Year: 2011
May 11, 2011

Arduino

Is anyone else (who reads this) playing with Arduino? It’s a kind of open source electronics kit.

I’ve just ordered the StartFun Inventor’s Kit to get me going, which is a heap of varied components together with an Arduino Uno controller – an easily programmable microcontroller. It looks a lot of fun, and it is possible to build quite a bit of stuff with a minimum of soldering, which suits me. It means I can play away developing my prototype, then call in a friend with a steadier hand when I have something worth building.

Read the Post <span class='p-name'>Arduino</span>
May 9, 2011

Firefox 4

Upgrading to Firefox 4, I expected there to be a little pain, as I got used to any changes they made.

But whose bright idea was it to reverse the order of “Open in a new tab” and “Open in a new window” when you right click a link?

Read the Post <span class='p-name'>Firefox 4</span>
May 7, 2011

Sourdough

Over a year ago, I promised that I would write up some instructions on how to use a sourdough starter.

This was more difficult than I expected. It is one thing to know how to do something, it is quite another to explain it.

Read the Post <span class='p-name'>Sourdough</span>
May 7, 2011

Oh bother…

My first free weekend since I got back up on my feet again, and I had planned to use it to get the garden straight. And now it is raining, and looks to carry on like that for the rest of the day (and possibly the whole weekend).

I did manage to cut the grass, before the skies opened up, but that is a small part of what needs to be done.

Read the Post <span class='p-name'>Oh bother…</span>
May 5, 2011

Vote Yes To AV

May 5, 2011

The Incredible Shrinking Man

I had a routine health checkup yesterday; more blood drawn to followup some previous tests, and general checking of blood pressure/weight and chat about diet.

The nurse asked me if anyone at the surgery had ever measured my height. I have been going there 10 years, but thought about it, and answered “no”. The nurse tutted, and muttered words to the effect of “of course, they find it easier just to ask you, don’t they”.

Read the Post <span class='p-name'>The Incredible Shrinking Man</span>
May 3, 2011

What’s in a name?

April 26, 2011

Eastercon

I still haven’t worked out exactly why, but Eastercon left me very much underwhelmed.

I should stress that this is not the fault of the Illustrious 2011 committee, who worked hard on putting on a good convention. Indeed, it appears that the majority of people did thoroughly enjoy themselves. But I found myself mostly biding time in the bar until I could reasonably go home.

Read the Post <span class='p-name'>Eastercon</span>
April 21, 2011

Time flies like an arrow…

April 21, 2011

My first fatty

I realised at lunchtime that I had sausagemeat in the fridge that needed to be used up, and I am away for the weekend.

So I thought I would have a try at making a fatty. A fatty is a large sausage-like object, made from sausage or luncheon meat, and smoked. They can be as simple as a log of sausage covered in rub, or wrapped in bacon, or they can have all sorts of fillings.

Read the Post <span class='p-name'>My first fatty</span>
April 21, 2011

Fun with sourdough

I may have mentioned, that while I was in San Francisco, I went on a sourdough hunt. I’ve baked my own version of sourdough before, but to have the genuine article would be wonderful.

[caption id="attachment_860" align="alignright" width="320" caption="Proved Loaves Ready For Baking"][/caption]
Read the Post <span class='p-name'>Fun with sourdough</span>
April 18, 2011

Barbecue fun

On a brighter note, I took my smoker out of storage this weekend, and found it a semi-permanent home in the garden, which means I will get a whole lot more use out of it.

Although I have used it quite a bit for smoking and slow cooking, I haven’t done a lot of straight grilling on it. So this weekend I experimented with all manner of burgers, sausages and chicken, until I got a feel for the temperature ranges and timings.

Read the Post <span class='p-name'>Barbecue fun</span>