Ways to use a Raspberry Pi Model B

I am currently still searching for ways to use my Raspberry Pi Model B.

From looking through multiple websites and Reddit's extensive topic on it, I am thinking of developing it into my own personal stock follower.

First, I am planning on figuring out how to send emails from my Raspberry Pi.  I have little experience programming with Python, which is what I plan on using.  Once I have that working, I would have the Pi retrieve internet data, such as stock prices and news and format that down into an email.

Once that is working, I would like to focus on developing different portfolios and track those performances.  I want to have the emails be personalized and unique and develop a simple yet nice looking email message.

I have been told that this is already possible to do through my own computer and through other various online sites.  But the reason why I want to do this, is to get to know my raspberry pi better and to understand the full capabilities of python.  I currently have limited funds and live in my parents' place, so modification of the house needs more convincing.

I should get my Raspberry Pi and case today or tomorrow.  I have gathered an extra mouse, keyboard, mini USB power cord, iPhone outlet plug (5V, 1A), HDMI Monitor and cord, and ethernet cord in anticipation for it's arrival.   

Sites I came across to help me on my Quest

Still awaiting the arrival of the Raspberry Pi, I am still researching and brainstorming on what I can do with it.

I came across a good site, Magna Techa and very interesting list of things to do with a Pi.

"Things I Do With my Raspberry Pi" by Magna Techa

As of August 25th, 2013, there were 9 solid ideas of how to use a Raspberry Pi.  One was to make the Pi a network attached storage device (NAS).  Another good project was to make the Pi a warning device for your important websites if they were to go down.  The Pi would access a list of sites at regular intervals and would email a summary to you detailing their status.

The most interesting idea that was brought up on this blog post, was making the Pi a host for a website or two.  On Magna Techa, they bring up even putting wordpress on the Raspberry Pi.  Using not even $50 of electronics to make a website host is really interesting proposition.

What should I do with my new Raspberry Pi?

What should I do with my new Raspberry Pi?

I am expecting the arrival of a new Raspberry Pi Model B from SparkFun Electronics that I ordered the other day.  In the anticipation, I am starting to brainstorm of what I should make it do.

According to Wikipedia, "the Raspberry Pi is a credit-card-sized single-board computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of promoting the teaching of basic computer science in schools."   Sounds Cool, right?!  

This computer is the size of your hand and runs linux through a SD card.  This chip allows you to just plug in a HDMI cord for your monitor, two USB ports for your keyboard and mouse, and even an ethernet port for an internet connection.

The path that I will most likely take would make the raspberry pi tweet for me.  As a challenge, I could connect one or several of my multiple sensors from my Arduino starter kit to either trigger the tweet, create content for the tweet, or do both.

If I was to go that way, I would use a temperature sensor and a light sensor to tweet the current conditions of my home office.  After some internet research, I am going to follow this post to make my Raspberry Pi tweet.

If you guys have any tips, comments, words of encouragement, or ideas of what I should do, comment below.


This is going to be fun!

NFL's Crime Problem and Solution

32 players have been arrested since the Superbowl this year.  That seems like a lot, but lets do the math.

Every team has 53 roster spots and there's 32 teams throughout the NFL.  (Weird coincident that theres 32 teams and 32 players arrested!)

Also assume that each offender had a spot on the team and the team has not yet replaced them.

So, 32 out of 1,696 players.  That's just 1.89% of the league.  If that bad or is that good?  I looked into the CIA World Factbook for some comparisons

• Apparently that is the same percentage as American children being under 5 and overweight (1.3% in 2004).
• In 2011, the real GDP grew about that percentage (1.8%)

Anyways, according to the FBI's crime statistics, the NFL is actually doing better than the average.  Following Wikipedia's chart, there were 2.9 property crimes per 100 people and 0.4 violent crimes per 100 people.  

That's sort of good.  If they were above average, action better have been taking place.  Thinking about it, a large source of crime is poverty.  Some of these guys did find there way out of poverty through football.  A lot of their friends and family are probably still living near poverty, making them risk it all by association and eventually making some terrible decisions.  Being the rich one of their communities, they might feel like they are above the law as well.  

It however could be bigger than this.  It could be a from the constant head pounding they have done, the aggressive nature of the game, or the extended down time.  

Concussions have been known to cause violence.  There's plenty of scholarly articles enforcing that (one example).  Football players get concussions almost every time they strap up their helmets and have getting them since they were 5 playing Pop Warner and the liking.  Having 20 years of concussions building up for a 25 year old, of course there is some effect from them all.  

Football is a violent sport and can totally be depicted as a dog-eat-dog game.  The more vicious you are play after play, the bigger your ego is, the bigger the paycheck, and the more likely you will take this aggression off the field.  I am not saying all the crimes were violent ones, but it would explain the some of the violent ones.  

Preseason starts in August and the regular season ends in December.  There are 8 months that these players have to deal with.  Yes, they work out, study plays, do commercials, do some charity work (maybe), and work some camps.  There's obviously a lot of down time still!  More games isn't quite the right solution, but it might help.

An interesting solution is space out the games a bit more.  Having a game every other week might be too long, but a week and a half should be plenty.  Imagine if every night there is a football game on.  I think we are going to see a solution like this sooner than you might think.  

Having less free time, more time in between games, and maybe even more games could help this issue. It would make football a full time job for more than just the coaching staff.