Author Archives: engineerzero

Free July 7-8 on Amazon Kindle: For millennia the starship voyaged from Sirius to Sol. It seemed as dead as any sterile asteroid drifting between the light years. Nothing moved within the frames of its unlit portals. Aside from the … Continue reading →

Here’s a graph that I made of IQ vs. US Household Income percentiles.  In other words, I looked up the percentiles for IQ and cross-referenced them with the percentiles for US Household Income. Of course, financial status is a function … Continue reading →

// ultrasonic toggle switch // Joe Schembrie aka ‘Engineer Zero’ // comments 6-23-2016 // the circuit for this sketch consists of a yellow and green LED and an ultrasonic distance sensor (pinger). // when a hand approaches the pinger, the yellow light comes on with the approach. // when the hand gets close enough, the value of green is toggled.   // IE, if the green LED was off, it turns on.  If it was on, it turns off. // to see this in action, visit https://engineerzero.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/ultrasonic-toggle-switch/ // The green LED toggles only once while the hand is near.  // IMPORTANT // The hand must be retracted far enough so that the yellow light goes off // for the green LED to be toggled again.  This prevents ‘bouncing.’   // NOTE:  In some respects, this device seems to work best when the yellow light is disconnected. // NOTE ON NOTE:  I wrote the above note a couple years ago AND DON’T REMEMBER WHY. // Now for inclusion of the library.   // the NewPing.h library is available on the Internet. // I did not write it.  I cannot answer questions about it. // It comes with documentation on the Internet.   // Google away! #include <NewPing.h> #define TRIGGER_PIN  11  // Arduino pin tied to trigger pin on the ultrasonic sensor. #define ECHO_PIN     10  // Arduino pin tied to echo pin on the … Continue reading →