A motley collection of ideas
A Honeywell XC100D carbon monoxide alarm that had reached the end of its service life recently came into my possession. At this stage, the unit may still appear to operate normally, but it can no longer be considered fully reliable. It signals this condition with a sharp chirp once every minute, accompanied by a flash … Read more
Kite flying is one of those rare pleasures that works equally well for children, grandparents and everyone in between. At its simplest it is a bright toy tugging at a line in the wind; at its best it becomes a quiet lesson in balance, air, tension and patience. And with competition kites — stunt kites, … Read more
The module shown in the picture can be purchased online for around 2–3 euros. It is a small “15 kV” generator suitable, for example, for secondary-school science experiments or for use as a negative ion generator/air ionizer. The circuit can produce a stable, high-temperature, high-frequency arc, which can easily ignite small combustible materials, such as … Read more
Generative AI—like Gemini—has become an essential daily tool for researchers, engineers, and academics. However, its use comes with a recurring professional pain point: handling mathematical and technical formulas. If you ask the AI to derive a calculation or specify a physical range, the output will almost certainly arrive in raw LaTeX format (for example: $550 … Read more
How can we make 3D-printed grilles using Autodesk Fusion 360 and PrusaSlicer? A grille looks like a simple part: a few holes, a few ribs, done. In 3D printing, however, it is precisely with objects like these that we find out how differently the design program and the slicer think. For a flowerpot guard, a … Read more
In the old days, when someone bought a device, it came with an instruction manual. It was not necessarily good, but at least it existed. Today we are tossed between two extremes. One is that we receive nothing at all, only a QR code that takes us to the manufacturer’s website, and from there to … Read more
A meteorological radiosonde is an interesting little device. Suspended beneath a large weather balloon, it rises through the atmosphere, measuring temperature, humidity and pressure while transmitting its position and measurement data to a ground station. When the balloon eventually bursts, the radiosonde descends under a parachute. For meteorologists, that is more or less the end … Read more
The device shown in the picture is the NZ-1 hand winding machine: a simple mechanical tool used to wind neat coils from wire, thin electrical conductor, or other filament-like material. It is not an automatic wonder machine, nor a CNC-controlled industrial device, but a cheap Chinese gadget. I bought it for about 30 euros. Its … Read more
I have a cat who likes to sleep next to me. In the mornings she wakes me up very sweetly — unless I fail to get up on time. Then she switches to more persuasive methods, and occasionally the pillowcase pays the price. Since proper pillow covers are not exactly cheap, and ours were disappearing … Read more
Mushroom foraging has its small but very important essentials, and one of the most important of these is a good basket. In this article, I present a practical, lightweight solution. Mushroom picking is one of my passions. Without sounding immodest, I can say that I know mushrooms quite well. I learned a great deal from … Read more