A Microchip PICkit-3 programmer/debugger and 16F886 demo board.  I’ve worked with PICs and other microcontrollers on a handful of projects (most notably, the EnerJar), but I’ve never owned my own programmer. I’ve got a few projects in mind, and one in particular that I’m sure you’ll be hearing about shortly.

I’m still learning my way around Microchip’s MPLAB development environment, but I’m hoping to get more comfortable with it so I’m not as intimidated to start a new project. Stay tuned…

My goal was to trick the player into playing the signal from the line-in when it was in CD mode. I opened up the beast, hoping that the circuitry be clearly labeled.

CD player innards.

The tan circuit board at the bottom is the radio and amplifier. The CD player is the CD player-shaped thing in the center, and the controls and microcontroller are in the front panel (top). The various circuit boards were connected with ribbon cables, and luckily the wires were well-labeled. The first thing I tried was to cut the stereo audio wires coming from the CD player board and to splice in my own cable. Unfortunately, when I pressed the ‘CD’ button on the unit it would see that there was no CD inserted and turn off. When I put a CD in, it would spin up but it wouldn’t start playing (since it’s broken) and no sound could be heard.

Labeled ribbon cable from controls to amplifier board. Note mute and power pins are tied together.

I knew there must be some sort of control signal telling the amplifier that the CD was ready to pass audio. Sure enough, on the ribbon cable going from the control board to the amp, there was a “mute” line. By metering these lines in the player’s various states (radio, cd, standby), I could see that “mute” was held high at 3.3 volts when the radio was playing, but was low in standby mode and broken CD mode. I noticed that the “power” line was high in both playing states and low in standby mode, so I cut the mute wire from the control board and soldered the mute pin to the power pin. See photo at right.

Sure enough, my external audio could now be heard when the player was in CD mode. I picked out a CD that I didn’t care about, and put it in the tray as a permanent “dummy disc” to fool the stereo into thinking it was playing from a CD. Now that I had a solution, I tidied up my work.

External stereo in (left) replacing CD audio; disconnected "mute" wire (right)

Almost done: an external CD player playing through the speakers of the under-counter unit.

I was going to Dremel a little hole out of the case for the line-in cable, but I was able to route it through an existing opening on the back of the unit. As I was reassembling the case, I popped off the plastic “eject” button as a reminder that the built-in CD player doesn’t work, and so that the crucial dummy disc couldn’t be removed. Not too shabby for an hour or two of work, if I may say so myself.

The reassembled unit, sans "eject" button.

Figure 1: Obligatory macro-lens shot

One of my new year’s resolutions is to bake more bread. A few months ago, I received a copy of the Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown. Brown is a Zen priest who leads retreats and cooking classes at the San Francisco Zen Center. The documentary How to Cook Your Life is a great primer on Brown’s Zen approach to cooking and baking.

Background info out of the way, let’s get floury. The Tassajara book mainly uses a sponge method for making bread, where part of the flour is added to the liquids and yeast, creating a batter or sponge, which sits for a bit before the rest of the flour is added to make the dough. At first I was a little resistant to this method, but once you do it a few times you get much faster at mixing in the flour, and supposedly it produces a better loaf.

The standard Tassajara yeasted bread recipe can be found here via Google Books. I’m not going to bother writing out the whole process; I highly recommend getting a copy of the book if you’re interested in baking bread. Below you’ll find my photos and a few notes from my most recent batch, a sesame bread.

Figure 2: Sponge mixture

Since it’s pretty cold in my house, I turn on the oven for 30 seconds or so and then let the bread rise in it. The warmer the air, the faster and higher the bread will rise, but I wouldn’t go above 85 or 90 degrees F.

Figure 3: Sponge+time+more flour = Dough!

As I said above, this is the sesame  bread variation (recipe #3 in the 25th anniversary edition of Tassajara). I pulsed about 2 cups of sesame seeds in a food processor until pretty much all the seeds were broken apart (a minute or 2). If you make your sesame meal from seeds as I did, be sure not to process them for too long or it will turn into tahini, or sesame paste.

Figure 4: Dough after first rising

Even though I have a pretty good feel for how much a dough will rise, I still get a kick out of taking the first peek and seeing that it doubled in size. Good work, yeast.

Figure 5: Dough in loaf pans

I need to work on forming the dough into loaves. As you can see, it doesn’t quite fill up the whole area of the pan, which leads to a slightly lopsided loaf. It’s just a matter of aesthetics; as long as you knead the dough a bit before putting it into the pans, the bread comes out just fine.

Figure 6: Success

I didn’t use an egg wash on the tops of the loaves, so it has a great rough texture. I’d highly recommend the sesame variation if you like halva or other sesame-flavored things. Lightly toasted, it makes for a delicious breakfast with greek yogurt, sliced tomatoes, and a bit of salt.

I’ve been shaving with a brush and safety razor for about two years now, and have been meaning to make a shaving stand for at least half that time. I finally got around to it, and I’m quite happy with how it came out. I wanted something that would hold both my brush and razor, and I thought it would be cool if it clipped onto the side of my shaving mug. I was afraid it would get in the way when I’m lathering up the brush, but it’s not really an issue.

I made the stand out of brass-colored floral wire and two pairs of pliers. The wire is a little weaker than I would have liked, but it keeps its form well enough and it was super easy to work with. I’ve still got about 2/3 of the spool left, which will be useful if I ever get into steampunk.

In case you’re wondering, the brush is from The Art of Shaving (genuine badger!) and the razor is a vintage Gillette that I inherited from my grandfather.

Another photo, stand only

I like to try new things when I cook, so I tend to use recipes more as a guide than a rulebook. I figured I’d start documenting dishes that are more original, or that I really like.

These stuffed portabella (or portobello, depending on their gender) mushrooms were inspired by a recipe for zucchini-feta casserole from one of the Moosewood cookbooks. The stuffing primarily consists of bulgur, a hearty middle eastern preparation of whole wheat.

Since this isn’t a perfected recipe, I figured it would work better as a set of notes rather than the conventional ingredients-then-steps format.

• Soak the bulgur in boiling water, about  2-1 water to grain. Let sit at least 30 minutes, longer is better. It will get a little softer when it’s added to the stuffing, but you don’t want it crunchy at this point.
• Saute some onion and garlic.
• If your portabellas have stems, cut ‘em off and chop them up. Dice some zucchini. Add these veggies to the pan, and throw in some fresh ground pepper and dried herbs. I used parsley, basil, and oregano. Don’t be shy, the herbs will be responsible for a lot of the flavor of the dish.
• When the zucchini starts to get soft, add a little tomato sauce. At least enough to coat everything, but it shouldn’t be soupy. I also threw in a few cut up grape tomatoes I had lying around
• Drain off any water remaining in the bulgur, and mix it into the veggies. Did I mention you should probably be doing this in a pot or deep skillet? Add more tomato sauce if you think it’s needed.
• As the stuffing is cooking, grill the mushroom tops in a lightly oiled pan. Put them in right side up at first, then add the filling after you flip them.
• Sprinkle the filled mushrooms with grated feta and cover the pan for a few minutes to let the cheese melt. You can top them with more black pepper right before serving.

Portabellas in pan, right after adding stuffing and feta

I think they came out quite well for a first attempt, but here are some changes I’d make next time or things I’d like to try:

• The only salt in the dish comes from the tomato sauce and feta cheese. I was surprised that it didn’t come out bland, but more salt could be added to the stuffing. I would probably also salt the mushrooms themselves as they’re grilling.
• Other veggies to try: spinach, eggplant, red peppers.
• If you are put off by the brown whole grain vegetarian healthy look, use more veggies or even omit the bulgur altogether. Then you’re basically making a ratatouille as the filling.
• Mix the feta with ricotta or cottage cheese for a creamier cheese component, and put it in the mushroom before the vegetable mixture, for a gooey cheese filling.

In response to Dynamic link to currently playing Last.FM artist, football trading system writes:

Thank you for this valuable post. It changed my idea.

I’m glad I could change your idea, FTS. Your original idea probably wasn’t that great anyway.

By some extraordinary coincidence, both Leonard Gleisner and ELC posted the exact same comment on Job Posting of the Day:

I am really enjoying reading your well written articles. It looks like you spend a lot of effort and time on your blog. I have bookmarked it and I am looking forward to reading new articles. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the feedback, guys. It’s great that both of you feel the same way about my blog. I do put a lot of effort into my writing, except for the posts where I quote other sources at length and then make snarky comments.

cindi commented on Passive Footswitch to MIDI Using Your Soundcard:

Your Post Matt Meshulam’s Brain Dump » Blog Archive » Passive Footswitch to MIDI Using Your Soundcard is really Nice.I love reading Posts on knob hardware…Thanks.

I don’t even know how to respond.

Figure 1: Bottle of brandy (left) and Chia® Obama

According to the Internet, there’s been a bit of controversy over the Chia® Obama (henceforth ChiaBama). Some people feel that the natural propensity for Chia® grass to grow into an afro-type hairstyle means that the ChiaBama has racist undertones. Or rather, some people feel that some people feel that the ChiaBama has racist undertones. Back in April, Walgreens decided to stop selling ChiaBamas  because it received complaints. But after reading the inane comments on many online articles covering the story, it seems like more people are simply disgusted by someone cashing in on the President’s popularity by slapping his likeness on a tacky gift item. Better not tell these people about the Obama bobblehead doll.

Joseph Enterprises, creator of the Chia® brand of zoomorphic botanical gifts, has even set up a separate website, AmericanChia.com, to capitalize on the buzz from the ChiaBama. In a way-too-deadpan commercial, the announcer introduces their new patriotic line of Chiae: Obama, Washington, Lincoln, and the Statue of Liberty. Apparently, they’ve also added a Hillary Clinton Chia®, presumably after the PUMAs initiated a letter-writing campaign.

Figure 2: Homepage of AmericanChia.com

I just hope that next year I can be the proud owner of a Chia® Chester A. Arthur.

I wrote a simple PHP script that redirects to the Wikipedia page for your most recently played artist on Last.fm:

http://meshlabs.net/scripts/lastwiki.php?user=capzloc

This could be useful if you save the URL your bookmarks toolbar; simply replace “capzloc” with your own Last.fm username.

I’ve posted the code below. Not much to it, loads the recently played XML through the old last.fm backend, audioscrobbler. Then performs an I’m Feeling Lucky Google search for the most recent artist on the wikipedia.org domain. It could be easily modified to redirect to the Last.fm page, Amazon album page, etc.

lastwiki.php:

< ?php
/* lastwiki.php
 * Redirects to wikipedia page for currently playing artist for specified last.fm user.
 *
 * Usage: lastwiki.php?user=putUserHere
 *
 * http://meshlabs.net
 * Matt Meshulam
 * Public Domain
 */
 
$user = isset($_GET['user']) ? $_GET['user'] : "capzloc";
 
$file = "http://ws.audioscrobbler.com/1.0/user/$user/recenttracks.xml";
$xml = simplexml_load_file("$file");
$currArtist = $xml->track[0]->artist;
 
header( "Location: http://www.google.com/search?q=$currArtist site:wikipedia.org&btnI=I'm+Feeling+Lucky" ) ;
 
?>

Lately I’ve been having a problem with staying focused while I’m working on the computer. It’s pretty rare for me to stay in “the zone” for more than 15 or 20 minutes at a time. I took advantage of the new, very flexible task scheduler in Windows 7 to make the above notification window pop up every ten minutes, no batch scripts required. We’ll see how well it keeps me from getting distracted, but I imagine it will be more annoying than helpful.

Last week, I drove to Iowa for work. I stopped for gas at the Iowa 80 Truck Stop, which proudly bills itself as the World’s Largest Truck Stop. Notice anything interesting about the gas prices (above)? If you own a car, you probably instantly noticed that silver is priced 12 cents less per gallon than regular gas. That’s not an error; mid-grade gasoline is often less expensive than regular-grade in Iowa because it contains 10% ethanol. But is this really as sweet a deal as it seems?

First of all, it’s important to remember what the different grades mean. Silver or Ultimate gas doesn’t result in better gas mileage, it just has a higher octane rating. This has to do with the activation energy required for the fuel to combust, with a higher octane rating corresponding to a higher required activation energy. This may seem counterintuitive, but high performance engines operate at higher compression ratios, which would cause low-octane fuels to detonate in a less controlled manner, causing “engine knocking.” I’m not what you would call a “car guy,” but it seems to me that 95% of the cars on the road would be just fine on plain old 87-octane gasoline, and it’s a little unnecessary for every gas station to offer three different grades of fuel.

Now to Iowa’s special deal. Iowa grows more corn than any other state, and by complete coincidence the state also happens to be one of the loudest voices lobbying for biofuels. One result of their efforts is that gasoline is allowed to contain up to 10% ethanol. If you look closely the next time you’re at the pump, you’ll probably see a sticker informing you of this fact. For reasons I don’t fully understand, most gas only contains about 5% ethanol, even though ethanol is less expensive than gasoline. But the magic $2.299 silver-grade gas has the full 10%, a mixture that used to be called gasohol, but that term seems to have lost appeal.

So why silver? Why not make the regular-grade contain 10% ethanol so it would be even cheaper? The answer to that question is actually relatively straightforward. Ethanol has a higher octane rating than gasoline (something around 120 or 130), so by adding it to regular gas, it increases the octane rating up to the silver level (89, up from 87).

This is all well and good, but there is one very important fact to remember, especially as E85 (85% ethanol fuel) becomes more prominent. Ethanol is not as energy-dense as gasoline, which translates to fewer miles per gallon. According to the aforelinked table, gasohol is only about 2 or 3 percent less energy dense than normal gas. The silver gasohol from the pump in Iowa was still a slightly better deal; you get about 1.7% more energy per dollar over regular gasoline. But what’s more interesting is calculating the cost of ethanol versus gasoline. If we generously assume that the regular gas has no ethanol, we can use algebra to calculate the maximum possible cost of the ethanol in the 10% mixture:

Pardon the math, I got a little carried away. But ethanol isn’t nearly this cheap to produce from corn. It’s no surprise that corn-based fuel is being heavily subsidized, but it’s important to remember that at the moment it’s not even close to being an economically viable alternative to fossil fuels. And when you burn ethanol, you’re still polluting about as much as you do when you burn gasoline. Biofuels such as corn ethanol are being trumpeted as a baby step toward a better energy future, but we shouldn’t be wasting time with baby steps. A more drastic shift is necessary.