Upcycled overbed table

To support our Netflix in bed habit and avoid the problem of the laptop warming the knees or bed we were on the lookout for an overbed table.

The dumpster near our apartment often has treasures from the shops nearby. One day I spotted some fairly solid MDF lattice that had probably been a shop fitting. It was broken in parts, but there were large enough pieces to salvage and build an overbed table.

Cutting the MDF, screwing and gluing the parts, adding four small wheels for mobility and some trim for additional strength and giving the whole thing a paint job has given us a decorative and functional overbed table for a fraction of the cost.

Future-proofing a pine seedling nursery through automation

MuzGadget cousin, Patrick, is featured in this Rural Delivery clip and talks about how he is using technology to automate, sustain and improve his pine seedling nursery.

Read the whole Rural Delivery story at https://www.ruraldelivery.net.nz/stories/Murray-s-Nurseries

Flippermuzeum, Budapest

On our recent trip to Budapest, we spent an evening at Flippermuzeum - Europe's largest interactive pinball museum. They have over 150 machines ranging from ancient electromechanical machines of the 1960's to modern machines often themed on movies and pop culture. For the museum entry fee, you get unlimited play on the machines.

Target Gallery, 1962

Flying Chariots, 1963

Various machines in the collection

Some games had multiple balls in action. One machine released 13 balls if you hit the right spots. You could manually load multiple balls on some of the older games. 

Multiple balls in action

The strangest game to play was Orbitor 1. The ball moved seemingly randomly over the playfield and I suspect it had electromagnets changing the direction as the ball passed over sensors.

Orbitor 1

There were a few hybrid games where you use the flippers to control a video game but there were also others such as a Pacman Pinball game where you start playing Pacman on the video screen with a joystick and when you exit from the maze a ball is launched and you control it with flippers.

Pacman

Granny and the Gators

The worst game to play was the pinball video game. It did not have the same feel to it after playing all of the machines with a physical ball rolling around and haptic feedback.

See all of the museum's machines listed on the Pinball Owners website.  And for more info on almost all pinball machines ever made, check out the Internet Pinball Database.

Center of Scientific Wonders, Budapest

Last Monday, we spent the day at the Center of Scientific Wonders in Budapest. We enjoyed a wide range of interactive science exhibits, the games and puzzles bar and an escape room. The space exhibit had a series of puzzles and challenges to complete. The cafe tables had multi-player games and puzzles embedded in them. We escaped from the Globetrotter room in about half of the 40 minutes time limit after solving geography puzzles to open locks and get more keys and clues. It was a lot of fun.

I built a leaning tower.

We looked at polarization. 

And ferrofluid.

And played with magnets.

A water vortex.

For more info visit the Center of Scientific Wonders' website: https://www.csopa.hu/en/

  

OK GO Sandbox

The band OK GO have a sandbox of online resources around their music videos for STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts Math) education.

The science and math behind some of their recent videos are discussed and they present challenges for students to create their own animations, music and experiments.

Watch the OK GO Sandbox videos here:



Explore the OK GO Sandbox here.

Happy Groundhog Day Again

To celebrate Groundhog Day again, a re-post of a previous Groundhog Day re-post. An instructable on how to modify the iconic Panasonic RC-6025 flip clock from the Groundhog Day movie. The Groundhog Day Alarm Clock consists of a Panasonic RC-6025 flip clock modified to play the audio from the movie Groundhog Day when the alarm goes off.

Learn more about making the Groundhog Day Alarm Clock at Groundhog Day Alarm Clock on Instructables.