Category: technology

how to produce a 3d picture

I have taken several MOOCs (internet courses)  given by University of Illinois on 3D printing and the most recent was on 3D printing software.  The software, which was free to students, was provided by Autodesk and included Sketchbook (for sketching), Tinkercad (an easy to use CAD design tool) and Fusion 360 (sophisticated computer design, modeling, etc. software).  Tinkercad and Fusion 360 convert ideas into 3D models.  Scanning creates a 3D model from a physical object such Read more [...]

cord-cutting and enhancing connectivity

It all began when the tv satellite bill for the Atlanta house jumped unexpectedly.  The company explained I was beyond the 6 month special discount period and offered to split the difference between old rate and new rate.  I decided to become a "cord-cutter" and canceled the contract.  They sent me a shipping box and I disconnected the LNB from the satellite dish and placed it and the receiver and remote in the box and bade farewell at the UPS office. "Now what?" M. demanded to know.  She Read more [...]

what’s growing, maglite led conversion

Unlike July which was hot and dry, August has been tempered with rain showers and cloudy days.  My property 50 miles north of Atlanta has received a lot of rain while Atlanta very little - could this be the heat island effect?  The rain has filled out my muscadine, including the golden scuppernong, shown above and throughout the day they are visited by yellow jackets, wasps and hornets, and me in the earlier morning. With the exception of the Parks Whopper, most of my tomatoes are done.  The Read more [...]

yellowing blueberry leaves

I showed M. the berry laden blueberry plants and ventured they would be ready for picking within a few weeks.  But why are the leaves yellow? she asked and drew my attention, as she usually does, to what I had missed.  Yellow leaves with green veins can indicate the plant is not receiving enough iron (iron chlorosis) since iron produces cholorphyll which makes the leaves green which enables photosynthesis, sugar production and growth.  Blueberries thrive on acid soil (between 4 and 5) and if the Read more [...]

measuring soil pH – not that easy

The pH (acidity/alkilinity) is an important must know for growing vegetables, fruits and berries.  Blueberries notoriously love acid conditions.  Tomatoes like a pH range between 5.5 to 7.5.  Since pH can range from 1 (very acid) to 14 (very alkaline) it follows that 7 is neutral.  I have tried over the years to independently determine my soil's pH, with little success.  I have sent samples to the extension service for general soil analysis but have always wanted to determine pH myself. The Read more [...]

BJC (the Beauty and Joy of Computing) online course completed – Tower of Hanoi

I just completed the 4th and final semester of BJC MOOC via edX hosted by Berkeley, San Francisco.  What a great course!  And I learned so much about basic programming, computer science and technology trends.  All for free if you wish, though I contributed some.  For teaching purposes it uses blocks which you re-arrange called Snap! which is based on Scratch developed by MIT.  A fun exercise was the Tower of Hanoi puzzle. The rules are simple.  There are 3 pegs labelled left to right "From", Read more [...]

update on growing, blueberries, leaf bag collection, shoe repair & ups

Today is Nov 20 and, after lots of rain earlier in the week the past few days have been in the 60's and 70's and no freezing temps yet.  So my fall greens (collard, kale, turnip greens and radishes) have been doing really well with minimal pest evidence. Each year I get a little better.  I pull the weeds early and cover the growing areas with growth.  Garlic is different since it does not provide shading leaves and does poorly with weeds so I weed carefully before planting garlic and then Read more [...]

podcasts and technical issues

I travel almost daily to north Georgia and the roundtrip is about 2 hours and tho NPR often has topics of interest, what I really enjoy is listening to the podcasts I have downloaded.  In the early days I burned the podcasts onto cd's which I played in the truck's cd player, then I acquired a Sansa Clip mp3 player and played the podcasts back over a portable battery powered speaker positioned close to my ear. One of my tech savvy sons gave me a Go Groove x2  - a bluetooth device which plugs Read more [...]