The “gap” that I’m talking about is a missing link for this scenario, something that despite our high technology and materials science and engineering just doesn’t exist or just isn’t available somehow-
A Possibly-Overlooked Item for Survival at Home
What you actually NEED for doing a lot of repeated heating of water in this scenario is something that used to be in pretty much every kitchen, but, again ironically, something that is disappearing from kitchens in the age of the microwave.
UCO “Switch Spork” Utensil Set
I’ve got one in each pack and haversack in current use, some not-routinely-used kits, my travel shaving kit and two in each vehicle glove compartment, plus some spares stored away, and I’ve given away a couple of sets new.
Survival – The Douglass Field S (Survival) Lighter
UPDATE! As of right now, I cannot recommend this lighter AT ALL.
Happy Hacker’s Notebook: Opening the case of the HP 14-an013nr
One of the biggest hurdles in upgrading or modifying the HP 14-an013nr is just getting the case open. HP doesn’t have any incentive to make this easy, they want to sell you more computers, having you upgrading them interferes with that.
Happy Hacker’s Notebook: Mysteries of the HP 14-an013nr: RAM
In the video “AICvideo” expresses the opinion that more than 8GB of memory is unnecessary in this machine because of the limited processor power. I’m don’t really have an opinion about that yet, but it’s worth noting that because of the integrated graphics the system memory is also the graphics memory, and it does have a full-HD screen, which is a lot more pixels to drive from memory than most notebooks this size.
Happy Hacker’s Notebook: Desoldering surface mount devices with a headlight bulb.
Judging by the video, aside from being very, very dangerous in at least three different ways and probably more, this seems to actually work very well for very little money, and it fills a very real need (otherwise nobody would have been nuts enough to try it).
Intro to the HP 14-an013nr, the hardware hacker’s bargain notebook
HP 14-an013nr, or W2M53UA, or W2M53UAR “W2M53UA” is a secret code to use in searches to find deals on this computer and parts and accessories for it that others miss. Okay, it’s an “item number” or somesuch, as opposed to
The Real Problem with Consumer Computers
Okay, the price wasn’t down there with Raspberry Pi stuff, but get this: for less than $200 you could buy a notebook computer with a quad-core processor, a 14-inch full HD screen (1920×1060), HDMI out, USB 3.0 (one, plus two 2.0), and 4GM of RAM upgradable to 16GB. Nominally the catch was the storage, this was in the “Chromebook” category (even though it was running Windows 10, not Chrome OS) so.. they crippled the storage capacity. Big time. There was only a sad, slow little 32GB M.2 eMMC board running through an adapter to make it look like a real SSD… but if you opened the case, there was a vacant space for a hard drive or SSD, only lacking a cable and caddy, and another empty space sized for an optical drive (but with no case opening) that could easily hold a SSD and an optical-to-SATA adapter taken from an $8 caddy, giving you any amount of fast storage you cared to pay for. It was made by Hewlett-Packard (HP), and it had the lovely and memorable name of 14-on013nr. It was a bargain, and with a little work and a little money you could hot-rod this sleeper into a very usable general-purpose notebook for a fraction of the typical prices of anything comparable.
Emergency one-person survival stove- the best choice is alcohol, 91% of the time.
So, we have trail equipment stores, hardware stores of various types, liquor stores, drug stores, convenience stores, grocery stores, boating equipment stores and marinas as possible sources if you’re afoot on your own. That’s pretty versatile. I don’t think any other liquid fuel comes close, unless you’re willing to use automotive gasoline, which requires special stoves and a lot of ventilation and there’s still danger.
Survival – quartz and steel firemaking
This opens up whole new possibilities for using quartz, though. Using a hardened steel spike in this way leverages the whole weight/momentum of a much larger stone to apply force to a tiny area of steel, and doesn’t rely on creating and maintaining an edge on the quartz. Looks like a much more effective technique.
What should be life’s first survival lesson: don’t dress like an idiot.
It’s early October as I write this, and getting to be that time of year again in the Northern hemisphere. There’s a chill creeping into the morning air, and t-shirts, shorts and sandals are disappearing… but not quite as many
Interesting question – USB microphones and USB switches
My first thought was, as they say, “bits is bits”. If there was noise enough in the box to interfere with discriminating between ones and zeroes than it wouldn’t work for any data. It didn’t seem to make sense.
On reflection, though… maybe. Just maybe.
Happy Felt Hat Day, 2017!
It varied somewhat over time, but September 15th is the date most regarded as Felt Hat Day.
Okay, I know what you’re thinking, this is the sort of silly concession granted by politicians to lobbyists who don’t actually raise very much money for them… like, five thousand dollars might get you a Peanut Butter Fudge Day in West Des Moines.
Not at all. This used to be very serious stuff. People even got hurt over it. Check this out:
Home Studio Recording, the Raspberry Pi, and Tracktion
Tracktion as a company seems to be not only supporting Linux and the Raspberry Pi, but quite enthusiastic about it… about “democratizing” home recording by using the latest in inexpensive tech to make it much more affordable.
Bluetooth Gets More Useful… Very Slowly
Obviously, Bluetooth is a digital protocol, and the mini-stereo jack output is analog, so the device doesn’t only contain a Bluetooth receiver, it contains a digital-to-analog converter, or DAC… and with that step we’ve set foot in the analog universe with a very, very inexpensive piece of gear. Is it a good DAC? Is it even adequate? We have no clue, they’re trying not to even bring the issue to mind.The one thing we do know is, whatever the DAC is, it’s cheap.
Damn… Fitbit number 2, RIP
Just this morning I noticed that it was dead. Nothing comes up on-screen, the green LEDs that monitor blood in the wrist don’t come on. I didn’t think I could have let the charge go that low without noticing, but as I say it’s hard to be sure. I put it on a USB charger, no immediate response, so I put a little USB volt/ammeter in series with it, and it showed 5.01 volts and .05 amps. Seemed like a good sign, at least it was taking a charge… but after a while the amps dropped to zero, usually indicating a full charge, and the wristband is still very dead.
Survival: Mini Life-Lessons: A bald spot is a helluva thing to have to deal with.
Some years back I rented a convertible for a week in Maui, the selection of vehicles at the rental place being almost entirely convertibles or Jeeps. That’s when I was forced to come to grips with one of the hard realities about growing older.
A bald spot is a helluva thing to have to deal with.
Tech – Element 14’s new Pi Desktop- This One Might Be Important – Update: utter disappointment
The Raspberry Pi is very I/O bound, always has been. The latest processor is a four-core and amazingly capable for the price, the 1 mb of memory is pretty scanty but enough to run Linux well, the memory access is plenty fast enough, but of all the “storage” access, the micro-SD card socket, the USB ports, the Ethernet jack, the on-board Bluetooth and Wifi, the fastest is… the USB ports. USB 2.0. That’s just sad, and really, really hampers the user experience. Anyone who has upgraded their main machine from a hard drive to a solid-state drive will tell you that it’s the single most effective thing you can do to improve the entire user experience, short of upgrading a whole machine… and the Raspberry Pi is sort of in the opposite direction, with storage being slower rather than faster.
Survival – Why you should stick your head in a tube of stretchy cloth
I’m calling these “tubedannas” because there isn’t a single good name for the whole category, one that isn’t a trademark. It’s my blog, I can call them any silly thing