Last updated on Jun-29-2009.

I am documenting the construction of my first wind turbine. I am not an expert, just learning as I go. I am not building a turbine from scratch, but instead trying to first succeed in mounting one to a tower and wiring it up to power small devices inside my house. Continue reading ‘Wind Turbine Construction’ »

After doing some maintenance work on the inside of my computer, I turned it back on and got the very unhelpful message from Vista:

BOOTMGR is missing

Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

Well, when I pressed the keys to restart, the error comes right back.  It’s an endless loop.  What the heck does this message mean anyway?  I found the problem and was able to fix it.  Read on for the solution.

Continue reading ‘Vista says it misses its BOOTMGR - It’s the hard drive, stupid’ »

Charging a Cub Cadet lawnmower 12V battery with a solar panel and Sunsei charge controller.

Continue reading ‘Solar Panel Charging a Lawnmower Battery’ »

Velleman sells a kit that you can build, advertised to be a sound indicator.  “…simple sound-to-light unit for music, the hard of hearing:  can be used to indicate the telephone, doorbell, barking dog.  Adjustable sensitivity with potentiometer…“  We built the MK103 kit and made a video showing a product test and review.

Continue reading ‘LED Sound-to-Light Unit Review’ »

I use my media player, a Creative Zen Vision W, to listen to podcasts and occasionally I’ll watch a video on it or let my kids watch videos on it. The other day the battery was dead and I decided to use my small solar circuit to charge it up.

Continue reading ‘Charging a Media Player with Solar’ »

Many people have tried adding Mentos to Diet Coke for a fun explosion of foam. Does only Diet Coke work or can another beverage work as well? Could Diet Pepsi work with Mentos to make an eruption?

My two kids were interested in the experiment, so for fun, we tried making our own volcano with Mentos and Diet Pepsi. It works!

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We wanted to see how isopropyl alcohol vapor burns. The video below shows a few of our burns.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Continue reading ‘Burning Isopropyl Alcohol’ »

How to fix a “Media Jam” on the Konica Minolta magicolor 2430DL laser printer

Konica_Minolta_magicolor_2430DL_small.jpg

Added Sep-2-2008


Vista backup to Drobo Fails

drobo - Vista backup can not be found

Vista says: The backup did not complete successfully.  The latest backup set can not be found.

Here’s a way to make Vista start over.

Edited Jan-23-2009


Open Office: How to add more colors to the pallete

OO-color-pallete.jpg

Added Aug-01-2008


If you accidentally reset your game…

speaker (18K)

how can you restore it to an older saved state?

Added Jul-02-2008

This article might help you find your saved games in Vista’s Virtualstore. Read


How to get a $50 rebate on a Drobo

drobo hard drive system rebate

Edited Jul-30-2008

When I ordered a Drobo unit from BuyDig.com, I was encouraged by a $50 cash rebate. But is the rebate a real deal?
Drobo rebate.


Some router configuration tips: D-Link DI-LB604 Dual-WAN Load Balancing router

Updated Jun-18-2008

Dual-WAN router

Want to know how to set up your router for surfing secure websites and sending SMTP email? Tips


How to save audio in audacity for use in Hammer (the Half Life 2 map editor)

Added Feb-26-2008

Speaker in Hammer for Half Life 2

This tutorial is for map designers, using Hammer. I show the simple, but necessary step to convert audio to work in speakers, using Audacity, a free audio editing tool. Tutorial.


How to reinstall Juice Podcast Receiver

Added Feb-21-2008

Juice logo

Getting an error with your Juice Podcast Receiver like the one below?

Juice Error

It might be time for a reinstall. Here’s how I did it without losing my settings. Tutorial



Nvu Tutorials

Online videos showing how to do a few things in Nvu, like how to resize tables.

Has your doctor been good to you?

Visit DoctorScorecard.com and share the experiences you have had with doctors, good or bad. Does your doctor meet your medical needs? Give your doctor a score! See what other people have said about their doctors.

DoctorScorecard

tomatoes

What’s the best-tasting tomato? Some people say it’s the Cherokee Purple.