This weekend (last night at 11pm AST to be precise) after seven long months of waiting, Battlestar Galactica returned with the first of its final ten episodes. And it was truly a night for celebration. But what does that have to do with Halloween?Well . . . in honour of its return, I am exploring the process involved in creating a Cylon jack-o-lantern. I knew I had seen one of these somewhere before and tracked it down at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories. The entire process is conveniently outlined on the website.
It looked simple enough. It's just a pumpkin after all. Sharpie markers, pumpkin carving knives, zesters, tweezers . . . all of which I feel I could confidently handle. I even got past the early discussion of integrated circuits because they were introduced in such a friendly, non-threatening way. When I reached the section entitled Electronics, however, I felt the first wave of concern flood over me. And by the time I got to the phrase, "CD4017 decimal counter chip", my eyes had begun to glaze over. Needless to say, I didn't even make it to the wiring diagrams. A clever idea, certainly, but far, far, far beyond my abilities.
No, if I ever decide to bring some Battlestar Galactica into my Halloween celebrations (which, being a Halloween traditionalist, I likely never will), it would have to be a decidedly lower-tech approach. Maybe I could carve a hole in the bottom of the pumpkin, put my hand inside, and slowly move a red light back and forth . . . back and forth. It could work. In the meantime, I'm content to admire the talent of others.
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