Several really good videos explaining electrical circuits

I mentioned in a previous post that I might be doing some posts on fundamentals of electronics.

Ongoing Backyard Landscaping

I took care of a fairly minor project today.  I didn't have a lot of time or I would have accomplished quite a bit more.  Even though it was pretty minor task, I still got pretty hot and sweaty.

Instrumental Music

I'm a pretty big fan of most musical styles.  I keep my player on random shuffle and it played a couple of instrumental tunes on my way in to work this morning.  Thought I would share some of the instrumental stuff I keep in the playlist.  There's quite a bit of variety.  Some you will recognize, and hopefully there is some music that you've never heard before that you enjoy.  Take a quick listen if it's something you aren't familiar with.

More Deck Maintenance - and a few other repairs

The other post about staining the deck is here:  However a lot more work was needed.

Mobile tunes

Man I really love modern technology! 

Staining the Deck

Staining the deck is an annual or biennial (every other year) chore that I really don't care much for.

Rain!

How I single-handedly caused it to rain for the first time in months

More toys!

The GW Instek multimeters that I purchased through an online auction finally arrived.  They work perfectly, with no funky voltage readings or anything alarming like the Fluke 8000A meters showed.

Backyard Landscaping

We've been in this house for over six years now.  I've wanted to work on the back yard for a long time, but other issues have been more pressing, and the household budget is always a consideration!

This past week we finally got serious about it.

Fluke 8000A Refurbishment - a DMM follow-up

The previous post about the arrival and dissection of the two Fluke meters, and digital multimeters (DMMs) in general, is here:

Craft Brewers... or are they?

I saw this graphic on the internet recently, and thought it was important enough to share.  The Craft Beer you think you have been drinking might just be a "Crafty" corporate beer.

The big dogs in the brewing industry have been buying up smaller independent breweries.  The big players have been losing market share (and profits) to small brewers who are willing to brew great original beer.   Sales of swill beer have been spiraling downwards, and something had to be done to compensate for the loss in sales... so the mega brewing companies have been buying out the craft brewers - and then cheapening the product to improve profit margins on their new purchase.

They have also been buying distribution networks and excluding craft beers from distribution, while continuing to carry their own brand.  Sometimes I get the sense that large business doesn't really enjoy or want healthy competition.

General Radio 1192 Frequency Counter - Updated

For a very long time, I've had an itch to own something - anything! - that has a Nixie display.  Maybe you know what a Nixie display is...  or maybe you've seen one, but didn't know what it was called.  They look like this: