iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 26/09/2026

That it's a *study* gives me a little more confidence in it.

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 26/09/2026

Sure they weren't always that way? I've cast off fears as I've aged.

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 25/09/2026

Flip the photo (no one will be the wiser, and the wave will look closer to Hokusai's).

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 20/09/2026

(When portrait-mode on the phone actually makes sense. Thank you.)

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 19/09/2026

Yeah—I mention tools (Claude reco'd—I tried, they work) to convert line endings. BBEdit can do it too (only one file at a time? A batch-mode in BBEdit?). I debated, because they look like ass in Github if I leave the line-endings Mac-friendly. (I like tweaking the files online though.)

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 15/09/2026

I posted a 68K Macintosh "game shell" on Github if anyone wanted to dabble in writing a vintage Mac sprite-based game. github.com/EngineersNee... Included, a beta of "Flappy Toaster" (a game-shell demonstrator I threw together). #vintagemac #retro_gaming #vcfmw

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 15/09/2026

Hey, happy to build any display decor you need for your booth next year.

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 15/09/2026

Honestly though, I think Holmes needs medical help and I feel guilty—seemingly making fun of her illness here. But somehow this bit is like some kind of absurdist art for these bizarro times we find ourselves in. It was like it was screaming out to be put on a t-shirt.

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 14/09/2026

I did. Picked up a t-shirt (of course). I also grabbed some volumetric flasks (I love glassware porn) and some small (shot-glass sized) beakers to make a kind of drink set (like a whiskey set). I'll likely make a nice stand for the flask + beakers.

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 12/09/2026

Love the re-creation of Steve's garage at VCFMW. (Reminds me of Wonderfest 2026 recreating the Industrial Light & Magic model shop.) #VCFMW

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 10/09/2026

I took your feedback. Give it a try now.

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 10/09/2026

By dot gain, what do you mean? Not the pitch but a scaling factor applied? Gamma was broken, BTW—I just fixed it. (Python and Javascript handle gamma differently so there was something lost in translation.)

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 10/09/2026

Mine is grayscale only. 😞 (Of course, if you already have the channels separated and feed them in as grayscale…)

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 09/09/2026

Vibe-coded (donʼt hate me) an optical halftone web-app designed for screen printing. Free, your images never leave your device, no account—just enjoy it. (Send feedback if you find issues.) Here: engineersneedart.com/halftone/ #screenprinting #halftone

Screenshot of https://engineersneedart.com/halftone/

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 07/09/2026

Thanks. (Looks like we're neighbors practically—sharing a table with Ron McAdams.)

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 06/09/2026

Slightly better (in my opinion) Atkinson dithering. At an angle so that the dots don't moiré with the screen. I also went with super-ellipses instead of squares or circles for the dots (because, why not, it's just math).

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 05/09/2026

I'm enjoying diving into screen-printing. (White ink on a black sheet of French paper.) The Moon from the recent Artemis mission. Experimenting with exposure times, half-toning vs. dithering (vibe-coding custom Python algorithms and testing them). #screenprinting #silkscreen #nasa #artemis_art

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 01/09/2026

She can run circles around either one of us though. (Letting myself out…)

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 01/09/2026

Screenshot the ASCII art and include that instead (I know, lame).

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 28/08/2026

Yeah, here's the article (a PDF on my Google Drive): drive.google.com/file/d/1z9Zx...

drive.google.com

Rattleback (Amateur Scientist).pdf

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 28/08/2026

Trying to get a screen-printing setup in the basement. First screen burned—test-strips at various exposure intervals to try to dial in my home-made, UV, LED jank-ass light. I'll pull a print tomorrow and see if I need to burn another test-strip with different intervals. #screenprinting #silkscreen

Silkscreen under a home-made UV LED light source.

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 28/08/2026

An old Scientific American had an article on the rattle back. I'll see if I can find it.

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 26/08/2026

No idea who these two are. Oh well.

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 24/08/2026

Could also have gone with "Matryoshka dolls". 😉

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 19/08/2026

Probably the album that had the most profound effect on me (for some reason).

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 19/08/2026

If you just want a Lorenz attractor, you can do it with a few chips. This guy for example: youtu.be/0wD2WbG7loU

youtu.be

#1893 Lorenz Attractor PCB

YouTube video by IMSAI Guy

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 19/08/2026

A professor Dr. Bernd Ulmann is the analog computer expert these days. After mailing my "Anna" analog computer kit to him he was able to "program" a Lorenz attractor. Schematic, layout (extra pots and an additional integrator were needed/added) and the scope. #electronics #analog #chaos

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 13/08/2026

Programming games on the early Mac. (Also Sunday.) (Now I have to put together a preso…)

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 13/08/2026

Oh, shit. It looks like I am too. (I never got an email? I checked the site though, and there I am.)

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 12/08/2026

A little bit of Mike's backing vocals made it in towards the end of the video—even Bill's "ITS GOING TO FALL…" (Not sure about the "BURY MAGNETS"… Michael trolling us I suspect.)

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 08/08/2026

I'd love to build a full-size replica of the "2001" space pod—for… meditating in? It would look cool in the living room regardless. That thing looks cool too! 😃 It reminded me of the free-wheeling 70's when "Bucky" was lecturing the college circuit (a bit before my time). People made crazy things.

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 08/08/2026

I built a custom desk when I got my first Mac (Plus). It was something like a secretary style—you could lock it up so the Plus didn't "walk". So paranoid… I sucked at making things from wood then, so it was all particle board cut with a circular saw.

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 01/08/2026

Thanks, Tim. (And no thanks.) :-/

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 27/07/2026

Too many…. Eels: Electroshock Blues, Neutral Milk Hotel: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, both Pixies albums, The Geraldine Fibbers: Butch, all The Muffs albums that decade, Elliott Smith, Sleeper, early Grandaddy, the Sunday’s’ albums…

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 21/07/2026

Hard to pick one: Sophie's Choice, Gandhi, Quest for Fire, Blade Runner, Tron, Conan the Barbarian (ha, ha)…

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 20/07/2026

I found them with their release of "Reckoning" at a time when I was feeling alone, and extremely unhappy with the way my (young 20-ish) life was going. And here was this new sound, that, truthfully, took a few weeks of listening to grow on me.

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 15/07/2026

Oh, shit, you're right. (Just went to college in Glasgow).

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 08/07/2026

(I'll try to put together a YouTube video about "Anna" when I get some time. That will be a new thing for me.)

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 08/07/2026

"Anna" I wrapped up (after more than 6 months?) my little #analogcomputer trainer (hobbyist machine—whatever). It's open—Github repo linked here. I made a few kits available (they were expensive to make though—but nice and with a nice manual!). #electronics github.com/EngineersNee...

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 08/07/2026

(I'll try to put together a YouTube video about "Anna". My first go at that sort of thing.)

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 07/07/2026

Also, we have learned that a single accusation can sink a Dem candidate.

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 03/07/2026

Surely a coincidence: both Camera Obscura and Lloyd Cole from Scotland.

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 03/07/2026

I can't take all the metaphors.

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John Calhoun @engineersneedart.com · 02/07/2026

Oh, heck, I'm watching TMGB (They Might Be Giants) adding show after show as they tour the entire country—just raking it in. Letters to Cleo could easily follow suit.

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