For my church choir’s annual Christmas concert two weeks ago, one of the solos was a piece from Bernstein’s Mass, titled “Hymn and Psalm: A Simple Song.” It’s a very modern sounding song, not at all like traditional requiem masses. At times, it was very dissonant and haunting, other times similar to big band Broadway. …
Yearly Archives: 2008
I have OCD… not the one you’re thinking
This one required some knee surgery. Have a look…
Lamp repair project
My electronics inspection lamp died and I wasn’t sure why. So I set out to fix it. Check out the pictures below. Click on them for fuller descriptions of each step.
Aluminum trigonometry
I ran into an interesting trigonometry problem a few weeks ago, when I was working on the cable pole installation. The problem was simple enough: extend the pole such that the trash trucks wouldn’t snag it, thus ripping it down. But the real question was: how tall must I extend it to get adequate clearance? …
Bench power supply fix
This power supply belonged to my company and it died one day while we were using it. Just quit. So I took it home, tore it apart, and discovered that one pole of the power switch had failed. A replacement was in order!
CamMate tally light indicator prototype
Quite a while ago, I made a “tally light indicator” prototype for my uncle’s CamMate. It was only a rough mockup, but functional. Here are the project highlights…
Reinforced steel strike plate
The garage of our new house was broken into long before we bought it. Someone had kicked in the side entrance door. So I reinforced the doorjamb with a piece of steel angle iron, making my own door latch / deadbolt combo strike plate. Here are some pics…
Polity
Cowardice asks the question: “Is it safe”? Expediency asks the question: “Is it politic”? Vanity asks the question: “Is it popular?” But conscience asks the question: “Is it right?” And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because one’s …
Electoral Epistemology
I was speaking with someone recently about tomorrow’s election and they brought up a very good point that I want to explore in myself.
Kitchen remodel
Sarah and I decided our first big house project would be a kitchen remodel. The old cabinets were very distinctive, but not that practical. And Sarah loves cooking, so we needed an updated more convenient kitchen.