Craig Cannon /blog
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Woodcraft and Camping by George Washington Sears
Quizzically and quietly he regards the sleeping youngsters, and wonders if among them all there is one who will do as he has done, i.e., relinquish all of what the world reckons as success, for the love of nature and a free forest life. He hopes not. And yet, as he glances at the calm yellow moon overhead, and listens to the low murmur of the little waterfall below the spring, he has a faint notion that it is not all loss and dross.
Sears’s Woodcraft and Camping guides you through classic techniques in a matter-of-fact style that perfectly complements the subject matter. As the quote I chose suggests, what I loved about this book was how Sears treated nostalgia, showing that woodsmen from any generation are more similar than different in their search for simplicity.
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Working by Studs Terkel
‘Picasso can point to a painting. What can I point to? A writer can point to a book. Everybody should have something to point to.’A collection of interviews from the early 70s, Working is a glimpse into the psyche of a workforce staring head on at a wave of returning Vietnam veterans as technology began to creep into the office and eat jobs. I found it striking that across Terkel’s interviews, workers often found professional satisfaction and happiness through the same means; what distinguished the most successful workers was their ability to articulate those ambitions.
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Look to the Land by Lord Northbourne
‘A craft does not approach perfection until it merges into art.’The first book (or so it’s said) to use the term, ‘organic farming,’ Look to the Land was written in 1940 and is still a worthwhile read if you’re interested in farming and food systems. Northbourne has a way of creating lofty and inspiring turns of phrase from the most basic facts and findings; that said, the book’s not as pretentious as the author’s name would have you believe.
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Tentduino
Tentduino is an add-on I made for my tent to indicate oncoming weather patterns. Basically, it’s an Arduino Uno attached to a barometer that sends information to an LED strip. The LEDs glow variations of red or blue depending on the amount of change in barometric pressure since the Arduino was turned on—red for a negative pressure change and blue for a positive change. The color’s brightness indicates the amount of change, i.e. a bright red means a large negative drop.
The source code is on github and I included a schematic and photo below, should you want to build your own. Here’s what I used to make it:
LED Strip - I went with 2m.
12V/5V Power Supply - I used a different supply that’s no longer available on Amazon. This one should do the trick and seems to be of better quality, too.
USB Cable - Connects the battery pack to the Arduino.
Female-Female DC Adapter - Connects the 5V power cable from the battery pack to the Male DC Power Adapter, which is hooked up to the LEDS.
Male DC Power Adapter - You’ll only need one, but Adafruit sells them from $2 a pop. They’re fifty cents each in this pack and you’ll end up with extra for other projects.
Arduino Sidekick Kit - This includes the button and resistor you’ll need, plus other parts you’ll probably use in future projects.
Soldering Iron - You can opt for a more expensive iron, but I used a cheap one like this and it did the trick.
I’m planning to prototype a few more Arduino camping products, which I’ll post here once they’re ready. This was my first electrical engineering project, so if you spot a mistake in the design, let me know!
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