Tiny Little Life

(With apologies to Aaron Sorkin)
BP: You want answers?
America: I think I’m entitled to them.
BP: You want answers?
America: I want the truth!
BP: You can’t handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that needs energy. And that energy has to be produced by men with drill rigs. Who’s gonna do it? You? Obama? I have […]

Dear Make Magazine,
It’s over. I’m done with you.
I like the idea of a magazine dedicated to DIY culture, but (as of late) the “Maker Revolution” is to “the next industrial revolution” as “breast implants” are to “inner beauty”. I’ll admit: you have your moments now and then. But, standards have fallen; currently […]

On the left is my old Booq bag (Mamba Pack), on the right is the new one that they sent me for free. You see, Booq is an amazing company with an amazingly designed bag… and when my old bag developed a problem, they not only sent me a new bag for free but […]

Google searches on this subject were not very enlightening, but I can now say from experience that an 800-watt inverter attached to a car battery is able to power 2 oil burners (furnace and hot water heater), with enough juice left over for a sump pump, cable modem, router, hub, and laptop.
It helps […]

Back when I was in Scouts, everyone loved throwing wood on the campfire. There were only benefits to doing that: more flames to stare at, more warmth, and if fuel ever ran short, more chances to use bladed tools on wood. To discourage that, the Scoutmaster used to say “The white man makes […]

I’m still scratching my head as to how I pulled this off, but here is a hoverfly — in flight.

The secret is patience, I guess.

This is the context.

These frogs were keeping very still, possibly stalking breakfast.

Check out that reflection!

It’s a one-liner:

for t in \
$(mysql -u your_username \
-pyour_password \
--batch --column-names=false \
[…]

This whitespotted pine sawyer beetle probably blends into pine bark quite well, but on a smooth green plastic lawn chair it’s hopeless.

Not to be confused with the asian longhorn beetle, which kills trees, this variety feeds on dead (or dying) trees.
How about that reflection?

If your rub both of its antenna at the same […]

What these spiders lack in size, they make up for in jaw-dropping feats of agility and surprises.

I spotted this spider on the roof of my car right before I left for a friend’s wedding. This kind of spider is one of the most interesting to watch, and this one was no disappointment.

Several times as […]