Author Archives: paulwallich

In praise of cattle

Posted on September 12, 2021 by paulwallich

The 16-year-old, who wants a career somewhere in IT, introduced me a while back to the distinction between pets and cattle. When something goes wrong with your pet, you nurse it back to health. When something goes wrong with one … Continue reading →

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Pedal Assist: Not What I Thought It Was

Posted on September 7, 2021 by paulwallich

It’s been a few years since I started wanting an e-bike, but for a long time I was put off by physics. We live at the top of a steep hill, and I’m fat and out of shape. So all … Continue reading →

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Osmotic Bubbles

Posted on March 24, 2021 by paulwallich

Who knew? Our fancy toilet has been leaking for a while, and at long last I decided to do something about it. Which involved disassembling a bunch of toilet-body parts (remember, fancy), turning off the water and extracting the flush … Continue reading →

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Thank you, Electronics Goldmine

Posted on February 9, 2021 by paulwallich

I admit it, I have an addiction to things that call themselves bargains. Down in the basement are multiple cubic feet of random electronic and mechanical components that looked like a good idea or might be useful someday or just … Continue reading →

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Ok, this is actually useful

Posted on January 13, 2021 by paulwallich

And it only took me 9 years to notice. It’s an openscad script for making keyboard feet. Thank you. Not such a big deal at home, but at a school with donated computers of interesting provenance and a couple dozen … Continue reading →

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Possibly the creepiest Christmas ornament of 2020

Posted on December 22, 2020 by paulwallich

Zapped on my glowforge, slightly modified from a design by IconPai at the Noun Project. Every year I take the bottom however many inches have to come off our tree to make it fit the living room ceiling and slice … Continue reading →

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Something actually useful

Posted on March 3, 2020 by paulwallich

Our dishwasher is getting to be a certain age. And the plastic parts are showing it. Especially after one of the youth tripped over a cat and onto the bottom rack. When the wheels fall off they have a really … Continue reading →

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Posted on February 6, 2020 by paulwallich
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Failing to fail

Posted on February 6, 2020 by paulwallich

I’ve been working on and off with Blinkinlabs’ BlinkyTape and pixels, which means also with their nice little app PatternPaint, which lets you create little light shows to download to their LED strands without all the annoying number-fiddling that is … Continue reading →

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Lasercar Lives!

Posted on February 1, 2020 by paulwallich

I know it’s not much, but the new version is ready for coding. It knows how far it is from obstacles (in front), it steers, it goes forward and backward. And it does it all in python. Code and current … Continue reading →

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