[Swlug] infra-red floodlight (Jason Pearce)

Wed Nov 2 15:57:00 UTC 2022

Sadly I missed the boat with the infrared idea. The election is on the 8th. I'm not doing the same advertising as the other candidates as I don't feel what they're doing really works. The choices seem to be social media (which I abhor), little (and not so little) signs stuck in the ground at intersections, outside schools and in buddy's front yards or the LED advertising hoardings.

I've attended the same candidate forums and been in the same newspapers as the rest of the candidates. Only one is using the LED hoardings but since I saw his advert at 5:30am, I doubt he'll get many views. My previous experience of advertising is that it really does not work - unless you're a big name like McDonalds etc and even then it doesn't work in the way one would automatically envisage.

Thus I thought of the infrared light. I already have an infrared floodlight and a morse emitter. What I don't have is the energy after a 12 hour workday to do anything but be a couch potato between getting home and going to bed. If I had thought of it weeks ago, it would have been installed.

As it was, I had a seemingly unending litany of problems. That started with an ear infection then my car transmission gave out. I had my car back for a week before it stopped again. This time it turned out to be the shift lever bushing where it connects to the shift cable. As the garage wouldn't tow when I was off work I was faced with either missing a day's pay (ain't happening) or paying $150 for a tow to the garage or doing it myself (even though it was a warranty repair). I elected to do the repair and lost a weekend doing that. I couldn't buy just the bushing - I had to buy a complete cable and take the bushing off and put in in the existing cable. Replacing the entire cable would have had me dismantling the entire dashboard. In the meantime I'd been using Terri's pickup which has plenty quirks and isn't really a vehicle to trust to drive further than you're prepared to walk back from.

So, the election is November 8th. If I win it means I get to join the school board. That in itself is unpaid but the committee work is paid. I'd have to leave my current job with the district as I can't work for the district and manage it. That would get me a nice route out of bus driving. If I don't get elected then I still have a job as a bus driver. There is no real downside to winning or losing.

As the infrared floodlight I have does not pick up on my cellphone, I wonder if it really works or is really infrared. It could be Chinese junk. I'll try it again on Saturday night and try to get it all set up to run Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights even if I end up using solely a white LED array I built many years ago.

The whole aim is to do something unusual that does not cost any money. I have to sign off to the Ethics Commission that I have spent $0.00 on my campaign out of the $1,000 I am permitted to spend. 

As far as pilots finding the light - private and military pilots are always up for a challenge. Hunt the Morse beacon and translate it is right up their street. The beacon would just say "End corruption. Vote Sage for School Board".

Rhys Sage

On Wednesday, 2 November 2022 at 09:25:18 GMT-4, swlug-request at mailman.lug.org.uk <swlug-request at mailman.lug.org.uk> wrote: 

Send Swlug mailing list submissions to
    swlug at mailman.lug.org.uk

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
    https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/swlug
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
    swlug-request at mailman.lug.org.uk

You can reach the person managing the list at
    swlug-owner at mailman.lug.org.uk

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Swlug digest..."
Today's Topics:

  1. infra-red floodlight (Jason Pearce)

Can’t help with any of the technical side, I’m afraid, but I’m just curious about your overall concept.  Who do you think would be likely to see your message?  For example, do military pilots wear something that allows them to see in infra-red, or do planes have devices that allow them to pick up infra-red and relay that information to the pilot?

If the message does get spotted and translated from short and long flashes into the required message, I’d be dubious whether they would want to publicise it, lest it start a craze.  Whilst it’s not distracting or dangerous to pilots in the way that shining a laser into their eyes would be, if they can pick up messages like this, such messages would still represent some sort of potential distraction to them, when they should be entirely focussed on flying the plane, I would think.

I hope your run for school board goes well, anyway, and maybe you’ll think up some other novel ways to get publicity.

Jason   Pearce 
Partner 
Direct Dial:  01633 265984 
Email:  jpearce at etlp.co.uk  
IMPORTANT NOTICE: CYBERCRIME ALERT!

Please note that Everett Tomlin Lloyd & Pratt’s bank account details will NOT change during the course of a transaction. Please be vigilant and exercise caution when opening any emails, attachments or links and when responding to any requests for your bank account details. We will not accept responsibility if you transfer money into an incorrect bank account. We will NEVER inform you via email or text message of any change in our firm's bank details. You are advised to telephone our office to confirm our bank details BEFORE you transfer any money to us.

Central Switchboard: 01495 763 333
www.etlp.co.uk 

Newport Office 19‑20 Gold Tops, Newport, NP20 4PH. Fax: 01633 251840. newport at etlp.co.uk 
Pontypool Office, 17 Commercial Street, Pontypool, NP4 6JQ. Fax: 01495 750526. pontypool at etlp.co.uk 

Partners:  Ashley Harkus, Kirsten Tuck, Jason Pearce, Kay Perrott, Sarah Purnell. 

Consultants: Robert Twigg, Jonathan Stephens, Gareth Edwards (Non‑practicing) & Chris Pennant (Non‑practicing)  

This firm is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. 
SRA NO: 00049459 

The contents of this email and any attachments are the property of Everett Tomlin Lloyd and Pratt Solicitors and are intended for the confidential use of the named recipient(s) only. If they have been received in error you must maintain confidentiality, notify us of the error, destroy copies and delete them from your system. Everett Tomlin Lloyd and Pratt Solicitors operates an e-mail and internet policy which provides for the monitoring of any or all email transmissions and any e-mail sent from or to Everett Tomlin Lloyd and Pratt may be subject to such monitoring. 

From: Swlug <swlug-bounces at mailman.lug.org.uk> On Behalf Of swlug-request at mailman.lug.org.ukSent: 29 October 2022 13:00To: swlug at mailman.lug.org.ukSubject: Swlug Digest, Vol 309, Issue 2

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of ETLP Solicitors. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Send Swlug mailing list submissions to
swlug at mailman.lug.org.uk

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/swlug
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
swlug-request at mailman.lug.org.uk

You can reach the person managing the list at
swlug-owner at mailman.lug.org.uk

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Swlug digest..."

Today's Topics:

1. A crazy idea (Rhys Sage)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2022 01:25:42 +0000 (UTC)
From: Rhys Sage <rhys_sage at yahoo.com>
To: South Wales Linux User Group <swlug at mailman.lug.org.uk>
Subject: [Swlug] A crazy idea
Message-ID: <842589977.1741879.1667006742545 at mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

As many of you know, I'm running for election. I had a crazy idea about sending a new message to the world about it.

I live close to a civil airport and frequently get overflights from military planes too.

The idea - I have an infrared floodlight, a spare Pi Pico and code already generated to send Morse Code. My idea is to combine the Morse generator with the infrared floodlight. The electronics is going to be the hard part.

The floodlight works on 12v and I have a few relays around the place. I could try a 5v relay powered from the 5v rail, a 1K resistor and a transistor to send Morse to the relay. I don't know how long the Pico would run from a set of D cells. My thought was 8 D cells powering a 12v to USB converter that runs the Pico and the relay then the other side of the relay going to the 12v from the D cells and the floodlight.

24x7 or if I found a photoresistor that I could employ to tell the Pico to stop sending in daylight, I could be transmitting skyward a Morse message saying "Vote Sage for Lex 1 School Board". It might be a vain exercise BUT if it gets seen, read and reported then it would be fantastic publicity. Because it's not a focussed beam of light like a lazer, it should not upset anybody. It could not be claimed to be a blinding light either as its not visible to the naked eye.

I'll have to look more into this. I have 2 weeks before the elections. I already have all of the components needed too. Tomorrow I have to take the center console of my Xterra apart to ascertain why the gear stick is apparently disconnected from the shift cable.?

Rhys Sage

------------------------------

Subject: Digest Footer

_______________________________________________
Swlug mailing list
Swlug at mailman.lug.org.uk
https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/swlug

------------------------------

End of Swlug Digest, Vol 309, Issue 2
*************************************

_______________________________________________
Swlug mailing list
Swlug at mailman.lug.org.uk
https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/swlug