Archive for the ‘hack’ Category
Listening past the Snap, Crackle and Pop
Muttmutt writes :
Both Slashdot and Wired recently reported on a guy who’s been digitizing his collection of more than 6,500 78 RPM records. I decided to check it out for myself and discovered a lost world of wonderful music that hasn’t seen the light of day in decades.
Filed under culture, hack, sites i like, technology : Comments (2) : Aug 16th, 2008
Wordpress 2.6
I updated the wordpress install powering tadfad.com today. It was much overdue, as I was running a very old, insecure version. Now I’m up to date and back online.
Another nice feature is the new iPhone wordpress app. (Which I’m using to compose this post right now.) With this new setup, I no longer have an excuse for not writing on tadfad.
Hooray for wordpress and iPhone!
Filed under hack, technology : Comments (0) : Jul 26th, 2008
Sourdough Starter
When I was a kid, my dad used to keep a sourdough starter alive in the fridge. On Sundays he would pull it out to make the best sourdough pancakes around. According to family legend, this particular starter was passed down through many generations of Quakers, until it came to my father as payment for legal services early in his career. Sadly, the starter is no longer alive in the Johnson household, but I’m sure the strain is still making great bread out there somewhere.
This history is why I was so excited to read in The Urban Homestead that starting a sourdough starter is really quite simple. Just combine flour and warm water, feed it daily, and within a week or two you’ll be making bread and pancakes that will impress all.
I opted for some [needlessly expensive] organic unbleached flour from Whole Foods but saved money on the container by hitting up the weekend rummage sales.
Today marks day 1 of my sourdough starter experiment. Let’s hope this tadfad lasts long enough for at least a few loaves!
Filed under frugal, hack : Comments (0) : Jul 13th, 2008
GTD Zen, rollabind edition [Updated!]
[Update!] I’ve updated the template below and packed it in a weekly set. I’m going to print off a few copies and sell them. Interested?
I’ve been dabbling in the GTD world for a long while, with mixed results. Given my interest in web2.0, you’d think I would be a power user of some online GTD apps like SimpleGTD. Not so. As useful as these things are, I find that they suffer from a major handicap : I’m not online 24 hours a day. (Until I get my iPhone2.0, but that’s another day).
Most users would simply compensate by keeping a paper copy with them at all times and syncing when online. This was simply too complex for me. Instead, I’ve been using good old fashioned paper & pen. Sadly, even this requires a bit of optimizing.
I wasn’t happy with notebooks, as I couldn’t add/remove pages. I didn’t want to carry a 3-ring binder, either. What to do? Rollabind!
This technology isn’t new, but I think it’s pretty slick. Using small plastic discs and a special hole puncher, I now have the best of both worlds : a portable notebook that gracefully allows adding/removing pages. Splendid!
Not stopping there, I downloaded the D*I*Y Hipster PDA and David Seah’s compact calendar, remixed Benjamin Franklin’s measures of virtue, threw in a SWOT chart, and now have a custom GTD solution that works great.
Always one to share, here is a PDF of the pages I use. Feel free to remix and use as you see fit (credit goes to the above sources). If you’re interested in the rollabind system, I’m a proud owner of the special hole puncher and would gladly help you get started.
Filed under frugal, hack, work : Comments (2) : May 20th, 2008
Shirt Hack
I took a copy of my favorite Johnny Cash photo
and screen printed it onto a shirt (by hand!). I’m pretty happy with the results. What do you think?
I’ll put up a how-to here on tadfad sometime if there’s demand.
Filed under culture, frugal, hack : Comments (5) : Oct 24th, 2007
Monday night project : art hack
I have a large, white, blank wall in my apartment. It’s right above my couch. Until tonight, I had no idea what to put there.
Then my friend Eric suggested Rasterbator art and I was sold. I jumped onto NASA’s free public images database and pulled down the famous photo of Buzz Aldrin on the moon. 48 sheets of paper, a bunch of sticky-tac, and about an hour later, I had this:
As far as art goes, it’s not for everyone. But I think it captures my love of science and technology and my geeky-but-sort-of-artsy side as well.
What do you think?
[Bonus: video of the pages going up]
Filed under hack : Comments (4) : Oct 1st, 2007
Volvo radio hack
I drive an old car. A 1994 Volvo 850 Turbo Sportwagon, to be precise. Mature vehicles like this have some real advantages. Insurance payments are very low (as was the sale price), I don’t worry about minor scratches, and I never mistake my car for another in the parking lot.
There are also some disadvantages. I pay a more for maintenance (especially since it’s a foreign car) and I lose out on some of the modern perks, like built-in GPS and a CD player. I’ve been getting by with a tape adapter for the iPod, but this leaves much to be desired. Plus it looks weird.
When I stumbled upon this how-to, I was convinced. I pulled out my stereo (which fortunately is very easy in a Volvo) and got to work.
Once I disassembled the stereo and removed the tape deck, I could access a handy riser card that included labeled (!) pins for right, left, and ground. I cut an old 1/8″ stereo cord and soldered onto the appropriate pins.
It’s not the cleanest solder job, but I’m not looking to win any aesthetics points. I’m a big fan of hot glue, and applied a liberal dose to insulate the connections and eliminate any strain on the joints. Finally, I put everything back together and routed the cable out the back of the stereo.
I notched the front corner of the stereo to allow for cord egress, and routed the slack along a seam towards my center console. Now I have an AUX input without requiring a tape adapter. Great!
Filed under hack : Comments (1) : Sep 15th, 2007
Belt hack
This morning at work, my belt broke. It’s one of those lame reversible belts that people like me love, and evidently I’d reversed it one to many times. The buckle severed itself from the rest of the belt, making it pretty worthless.
In this situation, I could have made a quick dash to the mall to buy a replacement. But I was busy. And I’m resoucreful. So I hacked it:
Now you’re probably thinking “that looks terrible” and you’re right. But there are a few important considerations. First, this belt hack required all of one rubber band and about 60 seconds. Second, when I put the belt back on you could hardly tell it was broken. Check it out:
Not bad, I say.
[Epilogue: Don't worry, I'm not a total bum--I purchased a new belt after work today.]
Filed under hack, work : Comments (1) : Jul 23rd, 2007
Bike light hack
I have a nice LED bike light from Cateye. It has a bush-button soft switch on the back that cycles through on-flash-off. It stopped working properly a few months ago, and would only flash if I held in the button. Needless to say, this was frustrating. (And unsafe).
I cracked open the case and poked around a bit. I disconnected the leads coming from the switch and re-routed them to a plain-old SPST switch that I glued on to the side. Now I have a very simple, very reliable way to turn it off and on.
I’m not going to win any points for style, and I probably shouldn’t take it out in the rain, but I’ve saved myself the $30 and environmental cost to replace it. Hooray!
Filed under frugal, hack : Comments (1) : Jul 22nd, 2007
5 second hack : half-pump soap dispenser
I’ve noticed that the average liquid soap dispenser pumps out way more soap than you need to wash your hands. For awhile I compensated for this by only pressing down half-way. Sure enough, my hands still got clean and I used about 50% less soap (saving money and the health of the Milwaukee water system).
The other night it dawned on me that I should institutionalize the half-pump. A zip-tie and a few seconds later, I now have a handy half-pump liquid soap dispenser!
Materials : 1 small zip tie; 1 liquid soap (or shampoo, conditioner, etc.) dispenser
Step 1 - tighten zip tie around collar of pump
Step 2 - wash your hands (or hair, etc.)
Step 3 - confirm that your hands are still clean using 50% less soap
Step 4 - rejoice in your environment- and pocketbook-friendly hacked dispenser.
done!
Now, of course, the next step is to stop buying junky old phosphorus-laden soap and switch to the good stuff. But that life-hack is for another day.
Filed under environment, frugal, hack : Comments (4) : Jul 16th, 2007
