Gearheads, audiophiles, foodies, green thumbs


"They all love him. They think he's a righteous dude."

Made it as far as the "Woodsman's Axe" before giving up.

"For some situations, pulling out a chainsaw is overkill.". No, no there isn't. A chainsaw is ALWAYS the appropriate tool.

/and if it isn't = duct tape

Link

deslided, if you want it

That soda stream shiat is a rip off. All anyone has to do is go to their website and start doing the math of purchasing the refills of the soda shiat and the c02 replacements to realize you are a moron for purchasing it.

Besides, anyone who buys something off TV that the main sales pitch is that soda is made from ordinary tap water is a disgrace to the gene pool.

DjangoStonereaver: MOTHER OF GOD!

Someone get Geneva on the phone, stat!

I'll admit, it's a bit unconventional.

jaylectricity:

Thanks. That clearing axe looks like just the ticket for blackberries. They're too tough for a machete or hedge trimmer, and a chain saw just clogs.

So has Canon fixed the autofocus on the T4i? I checked several early reviews for it and they all said the autofocus was horrendous.

styckx: That soda stream shiat is a rip off. All anyone has to do is go to their website and start doing the math of purchasing the refills of the soda shiat and the c02 replacements to realize you are a moron for purchasing it.

Besides, anyone who buys something off TV that the main sales pitch is that soda is made from ordinary tap water is a disgrace to the gene pool.

I've had one for a couple years and as someone who goes through a lot of seltzer, straight as well as a mixer, it's worked out economical. Plus not having to lug all those 2gal bottles back from the store and find refrigerator space has been nice. Did not pay full price though.

Homer Nixon: styckx: That soda stream shiat is a rip off. All anyone has to do is go to their website and start doing the math of purchasing the refills of the soda shiat and the c02 replacements to realize you are a moron for purchasing it.

Besides, anyone who buys something off TV that the main sales pitch is that soda is made from ordinary tap water is a disgrace to the gene pool.

I've had one for a couple years and as someone who goes through a lot of seltzer, straight as well as a mixer, it's worked out economical. Plus not having to lug all those 2gal bottles back from the store and find refrigerator space has been nice. Did not pay full price though.

FWIW, you can refill your own C02 cannister with about $1-2 dollars worth of dry ice from the grocery store. Takes all of about 5 minutes to do. Should be able find YouTube videos showing you how to do.

Good job Subby. I don't want any of that crap. I don't need more shoddy merchandise made in China.

styckx: That soda stream shiat is a rip off. All anyone has to do is go to their website and start doing the math of purchasing the refills of the soda shiat and the c02 replacements to realize you are a moron for purchasing it.

Besides, anyone who buys something off TV that the main sales pitch is that soda is made from ordinary tap water is a disgrace to the gene pool.

I disagree, Although we do it just for sparkling water. Anyways, I love mine and we use it all of the time.

I only made it through the first 5 or so. It looked like a hipster holiday wishlist.

I thought this was pretty cool.

natazha: jaylectricity:

Thanks. That clearing axe looks like just the ticket for blackberries. They're too tough for a machete or hedge trimmer, and a chain saw just clogs.

A long handled scyth works quite well. And with fewer battle scars.

Link My wife got me my present early this year. A super cheap set of electric drums for my small home studio. They work surprisingly well considering they are half the price of most of their competitors

ModernPrimitive01: Link My wife got me my present early this year. A super cheap set of electric drums for my small home studio. They work surprisingly well considering they are half the price of most of their competitors

Dammit now I want one, that is pretty cheap.

/drums like a wounded toddler though

Heremetus Bottle Opener and Resealer

LOL

This list looks like an elderly person with no taste went through a Sharper Image catalog and said "Gee, maybe little Timmy would like that."

Feh.

This is what videophiles and audiophiles want this year: 





The Oppo 105

Thelyphthoric: ModernPrimitive01: Link My wife got me my present early this year. A super cheap set of electric drums for my small home studio. They work surprisingly well considering they are half the price of most of their competitors

Dammit now I want one, that is pretty cheap.

/drums like a wounded toddler though

My only problem with it is that some of the inputs on the drum module don't work. I've sent if off to the manufacturer and they're shipping me a new one.

/I also drum like a wounded toddler but with enough audio editing I make myself sound competent

ModernPrimitive01: /I also drum like a wounded toddler but with enough audio editing I make myself sound competent

Well, yeah.. but at that point the only benefit for me over using a piano roll editor from the start would be the exercise, ha!


/Crap I should get it anyway.

that miyaba knife looks like a knockoff shun... or is it the other way around

regarding Canon- I had one with the terrible focus, the next on has the infamous error 99

now I shoot Nikon

I might like a Sous Vide machine, but I'll probably just get a PID controller and hack my crockpot.

Blundstone doesn't make 14's in that style.

I'm not about to wear bib overalls. I'm a shorts in the dead of winter kinda guy.

Okay, I might get that OBD scanner.

Own the Kitchenaid grinder. Kinda a meh grinder. But far better than the cranked grinder and about a quarter the cost of a designated grinder. If you want to do regular grinding and sausage making shop where the hunters shop.

I keep thinking I'd like to have a Canon in the $1000 range but I realized I hardly use the $200 Panasonic I bought back in spring.

wildcardjack: I might like a Sous Vide machine, but I'll probably just get a PID controller and hack my crockpot.


Out of curiosity, how would you do that -- does time-proportioning a relay output work well enough? Or do you drive a solid-state relay with it as if it's a light dimmer?

phaseolus: wildcardjack: I might like a Sous Vide machine, but I'll probably just get a PID controller and hack my crockpot.

Out of curiosity, how would you do that -- does time-proportioning a relay output work well enough? Or do you drive a solid-state relay with it as if it's a light dimmer?

For a quick overview PopSci covered it.

Yes, the technique is pretty much chunky on/off relay switching. The benefit from my point of view is that I wouldn't have yet another space taker in my fairly compact kitchen. The PID can go inside the crockpot.

I settled with the cheap apartment where the kitchen doesn't have more than 20 inches of continuous counter space. The best I could find in the area was 40% more per month to get a kitchen that had a whopping four foot best counter space.

styckx: That soda stream shiat is a rip off. All anyone has to do is go to their website and start doing the math of purchasing the refills of the soda shiat and the c02 replacements to realize you are a moron for purchasing it.

I was going to say the same thing, the only people who seem to think its worth it are the ones who use it for plain soda water. For making actual flavored soda its about the same price as buying regular name brand soda. The way I look at it, you're getting the equivalent of generic or store brand soda, which sells for .69-.89 cents per 2 liter most places, yet you pay about 1.50 per 2 liter to buy all the supplies.

On top of that most reviews I've read say that it goes flat fast, if you drink it within a few hours it's ok, but if you keep it in the fridge overnight it goes flat.

Englebert Slaptyback: Gearheads, audiophiles, foodies, green thumbs


"They all love him. They think he's a righteous dude."

I chortled. Well done.

DjangoStonereaver: [www.popularmechanics.com image 600x450]

MOTHER OF GOD!

Someone get Geneva on the phone, stat!

At some point Nerf realised it wasn't the kids buying their stuff any more. Only an adult would both demand that level of fire power and find it's single barrel lacking.

thornhill: Feh.

This is what videophiles and audiophiles want this year: 

[www.oppodigital.com image 720x227]

[www.oppodigital.com image 720x218]

The Oppo 105

Yeah! My friend picked up the 103 and it is a fantastic unit. Great performance, very solid build, even the packaging is beyond what you would expect for the price.

UsikFark: You can find #26 at newegg for less than half the price shown on PM. Mine came in today (ordered after I used a friend's) and I would highly recommend.

Snark All-instrument tuner for $16

[images10.newegg.com image 300x225]

I have the Super Sharp All-Instrument model. Simply the best/handiest tuner I've ever owned.

JohnnyC: I have the Super Sharp All-Instrument model.

Errr... Super Tight model...

halB: This list looks like an elderly person with no taste went through a Sharper Image catalog and said "Gee, maybe little Timmy would like that."

Welcome to every Popular Mechanics holiday gift list ever.

wildcardjack: For a quick overview PopSci covered it.

Yes, the technique is pretty much chunky on/off relay switching. The benefit from my point of view is that I wouldn't have yet another space taker in my fairly compact kitchen. The PID can go inside the crockpot.


Okay, I see. I thought maybe it was going to be more of a roll-your-own thing, but off-the-shelf solutions are going to be easier and they're proven to work.

Electro-mechanical relays are going to have a finite lifespan, so if this was going to be homebrewed I was going to caution you to get one that's rated for a decent number of cycles, ideally in the 10⁶ range, though for home kitchen applications a few 10⁵ cycles is probably going to be more than enough. Unlike, say, time-proportioning an on-off valve for pressure control where you'd cycle the relay maybe every ten seconds (with the "on" time depending on the PID controller's control output - 2.5 sec on at 25%, etc.), the crockery and the water bath provide plenty of thermal mass so you won't need to cycle more often than once a minute I'm guessing. Plus you won't be using this every day.

If the controller has an autotune feature, those work pretty well in my experience. I'm sure the manual tells you to tune it before actually trying to cook something, that pretty much goes without saying... EIP if you want to talk about PID tuning if/when the time comes.