Poolside burger and fries, nephews, Hawaii Big Island, March 2012. I love to travel, whether it’s by plane, train, bicycle, or on foot. The destination may provide some purpose, but it’s not necessarily the main point. Such was my search for hamburger parts these past few days. I say “parts” rather than “ingredients” as a…… Continue reading Burger Journey
Author: Tom Wilson
How to Control a Houseplant Irrigation System
I’ve just finished building an irrigation controller supporting two watering zones for a rolling houseplant rack. As I learn and experiment, I’ve changed the design of our irrigation controllers several times. Currently, the focus is simplification, reliability and autonomy. With the previous design, the Internet had to be available for plants to be watered at…… Continue reading How to Control a Houseplant Irrigation System
How to Build a Houseplant Irrigation Manifold
Different plants have different watering needs, including the volume and frequency of water that is delivered. It’s therefore convenient to divide an irrigation system into watering zones. Each zone delivers water to plants with similar water needs. An irrigation manifold distributes water to multiple irrigation zones. After experimenting with various designs for irrigation manifolds, I’ve…… Continue reading How to Build a Houseplant Irrigation Manifold
My First Great Ball Contraption
https://youtu.be/MpkWSPPooqs A great ball contraption (GBC) is a [LEGO] machine which receives soccer balls or basketballs from one module and passes them to another module, rather like a bucket brigade. Modules built according to the GBC standard can be assembled into a collaborative display without pre-planning or modification.greatballcontraption.com GBC’s are a whole LEGO subculture, complete…… Continue reading My First Great Ball Contraption
Superior Hiking Trail, Spring 2021
It felt strange, this past week, to pack our bags then drive up the interstate to Duluth. This was only the second time we’ve been away from home in almost fourteen months. In Duluth we headed for the hills to walk part of the Skyline Trail before checking into a hotel for one night. Looking…… Continue reading Superior Hiking Trail, Spring 2021
Visualizing International Travel
Deserted airport concourse, March 25, 2020: the last time we set foot in an airport. It’s over a year since I last set foot in an airport. Now, thanks to the miracle of Covid vaccines, I can allow my mind to drift towards thoughts of international travel. I was hoping I’d had a mild version…… Continue reading Visualizing International Travel
The Ministry
((Archive picture, 33 things you only know if you’ve worked at ‘the Ministry’ for HMRC in Longbenton, ChronicleLive.)) The campus in this photograph became the main offices for a British government ministry in 1948. You could be forgiven for wondering if it was a prisoner-of-war camp, repurposed as The Ministry of Truth, The Ministry of…… Continue reading The Ministry
Theater of the Absurd
For some unknown reason, which I will speculate about later in this post, fragments of an absurd dialog from a play have been floating around in my head. I plugged those fragments into Google and was delighted to find the script of a play I saw in the late 1960’s. Mrs. Martin: In the street,…… Continue reading Theater of the Absurd
A Preview of Things to Come
I consider myself firmly in an old-age sweet spot, sometimes called the Liberation stage. With the advent of the Covid pandemic, I’ve had to revise my criteria for Liberation. A year ago, Liberation included walking out of our home with only carry-on backpacks on our backs, catching a train to the airport, and flying off…… Continue reading A Preview of Things to Come
Keeping the Faith Through the Arts
During the last four years, while some in power denied basic, decent human values, the Arts have helped me keep the faith. Here’s some examples from my microblog.