When I was growing up, I did a some bike touring with my dad. My uncle joined us on some of those trips, including one summer the three of us spent biking around the British Isles. We slept at youth hostels and biked around England, Ireland, and Scotland. Sometimes when I lagged behind, my uncle came … Continue reading
Have you ever wondered if you could use a magnifying glass to melt sand into glass? I have a very large Fresnel lens that a coworker gave to me when I worked at SGI. Using it is kind of scary. I keep it covered while I’m carrying it around so as not to accidentally set something on fire. I’ve … Continue reading
My 5-year-old son came to me asking me to make him a wooden doggy. I started drawing doggies on the back of an envelope. He kept rejecting them. Finally he told me that he really wanted one with a “mouth like an upside down Y”. At least he was specific. Finally we got a … Continue reading
If you make a magic wand for one of your children, it is inevitable that your other children will want one too. Just as day follows night. No child wants to be out-waggled in a pointy stick magical arms race. So I set about making a wand for Simon. I wanted to make the … Continue reading
Our cat likes to go out at night and his comings and goings cause us to lose a little sleep opening the door for him. He has never put up with a collar, so I got an automated cat door that can read his imbedded ID chip so only he can get in. I read … Continue reading
Sometimes when I’m building a project I run into a problem where I can’t find just the right spring. I make the rounds of the various hardware stores and all the springs are too big, or too short, or not stiff enough. I could order some, but that’s a big delay, and once … Continue reading
Retro Tech Journal 