For the past year and a half we’ve been heating our pool with a solar water heater. It pumps the water to the roof, where it runs through black tubes, which absorb as much warmth from the sunlight as possible. This solution has raised our pool temp by about 8ËšF. But, it does nothing to …read more
For the past 4 years, I’ve been jealous of the kinetic sculptures at Burning Man. Duane Flatmo’s beautiful creations were the first to catch my eye. But soon I was noticing many other art bikes on the playa. I kept dreaming about building my own, but I couldn’t wrap my mind around how to get …read more
I realize that after a long time of not blogging that I simply forgot to blog about finishing my Rubens Tube. Besides, I need to show the final piece in action. Sorry about that! Here are the first three blog posts about this. One, Two, Three. Step 6. Prepare the plate for the propane side. …read more
Read Parts 1 and 2, first. Step 4. Drill and tap holes in the flanges for mounting the speaker and Buna-N rubber sheet. The reasons will become clear in later steps, but I’ll just describe what holes I drilled. One flange will be welded to the tube itself, so it will have nothing but tapped …read more
On April 23rd, 23andme.com ran a special on the anniversary of the discovery of DNA. $99 for their complete ancestry and health analysis kit, which usually costs $499. A bunch of my nerd friends and I got the kit, so we can analyze our own genes. They’re mine, why shouldn’t I know what they say? …read more
Years ago I bought a 6″OD, 20ft steel tube, with the intention of making Rubens tubes out of it. I hacked off 5 feet and put together a tube. However I wasn’t really satisfied with its performance. The tube never really resonated with the notes of the music, it only would pound with the bass. …read more