Matt Campbell found got a CVS disposable camcorder, took it apart and mounted it inside the nose cone of a model rocket. The very impressive resulting videos show the launch from the rocket’s point of view. Richard Baguley interviewed one of them about how they did it here…Link.
A short film from Dave Slusher of Evil Genius Chronicles about how to get the movies off of the CVS one-time use video camera, documented with the camera itself. Based on the work of John Maushammer. Thanks Dave! Link.
One day, my co-worker Yoshi mentioned that Alton Brown of Good Eats had discussed making gyros. I love Alton Brown and if he said it could be done, then I could do it. Yoshi mentioned that his plan kinda sucked because it wasn’t cooked by the traditional method of a rotisserie. At that point I decided to build my own gyro cooker. Link. Bonus links: Making a smoker from a trash can and Cooking a turkey in a trash can smoker.
The idea here it to be able to construct a crystal radio with parts fabricated right at home. This can get complicated in some areas of the radio as it is difficult to get some items needed. Also some parts of the radio are very complicated and detailed. We will attempt to simplify the parts as much as possible so we can “homebrew” or make them at home (as much as possible). Link.
Stellarium is an open source desktop planetarium for Linux/Unix, Windows and MacOSX. It renders the skies in realtime using OpenGL, which means the skies will look exactly like what you see with your eyes, binoculars, or a small telescope. Stellarium is very simple to use, which is one of its biggest advantages: it can easily be used by beginners. [via] Link.
Interesting USAToday article- Legally, it’s been a gray week for me. I took apart and repaired a 15-year-old, Freon-filled air conditioner without an EPA permit. I destroyed a wasp’s nest with a makeshift flamethrower, using an aerosol can of cleaner “in a manner inconsistent with its labeling.” And then I went hardcore. Well, sort of… Link.
A detailed description of what you see in your neighborhood, on the line near your house, on the side of your house, and inside when you get Verizon’s FIOS Internet service (Fiber-Optic!) – from Dan Bricklin. [