Speaking of Good Ideas for Kids
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Inspired by @ash78's tennis ball cannon, I thought I'd share something I did for my kids, significantly less DIY but still something they've loved.
First, a shameless plug for a good idea I had years ago. In my kitchen I have a basic screen with an old Chromebox on the back, keyboard/mouse below. The screen I got from surplus from our local university for $25, and the keyboard/mouse came with it for free. The account on the Chromebox is [lastname]kitchen at gmail, so it's no one's personal account, and it's where we send any good recipes we find online, or when we take a snapshot of a friend's cookbook, etc. and it's all saved in the email account AND of course, searchable. It's great for basic internetting, and most of all, our recipes are right there on a screen in the kitchen, and it's not as risky as having a laptop or ipad on the counter, especially when kids are helping.
Speaking of the kids - and to the point of this post - a couple years ago we went to a traveling exhibit at a local nature center. It was a fascinating thing unto itself, all about caterpillars. But the thing that stuck with me most was these little microscopes they had with images showing on basic computer screens. I asked about them, and they said "oh yeah those are like $100 (?) and don't require any software... they're slick!" I felt like this kind of thing would have been $1000 just a few years ago, carefully protected in a classroom lab.
So yes, indeed, they are slick, especially if you already have a basic screen in your kitchen, with a small cabinet right next to it.
It's really as simple as plugging it into power and connecting the HDMI output to the screen (I used a DVI - HDMI adapter because the screen has no HDMI). If the screen is sleeping it wakes up for mouse movement on the Chromebox or power-on of the microscope, the kids don't have to do much of anything. It's easy to focus but also can be removed quickly from the stand and pointed at... whatever.
Check out the fibers on this super-high-quality sticker!
Here's a link, it's a Mustcam digital microscope. I promise I'm not being paid to promote this thing, it's honestly just that great.
Just do yourself a favor and don't look closely at your fingers, after working on a car. After washing, even. It's... alarming.
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@functionoverfashion That's awesome!
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@functionoverfashion "Those are balls"
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And... purchased. Thanks for the tip!
Planning to make a tennis ball cannon, too. Thanks, @ash78
manual . RWD . LS3 . MagneRide . Brembos ... 4 doors + 5 seatbelts
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@functionoverfashion said in Speaking of Good Ideas for Kids:
Just do yourself a favor and don't look closely at your fingers, after working on a car. After washing, even. It's... alarming.
If cycling from simple green on a rag to fast orange to dawn dish soap isn't getting it off, it's not coming off, and therefore not worth worrying about
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@Qaaaaa Pretty much, if it's so ingrained that it won't come off with soap or solvents it's not going to just magically get on anything else. The exception is hot pizza. Nothing cleans the grease out of your fingerprints as effectively as eating a hot slice of greasy pizza.
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@Qaaaaa said in Speaking of Good Ideas for Kids:
@functionoverfashion said in Speaking of Good Ideas for Kids:
Just do yourself a favor and don't look closely at your fingers, after working on a car. After washing, even. It's... alarming.
If cycling from simple green on a rag to fast orange to dawn dish soap isn't getting it off, it's not coming off, and therefore not worth worrying about
Sounds like in that case you should continue on the color spectrum until you get to Original Red
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@davesaddiction No way, awesome! It's so cool. I used it the other day to get the head of a tick out of my skin. I should have taken a snapshot of it but... yeah no. Be prepared to see super details of all kinds of things around your house!
I have not told my kids that it would work on our big TV, I don't need that haha
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Haha - that's where we'll use ours. Should be fun!
manual . RWD . LS3 . MagneRide . Brembos ... 4 doors + 5 seatbelts
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@davesaddiction That will be awesome. I just already had the obvious place with the kitchenputer...
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Our kitchenputer is an old iMac that someone gifted us, so no go (I think).
manual . RWD . LS3 . MagneRide . Brembos ... 4 doors + 5 seatbelts
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@davesaddiction said in Speaking of Good Ideas for Kids:
Our kitchenputer is an old iMac that someone gifted us, so no go (I think).
Yup, just about any screen with a video input, but not that built-in setup.
I almost bought an imac for our kitchenputer, from the same surplus program where I got the screen. Can't remember why I didn't, other than probably cost. I think the chromebox was $80 on ebay.
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@functionoverfashion said in Speaking of Good Ideas for Kids:
Just do yourself a favor and don't look closely at your fingers, after working on a car. After washing, even. It's... alarming.
I usually eat finger food after wrenching... have probably cut 10 years off my life...
