How I envisage myself with the CoderDojoMobile

I travel a fair bit around Ireland now, CoderDojos are springing up around the country (~20 in Ireland and more worldwide), I goto new Dojos opening, recently opened CoderDojos, meet and talk to people who want to start a Dojo or visit various Dojos every week, plus I often goto meetings or events relating to CoderDojo. Trains are expensive (Cork – Dublin return €79 [Student card expired ]) and buses suck (crazy long and uncomfortable), plus that can be only half the battle for more remote places (It was an array of transport when we set up on Arranmore). I also get given swag to give to Dojos and I’m looking into create kits of resources to give to Dojos for special sessions. Driving in many cases would make me get places faster, get to more places, be cheaper (with car pooling), be easier to transport stuff and generally make life easier. So TL;DR travelling a lot in Ireland, a car would rock!

I want to make the CoderDojoMobile (think BatMobile, but awesomer). I have a couple of ideas for it to make it awesome, obviously the core of it is the actual car itself. Everything else is extra, but why ‘sup up a car’? Make the it look cool and be awesome, make it recognisable, have some memorable hacks and features.

• Body kit - http://www.stxstyling.co.uk/StxStyling/Cars/showit.php?pnum=3876
• Alloys - http://www.performancealloys.com/wheel-details.aspx?ID=64
• Carbon fiber hood – http://www.carpromods.com/product/Vis-Racing-Black-Carbon-Fiber-Hood/Default.aspx?dr=1&make=28&model=4540&year=2006
• White car respray
• Steering wheel – black and red
• Seats covers akin to http://www.modworld.co.uk/universal-mesh-car-seat-cover-set—blackred-7093-p.asp
• CoderDojo decal sides, rear window
• ‘</car>’ rear decal
• QR on code on back linking to car info page
• KITT Knight Rider Style light display on front (As suggested by Eamon Leonard)
• car url and twitter rear decal
• fake grass floor (idea from: @omgtbh) see: http://instagr.am/p/IpXmAdi-tt/
• fake ninja sword inside rear window

Tech – Hardware

• EEE PC Seahell – Onboard Computer – http://usa.asus.com/Eee/Eee_PC/Eee_PC_1015PE_Seashell/ (gut it and reinstall into console)
• Touch screen for EEE PC – http://www.fidohub.com/product.php?prod_id=54&sort3=
• 3G dongle
• gps dongle (realtime trip info, track car incase of theft)
• sound system
• Arudino to hook gauge usage
• Assorted electrical parts to wire everything up
• iPhone holder

Tech – Software

• Ubuntu for onboard computer (control sound, see info, get notifications, push realtime info to site, etc)
• GitHub repo – keep car info, progress, set up and hacks here; Flag issues in, well, issues
• Use Avego for ride sharing
• Website with usage data, ride share info, contributes page, check ins and more

Additional info

• Post upcoming trips and ride share opportunities through twitter
• twitter/github sign in for people who ride share
• Get someone who knows car electronics and such to triple check everything
• Mobile hotspot (CoderDojo Galtee mountains?!?)
• Do cool projects like visual wifi networks on routes I drive (based on idea by @MarcosEQ)

So these are just a few ideas I have. I realise the cost and work that is required, to pull this off, its gonna cost around €10,000, I’ll hustle and try get that down and try get help for fittings, spraying etc. Also that some of the things in here are nice and may be deemed extravagant for their nature of not being a core requirement, plus that and my income is currently not enough to make this a tangible idea and I don’t look like a idiot for going out, spending money and making up a nice car, but these are my thoughts and ramblings and this is something I’m going to look into further. I am open and considering any person/company wanting to help making this a reality, having their info up on the site and having a decal of their logo on the car side, if their brand is associated with connecting people and reaching, given the distance and places I’ll be racking up, it’d be a perfect match. Anyway this was what was in my head tonight and hey look, I made a blog post!

Update: Thinking of nailing down all the metrics (cost, build time, etc), doing some sweet ass visualisations, a video and throwing it up on Kickstarter, with pledges:

1.  €10+ getting their name on the site
2. €100+ getting their name or logo written on the interior of the car (door panel?) + no.1
3. €500+ getting their logo on the rear bumper + no.1 & no.2 (10 of these spots?)
4. €1000+ getting their logo on the side of the car (foot sized) + above (5 of these spots)
5. €2500+ getting their logo on side of car (large) + above (3 of these spots)

Print. Cut. Fold. Glue. Admire. Repeat.

Basically recently got addicted to papercraft, do it most nights after supervised study. tough to make, pretty to look at, awesome to photograph and CHEAP! Favourite one I’ve so far is the cartoony style ‘Link’ from Legend of Zelda:Windwalker.





And here is my collection of what I’ve done so far….

Heres a link to my papercraft album on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jameswhelton/sets/72157625223884156/

Got my hands on these, scans a patient (88 and fought in WW2) of my dads gave to him, uploaded the PDF for all to enjoy! My German sucks, but I’m pretty sure what they’re saying is sinister!

Note this full quality scan is 53MB! If you want to view a lesser quality version, click here

Saw this outside my school…

For zee movie:

01 Beck (as SEX BOB-OMB) – We Are SEX BOB-OMB
02 Plumtree - Scott Pilgrim
03 Frank Black – I Heard Ramona Sing
04 Beachwood Sparks – By Your Side
05 Black Lips – O Katrina!
06 Broken Social Scene (as Crash and the Boys) – I’m So Sad, So Very, Very Sad
07 Broken Social Scene (as Crash and the Boys) – We Hate You Please Die
08 Beck (as SEX BOB-OMB) – “Garbage Truck
09 T. Rex – Teenage Dream
10 The Bluetones - Sleazy Bed Track
11 Blood Red Shoes – It’s Getting Boring by the Sea
12 Metric – Black Sheep
13 Beck (as SEX BOB-OMB) – Threshold
14 Broken Social Scene – Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl
15 The Rolling Stones – Under My Thumb
16 Beck – Ramona (Acoustic)
17 Beck – Ramona
18 Beck (as SEX BOB-OMB) – Summertime
19 Brian LeBarton: Threshold 8 Bit

And for zee game, you can listen and view all tracks here: http://www.spinner.com/new-releases#/9

Now I have more faith in humanity.

An UCC linguistics professor was lecturing his class the other day…

“In English,” he said, “a double negative forms a positive. However, in some languages, such as Russian, a double negative remains a negative. But there isn’t a single language, not one, in which a double positive can express a negative.”

A voice from the back of the room piped up, “Yeah, right.”

First time doing anything comic-like, despite having a blog entitled ComicMac, ah the irony…