Craig Mayhew's Blog » Friends/Family http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:51:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 en hourly 1 Christmas/New Year 2011 http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2012/01/christmas-new-year-2011/ http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2012/01/christmas-new-year-2011/#comments Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:30:35 +0000 Craig Mayhew http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/?p=1583 This year has been a good haul, some awesome presents from B and family.

Isis Puzzle Unlocked I’m a fan of difficult puzzles (ideally if there is a prize) to the point of sleep deprivation. Let me show you the Isis puzzle. It’s titanium, heavy and fits in your hand (but not if you have small hands, then you need two). It’s also nearly impossible to open. I’m not giving away any clues at all, we managed it and I’m looking forward to the next challenge.

LEGO NXT Grabber Arm I’m also a fan of LEGO and this year I was ecstatic to see I had the new LEGO NXT kit. I got bored of the default builds and chucked together this remote control arm in an evening. I’m hoping to improve it and bolt it onto a telepresence robot such as the Rovio.

The additional sensors such as the RFID sensor also look very interesting. I’ve been interested in cataloging everything in the house with RFID chips and then using multiple sensors to see if we can locate the items in 3d space. That way we would never lose anything :)

The other cool (some may say odd) present was my DNA results from 23andme. I’m not going into detail on the results but it was well worth the $206 and I think everyone should get this done ASAP.

]]> http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2012/01/christmas-new-year-2011/feed/ 2 Stonehenge http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2009/08/stonehenge/ http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2009/08/stonehenge/#comments Sun, 09 Aug 2009 09:42:56 +0000 Craig Mayhew http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/?p=278 I visited Stonehenge yesterday, it gave me an opportunity to begin playing with panoramic shots on my camera. These could have been optimized more and the number of pixels reduced as the quality does drop off as you zoom in on these images. The largest stone weighs 47 tonnes by the way … and 30% of it is below the ground .. and they moved some of the stones over 240 miles. Some theories say this might be possible with over 500 people tugging at leather ropes with another 100 people laying huge log rollers under the stone.

Stonehenge Panoramic
Stonehenge Panoramic 1

Stonehenge Panoramic
Stonehenge Panoramic 2

Stonehenge Panoramic
Stonehenge Panoramic 3

Stonehenge Panoramic
Stonehenge Panoramic 4

Stonehenge Panoramic
Stonehenge Panoramic 5

And for anyone who is really really into their cameras, here is the spec on these images:

Camera manufacturer SONY
Camera model DSC-T500
Exposure time 1/400 sec (0.0025)
F Number f/5.6
ISO speed rating 80
Lens focal length 5.8 mm
Orientation Normal
Horizontal resolution 72 dpi
Vertical resolution 72 dpi
Software used Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows
Y and C positioning 2
Exif version 2.21
Image compression mode 3
Exposure bias 0
Maximum land aperture 3.625
Metering mode Pattern
Light source Unknown
Flash Flash did not fire, compulsory flash suppression
Color space sRGB
Custom image processing Normal process
Exposure mode Auto exposure
White Balance Auto white balance
Scene capture type Portrait
Contrast Normal
Saturation Normal
Sharpness Normal

]]> http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2009/08/stonehenge/feed/ 0 Goodwood – Festival of Speed 2009 http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2009/07/goodwood-festival-of-speed/ http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2009/07/goodwood-festival-of-speed/#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:50:52 +0000 Craig Mayhew http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/?p=149 Ford GT-40 The car in which Lewis Hamilton became 2008 Formula 1 world champion. Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione Auto Union Type C Stromlinie Jay Leno being Interviewed Helicopter banking Jaguar XF Jaguar XKR Blue Bugatti Veyron Blue Bugatti Veyron (Chrome Veyron in background) Black & Silver Bugatti Veyron GTbyCitroën supercar concept The God's at Goodwood house

]]> http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2009/07/goodwood-festival-of-speed/feed/ 0 Beth found an undated 20p Coin! http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2009/07/beth-found-an-undated-20p-coin/ http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2009/07/beth-found-an-undated-20p-coin/#comments Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:54:53 +0000 Craig Mayhew http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/?p=116 Beth found this in the change of the BBQ takings at the Cowfold fair.

It’s one of the 2009 mismatched coins that has no date and we are auctioning it for charity.

The ebay auction can be found here http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130316755681

2009 Undated 20p coin - heads 2009 Undated 20p coin - tails ]]> http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2009/07/beth-found-an-undated-20p-coin/feed/ 2 Snow Day http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2009/02/snow-day/ http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2009/02/snow-day/#comments Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:57:45 +0000 Craig Mayhew http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/?p=54

I took these photos early this morning. Click the photos to view in high resolution. It’s not very often we get snow like this here!

Early morning snow on Broadwater Green

An Untouched Bench Covered in Snow

The Broadwater Green Bust Stop Covered in Snow

Broadwater Green - Early Morning Snow on a Tree

Felix and I watching the snow

]]> http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2009/02/snow-day/feed/ 0 Growing a Crystal Tree http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2008/12/growing-a-crystal-tree/ http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2008/12/growing-a-crystal-tree/#comments Sat, 27 Dec 2008 21:31:39 +0000 Craig Mayhew http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/?p=42 Here’s a few pictures of a crystal tree that I received for Christmas. It took about 6 hours to grow to this size.

Crystal TreeCrystal Tree

It works by pouring a salt solution into the bottom tray. This is soaked up by the tree shaped card. As the water from the solution evaporates, the salt crystals form. Then, through capillary action, more crystals form, in a process called efflorescence. The colours are generated by ink/dye that are in the card.

This is the tree once it’s been left for 24 hours.

Crystal Tree

]]> http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2008/12/growing-a-crystal-tree/feed/ 2 Want to be my console buddy? http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2008/12/want-to-be-my-console-buddy/ http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2008/12/want-to-be-my-console-buddy/#comments Fri, 26 Dec 2008 14:28:27 +0000 Craig Mayhew http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/?p=40 I’m not sure which of my friends have an XBOX 360, Wii or PS3… but if your one of them and you want to add me to your buddies list so we can play online:

On the XBOX 360 I’m using the gamertag “Craig Mayhew”.

On the PS3 our username is “bethandcraig”.

On the wii our console number is “6009 6678 0620 7803″.

See you online!

P.S. If you have an PS3 you should have a look at running folding@home on it when you aren’t using it (They have changed the name to playstation life)!

]]> http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2008/12/want-to-be-my-console-buddy/feed/ 0 Oradour http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2008/04/oradour/ http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2008/04/oradour/#comments Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:59:13 +0000 Craig Mayhew http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/?p=8 I’m in france at the moment and took the time to visit Oradour with some friends. It is a town that was massacred by German forces in 1944 and has been left exactly as it was when the massacre occurred. Pretty grim place to be honest… lots of family graves (it was the family graves that got me). For anyone who doesn’t get a chance to go around it I’ve attached several videos to this blog entry.

Video (mp4) – Names of people killed in 1944 Oradour massacre

Video (mp4) – Oradour family graves 1

Video (mp4) – Oradour family graves 2

Video (mp4) – Oradour family graves 3

Video (mp4) – Oradour family graves 4

]]> http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2008/04/oradour/feed/ 0 The other Craig Mayhews… http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2008/04/the-other-craig-mayhews/ http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/2008/04/the-other-craig-mayhews/#comments Sat, 05 Apr 2008 17:10:49 +0000 Craig Mayhew http://www.craigmayhew.com/blog/?p=4 After doing some searching I’ve found there are a number of other Craig Mayhew’s out there. If your one of them then please leave a comment and introduce yourself! If you’ve got a site that you would like me to direct people to then I’ll put a link on my home page so people can find you easily.

I’ve found a few people named Craig Mayhew already. Here’s the list:

Nasa – Craig Mayhew

Broadcaster/Producer – Craig Mayhew

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