tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87820158277470158472024-03-15T21:10:32.995-04:00Apropos of NothingApropos of Exactly NothingDavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.comBlogger577125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-47392931807516717492012-09-09T22:02:00.000-04:002012-09-09T22:07:08.841-04:00Panga Boats Made In The U.S.A
I am always on the lookout for inexpensive practical boats which would be good for in-shore fishing in the coastal waters of New England. I had never heard of the Panga boat before, but I was familiar with the type from news and travel footage of Somali Pirates and fishermen in developing nations. As the story goes, the Panga was developed by Yamaha Outboards on a grant from Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-22378598709044012802011-04-25T20:42:00.001-04:002011-04-25T20:45:09.935-04:00TDK 3 Speaker BoomBox - Go Figure
And I thought I was the only Gen X guy missing the iconic Boom Boxes of the 80's, leave it to TDK - the company who brought you the mixtape (tm). The last I heard of TDK, they were producing *Chrome* and *Metal* "Super Avilyn" casette tapes adorned with their bitchin diamond logo thingy ======================>>>
So there I was minding my own business checking out the latest (Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-48373681180724966462011-03-07T20:09:00.001-05:002011-03-07T20:11:27.007-05:001990's IBM ThinkPad Butterfly Keyboard
Set The Way Back Machine to 1995....
The IBM ThinkPad range had a well deserved reputation for bomb-proof build and clever I.D. The Thinkpads of the era were akin to the MacBook Pro's of the present, head and shoulders above the competition. I had the opportunity to use a few of these 701's and the way the keyboard would magically rise and fold out was a source of endless nerd Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-23406879442547245092011-03-04T21:53:00.001-05:002011-03-04T21:55:33.860-05:00The First Person
Some of the things we humans eat, always make me wonder, who was the first person to eat it and what were they thinking. One of the more notable examples is the many (delicious) Mollusks we take for granted. Have you ever seen a fresh raw Steamer Clam? They look like snot from someone with a particularly virulent sinus infection. What on earth would make someone decide to Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-60345926106010077602011-02-28T21:49:00.002-05:002011-02-28T22:04:52.844-05:00How to Fix an Itunes Library Full of Duplicates and Mystery Tracks
Like many people, my digital music library began well before I had an iPod or iTunes, and has survived several iterations of sketchy HDD based iPods, corrupt iTunes libraries, failed computers & hard drives and everything in between. Recently I found myself with an iPod that wouldn't sync, 10K+ songs (many of them duplicates - and many simply labeled 'track 1', 'trackDavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-84890527673398195712011-02-10T18:44:00.000-05:002011-02-10T18:44:01.459-05:00Scandinavian Pilothouse Boats
Minor Offshore 37
These boats are extremely popular in Scandinavian countries and are starting to attract some interest in the U.S. I have never seen one in the wild, but I expect that it's only a matter of time. While they are certainly not for everyone, I think the design could have significant appeal in the Pacific Northwest and New England where the weather is always Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-13029625555371871312010-08-10T22:29:00.000-04:002010-08-10T22:29:16.083-04:00American Expeditionary Vehicles 'BRUTE'
The Jeep is the quintessential American off road vehicle, and is, with the possible exception of the Land Rover (itself a pale copy of a Jeep) and the VW Beetle, probably the most easily recognized vehicle on the planet. In a weird deja vu, when the Jeep was first conceived (70 years ago now - think about that), it was put forth by the (bankrupt) American Bantam Co. to a RFP Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-81602159617789709502010-06-19T22:03:00.000-04:002010-06-19T22:03:03.936-04:00Morgan Fast Commuter
The Morgan "Fast Commuter" is hands down the best looking new power boat I have seen in a very long time. Designed by the late Tom Fexas of Cheoy Lee fame, these boats have a real nice blend of new and old. I am not sure if Charley Morgan of Morgan Sailboats was involved on this at all, but these newer Morgan boats originate in Italy. Personally I find these later Fexas Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-91450934721254575462010-06-19T20:56:00.000-04:002010-06-19T20:56:43.462-04:00Finding the Center of Cylindrical Stock
There are lots of ways to find the center of a round piece of stock, but *most* of them are a bit of a kludge and involve a combo square and more than two hands. There are a few other "center finders" out there on the market, but this one is the easiest and most foolproof I have tried. You can get one from Rockler Woodworking here : J Square Center Finder
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-90967008600002415482010-01-08T19:05:00.002-05:002010-01-08T19:15:31.059-05:00Vintage AV Geek -1970's Newcomb Classroom Record Player
Remember these? I do, and I wasn't even in AV Club. What I remember most about them is they had these springy feet, which caused the whole thing to jiggle whenever the teacher messed with it. These things were about as portable as the first Compaq portable computer , but they could get seriously loud - to the point of filling an elementary school auditorium. "Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-16226149288698322252010-01-08T16:32:00.000-05:002010-01-08T16:32:28.415-05:00Do You Have A Pepper Mill In Your Pocket?
One recent trend I simply can't abide is the giant restaurant pepper mill. I dunno what brain surgeon came up with this practice, but for the pepper lover, nothing is more of a PITA than having to wait while some poor waitron grinds on and on, impatiently waiting for you to tell them to stop. The alternatives to this ghastly ritual are crappy pepper packets, preground pepper put into aDavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-56526333333856329732010-01-06T17:50:00.000-05:002010-01-06T17:50:54.684-05:00The Worlds Best Wine Key - The Pulltex Pulltab
You're probably still using a cheapy corkscrew you picked up at the packy* (either that or that rabbit contraption), either way, you are missing out. It's often the little things that make the difference, and this is one of those little things. Like Mary Poppins and the Rossle garlic press, the Pulltex is practically perfect in every way. The Pulltex our friends had given Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-27480512512006630572010-01-05T11:12:00.000-05:002010-01-05T11:12:37.681-05:00These Ribs Will Rock You To Your Very Foundation
Hamersley's Bistro Braised Short Rib Recipe
Made this recipe for Christmas Eve a few times and these ribs are the best I have ever had, much better than the over-rated ones I had a Craft in NYC, that and they are dead simple to make. Two suggestions, make sure you have plenty of room in the pot before you put them in the oven or you will cause an epic fire, get really good quality Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-82633966746958567562009-12-29T10:03:00.000-05:002009-12-29T10:03:58.630-05:00Building Your Mid Life Crisis Kitchen? Consider These Often Overlooked Items From The Commercial KitchenFrench Top Range
Griddles and Charbroilers are a dime a dozen in the midlife crisis kitchen, but you almost never see a range with a French top. Although the grill and griddle are certainly worthwhile additions to a range top, the French top may be a better choice. A French top is basically a modern approximation of an antique coal fired range in that it gives you a full Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-71398187716773389812009-12-02T21:09:00.000-05:002009-12-02T21:09:03.464-05:00Gluing a Broken Guitar Neck
Yesterday, #1 daughter dropped her Les Paul guitar, breaking the neck off right before the headstock, almost right under the nut. It was a ragged break and I didn't have much hope that it could be fixed. I looked around for a replacement neck, but the cost of a neck and the hourly charge of a skilled luthier, was clearly going to exceed the value of the guitar. As it so Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-27522586192477669602009-11-30T13:58:00.000-05:002009-11-30T13:58:37.398-05:00Law & Order: Special Dollhouse Unit
Long before Lenny Briscoe & Quincy M.E were cracking tough cases, millionaire heiress and New England socialite Frances Glessner Lee was teaching police officers around the country how to play with dolls. Ms. Glessner Lee was very serious about her doll houses, deadly serious - as you can see above. Realizing that there was no way for students in the then nascent field of&Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-15684752685705308052009-11-24T14:38:00.000-05:002009-11-24T14:38:54.838-05:00Don't Bet Against Chrome OS
Well, Google has taken the wraps off it's much anticipated Chrome OS, and it didn't go over so well. In fact twitteratti and techtards everywhere were almost universally "meh" about it - oh and it's behind schedule too.....isn't that just super. In case you weren't paying attention to the star in the east and missed the demo, here's the gist of it. Chrome OS is essentially Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-4514066544875459832009-11-23T14:07:00.000-05:002009-11-23T14:07:42.247-05:0020 inch Fixie Bikes, Burgeoning Trend or Evolutionary Dead End?
The new thing it seems is fixed gear, large frame bikes with 20inch BMX sized wheels. Actually, this configuration has existed for quite some time, but was pretty much restricted to folding commuter bikes. In many ways, this configuration makes some sense, smaller wheels are inherently lighter and stronger than large wheels and are also superior from a wind resistance and Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-3267609528714498532009-11-23T10:34:00.001-05:002009-11-23T11:09:35.243-05:00YACFMP - 1972 Ford LTD Country Squire Station WagonYet Another Car From My Past
I am pretty sure this is the first car from my childhood that I can explicitly remember, though if it's not, it's a damn good guess, because Ford sold a boatload of these land yachts. Measuring nearly 19ft long (to put that in perspective, that's longer than a current Chevy Suburban) and weighing two and a half tons, and available with a 460cid V8, these Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-39487740986829781372009-11-22T15:42:00.000-05:002009-11-22T15:42:53.356-05:00Real Bass Boats for Real Bass
Most Americans outside the "coffee milk belt" mistakenly confuse a "Bass Boat" with those logo-sticker-encrusted, disco-glitter-bedazzled plastic speedboats best known from basic cable fishing shows. In Non-Rhotic American English the word "Bass" refers to the Striper (Roccus Saxatilis) and a "Bass Boat" is a rugged, deep water inboard like the beautiful MacKenzie Cuttyhunk Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-11004088397353652372009-11-18T18:06:00.000-05:002009-11-18T18:06:32.685-05:00Cray CX1 Deskside Supercomputer
Things might have worked out differently in Jurassic Park is they had one of these babies. The Cray CX1 is basically a 24 core Intel Xeon CPU cluster running Windows HPC with 24 gig of RAM and 4 Terrabytes of disk, combined with a Windows 7 Blade Server and Nvidia Quadro FX GPU with 240 parallel cores and 4 gigs of memory. If that doesn't float your boat, you can skip the Xeons Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-41429465651376996762009-11-18T13:31:00.001-05:002009-11-18T13:32:25.751-05:00A Home Made Chicken Plucker For The Backyard Frank Perdue
This seems like something Caractacus Potts or Tim Burton would dream up. It's kindof gross, yet strangely riveting and surprisingly efficacious
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-72732685543209853642009-11-17T17:00:00.001-05:002009-11-17T17:01:07.216-05:00The Pizza Boss 3000
This handy gadget combines two of my favorite things, pizza and power tools, granted not quite as awesomely as the blender and food processor attachment I am working on for my router, but it's close.
http://www.worldwidefred.com/pizzaboss3000.htm
Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-47625185220863575512009-11-17T16:47:00.001-05:002009-11-17T16:49:11.206-05:00The Lung Flute
Best of What's New 2009: Playing the Lung Flute from PopSci.com on Vimeo.
I admit, I was a bit skeptical about this device (it reminded me of ear candles), but apparently it's for real. The inventor had evidently spent 15 years working on a loud speaker system to vibrate the chest cavity at 16hz (the same frequency as the cilia lining your airways) to loosen mucus when he hit on the flute Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8782015827747015847.post-79570757650979678262009-11-12T11:06:00.001-05:002009-11-12T11:37:02.103-05:00Shark Bite Solder Free Plumbing Fittings
During my most recent remodeling project, I needed to replace an older baseboard hydronic radiator with a newer Runtal wall mounted radiator (FWIW: Runtal makes a very high quality product right in in MA USA). At the local Home Depot, one of the Homers turned me on to these Shark Bite solderless fittings. These things are For The Win ! They cost a bit more money than regular Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02820435483292326538noreply@blogger.com1