Monday, January 30, 2012
Home made alcohol stove and stand
Been developing a home made alcohol stove lately. Made from old cans and a little secret sauce. Boils a pint in about 4.5 mins in my basement, using Heet or denatured alcohol. The stand is built in, but I show it with a stand I made for my Trangia and other home made stoves. Droppers are from RiteAid.
Monday, January 09, 2012
Monday, December 26, 2011
Friday, October 07, 2011
Oh shit!!!...
So, I had honed the blades on my Leatherman Wave multi-tool to within an inch of their lives, so shaving sharp, and was using it today to cut the weather stripping in our doors to length.
The tool dropped, point first into/through the fleshy part of my left hand, from about a foot or two.
It stuck there momentarily as blood started pumping out a shade of red I had forgotten existed. Time does compress in those circumstances.
Just time for an "Oh Shit!!!" before I rushed to the nearest sink and ran it under cold water.
A butterfly stitch later (knew there was a reason I bought them 10 years ago and brought them across country with me) and all is well, but it's a very strange feeling watching a blade go into one's hand, and vital fluids pump out.
Luckily it missed the tendon of my left index finger by half an inch ;-)
The tool dropped, point first into/through the fleshy part of my left hand, from about a foot or two.
It stuck there momentarily as blood started pumping out a shade of red I had forgotten existed. Time does compress in those circumstances.
Just time for an "Oh Shit!!!" before I rushed to the nearest sink and ran it under cold water.
A butterfly stitch later (knew there was a reason I bought them 10 years ago and brought them across country with me) and all is well, but it's a very strange feeling watching a blade go into one's hand, and vital fluids pump out.
Luckily it missed the tendon of my left index finger by half an inch ;-)
Monday, August 29, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Final prototype...
Here are 2 pics of my final prototype iPod Touch stand. Made from a single 14 gauge stainless steel bicycle spoke, and a couple of short lengths of shrink-wrap tubing. The angle it holds the 4th generation iPod Touch varies from 43 to 75 degrees, and because I carefully balanced the whole pivoting feature, it stays in position anywhere between those two extremes.
Also in the pictures is the stylus I made for my Jornada 728, an Ebay purchase that was missing its stylus. It's made of tubes of Brass, Aluminum and Copper, with a handmade stylus point from acrylic. It's quite a bit heftier than the plastic original. Nice!
Nice knife...
Crocodile Dundee would be proud to own this knife.
The image came from a post on the EDC Forums, where an owner had gutted a Victorinox Swiss Army knife, then buffed and polished it beyond belief, and then reassembled it with a bunch of polished titanium hardware, liners, toothpick and tweezers.
It's a work of art.
The new travel rig...
Here's a couple of pics of my iPod Touch resting on a stand that I made recently from an old bicycle spoke. In front of it is the Apple bluetooth keyboard that I just bought (2nd hand, but looks unused) from a member of the Ars Technica Classifieds.
Here's a breakdown of the weights of the components in the system:
iPod................................3.56oz
Stand...............................0.3oz
Charging cable and power adapter....2.0oz
Keyboard...........................11.4oz
Total..............................17.46oz
It would be hard to find any system that offers such capability, good looks, and such a low combined weight. Bear in mind, that an iPad alone weighs 21.3oz, and then you would be typing on a sub-optimal virtual keyboard.
A few things to note.
1...Apple says that the Bluetooth Keyboard has a minimum system requirement of "an iPad". Whatever that means, rest assured that it pairs with, and works with, an iPod perfectly.
2...Almost all of the special function buttons on the top row of the keyboard work perfectly with the iPod. Just a couple don't work, and that's because the iPod simply doesn't have the equivalent function built-in.
3...Pairing is almost instantaneous, there is also zero lag time between a key press and the result appearing on the screen.
4...There is an "eject button" on the keyboard (the top right button on the keyboard). This is essentially a toggle between the Bluetooth keyboard, and the on-screen iPod Touch keyboard.
5...I built the stand with the ability to change the screen angle. This is useful when setting it up for optimum viewing, whether typing, or watching video.
Monday, August 15, 2011
What's on my iPod...
Here's what's in my playlist in the "Podcaster" app on my iPod Touch, 4th generation:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/cnet/conversations
http://cravepodcast.cnettv.com/
http://feeds2.feedburner.com/cnet/digitalcityvideo
http://rss.cnn.com/services/podcasting/fareedzakaria/rss.xml
http://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio
http://feeds.feedburner.com/hypercritical
http://revision3.com/lifehacker/feed/MP4-hd30
http://leo.am/podcasts/mbw/
http://feeds.feedburner.com/motr
http://feeds.pbs.org/pbs/wgbh/nova-video
http://www.hbo.com/podcasts/billmaher/podcast.xml
http://feeds.feedburner.com/TEDTalks_video
http://revision3.com/tekzilla/feed/quicktime-small?subshow=false
http://feeds.feedburner.com/cnet/applebyte
http://feeds.feedburner.com/thetalkshow
http://feeds.feedburner.com/tii
http://twit.tv/node/8741/feed
http://feeds.feedburner.com/atd/mossberg/video-feed
http://feeds.pbs.org/pbs/weta/washingtonweek-video
http://leoville.tv/podcasts/ww.xml
Try a few, there are some excellent podcasts there.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/cnet/conversations
http://cravepodcast.cnettv.com/
http://feeds2.feedburner.com/cnet/digitalcityvideo
http://rss.cnn.com/services/podcasting/fareedzakaria/rss.xml
http://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio
http://feeds.feedburner.com/hypercritical
http://revision3.com/lifehacker/feed/MP4-hd30
http://leo.am/podcasts/mbw/
http://feeds.feedburner.com/motr
http://feeds.pbs.org/pbs/wgbh/nova-video
http://www.hbo.com/podcasts/billmaher/podcast.xml
http://feeds.feedburner.com/TEDTalks_video
http://revision3.com/tekzilla/feed/quicktime-small?subshow=false
http://feeds.feedburner.com/cnet/applebyte
http://feeds.feedburner.com/thetalkshow
http://feeds.feedburner.com/tii
http://twit.tv/node/8741/feed
http://feeds.feedburner.com/atd/mossberg/video-feed
http://feeds.pbs.org/pbs/weta/washingtonweek-video
http://leoville.tv/podcasts/ww.xml
Try a few, there are some excellent podcasts there.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
iPod Touch or iPhone stand...
I had a few spokes from a bicycle wheel I had disassembled, and thought I would try making a stand for my iPod Touch.
After a couple of tries, I came up with this. Note that it allows for viewing at two different angles.
Simple, easy, and uses recyled materials: what's not to like?
Friday, August 05, 2011
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Bread...
This was in the window of Albermarle Baking Company on Main St, Charlottesville, VA, this morning. Photo courtesy of Kervin.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Pocket-sized PC tips
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