Robert Planter

Every summer the little lady and I say, “We should have a garden!” And at the end of every summer the little lady and I are in the grocery store holding bell peppers wondering why we never planted a garden. I hypothesize our problem is that our plans are so large that we never start.

To curtail such problems I made a small herb garden designed by Steve Marin on Woodworking For Mere Mortals.

I followed the instructions laid out in the video.

Everything is made from pine 1×4, 1×6, and 2×4. Steve finished his with a deck stain and I opted not to do that simply because I am curious how the wood will hold up over the summer.

The wonderful thing about woodworking is that there are many ways to arrive at the same result. Steve used a chop saw and jigsaw. I used a Japanese ryoba.

If we do not grow any thing this summer then I am going to convert the planter into a trebuchet.

Going, going, gone

J.E. Mainer was born in 1898 and grew up in North Carolina.  He learned to play the banjo and fiddle and recorded hundreds of bluegrass and country songs.  In 1937 he recorded “Miss Me When I’m Gone”.

There are slightly fewer cups heard in that version than this one recorded by Anna Kendrick.

Also, I presume because everyone was smacking their cup like that they wanted a refill. She’s going to have to work hard for those tips.

Red Flags Of Quackery

Created by Maki at Sci-ence, the Red Flags Of Quackery inforgraphic below lays out many of the gambits and logical fallacies you may encounter by charlatans and true believers.

Shoot ‘Em Up

A study conducted by Frank DeStefano, M.D., M.P.H., evaluated the association of autism and the number of vaccines received in the first 2 years of life.  He came to the conclusion that autism is not linked to the number of vaccines received in early childhood.   I originally heard about the study on NPR.  The study can be read here.

Talking about the Higgs Boson

Cosmologist Sean Carroll talking about the Higgs Boson.

He says we won’t get jet packs from this, but I’d bet that hover boards arise from the discoveries at the LHC.

Google Reader has been read

First they came for Google Notebook, and I didn’t speak out because I used pen and paper.

Then they came for Google Health, and I didn’t speak out because I used a spreadsheet to track my health

Then they came for Google Wave, and I didn’t speak out because like others I wasn’t sure what it was for.

Then they came for Google Reader, and now I am not sure I know how to read the Internet.

Google Reader is a ritual for me. Men of yesteryear read the newspaper first thing in the morning; I had Google Reader.  It effortlessly brought me news, satirical news, updates on my friend building a program to play bridge, and all the cat videos I could stand.

I know – all things are impermanent. And I have heard all the axioms before:

• The problem with being a user is that you are only a user.
• If the service is free then you are the product.

I also know that Google is a search company which provides data to advertisers, but it felt like this is one of a few products Google nailed. It was simple and elegant.

I feel you, Adolf.

Secret cadavers are encrypted

My love of puns finally meets up with my love of steganography.  The goal of steganography is to hide a message in plain view.  A microdot might be affixed to a postage stamp for example. To the uninitiated the stamp simply paid the tax for carrying a letter. A spy; however, would know to look for the microdot and view it under a microscope to read a message.  With U.S. mail delivery being eliminated on Saturdays, I wonder how many secret spy plans will be postponed until Monday.

Another method of steganography is to hide a message in text.  Awkward lines invariably appear, stegasaurus.  Awkward grammar, spelling, syntax, and topics are welcome with puns considering their punchlines often rely on such eccentricities. Abdelrahman Desoky, a computer scientist at University of Maryland, used bad jokes to hide messages in plain view.  His work can be found here, but he used a joke generator from MIT to craft the messages.

As I am not a spy, I am not sure how useful this technique is.  None the less, now seems like the time to invest in Laffy Taffy.

Axl Rose Teaches Guns N’ Butter

When rap meets School House Rock you learn the fiscal advantages of shopping at a thrift store.

Rap not your thing? Here’s a version with big band sound.

Jerry Rig

I recently met Astronaut Jerry Ross at a book signing. He is the first human to be sent to space 7 times. He has spent over 1,393 hours in space; 58 hours were spent over 9 EVAs. This record breaking astronaut was kind enough to sign my circular slide rule.

It goes without saying that I was ecstatic to meet him.  In less exciting news, I glued two pieces of wood together.

This board is my circular saw guide. Rather than rely on my ability to make a straight cut, the saw rides on the lower board and is kept straight by the top board. While this is not as impressive as creating a carbon dioxide filter out of a sock, I do enjoy the simplicity and efficacy of this jig.  If you need more instruction than the thousand words I provided, you may find them on the Family Handyman website.

Even if I could not cut straight I also made jig to allow me to joint an edge with my router.

A wavy edged board is started at the infeed, run through the bit, and is straight at the outfeed. A half inch straight bit is used to joint the piece. The infeed and outfeed areas are parallel, but the infeed fence is offset by 1/16 of an inch.

Neither of these jigs are all that impressive, but they are helpful.  For the sake of comparison, Col. Ross was test flight pilot when he was my age. I’m happy I can make a board straight.

For a rainy day

I’m one of those guys who likes to buy his way into the hearts of children who are his relatives.

I could spend quality time with my nieces and nephews, but like Joe Fox, Tom Hank’s character from You’ve Got Mail, I prefer to buy their love. For my niece’s most recent birthday, I gave her something for a rainy day.

The money is held in place by paper clips. The paper clips are simply linked onto the umbrella’s stretchers.