Dec 16th, 2008
by Michael Martens.
The 4th and 5th grade classes at Carl's school
The Microsoft Image Composite Editor is one of the latest Gee Whiz applications that you need to have. If you’ve ever taken photos with the intentions of stitching them together as panoramas; ICE makes the job easy and painless. I used to have an image stitcher app that came with one of my old Canon point and shoot digital cameras. It required a little work and manual futzing with the images. But with ICE, just point it to the source images and it automatically stitches them together. It also automatically adjusts the perspective and give you manual control over perspective and horizon. The best part of the deal is this application is totally FREE. Thanks to Microsoft Research, you’ll find the technology in other applications, but the ICE front end is a great little gift to the photographic community. I encourage you to check it out.
Posted in: Photography.
Dec 7th, 2008
by Michael Martens.
A holiday tradition with the Martens Family for as long as I can remember is Grasshopper Pie. We’ve eaten it at Christmas dinner since I was a small child. The minty taste and creamy goodness is a perfect end to a big Christmas feast. My Grandmother’s grasshopper pie recipe is nothing special, I think she got it off a bottle of Creme de Menthe many, many years ago. But it’s easy to make and will impress your holiday guests.
Recipe after the jump.
Continue reading →
Posted in: Food and Drink.
Nov 15th, 2008
by Michael Martens.
When I was 12 years old, I received a chemistry set for Christmas. This set had all the chemicals, test tubes, alcohol burner, and an instruction book filled with hundreds of experiment. Much to my dismay you can no longer purchase chemistry sets like this. This is too bad, as not only did I learn about the scientific method, (chemistry was one of my favorite high school subjects); but I also picked up a healthy respect for chemical compounds. These set where quite safe, but in today’s litigious, drug and terrorist fearing climate, the home chemistry set has gone the way of the Dodo.
Fortunately there are people who don’t think this way. Robert Thompson’s excellent book,
Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry, works hard to recreate the home chemistry set. Never mind the fact that you have to search down all the chemicals and labware; and the fact that some of the compounds are now restricted by the DEA so you have to synthesize them yourself. But with a little effort you can be following the scientific method and running scores of experiment found in this book. According to Thompson, if you do every experiment’s in the book, you will have done the equivalent of 2 years of high school or one college level chemistry course. Great reading, I highly recommend it.
Posted in: Books, Fun Stuff.
Nov 12th, 2008
by Michael Martens.
Food prices have shot up like crazy over the last six months. But does this mean that you have to skimp on Thanksgiving dinner. Fortunately the answer is a resounding NO. Epicurious shows you how to feed a party of ten on Thanksgiving day for $80.00. Of course your milage and costs may vary depending on what part of the country you are from. The prices in the article seem kind of New York City high; I know that in the upper midwest I could probably make the same dinner for about $50.00. With some careful shopping and watching your sales, you too can bring in an award winning Thanksgiving feast under budget.
Highly recommended is the Roast Turkey with Oranges, Bay Leaves, Red Onions and Pan Gravy. This dish has a flavor like no other. I’ve made it twice and have received rave reviews both times.
Posted in: Food and Drink.
Nov 11th, 2008
by Michael Martens.
In emergency communications, it’s what you can bring to the table that matters. The Kyocera mobile routers give you a lot and themsome. Not to be content with just wireless and wired network connections; the Kyocera Mobile Routers also add ports to connect multiple EVDO devices; Express card, PC Card, USB Port (phone or modem). They also sport failover capablilty from LAN, DSL to EVDO for the ultimate in reliability. Price is about $250.00. Just a couple of years ago a device this flexible would have cost thousands.
Posted in: Computers and Networks, Emergency Communications.
