"Chat with Iraq" 2003

On 13 December 2003, I organized a text chat (with webcam) between the College Perk Coffeehouse in College Park, Maryland (closed in 2016, Internet Archive Link), and the Baghdad Internet Cafe in Baghdad, Iraq (unclear to me what happened to that business, Internet Archive Link). This was the day that Saddam Hussein was captured, but I believe we had not heard the news yet when the chat occurred.

The chat was documented on dc.indymedia.org, which appears to no longer be active (Internet Archive link), but I thought I would copy it here to ensure longer-term survival of the text:

A "Chat with Iraq" occured today between the College Perk Coffeehouse in College Park, Maryland, and the Baghdad Internet Cafe in Baghdad, Iraq.

The chat made use of Yahoo Messenger. Audience members in the US asked questions to the moderator, who typed in the text questions. Webcams in both venues provided images. "techartvideo" is the USA, "baghdadic" is Baghdad: techartvideo: OK, I think we are ready now baghdadic: I am waitting for voice signal baghdadic: I have voice error baghdadic: Due to bad connection baghdadic: Try to write techartvideo: Is your webcam on? baghdadic: yes techartvideo: we will try to view it now baghdadic: ok techartvideo: can you view our webcam? baghdadic: No techartvideo: can you see our webcam now? techartvideo: we can see you now! baghdadic: Hi for all baghdadic: Can U see our webcam now techartvideo: Yes, we can see your webcam. techartvideo: Duncan, a computer consultant, asks "How are you doing?" baghdadic: Not bad techartvideo: We are doing well here, temperature is about 2-3 degrees C outside techartvideo: David, a computer programmer, asks "How many people are in the Cafe now?" baghdadic: very cold , here in Baghdad 21C baghdadic: 8 persons techartvideo: David asks "What do you think about the US occupation of Iraq?" techartvideo: (I know that is a tough question) baghdadic: Ghassan with U baghdadic: HI EVERY BODY , WHO ARE U techartvideo: Hello Ghassan. baghdadic: I AM GHASSAN , SPECIALIST IN VETERINERY MEDICINE baghdadic: I MEAN HOW ARE U techartvideo: This is Thomas typing. We have about 20 people here. baghdadic: HELLO THOMAS :) techartvideo: I am doing well Ghassan. baghdadic: YES THAT IS GOOD . HERE THERE ARE 6 PERSONS FOR TRAINING COURSE IN INTERNET baghdadic: INTERNET FIELD IS NEW IN IRAQ , SO WE ARE VERY HEPPY TO USE IT techartvideo: How long has the Internet Cafe been open? baghdadic: WE ARE START FROM THE 1 ST AUGUST techartvideo: Sarah, an artist, "What are your favorite sports?" baghdadic: PING PONG IS MY FAVORITE SPORT techartvideo: Cory, a biology student, says "I like the IMVironment you set up" techartvideo: Robin, a student of Russian language, asks "Are you optimistic about the future of Iraq?" baghdadic: I WISH TO KNOW WHAT ABOUT YOUR IDIA ABOUT IRAQI PEOPLE baghdadic: THANKS baghdadic: YES , SURE BY US AIDS baghdadic: WE THANKS THE USA FOR SAVING US FROM THE DIRTY PRESEDENT WHOS IS CALLED SADDAM HUSSEIN baghdadic: HE WAS DISTROY OUR BEAUTY LAND techartvideo: We think we don't know enough the Iraqi people, we only know through our television. baghdadic: PLS TRY TO READ OUR HISTORY , WE HAVE VERY RICH HISTORY baghdadic: IRAQ HAVE MAKE THE FIRST CIVILIZATION IN THE WORLD techartvideo: Yes, we have heard about Code of Hammurabi. techartvideo: USA wants to learn more. baghdadic: FROM SUMER , AKAD ,BABYLON & UR THE CITY OF IBRAHAM MASSENGER OF THE GOD AND HE IS THE GRAND FATHER OF ALL MASSENGERS . techartvideo: Sarah asks "Do women come to your internet cafe?" baghdadic: YES , SURE . NOW THERE IS SOME ONE . SHE IS STUDENT IN COMPUTER COLLEGE techartvideo: we see her techartvideo: Ben, a student of politics, asks "Do you talk with Americans on the streets of Baghdad?" baghdadic: SURA ASK SARAH (( U ARE IN WHICH ART ? )) techartvideo: Sarah does ballet dancing. baghdadic: VERY NICE ART SHE SAY baghdadic: SURA LIKE SLLOW MUSIC baghdadic: NOW THERE IS SHUT DOWN WITH POWER , SO WE NEED TO SWITCH GENSET baghdadic: SORRY FOR THIS MATER techartvideo: David asks "How many hours of electricity do you have each day?" baghdadic: WE HAVE ONLY 8 HOURS / DAILY baghdadic: U CAN SEE OUR TRAINERS techartvideo: We see your computers techartvideo: We say Hello to the trainers. baghdadic: LATEET TRADER ASKS THOMAS ARE U THE OWNER OF THE CAFE ? techartvideo: Chris Gordon is the owner of the Cafe, here he is baghdadic: IS THERE ANY ARABIAN PEOPLE WITH U ? techartvideo: We have one Shia Muslim woman here from India. techartvideo: Sophia says "Assalaamu Alaikum" baghdadic: WELCOME TO HER , CAN WE SEE HER ? techartvideo: She is on webcam now. baghdadic: ALLAIKUM ALSALAM WA RAHMATOLLAH WA BARAKATOH baghdadic: WHERE IS SHE ? techartvideo: You may have to "view webcam" of us techartvideo: Sophia doesn't know much Arabic, sorry! baghdadic: WE CANT SEE HER baghdadic: DONT WORRY techartvideo: OK, we can see you again. baghdadic: OK techartvideo: Scott, an engineer, asks "Do you like President George Bush"? techartvideo: Scott, an engineer, asks "Do you like President George Bush?" baghdadic: WE LIKE THE US PEOPLE ONLY, NOT THE GOVERNMENT techartvideo: Many people here feel the same. techartvideo: Ben asks "Do you talk with foreigners on the streets of Baghdad?" baghdadic: I AM SORRY FOR THIS DISCONNECTION techartvideo: No problem. baghdadic: THANKS techartvideo: la mushkila techartvideo: Ben asks "Do you talk to foreigners on the streets of Baghdad?" baghdadic: YES SURE techartvideo: From which countries? baghdadic: THERE ARE AMERICAN,BRITISH , AUSTRALIAN , SPANISH ........ETC techartvideo: Dale asks "What do you think about elections in Iraq?" baghdadic: LATEEF ASKS U HOW MUCH THE LATIST MODEL OF COMPUTER IN US ? techartvideo: U can get good computer for 350 dollars, very good for 3000 dollars. baghdadic: IT IS EXPENSIVE techartvideo: I think we disconnected this time, sorry! baghdadic: YES THOMAS techartvideo: Hi!. You can get a good computer for 350 dollars, very good computer for 3000 dollars techartvideo: How much for a computer in Baghdad? baghdadic: 200 USD FOR P4 ( ASIAN ORIGIN ) TO 1300USD FOR LAP TOP techartvideo: Jeff, a geography students, asks "Do you like any American food?" baghdadic: WE LIKE KENTUCKY & BERGER baghdadic: MORE OF US SOLDERS LIKE TO EAT IRAQI KABAB techartvideo: Duncan sasy "My favorite is Shwarma" baghdadic: NICE baghdadic: LATEEF SAY THAT HE EAT WITH AN AMERICAN SHE SOLDER ( IRAQI TECKA ) baghdadic: AND SHE WAS VERY HAPPY TO EAT AN IRAQIAN FOOD techartvideo: David asks "Why do you think the US invaded Iraq?" baghdadic: ALL OF US techartvideo: David asks "Why do you think the United States invaded Iraq?" baghdadic: BECAUSE IRAQ IS VERY RICH WITH PETROL. INORDER TO CONTROL THE WORLD techartvideo: Some people here agree, but hope things to become better in Iraq baghdadic: THANKS , NAD WE HOPE THAT ALSO techartvideo: Ben asks "Is life in Iraq better now than in 2000?" baghdadic: SURE , WE HAVE ONLY THE SENSATION OF FREEDOM techartvideo: can you hear the audio? baghdadic: ARE U WITH THE WAR AGAINST IRAQ ? OR AGAINST THE WAR ? baghdadic: I ASK ABOUT THE AMERICAN FAMILY IDEA WHEN THEY HEARED THE BAD NEWS ABOUT THIER SON WHO IS KILLED IN IRAQ ? baghdadic: NO I CANT HEAR baghdadic: WHO IS PLA`Y THE GITAR ? techartvideo: 12 people here say "Against the war" 2 people say "For the war" baghdadic: THAT IS AGOOD RATIO techartvideo: Duncan, a computer consulant., is playing the guitar baghdadic: VERY NICE AND GOOD LUCK FOR HIM baghdadic: I ASK ABOUT THE AMERICAN FAMILY IDEA WHEN THEY HEARED THE BAD NEWS ABOUT THIER SON WHO IS KILLED IN IRAQ ? techartvideo: Some American families are proud of their soliders, some are against the war and are confused and upset techartvideo: Mark, a physics student, asks "How do you feel when American soldier is killed?" baghdadic: WE ARE VERY SAD WHEN WE HEARED THESE NEWS , BECAUSE THEY HAVE FAMILY AND BABIES techartvideo: We are also very sad when we here about Iraqis being killed. techartvideo: You said you needed to end around 8PM (20:00) Baghdad time. Why is that? Is it dangerous then? baghdadic: ISMAEL ELECTICITY INSTITUATE IN WEBCAM VIEW NOW techartvideo: Many students here from University of Maryland baghdadic: YES IT IS VERY DANGEROUS CAS BAD SECURITY baghdadic: YES WE KNOW THIS UNIVERSITY techartvideo: Duncan says "Shukran Jeezilan" techartvideo: John says "Ma salaam" baghdadic: :) THANKS baghdadic: MA SALAMA - BYE techartvideo: We enjoyed the chat very much! Thank you! techartvideo: We look forward to chatting again, I will speak with Ali from Sparkeast about it. baghdadic: THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND WE HOPE U ARE INTERESTED WITH US . BYE techartvideo: Bye from Washington, DC! baghdadic: BYE FROM BAGHDAD

Oval Pill Cutter Shim 3D Print

The pill cutter we have is great for circular pills, but it is tough to use it with highly oval pills. So I took some measurements, and designed a shim for the pill cutter to use with oval pills. A key item is to avoid blocking the cutting blade when it comes down, so the middle of the shim has a slot that is only 1mm thick, but with HyperPLA it seems strong enough.

I did the design with OnShape. It is now my favorite CAD system, thanks to the ease of being able to precisely change dimensions. Sliced in Creality Print and printed on a Creality Ender 3 V3 SE 3D printer with Creality HyperPLA 1.75mm filament.

A while back, I built Chaney Electronics C6981 geiger counter kit, which uses the SBM-20 tube.  I had nothing hotter than my granite counter-top to test with (which was maybe 200% of background radiation).  Then I saw the Radioactive Drew YouTube episode "Uranium Tiles on Pasadena Sidewalk", and I knew I had to take my son out there to test it.  It's hot alright!

Here is the geiger counter:

Punched Card

 

SculptrVR to Roblox Workflow

SculptrVR is a fun, free-form VR sculpture program.  After my son made a cool design in the app, I extracted the .obj mesh from the Oculus Quest (see this post for all the details).  Besides 3D printing it, I also wanted to be able to bring it into a Roblox level so he can play on it.

A few things I learned about this process:

First, you need an "adult" Roblox account to make "mesh objects" in Roblox Studio.  I guess they are afraid of the kinds of meshes kids might upload?  Weird.

Second, you can import .obj files into Roblox Studio, but I suggest the following workflow in Mesh Lab to do some processing on the mesh so it works well in Roblox Studio.

1) Load the .obj file into MeshLab

2) Roblox Studio has a limit of 10,000 faces on MeshParts:



So if you have more than 10,000 faces in your mesh, in MeshLab use "Filters/Remeshing, Simplification and Reconstruction/Simplification: Quadratic Edge Collapse Decimation" to reduce the number of faces:



You can target for 10,000 faces, but if you end up with more faces than 10,000 after the decimation, you may need to set a slightly lower target like 9,900:



3) SculptrVR exports .obj meshes with vertex colors.  However, Roblox Studio expects a mesh to have a texture image file instead.  So you need to create the texture file from the .obj file you obtained from SculptrVR.  There are two steps to do this.  First use "Filters/Texture/Parameterization: Trivial Per-Triangle":



What is "Parameterization"?  It maps the space of the 3D triangular mesh onto a flat, 2D surface.  The best explanation I've seen is from this slide from a Tel Aviv University presentation:

4) Now that there is a mapping from the triangular mesh to 2D, we need to carry the vertex colors to the 2D texture.  Use "Filters/Texture/Transfer: Vertex Color to Texture":



You must then name the texture file:



The texture file is a .png. It will look like a lot of colored triangles:



5) Now export the processed .obj file from Mesh Lab, and make sure that it references the texture file:





6) Now go into Roblox Studio.  Right click or Command-I to insert an Object:



And insert a "MeshPart":



Select the generic MeshPart you inserted



Then go to the Properties/MeshId and choose the .obj file you exported from MeshLab:



You will get a couple of warnings, you can choose to say yes or no:

 

And at the end of that, Roblox Studio should import your .obj mesh and automatically load up the texture file as well:




There you go!

SculptrVR to 3D Print Workflow

SculptrVR is a free-form 3D sculpting app for multiple VR platforms, including Oculus Quest, which I have.

My son made a cool sculpture in SculptrVR, and I decided it would be neat to 3D print it.  Here is what he made, photographed from within the app:



To save a mesh in SculptrVR, go to your palette and click on the file folder icon (see red arrow):



Hit "Save":



Then click on "Export Mesh":



When the export is done, you'll see this:



As the instructions say, you'll need to reboot your Quest.  With your headset on, hold the power button your headset down until you're prompted with a shut-down screen.  Select Restart to reboot your Oculus Quest.

Now you need to hook up to the Oculus Quest with a USB-C data cable.  If you are like me and stuck with a USB-A laptop, I recommend the Juiced Systems USB-C to USB-A 10 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 Data Power Cable. That one worked for me.  If you have a Mac, you will need to download the Android File Transfer app.  When you connect to the Quest, you will see a file directory like this one:



Go into com.sculptrvrinc.sculptrvrapp/files/OBJExports, and your exported .obj mesh will be there.  Transfer it over to your computer.  At this point, you can look at it with MeshLab:



Also you can load it into Ultimaker Cura.  Many meshes from SculptrVR are unlikely to be "manifold", but that doesn't seem to matter much in slicing and printing.



Then just slice, and print...

3D Printing a Roblox Character in Full Color with Shapeways

If your kids loves Roblox, they will be very excited for you to 3D color print their Roblox character!

First, download and run Roblox Studio.  You can work with a basic "Baseplate" template:



Next, hit "Play":



And your character will appear.  Select your character on the explorer (I've grayed out the name):



And open up the "Properties" list:



Make sure your character is "Archivable":



Now under the Workspace tab (not the Players tab!), right click on your character and "Copy":



Stop the game:



Now right click select the Workspace and "Paste Into":



Now you have a copy of the character in the Workspace.  Select the character, and right click to "Export Selection":



Congratulations, you've just exported the 3D OBJ file mesh with textures!



Load the OBJ file into Meshlab.  It automatically will load up the texture files as well.  Your character needs to be scaled for proper print size.  For Shapeways full-color sandstone, I find the character needs to be scaled up by 10-20 x for 3-5 inches tall to be "the right size".   In Meshlab that is Filter/Normals, Curvature and Orientation/Transform, Scale, Normalize:



To work with Shapeways in full-color, export from Meshlab as "Collada File Format", i.e. ".dae".   ZIP the DAE file and all the PNG texture files together.  Then upload the zip file to Shapeways.  Select Sandstone / Full-Color to print in color:



Watch out, Shapeways gets really expensive with the size of the character because you are being charged on volume (scales by a cubic function!).  A 3 inch character is around $50, a 5 inch character is around $100.

It is possible that your character may be rejected for printing due to thin walls or other Shapeways printing restrictions.  Fixing that is going to be a topic of another post!

If you have a 3D printer at home, you can of course export an STL file from Meshlab, import into your slicer, and then just print a cheap monochrome version.

Good luck!