November 2, 2005

There were 4 posts published on November 2, 2005 (this is page 1 of 1).

Martha Stewart Would Be Horrified, But In A Good Way

I hoped to post some pictures of the floating ghost effect I created for Halloween. Unfortunately, I can’t find the pictures I took showing how it was set up. Luckily, Kelly did take a few shots of the ghost in action, as you can see by this picture and these.

The ghost was only visible from a spot right in front of the door. Often the kids missed it in their rush to collect their sugary loot. Only after I augmented it with a ghostly moan did it really start to attract attention.

The parts:

  • One flourescent light fixture. Lowe’s, $8 ea
  • Two blacklight bulbs. Lowe’s, $12 ea
  • 24×36″ Poster frame. A.C. Moore, $6.60 (on sale).
  • One bag of poly fill (for ghost). A.C. Moore, $2
  • Roll of 24 gauge hanging wire. A.C. Moore, $1.50
  • Spot of spray paint. Free.
  • Comforter cover. Free.
  • Speakers, etc. Free.

Total cost: $42. Total time: about an hour.

I spread the comforter cover out behind our porch swing, pinning it up on the back of the swing to provide a shield from the ghost. The ghost was placed on top of the comforter facing up. The black light was hung from the back of the swing, illuminating the floor below it.

To reflect the image of the ghost below, I drilled holes in the plastic sheet from the poster frame and hung it at a 45 degree angle from the bolts holding the swing. Originally I was afraid the plastic wouldn’t be reflective enough, but the sheet from the poster frame turned out to be perfect. It was light and thin, which made it bow a bit once I hung it. This uneven surface gave the impression of movement as one looked at one the way to the door.

The effect is that of a translucent ghost, hanging in air. The neighborhood kids were impressed. At least, the ones who looked up were impressed!

Hallie was so excited to help me put it together. She kept asking “Daddy, is it lit up yet?” Once it was lit up, she was still a little spooked by it, even though she helped me assemble it. I was amused.

Still, it wasn’t all perfect. I had hoped it would be visible from the street, but this turned out not to be the case. The neighbor’s porch light shone through it at a certain angle, washing it out. Pointing it towards the street would’ve also helped. I would have also liked the reflecting surface to be bigger. Maybe next year.

All in all, it was a great project. Now, what to do for an encore!

World War One

The first world war has been on my mind lately, coming from various places. It began with Netflix delivering our latest movie to us, A Very Long Engagement. Its a movie about love during WWI, as Audrey Tautou’s (of Amile fame) character searches for her missing fiance. The movie shows the war in unflinching, shocking detail, exposing its mindlessness and savagery for what it is. Once it was over, I couldn’t help wondering how those frightened kids felt in their trenches.

Yesterday, Metafilter had a link to accounts from the last remaining WWI vets. Their personal stories are gripping, alive as the days they lived them. So sad. As Harry Patch (aged 107) said:

Why should the British government call me up and take me out to a battlefield to shoot a man I never knew, whose language I couldn’t speak? All those lives lost for a war finished over a table.

Now what is the sense in that? It’s just an argument between two governments. Neither Charles nor I ever want any other young man ever to go through what we did again, but still we send our lads to war.

It made me think of my uncle at the Battle of the Bulge hunkered down in a Belgium forest, a kid fighting the bitter cold and the German army. He knew all too well what those WWI soldiers went through. He never talked about it. How could he explain it? How could anyone?

Today’s paper ran the obituary of Rene Moreau, whose death this week left just six remaining French WWI veterans. Moreau finally joined the comrades he left on the muddy fields of the Western Front ninety years ago. Soon all those who faced this horror will be gone forever.

Almost a century gone by and what have we learned?

Meter Readers

Why don’t power companies provide their customers better ways to track their electricity usage? Don’t get me wrong – I love the little bar graphs that Progress Energy puts on their monthly bills, but the problem is they’re monthly. I want data that’s more real-time. Wouldn’t it be great if you could query your electric meter to get the current (ha!) usage, anytime you wanted? I’d love to graph this data and use it to really analyze how we use electricity in our home: things like how much power a particular appliance draws when running and so forth. I know that some power companies use electronic meters that can be read remotely by meter readers – why not let the customer do that, too?