26
Aug
Four Letter Word Generator by Peter Hand
I just got my IV-17 Four Letter Word generator. It has a dictionary of 5,400 words including common acronyms and a few proper nouns too. For those of you keeping this at your office, it even has a word filter to prevent offensive words from being shown. Be sure to check out the video and photos below. Learn more here. Read more
24
Aug
IN-12 NixieKits.eu Preview
I just got my new IN-12 Nixie clock in the mail from NixieKits.eu and this thing is impressive. I will be doing a full video review over the weekend and posting it on tubeclockdb.com. Trust me, you will like this one…
Tubes: IN-12 Nixie tubes, 18 mm digit height, decimal points with flashing LEDs.
Background lighting: brightness adjustable.
Alarm: adjustable time, snooze and tone.
Time format: 12- or 24 hour mode. Read more
20
Aug
Wines I’ve had
My personal ratings. Updated when I feel like it.
Good
Port
* 8/10 Fonseca Porto Aged Twany Port 10 Year Old
* 8/10 Noval Porto Special Reserve, 500ml
* 9.5/10 Chateau Reynella – McLaren Valle – Old Cave Fine Old Twany Port Aged 12 years 500ml (Australia)
* 9/10 Warre’s Otima Porto 10 year Twany
* 7/10 Smith Woodhouse 10 Year Old Twany Bottled 2006
* 7/10 Taylor Fladgate / 10 year old tawny porto / Portugal
* 7.5/20 Dow’s Fine White Porto
* 8/10 Osborne Fine White Porto – Portugal\
* 9/10 Noval LB Porto Finest Reserve
* 7.5/10 Cockburn’s 10 Tawny Matured in oak ( okay for the price, but would prefer Noval or Warre’s)
Riesling
* 7.5/10 Carl Schmitt-Wagner
* 6/10 Polka dot – German 2004
* 7.5/10 Loosen Bros Riesling “Dr. L” 2006
*
Mix
* 8/10 Escudo Rojo (Chile)
* 8/10 Primus (Chile)
* 8/10 Montes (Chile) Cabernet Sauvignon 70%, Carmernere 30%
* 7/10 Wollersheim Winery – Domaine Reserver Dry Red Wine 2007 (Lake Wisconsin Viticultural Area)
Malbec
* 8/10 Gascon (Mendoza Argentenia) 2007
* 10/10 Dona Paula Estate Lujan de Cuyo (Mendoza Argentina) 2006
Merlot
* 8/10 Veramonte Merlot 2008 Reserva Casablanca Valley Chile
Cabernet
* 7/10 Red Diamond 2004 (Washington State)
* 7.5/10 Avalon
* 8.5 Bonterra Vineyards 2006 Cabernet Mendocino County (organic)
* 7 Famiglia Bianchi Cabernet Sauvignon San Rafael Mendoza 2007
* 7/10 Terra Alta Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon Golchagua Valley Chile 2008
Chardonnay
* 8/10 (Katie) St. Supery 2007 Chardonnay Oak Free Napa Valley (Rutherford, CA)
* 8/10 (Katie) Natura Chardonnay Valle Casablanca 2008 Emiliana
* 7/10 (Katie) Toad Hollow 2008 Unoaked Chardonnay Mendocino County – Healdsburg, CA
* 7/10 (Katie) Foxglove Central Cost 2008 bottled by Varner San Miguel, California
* 8/10 Ghost Pines Chardonnay Sonoma / Napa / Monterey (really good…)
Viognier
* 7/10 California’s Jewel Collection 2005
Moscato d’Asti
* 7/10 – Umbeto Fiore – Italy
* 7/10 – di Lenardo Vinyards – (In my next life, I’ll be thin.) Pass The Cookies! (Italy)
* 8/10 Rosa Fiore Denominazione Di Origine Controllata E Garantita 2008
Moscatel De Setubal
* 7/10 Moscatel De Setubal S.O.C. Colheita 2001 Bacalhoa (not carbonated, very port-like)
Carmenere
* 7/10 Cino Sur – Wine of Chile . Colchagua Valley – 2007
*
Torrontes
* 7/10 Finca Navarrita Selection – 2006 – Argentina
Other
* 7/10 Ratafia – Minnesota (Katie does not like at all) Rich, orange, 1 glass at a time
So-So
Cabernet
* 6/10 Hahn Estates (Cal)
* 5/10 Clara Benegas Chardonnay 2008 Mendoza Argentina
* 5/10 Rossi Wallace Napa Valley Chardonnay 2008 s
Cabernet Merlot
* 5/10 Covey Run Washington (Washington)
* 6/10 Trapiche Oak Cask 2005 Mendoza (Argentina)
* 5/10 Penfolds Koonunga Hill (Australia)
Riesling
•6/10 Weisser Burgunder Spatlese Trocken 2004 (Friedelsheim Germany)
Chardonnay
* 6/10 Twin Fin (california) 2005
* 6.5/10 Kali Hart Vineyard 2006 Monterey County, Gonzales, CA
* 5 Fess Parker 2008 Chardonnay Santa Barbra County
Gewurztraminer
* 6/10 Fetzer Vinyards VAlley Oaks California (Brian liked, Katie too sweet)
Sauvignon Blanc
* 6/10 Parducci 62% Mendocino Country, 38% Lake County (California)
* 7/10 2007 Paso Robles Jardine – Vina Robbles – Paso Robles, California
Bonarda
* 4/10 Broquel Bodegas Trapiche 2005 (Mendoza, Argentina)
* way too fruity for a red wine, hard to drink more than one glass
Port
* 6/10 Warre’s Warrior Special Reserve Ruby Port (Portugal)
* too fruity for more than 1 glass
* 7/10 Cockburn’s 10 Year Old Twany Porto 2007
* 7/10 DelaForce Porto 10 year Tawny
* 6/10 Wollersheim Winery Port 2007 American Port – very fruity and think for a port(WI)
* 6/10 Dow’s Lat Bottled Vintage Porto 2003
* 7/10 Warre’s Warrior Reserve
* 5/10 Dow’s Crusted Porto
Malbec
* 7/10 Gascon – Mendoza Argentina 2007
* 7.5/10 Alamos – 2007 Mendoza Argentina
* 6.5 Trapiche Oak Cask Mendoza 2006
* 5 – Piattelli – Juan De Cuyo – Mendoze Argentina 2006
Bad
Riesling
* 1/10 Starling Castle – Germany
Torrontes
* 3/10 Baguala Torrontes 2007
Shiraz / Grenache
* 3/10 Wallace by Ben Glaetzer Barossa Valley(Australia)
Malbec
* 2/10 Layer Cake Vintage 2007 – Mendoza Argentina
*
* Cabernet
* 0/10 Pascual Toso Maipu Vineyards (Mendoza Argentina) 2006
3
Aug
Help identify these plasma neon displays
Okay, the last time I asked for help identifying an unknown device, you guys came through. Even Evil Mad Scientist helped out (you guys rock.) Well, I now have two Panaplex-style neon displays that I can’t seem to find that much information on. Does anyone have any information on these or hints to where I can find more information? I’ve found a few references to the larger display, but have not had any luck locating data sheets
Or, do you just have an interesting factoid about these guys?
Read more
8
Jul
Time Lapse Experiment
This is a time lapse experiment that I have been tinkering with for the last month. I wanted to try a new work flow based around raw images instead of JPEG images. Every frame was captured as a raw image and imported in to an Aperture 3 library. From there, I batch processed the images to achieve the desired look and from there, exported the images as uncompressed TIFF images, scaled to a more manageable size. Finally, I exported the intermediate file as an insane bit-rate MP4 file and uploaded it to Vimeo. Read more
4
Jul
Website Hosting & Costs
Dear Internet,
I need some guidance and I hope you can provide some help. Hosting my two websites (this one and tubeclockdb.com) is getting expensive.
I’ve used nearly a dozen shared hosting companies before going to Media Temple’s (GS) service. The reason that I liked Media Temple was that their support was great and they proactively notify customers when there will be a potential outage. They are far above other hosts I’ve used: Bluehost, PowWeb, Deamhost, and lots of other low end providers.
3
Jul
72,727,200 pixels of Michigan
Here is a high resolution panoramic view of a beach we visited in Michigan. It isn’t a great photo technically, but it is fun to scroll around so I decided to post it.
72 Megapixel Michigan Beach
3
Jul
Things I’ve learned
- Forgetting your sister’s birthday says bad things about your priorities
- Forgetting your twin sister’s birthday says bad things about your cognitive abilities
- Wassabi peas do not constitute “dinner”
- You can subconsciously turn off your alarm clock Read more
1
Jul
Pythagoras Theorem by Rearrangement
One of my friends emailed me this GIF of the Pythagoras Theorem as derived by a geometric rearrangement. We all know that a² + b² = c² but it is fascinating to watch it illustrated.
And, from my friend James T: “Archimedes, Pascal, and Newton are playing hide-and-seek. Archimedes covers his eyes and starts counting. Pascal looks around and hides behind a bush. Newton grabs a stick and scrapes a one meter by one meter square in the dirt and stands in it. Otherwise, he does not hide at all. Archimedes opens his eyes and looks around. Of course, he immediately sees Newton and calls, “I see Newton!” Newton calmly says, ‘but hang on, one Newton in a square meter is a Pascal!’”
17
Jun
Old School Daft Punk
I have no idea who originally created this. If you do, please leave a note in the comments! Read more