• Other than make noise, that is. I built the most recent version of my Arduino-based data logger (the RIMU), and was looking for something to log. I’ve had this question for many, many years—does the bathroom fan actually do anything?…

  • Revised March 31, 2013 with updated benchmarking approach that uses actual access to the mounted volume. New results show no appreciable sensitivity to hash, which is as expected. The numbers are for encryption only (write). I have not pursued read.…

  • Note: The results in this post have been improved with more accurate values at Revised Raspberry Pi TrueCrypt Benchmark. I recently acquired a Raspberry Pi model B 512 MB from the excellent people at Adafruit. I am interested in it…

  • I’m using two reams of paper to hold my monitor at the right height. These reams are totally functional. However, I’m trying to learn to make passable hand-cut dovetail joints and I had material from an old keyboard tray that…

  • Last August my son’s school started the year with a school-wide focus on insects. When we’d drop him off or pick him up we would see experiments laid out to determine various properties of ant behavior. We collected arthropods to…

  • The RIMU data logger I built last year received a major upgrade. I added a sound pressure level meter to learn how noisy it is and updated the case to make the switches easy to find, label, and operate. It…

  • We have a Cuisinart convection bread machine (CBK-200) that was a given to us for Christmas one year. It is an attractive and well-featured machine, but I haven’t had much loaf success with it. We have had bread machines in…

  • This ink test is starting to feel obsessive, but I got a technical pen and it came with Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph Ultradraw (3085-F) ink, which says it is an India ink for use on paper and film—by which they mean drafting…

  • The problem, recall, is getting an archival (or at least photo safe) ink to stick to the back of a resin-coated photograph. Almost anything consumers buy now is resin (polyethylene) coated. In my last post I discussed that only the…

  • The Problem As I scan and archive photographic prints I want, at a minimum, to note that they have been scanned and when. I may wish to note some of the subject or photographer information. I have the same objectives…

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