MCU Beginners SparkFun Tutorials

For all us microcontroller (MCU) beginners, there are many online tutorials and other helpful web resources about electronics and related MCU topics.

A worthwhile set of tutorials for beginners participating in the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group learning the basics of using microcontrollers sessions is the SparkFun Tutorials. According to the website there are 193 tutorials in the SparkFun collection. A beginner could spend weeks just reading the tutorials and never get any MCU hardware circuits built or software / firmware programs written for the MCUs. And if you start looking around at electronics tutorials that arent on the SparkFun site, youll have months of reading to plow through what the web has to offer.

As an alternative to having MCU and electronics beginners spend weeks or months reading tutorials, this post will point you to two particular SparkFun tutorials you may want to read if youre doing the first three Jeremy Blum Arduino Basics video tutorials and you know nothing or very little about electronics.

In Jeremys #2 video, one of the steps is to connect a resistor to the breadboard. Resistors come with many different values or resistances, which is often measured in ohms. Because you need to use resistors with specific values for different circuits, and because resistors dont have numbers on them to tell you how many ohms their resistance is, you need to be able to interpret the resistor color code to chose the correct value resistor for a given circuit. The SparkFun Resistors tutorial will explain the color code and many other facts about resistors.

In Jeremys #2 video, he also uses an electronics multimeter. Youll need to use the multimeter to
measure or check many things when you go through the Arduino Basics video tutorials and probably in every electronics project you do after you finish learning the basics of microcontrollers. If you have previously used a multimeter and know how to use it to measure voltage, amperage and resistance, youre all set and dont need this tutorial. But if youre like me and havent used a multimeter for a few years, or havent ever used one, you probably want to read over the SparkFun How to Use a Multimeter tutorial, or maybe the instruction manual for the multimeter youre going to use for your MCU or electronics work. As you can see from this picture of a SparkFun digital multimeter, there are quite a few settings for the meter selector switch, and only one of them will be the correct setting to use for checking a specific electronic component or circuit.

As you go through the Arduino Basics video tutorials, there will be other topics you need to figure out or read about. If you like the SparkFun tutorials, check to see if they have a tutorial for your specific topic of interest. If they dont have a tutorial appropriate to your needs, do a Google search and youll find lots of other tutorials or pages explaining the basics of whatever youre interested in. Another resource to remember is Wikipedia --- its almost always a good first stop to read about the basics of any topic, including electronics.

A future post on this blog will list a bunch of links to online resources for microcontrollers. If you have any specific resources to suggest, or if you would like to see resources listed for a specific topic, send me an email at arcatabob (at) gmail [dott] com.

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Power Sipping Microcontrollers Use FRAM

Emerging technologies and new tech terms are something of high interest to me, so when I saw a couple recent articles about microcontrollers with FRAM, I needed to know more.

FRAM (also written as FeRAM), or ferroelectric random-access memory, is defined by Wikipedia as,

FRAM Cell

"...similar in construction to DRAM but uses a ferroelectric layer instead of a dielectric layer to achieve non-volatility. FeRAM is one of a growing number of alternative non-volatile random-access memory technologies that offer the same functionality as flash memory. FeRAM advantages over flash include: lower power usage, faster write performance and a much greater maximum number of write-erase cycles (exceeding 1016 for 3.3 V devices). Disadvantages of FeRAM are much lower storage densities than flash devices, storage capacity limitations, and higher cost."

The article titled "Comprehensive Ultra-Low Power FRAM Microcontroller Platform from Texas Instruments" looks a bit like it came directly out of the marketing department rather than the engineering department. Although I guess most, if not all, press releases are generated by marketing departments, so the wording shouldnt really surprise me. The numbers in the article may not be incorrect, but they sure are presented in a hard-to-believe so-much-better-than-the-previous-model way. The article says,

"Texas Instruments (TI) today announced its comprehensive ultra-low power FRAM microcontroller (MCU) platform with all the necessary hardware and software

tools...to reduce energy budgets, minimize product size and enable a battery-free world. TIs new MSP430FR59x/69x FRAM MCU families...range from 32 to 128 KB embedded FRAM. These MSP430™ MCUs are ideal for smart utility metering, wearable electronics, industrial and remote sensors, energy harvesting, home automation, data acquisition systems, the Internet of Things (IoT)...ultra-low-leakage (ULL) proprietary technology with embedded FRAM delivers the worlds lowest system power with active power of 100 uA/MHz, accurate-RTC standby power of 450 nA...and an enhanced scan interface for flow metering that can operate while the system is in standby, resulting in 10 times lower power...FRAM is the only non-volatile embedded memory that can be written at 8MBps in under 800uA – more than 100 times faster than flash."

The new MCUs sound like the definition of innovation -- "a battery-free world," "worlds lowest system power," "10 times lower power" and "more than 100 times faster." If those terms are relevant and delivered on a cost-competitive basis relative to alternative components, there are definitely applications where it would be worthwhile to evaluate the IT FRAM microcontrollers. The Wikipedia article explains some aspects of the FRAM advantages,

"Flash works by pushing electrons across a high-quality insulating barrier where they get "stuck" on one terminal of a transistor. This process requires high voltages, which are built up in a charge pump over time. This means that FeRAM could be expected to be lower power than flash, at least for writing, as the write power in FeRAM is only marginally higher than reading...Flash memories commonly need a millisecond or more to complete a write, whereas current FeRAMs may complete a write in less than 150 ns."

 To benefit from the FRAM, MCU-system designers will have to focus on where the FRAM advantages over competing memory forms will pay big benefits. Two use cases that seem like the best candidates are energy-harvesting and remote sensors.

If you had some sample Texas Instruments FRAM MCUs, what would you use them for?

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Digging in the Shade

  Saturday.....
The weather has started to heat up a bit of late & we were a tad concerned that we  may loose the Snow Peas & Broccoli so decided to put the shade cloth up over most of the beds....

We have noticed a difference in the Snow Peas already... They are standing up all happy & the pods  firmed up within a few hours... This time we did it a bit different... We sewed the sections together using bits of the straw bale twine....  150-200mm gaps were left between the joined sections to allow some natural light in as well..... Other sections will be added when we fell the plants require it.... Some think its a bit of overkill but we are already getting about 8 hours of direct sunlight on the patch with no shading until about 2 hours before sunset... In summer it increases to 12 hours of unshaded sun....


 I think the Broccoli heads will flower before they fully mature so they will be taken off for Tuesdays dinner... The Chooks love the leaves, plus we eat a lot of Broccoli stem in stir-fry & steamed with other veg so we shall keep them in for now....

 Sunday....

   Finally took the old spice bed down & will be using the corner posts & tin in other beds.... The corner post have already been tagged to go into what used to be the Herb bed.... The sand from the reservoir & soil is being stored in the old timber bed waiting to be used else where...  The Herb bed is now being split into 2 separate beds with a bench/storage box in between the 2 beds...  I have saved the perennial Basil, a tub of Shallots, small pot of garlic chives & some Lemongrass... All are in pots at the base of the stairs for now until we decide what is going into the 2 "New" Wicking beds... The plans for the bench/storage box are still swimming around my noggin & will probably surface in the middle of the night knowing me... **Sigh**

 The evil curl Grubs of DOOOOOOM !!

  While digging out the Herb bed we came across our old Nemeses.... 

 We got about 60 large & over a hundred small grubs which answered some questions regarding to the early demise of some plants... We found them in groups of 2 or 3 in  clumps of roots... The Chooks had a ball fighting over the first 20 or so but by the end of the day they had all had enough... Some have been put into a bucket of soil to feed to the Girls during the week as a protein treat & Bunny the dog has got the taste for them now as well so none shall go to waste....


  
Wetpots.....

This is why I Love using Wetpots & wont be parting with any even though we arent using them at the moment...
These are pictures of what an Italian Parsley plant (like the one pictured below) did to this pot....
You can not see any exposed clay as the roots have totally "enveloped" any non glazed surface.....

Found a couple of legless lizards living in the beds while we were dismantling them.... The first lizard we found was about 30-40cm long & the second was only a baby at about 15cm... Both were relocated to safety away from the Chooks & the Bunny Dog....


Weekly harvest....
This week we picked,
2 large Zucchinis, Shallots, Basil, Silverbeet, a few lemons, 2 Passion fruit, & a large Mignonette Lettuce... 
Also got 3 Googs a day from the Chookies...
Thats about it for now Me thinks...
Have a great one all....
: )»

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Whats Killing the Babies of Vernal Utah

Midwives the world over have been ringing the clarion bell, warning us about what is happening.  The overwhelming response to these heros has been ridicule at the very least, and imprisonment in many many cases. I have watched, during my time of activism in the Maternal & Infant health arena, Midwives who have stood up to the medical machine and its corportate government associations being maligned and prosecuted on trumped up charges to try and shut them up and take them out.  

This is the story of yet another unsung hero- Midwife Donna Young, who dared to question why all the babies were dying in her area.....

Whats Killing the Babies of Vernal, Utah?

A fracking boomtown, a spike in stillborn deaths and a gusher of unanswered questions

BY PAUL SOLOTAROFF June 22, 2015





Every night, Donna Young goes to bed with her pistol, a .45 Taurus Judge with laser attachment. Last fall, she says, someone stole onto her ranch to poison her livestock, or tried to; happily, her son found the d-CON wrapper and dumped all the feed from the troughs. Strangers phoned the house to wish her dead or run out of town on a rail. Local nurses and doctors went them one better, she says, warning pregnant women that Youngs incompetence had killed babies and would surely kill theirs too, if given the chance.



A natural gas drilling rig stands on a Chesapeake Energy Corp. drill site in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. Jeff Goodell: The Fracking Bubble »
"Before they started spreading their cheer about me, I usually had 18 to 25 clients a year, and a spotless reputation in the state," says Young, the primary midwife to service Vernal, Utah, a boom-and-bust town of 10,000 people in the heart of the fracked-gas gold rush of the Uintah Basin. A hundred and fifty miles of sparse blacktop east of Salt Lake City, Vernal has the feel of a slapdash suburb dropped randomly from outer space. Half of it is new and garishly built, the paint barely dry after a decade-long run of fresh-drilled wells and full employment. "Now, Im down to four or five ladies, and dont know how Ill be able to feed my animals if things dont turn around quick."

Young, a fiftysomething, heart-faced woman with a story-time lilt of a voice, cuts a curious figure for a pariah. Shes the mother of six, a grandmother of 14 and an object of reverence among the women shes helped, many of whom shes guided through three and four home births with blissfully short labors and zero pain meds. And the sin for which shes been punished with death threats and attacks on her reputation? Two years ago, she stumbled onto the truth that an alarming number of babies were dying in Vernal — at least 10 in 2013 alone, what seemed to her a shockingly high infant mortality rate for such a small town. That summer, she raised her hand and put the obvious question to Joe Shaffer, director of the TriCounty Health Department: Why are so many of our babies dying?


In most places, detecting a grave risk to children would inspire people to name a street for you. But in Vernal, a town literally built by oil, raising questions about the safety of fracking will brand you a traitor and a target. "Me and my kids are still cautious: If someone kicked in my front door tonight, itd take an hour for the sheriff to get here," says Young, whose house on 60 acres is well out of town and a quarter-mile clear of her closest neighbor. "The first person theyd meet is me on the staircase, pointing that .45 dead at em. And I know how to use these things — I can nail a coyote in the pasture from 100 yards."

Prodded by Young and the concerns she pushed along, which made their way through channels to state officials, TriCounty Health announced a study in 2014 to assess Youngs concerns over the infant mortality rate. But Young, backed up by experts in Salt Lake City, believed the study was designed to fail. She says that any serious inquiry would have started with Suspect One: the extraordinary levels of wintertime pollution plaguing the Basin since the vast new undertaking to frack the regions shale filled the air with toxins. The county merely counted up infant deaths and brushed aside the facts about Vernal air pollution: ozone readings that rivaled the worst days of summer in New York, Los Angeles or Salt Lake City; particulate matter as bad as Mexico City; and ground air fraught with carcinogenic gases like benzene, rogue emissions from oil and gas drilling. Indeed, pollution was so bad in this rural bowl that it broke new ground in climate science. For decades, experts believed that life-threatening smog occurred only in or near big cities. But the Basin, which is bound on all four sides by mountains, is a perfectly formed bowl for winter inversions, in which 20-below weather clamps down on the valley and is sealed there by warmer air above it. During those spells, when the haze is visible and the air in ones lungs is a cold chisel, the suns rays reflect off the snow on the ground and cook the volatile gases into ozone. The worst such period in the Basins recent history was the winter of 2012-13, when nearly all the Uintah mothers whose babies died were pregnant.


Other key information was available to TriCounty, including multiple recent studies that link mothers exposure to toxic air with fetal disasters of all kinds, including stillbirths, birth defects and developmental syndromes. But four months after he announced the study, Shaffer retired as TriCountys chief; six months later, the departments findings were released. The deaths were deemed "not statistically insignificant," Sam LeFevre, an epidemiologist with the Utah State Health Department who conducted the study for TriCounty, told an assembly of concerned Vernal citizens. When pressed on possible causes for the deaths, he suggested the health problems of mothers, citing smoking, diabetes and prenatal neglect among the Basins residents. LeFevre made it clear he was sympathetic to the crowds concerns. "I know what its like to lose a pregnancy," he announced. "My wifes had eight, and only four live births."

Which raises a question you might ask in a state whose legislature is so rabid for oil and gas money that it set aside millions to sue the federal government for the right to drill near Moab and Desolation Canyon, some of the states most sacrosanct places: How many dead infants does it take before youll accept that theres a problem?


In January 2001, days after taking office as the 43rd president of the United States, George W. Bush convened a closed-door task force to confront the countrys addiction to foreign oil. Since the early 1970s, American motorists (and administrations) had ridden the loop-de-loop of peak demand: shortages, price spikes and the market manipulations of OPECs billionaire princes. Two-thirds of the crude being refined here for gas arrived on overseas freighters, and the industrys bids for new offshore formations were blocked by an executive order from Bushs father. A bold plan was called for, including "environmentally sound production of energy for the future." Or so went the rhetoric in the announcement that heralded the groups formation. But Bush named Dick Cheney, the former CEO of Halliburton, to lead the effort — "Cant think of a better man to run it," he said — and any hope for a rational, climate-sparing program went up in a flare of hydrocarbons.

Continue Reading on Rolling Stone Magazine HERE

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Compost Teas Seeds

 Compost Tea...
Finely started up a batch of Compost tea on Friday using a small aquarium pump with an air stone, stockings, compost, worm castings, molasses & some cracker dust...

It was left overnight to brew after a few adjustments but hasnt turned out like other batches I have seen on You Tube so left it brew until early Sunday evening... I have been "massaging" the bags 2 or 3 times a day to help release the goodies further into the brew...

I did a few batches of soak & pour method of compost tea, where compost was mixed in a container & left for 24 hours then applied to plants, but really didnt notice a difference between the control plants & the ones that were fed with the tea after a week... I am still going to leave some as a control & see what they look like after a week... Have also thought about adding some seaweed solution to the brew but as it is an after though I may leave it to the next batch... Dont want to over do it too much...

Seedlings & other Plantings...
The seedlings in the trays have been a bit of a mixed bag as far as germination goes... The Udumalapet Eggplants we really wanted havent germinated so have planted another batch of 16 seedlings in 2 trays... The Perennial Capsicum seed hasnt shot at all either so we might try some seed that Koo has been saving... The Purple Basil B? planted has germinated & we have Onions, Beans, Silverbeet & Kohl Rabi popping up everywhere....
** Does big HAPPY DANCE **
Seed Tape...
Moo & I have made up some seed tape with some Carrot, Onion & Lettuce seeds just to make the spacing of the seeds in the beds a lot easier...

Sunday Morning saw Koo & myself go to the Ipswich markets where we picked up another bulb of Elephant Garlic, Purple skinned Sweet Potato & a Pineapple... The Garlic will be planted this week with the other purple Seed Garlic we bought... Not to certain where the Sweet Potato is going yet but shall find somewhere & the Pineapple will go into another pot for now...





Sunday Walk...

 We went for a walk at a local "recreation Reserve" where we came across debris left over from the January floods that took so many lives & destroyed many others homes & livelihoods... The photos show some of the larger pieces we found... There was an astounding amount of plastic bottles, bits of foam, plant pots, water & fuel drums...We did come across a large blue drum cut in half length ways so collected that to use as a planter as well as some rubbish just to help clean up the place a bit... Will be a long time before places like this recover...

 Shall post a walk through update Video tomorrow... Ran out of light tonight...

Have a great one all....

: )»

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Human Sacrifice of over 2000 people in Meca

I said on Monday that I was expecting a big "sacrifice" this week.   I was looking for a plane crash, or another huge bomb.....  I didnt expect it to be quite this big, or to come from where it did!!

I Posted updates on Facebook yesterday morning:

"Well theres one sacrifice done. Im still expecting at least one more......"

and the numbers went from 200, to 717 by late afternoon..... then today:  over 2000 people Dead, killed on the day of Sacrifice of Eid, IN Meca, during the "Stoning of the Devil"


This isnt over yet.  As I said: Im expecting one more - most likely on Saturday.  Well have to wait and see.

d



Sep 25 2015

Hajj "stampede" caused by Saudi Prince security forces

UPDATE: It appears to me, with the way this is working out, that the Saudi government might have intentionally caused this. Consider the following two new items:

As I predicted, the death toll has now hit 2,000 and is still climbing

UPDATE: Despicable: Saudi army blocked all access to hospitals. UPDATE: With 2,000 confirmed dead, some countries are reporting that only 20 percent of missing people are accounted for, which means the death toll could go much higher than 2,000. This is an impossible scenario absent a massive panic - possibly caused on purpose.

If this was not done on purpose, then WHY would the Saudi military block access to hospitals?

UPDATE: Saudi prince that caused the stampede with his security forces controls the Yemen war!

Here is what happened - Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud arrived at the site completely un announced and confronted the crowd with an entourage of over 300 people, 150 of which were heavily armed security which beyond all doubt caused a huge panic that made everyone run.
At the same time this happened, Saudi crowd control totally mismanaged the situation, and ended up blocking off the exit route that over a hundred thousand people tried to exit through. So over 100,000 panicked people suddenly hit an impassable barrier while all running. Obviously then, the ones in the front got crushed. And from how things look now, even though the Sauds refuse to admit to a death toll higher than 717, (after initially trying to whitewash it down to less than 200) it now looks like the death toll is over 2,000, all because an idiot saudi prince dropped into the middle of things un announced, caused mayhem, and then freaked people out with a massive security force.
The zio press has made sure everyone elsewhere in the world thinks that this event was caused by people being on a brainless dash to "stone the devil" but now that the details are getting out, this was an oil money problem, some rich selfish child obviously got enough of it to pay for his own little army that scared the crap out of everyone.
On top of this, all the sauds appear to be doing is a whitewash rather than try to help the injured. It took them two hours to arrive at the scene and do anything at all, and when they did do something, rather than help the injured, they started carting off dead bodies and let the injured people lay on the pavement in the sun. So we probably will never get a final death count - if they put that much priority into carting off the dead, it probably means they wanted a cover up more than anything else at first, and then encountered a huge problem - too much to hide.
After combing through the comment sections and reading the posts of witnesses, it appears that it took 2 hours for help to arrive ONLY because everyone who initially came to help was diverted to protect the Prince that created the scare and caused it all! Even today, the latest pictures, shows piles of bodies still mixed in with suitcases and whatever else people were carrying, (even crushed wheel chairs) which means the Sauds are clueless about the real death toll, and these bodies are going to rot before they get them moved, the response is THAT PATHETIC AND SLOW.

There is a huge amount of additional information on this topic (the above is a summary of many reports) HERE

JIM STONEs site: HERE
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/09/25/430691/Hajj-Mecca-Stampede-Irans-Hajj-and-Pilgrimage-Organization-Saeed-Ohadi-Saudi-Arabia

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Oil Elites The Real Reason Oil Is So Cheap

Well worth 10 minutes of your time.  This is an excellent brief run down of the current OIL situation - history and future plans of the Oil Elites.

Check out the links below the video for more information.




d

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A few issues

Pests !!!! 
We have been inundated by pests as I may have mentioned in the last post...

These bugs have been feasting on the Cape Gooseberries & require daily removal.. The little fellas on the right are rather squishy & when in a pack can devour a large leaf in under a day.. I have a feeling one is the offspring of the other.. One for the books me thinks...



The lady bugs (not the good kind) on left have been feasting on the cucumber & Eggplants.. They dont appear to be doing much damage but still get a spraying when we do.. The damage to the Sweet potato leaves is caused by mini Grasshoppers that are just everywhere after the rain.. They are a hardy plant & will bounce back.

Here are a few shots of leaves infested with the citrus leaf miner.. We gave the 2 limes a good pruning to rid them of the blighters but have left the lemon for the time being... They only affect the new growth so we shall be spraying all new growth as it appears from now on...

Failed Crop...

We havent been successful with any hand pollinated pumpkins as of yet...
I fertilise the females before 9:30 most days & have been supplementing the plant with sea weed & worm wee fertilisers on a weekly basis but the little fruit just wont "stick".. After doing so well with them last year it is a bit disappointing...

On a final brighter note, we have a bunch of Crocuses about to bloom  under Koos window... Will be keeping an eye on the so as to get a good pic...

Have a great one all...
: )»

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Voltset Viewing And Recording Meter Data On Your Smartphone

It has always seemed to me that it would be a good idea for engineers and technicians to use their smartphone to view and record data from a meter.

Apparently the people involved with the Voltset Kickstarter campaign agree with me. Voltset is a module that plugs into a smartphone via a USB connection and turns the phone into a smart multimeter. The Kickstarter campaign has met its initial funding goal, so well find out if the Voltset team can deliver on their useful looking 21st century tool for the microcontroller enthusiast. If you want to get the deluxe model, the less-expensive early bird pledges are all gone, but you can still get the Voltset Pro for $139. The campaign has 13 more days to run.

An article titled "Voltset - Intelligent Multimeter for your smartphone" on Engineering.com recently described the device this way:

"The most interesting aspect of the Voltset for me was the identification tools. In the Kickstarter video a car battery is being measured, and Voltset recognizes that its measuring a vehicle and gives the user standard measurements for car batteries. A second demonstration in the video shows an electrical outlet being measured with the same results. Several equations are built into the meter allowing makers to take data and have information beyond what is being measured. A data logging feature keeps the information to give users a history of their project."

Collect data in spreadsheet

You should really consider watching the video to understand the advantages of the Voltset versus just using a standard multimeter. Im sure a couple of the Humboldt Makers would love to have the Voltset. I might just have to link Lonny and Gabe to this post just to see if they like the concept enough to spring for $139, plus $15 shipping.

My guess is that there will be a lot more devices like the Voltset over the next few years. Doing electronics, physics, chemistry and engineering labs in college with tools like the Voltset is going to have a radically improved data gathering approach compared to twenty years ago, or even compared to five years ago. One useful aspect of this tool might be the opportunity to revise the experiment procedure, while youre in the middle of the experiment, based on self-charting of the data being gathered. It might be immediately obvious that gathering data at two higher temperatures will give useful information, or that running the experiment again at a lower pressure will result in the best yield for a batch process.

Another aspect of the Voltset I like is the team that designed and is producing it. It appears to be a truly global diverse distributed team that would be challenging to work on and challenging to manage, but if you get the right group of people together, it would be an awesome and interesting way to collaborate. If interested in this aspect of the project, check out their Kickstarter page and go down toward the bottom to see who all is on the team.

Microcontroller users, open source hardware designers, biohackers, citizen scientists -- everyone who gathers data that can be measured by a meter is going to want a Voltset or its close cousin.

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New Beds

Made a start on the 2 small beds that are replacing the large Herb Bed....
The first bed is up & just needs to be "Wicked" out & its done... Will start the second on Tuesday if the school schedule allows for it... I also need to scrounge some pavers from under the stairs for the gap & design the bench/storage box as well..... Should have enough bits of timber around to knock one up, just need to find some wire mesh to rodent proof the base....
Will have to look into better fencing around the base of the Chooks Mango yard to stop the soil being spread far & wide as you can see from the picture.... I have some bits of tin I can wire to the base of the fence to stop the spread....
Thinking about putting up a Bamboo or Reed screen on the wire fence behind the Chook pen to shield it from the vacant land to the rear of our place.... The owners are trying to sell the block & I dont really want people Peeping in on our Girls & Garden....

Found a little Native Gecko in the bed as I was building it... I must of spooked the poor little fella & it dropped its tail... : (» 
It was relocated into a nearby Crape Myrtle tree where it could blend in well.... Im glad to see them slowly move into the yard & Veggie Patch to devour the bugs....







Have a great one all.....

: )»

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US East Coast Military Drills Chinese Navy in Arctic Well that escalated quickly

I woke up this morning to a message that the US Military have called snap drills on the East Coast of America, that MAY interfer with air traffic...... yea....... no, nothing to see here.  Move along.

Last night, reports of Chinese Navy off the Shore of Alaska, exactly when Obama is making the first Presidential visit to the Arctic ever......

Putin is in Beijing, for the WWII Parade, and meeting with various world leaders at the same time...

Chinese and Russian Navys and Militarys are working together in extensive exercises and drills.... in the Sea of Japan, AND the Arctic......

.... And Hey!!!!  Its September!!!   Interesting.....

Keep your eyes open people... shit is getting real.

d

Last Minute East Coast Military Drills Send Out September Alarm As China Warships Seen Off Coast Of Alaska - Something Very Strange Is Going On!

By Stefan Stanford - All News Pipeline - Live Free Or Die

With the Pentagon recently warning that 5 Chinese war ships were seen off of the coast of Alaska, we take a look at an alarming story from AINonline that tells us on very late notice from the Department of Defense, ADS-B Surveillance and TCAS operations over Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida might become unreliable as of 1 a.m. September 2nd. 

The National Airspace System has told the FAA that they need much more notice for such military exercises that we learn here will go on until October 1st and will cover up to 200 miles off of the East coast. As the 1st two videos below from Spiro and Professor Doom1tell us, this new information should be a major alert for the entire East coast and anyone at all who is paying attention.

Why would the US military suddenly need to run such exercises off of the East coast of America and on such very short notice? Does this have anything to do with the 1st time ever China war ships seen off of the coast of Alaska? Is all of this tied to the mysterious explosions that we have recently seen in China and the escalating hostile rhetoric, cyberattacks and financial warfare between the two nations? Following the 1st two videos below we take a look at recent reports of Chinese warships seen off the coast of Alaska as well as a video examining what appears to be World War 3 unfolding before our very eyes. 



Why should we be so concerned about these last minute military drills that will shut down the eyes and ears of much of the East Coast in September? As Professor Doom points out, with everything else that has been going on in recently including wellness checks in South Carolina, countless military drills coming out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina and nuclear apocalypse drills in Florida, do they know that something bad is about to occur? You can check out the FAAs announcement of these exercises here. 

With Russian spy ships recently reported to be operating off of the East Coast while theyve also been conducting long-range bomber exercises near US shores and off of the Gulf of Mexico, are we about to witness a major escalation of hostilities towards the US by China, Russia or other hostile entities such as North Korea? As our videographers point out, there is something very strange about these drills. 

In the 4th video below fromTruthNeverTold , we hear that Henry Kissinger predicted World War 3 with China. Are all of these recent developments more signs that Kissingers warning is about to come true? Why would the US military broadcast these outages to the world over the next month, possibly giving our enemies an opportunity to take advantage of this situation to do us harm? Coming during the last 2 weeks of Jade Helm 15 and lasting until two weeks after the exercises are supposed to wrap up, the timing of all of this is crucial we can see.

Continue reading on All New Pipeline (lots of videos) HERE:  http://allnewspipeline.com/September_East_Coast_Military_Drills.php

AEROSPACE

TCAS, ADS-B Unreliable on East Coast During September

by Robert P. Mark

 - September 1, 2015, 4:18 PM

ADS-B surveillance and some TCAS operations in the airspace over Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida might become unreliable as of September 2 at 1 a.m.EDT, according to a Notam the FAA issued on September 1. The outages are due to events the agency labeled as “late notice from the Department of Defense of military exercises.”NBAA “voiced its concern to the FAA that these sort of significant impact tests need much more notice to operators in the National Airspace System.”

The outages are scheduled to last until midnight October 1. In addition to the areas of concern noted in domestic airspace, the FAA said the outages might well extend up to 200-nm offshore.

The agency said one outage symptom could be the tracks of nearby aircraft first appearing close to the primary aircraft that immediately switch to a traffic alert/resolution alert status onTCAS. Pilots should maintain a heightened watch on the airspace around them and report any incidents of nearby aircraft they believe should have generated alerts, but did not. The relevant Notam numbers are 5/2817, 5/2818, 5/2819, 5/2820 and 5/2834.

http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2015-09-01/tcas-ads-b-unreliable-east-coast-during-september

I also found some very interesting information on this forum, which is open for public reading:

The DEFCON Warning System Message Board

http://www.defconwarningsystem.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=3384

Follow the above information, with this information that was released in the main stream media yesterday:

September 3, 2015 6:02 am

Chinese navy sails off Alaska coast as Obama visits Arctic

Five Chinese navy ships have sailed off the coast of Alaska in the Bering Sea, as Barack Obama made the first visit by a sitting US president to the Arctic.

The US confirmed that the vessels were sailing through international waters near Alaska, in the latest example of the growing reach of the Chinese navy

“We are aware of the five People’s Liberation Army Navy ships in the Bering Sea,” said Commander Bill Urban, a Pentagon spokesman. “This is the first time we have observed PLAN ships in the Bering Sea.”

Taking place as Beijing staged a high-profile military parade on Thursday, and ahead of a visit to Washington by China’s President Xi Jinping later this month, the unprecedented demonstration of naval reach is a further reminder of China’s rising global assertiveness.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c5bf6ce6-51ee-11e5-8642-453585f2cfcd.html#axzz3kctUs4N2

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This And That June 26 Grab Bag

Got finished with the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group meeting a little while ago, and now have to put together a random-microcontroller-stuff blog post since I didnt have a spare one waiting in the wings.

#1 This:   Just saw an interesting FastCoDesign article titled, "Arduino-Powered Lamp Changes Colors To Reflect The Weather." The article starts out like this:

"Remember how the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall, in Harry Potter, resembled the sky above? Also: remember how the Weasleys had that clock that showed the status of each family member? This lovely Patch of Sky project combines the two and lets you magic up your home, too."

The rest of the article sounded good enough that I went to the website for the Patch of Sky lamp and watched the video. The end of the video showed a cool aspect of the lamp I hadnt
expected. The lamp seemed to be showing sort of a twilight condition, then it started displaying a lightning lighting pattern. Thinking ahead to how people might hack this concept, I started imagining lighting effects you could create where you have multiple Patch of Sky type lamps around a room that use photosensors to display indoor lightning effects driven by the intensity and duration of the lightning outside your house, or driven by the thunder intensity and duration which might give an interesting (or disorienting) delay effect.

#1 That:   At tonights microcontroller meeting, Hal W talked some about the Humboldt Digital Art group and how hes interested in helping artists in the area get more involved with experimenting on integrating microcontrollers into their art. Well talk more about that and do a bit of online research to find examples of how other artists are using Arduinos to either go in new directions or to enhance the space they were already working in. If youre an artist and interested in learning how Arduino or other microcontrollers work, please show up at a future Humboldt Microcontrollers Group meeting (next one is July 10). If youre an artist already working with microcontrollers, wed love to have you join us at an upcoming meeting to talk about how youre using them and to teach us a few new MCU tricks. Maybe well start modifying the spelling to Artduino.

Of course, once I (so cleverly) spelled Arduino with the t in it, I had to google it and immediately see that the spelling is (of course) in common usage. For example, there has already been an Artduino Maker Camp, where the event participants had sessions on the general topic of art and microcontrollers, as well as "electronic wearables, Arduino micro controllers, robotics, 3D printing, wireless controls and musical instrument making alongside dance, theatrics, and story hacking." The above link is for an Artduino Camp in Vermont, USA. At right is a photo from the Artduino blog hosted by WordPress. I cant say for sure if the photo shows an artists incorporation of microcontrollers into his art because Im guessing the blog is written in either Croatian or Kajkavian (the two languages in Zagreb, I think). Maybe theres an Artduino unconference in Humboldts not-so-distant future...

#2 This:   Under the heading of really-small-Arduinos is the new Nanite 85. This development board doesnt have a ton of features and capabilities, but if you need a microcontroller that does what the Atmel ATtiny85 does, the Nanite 85 is mighty compact, measuring only 0.4 x 0.5 x 0.6 inches. Ill leave this blurb about the Nanite small, too. See the little picture at the left.

#2 That:   If you havent done the #6 video tutorial from Jeremy Blum, you might enjoy a new level of capability that the exercises in this video brings you. John S mentioned at the microcontroller meeting tonight that it was a really fun experience to put together a microcontroller circuit, then write an Arduino sketch (program) and have the MCU controlling your computer (it changes the color on your computer screen). This opens up a whole new world of possibilities, where youll have real world inputs (from something other than a keyboard, mouse or other typical personal computer input devices) actually controlling or changing your computer / screen. So you can build your own circuits to have pH sensors change your computers output, or have the computer do a specified task when the temperature on the bottom of your coffee cup gets below 102 degrees. This is much different than making an LED on your breadboard blink.

The next couple Blum video tutorials cover some of the same topics discussed in #6. Hope to see you at the next meeting when we discuss the #7 video tutorial.

**********

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Fermenting Addiction and Best Ginger Beer Ever!

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Our latest fermenting class, Crazy About Kraut, was a success.  And now I am hearing from students who are addicted to kraut, beet kvass and fermenting in general.  It really is so easy and rewarding to make your own homemade ferments.  Our favorite sauerkraut recipe includes green cabbage, fresh burdock root, ginger root, fresh turmeric root, and daikon radish- yum and super good for you!

In our home we have recently been making loads of ginger beer which is a wild fermentation.  Our most current batch is turmeric root beer (an idea I borrowed from a student- thanks Amy!). The end product turns out a hundred times better than any store bought ginger beer and you can experiment with any roots or herbs you might want to add.  Tweaking the recipe each time is the fun part.  I am interested in trying elderberry/ginger beer- for immunity, hawthorn/ginger beer- as a heart tonic, astragalus/schizandra/ginger beer- for adaptogen benefits...the possibilities are as broad as your imagination. 

Basic Ginger Beer

Ingredients:
Fresh organic ginger root
Organic sugar
Raw honey
Filtered h2o
(we also add a bit of sarsaparilla root for that root beer taste)

-Per liter: 1/3c organic cane sugar and 1/3c raw local honey.
-Boil grated ginger (2-3" root per liter) with the water and sugar for about 15 minutes or until it has reached desired spiciness.
-Let cool, add the honey and strain into bottles or mason jars and add about 1/4-1/2c of the previous batch as a starter.  If this is your first batch, go here to learn how to make your own ginger bug. 
-Leave them at room temp for 2-3 days until they are very carbonated (check after 24 hours) and then put into smaller bottles and refrigerate.  Enjoy!

*Make sure to check the bottles or jars each day, you may need to open the lids to let out a bit of pressure or you can use an airlock lid.  If you are worried about the bottles exploding (which should not happen if you are checking them!) you can put them aside in a Rubbermaid bin with a lid.

Happy fermenting!

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Epic Travel 2 Kenya Adventures

Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you, because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.  Those who dont believe in magic will never find it.  -Roald Dahl

 

 
Epic travel adventure numero dos....Africa!  Miraculously I was invited to participate in a biodiversity conference in Thika Kenya, an hour outside of Nairobi.  My travel companions were four women, all affiliated with MESA (Multi National Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture).  The conference was attended by about thirty participants from around the globe; policy makers, researchers, educators, farmers, and NGO representatives.  The goal was to brainstorm solutions for increasing biodiversity in food systems and to discuss problems and challenges that small land holders face around the world especially in third world countries.  We spent much of the time broken into small groups talking about issues like drought, seed saving, fund raising and how to market products, as well as listening to presentations by members of the Agricultural Biodiversity Community. 

 

 

Hosted by PELUM KENYA, the conference center was beautiful, located on what felt like a mini farm with lush gardens, ponds and even hutches of rabbits.  It was such a privilege to participate in conversation with this rich, knowledgeable and diverse group of people.  Some of the organizations represented at the conference were PELUM, ILEIA, MESA, Muliru Farmers Group, African Biodiversity Network, South Indian Federation of Fishermen Society, Earth Net Foundation, Dhan Foundation India, WESA and  South Alliance for Indigenous Resources. 

 

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As part of the conference we went on two field trips to local farming projects.  The first was to the Thoma Wa Mukamba Community Cultural Learning Center.  This group focuses on traditional seed saving specifically ten native food crops.  They are reviving indigenous seeds and cultural foods made with these traditional crops. 

 

 

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The highlight was visiting H.I.M. Negus Shiriki Community, a Rastafarian community of artists and youth from Nairobi.  This is hands down the most magical farm I have ever seen.
(click the link to learn more about this inspiring group and our visit)

 

 

These brothers and sisters are incredible artists who create mosaic murals and make clothing and sandals with an ancient style of Kemetic weaving.  They are stewarding land in the Maragua district of Kenya.  I have never seen a farm so amazing.  The diversity of vegetation grown there for food and medicine is astounding as well as the abundance and health of the plants.  I cant describe how much I felt at home there, I didnt want to leave!

 

We received a tour of the gardens from Brother herbalist and medicine man Ras Abasa and little four year old Sista Menen (who knows all the plants and can tell you their medicinal uses!)   We also helped plant fruit trees. 

 

 

  

We had the opportunity to see some of the craftsmanship handmade by Sista Njoki, beautiful sandals and many types of jewelry.   We also got to meet her two month old twins sons, Jahwise and Jahsent.

 

 

 

The biggest blessing of the visit was the nourishing, homegrown ital meal and tea made

with lemongrass, ginger root and coconut milk.  Heaven!  A piece of my soul will forever reside with the Shiriki Community.  Peace and Blessings be upon them and may their natural way of life be preserved!

 

 

 

 

 

After the conference we spent another week in Kenya and stayed with some MESA friends at the GBIAK farm.  GBIAK stands for Grow Bio intensive Agriculture Kenya.   

 

 

 

GBIAK is run by two incredible farmers who have a mission to teach bio intensive and sustainable agriculture to all those who come to learn.  The first day we arrived they were holding a workshop for indigenous farmers from the northern region who had been using synthetic fertilizers and had depleted their soils. 

 

 

Corn, sorghum, papaya, mangoes, jute, amaranth, sun hemp, nightshade, squash, okra, melons, greens, sweet potatoes, and bamboo are just a few of the crops grown here.  GBIAK uses the farming methods of John Jeavons. They are a perfect model of bio intensive agriculture, a prolific amount of food grown on a few acres.  

 

 

 

 

The most inspiring part of visiting GBIAK was their seed bank.  I fell in love with this idea and immediately wanted to build one back home.  Farmers come from all around to purchase organic seeds from this bank at one dollar per spoonful. 
 

 

I bought many varieties I am excited to try; drought resistant corn, sun hemp, jute, moringa, black amaranth, and others.  I managed to successfully smuggle them all home in my dirty pairs of socks!

 

 

During the rest of our trip we stayed in Nairobi and explored the city.  Of course we had to spend a full day at the Masai market.  So many amazing handmade goods and colors!  It was a bit of an overwhelming experience until I learned I had to bargain!

 

 

 

More adventures included visits to the elephant orphanage, lots of babies ages ranging from a few months to three years old. 

  

 

 

 

 

My friend got lots of muddy elephant love. 

 

 

This is Ed who I met at the Giraffe sanctuary.  He was surprisingly affectionate with his long neck hugs.  Toward the end of our trip we went on safari and saw all the incredible animals living in the park.  The day ended with a pride of seven lions about twenty yards from us.  So majestic!   

 

 
We ended up spending a day and a half in Ethiopia on our way home, also beautiful to tour Addis Ababa on foot.  Traveling to Africa was an opportunity of a lifetime.  There is so much more I could say about my adventures.  I left out a lot of the magical experiences.  The inspiration and expansion I experienced cannot be put into words.  In a nutshell this trip was a healing gift...life changing.  Thank you and gratitude to my supportive family and to PELUM Kenya for making it possible for me to have this experience!  I am so grateful for the new friendships I have made and we are already implementing many of the ideas I learned about here on our farm.  Give thanks for continuous growth and learning!

AMANI NA UPENDO
Peace and Love!

 

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