Jan wrote:

> If any of you have access to beach sand, and would be willing to send it to us,
> we'll let you see the results of the kids work.

I can get some sand from Santa Cruz CA beaches. I assume it would be better to
get the sand from somewhere along the unpopluated shores say between SC and SF,
to avoid the human factor as much as possible (dredging effects etc). I would 
be interested in hearing about the test methods they use and it would also be
interesting to see the results. 

BTW I am doing something a bit similar, using mobile wireless internet servers
with GPS and monitors for CO2, CO, temp, humidity and other conditions. The 
idea is that as I roam around I will be always connected to the net and always
collecting data. Over time the collective data will fill in a map showing the 
different conditions. I am doing this more as a network experiment/demo rather
than for scientific purposes, but the data might be interesting to watch and 
graph. 

On a similar note at my home in the santa cruz mountains I am already 
monitoring temperatures inside, outside, aquariums, fridge, freezer, 
hottub, relative humidity inside and outside, barometer, wind speed and 
direction, rain guage, and aquarium conditions: temp, pH, conductivity,
oxygen reduction potential. Soon to be added: absolute humidity, dewpoint,
wet bulb temp, solar radition, particle counting, etc. I will show you
all my sensor pages in a while, right now the system is down for some 
rewiring and calibration of devices.

Eventually I want to internet enable an infrared spectrometer and 
automatically cycle through calibrations for various ambient air elements 
(this will be done by  adding TCP/IP ethernet interfaces and using tiny 
uniquely addressible switches to push the buttons). Finally, I eventually 
want to use the same idea for automated liquid chromatography analysis 
of the elements in the sea water in my  mini reef aquarium. Here's the 
aquarium now:

  http://207.214.112.10/video.html?select=yes

Note that right now it's night on the reef, so you'll have to check it 
out in the daytime. You can move the camera around and zoom in close
on sea anenomes, corals, sponges, feather dusters, hermit crabs, snails
cleaner shrimp, and the clownfishes and sailfin tang. Also note that 
you are fighting over the camera so don't be surprised if it moves. 
Please don't walk away and leave the camera in "auto image update"
mode or you'll be hammering my server (this will be fixed soon).

The aquarium follows a seasonal variation of sunrise and sunset, and 
an incandecent bulb with dimmer simulates moonrise and set along with
intensity changes for phases. Powerheads simulate tide changes every
six hours, other pumps create random surges [*]. I can also invoke 
all of these functions over the net through a GUI, and soon the system 
will email me, page me, then call me if alarm states are reached, or 
if anyone is foolish enough to break in (which will result in ftp'd 
images offsite over the net). I am right now putting together  a 
stepper motor/dispenser assembly which will automatically feed the 
fish, and the ultimate  goal is to automate partial water changes 
including mixing of sea  water. I have most of the parts for this and 
am getting really  close. I still need to find a way to monitor 
nitrates, calcium, strontium, molydbenum, and iodine (these are 
additives that need to be regularly dispensed). I am also struggling
with methods of powder dispensation (sea salt mix) and would love 
to hear any ideas as to how I might do this (assume that I have a 
fixed weight or volume that I want to dispense via software event).
Also, if you can tell me how to effectively automate glass cleaning
you will be my hero (note that I must apply forces at various 
angles using a long handled brush to clean the glass, the magnet 
based scrapers are not good enough ruling out simple linear 
actuation of magnetically moved scrapers :( Oh, and since I am way 
off topic for the list ... maybe I should add some underwater 
seismic activity too? 

[*] I heard the Sean-Thomas can actually sense the tides with his 
    broadband instrument. Wow. I think it would be fascinating if 
    this data could drive my tide simulation in the aquarium. If
    you are willing to give it a try, I would love to write some 
    code to do this :)

Always having fun,
Doug

PS. Some kids never grow up ... soon I am going to break the record 
    for the largest pile of toys :) Woo hoo!

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