gallaugher

Two shows into season 4 of The Diplomat on Netflix. Such a great show. Deeply written characters and so well acted. Love it.

In Boston we know how to protest.

“An astonishing theft of unprecedented proportion.” bcheights.com/233767/news/...

“We” don’t, you business magazine weirdos. It’s just you you’re a klepto and need help. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Toilet justice in the School of Ed. building with its overwhelmingly female population. I had to scamper up two floors to get to a men’s room. I can assure you the Patriarchy is being fought in Campion Hall. ✊🏻✊🏽✊🏿

Prototyping a new project. “Ripples” a reactive chandelier inspired by Jen Lewin’s Edison Drops. Uses #CircuitPython, an ESP32-S3, an Adafruit VL53l1x distance sensor, and some ws2812 5v NeoPixel style lights with power injected every 50 units. Will create a better housing & will write up when done.

I get irrationally turned off by events promoted as “fireside chat” when there’s no fire, and not really like FDRs talk to the public. Almost all of these are a conversation, an interview. Chat, sure. Q&A, ok. But Fireside? Drop it unless you’ve got the flames and irs relevant. It just seems silly.

As someone who teaches students who often take first careers in consulting, this made me laugh out loud. www.instagram.com/reel/Dd36wdS...

Long day of lesson planning WFH. Now chicken and veggies on the grill while I sit by the fire pit.

All these tech folks chasing eternal youth can probably skip the weirdo blood transfusions and chemed-out Soylent green-style elixirs and concentrate on figuring out what's kept Keith Richards going despite <gestures wildly> all that.

#ESP32 users, what boards do you buy? I’ve purchased a bunch of these for lab use with a group of high school hackers. Nothing lots of problems. Bad boards, wonky pins. Common problems or bad batch? Which ESP32-S3 N16R8 vendor do you use? An expansion base is also needed. a.co/d/0ae5Ie0H

#ESP32 folks, what do you use for Audio hardware? A PCM5102 + PAM8302 w/3.3v pin sounds good w/a 3w 4ohm mono enclosed speaker. All Adafruit. Tried some single board DAC+AMP options with MAX98357A. One from DF Robot and one from Usdrwam. Sounded terrible. Same speakers, wires, #CircuitPython code.

Now with patterns mapped. 1,560 lights dancing at the St. Ignatius lawn at Boston College. #PixelBlaze #LEDs

Patterns will look way better when I map the light canvas but this drone shot gives you an idea of the 1560 lawn lights. #PixelBlaze #LEDs

Overhead shot of the Lawn of Light by St. Ignatius statue @bostoncollege.bsky.social 1560 #LEDs run on the same NeoPixel concept of 3 wires: power, signal, and ground. Now to map the canvas and play with #PixelBlaze patterns. I also have some lights at the end that need a power injection.

Fun night w/MakeBC & Physical Computing coming together to lay out 1560 lights around the St. Ignatius statue at Boston College. Now to more precisely map the light canvas and code some fun patterns for Friday’s Inauguration. Check kit videos & photos on The Gram. www.instagram.com/p/Def-f_DDX-...

Bro is just so weird. From the “I kill the meat I eat” a few year back, to his SNL-esque rap song, and now this “Meta needs more masculine energy” guy shows he can’t even drink a beer. He’s vibing like the love child of Dr. Evil and Urkle. apple.news/AcqpoSCa0SEG...

The misogyny is terrible but on a basic level it’s just bad joke writing. It’s cheap & hacky. He didn’t need to go there & half the audience cringed. These anti-woke whiners get so wounded when called out for sucking. Bro, we want to cancel you because you’re bad. www.usatoday.com/story/entert...

A closeup of what our students built when learning capacitive touch, loops, conditionals, and sound play in #CircuitPython. Groot was 3D printed, housing was laser cut. Succulents are real and ordered online. Everyone got a plant.

Learnings as I transition from Pico 2W to ESP32-S3s for #CircuitPython class. Audio is more complex, but a DAC/AMP combo like the MAX98357 drops setup to 1 bd w/5 wires. The DF Robot's has a JST socket matching lots of inexpensive speakers. 3v audio sounds worse but lowering volume in code fixed it.

Do you know #pixelblazs? I’m finishing a large installation of 1500 lawn lights and have a few confirmation questions forum.electromage.com/t/lawn-of-li...

Not precisely laid out and only half of the 1500+ lights well run, but PixelBlaze is working great. Proof of concept set. Now to build more power injection for the rest of the lights, precisely position lights, and create the light map. youtu.be/WoS982TlFpw

What the hell?!? You hit a certain age and your ads are dominated by walk in tubs and stair lifts? Bro, I’m still running several miles a week. Back off! And this after years of “fat man / bald guy” ads. If the algorithm were human I would so smack that guy.

@mbta c’mon. It’s 9pm and two trains expressed by. Is scheduling really that hard? Dline outbound is a constant litany of express get off wait. Service has never been this bad in 30 years.

First 160 lights on the way to1500.

Lobster Roll night. BC Dining.

Special and very musical night last evening as @adafruit.com engineers Liz Clark & Noe Ruiz drop by and drop knowledge on #CircuitPython & MIDI. My @bostoncollege.bsky.social Physical Computing students were rocked! Huge thanks!

Raise a beverage especially high in a salute to Margaret Hamilton, the software engineer who helped get us to the moon. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/07/o...

They’re filming a Spanish language feature film at the Waban MBTA stop.

It’s so fun to teach Physical Computing at @bostoncollege. Last night was capacitive touch where students made living plants talk like Baby Groot when tapped, and accelerometers where they made magic wands and Goblets of Glory that play sound when tilted for a toast. All in #CircuitPython.

Whoa! apple.news/AHqQDahZgRRO...

Do you #tech #business and/or #tech? The webinar I gave last week on Leveraging AI in course redesign + topics from v.12 of my forthcoming BizTech textbook is now online. Book available next month. Hope you like it! flatworld.com/webinars/how...

#Makerspace, #CircuitPython, and #ESP32 friends. I'm planning a 2 hr workshop for ESP32-S3s based on a Pico workshop I've given about a half-dozen times. You're free to use the slides & code. I'd also welcome comments / suggestions. Cheers. bit.ly/ESP32-S3-wor...

I’m thinking of switching from the Raspberry Pi Pico 2W to the ESP32-S3 N16R8 for my #CircuitPython #maker class. Any reason not to? Audio requires a DAC & more wiring but otherwise seems like a good choice. Any info on forthcoming Raspberry Pi microcontroller boards?

Display of displays in the Boston College #MakerSpace. A great start!

Last evening. Full moon in one direction, red sunset in the other

You see the current scientific consensus that “all birds are dinosaurs” when stumbling across these guys.

Business & Tech Faculty: Tomorrow at 1 PM ET I'm leading a workshop, How to Use AI in Your Classroom. Register: flatworld.com/webinars/how... #HigherEd #AIinEducation #Teaching

Pretty moon tonight surrounded by fluffy clouds over Boston.

Key research on challenges of those hitting the “Class Ceiling”. As a 1st gen student whose mom & oldest brother never graduated high school, the article caused me to reflect on my own path. My uni @bostoncollege.bsky.social leans into 1st gen help Pay it forward. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/b...

Built my own BirdBuddy with an ESP32-S3 and #CircuitPython. I'll be polishing this with full build tutorial, but proof of concept seems to work. youtu.be/HVIMTLtxEno?...

Faculty using my #BizTech book, the chapter on fast/cheap tech covers both AI and e-waste. Here is how both relate. More goodness in the v12 update due later this year. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

I’m not sure this article really gets why many men have no friends. It’s obv. different for many, but I don’t feel I can’t bond, nor am I emotionally inept. The natural meet ops for finding friends who click are simply lower in our less social era. apple.news/ASF3ATzMvRIy...

Another quick demo - pulse rate shown on segmented display with neopixelw reflecting the pulse.

Continuing builds. Claude did a great job modifying CircuitPython code for a new board and new display for this CO2 environmental sensor project.

Do you have imposter syndrome? When it hits just remember someone agreed to spend millions on ads with the furry yellow “Liberty Biberty”. You’re fine. Unless you did this. Then you’re a fraud.

Going to be building a lot more #STEMed projects to display but here is a start. Touch to talk Groot, Magic Wand, Dinner Decider, Candy Slector, Medications Reminder all in #CircuitPython.

youtu.be/lYQ7-N3zeRU?...

Kudos to Robin Young for standing up on today’s Here & Now. Truth Teller! This kind of honesty is so deeply needed. Proud to be a supporter. Go @wbur.org

I’m not a chip engineer but I wonder if Apple would ever make their own data center chips. www.pcmag.com/news/forget-...