A week or so ago, my office-mate and I played click-a-mole on the maryland covid vaccine website for about an hour. Its an utter trainwreck of malware and database timeouts. But I got both an appointment and an error message. Yay?

It apparently didn't quite work, because the appointment was rescheduled at the last minute.

However today, I got to go to Six Flags, and ride the covid-coaster. It runs really slow, and the track is made of cones and jersey barriers, but you do get to drive it yourself. So I am now half vaccinated.

Six Flags is doing 4000 people a day. The end is in sight.

At work, when requesting equipment and supplies, I frequently add a superluminal pony to the list. Just in case someone ever can find one... (I also once put that it was snowing in a bug tracking system.) Its been a running joke. And today, in response to a request for a pile of HDMI adapters and a superluminal pony, someone offered me a Rainbow Dash. So of course I said sure... and she will be installed in the lab as the mascot for the project's next big test. Perhaps Raindbow Dash will go over better than the stuffed sars-cov-2 I brought for the last test.

So about 23 people showed up, which matched the estimate based on the
furthemore sched thing and replies to twitter. We made about 14 holograms.
So some people left disappointed (sigh). We didn't record the results very
well, but the majority of the holograms came out.

It would not have worked anywhere near as well as it did without TJCoyote
handling the processing. Thanks!!

Things which worked:

No Injuries.
Pipelining the exposure and processing steps achieved about 5 minutes/hologram.
Taping the festive holiday safe lights to the wall got a surprising amount of light
into the trays, and went up very quickly.
Dog training pads under the chemistry trays caught everything.
FTM gave me plenty of setup and tear down time, we actually ran over trying to
get everyone a hologram.

Things which didn't quite work:

A second timer, so developer and bleach are separate would have helped.
Need a third pipeline stage for the wash/dry cycle and packaging, in normal
room light.
People at the end of the queue ended up hanging out in the darkness
for an hour and a half.
Needed more developer in the tray (had 300ml total, in an 8x10 tray, 400ml
would have been better).
The developer got exhausted around hologram number 10, should have replaced
it on hologram number 10.


The big issue is how to reduce everyone waiting around until it one's turn.
At HOPE, the panel was in two pieces. The first part was in normal room light
and had all the explanations. The second part was in the dark room, and I
divided it up into 15 minute windows which people signed up for during the
fist half. It was one person at a time and I was alone, so one hologram every 15 minutes.

If the dark room part is pipelined, then someone arrives every 5 minutes, which
complicates opening the door (and letting the darkness out). Its also difficult
to predict how well we will stay on schedule.

Just a reminder... I'm doing a holography panel at Furthemore.
It will be on Saturday 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm.

Bring an interesting object about the size of your fist (holograms are
life-size), and we will walk you through arranging it in the holographic
apparatus, exposing a piece of film, and then developing that film to make a
white light viewable hologram of your object to take home and amaze your
friends with.

The fine print: This is approximately a high school physics lab, there will
be lasers, film, chemistry (not especially toxic, but it sure stains), and
darkness. I would not recommend it for very young children, or people in
fursuits.

http://www.bobdbob.com/~protius/FTM_holography/

I was doing paperwork this weekend (register for All The Things) and have
requested a panel at Fur the More this year for a holography panel. Its not
approved or anything, but I figured I'd mention it here anyway.

So assuming it is approved, you should show up with some interesting object
about the size of your fist, and we'll try to make a hologram of it.

There are some limits to the process, the image will be life-size and the film
is 4x5 inches, hence the "about the size of your fist" thing. The brighter the
object the brighter the image, matte white is ideal. The laser is green, so
something which is bright red will look black. And, nothing can move more than
1/10 of a wavelength (53 nanometers for my laser) so something solid, like a
shell, will work better than something light or fluffy, like a feather, which
will be blown around by air currents.

The traditional test object is a porcelain cat (seriously... see "Practical
Holography" by Graham Saxby). Something solid so it won't move during the
exposure and matte white reflective for a bright image. Thats why there are
so many holograms of skulls and dice. I've also had very good results with
people's keys, and shells.

The worst object is a fake flower. The petals blow around in air currents.

My normal test object is a toy hamster. Its not the best object, but I have good
control over air currents in my normal lab.

The whole thing must also be done in a dark room. The laser is green so I'll
have a red safe light, but visibility will be poor. I would not recommend it for
fursuiters. And stray light (EG from cellphones) will fog the film.

The rest of the process looks kind of like processing black and white print
paper. The chemistry will be in open trays with tongs. Its not especially
toxic, but don't drink it, and wash it off ASAP if you get it on you. The bigger
hazard is that it will stain when you least expect it. The developer looks
like water, but after a few hours it turns purple.


Here's the handout: http://www.bobdbob.com/~protius/HOP.....hy/outline.pdf .
Its recycled from HOPE, where I first did this panel.

I have put together a semi-portable holography apparatus to bring to FAU, and
call a panel. Its officially called "Waves are cooler than particles" and will
on sunday at 1pm to 3pm.

Bring random objects and we'll make holograms of stuff till they kick us out.

The fine print... They are not going to look like my 8x10's. Those require
several tons of equipment, and much more expensive film. The portable apparatus can
do 4x5's of bright solid things about the size of your fist. The ideal holography
subject is matte white and made of stone. Keys work really well, I have gotten good
results with shells, zoids, key rings, and plastic monsters. I have gotten OK results
with stuffed animals. You would be surprised how many holograms I have of my stuffed
hamster.

Hackaday saw me at HOPE this weekend...
https://hackaday.com/2018/07/23/hop.....own-holograms/

I have a pulsed holography apparatus... ( http://www.bobdbob.com/~protius/pulsed_1.0/ if you're curious.). I've posted pictures of a couple of holograms here, and put one in the Furthemore art show a few times.

I've made holograms of two fursuits, my own and Jbadger. I would like to make some more, unfortunately the apparatus is large, finicky (lots of mirrors to align) and weighs a ton. Or at least half a ton, the laser's power supply has some very large capacitors and transformers. So while I'd love to bring it to a con, it would take half the con to get it reassembled and aligned.

So... is anyone willing to bring their fursuit to the middle of Maryland and sit for a hologram in my basement? It takes about an hour to shoot and process a master hologram assuming nothing goes wrong. The apparatus is eye-safe for the subject, but bystanders will need to close their eyes.

Well, sort of fame. I went to the kinetic sculpture race with a goose hat and a crown graphic (1940's press camera). They put a picture of me on their official coverage page.

http://www.kineticbaltimore.com/KSR.....lt.asp?Page=27

My hat doesn't look anything like a goose. Sigh...

So a few weeks ago I was rock climbing in the local climbing gym. A couple of people from work and I climb every wednesday. I was reaching for a hold right at the exciting bit of a problem, and slipped. I didn't fall, but I instinctively lunged for the hold, and instead of grabbing it I ran my hand into it. While it did not feel good, my hand seemed more or less operable, and I kept climbing.

After a week, the swelling had gone down, but my pinky was not bending right, so I got an appointment, and went climbing again.

The next week (soonest appointment available) they xrayed it, and noted that I had knocked the corner off the flange (not the correct term...) of the first joint on my pinky (right on my knuckle). But my complaint about how my finger was bending did not make sense to the doctor. He called it scissoring or mal-rotation, my pinky would hit my ring finger as I made a fist. So I should see another guy, the next day (thursday). I did not go climbing that wednesday.

The next guy noted that the bit I had broken off was an attachment point for a tendon, and it needed to be re-attached, Tomorrow (friday). So now I get to have surgery. And that requires a pre-op physical, and a responsible grown-up (they do not allow you to drive yourself home, and for very good reasons). Which occupied the rest of the afternoon.

The original plan for the weekend was to get Graysoul from DC, and then go to Long Island to visit JBadger. Getting Graysoul was moved up a day, and he could be my responsible grownup for the surgery. Then if things seemed OK saturday morning
we would head for Long Island.

The surgery itself sucked, but could have been worse. I do not like it when my brain does not work right. Waking up from anesthetic is not like waking up from sleep. It takes much longer, and is much harder, bits of your brain keep falling off.
It wasn't even general anesthetic, it was a nerve block and sedative, I have no memory after the people in the operating room introduced themselves. And then I woke up in the recovery room with a can of coke I did not remember asking for (I am notorious for drinking coke at work, they call it my coke habit). I was the last person that day, it was friday, and they wanted me to go home. So they propped me up, and Graysoul took me home.

Friday night was not much. Hang out on the couch with percocet. Graysoul tells me that I did not seem especially affected and had nothing insane to say. I had a dream in which I was a pokemon though.

Saturday I was tired of having a cast, and we headed for Long Island. There was some navigational difficulty (google is an optimist) but we eventually made it. There were about seven other furries there, two in fursuits, party at JBadger's.
We got to meet his family, and some of the fire department people. Wish it was for a better reason.

So I'm going to try option D... distribute video files of my con films on my server, and showings at cons.

I've setup a page at http://www.bobdbob.com/~protius/con_films/ . It will want a userid and a passwd. They are "furry" and "papercliparm" respectively. To be pedantic, I'm giving that passwd to furries on FA.

Right now, all thats up there is MFM-1, from 1997.

Any suggestions on how to rephrase the legalese to sound a bit more positive?

So I've been shooting 16mm film at furrycons since 1997 (MFM-1, my first furry con). (Furthemore 2015 was the first one on video.)

My nominal policy has been to never post the footage I've shot to the internet at large so I can assure people that my stuff will never show up on MTV, and make them have to Answer Questions. Instead I have shown it in a panel or whatever at other conventions. IE: my "Film at 11" event in the MFM video room, which is half con footage and half random stuff off ebay.

But more recently talking to people at cons, the normal question has not been "where is this going" to worry about Answering Questions, but more "where is this going" to download and watch it.

So I'm pondering my distribution (or lack there-of) policy again.

Plan A: Continue the current policy, some stills on Internet, show films and video at cons.

Plan B: Post low-res versions on my webserver. Also show films and video at cons.

Plan C: Post full-res versions to my webserver. Maybe show at cons.

One place it is not going is you-tube. Its not going anywhere where I would have to agree to any more terms of service. I'm sick of contracts, I Do Not Agree. Oh, and I want to keep my copyright too.

Any opinions, or better ideas?