 31, 2010

Here’s a corney keg of Salonius Pale Ale from Sherwood Brewing Company on it’s way back to my house for New Year’s Eve festivities. The child seat lock on the seatbelt finally came in handy, allowing me to lock the keg in place to keep it from tipping. I believe this is one of their new beers, and a small that I was given while picking it up showed it to be outstanding. It’s a bit sour, a little spicy from the yeast, and with some really nice, fruity hops that come in part from it’s being dry hopped. Supposedly it’s about 6%.

Danielle is currently cooking BBQ sauce and pulling pork, and with some chili, cheese, and dessert stuff that’s on the way we should have quite a ready supply of tasty food. Mmm.

Leave a Comment

Riding In Circles

Published December 30, 2010

In a fit of boredom I just rode a bit over a mile indoors by doing laps of the basement. With it cleaned up there is a clear figure eight-like path around the futon then around the table near my workbench and I was able to ride a whole mile without running into anything or putting a foot down. This took roughly 15 minutes, as I was probably averaging around 4 MPH. I was riding Danielle’s bike (it’s the only one currently with platform pedals) and its computer doesn’t do elapsed time or average but (strangely) it does do maximum speed, which was 5.2 MPH.

Leave a Comment

Unsigned HSBC Cash Back Checks

Published December 30, 2010

At the end of last month I received a two standard $25 cash back rebate checks from HSBC, one of my credit card companies. Unfortunately they forgot to sign the checks and I didn’t notice before depositing them. This resulted in a phone call from my bank, account adjustment, letter from the bank formally rejecting the checks, etc. When I called HSBC about this I found out that they had a batch of these sent out and that they will immediately send me replacement checks.

The replacement check that I received looked completely different, so I’m figuring that their check printer screwed up, didn’t catch this, and thus HSBC went to another vendor.

2 Comments

Non-Winning AUTO-intelliKEY Teardown

Published December 30, 2010

This is a non-winning AUTO-intelliKEY, a fake key-shaped vehicle remote sent out as a promotion by a local Kia dealer to try and get people into the store. Apparently some of these keys will actually active different locks on some vehicles, and those specific keys win prizes. This photo shows the inside of the unit, with just some metal domes where contacts would otherwise be and no other electronics. Thus this key doesn’t work and is not a winner.

The flier that this was mailed on also includes a scratch-off number and barcode, all of which offer other prizes that must be checked at the dealership. Since I’m not going to be visiting the dealer to check on the state of these numbers then I guess I’m just like the poor souls who failed to claim a $30,000 cash prizes (Lisa C.) and a new vehicle (Lorayne D.).

If you’d like to see some more photos of the AUTO-intelliKEY teardown, take a look here.

29 Comments

Geiger Counter Headphone Jack Fixed

Published December 30, 2010

Thanks to my dad, many years ago I came into possession of a fair amount of cold war-era Civil Defense radiological monitoring equipment. One such item is the CDV-700 Geiger counter pictured above. For years the headphone jack had been broken which meant that I couldn’t use it to hear the telltale clicks whenever it detected radiation.

After a friend stopped by tonight to pick up some parts (a box of tubes that had been collecting dust) our conversation had me wondering if some of the things around my house are radioactive, so I set to work fixing the rather odd headphone jack. After fixing it I was able to establish that none of the odd tubes or aircraft equipment in my living room was radioactive.

Hopefully in the next few days (or weeks) I’ll find the time to photograph all of this old gear just to document it. It’s not particularly special or rare equipment, but it was a very physical tool through which I learned about both the fear of nuclear war and how a society can be placated by giving it the perception of control in the face of overwhelming force. I love having this stuff around for both the technical and historical aspect of such detection equipment and the memories of playing around with it while growing up.

2 Comments

Old Computers: Recycled

Published December 29, 2010

With today’s trip to Best Buy to take advantage of their recycling program I have completely done away with all my old computers, cases, and monitors. While I was able to give some away, most of it was dropped off at Best Buy where they (in Michigan) accept up to seven hard drive-less items per day (including CRTs) at zero cost.

Despite not having used some of this equipment in over ten years (such as the Dell Dimension XPS P90 pictured above, the first computer that I ever bought for myself) I can’t help but feel like I’ve given up something important. These are (were?) tools that I’d spent tens of thousands of hours building, using, and maintaining. Still, it’s just old stuff, and getting rid of it is for the best. I was not using this equipment and now instead of being clutter it’s being disposed of properly. Also, it’s probably best for me to dispose of this stuff now instead of in a few years when electronics recycling might not be so accessible or affordable.

1 Comment

Carbonated Coffee

Published December 28, 2010

For my first carbonation attempt I tried coffee. I brewed one serving (about a pint) via the usual method then added another half cup of water, chilled it, and then force carbonated it at ~27psi until it seemed to stop taking gas. After letting it sit in the fridge for 20 or 30 minutes I impatiently tried it, but the initial opening produced a LOT of foam. After dealing with some bottle overflow I tried a couple ounces, and it was both what I expected and something bizarre. It was cold (like iced) coffee, but with an extra bitter flavor likely from the carbonic acid formed during the carbonation.

I’ll drink it tomorrow, likely with breakfast or lunch. It should be colder and less foamy and maybe even enjoyable. After that I’ll probably try making some soda, likely ginger or cream. I feel like I’m getting dangerously close to molecular gastronomy. If I post about acquiring a Dewar and some LN2 please warn me.

(The photo above was taken while letting the bottle sit after a round of shaking.)

Leave a Comment