NorthStarNerd.Org

MindDroid (Lego Mindstorms and Android)

It's Saturday morning, and in case you're wondering what to do with your Lego Mindstorms, look no farther than your Android smartphone! Why not ditch the old controller and use MindDroid?! Of course you could build some Angry Birds out of Legos!

  

In the boreal darkness of a deep-winter night!

I'm all excited about my first Book across the Bay! Imagine cross-country skiing (10k) across the frozen ice of Lake Superior by candlelight at NIGHT! Imagine doing this with about 2,000 other people! Welcome to what makes the frozen northland a great place to live!

Here's a video (or click to view either image)

And the promised images

 

Social Loppets!

Social media is expanding into our lives at an amazing pace. I recently experienced a phenomenal example of this trend. The City of the Lakes Loppet is a 25 kilometer cross-country ski race in which I recently competed. Like most races, they had photographers out on the course, and after the event one could purchase pictures.

However, this race took the camera work to a much grander level. Combining the use of technology (timing chips) and video, every skier was presented with a 2 minute video of their personal race! Thus, while skiing the 25 km took me just under two hours, I now present ...

Rich Hoeg, The Movie!

• See me "ski dance" at the 48 second point in the race.
• See me ski kick for kick over 25km with another skier. 

After the mass start sequence, I'm the taller skier in the lead who is dressed in blue and black.

Seriously, I've tweeted, posted to Facebook, etc about this service. I've been doing one of the vendor's desired activities by promoting the RaceDay service, and happily. The service just requires you to inputsthe name of any skier, and a personal two minute video appears. Wow. This is smart.

If you're still with me, and watched my video (!), here is another great tool for monitoring social media, Social Mention. Make certain you use the filters to limit your query. You even get some great analytics and sentiment data, all clickable. I'm using the Facebook filter.

From Camouflage to Aviation Noise via Mount Vernon

Okay ... I know the title is a strech, but the words pull together three of my favorite new blogs:

• Astonish, Bewilder and Stupefy
• Camoupedia
  and 
• EngineeringBlogs.Org

So why these three blogs? Quite simply because they both entertain me, and provide intelligent knowledge. In this world of 145 character Twitter posts, it's fantastic to find sites which take the time to publish well researched and thought out content.

Astonish, Bewilder and Stupefy: Rich Beyer, a classmate from Dartmouth, takes the reader on interesting trips through history and the whimsical. One of Rick's book is a favorite at our north woods cabin where we have learned fascinating bits of history. (oh yes ... the Mount Vernon post ... a President Kennedy state dinner)

Camoupedia: Just the title should grab your interest. I never knew the world of camouflage could be so interesting. Link and watch a short video on how boat camouflage came into being during World War I. The idea for painting boats was considered crazy by most people, but given the toll that German U-Boats were having on England's shipping, a few people decided to try a radical idea.

EngineeringBlogs.Org: While perhaps the topics are not as sexy as the first two blogs, the group of engineers who have put EngineeringBlogs.Org together are to be commended. If you think you know enough about your particular technical discipline ... think again, and then visit this site. A recent post has information on the Noise of Aviation.

Mora Vasaloppet Photos

Ski Cam Man is back. I ventured a bit north to ski the 42k classic today. My photo set actually includes both the 42k classic, and later on the 35k skate. My Madshus waxless skis were the ticket today as temperatures started around 27F, but rose to the 40's. An incredible number of people had to stop and try new waxes; I just kept cruising!

Enjoy the short animated, musical slideshow of the final 2 kilometers of the race. You may view and download without charge all of my Ski Cam Man photos via my Picasa Web Album (many more photos).

The final three photos in the slideshow are with permission and thanks to SkinnySki.Com. You actually get to see Ski Cam Man!

Vasaloppet Finish on PhotoPeach

And two of my favorites from today! An aide station worker scrambling to get our of the way of oncoming skiers, and my "back cam" catching a professional photographer at work. (click to maximize either image)