• Rotory Tools

    October 29, 2009 /

    I doubt there is any usefulness in cordless dremel tools. I bought a store brand cordless rotary tool from Menards a year ago and I knew immediately that it would be trouble. After the first charge, each battery would run for about 5 minutes on high speed. The highest speed setting was as fast as a corded version’s lowest speed. It did however come with a full accessory pack; lots and lots of cutting/sanding bits plus a flex extension tool. Yesterday, I bought a Black and Decker corded rotary tool. The same $20 that bought me the cordless crap tool, bought me this wonderful tool. The black and decker tool…

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  • Halo Energy Sword

    March 24, 2009 /

    If you read about that sort of thing, you may remember last fall Master Replicas announced a Halo Energy Sword that would feature similar functions as their ForceFX Lightsabers (powerup/down sounds, motion activated sound, animated lights). The promised release date was the holiday season 2008.There is another company that makes realistic Halo toys, this is the same company that made a plasma pistol and plasma rifle that are superb. They also announced an energy sword in 2007 with a 2008 release.Here we are in 2009 with no product from either company. I had to do some major digging to learn both these products were canceled and will never be released.…

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  • New Front Page

    March 9, 2009 /

    The main pages are now powered by blogger.com and will make post management easier for me. Previously, I was editing all affected html pages by hand every time I wrote a new post. Site should look pretty much the same as before. There is a new archive section on the sidebar and a rss feed available in the header. For comparison I am hosting the old index page for a short time.

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  • Published

    February 26, 2009 /

    I am excited that one of my pictures has been published. My brother works at a print shop and submitted several photos for his company’s calendar. We both got a picture in, May and August.I don’t have a copy of either exact picture available at the moment, but I did find one from the gallery that is similar to one picture in the calendar. Old Man Fishing, Rice Lake, WI, Dustin WestabyHay Bales, West Salem, WI, Dale Westaby

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  • Gaming Generations

    February 23, 2009 /

    A used game shop in La Crosse has really shined lately (the place is always packed when I head in there on Saturdays). Within the last year they have brought several arcade machines into the store, but only with the last week with the release of Street Fighter IV did they bring out something really special. Pictures available.A custom mame arcade machine that is so beautiful; 4 player, custom art, 40+ tv. On top of that, they also have custom made 360 arcade sticks for playing Street Fighter IV on their HD tvs. These are not the poorly made madcats arcade sticks. Did I mention they are holding fighter tournaments?…

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  • HTPC Project

    February 6, 2009 /

    A writeup of choosing parts for my black box media computer. Based on my htpc project from last year. Component List 2009 IN WIN Black Steel IW-BT566T.300BL Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case Intel Celeron 430 Conroe-L 1.8GHz LGA 775 35W Single-Core Processor Model BX80557430 ECS GF7100PVT-M LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 7100 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ Creative Sound Blaster SB0570 Audigy SE 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card Sound Blaster Digital I /o Module Patriot Xporter XT 4GB Flash Drive (USB2.0 Portable) Model PEF4GUSB eDATA DEC-200B Vista Certified Infrared…

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  • Star Trek Communicator

    January 22, 2009 /

    Got the idea in my head after I finished watching all seven seasons of Star Trek Voyager for the second time that it may be possible to create a functional comm badge. It would function as a bluetooth headset of sorts for a cellphone. Their are plenty of micro sized bluetooth headsets, but they only work when close to your ear. I see three different ways to implement this idea: * First, take an existing micro headset pcb and add an amplifier. * Second, there could be a wire from an ear phone to the comm badge, the mic and controls would be in the comm badge. * Third, ditch…

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  • Use a PC Headset With Any 2.5mm Headset Jack

    January 5, 2009 /

    Create an adapter that will connect two stereo 3.5mm phone connectors (one speakers, one microphone) to a single 2.5mm connector. I plan to use a durable and comfortable PC headset to replace the terrible selection of xbox live headsets. Forum Link Usage: cell phones, handsets, xbox live The finished adapter will look like a Y adapter, but it is not. The adapter will connect the two 3.5mm plugs that are standard on PC headsets into the standard 2.5mm jack found on most handsets for connecting headsets. Note: Be careful with compatibility. Several cell phones now support stereo speaker headsets (4 connector plug). This guide will create a mono speaker headset…

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