I am cycling through data nerd heaven. Winter weather “forced” me to buy a Zwift Hub indoor bike trainer so that I could ride in icy, wet weather that normally keep me out of the saddle. The trainer tells me how much power I am pumping through the pedals, info that I have never had […]
Translate Biblical Hebrew to English
When I am in my weekly Torah study class, I often find myself wondering, “That’s what the English says but what does the original Hebrew say?” As a guy who does not read or speak Hebrew, here is how I figure it out. The built-in Hebrew dictionary at sefaria.org makes it easy to translate biblical […]
Cutting Aircraft Aluminum with a Hackzall
I tried all sorts of tools to cut the thicker aluminum stock while I was building my airplane. I used a band saw with a regular wood blade for most of it, finishing the rough edges with a big disk sander and then deburring with a six-inch Scotch-Brite wheel on a bench grinder. That worked […]
Chevy Bolt EV 10,000 Mile Report
I just passed 10,000 miles in my Chevy Bolt EV. In a nutshell, the car has been absolutely wonderful. I get in it, drive it, and plug it into the charger in my garage at the end of the day. Owning this electric car is downright boring; it just works. Driving it is an absolute […]
How to Lace Wire
In building the wiring harness for my Bede BD-4C airplane, I decided to lace the wires together instead of using cable ties. This video shows you how to do it yourself. I used lacing tape from Aircraft Spruce on my project. This is my first attempt at a “real” tutorial video. I know that I’m […]
Birth of a New Tradition
[My good friend, Paul James, posted this essay on Facebook. I hope that you find it as inspiring as I did. — Art Z.] As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high gear to provide Americans with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods — merchandise that has been produced at the expense […]
Chai Tea Recipe
Mmmm mmmm good! I just brewed my first batch of made-from-scratch chai tea. Here is my recipe: 2-3 green cardamom pods 1 inch cinnamon stick 1 piece star anise 3 peppercorns 3 whole cloves 1/4 tsp coriander seeds 1/4 tsp fennel seeds 2-3 thin slices ginger root 3/4 cup water Combine the dry ingredients in […]
Binder Park Zoo
I visited the Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek, MI this week. Beautiful zoo! More like a stroll in the park, with animals thrown in for a bonus, than a “traditional” zoo. The big bonus for me, though, was getting to feed a giraffe. 😀 I took a few photos (of course). Here is a […]
Baratza Encore Coffee Grinder
We wore out our venerable Mr. Coffee coffee grinder. It made a lot of noise but the blades were so smooth that they would not feed the beans. Here is a photo (which you can click to see larger)
Our New Mitsubishi i-MiEV Electric Car
We just bought a Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car and boy-oh-boy is it fun! This little gem drives “just like a car,” costs about 3 cents per mile to run, has four doors (plus a hatchback), and is surprisingly spacious. Believe it or not, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV is the “big” car in our family, being 10 […]
First Workbench
Today was workbench day at the Zemon’s. I built the first of two 2′ x 5′ workbenches that I will use for my BD-4C construction. Believe it or not, this is the first real work table that I have ever had. This is a relatively small table but should be just right for my space, […]
Do You Ctrl-F?
Do you get an F, er, do you get a Ctrl-F? To be more precise, do you know how to use Ctrl-F to find a word on a web page or within a document? It seems that the vast majority of people do not. According to Dan Russell, a search anthropologist at Google, 90 percent […]
Delightful Dialog
This article is hard to write not because of any uncertainty about what I want to say but simply because I want to gently suggest an idea to you. I do not want to come across as a know-it-all and raise your defenses. Maybe I worry too much. I am quite sure that you are […]
Server Backups are Important
I got a frantic email from a friend this week. One of his subcontractors went crazy and trashed several of my friend’s clients’ web sites as well as my friend’s own business site. The police have been involved but much damage has already been done. I wish I had been hosting my friend’s sites. Had I […]
Garmin & XM Radio: The Best & The Worst in Customer Service
We have many opportunities to experience both good and bad customer service. Rarely, though, do we bump into extremes at both ends of the spectrum in the course of one technical support issue. Doing so makes both experiences all the more poignant. I use a Garmin GPSmap 396 coupled with a hockey puck sized XM […]
Reduce Risk – Stay Alive – Live Well
I like to feel safe and I like to know that my family is safe. I would wager that you do, too. John Goekler has written a crystal clear piece in CounterPunch, The Most Dangerous Person in the World?, which highlights the risks to our lives. Some snippets: A significant majority of Americans… list terrorism […]
IE6: Get Over It
I am fed up with wasting clients’ dollars “fixing” web sites so that they look good in Internet Explorer 6. IE7 has been out for 2 1/2 years. IE8 is available as a free beta. There are lots of other browsers available for free. All of these browsers work better than IE6. If you still […]
Dr. Lester Start, Ph.D.
I very much enjoyed the time that I got to spend with my father-in-law, Lester Start. Sadly, he was taken from this world much too soon. My wife and her siblings have created a web site as a publishing platform for his sermons and talks. Please visit Lester Start’s Works.
Cross Browser Testing
Cross browser testing is always a pain to coordinate but at least it just got a lot less expensive. Amazon Web Services just released AMIs running Windows which means that you can now get Windows virtual machines for as little as $0.125 per hour. These beasties make great platforms for doing cross browser testing. The […]
Steal This Comic or Song
I buy a lot of music on-line and it breaks down like this: 1,268 completely unlocked MP3 files, easily playable on any computer or device, all purchased from eMusic.com. (Here’s a link to get 25 FREE iPod® compatible downloads from eMusic! Choose from over 2.8 Million songs! ) 0 DRM-locked files from iTunes, Audible.com, etc.
