Behind-the-Scenes BASE Jump and the Heartbeat Straight Jacket.

A look behind-the-scenes of a SparkFun photoshoot, along with a new tutorial and a smattering of products.

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Thought we just used a stock photo for our most recent SparkFun ad? Think again. Behind the scenes of the SparkFun BASE jump ad. If you're curious, the song is "Satellite" by Major Major.


What!? Heartbeat straight jacket? Yes, we are already planning our next Burning Man costumes. Here is an interesting tutorial on how to use EL (electroluminescent) wire and how to hack a stethoscope to create a interactive costume; the brainchild of our own Nathan Seidle.



How do you control EL wire you say? With the EL Sequencer of course.



This is a simple to use 7-segment serial display. You can control all digits, decimal points, the colon, and the apostrophe with one TTL serial pin or three SPI pins.



Anyone down for some summer school? Don't worry, this is not your average summer school class. The Circuit Bending Class teaches you how to hack low voltage, battery powered children's toys to create guitar effects, digital synthesizers, and sound generators. The class debuts on June 13th and is hosted by local artist JanedaPain  (aka Jane Crayton) and STEM-A.



Check out the new SparkFun t-shirt! And please don't ask if the shirt comes with Bob, our lead Pick-N-Place operator.


Comments 13 comments

  • noworries / about 15 years ago / 3

    Awesome video!
    Just watching it made my palms sweat.
    Watching and hearing the chutes open gives some idea of the shock that they experience while base jumping. (apart from the accelerometer data)
    Thanks for sharing this with us.
    Keep up the safe practice of your sport.

    • crwper / about 15 years ago / 3

      Opening shock can be a really solid hit. After a week of jumping, it's not uncommon to feel symptoms of whiplash. Still, I'd rather have the canopy open fast than slow. :-)

    • I've only been skydiving once, and I had nice deep purple bruises in the shape of the harness for about several days...

  • base736 / about 15 years ago / 2

    Ditto on that. The SparkFun crew were a really great bunch of people -- both the folks at the shoot and those we met at the office. Jumping is a pretty personal thing for me, but you guys were a blast to share it with.

  • crwper / about 15 years ago / 2

    Great video! Thanks once again to the crew from SparkFun for being really awesome to work with. You made the exit point an even better place to be.

    • Hey! Michael & Jason!!! I wish we could do it all over again!! I miss you guys!!! I'm really glad you were able to visit the office and talk with everyone, including Ryan. Have you seen your ad in print yet?

      • crwper / about 15 years ago / 1

        I actually cleaned out the local magazine shop buying copies of Circuit Cellar for Mom, Dad, and Jason. :-) The ad turned out beautifully! A friend of mine--also a BASE jumper--commented that the photo captures BASE jumping perfectly.

  • Honus / about 15 years ago / 1

    That EL Sequencer is awesome- I'm thinking a Mr. Freeze costume is in order for Halloween!

  • crwper / about 15 years ago / 1

    What's the song in the video?

  • That BASE jump is tops. Moab is a pretty sweet area for any off roading as well. One of the top places in the world.
    The 7 Segment serial display is nice, but any chance we will ever see any true alpha numeric displays?

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