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RD.COM Humor Funny Stories & Photos
15 Adorable Photos of Young Royals Turning One
Lauren CahnUpdated: Apr. 19, 2020
If you think they must have been beautiful babies (because look at them now), then you're absolutely right!
Historia/Shutterstock
Princess Elizabeth of York: The future monarch
Long before anyone knew this chubby-cheeked cherub would one day not only be Queen but the longest-ruling monarch in British history, she was snapped at age one (June 1, 1927), looking quite amused in a teeny tiny "throne" for the Illustrated London News. Here's why no one, least of all Elizabeth, herself, knew she'd one day be Queen.
Associated Newspapers/Shutterstock
Prince Charles in his pram
Just short of his first birthday, on October 13, 1949, the future Prince of Wales gets pushed along in his pram by Helen Lightbody, who was the Prince's nanny from 1948, when Prince Charles was one month old, until 1956, when she left after a disagreement with the Queen over…dessert, or as the Brits call it, pudding.
Prince Philip, as the Prince of Greece and Denmark
The Queen's husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was born a Prince of Greece and Denmark on June 10, 1921. Things kind of went downhill from there, with his family being exiled from Greece before this photo of the one-year-old prince was even taken. Twelve years later, he would meet Princess Elizabeth of York and begin a lengthy correspondence that would culminate in their marriage in 1947. Here's how Prince Philip and the Queen fell in love way back then.
Mike Walker/Shutterstock
Princess Beatrice with her mum, the Duchess of York
Princess Beatrice Elizabeth Mary of York is the first-born daughter of Prince Andrew of York and his former wife, Sarah, Duchess of York (whether they're still "former" remains one of the biggest royal mysteries of the modern day). This photo of Mum holding Baby Bea in the classic "hip carry" style was snapped just around the little ginger princess's first birthday.
Princess Margaret Rose
Born August 30, 1930, Princess Margaret Rose of York ultimately became the Countess of Snowden after her 1960 marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones, whom the Queen named Earl of Snowdon. Here is the future Countess at age one, standing with her big sister, Princess Elizabeth. The two were very close throughout the Countess's life, according to Vanity Fair (she died in 2002 of a lung ailment).
Paul Fievez/Daily Mail/Shutterstock
The future Duke of Cambridge, Prince William of Wales
Born June 21, 1982, Prince William Arthur Philip Louis is snapped here just shy of his first birthday (June 21, 1982) as he's carried off an airplane by his nanny, Barbara Barnes. He had been on tour with his parents, Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, in Australia and New Zealand. Here are 17 secrets a royal nanny will never tell you.
James Gray/Daily Mail/Shutterstock
The future Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry
On August 7, 1985, Diana, Princess of Wales, carries her almost-one-year-old second-born son, Prince Henry Charles Albert David aboard the Britannia. They're about to set sail for a tour of the Western Isles of Scotland. Don't miss these 15 other rarely seen photos of Prince Harry with his beloved mum.
Mike Forster/Associated Newspapers/Shutterstock
Princess Eugenie
It's September 11, 1991, and Princess Eugenie of York has just waved good-bye to her sister, Princess Beatrice, who has just gone off for her first day of school. Holding her hand here is her mum, Sarah, Duchess of York. A lot has changed in the decades since—learn the 14 things you didn't know about Princess Eugenie.
Princess Anne, the future Princess Royal
Born August 15, 1950, Princess Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise is pictured here around age one with her mum, Elizabeth, who is at the time still a Princess of York.
Peter Elinskas/Associated Newspapers/Shutterstock
Prince Andrew, the future Duke of York
Born February 19, 1960, Prince Andrew Albert Christian Edward was granted the title of Duke of York by his mum, the Queen on July 23, 1986, on the occasion of his marriage to Sarah Ferguson, now his ex-wife, and the mother of his two daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. Here the little Prince is snapped looking out a window at Buckingham Palace around the time he turned one in 1961.
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
The youngest of Her Majesty's four children, Prince Edward Antony Richard Louis was born on March 10, 1964. At the time this photo was taken of him with his dad, Prince Philip, he was third in line to the British throne. As a result of the births of Princes William and his three children, Prince Harry, and the two daughters of his brother Prince Andrew, he is now at number ten (it is expected he'll be displaced yet again with the birth of Baby Sussex—the baby of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who will be right after Prince Harry; here's how the royal succession will work).
This photo of Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge was taken during a visit to the Sensational Butterflies Exhibition at the Natural History Museum of London in early July 2014, the month he turned one. This was photo was released by the royal family in honor of the little Prince's first birthday.
Hrh The Duchess Of Cambridge/Shutterstock
Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge was born on May 2, 2015. This photo was one of a series of the little Princess released by the royal family in honor of her first birthday. It was taken by her mum, Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, at Anmer Hall in Norfolk in April 2016. Anyone else think she's the spitting image of her great-grandmum, the Queen?
John Walters/Daily Mail/Shutterstock
A granddaughter of the Queen and the younger child of Princess Anne and her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips, Zara was born on May 15, 1981 as Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips (she's now Zara Tindall, having married Mike Tindall in 2011). She's just over a year old here, pictured with her nanny on their way to fetch her older brother, Peter Phillips, from school in the fall of 1982.
Matt Porteous/Shutterstock
Stay tuned for Prince Louis's first birthday photo opp…
Pictured at eight months on the Cambridge family Christmas card from 2018, Prince Louis Arthur Charles of Cambridge is just about to turn one (his birthday is on April 23). Can't get enough royal babies? Make sure to check out even more royal baby photos from throughout history.
Lauren Cahn
Lauren Cahn is a New York-based writer whose work has appeared regularly on Reader's Digest, The Huffington Post, and a variety of other publications since 2008. She covers life and style, popular culture, law, religion, health, fitness, yoga, entertaining and entertainment. Lauren is also an author of crime fiction; her first full-length manuscript, The Trust Game, was short-listed for the 2017 CLUE Award for emerging talent in the genre of suspense fiction.


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Kuchnia (Pommeren) - plaats in Pommeren
 Kuchnia+ - Pools TV-kanaal

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Every once in awhile, a designer catches our eye in an unexpected place. So it was, the day we stumbled upon Inga Skripka (ingaskripka.com) (@inkaskripka) on Etsy.
We don't normally think of Etsy as a place for high-fashion finds — or avant-garde, emerging designers — but we were so impressed with Inga's work, we wanted to learn more about her and her craft.
"I was born in small country in north Europe nearby Baltic Sea. I earned a bachelor's in painting at Vilnius Academy of Fine Art in Lithuania. After graduation, I moved to Germany where I began interdisciplinary studies at the Berlin Art Institute.
"The life of Berlin has been full new treasures to me, and given me an opportunity to discover the works of Robert Wilson, Oskar Schlemmer, and Gunta Stölzl, as well. They have been a big influence on my works and on my future.
"I founded 'Inga Skripka' brand in 2015 and I began exploring my own design language. I'm interested in a Bauhaus sculptural quality of clothing, playing with silhouette of shapes, often using rigid materials and experimental techniques. The flatness of most of the articles only allows the clothing to move in a stiff way — they are molded to a specific shape, not to the wearer.
"The fashion platform to me is more unfamiliar. Usually I'm working with performance of the theater as a costume designer and on my own brand as a experimental platform. I do not call my works 'fashion' and myself a 'fashion designer,' but it's a great honor that I may inspire interest as such.
"My last works were created last year, in 2018. The works were dedicated to people (but primarily to me), which are lost in the creative process. I call it 'For stumbling ones and falling ones.' The idea of the collection is fiction based on a concrete situation.


Dynamic analysis of structures using numerical methods should consider the effects of soil-structure interaction, including the shear modulus and damping ratio of the soil. Structures that extend below grade will interact with both the natural soil and the compacted backfill surrounding the substructure. While the in situ properties can be measured, the properties of the backfill are rarely available at the time of design. This study provides a practical means of estimating properties for compacted coarse-grained soils based on relative density. The results of more than 400 tests on reconstituted or compacted coarse-grained soils have been collected from the literature for this purpose. In particular, the data were used to develop correlations between the small strain shear modulus, Gmax and relative density for both sand and gravel. Most of the sand data plots below existing correlations from the literature, while most of the gravel data has higher values of Gmax. Thus the proposed correlations are better at distinguishing between the behavior of sand and gravel. Based on a subset of the collected data, updated curves are also presented for the variation of normalized shear modulus and damping ratio with shear strain.


Black ion plated stainless steel case with a green silicone strap. Fixed bezel. Black dial with black hands and index hour markers. Minute markers around the outer rim. Dial Type: Analog. Luminescent hands and markers. Date display at the 4 o'clock position. Chronograph - sub-dials displaying: three - 60 second, 60 minute and 1/10th of a second. Quartz movement. Scratch resistant mineral crystal. Solid case back. Case size: 50 mm x 56 mm. Cushion case shape. Buckle clasp. Water resistant at 50 meters / 165 feet. Functions: chronograph, date, hour, minute, second. Sport watch style. Diesel Heavyweight Chronograph Mens Watch DZ4396.


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Turn your room into a night club with these sound-reactive lights
This Maker installed 12 meters of FLORA-driven NeoPixels to his apartment for a lighting system like no other.
If you're having a hard time deciding on which of the excellent (?) candidates to vote for this election cycle, perhaps Charlie Gorichanaz's sound-reactive room lighting will swing your opinion. He doesn't appear to actually be running for office, but at least he will have the website setup for any future political aspirations.
Regardless, he has our vote for the most fun bedroom, as he's mounted 12 meters of NeoPixel strips in the corners where the walls meet the ceiling. The lighting is controlled by an Adafruit FLORA (ATmega32U4), which is normally meant for wearable use, but as shown here, can be quite versatile. This could be compared to how mere mortals put up comparatively boring crown molding.
This setup (explained here with diagrams and a parts list) was originally used in Gorichanaz's apartment in Tokyo. After some code cleanup, it is now alive and well in the United States. You can see it shown in the video below.
If you notice that the audio is a little cleaner than you would normally expect, it was actually combined with the video after the fact. This is explained in the second link above, and could be useful for taking your DIY videos to a new level.
For another option, if you only want lights on one of your walls instead of the ceiling, here's a sound-reactive panel idea inspired by the movie Ex Machina.
This entry was posted in Arduino-Compatible, Cool Things and tagged Adafruit FLORA, ATmega32U4, FLORA, Sound Reactive Room Lighting on February 16, 2016 by Jeremy S Cook.
Building a crowdsourced, decentralized IoT network around the world
The Things Network is a low-barrier way to get started with smart city projects.
When it comes to which kind of wireless network will be the go-to choice for the Internet of Things, the jury is still out: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4G LTE, 5G, 802.15.4, the possibilities go on and on. And pending experiments underway in Amsterdam go as planned, don't be surprised to find LoRaWAN as a frontrunner on that growing list. For those uninitiated with the technology, LoRaWAN is a wide area network that boasts low battery, low bandwidth and long-range wireless communication. It enables things to talk to the Internet without the need for 3G, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth — meaning, no codes, heavy battery consumption or monthly subscriptions necessary.
This long-range WAN is a practical suitor for smart city and M2M applications, as seen throughout the Dutch capital. In this particular case, Amsterdam has tapped the open IoT data network, The Things Network. Due to its seven-mile reach and affordability, the non-profit organization has been able to cover the entire city with only 10 gateways. And unlike other similar municipality projects, this one was entirely crowdsourced and implemented in a matter of six weeks with help from third parties, such as the Port of Amsterdam, The Next Web, KPMG, Deloitte, Peerby and Trakkies.
There is, however, one minor speed bump on the road to a distributed, citizen-owned service: each of the currently available LoRaWAN gateways cost around $1,200, which isn't so great for global scalability. Cognizant of this, The Things Network decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign offering a consumer-friendly base station with a price tag that's only one-fifth of other products currently on the market.
"The Internet was created by people that connected their networks and allowed traffic from, to and over their servers and cables to pass for free. As a result, there was abundant data communication and exponential innovation. The Things Network is doing the same for the Internet of Things by creating abundant data connectivity. So applications and businesses can flourish," the team explains.
The community-led initiative is hoping to make it easier for those looking to set up their own networks thanks to three new pieces of hardware: The Things Gateway, The Things Uno and The Things Node. The Things Gateway is at the core of it all. This small, simple-to-install gadget acts as the router between the things and the Internet. Not only does it link to your Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection, it runs open hardware, uses GPS to determine its location and the node's whereabouts later, and serves up to 10,000 nodes.
Meanwhile, The Thing Uno is like an Arduino Uno but with LoRaWAN capabilities. This lets you upgrade your existing Arduino projects by making wireless with a several mile radius. Compatible with existing shields and the Arduino IDE, the board includes connections for an optional external antenna on the breakout circuit to better optimize the range. What's more, The Things Network is collaborating with 3D Hubs to make a customizable 3D-printable enclosure for your Uno.
But that's not all. The Thing Node is a keyring remote equipped with sensors (movement, light and temperature), an RGB LED, a button and three AAA batteries, all housed inside a waterproof shell. This "matchbox of sensors" can be integrated with your IFTTT account, as well as employed to devise your own low-cost prototypes applications for a Things Network in your town. Example use cases span from bike finders and pet trackers to smart doorbells and security systems, and so far, teams in Boston, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Kochi, Sydney and Manchester have all begun actively pursuing projects.
Interested? Head over to The Thing Network's Kickstarter campaign, where the foundation is currently seeking $170,036. Delivery is slated for July 2016.
This entry was posted in IoT and tagged Arduino Uno, Crowdsourced Network, Decentralized Network, FLORA, Internet of Things, IoT, IoT Network, Kickstarter, LoRaWAN, The Things Network on October 21, 2015 by The Atmel Team.
Made with Code helps design Zac Posen's FLORA-powered LED dress
Zac Posen teamed with Google's Made with Code to create a black dress that displays a pattern created by LED lights.
More and more, we're seeing the fashion and technology worlds come together in ways never before imagined. There's your less 'out of the ordinary' wearable devices like fitness trackers and watches, but then there's smart garments that can do everything from react to your body's temperature and mood to ambient sound. With the advent of conductive thread, mini microcontrollers and a burgeoning Maker community, the possibilities of what can be sewn and coded together are truly endless.
Demonstrating just that, Google's Made with Code and Zac Posen teamed up to show how computer science can push the boundaries of what's possible in fashion using technology developed by Maddey Maxey and electronics from Adafruit. Students had the ability to log onto Made With Code and select a mysterious LED-based project.
At the time, the girls had no idea as to what they were contributing to but were excited nonetheless. The result? An interactive dress converging Posen's "Los Angeles at night" inspiration and the students' coding skills that debuted at the finale of the Zac Posen Spring 2016 Fashion Show, which kicked off New York Fashion Week.
All eyes were on the LED-embedded dress worn by Coco Rocha as it dazzled the runway inside a packed auditorium at Manhattan's Industria Superstudio. The black piece featured short sleeves and a mesh skirt, along with 500 tiny lights that were programmed to emit different animated patterns — all controlled by an Adafruit FLORA (ATmega32U4).
"There is nothing greater than the fulfillment of creating something and seeing it come to life — to light up," Posen explains.
Not only did they get to have a hand in designing the LED sequences, but 50 girls had the chance to attend the show and witness their collaborative effort light up the catwalk. For those of us who couldn't experience the magical moment firsthand, Adafruit was lucky enough to capture it for us all to see! Watch below!
[Images: Google, Adafruit]
This entry was posted in Maker Movement, Wearables and tagged Adafruit FLORA, ATmega32U4, Fashion Technology, FLORA, Wearable technology, Wearables, Zac Posen on September 9, 2015 by The Atmel Team.
Maker creates a FLORA-powered, light-up necklace dress
In her exploration of e-textiles, one N.C. State student has crafted an illuminating necklace dress powered by FLORA.
Victoria Rind, a Maker studying textile engineering at North Carolina State University, recently devised an interactive dress with one goal in mind: to stand out. How'd she do it, you ask? Using an Adafruit FLORA and NeoPixels to light up its attached necklace.
"People want to be able to customize their style and clothing," Rind explains. "What's more customizable than a programmable dress?"
The idea for the dress was first conceived after witnessing other garments with built-in necklaces. Channelling her inner DIY spirit, Rind went out and bought a basic shift dress pattern and beads to create the dress, along with an FLORA (ATmega32U4) wearable MCU, four RGB NeoPixels and some conductive thread.
Once satisfied with the NeoPixels output, the Maker sewed the circuit to the dress beginning with conductive thread, and finishing it off with normal fiber to prevent a short happening in between the wiring.
"Without the extra layer of thread, the lines of conductive thread would constantly touch, and the light pattern would be glitchy and inconsistent," Rind adds.
So what's next for the engineering student? In five years, she aspires to bring functionality to textiles.
"I would consider my work a success if I could create clothing that adapted to changes in the environment," she concludes.
[h/t Adafruit via N.C. State]
This entry was posted in Maker Movement, Wearables and tagged Adafruit, Adafruit FLORA, ATmega32U4, FLORA, Light-Up Dress, Necklace Dress, Neopixels, wearable tech, Wearables on August 5, 2015 by The Atmel Team.
This LED t-shirt visualizes your body movements
Digi-Weirdo is a wearable project that explores the convergence of identity and guiding communication.
Zhen Liu just loves data. So much so that it has inspired several innovations, namely her latest project Digi-Weirdo. Created as part of a class assignment at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program, the interactive t-shirt was designed as a way to give clothing other roles than merely covering your body and helping to establish your personal identity. Instead, the Maker hopes one day such garments can be used to convey real-time emotions and enhance communication between one another by visualizing body movements through an LED matrix.
Built around an Adafruit FLORA MCU (ATmega32U4), the t-shirt is fitted with a battery for power as well as an accelerometer for analyzing body motions and translating them into a series of illuminated patterns. The LED matrix is embedded inside an inverted triangle that is sewn on the front of the shirt.
As Adafruit puts it, what may be most interesting about this project is that through some simple programming, a wearer can create a visual language of their own. See it in action below!
This entry was posted in Maker Movement, Wearables and tagged Adafruit, ATmega32U4, FLORA, LED T-Shirt, Makers, NYU ITP, Smart T-Shirt, wearable tech, Wearables on July 22, 2015 by The Atmel Team.
This interactive dress visualizes New York City's subway
LEDs on this FLORA-powered dress light up according to nearest subway line.
For those of you who have ever lived in or visited New York City, you know just how intimidating the subway system can be. Cognizant of this, Boram Kim has devised a clever (and stylish) solution to the problem. As shown on the runway at NYU ITP's Spring 2015 Fashion Show, the Maker created an interactive dress capable of locating the nearest station through illuminated LEDs.
The garment — which visualizes the entire mass transit map in silver thread stitched on a denim-like material — employs an embedded GPS module that can detect a wearer's location and then highlight the closest subway line via a series of NeoPixels.
"For example, if the user is closest to Classon Ave. station, which is a G train, the whole G line will light up with green color," Kim writes.
On the inside, the Maker embedded several Adafruit FLORA (ATmega32U4) and GPS modules, all of which are soldered together. A NeoPixel strip was cut to create smaller pixels for the various station lights, which were wired and hot glued to the inner lining of the dress. A 3.7V LiPo battery is tucked away inside a little pocket.
Surely one of the more innovative wearables we've seen lately, you can head over to the Maker's official page to learn more.
This entry was posted in Maker Movement, Wearables and tagged Adafruit, Adafruit FLORA, ATmega32U4, FLORA, Wearables on July 1, 2015 by The Atmel Team.
This hoodie can sense and react to weather
This hoodie will emit various lighting effects based on the forecasted precipitation, temperature, and wind speed.
As they say, April showers bring May flowers. Or, in Barbara Eldredge's case, a flower-covered hoodie that illuminates based on the weather forecast.
The aptly-named Spring Hoodie, which is actually a combination of two inexpensive hoodies from Old Navy, is packed with an Adafruit FLORA (ATmega32U4), a CC3000 Wi-Fi module and a lithium battery, all hidden inside an inner pocket. 18 NeoPixel LEDs were embedded inside of fake flowers adorning the hood. In order to protect and conceal the wiring, the Maker turned one of the two sweatshirts inside-out and placed it directly within other. (Or as Eldredge calls it, create a "hoodie sandwich.") Just so she never had to take the FLORA out, the Maker also added a button that is tasked with turning the wearable on/off.
"When I turn on the hoodie, the Wi-Fi module tethers to my phone, and the FLORA uses it to connect to a simple PHP web page pulling three-hour forecast data for the predicted precipitation, temperature, and wind speed from the Open Weather Map API," Eldredge writes.
Once the FLORA is connected over Wi-Fi, the lapel flower emits green to show that it is indeed working. When it connects to the webpage, the ATmega32U4 based MCU collects the weather information and uses it to control the color, brightness and changing of the LED flowers. The color adjusts based on the amount of predicted precipitation. In other words, the more rain that is predicted, the more the LEDs will become blue (and not red/orange).
Meanwhile, the intensity of the LEDs is dependent upon temperature — the warmer, the brighter. Though she wanted some slight pulsing or suggestion of movement in the lights, the speed of this movement is actually dictated by the predicted wind speed. The faster the wind, the faster the lights will change or flicker.
"The Spring Hoodie is admittedly a pretty wacky piece of clothing. But after the cold wet winter we've had, I'm ready for flowers and color. And I like that it'll always let me know how the weather's going to be," she concludes.
Interestingly enough, for those spring days where you can't decide as to whether it's too cold to wear a lightweight jacket, the hoodie will do it for you. Should the temperature dip below an appropriate level, the wearable won't turn on at all.
Want a Spring Hoodie of your own? Head over to the Maker's official project page on element14 here, and check it out in action below.
This entry was posted in Maker Movement, Wearables and tagged Adafruit, ATmega32U4, FLORA, Makers, Spring Hoodie, Wearable technology, Wearables, Weather-Sensing Hoodie on April 22, 2015 by The Atmel Team.
A look at some of today's wearable microcontrollers
This list is sew awesome!
Created by Leah Buechley of MIT, and introduced commercially with SparkFun back in 2007, the LilyPad was the first board to feature sew-through contacts for stitching soft circuits. Since then, a number of "ready-to-wear" electronics platforms have emerged, each of which have helped usher in a new generation of textiles that look to redefine wearable technology. In fact, a recent Gartner report revealed that the emergence smart garments will potentially disrupt the market. So much so that embedded clothing shipments are projected to rise from a mere 0.1 million units in 2014 to 26 million units in 2016.
As first noted by MAKE: Magazine's Boris Kourtoukov, "there's a plethora of options" when it comes to these microcontrollers. What's more, they all possess one common trait: they're powered by Atmel. These so-called body boards are now giving Makers the ability to easily (and affordably) produce their own projects in ways that otherwise would have been unimaginable.
So, without further ado, here's a look at some of today's most prominent boards ready for adornment.
LilyPad is a wearable e-textile technology developed by Leah Buechley and cooperatively brought to life with SparkFun. Each LilyPad was creatively designed to have large connecting pads to allow them to be sewn into clothing. LilyPad can sense information about the environment using inputs like light and temperature sensors and can act on the environment with outputs like LED lights, vibrator motors, and speakers. And yes, they're even washable.
MCU: ATmega328
FLORA is Adafruit's fully-featured wearable electronics platform. The round, sewable microcontroller weighs in at 4.4 grams and measures only 1.75 inches in diameter. 100% Arduino-compatible, the platform is one of the most beginner-friendly ways to create some amazing wearables. The FLORA family includes an assortment of sensors and RGB LEDs that let you add lighting to your projects, not to mention also boasts built-in USB support, eliminating the need for pesky special cables and extra parts.
MCU: ATmega32U4
Those who are seeking the awesomeness of FLORA but in a tinier package are sure to love another one Adafruit's wearable platforms: the GEMMA. The board, which packs all of its features in a 1″ diameter package, is programmable with an Arduino IDE over USB. An upcoming Arduino IDE-supported version will feature an on/off switch and microUSB connector.
MCU: ATtiny85
TinyLily Mini
A brainchild of TinyCircuits, the TinyLily Mini is an Arduino-compatible module in an ultra-compact package. Geared towards Makers looking to devise e-textile and wearable applications, the board is very similar to the Arduino LilyPad, with the same processing power and software compatibility – but at 1/12th of the size. The TinyLily Mini also is equipped with sew tabs for eight I/O (four digital, four analog/digital) and four power sew tabs (two for power, two for ground).
SquareWear
SquareWear is an open-source, wearable board. The Arduino-compatible MCU measures 1.7″x1.7″ in size, and is equipped with a built-in rechargeable Lithium coin battery. It is designed to be sewable, which allows Makers to stich conductive threads through its large pin pads, solder a wire directly onto the pads, or solder snaps onto the pads for quick attachment or detachment from textiles and fabrics. Additionally, the MCU packs an on-board miniUSB port that can be used for programming, charging batteries and serial communication, as well as a color LED, a pushbutton, a buzzer, a light and temperature sensor, and three MOSFETs to drive the high-current load. See, it's hip to be square!
Xadow
Seeed Studio's Xadow is a high-performance, low-power board that is perfectly suited for wearable projects. The microcontroller can be powered either via USB or a Lithium battery. Also, there is charge circuit on this module that you can charge for the Lithium battery through the USB port. Xadow has a diverse selection of compatible modules, including a barometer, UV sensor, LED, OLED and even a full GPS antenna.
Trinket goes to show that big things really can come in small packages. In fact, the tiny MCU is one of the lowest-cost Arduino IDE programmable boards on the market today. Adafruit designed a USB bootloader so Makers could easily plug it into any computer and reprogram it over a USB port just like an Arduino. It comes in two different versions: 3V and 5V. Both work the same, but have different operating logic voltages.
Pro Trinket
A bigger sibling of the aforementioned board, this 5V unit combines everything you love about Trinket along with the familiarity of the common core found in Arduinos. It's like an Arduino Pro Mini with more pins along with built-in USB. The Pro Trinket, which still only measures 1.5″ x 0.7″ x 0.2" in size, features 18 GPIO, two extra analog inputs, 28K of flash, as well as 2K of RAM. Like its older brother, the MCU has onboard USB bootloading support and Optiboot support, so Makers can either program their Pro Trinket over USB or with a FTDI cable just like the Pro Mini. (Recently, paying homage to our friends at Hackaday, the Adafruit crew even unveiled a Hackaday.io branded board — black solder mask, Jolly Wrencher and all. And, it's stunning.)
Atmel MCU: ATmega328
BITalino
BITalino is a low-cost, easy-to-use toolkit designed for anyone looking to build self-tracking applications based on information from their body. The platform enables Makers to quickly bring projects entailing body signals and quantified self wearable devices to life, as well as learn how to create actual medical devices — which otherwise can cost upwards of $10,000. BITalino is described by its creators as an out-of-the-box solution that offers an array of Arduino-compatible software and hardware blocks equipped with sensors for electrocardiography (ECG), electromyography (EMG), electrodermal Activity (EDA), accelerometry (ACC), and ambient light (LUX).
Printoo
Launched by Ynvisible, Printoo is a printed electronics prototyping platform that is capable of bringing everyday objects to life. Comprised of various hardware modules that can all be connected to each other, it is currently the only platform that appears to have a robust flexible form-factor. This enables Makers to quickly and seamlessly create first product concepts for smart wearable devices. Moreover, the board is fully-compatible and programmable with the Arduino IDE.
SuperDuino
Introduced by Maker Mohsin Farooq, SuperDuino is a coin cell operated, Arduino-compatible board with a built-in 1.7-inch color display and a three-axis accelerometer. As you can imagine, this makes the MCU a suitable match for a wide-range of DIY games, gadgets and most of all, wearable devices.
This entry was posted in Application Highlights, Arduino, Arduino-Compatible, Design Trends, Maker Movement, Wearables and tagged Adafruit, Arduino, Arduino-Compatible, BITalino, FLORA, Gemma, Lilypad, LilyPad Arduino, Printoo, Seeed Studio, SparkFun, SparkFun Electronics, SquareWear, SuperDuino, TinyCircuits, TinyLily Mini, Trinket, Wearable Boards, Wearable MCU, Wearable Microcontrollers, Wearables, Xadow, Ynvisible on February 11, 2015 by The Atmel Team.
Rewind: 30 Maker musical masterpieces from 2014
There's music making and then there's making music. From gloves that play tunes to modded printers that blare songs, Makers have proven that just about anything — and we mean everything — can be transformed into sound. And well, as you can tell from our #ThrowbackThursday chippy takes on '90s hits, we love music.
Not to mention, a number of musicians have even become advocates of the burgeoning Maker Movement as of late, most notably Sir Mix-A-Lot and will.i.am. For one, the technophile founder of The Black Eyed Peas has offered a ringing endorsement of the DIY culture, recently emphasizing that, "Every young person is going to be inspired to be a Maker from now on. It's like how everyone used to want to be a musician, an actor, an athlete — but a maker is what people are going to want to be."
With 2014 coming to a close, we've decided to list some of our most favorite and quite impressive musical masterpieces from the last 12 months.
A poncho that literally will help you sing in the rain
Carnegie Mellon student Liana Kong recently designed a DIY musical rain poncho using an Arduino Uno (ATmega328), FM tuner and flexible speaker. The poncho is capable of controlling the radio in a number of ways, including: hood up/down – power, colorful snaps – different station presets and hood strings – volume.
This obsolete typewriter plays some sweet music
Maker duo Lasse Munk and Søren Andreasen have created a musical typewriter that transforms ordinary sentences into sound. Known as D.O.R.T.H.E (short for Danish Orchestra of Radios Talking and Hacked Engines), the platform is constructed out of old, discarded electronics. In essence,the hacked platform can be thought of as an electronic music box — with each word acting as a pin to create a sound or tone. Every letter on the typewriter is essentially a trigger, as these letters are connected to an Arduino Mega (ATmega1280). The data is then analyzed, where the software then processes and translates it into a musical sequence. More specifically, D.O.R.T.H.E. transforms the number of letters in a word to a certain music pitch, although it is also capable of dealing with basic emotional states such as joy, discomfort, fear and happiness.
Turning chicken nuggets and sushi into music
While dipping a chicken nugget into sauce or touching sushi may not be the most conventional way to create music, if there is one thing that the ATmega32U4 MCU based MaKey MaKey has taught us, is that nearly anything can be transformed into a MIDI trigger. This includes the tops of cats' heads, plastic mannequin parts, cacti, rubber finger monsters, and old-school Polaroid cameras, as demonstrated by musician Mark Redito (also known as Spazzkid). While one would assume that jamming away on some raw fish or dunking a piece of chicken into sweet 'n sour sauce may not produce the most desirable sounds, this performance is anything but.
Piano hack adds another dimension
A modder by the name of Capricorn1 has added a rockin' visual dimension to his already impressive musical skills by using a piano's MIDI output to drive Edison bulbs. Capricorn1 hung the bulbs from a rod of electrical conduit pipe, while threading the wires to a DB25 connector. The lights were controlled by an Arduino Mega (ATmega1280), along with a custom shield and optocoupler to handle zero cross detection.
Cathedral-like sounds packed into a toaster-sized device
Although it may sound like a pipe organ from St. Patrick's Cathedral, Maker Matthew Steinke has packed all of those tunes into a 4"x13"x14" MIDI-controlled, portable device. Instead of using pipes and a wind chest typically found in cathedral-esque organs, the toaster-sized device utilizes a combination of electromagnets and steel tines. Impressively, the Tine Organ is capable of producing 20 chromatic notes in full polyphony, starting at middle C, and can be attached to a standard keyboard or a synthesizer smartphone app. An [Atmel based] Arduino unit housed inside the device receives the MIDI input that controls 20 polyphonic software oscillators, which is then sent though a trio of Darlington drivers to the magnets.
A wearable machine turns tattoos into music
Moscow-based artist Dmitry Morozov — also known by many as ::vtol:: — has created a unique sound controller to read musical scores implanted in tattoos. The scanning instrument is comprised of a metal railing, hand controllers and parallel black line sensors that move along the arm using a stepper motor. In addition, it is equipped with a Nintendo Wii remote control and an Open Sound Control to enhance the sound possibilities. A stepper motor guides the device along the inked lines, while the length of each bar coincides with the duration of an emitted sound. On the hardware side, key features of the musical creation include an Arduino Nano (ATmega328), a Nord Modular G2, a Symbolic Sound Kyma X, and a six-channel PVC pipe sound system.
Obsolete computer parts turned into marvelous music
A group of Illinois-based Makers hailing from Makerspace Urbana have unveiled a way to take outdated technology and turn them into pieces of musical instruments. The Electric Waste Orchestra project strives to "manipulate the voltage flowing through circuit boards and use those signals to make music" out of components that would've otherwise ended up at the dump. The team transformed an old keyboard number pad, six hard-drives, an [Atmel based] Arduino board and some software into a fully-functioning guitar jamming along with a modular synthesizer.
A series of stepper motors belt out some Guns N' Roses
Sweet Stepper of Mine! Jeremy Weatherford repurposed two stepper motors to play high-tech versions of some of the classics and you have to hear it to believe it. At the core of the Maker's device sits an Iteaduino MEGA 2560 (ATmega2560) and a series of percussion linkages.
Coffee cups and Arduino unite to make an instrument
Bonnie Eisenman needed to produce a final project for her electronic music class. So, as a software engineer by trade, the Maker decided to explore her creative side and just like that, the Illumaphone was born. The Illumaphone is a light-based spatial musical instrument that be played by simply waving your arms. Six coffee cups serve as the inputs (aka "light funnels"), with each one keyed to a different pitch. Light levels determine volume and vibrato; as a result, once a cup measures the amount of light, that data is translated into the sound emitted. By moving your hands over a cup, volume and vibrato of a tone are created in relation to the light present. On the hardware side, an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) powers the electronic instrument and receives information from a set of six photo resistors.
Wearable Knitgadget controls your musical devices
Royal College of Art student Yen Chen Chang recently debuted the Knitgadget, a wearable glove that allows users to control various devices, musical or otherwise. The glove is comprised of conductive yarn that's 80% polyester and 20% stainless steel (and 100% pure awesomeness). Chang knit and crocheted a series of objects that control devices by rubbing, pulling and stroking. When manipulated, the overlap of the metal fiber causes the textile to change conductivity which is then measured by an Arduino and communicated to the gadgets.
Drumming up some table tunes
In one of their latest demonstrations of how the ATmega32U4 based Touch Board can be connected to almost anything, the Bare Conductive crew has transformed ordinary items found throughout the kitchen — oranges, a pan, a toaster, a coffee maker, a tea kettle and even some silverware — into sound. Put them together and well, food won't be the only thing you're making on the counter!
Making music with the MaKey MaKey Monome
In an attempt to create a complex musical instrument with inexpensive parts and a simple process, Maker JDeboi has developed one rockin' device: the MaKey MaKey Monome! As seen at this year's World Maker Faire, JDeboi utilized the ATmega32U4 powered platform to create a futuristic instrument that looks like it was transported back from the year 2114! Using Makey Makey as its brains, JDeboi implemented a partnership of copper tape, NeoPixels, and cardboard to bring this monome to life. First using the NeoPixels and cardboard, she established an LED lattice that would serve as the base of the project. The Maker recommends using three different colored wires for GND, 5V, and data.
Turning old floppy drives into tunes
We said a flip flop the flippie the flippie to the flip flip flop a ya dont stop the makin' of a floppy disk jukebox! Remember that irritating etching noise that aging floppies emitted when they would boot up? Well, Chris Fry has harnessed the sonic power of these old drives and turned them into some musical masterpieces. The Maker blew the dust off of eight floppy drives that he collected and began researching on Instructables how to repurpose them into a programmable musical machine. With the power of an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) and a hefty ATX power supply, Fry had his drives linked up and ready to jam.
These house plants can play tunes when they're touched
Inspired by what they saw at a recent Maker Faire, Fast Company's Natalia Rodriguez and Jihyun Lee hacked some of their typical houseplants to play various musical notes depending how they are grabbed. For example, when someone touches the stem the note is different than when they touch its outer leaves. When grabbed with two fingers instead of one, the sounds are different; same goes for other hand positions. The Makers reproduced a version of Disney's "Touche," the technology former Disney researcher Ivan Poupyrev and his team built to encode the frequencies that conductive materials like water, human bodies, and plants, among other materials carry whenever they are touched by a human — using a tutorial from Mads HoBye, Instructables' artist-in-residence, who hacked his own version using a small Arduino. While the team aspired to keep things organic and the plants as far from the computer as possible, the team utilized an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) to allow the plants to speak to the computer wirelessly.
DrumPants puts an entire band in your pocket
Ever catch yourself drumming on your thighs? Your table? Your desk? Your steering wheel? Now, starting a one-man band is as simple as wearing this musical kit. DrumPants, dubbed by its creators as "the world's industrial quality wearable musical instrument," transforms your outfit into a full ensemble with 100+ built-in high-quality sounds. DrumPants consists of two wearable sensor strips and a control box (embedded with an Atmel | SMART ARM Cortex-M3-based MCU) that affixes to your attire, allowing you to play a beat by simply tapping your body. The pair of sensor strips can easily be attached and removed from any item of clothing, making it the ideal portable instrument. In addition, the wearable device's companion app can adjust the tone and pitch of each sound effect and enables users to upload their own customized effects. Wearers even get the functionality of a looping pedal built right into their shoe. The DrumPants kit is designed to work with any app that accepts MIDI or OSC signals, therefore providing users the ability to record, loop and edit their musical masterpieces.
Drawing musical MIDI
Earlier this year, a team led by Alex Haff of NYU's Science of Music school debuted a DIY paper circuit project, aptly dubbed "Draw MIDI." The digital-based platform uses capacitance sensing to collect electrical signals from a pencil-and-paper keyboard. The signals are converted to MIDI with an Arduino Uno (ATmega328) that sends the code to a PC via a Max patch.
A 3D feather touch MIDI keyboard
The Kyub is a Maker-friendly MIDI keyboard kit that can be easily assembled by just about anyone. Powered by a Teensy 2.0 (ATmega32U4),the open-source device allows users to simply attach one or multiple Kyubs to a computer synthesizer or digital audio workstation for to jam alone, with friends, or even for a full-out composition.
Drum anything, anywhere and make real music
Ever catch yourself drumming your pencil or utensil on a tabletop? Thanks to Korg's ClipHit, you can now bring those rhythmic beats to life. ClipHit's newly-unveiled concept allows you to take everyday objects and turn them into a portable, electronic percussion instruments by simply attaching the three vibration-sensitive clips to a desk, table or any other nearby surface. Equipped with motion sensors, the clips analyze and monitor how hard you strike an object with a drumstick, pencil or even your fingers, while an embedded sensor in the control unit enables it to be played the same way. A user may also trigger a variety of built-in sound samples — kicks, snare, toms, and cymbals — and select a series of rock, pop or standard drum sets.
This onesie turns you into a walking MP3 player
Dutch designer Borre Akkersdijk aspires to usher in a rather unique form of 3D-printed garments: a onesie capable of turning its wearer into a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot. Akkersdijk believes that the current generation of wearable technology — ranging from smartwatches to fitness bands — isn't so much something you wear as it is something you attach to yourself. His project, named BB.Suit, was created in an effort to turn what calls "carry-able technology" into a much truer wearable form. In doing so, he hopes it would be able to establish a platform where wearers, people around the suit and even those online could all interact with one other in a dynamic, interactive manner. The first version of the suit — which made its debut back at SXSW — featured electrical threads woven into its fabric along with a musical library and GPS system. In collaboration with the online platform 22tracks, musicians around the Austin-based event were able to upload tunes directly onto BB.Suit, giving the term 'walkman' an entirely new meaning.
Hacking instruments with nothing but junk
Maker Yuri Suzuki recently collaborated with South African artists Bogosi Sekhukhuni and Neo Mahlasela, along with creative technologist Nathan Gates, to create a slick musical installation entitled "Warm Leatherette." Suzuki and Gates devised the set of instruments by using nothing but electronic waste readily found in the streets of downtown Johannesburg — including old cellphones, televisions and cassette tapes. After collecting these obsolete devices, the team went onto upcycle them into a Maker-iffic spread of new musical tools. For instance, Suzuki connected an old TV to an Arduino for an electric drum sound, constructed a keyboard from Nokia phones, and pieced together a cassette tape guitar with variable speeds and sounds.
Move with the music — literally
A Maker by the name of "BBrodsky" has created an MP3-equipped workout shirt powered by an Arduino LilyPad (ATmega328P), which utilizes the music player and an accelerometer to detect whether or not the wearer is moving. If so, it plays his or her music. According to BBrodsky, the goal of the system is to promote an active lifestyle for wearers.
MIDI drum glove keeps the beat with FLORA
Designed by Adafruit's Becky Stern, this MIDI drum glove is powered by the versatile FLORA platform (ATmega32U4). By simply tapping his or her fingers, a wearer can drop a beat like Iggy while looking like Michael.
MIDI dot-matrix printer does the Hackerena (and many more)
There is no doubt that you remember the inescapable '90s hit, The Macarena. The pairing of a catchy beat and a simple dance turned the Los Del Rio smash hit into a national phenomenon. Now, 20 years later, we can reminisce about the tune all thanks to one Maker and his MIDI compatible dot-matrix printer. A hacker by the name of MIDIDesaster has made a habit of turning DMPs into musical devices ranging from an ingenious cover of Eye of the Tiger to Jingle Bells. The modified printer uses an ATmega8 MCU to interpret inbound MIDI data and then feeds the information to an FPGA that essentially tunes the printer.
Play 8-bit chiptunes from your living room sofa
Ah, chiptune music. Who could forget the iconic synthesized electronic sounds of '80s gaming? Well now, the Assorted Wires crew is letting your deliver those 8-bit tunes with the Lo-Fi SES, a hackable device. Consider yourself warned though, the open-source instrument will surely spark up some NES nostalgia! Based on an Atmel AVR MCU, the Lo-Fi SES replicates the shape of a good ol' SNES controller, whose buttons are used to trigger samples, change tempo, as well as play, record and delete tracks. The controller, which is the heart of the Lo-Fi SES experience, comes equipped with a default playlist of onboard sounds including a lo-fi drum set.
Blast your favorite tunes with the Touch Board Boombox
Our friends over at Bare Conductive recently teamed with Jude Pullen of Design Modelling to develop a trendy boombox that perfectly demonstrates the widespread capabilities of their ATmega32U4 based Touch Board. Comprised of simple cardboard box along with some stenciled on Electric Paint and attached to a Touch Board, the Makers were able to get this stylish creation to flood the streets of London with some of their favorite MP3s.
Drop a beat with this ATmega328 based drum box
Maker Ole-Birger Neergård has devised a nifty DIY drum machine, the 7-BIT BEAT BOXXX, which is capable of laying the rhythm down for everything from '70s funk to modern-day hip-hop tunes. The retro synth-like box's built-in metronome activates the 7-bit drum samples with every click. In addition, the drum machine is based on an Arduino Uno (ATmega328), encased in a series of mahogany and white acrylic panels. The Lo-Fi drum machine is programmed with nine different (and easily replaceable) 4-second drum samples, as well as features four buttons. The top-left button changes the sounds from three different sample banks, while the other three are responsible for activating the sound bites: big drum on the bottom left, snare on the bottom right, and hi-hat on the top right.
Arduino turntables transform Makers into DJs
A Swedish designer by the name of Per Holquimst is redefining the use of the old-school turntable. No longer will the instrument solely play music; in fact, his Arduino tangible interface turntable will have you forming beats from scratch in no time! Each machine contains five digital distance sensors in its wooden arm. The instrument can analyze up to 15 different blocks, therefore allowing complex rhythms to be established. These sensors interpret the locations of the blocks and relay that data back through the Atmel based system, making music based on certain pre-programmed metrics. As the user adds a block to the deck, the distance sensor plays a sound; thus, creating a wildly different melody is as simple as moving a block an inch to the left on the rotating wheel.
This installation lets you play city sounds by stepping
Ever since the days of Tom Hanks playing the giant piano inside FAO Schwartz, we've all wanted to step on floor keys and make tunes. Now, what if those "keys" could emit city, pow-wow or drum kit sounds? Thanks to a new audio installation designed by Chelsea Stewart and Eden Lew at the School of Visual Arts Products of Design MFA program, you can! Called "Sound Steps," the project was designed under the guidance of Adafruit's Becky Stern as the Maker explored the use of Arduino units in rapid prototyping of new product interactions. Inspired from their recent move from to New York, the duo decided to collect sounds around the city. The sounds were then uploaded to its farm, which consisted of four 1.25' x 0.75' x 6' wood boards, a few extra pieces for an interior bracing as well as MDF material to create the platform top. Sound Steps is comprised of a 9 x 9 fabric square matrix, with each square connected to a Bare Conductive Touch Board (ATmega32U4). The project invites bystanders to walk barefoot across the interactive platform to discover the city audibly.
Become a conductor of your own air symphony
Created by Ootsidebox's Jean-Noël, 3Dpad is a sophisticated touchless gesture control interface with a depth perception of 10cm. Based on an AT90USB1286, the slick device is equipped for a wide-range of applications, including artistic expression, a game console, or in this case, an air controller for any electronic instrument.
This embedded ukulele can teach you to play chords and songs
Designed by Cornell students Raghav Subramaniam and Jeff Tian, ukule-LED is equipped with 16 NeoPixels that are situated along the first four positions of the fretboard. This allows those playing the device to easily learn how to play each chord. All of the 16 LEDs are connected in series to a single pin on the ATmega1284P that sits on a board mounted to the bottom of the ukulele along with power and serial. ukule-LED has two modes of operations: "Play" and "Practice." First, in "play" mode, the user can feed the system a song file, a text file that contains the tempo, time signature, and an ordered listing of the chords in a song. The ukulele will then light up the correct chords at the correct times in the song. (Think of it like Guitar Hero.) While in "practice" mode, the user can specify a single chord, which is lit up indefinitely. For those more experienced musicians, the ukule-LED can still serve as an excellent chord reference.
This entry was posted in Arduino, Arduino-Compatible, Design Trends, Maker Movement and tagged Adafruit, Arduino, Arduino Uno, ATmega328, ATmega32U4, Bare Conductive, FLORA, Maker Movement, Makers, Makey Makey on December 19, 2014 by The Atmel Team.
Rewind: Oh. My. God. Becky, look at those wearables…
From GPS logging dog harnesses to MIDI drumming gloves, Adafruit's Director of Wearable Electronics Becky Stern has unveiled some pretty wonderful wearable projects over the past couple of months. So much so that we've decided to pay homage to the LED-lovin', gadget-glowin' Maker by showcasing several of our favorites.
While the inherent versatility of Atmel's MCUs have made our silicon a favorite amongst engineers for next-gen smart devices, evident by Becky's latest designs, they have also increasingly emerged as the go-to choice for Makers creating DIY wearables.
Interior Purse Lights
Never fumble through your purse in the dark again, thanks to this fashionable yet practical innovation. The project makes use of Adafruit's GEMMA Sequin Starter Pack (ATtiny85), conductive thread and conductive hook and loop tape.
NeoPixel Punk Collar
Punk meets goth in this one-of-a-kind cybergothpunk creation — a leather collar studded with five color-changing NeoPixels. The project is powered by the ATtiny85 based GEMMA platform — which can also be substituted by a Trinket — and will surely make you the life of any party!
Cyberpunk Spikes
As we continue to delve deep into cyberpunk territory, check out these slick 3D-printed spikes! Add these bright spikes — which uses a NeoPixel strip diffused by NinjaFlex 3D printing filament — to any ensemble. This project again employs a GEMMA microcontroller that animates the LEDs.
NeoPixel Ring Bracelet
Sure, you can catch the attention of onlookers with the latest smartwatch or fashionable jewelry, but how about adorning your wrist with an eye-popping bracelet instead? Passerby won't help but stare at the various light patterns displayed on this nifty DIY bracelet, which boasts set of four NeoPixel rings along with the tiny GEMMA.
Tank Girl Goes Cyberpunk
Whether you're a fan of the 1995 American sci-fi flick Tank Girl or not, you will surely appreciate Becky's 3D-printed, LED-embedded Bandolier of Light. Similar to the aforementioned cyberpunk spikes, this unique getup is comprised of NinjaFlex filament, some NeoPixels, and of course, an tinyAVR driven GEMMA.
Laser Dog Goggles
What would a bright night on the town be without an appropriate getup of man's best companion. Here, Becky transformed once-ordinary Doggles into a paw-some pair of cyberpunk-style glasses with a rotating laser. Using a Trinket 3v MCU (ATtiny85), a set of clear dog goggles and a laser diode as the center of the device, this invention will surely be a hit on the scene.
Light-Activated Pixel Heart
Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve, or in this case, shirt. The embedded GEMMA and light dependent resistor detect when a wearer's NeoPixel heart is uncovered, and just like that, triggers the heart light on.
Superhero Power Plant
If there's one thing you should know when it comes to Makers and DIY wearables, it's that we love Iron Man! Incorporate a Tony Stark-inspired arc reactor into your next Comic Con cosplay costume with an uber-small GEMMA, laser cut acrylic frame, and NeoPixels to round out the handheld power plant.
Firewalker LED Sneakers
Think of it as a DIY version of those old-school LA Lights you wore as kids, only cooler. And, much brighter. Cheaper, too! This project — a collaboration between Becky and the creative Phillip Burgess — shows just how easy it is to mod a pair of high-tops with a NeoPixel strip and FLORA (ATmega32u4 MCU). A velostat step sensor inside each shoe activate a light animation with every step taken in these new DIY kicks.
LED Sparkle Skirt
Add a simple sparkle to your skirt or other piece of attire using a [megaAVR based] FLORA controller and accelerometer, conductive thread, and RGB NeoPixels.
Plushy Game Controller
Throw pillows? That's boring. An oversize plush pillow that functions as a game controller? Now we're talking! This idea was brought to life with just some conductive fabric, a FLORA board, and a capacitive touch sensing circuit to round out the electronics.
Wearable GPS Tracker
Make a wearable GPS tracker for you, or even your furry friend. Use an ATmega32U4 powered FLORA main board and GPS to log your distance. Simply integrate it into a backpack, dog harness, or whatever you want to track for that matter.
Pac-Man Animated Pixel Suspenders
This set of "blinken-braces" boasts 30 NeoPixels, each of which are sewn to these suspenders and controlled by a FLORA board running a dazzling Pac-Man inspired animation.
MIDI Drum Glove
Look like Michael, keep the beat like Iggy. Play your favorite synths by finger drumming! Stitch up four piezos into a glove and use a FLORA to transmit signals to your favorite music-making software.
GPS Jacket
Built around FLORA, this slick, megaAVR powered GPS Jacket reacts to your whereabouts with color-changing, pulsing LED lights around the collar.
FLORA NeoGeo Watch
Based on the wearable FLORA platform and an accompanying GPS module, the NeoGeo Watch can be tastefully paired with Adafruit's futuristic goggles and GPS Jacket for a full cyberpunk/steampunk wardrobe.
Zipper Switch
Zippin' awesome! In one of her latest projects, Becky explores yet another innovative way of turning otherwise relatively dull clothing into more fun, interactive attire. Take zippers, for instance. Here, the super talented Maker transformed them into a momentary switch for activating lights, sounds, and more using stainless steel conductive thread. As the zipper pull travels along the teeth, two pads of conductive thread are bridged, momentarily creating an electrical connection. This connection can be sensed by an Atmel based MCU, such as the FLORA or GEMMA, with an activated internal pull-up resistor.
If you're feeling inspired to make your own project using Adafruit's FLORA, GEMMA and Trinket wearable electronics platform, explore everything there is to know here.
This entry was posted in Design Trends, Maker Movement and tagged Adafruit, ATtiny85, Becky Stern, DIY Wearables, FLORA, Gemma, Maker Movement, Makers, Neopixels, Trinket, wearable tech, Wearable technology, Wearables on December 17, 2014 by The Atmel Team.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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text:
Assets held for sale
Reinvestment in the business
Canadian National Railway is a leading North American transportation and logistics company
The company's 20,000-mile network spans Canada and Mid-America.
The company has a team of approximately 24,000 railroaders transports more than C$250 billion worth of goods annually
The company is in process of acquisition of the Massena rail line
Canadian National Railway - CN (NYSE:CNI, TSC:CNR.TO) is a leading North American transportation and logistics company. CNI is a true backbone of the economy whose team of approximately 24,000 railroaders transports more than C$250 billion worth of goods annually for a wide range of business sectors, ranging from resource products to manufactured products to consumer goods, across a rail network of approximately 20,000 route-miles spanning Canada and mid-America.1
The company got its start in rail close to 100 years ago. Since then, The comapny evolved into a world-class transportation leader and the only transcontinental railway in North America. The company's 20,000-mile network spans Canada and Mid-America, connecting three coasts: the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico. The company's supply chain partnerships carry customer cargo all the way to Mexico City. Wherever you find CN trains, you'll find a host of service options to help you ship more; faster, further and more cost-effectively.2
Intermodal means versatility – anticipating that extra mile and adapting to it. The intermodal journey harnesses the global reach of vessels, the speed and efficiency of trains and the locality of trucking.3
Shipping by rail is four times more fuel-efficient than trucking alone. The company's Intermodal Container Services help shippers expand their door-to-door market reach with 23 strategically-placed intermodal terminals. Every link in the supply chain pulls together.
CN pairs the efficiency of rail with the added flexibility of trucking to better serve its local and regional customers. The company accomplish this with solid trucking partners, working together every step of the way as one team - CNTL.4
One of Canada's largest full-load trucking companies CNTL has more than 1,050 owner operators, plus a fleet of 8,000 chassis and 8,000 containers.
The company deliver more than 1,300 loads a day, safely and on time; with a 90% on-time delivery track record. The company's Speed Gate system reduces in-gate and out-gate times, giving recognized trucking partners quick access to CN's strategically located Intermodal Terminals.
As a key member of its customers' supply chain, the company recognize that when they grow, the company grow. So the company work hard with its supply chain partners to innovate, create and implement solutions that seek to drive sustainable, long-term growth for its customers. The company put in place ground-breaking Service Level Agreements to encourage a transparent and highly cooperative partnership environment. These agreements allow it to put the collective experience of its managers in rail, trucking, warehousing, distribution and supply chain management to work for you and improve the competitiveness of your business.5
CN's Business Development team has a stellar track record, helping hundreds of companies develop rail-served sites and expand existing ones. The company work with you by identifying sites, collaborating through the designing and construction phases of your project and coordinating with its extensive network of partners to get the job done.6
While CN's results were adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company continued to deliver for its customers, providing essential transportation services and demonstrating its key role in the integrated global supply chain. By the end of the year, the Company began recovering from pandemic related demand declines as demand for some commodities recovered at or above pre-pandemic levels in the fourth quarter, most notably in the grain and fertilizers and intermodal commodity groups.7
Revenues decreased by $1,098 million, or 7%, to $13,819 million.
Operating expenses decreased by $282 million, or 3%, to $9,042 million.
Operating income decreased by $816 million, or 15%, to $4,777 million and adjusted operating income decreased by $445 million, or 8%, to $5,263 million. (1)
Operating ratio of 65.4%, an increase of 2.9 points and adjusted operating ratio of 61.9%, an increase of 0.2 points. (1)
Net income decreased by $654 million, or 16%, to $3,562 million and diluted earnings per share decreased by 14% to $5.00.
Adjusted net income decreased by $405 million, or 10%, to $3,784 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share decreased by 8% to $5.31 (1)
The Company generated record free cash flow of $3,227 million, a 62% increase. (2)
ROIC of 12.7%, a decrease of 2.6 points and adjusted ROIC of 13.4%, a decrease of 1.7 points. (3)
CN achieved 10 consecutive months of record Canadian grain movements, which resulted in record revenues for the year for the Grain and fertilizers commodity group.
An all-time record fuel efficiency of 0.89 US gallons of locomotive fuel consumed per 1,000 gross ton miles.
In the second quarter of 2020, the Company committed to a plan and is actively marketing for sale for on-going rail operations, certain non-core lines in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ontario representing approximately 850 miles and has met the criteria for classification of the related assets as assets held for sale. Accordingly, a $486 million loss ($363 million after-tax) was recorded to adjust the carrying amount of these track and roadway assets to their estimated selling price. The carrying amount of assets held for sale of $90 million is included in Other current assets in the Consolidated Balance Sheet as at December 31, 2020.
In 2020, CN spent approximately $2.9 billion in its capital program, with $1.6 billion invested to maintain the safety and integrity of the network, particularly track infrastructure. CN's capital spending also included $0.8 billion on strategic initiatives to increase capacity, enable growth and improve network resiliency, including line capacity upgrades and information technology initiatives, $.4 billion on equipment capital expenditures, including the acquisition of 41 new high-horsepower locomotives and 1,449 new grain hopper cars, and $0.1 billion on implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC), the safety technology system mandated by the U.S. Congress.
On April 6, 2020, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) issued its decision conditionally approving the acquisition of the Massena rail line from CSX Corporation ("CSX"), which the Company announced its agreement to purchase on August 29, 2019. On June 6, 2020, CN and CSX sought reconsideration asking the STB to remove its condition which requires the parties to propose a change to the line sale agreement for the STB's review. The petitions for reconsideration remain pending for the STB's decision. The acquisition represents more than 220 miles of track between Valleyfield, Quebec, and Woodard, New York, and will allow CN to continue to expand its network and foster additional supply chain solutions.
In the first quarter of 2020, the Company completed the purchase price allocation of the Manitoba based TransX Group of Companies ("TransX") which was acquired on March 20, 2019. In the fourth quarter of 2019, the fair value of net assets acquired was adjusted to reflect the settlement of working capital as well as changes to current and deferred income tax balances. The acquisition positions CN to strengthen its intermodal business, and allows the Company to expand capacity and foster additional supply chain solutions.
CN Reports Strong Second Quarter Results8
July 20, 2021; Canadian National Railway reported its financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2021, highlighting a 13 per cent increase in revenue ton miles (RTMs) year-over-year and volume growth in virtually every business unit, with notable strength in industrial products, international and domestic intermodal, and propane.
President and Chief Executive Officer of CN JJ Ruest said "CN continued to deliver strong operating and financial performance in the second quarter, driven in large part by the dedication of its people and the ongoing long-term investments Canadian National Railway is making in its network, equipment, technology and talent. The company enter the second half of 2021 focused on executing for its customers and leveraging its strong network performance to safely and sustainably drive long-term value creation for all of its stakeholders. The company's proposed combination with Kansas City Southern has received overwhelming support from a broad base of stakeholders because it will enhance competition and drive economic growth in North America. Canadian National Railway is confident in its ability to obtain the necessary approvals and successfully close this pro-competitive combination and look forward to delivering the many compelling benefits to customers, employees, labor partners and the communities in which the company operate."
Second-quarter 2021 revenues, traffic volumes and expenses
Revenues for the second quarter of 2021 were C$3,598 million, an increase of C$389 million, or 12 per cent, when compared to the same period in 2020. The increase was mainly due to higher volumes across most commodity groups due to the continued economic recovery and freight rate increases; partly offset by the negative translation impact of a stronger Canadian dollar and lower export volumes of Canadian grain.
RTMs, measuring the weight and distance of freight transported by CN, increased by 13 per cent from the year-earlier period. Freight revenue per RTM increased by one per cent over the year-earlier period, mainly driven by freight rate increases; partly offset by the negative translation impact of a stronger Canadian dollar.
Operating expenses for the second quarter decreased by nine per cent to C$2,216 million, mainly driven by the C$486 million loss on assets held for sale recorded in the second quarter of 2020, as well as the positive translation impact of a stronger Canadian dollar; partly offset by higher fuel costs and higher incentive compensation.
CN Proposal to Combine with KCS
On May 21, 2021, CN and KCS (NYSE: KSU) announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement to combine in a transaction valued at US$325 per KCS share, or approximately US$33.6 billion.
CN is proposing to use a voting trust structure, which requires the approval of the Surface Transportation Board ("STB"). Under the terms of the merger agreement, KCS shareholders will receive US$200 in cash and 1.129 CN common shares for each share of KCS common stock upon closing of the transaction into a voting trust, if approved by the STB. In its May 26, 2021 joint filing, CN and KCS outlined the compelling case for the pro-competitive combination and the use of a voting trust. CN is confident that its use of a voting trust meets the STB's standards and believes that, after a fair and thorough review by the STB, it should be approved.
The proposed combination will establish seamless, single-line service from Canada, through the United States and into Mexico. The end-to-end CN-KCS combination will expand North American trade and power economic prosperity, provide numerous new connections and service options for customers, enhance competition, and deliver many compelling and innovative benefits for ports, employees, communities and the environment.
^ https://www.cn.ca/en/about-cn/
^ https://www.cn.ca/en/our-services/rail/
^ https://www.cn.ca/en/our-services/intermodal/
^ https://www.cn.ca/en/our-services/trucking/
^ https://www.cn.ca/en/our-services/supply-chain-services/
^ https://www.cn.ca/en/our-services/business-development/
^ https://epub.cn.ca/avqf/tuqc/#p=11
^ https://www.cn.ca/-/media/Files/Investors/Investor-Financial-Quarterly/Investor-Financial-Quarterly-2021/Q2/Q2-2021-Quarterly-Review-en.pdf?la=en&hash=4240671DC2A22A718E48BD6576ACB17D97A3D59A
Tags: US:CNI CA:CNR.TO


Visceral reminders of the African slave trade, cute colonial traces and an enthralling journey into the Voodoo await travelers to mysterious Benin. Get a tourHQ guide to show you around the country.
If you're entering Benin through Nigeria to the east then get ready, because you can be certain that this voodoo country of sprawling post-colonial places and curiously Latinised metropolitan centres is like nothing you've seen before!
Modern day Benin is a nation very much forged from the interfaces of European colonialism (first Portugal and then France) and the ancient Kingdom of Dahomey, one of West Africa's richest and most infamous civilisations, now immortalised in regional history for its proliferation of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Today visitors enjoy a country that's dealt with its tumultuous past head-on, and has even come to celebrate the curious cultural exports of its history through the assimilation of South American culture. The institutions in the capital at Porto Novo do well to chronicle the rise of Brazilian heritage in the region, while the heady city of Cotonou offers up some of western Africa's best international gastronomy, not to mention a nightlife scene that's somewhat shocking in its intensity.


Work continues on my 'Starter' Colour Bundle quilt.
I wanted to create a pieced back to add a bit of interest and this is what I came up with.
I have really come to love the turquoise blue and bright orange and thought it was a good opportunity to use them in this quilt.
The back is now pieced, pressed and starched to within an inch of its life.
And so is the front.
All ready for the stage which I enjoy the least but is the most important, making the quilt sandwich!
Better get to it, time is a ticking.
This entry was posted in 2 Handdyed Fabric, 3 My Work and tagged Colour Collection, hand dyed by t r a c y f o x, hand dyed fabric, hand made by t r a c y f o x, Harrogate, ideas, knitting and stitching show, modern quilts, patchwork, quilts, textiles, tracy fox designer maker by t r a c y f o x. Bookmark the permalink.
The turquoise and orange really "pop", don't they?
Yep and it surprises me how much I like this as I they are not colours I would naturally be drawn to.


Jenoptik AG has reported that its Traffic Solutions Division received the order to continue and to expand the operation of digital camera systems for red-light monitoring in Canada.
A new contract between the Jenoptik subsidiary Traffipax LLC and the City of Toronto, Ontario, will continue 10 years of successful cooperation from 2017 onward. The contract will run for a period of five years starting on Jan. 1, 2017 and includes an optional extension for another five years. Negotiations will be started soon with seven other municipalities in Canada's Ontario province, Jenoptik said.
In the City of Toronto, Jenoptik will install 79 additional digital camera systems for red-light monitoring until the end of this year. Under the new series of agreements, the scope of supply is expected to increase to about 250 systems with the other municipalities participating. These systems will be used for replacing existing sites as well as for establishing additional ones. According to Jenoptik, the contract value for the first five years totals an amount in the mid double-digit million euro range.


i live on an island in the philippines. there is no grape jelly or canned cat food available,so i substituted sweetened condensed milk and canned corned beef, mixed your recipe ,including the boric acid,and put in glass jars with holes in the caps so my dogs cant get to it, and put near the termites. no termites appear to be going in and out of the hole . how do i get the termites to eat the mixture when they eat wood and stay in their protective tunnel tracks?
The first thing I want to mention is, termites won't go into a jar, they only follow their natural paths that they have mapped out. So here's what I'd suggest.
Instead of the recipe you tried, you need to find a very ripe fruit to mash and mix with sugar or honey. I have no idea what kind of fruit you have access to on the island but I'm sure you'll come up with something. Then try some kind of fish that has a strong odor. Mash a piece of the fish and mix with your fruit and sugar, then add the boric acid. Locate a plastic pipe about a foot long and put small holes along the pipe, spread the mixture inside the pipe, as far inside as you can so your dogs can't lick it out. You will need to bury the pipe in the termites path about a foot down into the ground, cover with dirt and put stones on top so your dogs won't dig it out. This should attract the termites and entice them to bring the mixture to their queen. This don't happen overnight, have patience. Most important, make sure your dogs don't have access to the mixture.


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RAWreports
jvdm22
Sounds | H.E.R., Carried Away
Introducing Gabriella Wilson, aka H.E.R. oftewel Having Everything Revealed! Ook al werd dit 21-jarig multitalent 7 jaar geleden reeds door RCA getekend, ik ontdekte haar pas afgelopen week, toen ze een Grammy in ontvangst mocht nemen voor beste R&B album (ook al gaat het hier eigenlijk om een combinatie van 2 EP's) alsook beste R&B song. Echte, traditionele 'slow burning' R&B weliswaar, en niet van dat plastieken gedoe. Puur geniet hoe ze hier schakelt van akoestische gitaar naar basgitaar naar elektrische piano, en daarbij het performen niet vergeet. Wat een klasse, wat een uitstraling. Laat dat échte debuut album maar vlug komen.
After being signed to RCA under Sony at the age of 14, she released a single in 2014 called "Something To Prove" under her real name.
Re-emerging in late 2016 with a new persona and her debut EP, H.E.R. Vol. 1, executive produced by producer and songwriter David "Swagg R'Celious" Harris, Wilson received support from Usher, Tyrese, Pusha T, and Wyclef Jean; labelmates Alicia Keys and Bryson Tiller helped get the word out through Twitter co-signs, shoutouts, and re-posts In April 2017 Rihanna posted an Instagram clip with H.E.R.'s track "Focus" playing in the background. The clip has been viewed over five million times. Additional public support came from Issa Rae of HBO's Insecure, Taraji P. Henson of Empire, Kylie Jenner, and Kendall Jenner. The tracks on H.E.R. Vol. 1 have collectively been streamed over 20 million times on Spotify and over 65 million times across all streaming music providers worldwide.
NPR listed H.E.R. Vol. 1 as the first selection in its "5 Essential R&B Albums You Slept On" roundup. Calling the music "Slow-burning R&B that zooms in on emotional highs and lows," Rolling Stone included H.E.R. in its March 2017 "10 Artists You Need To Know" roundup. And Forbes named her one of "5 Alternative R&B Artists To Look Out For In 2017", reporting: "In the same vein as The Weeknd's enigmatic introduction to the world, H.E.R.'s image remains a mystery. The irony, though, is that her moniker is an acronym for Having Everything Revealed."
Her follow-up EP, H.E.R. Vol. 2 (2017) also executive produced by Harris, was released on June 16, 2017 and includes the single "Say It Again".
Her notable live performances include the 2017 BET Experience concerts at the Staples Center in Los Angeles with Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, Kid Cudi, Lil Yachty, Rae Sremmurd, Bryson Tiller, and Khalid. She was recently on tour with Bryson Tiller for the Set It Off tour, and recently concluded her first headlining tour, the Lights On Tour, in support of her most recent effort H.E.R. Vol. 2.
Wilson announced on the 12th of September 2018 that she will be embarking on the "I Used to Know H.E.R. Tour" in support of her latest EP "I Used to Know H.E.R.: The Prelude", which Wilson has stated is a prelude to her upcoming debut album.
#music #muziek #sounds #newmusic #newsong #newalbum #her #gebriellawilson #carriedaway
Sounds | Reject the Sickness, Reveal the Darkness
Sounds | Eisbrecher, FAKK
Sounds | Holding Absence, Afterlife


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Modern Marchers: Lessons From The Front Lines of Social Change
Moderated by Michaela Pereira, CNN Anchor "New Day"
Minh Dang, Executive Director of Don't Sell Bodies, White House Champion of Change
Dr. Arthur Dunning, Professor University of Alabama
Tara Roberts, Co-founder of girltank
Michael Skolnik, President of GlobalGrind.com
About CNN Dialogues
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Fifty years ago, at the historic March on Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and proclaimed that he was there to "cash a check for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Join us on September 12th to engage with social activists who are taking lessons from the past while expanding ideas about justice, inclusion and opportunity to impact the 21st century.
Thursday, September 12, 2013 - 7:00-8:30pm
The Cecil B. Day Chapel of The Carter Center 453 Freedom Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30307
Complimentary Registration Now Open!
Registration is complimentary, but required. Please register above. Seating is based on time of arrival and availability
For directions to the Carter Center, please click here.
Parking is complimentary.
Michaela Pereira is the multiple award-winning news anchor for the CNN's morning show "New Day" with Chris Cuomo and Kate Bolduan.
Prior to joining CNN in New York, Pereira was the co-host of "KTLA Morning News" in Los Angeles for nine years. Prior to KTLA, Pereira was an anchor for the technology news program "TechLive" on TechTV in San Francisco, a guest host and internet correspondent for Buena Vista's "Ebert & the Movies," and a host for "Internet Tonight" on ZDTV. Pereira made her television news debut in 1993 on Canada's CHEK-TV in Victoria, B.C. Pereira has won multiple awards for her journalism, including nine Emmy Awards and three Radio & TV News Association Golden Mike awards, and two Mark Twain Awards during her career.
Beyond her broadcasting achievements, Pereira is active in several community organizations working with at-risk children and teens. She served as a member of the board of directors for the Long Beach Boys and Girls Club; an advisory board member of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), supporting children in foster care; and co-chair of the advisory board of Optimist Youth Home, providing services for troubled youth. Pereira is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Pereira is based in New York City.
Follow Michaela on Twitter: @MichaelaCNN
Minh Dang is the Executive Director of Don't Sell Bodies and a graduate student at UC Berkeley pursuing her Masters in Social Work. A 2011 recipient of the UC Berkeley Chancellor's Public Service Award, Dang advocates for the rights of vulnerable children and people worldwide. Her experience in fighting for justice includes community organizing, serving on non-profit boards, coordinating service-learning programs and facilitating peer support groups. She has traveled extensively telling her story of survival from child abuse and sex trafficking and is now a powerful force in the fight against modern-day slavery. Over the past eight years, Dang has achieved an extraordinary service record through direct service, advocacy, peer and student leadership development and community organizing. As an undergraduate she served as the Executive Director of REACH!, as staff of the public service center and as Program Coordinator of the campus Bonner Leaders Program.
Twitter: @Minhspeakstruth Twitter: @Dontsellbodies
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dontsellbodies
Dr. Arthur Dunning is a Professor and Senior Research Fellow in the Education Policy Center on the campus of The University of Alabama. His work in the Policy Center includes service on state and national boards as well as teaching responsibilities in the Higher Education program.
Dr. Dunning has also served as advisor to The University of Alabama System Chancellor for strong linkages with emerging economies around the world, specifically India and Argentina.
He is well known for his work in international programs, economic development initiatives, and innovative research partnerships. He serves on the board of directors for the Latin American Association and has worked with the Carter Presidential Center and the United Nations in Vienna, Austria. Dr. Dunning has lived and worked in roles related to higher education and non-profit activities in more than thirty countries, including Ghana, Tunisia, China, India, Thailand, and Brazil.
Dr. Dunning has served seven years in administrative and faculty positions on the Tuscaloosa campus before embarking on a 27-year career in higher education in the state of Georgia, including as Vice President for Public Service and Outreach at the University of Georgia. His responsibilities included institutional leadership for public service and outreach activities across the campus, around the state and internationally. His work in Georgia focused strategically on developing democracies and emerging markets.
Dr. Dunning is an Alabama native who earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from The University of Alabama.
Tara Roberts co-founded girltank, a social enterprise designed to connect, inspire and fund female social entrepreneurs and innovators from around the world. Previously, Roberts served as the Senior Editor for CosmoGirl magazine and the Lifestyle Editor for Ebony, Essence and Heart & Soul magazines. She published her own internationally distributed magazine, Fierce, which was nominated as best new independent magazine in 2003 by Utne magazine. And she has edited critically-acclaimed books for girls: Am I the last Virgin? Ten African American Reflections on Sex & Love and What Your Mama Never Told You: True Stories About Sex & Love. Roberts is also a cum laude graduate of Mount Holyoke College and a graduate of the Founder Institute.
Twitter: @girltankorg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/girltankorg
Michael Skolnik is the Political Director to hip-hop pioneer, Russell Simmons and President of GlobalGrind.com, an online destination founded by Mr. Simmons and one of the most-read online portals for young people in America. He is a leading influencer and activist against gun violence and is recognized nationally for his work around creating solutions. He is on the Board of Directors of the Trayvon Martin Foundation, established by the parents of Trayvon Martin.
In his role as Political Director, Skolnik oversees Mr. Simmons' entire social justice and political activities. GlobalGrind reaches over 4.5 million people a month, predominantly serving a multi-racial segment of the 18-34 population, covering entertainment and celebrity news, lifestyle content, fashion, style, music and politics.
Skolnik is active on the Leadership Council of Gen44, the Democratic Party's group for young professionals, and was an official surrogate for the 2012 Obama campaign.
Prior to his work for Mr. Simmons, Skolnik spent over a decade as an award-winning film director and producer. He is a graduate of the UCLA School of Film, Theater and Television.
Twitter: @MichaelSkolnik Twitter: @globalgrind
Trayvon Martin Foundation: https://www.facebook.com/TheTrayvonMartinFoundation
CNN DIALOGUES is a community forum that aims to highlight diverse ideas and perspectives on the most significant issues and events shaping our time. It is a place where we address shared challenges and concerns to foster a dialogue of learning, understanding and hope. Our mission is to come together to analyze and reflect on everything from the arts to the economy, from human rights to health and sexuality. The topics are limitless. We will explore how global events have local impact; and how having a dialogue that bridges our differences will help us collaborate to create solutions and opportunities for a shared future.
CNN DIALOGUES is a partnership between CNN, the James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference of Emory University, and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. CNN Dialogues takes place in various venues around Atlanta, the capital of the South and a city of change. In addition to this event, one more dialogue is planned for 2013.
For more information contact the James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference: email jwji@emory.edu or call 404.727.2515.
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When it comes to male grooming, it's important to have a good routine, and have all the required products in your arsenal. But you don't need to rely on getting lots of products from the same brand, you can actually build your own DIY Men's Grooming Kit.
There are some items which are must have products in your regime, and then there's some which don't need to be used every day, or are specific for guys with different needs.
What products should you include? I'll go through my essential daily products which I recommend using, and what you should have in your bathroom ready to go.
Why Create Your Own Grooming Kit?
Dental hygiene is always important, so it's always a good idea to include toothpaste, mouthwash and of course a toothbrush. When it comes to using these at home, I have an electric toothbrush, but if you're on the go, or travelling, it's easy enough to swap this out for an old fashioned manual toothbrush which will get the job done.
For quite some time I've kept to more or less the same products, using Blanx and Listerine in my dental care. I like both products and they work well, but I am easy going with these, and can change them if needs be.
There's no doubt that you'll need to style you're hair, so including a small amount of hair product should be a must. Whether you use clay, way, putty or other hair products, make sure you've got one that's good to go for your wash bag.
Personally I prefer fibre wax or texture clay, I've always found that works better with short hair.
When it comes to keeping your face fresh, a dedicated face wash is going to be a good thing, but when it comes to your face, for a full regime, there's lots of different products you'd need. There's a scrub, cleanser, moisturiser and an all round face wash, which could be excessive for an average grooming kit.
An all round face wash could be the one to go for, which will do the job it's made for.
Picking our a shower gel or body wash is going to be pretty easy, and make sure you get the right one for you. There's the scented or fragrance-free options, with my personal choice an unscented shower gel, and use a dedicated scent by the way of a deodorant or preferably aftershave/cologne.
Perhaps one of the most important items in any wash bag is the Deodorant or Antiperspirant. Nobody wants to smell bad, and if you sweat, or even if you don't, you'll want to smell fresh. Packing a can of body spray is a must, it's a case of choosing your favourite.
I love to go for the Dove Men+Care range, and love the clean comfort Antiperspirant. It has that fresh clean smell which isn't overpowering, and comes in a compressed can, which is small but still packs in a lot of use.
If you're going away for a few days then shaving is inevitable, even if you're growing a beard, you'll need to keep it on point. It's a choice of wet or electric shave, and I would always go for the wet shave. A simple razor with shaving gel, and that all important post shave balm is what's required.
For keeping your skin smooth, especially your face, moisturiser is the product to use. A daily moisturiser routine can work wonders, and it should be something which you are doing. If you're using post shave balm every day that should also be able to aid in moisturising your skin, if not you should use this.
It should go without saying that a good fragrance should be in your bag. There's no need to have a large number from your collection in your bag at any one time, but keeping one for daily use is something you should do.
I recommend using one which is an all rounder of a scent, which is going to be a lighter fragrance. Issey Miyake Pour Homme is a great choice when you need a go to fragrance which can cover any situation.
When it comes to picking out a wash bag, you'll need to select one which is big enough to store all of your products. As you can imagine, the size will depend on how many products, and how large each of the products are.
It's best to get the smallest versions of each product so it's less weight to carry. If you're building a travel kit, you can get special travel sized versions of things such as shampoo, body wash, toothpaste and more.
And there you have it, your very own DIY Men's Grooming Kit. It's an essential kit but is also very simple thing to put together yourself to make sure you're at the top of your game on a daily basis. It covers your must have products for a daily routine, all you have to do is select yours, pack them and you're set for every day grooming.
What products will you be carrying in your wash bag?