5 Things

[xaandria]

5 Things, Monday April 28th Edition:

(1) Saw Jonathan Coulton and Paul and Storm on Saturday. Paul and Storm are definitely 300% funnier in real life, the way they play off the crowd and each other. I'm starting to consider them less of an opening band and more of a co-billing with Jonathan Coulton, especially since they come out during the show

Comments

[iris_of_ether]

Yay, tea! I like unexpected free stuff. :D

On the tea front, I'm finding myself really liking genmai cha lately. It's got a really nice rounded-out flavor, in my opinion. I'll then supplement with plain green tea if I'm feeling like something more subtle.

My next 2 things are very off-topic, though:

1) What is the best way to get ahold of shardavarius? His friend bought some board games from us (paying him, just to make things easier), so I'm trying to figure out the best way to disperse of this bag-o-game. :P

2) You mentioned a long time back, at a party, that you wished there was a terrarium system that would automatically regulate its own temperature. What heat/cooling system are you currently using?

There's no guarantees, but if my current crafting/designing kick lasts long enough, I may be able to hack you up a circuit.

[xaandria]

(1) You can try emailing him. jmbort at the gmail goodness. Otherwise, I'll let him know next time I talk to him that you're trying to track him down.

(2) Currently, I've got a heat lamp going full-time and I'm randomly using a watering can to make it "rain" to bring up the humidity. It is a less-than-optimal setup. The temperature is dandy and steady, it's the humidity that's random--and there are no automatic humidifiers on the market that keep a tank at a steady relative humidity. Apparently it's difficult to make one, because that seems like something that should be a staple for reptile owners, greenhouse aficionados, etc.

[iris_of_ether]

Thankie for the email! I'll get on that sometime tonight, I think (if I don't forget).

Ah. Yeah, I can see that. I'm guessing that humidity sensors are not the easiest things to work with and/or may be fairly pricy. Just a quick search alone has yielded an article on how to pick what type of humidity sensor to use. :P So I'd bet that's what's holding people back.

[xaandria]

From what I can glean from that article, it looks like those are for use in very large spaces--I can't think of an application for an industrial or residential 55-gallon tank. There ARE gadgets for regulating humidity in a building-sized environment, just not a small tank. Which is what irritates me. One would think that if one is made, the other would be simple to make.

[iris_of_ether]

What about something like this, then? http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8257

Pricy, yes, but I think you could use it in smaller environments.

(I think you could probably use some of those other ones in smaller environments, too, but this sensor comes pre-calibrated...plus, I like Spark Fun. I should be getting my huge chunk-o-parts from them today or Monday.) :)

[xaandria]

I'd certainly have to save up for it--I love my little crabbies and all, but I'm up to my elbows in debt right now that I really need to get out of (especially since a good chunk of it is owing friends money--yikes). I also wouldn't have the slightest idea of what to do with it--it's great that it's small and comes precalibrated, but I wouldn't have the foggiest notion of how to build something that would take the reading and then act on it. Although I suppose that's where you'd come in. :P

[iris_of_ether]

Heh, yes, well. I've got a few projects to get through before I would even feel okay with building something that'd work, and then I have to hope that I'm still in a hobby moment at that time. :P I'll let you know, though.

There were some cheaper ones that I found on Digikey that ranged from $6-$15 dollars, but I doubt they're calibrated. :P

I mostly linked it because I was like "I wonder if Spark Fun has something like that", and the answer was 'yes'. :P

[xaandria]

Also: Apparently a large part of the genmai cha's "round" flavor is the popcorn that's in it. No lie. I tried adding some unflavored, unsalted popcorn bits to some plain rooibos and that was a happy venture, as well. I'll be experimenting more with unorthodox additives to tea.

[iris_of_ether]

That's...rather odd. I mean, I saw the popcorn thing mentioned when I looked it up on Adagio (it was one of the first links that popped up), but I just figured most of my teas didn't have that component in it. :P