Solar 2: Mounting the Panel

[This is the second in a series of articles describing installation of a solar hot water system.] The solar panel was not in stock at AAASolar, so we had to wait a couple of weeks for it to be freighted to the shop. We have access to a truck, so we could pick up the … Read more

Solar 1

Sagebrush Systems “world headquarters” is fortunate to be located in a building with passive solar heating. A large expanse of south-facing windows direct sunlight onto adobe walls and bare brick floors for heat storage. The furnace hasn’t been turned on for over a decade, so we save a good deal on heating costs. (In full … Read more

Pro Birthday

RecAll-PRO version 1.0 was released ten years ago today. A spin-off from standard RecAll with many advanced features, PRO became our best-selling public software product within a few months, and has remained so to this day. Related Posts: Happy Birthday First Product

No Way

Noism: the practice of referring to oneself in the plural as “we”. “Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial ‘we’.” Mark Twain (image courtesy Wikimedia Commons) We do this a lot when blogging…

Purrcast is a podcast of a cat purring. Quite soothing. Just ask Wonty: link [kudos boingboing] Related Posts: Nature Sounds for Leopards, Felis catus Theremin

QR

How do you read QR codes if you don’t have a mobile phone handy? This on-line reader will run on your JVM (Java Virtual Machine).

Environmental Sounds: The Dark Side

Nature sound generators like WaveSong can have beneficial effects: masking outside noise, relaxation, … What happens when the forces of good turn to the dark side? The Annoy-a-tron 2.0 from ThinkGeek is a tiny 2.5″x1.5″ circuit board easy to hide, with 6 different sound selections, including “Mosquito” and “Grating Electronic noise”. Good for driving your … Read more

Flashback: Theremin Patent

On this date 84 years ago the original theremin patent was filed in Germany. The USA version of the patent was filed December 5, 1925, almost a year later. Read the English language HTML version here. Related posts: Original Theremin Patent Filed, Theremin Patents