Here’s a little SQL gymnastics used to parse and query against a predictably-formatted long text field. The challenge: We have a single text field that contains a list person_id-to-area mappings, and we need the query the database for a list…
Here’s a great video from Phil Levchenko over at Jumper One that explains how to convert a computer ATX power supply into a bench-top power supply. I’ve had an older ATX supply by my desk here for the past couple…
To mark the 63rd anniversary of the first stored computer program to run (June 21), I rewrote the original code in C# last night, both using the original algorithm (that was never intended to be efficient) and using a more…
Modern Device offers a couple of fantastic, low-cost, bare-bones Arduino-compatible boards and kits, called the BBB (Bare Bones Board) and the RBBB (Really Bare Bones Board). The BBB is larger (yet still 1/3 smaller than the ArduinoDuemilanove), and the RBBB is…
I’m still not fully convinced of the wisdom of a wooden soldering station clamp/vise, but it’s been serving me well nonetheless. It’s my DIY PanaVise! Why buy something if you can make it yourself, right? 🙂 The frame is made…
We were using a web service that wasn’t quite up to interoperability standards. When attempting to use the service from .Net, we saw a number of errors and warnings related to the how the response is deserialized. In particular, .Net seemed…
Here’s a list of common abbreviations for electronic components on circuit boards (PCBs). AE Aerial (antenna) B Battery BR Bridge rectifier C Capacitor D, CR Diode DSP Digital signal processor F Fuse FET Field effect transistor IC integrated circuit J…
I have everything I need to keep tabs on my home IP address without signing up for a DDNS service like No-IP or DynDNS. My Synology NAS always knows its address when it’s online, and because it’s essentially a little…
KeePass is a free and utterly genius password management tool that has allowed me to leave the days of reusing passwords way in the past. Now all of my passwords are different, securely managed, and look something like “út8¥Äbë¬eqö«ûëU^Èm¯”. (Go…
Here are the results and a key for the detail test that I had printed by Shapeways in stainless steel. The detail is quite remarkable. If this interests you, check out the . First the scale, compared to a penny:…