The Remote Control Box.

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( a public service announcement on A Better Way to use Sifting Cat Litter Boxes )

After Sunday's trip to the Exploratorium, my motorcycle jacket has reached new hights of geekiness:


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As I was reminded yesterday, a really amazing scale model of the solar system was done by a town in Maine recently. The Earth is about the size of a billiard ball and Pluto is about 40 miles away, making it the largest scale model of the solar system in the world. Take a look at the pics - I want my model to look as nice.

(click pictures for a larger version)


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On Sunday, Heather's family got together for a sort of pre-Christmas gift exchange, since her cousin's son, Hayden (an amazing eight year old) will be with his mother on Christmas. Only gifts for and from Hayden were exchanged, so it was mostly "let's watch Hayden open presents" but that's OK, since he gets neat presents. But he did give us a globe ( Read more... )

auto_de_fe is clearly my long-lost younger sister. I have just learned that, just like me, she once invented a way to read in the shower without getting the book wet. I think hers was better than mine and might have potential if refined.

She is also the inventor of the "Hello, I am a [insert religion here]. What are you?" name tags. Genius. If you meet her ( Read more... )

It all started with an observation that niknakpadywak can be a bit apathetic around the house, tolerating annoying obstacles longer than many others would. So neodymium155 and I hatched a plan to install a large, inconvenient object in his room. It would have to be large enough that it couldn't simple be removed, inconvenient enough to be something of a nuisance, but, here ( Read more... )

I've finished the frame for the icosahedron project (artists still needed!) and I must say it looks good:


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I've figured out how I'm going to make the icosahedron frame, so now I can start actually building it and then designing the panels and how they attach to the frame. Basically, I'm going to use 3/16 brass tubes cut to about one foot each, then pinch down the last cm or so at each end to form a flange, which I will poke a hole through and then bend ( Read more... )