Comments on: Etch-a-Sketch Clock!

Etch-a-Sketch Clock!

tehloki — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 01:05:03 -0800

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 01:18:35 -0800

Builder AngelaBuilds's MySpace page. Note: AngelaBuilds describes herself as a "swinger". That would explain why the Etch-a-Sketch swings, perhaps. I mean, aside from having to erase itself every minute, of course. Nice little contraption!

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 01:43:38 -0800

Oh that is amazing! I want one! Ingenious. Her site. The Arduino platform she used to create it is interesting, the software can be downloaded for free (YT tutorial). Another quirky Arduino driven gizmo: the alien paper cup.

By: tehloki

tehloki — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 01:47:20 -0800

I had a feeling somebody would make this post, but better, in the comments.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 01:52:16 -0800

I had a feeling somebody would make this post, but better, in the comments. Well, once you've got nickyskye commenting in your thread, things always get a lot better!

By: breath

breath — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 02:08:12 -0800

Yay Angela! That is one smoove device.

By: soundofsuburbia

soundofsuburbia — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 02:38:42 -0800

Love it! And the Professor Frink doll at the table was a nice touch!

By: tehloki

tehloki — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 02:49:00 -0800

My favorite part is the monster-like appearance of the back of the device. That, and the bag of BB's providing a counterweight for the erasing mechanism.

By: toftflin

toftflin — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 02:59:14 -0800

The Arduino module she uses is a popular platform on the MAKE blog. They have a whole section for projects made using the Arduino

By: sveskemus

sveskemus — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 03:17:15 -0800

Oh this is amazing. I would totally buy one if they were ever mass produced.

By: johnofjack

johnofjack — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 03:55:37 -0800

Awesome.

By: Enron Hubbard

Enron Hubbard — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 04:28:10 -0800

I'm going to use the Arduino to get my grandson interested in something more imaginiative than overpriced-build-one-thing-only Lego sets. It costs $20-$50 to get started and there are lots of people and free resources to help you. Make you own gadgets!

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 04:39:27 -0800

Far out, man!

By: kcds

kcds — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 06:02:13 -0800

Enron - if you (or your "grandson" - we all know who we really buy Lego for) ... are only able to build one thing form each Lego kit you buy, you're buying different Lego kits than I am ... But if "your grandson" has a large collection of Lego, if might be worth checking out their NXT line of robot-building stuff - it's not cheap, though.

By: Bueller77

Bueller77 — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 06:35:18 -0800

That is hugely impressive. Not sure about the immediacy of it in regards to a viable clock ;-) I'm loving anything retro-toy inspired at the moment, just rebought a Rubiks... Am still crap at it. A match made in heaven.

By: DU

DU — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:53:30 -0800

The Arduino really is cool (I have two as of last week). This clock inspired me to do my own programmed etch-a-sketch thing this weekend, but I was hampered by being sick as a dog. What's this about Lego building only one thing? Whoa...I bet I could interface the Arduino with my Lego. I just need the motor specs and then I could have an unlimited number of sensors!

By: benzo8

benzo8 — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 08:09:03 -0800

Hah - that is just awesome! I love the inventiveness of geeks sometimes... Why do it? Because we can! Oh yeah!

By: Enron Hubbard

Enron Hubbard — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 08:47:15 -0800

My grandson gets specific Lego sets (usually Star Wars related) as presents that he builds and then leaves completed. Mighty expensive models. He has lots of the generic pieces as well, but for what some of those sets cost, you could do a lot of spiffy things with Arduino. To get him started with electronics, we're each building a Ruby guitar amp (sound sample), similar to the Makezine $5 Cracker Box Amp.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 09:10:23 -0800

Wow.

By: zekinskia

zekinskia — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:37:07 -0800

I have a hard time imagining something more useless than this.

By: benzo8

benzo8 — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:52:32 -0800

Which, by my reckoning, is both its point, and its beauty...

By: DU

DU — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:07:04 -0800

You can't think of something more useless than a clock? Or maybe you mean there's nothing more useless than a person exploring their creativity and learning some new things?

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:54:30 -0800

somebody would make this post, but better tehloki, nuh uh, you made a beautiful post. It's a fun find. But thank you and flapjax for the really nice compliments. *hugs Playful accompaniment to an etch-a-sketch clock? Rampant enthusiasm and dancing flowers. A dog and a singing sunflower? A Chinese singing fish? Is there a rule 34 for the absurd?

By: dirigibleman

dirigibleman — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:10:43 -0800

I have a hard time imagining something more useless than this. I would think snarking an Etch-a-Sketch clock would be more useless than building one, but here we are.

By: joaquim

joaquim — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:33:15 -0800

I have a hard time imagining something more useless than this. The end product is not always the most valuable part -- or even the point -- of the process.

By: Len

Len — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:38:14 -0800

I'm not proud of this, but every time I read the phrase "Etch-a-Sketch Clock" I can't help but doing a double take because I think it says Etch-a-Sketch Cock, which is a whole other internet project.

By: BrotherCaine

BrotherCaine — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:23:35 -0800

~~Libertarian Terrorists~~ Engineers are so cool.

By: dgaicun

dgaicun — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:58:16 -0800

Etch-a-Sketch Cock!

By: dgaicun

dgaicun — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:00:05 -0800

er... hour and 20 minutes late there.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:09:24 -0800

I have a hard time imagining something more useless than this. The only possible explanation for this statement would be that you really have a shockingly weak imagination. I mean, hey, it's a CLOCK, for one thing. You know, as in, *it tells time*? As in, it can be very useful to know *what time it is?* And it's charming. It's heart-warming. It speaks to something within the human spirit: the need to build. To create. To have fun. To be whimsical. To be alive. It's ART. All of that is far from "useless".

By: dgaicun

dgaicun — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:13:14 -0800

I have a hard time imagining something more useless than this. How about your appendix... drawn on an Etch-a-Sketch?

By: iamkimiam

iamkimiam — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:57:50 -0800

Tehloki, your post was perfect. I was in the mood for something light and easy. I probably wouldn't have clicked on it had you added another word or link.

By: mannequito

mannequito — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 01:18:55 -0800

Does this signify the end of the old ways, when we would hire midgets to etch-a-sketch the time in 10 hour shifts?

By: Unicorn on the cob

Unicorn on the cob — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 08:18:07 -0800

Geektastariffic!

By: Julie

Julie — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:57:20 -0800

Assuming this is 11:41 a.m., how about Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) instead, with Passionflower (Passiflora caerulea) due about noon? More floral time-keeping here.