Belated Happy New Year!

Long time, no blog! Here is the latest.

I Saw Three Ships

For Christmas, J got me a set of three boat/ship models. They are designed to be progressively difficult, with the first being the "beginner" model. I'm 5 weeks into building it, and I'm still not done. It may be a beginner model, but I wouldn't classify it as easy.

Here's a picture of what mine looks like at the moment. It's about 3/4 done. 

Fear of Heights

Why anyone would want to go to some deadly high place is beyond me. Take these stories, for example...

Riders rescued after 400-foot tall wheel loses power at Florida amusement park. 400-foot tall ferris wheel?

A Floating Retreat in the mountains. Nothing says vacation and relaxation like lying awake, shaking with the overwhelming anxiety that you're about to plunge to your death. I'm sure they double-check the ropes once a year to make sure they're secure, though.

Japanese Vending Machines

I had a coworker who once told me about a vending machine he ran into that made french fries. The Japanese are known for their fun and quirky vending machines. Here are a few YouTube videos about that topic. I like the one that has the mystery packages .

Video 1, Video 2

RIP Jeff Beck

Guitar great Jeff Beck passed away recently, which sent me to Qobuz, the music service I subscribe to, to listen to some of his music. I used to own some records back in the day.

A few favorites, as found on YouTube:

Freeway Jam

Cause We've Ended as Lovers

Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

Online Games

Play Chronophoto and guess what year a photo was taken. I guessed a few right, and was close on a few others, but I whiffed on a lot of them. 

I like to play Name Drop on the New Yorker website. They give you clues about a person and you have to guess who it is. The trick to knowing the answers is to have read and memorized details from all the articles in the New Yorker about people from the last 10-15 years, because the facts usually come from those articles.

Keep Movin'

To close, I wish I could move like this, or even keep my balance as well as this guy.

Happy Father's Day!

Dads Are Great!

Here's wishing all the fathers out there a Happy Father's Day! I saw my dad today. We went to church, then to Wendy's drive through for lunch. We ate in the car at Cascades and had a nice conversation. I gave dad his gifts: a card, a piece of banana bread from J, and a card "sculpture" that I cut out for him from a deck of cards. 

Watch this video to see what I'm talking about - this is not me in the videos/pictures, but I took the design and made a similar deck for dad. It took one time through a deck to get the hang of it, and the second deck - the one I gave dad - worked out a lot better. 

Some Links

Uncrate: Everything you never knew you needed. 

This rolling toolbox, along with another large toolbox on top of it, would be a good start. Perhaps a workbench to go along with it would be nice. 

Some people use notebooks for their shopping list or to record forgettable things about the last meeting they were in. And then there's this. 

Goings On Going On

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The pear tree is blossoming. Spring is here!

Welcome to Spring!
I think the warm(er) weather is finally here to stay. It was in the 70s for a few days, and even though it will go back down to the 60s for a while, it's probably safe to put the snow shovels away now.

There are about 5 weeks left until Science Olympiad, which is June 3 this year. We're working hard on so many aspects of the big day, including meeting with our "key" volunteers, making signs and posters, helping organize workshops for students, and taking care of all the little things that make a big event.

Links
I like this little knife. It's small enough that it would stay out of your way.

Why learn to play the piano when you can just buy one of these? And yes, it handles the pedals, too.

Early Christmas list (it's never too early): a 14-150 mm camera lens. But don't buy me this lens; it's not made for my camera, it's too heavy to lift, and I'd rather you gave me the money so I could pay off my mortgage. It's 28" long, so you'd need a little wheeled cart to take it with you.

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More Music and Other Stuff

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K plays Mozart - this is the Solo and Ensemble piece

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M and the Symphony Band played at Festival today - they got a I (one) rating. 

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One Pretty Good Link
Here's a great poster that shows the evolution of space exploration.

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Jazz Band and Orchestra Night

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The saxes are up front for a reason - they're the best!

Jazz Band
M and the Pioneer High School Jazz Band played at a judged festival on Saturday. The judge had some interesting things to say about their play, and the sounded terrific as usual. One piece featured a trombonist, one a vocalist, and one was the whole band playing full tilt.

The Jazz Band wows 'em at their festival performance

This piece featured a trombone and was a lot of fun to listen to and watch

Orchestra Night
I went to see Orchestra Night at Hill Auditorium, even though none of our children were playing in it this year.

The Pioneer Symphony Orchestra at Hill Auditorium

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Fun Links
Ready to order your new Ford GT? Just go here to set it up the way you want, and hit the Order button!

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Whole Lotta Nothin'

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There is not much going on these days - we used up all the exciting things in October. The kids are entrenched in school work, I continue to work for The Man, J continues to volunteer at the high school for various things, and I'm helping get things organized for Solo and Ensemble 2017, which is going to be at Pioneer again this year.

Planning and school registration for Science Olympiad is in full swing as well, and there's always lots to do there.

Here are a few links to keep you occupied until I can find something relevant to post.

Just sit back and relax and watch some expert guitar makers in action. Everything about building a guitar takes forever when you're doing it right.

Tesla makes cars, and they're also getting into the solar power business. Here's a solar power-generating roof. If we hadn't just had the shingles replaced a few years ago, I'd definitely be doing this.

These knives are really pretty. I can't afford to buy one, but I can stare at their web page all day for free.

Need to buy some mother of pearl? Look no further than the Duke of Pearl.

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Post 351: The Sequel to the 350th Post

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SpongeBob celebrates more than seven years and 350 posts of mostly family stuff, a lot of links, and boatloads of related words, pictures, letters, and numbers taking up space on a Google server somewhere.

This Is My 351st Post
I know almost none of you are counting at home, but my last post was the 350th time I've posted something for public consumption on The DEB Log. We'll celebrate this momentous occasion by moving on to post #351. Keep reading.

Men In Black
J and I went to a costume party a few weeks ago dressed as agents from the movie "Men In Black". The Men In Black protect the universe from aliens, who (as far as the movie is concerned) live among us in relative anonymity. In the movie, the agents have devices called neuralizers that flash like a camera, causing nearby people to lose their memory of any alien activity they might have witnessed.

As part of our costumes, I made two neuralizers out of toilet paper holders, a light, a battery, and a switch. Here is the finished product, followed by some of the parts.





Fun Links
This guy is off the charts of skill and creativity. This video is a must-watch for anyone who works with wood.

This is a changing measuring spoon. And it's a snap to clean.

If assembly is required, check out Assembly Magazine.

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Shark Week!

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Happy Shark Week, everyone! I hope it's a good one.


Here you can see a "dinosaur" costume worn by a person on stilts at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival. J and I were there for a reception for subscribers to a local news magazine.


The wording of this sign bothers J and me. How about "of" instead of "for", or how about wording it completely differently? This is an election year for the township administrators, and they're trying to curry favor with the residents in this corner of the township.


We went to Zingerman's for breakfast on Sunday. The breakfast food is as good as you would expect. I had a toasted sesame bagel with egg, tomato and arugula. M had whatever the heck this is - I know it has a fried egg but forget the rest.


This isn't one of my cats - I saw this one in the tennis parking lot at Pioneer. I just thought I'd share it with you.

Fun Links
This is a really big ship.

Here's a guy who is a master model builder and even teaches modeling courses. He shares a lot of great tips.

Another modeler shares his tips.

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The entire staff of The DEB Log wish our readers a safe and happy Fourth of July!

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Rainy June Post

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The cats REALLY want to eat that chipmunk. At least, they think they do. My guess is they're as afraid of him as he is of them.

Catching Up
Today and tonight, we're getting the rain we've been wondering about. Everything is looking extra green in the yard, so we'll take it.

We're getting ready for the end of the school year: K's "graduation" ceremony from middle school is coming up, and M's exams are looming. I don't have a lot going on, but J and I have spent a lot of time outside getting the yard into good shape.



There are a lot of records at the Ann Arbor Salvation Army resale store.

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Book Recommendation
I just finished "Dear Committee Members" by Julie Schumacher. It's the funniest book I've read in a long time. It's a series of letters written by a (fictitious) English professor. The letters of recommendation are works of art, and rarely, if ever, does the author go to the same joke or use the same phrases to express something - there is always a new saying, metaphor, or cynical jab.

Some Links
I'm still dragging out my quest to buy a new camera. I've been getting advice on what to look for, and as always, a bigger budget gets you lots of better things. With lenses, especially. As far as new equipment, specifically digital SLRs, those who are up on the latest say you have basically two choices: Nikon or Canon. Some other manufacturers are out there, but they pale in comparison. I can get a decent camera for a good price buying used from a reputable site, like this one. Maybe I'll go that route. Or maybe I'll hem and haw for another few months.

Neat kite! That's a pretty clever idea.

Did you know adding paper to a block of sand can strengthen it to the point it can support your weight?

An impossibly detailed scale model of New York.

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Woodchuck Mania!

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You can't see him very well, but there's a woodchuck under my car.

Woodchuck Hide-and-Seek
K and I got closer to knowing "how much wood would a woodchuck chuck" today. We were walking back to the car in a parking lot, and he noticed there was an animal under the car. We tried to shoo it away and make noise, but it just kept moving towards the middle. I told K he should crawl under the car and grab it by the feet, but he didn't want to.

Nothing we did could get him to move, including honking the horn and starting the car. Finally, I backed the car out extremely slowly, with K watching to make sure I didn't squash the little guy. Eventually, he came out and we were able to leave without a major wildlife incident.

Is that the most exciting thing happening at the moment? Yeah, pretty much.

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This is what it looks like under a shower.

New Shower
You may have read about some of the problems we had with the shower remodel we did several years ago. We've never been happy with it, and it's leaked on and off the entire time. As much as it pained us to do it, we had all the work torn out and replaced with new tile and glass.

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Links
I love these furnishings and clocks made from aircraft parts and panels.

This is a great workbench.

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Christmas Wrap-Up

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Reflective City by Matthias Adolfsson

It's time for a Christmas wrap-up.

We had two very Merry Christmas get-togethers this year - one at our house with my side of the family, and one at J's parents' house for hers. We're lucky (as always) to have our families and always enjoy seeing as many of them as possible over the holidays.

On New Year's Eve, the Spartan football team will play Alabama for a chance to be in the national championship game. Go Spartans!

All of us Ann Arborites, plus Laurie, went to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It was well done, I could follow along even though I can only remember the basics of the original movies (and that's all you need to know, by the way: the basics).

Links
Some very nice inlays by Larry Robinson.

If your metal lathe and mill is collecting dust on your workbench, here's a gyroscope project for you.

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Post #323

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Yes, this is post #323 of The DEB Log. If you thought the past 322 posts were great, then you probably haven't explored the internet much.


Are you missing some wasps? They were living in the outlet vent for the bathroom fan. I hope you weren't too personally attached to them, since they're all quite dead now.

Getting rid of the wasps wasn't too difficult, I've done this kind of thing before. The difference with this nest is that I had to go on the roof to get near enough to it to see what they were up to. Fortunately for me, they were pretty slow movers because of the colder weather. So what could have ended with welts and me running around on the roof to avoid wasps turned into me knocking them off the vent cover with a screwdriver and then stepping on them. May all your wasps be half dead.

This did require my going into the attic space to remove the ductwork I sprayed the wasp killer into, so, while it could have been worse from a "getting stung" point of view, it was a pain to replace the duct and put everything back together in the tiny space in the attic.


The Michigan State University Marching Band at UM's stadium for the MSU vs. UM game.
J and I went to the MSU vs. UM game a few weeks ago. The MSU band was there, as you can see. It was a nice night for football, although a bit chilly.

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I still run for exercise, and today I ran 6.1 miles, which is the farthest I've ever run at one time when a dog wasn't chasing me.

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Fun Links

Click on the arrows at the bottom of the screen to see a 365-degree view of a XB-70A's cockpit.

This is an interesting desk project - it doesn't look too tough.

Every writer has his own voice.

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Explosive News!

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This looks more dangerous than it actually is.

K and I just finished a project together - it combines a "defusable" timer K built from a kit, combined with some dynamite I made as a sort of stand for it.

The dynamite is a broom stick sawed into pieces, with red construction paper covering. The lettering was created with pencil and stencils.

K ramped up his soldering skills for this one (it's been awhile!) and is already working on another, more advanced electronics project.

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Links
Take a few minutes and visit Paperholm. All the models are made of paper and glue.

I'm currently reading Locks, Safes, and Security. It's really big, so I'm not reading the whole thing. Just the good parts.

I really like Tom Gauld's work. His take on the biblical David and Goliath story (called "Goliath") is thought-provoking.

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Happy Mother's Day!

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A few cranes have returned to the pond near our house. I’ll post pictures of them when I get a good one. In the meantime, here’s a picture from Mattias Adolffson.

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Happy Mother's Day!

Speaking of famous women, a common lament in the science community is that the question “who is your favorite female scientist?” is usually answered with “Marie Curie”. Was that your response? I have a different one. Among my favorite female scientists is a computer science instructor I had at MSU named Helen Spence. She was programming computers in the 1940’s, and teaching Physics and Computer Science at MSU starting in the 1950’s. She retired shortly after the second of two classes I took from her – the first was CPS311, where we learned two languages: C, and a Motorola chip’s assembly language. The second class was a continuation of that class, in which we dived into the details of the PDP-11 machine language.

Her ability to plainly explain the topics, and her no-nonsense approach to exercises and exams, made her one of my favorite instructors/professors of my college years.

Mrs. Spence passed away last year.

On this site, there are sound files that capture a series of interviews with her. . I haven’t been able to get to all of them yet, but I like the MSU project that produced these recordings.

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A Jacquard loom at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI.

Speaking of female scientists (and engineers), I’m reading a biography of Ada Lovelace, a friend and collaborator of Charles Babbage, who invented (but wasn’t able to build) a computer that was run by perforated cards, which we would now refer to as “punch cards”. It was based on the input cards that drove the Jacquard Loom.

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Spring Happenings
Now that spring and summer have both arrived, basically at the same time, the boys’ activities have moved outside. M is back playing with the Ultimate Frisbee team (he did play some cold games, though), and K is playing outdoor tennis, after having been inside all winter. K tried out a few different new racquets at his last practice – as kids get older, they sometimes need to get a new racquet that’s heavier and helps them produce more power. K’s current racquet is very light, and won’t work well for most older teens or adults.

Since I’m now one of the people in charge of making sure the Science Olympiad runs like a clock, I have been occupied with formatting schedules, drawing maps, and staying in close contact with the others who are responsible for other parts of the tournament. It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it. May 30 is the big day.

Links
You might find this site useful: if you want to make a poster out of an image or document you’ve created, you upload it to their website. You tell it how wide you want it to be, and it creates a PDF file that contains pages you print at home. Then you tape them all together and you have a poster. h

You probably knew there were some WWII Japanese subs that actually carried airplanes with them, and the planes could be launched into the air from the sub itself.

Christmas is only 7 months away. Maybe you should buy me one of these lockpicking practice sets now, just in case.

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Happy Mother’s Day! And safe travels to Mom and Mary! Take lots of pictures!

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Catching Up With Pictures

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Doing some catch-up with pictures...


Slauson Middle School's orchestra wows the crowd at Hill Auditorium. This was at the Ann Arbor Public Schools Orchestra Night, at which all the public middle and high school orchestras performed.


Here's K after the concert at Hill Auditorium.


A few weeks ago, K was playing another instrument (piano) at Solo and Ensemble. Here's a picture of him and the hardware he collected.


Rounding out K's pictures for the time being, here he is at the MATHCOUNTS competition a few weeks back. Four of these students will be going to the state competition.


Here's M posing for the camera at his Solo and Ensemble. As you already know, his piano solo and sax trio performances each won him a blue medal.

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Some Links
Got an hour? Watch "Mythbusters" host Adam Savage build a scale model. He's made other model videos as well.

That's it. I'm quitting my job and going back to school to learn how to make one of these. I hope my family doesn't mind.

How do people come up with the ideas to make these things? Genius!

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Turkey is Coming Soon

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The cats in their new, bigger cat bed. The little blue-green toy next to Mesko is known to us as a "mouse loaf". It's a strange little toy.

Turkey, Turkey, Turkey, Some Other Stuff, Then Pie...
Next week will be a big Turkey Day celebration. Should be fun for all. We're hosting again this year and expect the company to be especially wonderful. By then, the snow that's fallen here should be melted by the rain that's forecast for this weekend. And who knows what weather we might have next week? Oh, the joys of living in Michigan.


Gluing up a drawer for mom and dad. I clamped the sides of a small wooden box to the sides of the drawer as I was gluing them to keep them at a 90-degree angle.

Leftovers
I've been busy cleaning up "my" corner of the basement - things pile up and get disorganized on a regular basis where the workbench is, and having everyone over for the holiday gives me a good deadline to hit as far as cleaning. I have old paint to get rid of, boxes to break down, and ancient Diet Mountain Dew cans to return for deposits. It's possible some of them have been down there since before the deposit law was passed.

Some Links
Scroll through all the old calculating machines here. Amazing feats of mechanical engineering!

Model motorcycles from watch parts. I really wish I had a giant box full of watch parts right now...

Adam West talks about the old Batman TV show.

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Hallowe'en Hello

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A ghostly "hello" to all The DEB Log readers. It's a gusty, cold, snowy night in Ann Arbor, just perfect for all those ballerinas and princesses to wear their winter coats. The pumpkins, which usually like a cool, fall evening, are already asking to be brought back inside.

Dad's Next Project - Table!
My first reaction when I saw some of these tables was how much I like them. My next thought was that dad's next project should be a table. Weld some legs, find or buy a table top (the more rustic or interesting the better) and - poof! - instant table. Tables are nice to look at and useful at the same time, always a winning combination.

Without further ado...

How could you NOT want this table - it has a crank! When it's time to clear the dishes, you just turn the crank and pretty soon the table's clear.

A table with nice clean lines.

I love the gears in the base of this one. (check out all of Bruce Gray's sculptures here).

I really like this one and these.


A Few Non-Table Related Things
I would always know what time it was if I had this watch and was willing to wear it out of the house (it might get scratched or stolen or breathed upon).

All you need is a Sharpie or two. How hard could it be?

Get started with wood carving. Or finish that project you started three years ago that's sitting in a box under your workbench.

Who doesn't need an ejector seat every now and then? This one is available.

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I Toad You

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I toad this guy to stop hanging out on the sidewalk. He toad me to get lost.

Lots of Links
If I lived on a lake, I'd cash in the kids' college funds and buy one of these.

I bought this notebook and I really like it. I have the one with the graph paper pages.

Fun on the beach with STRANDBEEST. (You can buy kits of miniature beasts!)

Wow. Just Wow. I saw a TV show that was partly about this Miniatur Wunderland, and it is truly amazing.

A Stirling engine, but not made out of coffee cans, like the ones I often see on maker sites.

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I wish all The DEB Log readers a happy and healthy day for Tuesday, October 21, 2014. Not only is it Mary's birthday, but it's a big day for dad as well! Take care, all.

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A Trip to Jackson, Some Tennis, and a Few Links

Jackson Visit

We went to Jackson last week to visit Mom and Dad (Grandma and Grandpa), and especially to see Dad's (Grandpa's) most recent sculpture outside Ella Sharp Museum.

It's titled "The Blonde Trick-Rider Practices for the State Fair".




At Ella Sharp, M finally realizes his dream of being on TV. Or in TV. Or behind TV.


M and K try out the "Whispering Bench", so named because a person can whisper into one end and the other person can hear it perfectly.


A yucca plant next to the house has sprouted quite a stalk.


While we were at Ella Sharp, we noticed a lot of hot-air balloons taking off. We were a little puzzled since the Hot Air Jubilee is scheduled for this coming weekend, but we were told that this was a preview of the Jubilee, intended to create excitement and publicity for the real thing.

Tennis Update
K played his first official USTA tournament over the weekend. He played four matches over two days, and we were exhausted just watching him play. Three of his four matches were against kids who had played many tournaments in the past, but he played hard and didn't give up any easy points. For all the time we were there, we somehow neglected to take even a single picture.

Links
Gears, gears, and more gears.

A clever idea for the reader on your Christmas list.

Shops and shopkeepers.

I keep looking, but I've never seen one of these to rent at the canoe livery.

And finally - nope, nope, nope-ity nope.

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Happy 100th Birthday to Grandma Nuernberg!

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We went to Pittsburgh this weekend to see J's Grandma Nuernberg, the family's matriarch and lone centenarian. She does not at all look like someone who has lived that long, she has a spring in her step and a quick wit.

Happy Birthday to the youngest 100-year old we know!

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K has been playing volleyball with a lot of other sixth-graders. Here is a picture from their recent city-wide tournament, in which teams from all five public middle schools play each other. K is in the back row, almost under the basketball hoop.



M shows that he can relax better than anyone on the ride home from Pittsburgh.

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Mechanical motion - similar to poetry in motion.

My next house will either have a workshop in the basement or a train in the yard.

Nice watch.

The Detroit Tigers' schedule for 2014. Go Tigers!