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Soldier Chases Large Monitor Lizard Wandering Through Military Camp

Victoria, TX (77901) Today

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 94F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 72F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph.

Updated: September 27, 2023 @ 9:04 am

Hungry Monitor Lizard Caught Red-handed In Attempted Koi Pond Heist

Fish caretakers in Thailand had a surprising encounter when they caught a sneaky monitor lizard lurking in their koi pool. A caretaker wades into the water, prompting the reptile to make a hasty exit. Asian water monitor lizards, known for their city-dwelling habits, are a protected species in the country, allowing their population to flourish.

Bark Back IoT Pet Monitor

Does your pet get distressed when you're not home? Or, perhaps their good behaviour slips when you're not around and they cause a ruckus for the neighbours. Well, [jenfoxbot] has just such a dog, so she built a 'bark back' IoT pet monitor to keep an eye on him while she's out.

The brains and backbone of the pet monitor is the ever-popular Raspberry Pi 3. A Sparkfun MEMS microphone breakout board listens for any unruly behaviour, with an MCP3002 analog to digital converter chip reading the mic input. Some trial-and-error coding allowed her to set a noise threshold that — once exceeded — will trigger an audio file, shushing her dog. It also logs events and uploads any status updates to a CloudMQTT server to be monitored while away from home. Her Imgur build album can be found here, and the GitHub project page is here if you want to build your own!

Check out the demo video after the break, that was probably confusing for her good dog, Marley.

We've previously featured a web-connected treat dispenser, but what kind of treat would you give to a robotic pet?

[Via /r/DIY]

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