Do It Yourself
Between 1998 and 2001 I measured background radiation in Fourmilab's
computer lab with a Geiger-Müller tube interfaced to a
computer. Analysing the data revealed both an apparent divergence
from a Gaussian distribution of counts per minute and a
variation in background radiation with time of day. This page
presents the data, analysis, speculation on possible causes, and
provides a link whence you can download the data and programs
for your own investigations.
There are few things as frustrating as putting up your
Christmas lights and discovering that a majority of the
series strings of incandescent bulbs have failed. Why not
put an end to it forever by replacing them with Light Emitting
Diodes (LEDs)? This do-it-yourself project migrates from
existing incandescent lights to LEDs according to your own
schedule and budget.
Digital Video Discs (DVDs) bear a “region code” intended to
block their being viewed on players sold in a different
geographical area. Customers in Europe, for example, who order
DVDs from online vendors in North America may receive discs
their players won't accept. Many computer-based DVD decoders
are not hardware region locked and are physically capable of
playing discs from any region. Microsoft, however, have blocked
this in the DVD Player shipped with Windows 98 by a crude
software kludge. This document explains how to circumvent the
region lock and play any DVD on Windows 98. These
instructions apply only to the Microsoft DVD Player included
with Windows 98, not other players supplied with decoder boards,
and will not work if your DVD decoder card contains a hardware
region lock. See the full document for additional details.
This “basement science” experiment demonstrates the universality of
gravitation, showing the gravitational attraction between masses of
less than a kilogram. Could Archimedes have discovered universal
gravitation nineteen centuries before Newton? Well, let's see….
Illustrated, can't fail, easy-to-make delicious meals with
all natural ingredients and minimal time and work to
prepare at home.
Quantum mechanics teaches us that, at the deepest level, uncertainty
rules the universe: there are things we cannot predict, even in
principle. HotBits harnesses this fundamental
uncertainty of nature to generate truly random bits, unlike the
pseudorandom sequences created by an algorithm on a computer.
Along the way, you'll find a discussion of the hardware and
software used to generate the random bytes comprehensive enough
to build your own, and peek under the hood
of quantum mechanics to see why the data are genuinely random,
and some of the implications of all this.
In the fall of 1969, I made my first foray into digital
electronics by designing and building my own version of a
random music generator invented by Harry S. Pyle. Fifty
years later, it still works. Explore digital
design from half a century ago, how this device which
looked and sounded like people thought computers ought
to worked, and enjoy a modern software emulation that
runs inside your Web browser.
In the bronze age of computing and electronics test equipment, nixie
tubes were commonly used for decimal digital displays. This clock,
available both in kit form and assembled, combines that vintage
technology with digital electronics for a retro look and
modern practicality.
The longest continuously-running scientific experiment demonstrates that
even extremely viscous fluids will eventually flow as the liquids
they are. Do it yourself instructions are included.
Explorations of radiation around the house and in the air
with a Geiger counter.
All right, I'll admit it: this document is a little specialised.
A recessed lensboard allows a large format camera to use short
focal length lenses which would otherwise not be able to focus
at infinity due to the minimum extension of the bellows. The
Linhof Technika recessed lensboard is supplied with a mechanism
to permit a cable release to operate the shutter, whose own
cable socket is buried within the recess, but with
no instructions on how to install it. This
document walks you step by step through the installation of
a Schneider Super Angulon 47mm lens on the recessed
lensboard, and explains how the curious collection of
parts supplied with the lensboard are assembled to
operate the shutter.
Having been nearsighted and requiring strong optical correction all my life, I
became accustomed ever since childhood to each eye exam calling for
ever stronger glasses. I'd heard that the rate of change could be expected
to decrease with age, but never that the trend could be reversed. Then,
in 2000, I got separate reading and driving glasses, and found myself
wearing the reading glasses almost all the time. Eight years later, it
was obvious to me that the correction of both were too strong, and when I
had my next eye exam in 2010, it showed the correction for both eyes was a
full dioptre less. This document recounts my anecdotal experience and what it
may mean for other nearsighted people.
Relive the chilling calculations of the Cold War with this
interactive edition of the Nuclear Bomb Effects Computer published in
1962 by the United States Atomic Energy Commission. Enter the yield
and range, and the full suite of weapons effects will be displayed
just as on the original pocket slide rule. Nuclear weapons users who
prefer a physical slide rule, either out of nostalgia or an
appreciation for its ability to operate in post-apocalyptic
conditions, will find instructions for making their own.
Ever since I moved from California to Switzerland in 1991, people
occasionally ask, “Is there anything you miss?” Well,
there is the salad dressing! One of my favourite
culinary concoctions in California was Marie's® Blue Cheese salad
dressing. It is now available throughout the U.S., but not in Europe,
and I have found no vaguely comparable product on the market here.
So, it's time to roll up our sleeves and engage in a little high-fat,
high-calorie, thick and creamy reverse engineering! This document
starts with the list of ingredients in the original and iteratively
develops a simple to prepare substitute which I find perfectly
satisfactory. Readers with well-calibrated palates and access to the
commercial goop for comparison taste-testing are invited to further
tweak this Open Sauce recipe and share their discoveries.
New September 2007 update presents results from comparison
tasting with the Real Thing and provides two new recipes which attempt
to converge upon the flavour of the original.
Many a bug zapper is junked when its ultraviolet fluorescent
tube fails to light or starts blinking incessantly.
Replacement tubes are available, but frequently changing the
tube doesn't fix the problem, which is usually due to failure
of the fluorescent starter inside the device. This document
explains how to replace the starter with the “guts” of a
regular plug-in starter. While the example is based upon a bug
zapper made by Windhager of Austria, folks who have any
business poking around inside a bug zapper in the first place
can doubtless generalise to other devices. Please read the
warning at the top of this document before proceeding.