The escape wheel is designed to give way one notch each time the pendulum swings and, wouldn’t you know it, this is forced by the weights pulling down on the rope. The clock is geared on 60:1 with several options for how to adjust it if things don’t work. Still, the clock is on my wall and will make an imposing sight until I find either pennies or grit to fill both pinecones with. Actually the grit is easy to come by, I just don’t want it spilling out over my linoleum floors. Anyway here’s what the clock looks like now.

So that’s what I have hanging on my wall, pretty impressive eh? Still, there’s more to do. So I have a photography question for any gurus. I hate getting the glare on the clock as you can see here and in the next picture. But the comparison under my horible household lights is even worse. Is there a way I can get the fresh looking picture without getting glare off the surface of the clock? I’ll take any comments and post them under a new entry I’ve always wanted to…take pictures like my brother-in-law .

If you look at these the problem becomes clear as does my frustration. Anyway, the clock will run eventually and I’ll be posting a video of it ticking to prove that I can do this. I probably will be using grit to fill the two pinecones and post it in the finale I’ve always wanted…to know how a clock works pt. 5.

Now on to other matters. My work at espresso art continued and boy do we have some gems for you. It’s unfortunately true that most of my foam art comes out looking like nothingness and not hte Haeckel nothingness but genuine nothingness as seen below.

I’m sure if you look at these long enough you’ll find something they look like. This, unfortunately is what a majority of my foam art looks like. Still, all is not lost practice makes perfect (Or as Joe Watkins used to say, “practicing a mistake makes a perfect mistake”) take a look at these babies.

So here we have a dolphin (or prawn depending on how you look at it), an “L”, a candle, and a flame. If I diagnosed these correctly you should be able to tell which is which without any further help from me. Of course, I saved the best for last and these next two require some explanation. My brain works on a big connected web of concepts and ideas. So if you snag one you’ll get all the pop culture and trivia that might possibly be connected to it, often the results are useless. It’s like having your brain categorized into one big “westlaw” database (let the law students read and understand). So when I saw these two, I knew exactly where they came from.

The first is obviously a subjective attempt at school spirit as it looks like the famed “cougar swipe” of APU. Go cougars! At any rate this next one impressed me even more.

Here I have created a rendition of the head of Jazz Jackrabbit from the “Jazz Jackrabbit” line of arcade games. Uncanny resemblance, yes? In case any of you got nostalgic for old Jazz Jackrabbit after seeing this I have a link to download it here http://old-cans.com/en/jazz_jackrabbit/. This website is great and goes along with all the other old games that we missed and love. Sadly “Humans” is not on there…*sigh*. So until next time keep on espresso arting (NOT farting) and I’ll be back to finish the clock off. Or there may be a post about playing chess like Tal in the interim. I’ve been at the chess club two weeks and my record is currently 4:1. So thank God for victories. Until next time…

Each of the guears has to be stacked and glued. Once they’re finished, if you want the clock to last awhile, the directions say to sand and lacquer the edges of the gears. In my case sanding, because I was trying to sand cardboard. only made everything worse so I may hold off on having a long lasting clock and just build the darn thing.

This is the main winder of the clock. You can’t see all the detail in this photo, but it consists of a ratcheting wheel that can only turn clockwise. The weights are attatched to hooks that pull the weight counterclockwise. The idea is you wind the clock by turning the smaller wheel to the right and when the weight pulls down on the strings it enages the main gear turning the wheel left. Cool stuff huh? As for the main body of the clock. The pendulum and main housing have been built, making the only project installation of the gears as seen below.

So as you can see the main pendulum is now finished. Of course, I haven’t just spent all my time doing this, the road to espresso fineness continues. Take a look at some of the espresso art below.

The images are arranged chronologically. I’ll probably youtube some espresso art videos this afternoon. When I do I’ll post the link so you can learn what I’m learning. In the meantime. Keep hopes up and enjoy your projects .

Most cyphers are substitution based, but these fall to codebreakers because the amount a letter is used can be a factor in what it is substituted for. This cypher goes a bit further and shifts the substitution alphabet every letter and repeats after every three or four switches. Here’s the trick, you pick a code phrase (we’ll use four letters for our practice code) and each letter you begin the substitution alphabet with a letter of the code phrase. For example the code phrase test would use something like this.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 

and your substitution alphabet would look like this

T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S 

i’ll let you fill in the rest but your substitution alphabet for the next letter would begin with “E” and then “S” and so forth. Spaces are ignored for sake of simplicity. Also, instead of using the T substitution twice at the beginning and end, just use it once (as if the code phrase were TES). Try writing your own passages in code. Or try translating the phrase below.

BJ QHY LKEFLPSMIV MLAL CGN AENX XGG FYUA XAFI

Or for those of you who think you can crack my personal code. Try the three word phrase below.

MNN MAU LFGTEF

For those of you who think that this code isn’t secret enough you can always code a phrase and then run a completely new cypher with an entirely new code phrase. This will make the code almost unbreakable, but it takes a lot more time and is a lot more prone to mistake. So…to each his own, enjoy!

So we’re approaching the end of the first week and I’ve cracked open the clock model. Immediately I realized I’d gotten more than I’d bargained for. I spent time building models as I grew up, but I usually broke the darn things before I ever got anywhere. The curse of poor dexterity and no patience. For thos of you who haven’t seen anything like this before. What you’re looking at is a box filled with cardboard sheets that require precise handing to cut each out without breaking it. Of course if you botch one gear the whole thing doesn’t work.

This clock required me to remove each and every individual piece of cardboard and then assemble, sand, and lacquer each of the gears. Finally, you get to actually put the clock together.  By the end of the first day I had barely gotten through a third of detaching the pieces. Then, I had to use scraps of post-it to ensure that no pieces were lost.

This is about half the pieces and as you can see it already has become a huge nightmare. I am now eating my meals on the far edge of my table because the pieces swarmed everything. Additionally, my coffee table  been cleared and even more pieces have filled that area. All told the are 456 pieces to this model clock and I am proud report that I don’t believe I have lost any one of the.

On the offhand chance that I’m wrong in that prediction I will post another blog entry entirel in wingdings and you can substitute whatever expletives you feel appropriate.

Still, just because I’m working on one project doesn’t mean I have to neglect others. The epresso has been flowing like clockwork each morning as I plan on learning how to do espresso art. First, things first,I need to master foaming milk in the first place. The coffee currently in use is Dillons coffee. Anyone who is familiar with my family know that we prefer Darte’ coffee, but  last thing any aspiring artist wants to do is spent 2,000 dollars on oil paints used by michelangelo while they’re ability would allow them to get the same potential from $2 finger paints. Notice the nice creme onop of the coffee though, that makes the foam art much easier I’m told.

And of course the foam art itself. Note that I use the term “art” rather loosely in this case. This is my best effort at a blob. Actually it was supposed to be a “rosette” but fate intervened. Note also the particularly poor foam quality. That is what happens when you don’t clack and swirl (yes clack and swirl is an artistic term. It is currently in use by at least one barista).

On the irony of the art I’ve chosen I think everyone should find it intersting that one who makes coffee is a barista, one who practices law is a barrister. Sexism anyone? Still I aim to become the world’s first barista barrister. So everyone wish me luck until then.

Until next time I have more sanding and lacquering to do. Upcoming events include salsa lessons which I have learned start in february so stay tuned.

“Abel” Sacrifice to God.
“Noah” Build an ark. However, where Jeremy is right on I think is that even before God told Noah to build an ark Noah was living justly before God. We take for granted God gave him no commands at that time or that God did. It’s a good point and definitely a valid one. Good thinking Jeremy.

Bullseyes and...what is that zigzagline anyway?

I’m still not sure exactly what the zigzagline is, but the targets around the eye are something special. Hopefully by the end of summer I can have a small gallery on Flickr of clown makeup for the summer. People will be able to vote on which one they think is best. In the meantime I’m still waiting for Arizona to start and spending time hanging out with family here. So until I have more on this coming week, stay tuned.