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Category Archives: Fun
Secret Recipe for Making Gigantic Bubbles
I heard about this big bubble thing people do, from a Radiolab podcast episode, “Bigger than Bacon” (jump to the section Bigger Better Bubbles at 23:13). On a whim I bought the Bubble Thing (bubble-making wand) and the Big Bubble mix from David Stein featured in the podcast. This Bubble Thing became the highlight of a pool party. One thing led to another, and more big bubble demonstrations were demanded on other occasions. But it turned out that “bubble juice”, as the solution is affectionately called by bubble fanatics, was quite expensive to buy, and one could easily go through a gallon of juice in less than an hour. I did some research online for better and cheaper bubble juice. Then I experimented with a few different recipes. And after only a few iterations I hit the jackpot. Thus this article.
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Learn to Skate the Two-foot Grapevine Analytically
Here is my account of how I (almost) learned to skate a two-foot move such as the Grapevine. I am going to describe the learning process in a new language of moment of balance, falling and recovery, unlike how most tutorials explain the move. Perhaps I can provide fresh ideas on learning this move, on two-foot skating and on skating in general, from the perspective of a newbie. I have watched and re-watched countless number of tutorial videos, and have bought and read great books on ice skating written at the turn of the last century. And in analyzing skating and the Grapevine move for this article, I found that I now understand what I was doing wrong, and perhaps can finally learn to Grapevine gracefully.
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Posted in Ice Skating
Tagged freestyle, freestyle ice skating, grapevine, How-to, Ice Skating, tutorial, two-foot skating tricks
9 Comments
Ice Skating as a Sequence of Falling and Recovery Steps
This article captures the insight I acquired in this process. Perhaps I can provide fresh ideas on learning to skate, from the perspective of a former outsider. The main thesis of this article is that unlike traditional narratives that describes skating moves in terms of strokes, I think skating can be equally and maybe even better explained as a sequence of falling steps and recovery steps.
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Posted in Ice Skating
Tagged backward crossover, forward crossover, grapevine, Ice Skating, theory of ice skating, walking
6 Comments
Corner of the Lost Planes at the HHAMS Aerodrome
There is a “Corner of the Lost Planes” at the HHAMS Aerodrome. This section of the flying field is just a bunch of tall trees, seemingly indistinguishable from other thousand tall trees that surround the aerodrome. It is probably safe to say that almost every member had lost a plane or two to this particular Corner of the Lost Planes, before they learned, from the sages of the HHAMS, secret incantations that free them from the curse of this corner.
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Custom Phoenix RC Flying Sites based on the HHAMS Aerodrome
This is a follow-up to the custom airfields I made for RealFlight. This time I modeled the HHAMS Aerodrome on Long Island for Phoenix RC. One of the flying sites has been accepted by Phoenix RC as an official flying site.
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Custom RealFlight Airfields based on the HHAMS Aerodrome
I had been thinking about modeling real RC flight fields in RealFlight for a year or two. It seemed like an impossible task. But it turned out that with modern cameras capable of taking panoramic pictures, plus a simple photo stitching app, this can be done in a few hours. I am using this page going forward, to post updates as I model the HHAMS Aerodrome on Long Island in different seasons under different weather conditions and times of the day.
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Doodling on iPad
More of my doodling on the iPad.
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Posted in Drawings and Paintings
Tagged ArtRage, Auryn Ink, drawings, paintings, Paul Klee, water color
2 Comments
Watercolor paintings of Chinese zodiac animals in Auryn Ink
In 2013 I discovered an watercolor painting app called Auryn Ink. It’s a great app for the iPad. It allows near-realistic watercolor paintings on a tablet. It has good simulations of interactions between pigment and water. I’ve painted a few simple zodiac animals with it in 2013 and 2014. Here are some of them, plus a few other paintings.
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Posted in Being a Wikipedian, Drawings and Paintings
Tagged Auryn Ink, Chinese Zodiac Animals, painting, Watercolor
2 Comments
3Doodler Monkey on a Prop Balancer
Here is my latest 3Doodler creature – a tiny monkey swinging on a prop balancer that I bought for my RC planes. The prop balancer sat on my workbench collecting dust. So I figure it would be more useful as a prop for the new 3Doodler creation.
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Posted in Drawings and Paintings
Tagged 3Doodler, 3Doodler Pen, Miniature Monkey, Monkey, Propeller Balancer, RC Planes
1 Comment
Night Flying with LED Lights on the E-flite Apprentice S 15e
I decided to resurrect my half-destroyed E-flite Apprentice S 15e, and endow it with abundant LED lights. But to my dismay I found no blog talking about such conversions. So I took pictures as I worked on the plane, whenever I remembered, with the goal of writing a great blog article when I was done.
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Posted in Fun, RC Planes
Tagged 15e, 3528 LED, 5050 LED, Apprentice S, E-flite, How-to, LED Lights, LED strips, Model Aircrafts, Night Flying, RC airplanes, RC Planes
2 Comments
Xinhai Dude 