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Eclipse Lunacy?
It all started with the solar eclipse of April 8, 2024. I decided it would be fun to make a small pinhole camera to photograph the eclipse as it occurred. I already had a viewing box made with a pinhole in it, so a camera seemed like an easy addition. A small electronics box, a…
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100,000 Miles Overdue
Lexus invested roughly one billion dollars into the development of the LS400, the predecessor to my LS430. The LS400 changed the world of luxury cars by putting Lexus on the map as a serious competitor to Mercedes-Benz and BMW, whom Lexus was aiming squarely to beat. The LS400 was a very hard act to follow,…
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Rain and Shine
It was supposed to rain all day and the booking service reached out to see if I was still coming to camp this weekend. I said I would be there. The campground isnt fully open and the owners are working on making the tent sites better, as well as running new electrical and plumbing for…
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Mechanical Hipster
Compact Discs are dead. Second-hand store 2nd & Charles sells a Mystery Box of 100 CDs for $30.00 or less with coupons. Thrift stores have CDs in jewel cases piled up to act as bookends, if organized, or more typically jumbled in a laundry basket marked “$1” in permanent marker on a dogeared piece of…
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Ticking Boxes
How my first visit to Los Angeles was a pleasant surprise Gettin’ Crazy Our driver was bombastic and gave the busload of passengers a speech about L.A. traffic as he nearly rammed his way around tentative and antsy drivers with license plates from around the Union… “it’s crazy now, but not really; you’re here when…
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Visual Thoughts
I learned this week that Generation Z and Millenials both have increasingly visual learning styles compared to students of previous generations. The impact this has on pedagogical styles varies from whether or not using textbooks makes sense to implementing group projects that themselves focus on areas that students find themselves most difficult to understand. In…
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Do the Simplest Things… Always
Maintaining a vehicle often comes down to ensuring the simplest things are done on a regular basis. Other times, especially with older vehicles, maintenance comes down to doing simple but odd things. When I got the LS430, the check engine light (CEL) kept coming on because it was firing P0440, P0441 and P0446 codes. All…
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Luxury Headlamps
Why Xenon? Lamps that use electrical arcs – lightning is an electrical arc, for example – have been around since before the lightbulb was invented. Carbon arc lamps were used in factories and as street lamps because they were so bright compared to gas lights. Later, arc lamps were used in movie projectors and search…
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Best Tuna Salad
Green Goddess dressing and Tobasco make for the Best Tuna Salad! Buy Wegman’s (or your favorite brand) Green Goddess dressing, or make your own Green Goddess dressing! Below is a video link for a technique and recipe: Whip 2 tbsp of the dressing into 2 small cans of tuna, add a splash of Tobasco sauce,…