I actually want to live in the beating heart of the city, and not flee into the dull suburbs like so many do. But the city really does have crime issues, and no one wants to raise their kid in a neighborhood where drive by shootings occur. Somewhere between the multimillion dollar homes on the […]
A Twin Cities Crime Map Read More »
After a year and a half, I have finally gotten around to posting about my solar necklaces project. The first version was a lightsaber-inspired necklace. Using solar power to charge a supercapacitor, it also uses the solar panel to sense when it is dark, and turn on and glow. The second version attempted to overcome
The Solar Necklaces Read More »
In the last several weeks, I have felt something. Not the ground shifting, it was already doing that, more a sense of certainty that yes this really will happen. The combination of the latest large language models with maturing agentic pipelines (often using MCP servers) mean that human level performance (or better) is achievable quickly
Predictions for an AI Future, Now Read More »
Cycling is an amazing activity. It is great for physical/mental health and fitness, a practical form of transportation, and a great sport (technically a whole family of bike-based sports). One thing to know is that aerodynamic drag is the primary force slowing down a cyclist. Meanwhile, a primary nuisance on the bike is getting covered
My latest invention: an aerodynamic bicycle fender Read More »
As I am designing a house, I have gone down the path of the ‘perfect wall’, working towards thick layers of continuous insulation and no roof overhangs. No roof overhangs really points towards using standing seam metal over rainscreen as siding. You might arrive at using standing seam metal siding for other reasons, simple longevity
5 Creative Ways to Use Standing Seam Clamps on a House Read More »
I have been agonizing over wall details to try and make the perfect (but practical) wall for a residential home that balances moisture (mold risk), thermal bridging, air tightness, and constructability. Here is what I came up with, and got some feedback on reddit of. While I will probably not go with this detail (it
The Catlin Truss Wall Assembly Read More »
While working on two multicopter drone related projects, I was distracted by the idea of an ultra endurance drone build, inspired by this discussion. There are really three steps to drone efficiency/endurance 1) keeping everything as light as possible 2) using high efficiency power regulators, motor controllers, and motors 3) highly efficient propellers (which is
Drone Propeller Efficiency and Noise Test Read More »
I was out walking in the evening near the downtown, and heard a group of people describe Minneapolis as “small and boring.” They were from Orlando. I was insulted, downtown Orlando is even less nice from what I had seen, and the metro area population is even smaller (2.5 mil vs 3.5 mil for MSP).
Minneapolis Travel Guide Read More »
Why do We Care? Why Do You Care? I thought Concrete was rock, how does it fail so quickly? It’s mainly the rebar and “tension” based (rather than compression based) building techniques that require rebar in concrete. Rebar is steel and rusts. Especially when salt gets in, which it does over time from either road
Long Lasting Concrete Read More »
Rome is a city that probably requires a little historical background to really appreciate. Probably good to watch a documentary or Youtube videos for anyone who doesn’t know much already. A short timeline, approximate:~700 BC – 250 BC – town grows to city. Not particularly remarkable in appearance250 BC – 50 BC – city of
My Quick Travel Guide to the City of Rome Read More »
