One of my (many) chess sets

A lot of people collect things-- stamps, coins, baseball cards, cars, debts, stocks, socks... you name it, most likely someone, somewhere collects it. I made a decision a long time ago that I would collect chess sets.

Now, I also like building and making things (part of the reason I am an engineer...). So, obviously, it was inevitable that I would make at least one chess set. Browsing the internet, I'd come across a few different "nuts and bolts" chess sets, but they all seemed like they compromised in some way. Usually, there were a few pieces that seemed like quite a stretch interpretively. Or maybe a piece seemed stretched literally; there's a normal sort of height pattern for pieces in relation to one another, and a lot of the hardware piece sets didn't do a good job of following that.

So I set out to make my own, better "nuts and bolts" chess set. As with any good design project, I started out by defining the requirements:

• The chess pieces will conform to standard chess piece height conventions (more on this at the bottom)
• The chess pieces will conform to key chess piece features (it should be obvious what each piece is)
• The chess pieces will be made of unaltered hardware (with the allowable exception of cutting all-thread to length)
• The chess pieces will be disassembly-friendly.
• The chess pieces will use no glues, welding, or solder.
• The two sides will be differentiable without using paint.

The results are below in the picture and slide show.

From hardware set

Turn on the comments for the slide show to see some of the details of making each piece. A list of the parts used is available here.

For the interested: My rant on chess sets

There is a certain order to chess sets which dramatically helps with recognizing pieces and gives a sort of creative framework which I find very appealing. I'm much, much less inclined to play/purchase a set which breaks these 'norms.'

I think one of the most salient features of a good chess set is that the pieces conform to a given height scheme: the pawns should be short and about half the height of the king/queen. The rooks (castles) should be the second shortest. The knights and bishops can be approximately the same height, but if one is taller, it should be the bishop. The king and queen should be approximately the same height, with possibly a top point of a king's crown taller than the queen.

A classic indicator of the king is a cross topping his crown. (I'm particularly proud of the fact that my hardware kings are phillips head screws, and thereby are topped with a cross.... sneaky...).  A classic indicator of the queen is a many-pointed crown.  The only piece which is never radially symmetric is the knight; most of the time the others will be radially symmetric. In the case that a set is actually representing people with faces, this radial symmetry can be neglected in favor of more sculptured people.

 If you want to see the other chess sets in my collection (minus a few recent ones) you can see them here.

From chess pictures

There are a million things that can go wrong...

As I was reading a certain article online (linked at the end), I came across a quote from a NASA engineer working on super-cool next gen mars rover. The quote was particularly interesting, and I thought of how other people might finish the quote. I have to admit that I'm only an engineer, and not one of these others, so feel free to tell me how wrong I am. (*laughs to self at the implicit suggestion that people are still reading this blog.)

Art major: "There are a million things that can go wrong; fortunately, I can decide that each one is an artistic statement, and it is no longer really 'wrong.' "

Business major: "There are a million things that can go wrong, so we shouldn't invest too much into this."

Music major: "There are a million things that can go wrong; so keep practicing."

Political science major: "There are a million things that can go wrong. Most of them already have."

Theatre major: "There are million things that can go wrong, but with a good ad lib the audience will forgive you. Just make sure the stage crew get it right for the next show."

Nursing/Premed: "There are a million things that can go wrong. If it is this, this or that, someone dies."

Finally, the real quote which inspired this post:
NASA Rover Engineer: "There are a million things that can go wrong, and our job is to identify all of them and make sure they don't happen."

And, the article:

"NASA previews its sexiest Mars Rover yet"

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_16096017

Other interesting facts about the Curiosity rover include that James Cameron, of TITANIC and AVATAR fame, is "in the loop" on this NASA project, since the rover sports 3D cameras. He might be using the 3D footage to make a documentary picture, similar to ones that have been made about the Astoundingly successful Spirit and Opportunity rovers.

(Of course, the James Cameron publicity doesn't hurt NASA's "cool factor" PR...)

You can follow the curiosity rover on twitter:@MarsCuriosity and spirit and opportunity: @MarsRovers

demystifying science

Stay tuned after the following self-reflection for a thanksgiving story from Israel!

I used to think that the reason that people weren't as excited about some parts of science was merely because they had never had someone explain it to them. I used to think that the reason people didn't understand how things worked was because they hadn't found a good library yet. I used to think that other people would buy new things or pay to have them fixed because they didn't enjoy fixing them.

I have since learned that the majority of people in the world don't actually care how their possesions work. They throw them away or pay for them to be fixed simply because "it stopped working." They don't get rid of it because "oh, the surface mount component is fried on the main board, and it's cheaper to get a whole new [item] instead of a replacement main board."

Part of this realization came when someone asked why I knew how something worked. I replied that I liked to know as much about the things I use as possible.. it helps to form mental models and it is rewarding to understand the tools you use. They responded that surely it was a silly claim that I understood the things I use, for instance, my microwave. I answered by describing the electronics of the magnetron that is commonly used to produce microwave radiation for microwave ovens, and explain why it is that the screen is able to keep the microwaves in. The person reacted with a shocked expression of wonder.

People often ask why I know so much. It really comes down to a few things: an incurable curiosity, and an ability to learn on my own, and God has blessed me with a mind that can swallow concepts as easily as a snake swallows its prey (I think that means my mind's a little bit unhinged.... if you carry the analogy on...). These things are at the core of being an engineer, and it's why I love what I do.

THANKSGIVING IS TOMORROW....
and I will be spending the day in the kitchen, baking 2 pumpkin pies, 2 apple pies, and a turkey.

However, today I heard a story from one of my professors, who told me about his first thanksgiving in Israel. He and a few couples decided that they would do a thanksgiving party, and divided up all the dishes, and all gathered in a home. Just as they were getting ready to begin, they turned on the radio (I presume to find some music) and instead heard the news that JFK had been shot. The party spirit was killed, the meal cancelled, and he hasn't celebrated thanksgiving since.
I didn't say it was a happy story. But I've learned my lesson... only check the news after the party's over.

setbacks are a way of life.

Yesterday I was going to mass the dye for the known, calibrated solution that makes measuring possible for the water chlorination project. However, the person with the keys to the lab wasn't in his office. I figured, hey, try again tomorrow at a time that's not as close to 5pm.

Today I found out that he's on vacation for this week.

Wouldn't be a huge problem, but everyone else that has keys to the rooms is at the faculty/staff luncheon. So I'm pretty much stuck until 1pm.

Also, the "for drain or sewer use only" size of flexible connector is only strong enough to hold onto the main pipe up to about 10 gal/min, which is about 1/6 of what we would like to test.
It really needs to be glued, but I don't have time to do that. Right now my goal is to get a data point, and to type up the documentation.

Tomorrow my mother comes down to help me finish moving out of the Cedarville apartment, and then I'll be packing at home, until the party friday night. Then I leave on Saturday. Crazy.