I finally revamped the tree of life diagram for the index of my notebook on esoteric spiritual traditions. Every element is clickable / tappable and goes to a different place in the obsidian notebook:

I’ve been working on a hobby Python project to extract YT URLs from a CSV file, mass download them as audio files, extract their thumbnails and crop them to be square (Like proper album art), then re-encode them again.

I’ve gotten the functionality of the CSV Extractor and Thumbnail Fixer completed, but I still need proper message displays for them, as well as a menu to select between the 2 functionalities.

If it’s possible, I would love to automatically add the title and artist metadata to the files based on the filename, though I haven’t figured out a way to do that yet.

I revived an old car that has sat in my mother’s yard for several years. Didn’t need much to get going, just a jumpstart and some fresh gas, but now I’ve got a set of wheels I don’t have to care about. Might turn it into a Lemons racer.

Don’t know if you’d call it a project but the wife and I have gotten probably 500lbs of metal out of the rivers near us. I’m keeping the wagon wheel. The pile in my truck was just the first trip to scrap.

My desktop that was powerful enough to do most things died a few months ago at the worst possible time; it came on the heels of emptying a lot of my savings on vets to find out that my girl had advanced bone cancer, and then even more on sending her over the rainbow bridge and getting her cremated.

So both as a way to save some money and a way to keep my mind off of her, I’ve been putting together a new computer using a few spare parts that I have had laying around. Truth is, my old computer, though old, had been upgraded up the wazoo through the years to the point where most of that stuff could just transfer over (750 watt powersupply, Nvidia 3060 12gb card, max amount of RAM that it could take, etc…)

All I really needed was a new mainboard and processor. As long as I bought a used one that used DDR4 instead of 5, I already had everything I needed.

The “Project” is adapting my second-to-last PC case to accept newer components. (upgrading the front USB ports, things like that) Because it’s an OEM Acer case, I can’t simply order in an upgraded swappable unit, so I’m having to get creative with soldering.

It’ll probably fail and I’ll have to buy a new case too, but oh well. It’s fun to try. I have so many old computer parts laying around, let’s see how Dr. Frankenstein I can go.

After many years, I finally found decent LED lights to replace the incandescent bulbs on my two McIntosh amps (MC7108, MC7100).

Not a huge project, but it was something that I had been wanting to do for many years.

Here is a photo of my MC7108 with the new lights installed.

The project of cutting my dissertation down into a short book is almost done, and I’m hoping to start shopping it around to publishers soon.

I’ve also recently started laying out the bones for an open access textbook for one of my classes, which will be my summer project.

I’ve been preparing to run a TTRPG called Death in Space for my friends, and I have poured dozens of hours into map making for one of the bigger locations of the setting. It’s called the Iron Ring, and it is a giant orbital structure built around a yellow moon called Inaro.

This screenshot of the map is approximately 150,000 square meters. I plan to have about 5 more locations this size.

I had time to work on another song! Originally, I started this song to use it in a bigger project that I’m working on but it slowly evolved into its own thing. So, technically it’s not finished but it’s finished enough

I’m writing a python script to marry up GPS data of m6 bike rides with air quality data from a small air data measurement device. Turns out doing stuff with datetime structures in python is a PITA.

I am building something that in theory could be an RC plane/drone with an autopilot. And that would be a pretty cool end result. But for now I just refer to it as the autopilot module.

When in range, my RC radio can steer a bunch of servos manually, as per normal RC operations (I had a Futaba 7C with receiver laying around). When no input from the radio is detected within a set interval, the autopilot takes over, controlling its putch/yaw/roll based on sensors that read the same axises.
It also has a GPS module, so it knows its own position. It also had a barometer and temp sensors, so it knows its pressure adjusted altitude. It also has a LTE modem, so it connects a VPN tunnel to my own server. It also has a camera, and if the LTE connection is good enough I’ll be able to stream live video from the rig. If signal strength is low, it’ll cut streaming and send lower and lower resolution pictures as far as bandwidth permits; reading data from the server has a higher priority than sending video. This is how I can send navigational waypoints. If it loses all comes, namely no cell network and no RC radio, it will automatically revert within a set interval to backtrack-mode, which basically sends it back home, hoping to regain signal.

I’ve built, programmed, and tested the electronics successfully. The reason why I’m hesitant to call it a plane is because I’m going to have to spend a significant sum on the batteries and powerplant, and there are a few more steps before I’m willing to make that step. Testing a glider made from balse and 3D printed ABS worked pretty well, though.

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The wax seal on my toilet failed so I got to replace it and the flooring this week. The flooring has gaps to fix and the trim needs fixed, but we have a working toilet again :)