Best posts made by SonshineAcres

I have to laugh at myself. I'm an old man now, retired from Kodak and NTG. My life is filled with so many beloved activities, most important, my granddaughters, when I can be with them. Lately I've been so busy that I can't even squeeze in my afternoon nap, which I cherish. All that to say, I find it humorous when this past Saturday I ordered a "CanaKit Raspberry PI 2 Ultimate Starter Kit". I haven't programmed in over a decade. Now I find myself all excited about receiving this kit and digging in. Back in the 70's I programmed with Machine and then Assembly languages on Digital Equipment PDP-8 computers, interfaced with shop floor manufacturing equipment. What a delight. I have to ask myself why I feel so excited and I decided that there is a void in my life and that void requires a "toy" to fill it. My "toy" is scheduled to arrive next week.

I ran across this video the other day about "poo splash" and was totally fascinated by it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XNDM4eAn1U
It seems to fit this topic of yours.
@Dominica

I worked as a Thermal Engineer on the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) just out of college until the project's cancellation by Nixon. I loved working in the thermal area. Many years back I came across a four channel data logger kit(http://www.electronickits.com/kit/complete/meas/ck110.htm) that serial interfaced with my Windows 95 computer. With that I could store data readings every 30 seconds. My house uses a heat pump, which is common down south, but not so much up north. I used this data logging system to monitor the performance of the heat pump. Thermistor 1 is located outside. Thermistor 2 is located near the house thermostat and Thermistor 3 is setting on a register. The resulting graphs were amazing, helping me to tune the system and watch for degradation of the heat pump's performance. I learned the exact temperature swing at the thermostat. I can see when and how long "Defrost cycles" are. I can tell at what point the electric supplement heaters (bank1 and bank2) turn on and off.

I've had a couple of people ask if I could do a performance analysis of their heating and air conditioning systems. I'd love to but carrying the old computer around is a pain. I thought it would be neat to have the Raspberry PI be my data logger. Obviously I have to develop the data logging application and also deal with the USB to Serial conversion situation, which should be no big deal. After all that, my first project is to learn Python and then project 2 will be to design and build a cheap data logging system.

Obviously I need to design the data logger to handle many types of inputs, not just thermal needs. I think there may be applications in the Dairy business, monitoring tank temperatures and flow rates and alarming appropriately. Remember, I'm retired, so it's all PLAY.

Thanks for your interest.

That would be awesome, especially for you young guys. It would provide "milestones" to relate to when trying to remember different events, even those that weren't recorded somewhere. Great idea.

Since getting my Mini iPad, watching TED & other podcasts has become so easy and I love. Next to TED my favorite is "Smarter Every Day" and this is one of my favorite episodes;
Youtube Video

Currently I'm reading "Putting AMAZING back into GRACE" by Michael Horton. I just completed Father Brown's Mystery "The Secret of Father Brown" by G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936). It was an interesting read given the new PBS series based on some of these stories. I also completed "Grace" by Max Lucado. I found this to be a joy to read, very easy but packed with thought provoking ideas. I also recently finished a short book "The New Life in Christ Jesus" by Scofield (1843-1921) which is an old book but seemed so contemporary as I was reading it. It is available in the public domain. I obtained my copy from the Toronto Seminary.

A few years back I had this happen on the farm. It was really neat. It had the same sharp delineation between the fog and non-fog areas.

It's Here! And it is so cute. It was left in my backyard for several hours at 5 degrees, so it's thawing out right now. It arrived 3 days early and my quick inventory shows that all the kit parts are there. That's it in the middle next to the credit card, added for size comparison. More to come as I play with it.

We'll done.

Your mind goes wild with ideas of what you could do with this. What fun!

Watching the videos makes your mind go wild with ideas. I added it to my Amazon Wish List so the next time I'm a little short of the "free shipping" $35 min order, I'll add it.

Well I just ordered something from Amazon and was a few dollars short of "free shipping". I went my wish list to see if there was anything that I wanted to order now, to get me over the "free shipping" limit. Of course there was "Sugru" on my list, which I saved just for that reason. My first order of Sugru is on its way. I actually have a need. My dish washer rack is starting to rust and one of the videos, that I watched, suggested using the Sugru to deal with that problem. Here's hoping.

Check out those pants. His mother made his fashion choices back then. I was his barber. Also this frame is grabbed from a video that was made from a Super 8 Sound movie, Sept 30, 1979. Sorry Scott, AJ made me do it.