Boston Dynamics is at it again. I am sure we’ll get used to this, but right now it’s a bit creepy. At the end, after it gets up, I fully expected it to go after the guy. Faszinierende Technik, aber emotional schon etwas gewöhnungsbedürftig. Ich dachte an Ende, nachdem sie aufsteht, dass die Maschine auf […]

Today is Pi-day here in the US: with the month/day/year format today’s date looks like this: 3/14/15 Heute is Pi-Tag in the USA, denn mit dem komischem Datumsformat hier – Monat/Tag/Jahr – sieht das Datum heute aus wie die Kreiszahl Pi: 3/14/15 Interesting discussion of the history of Pi on Reddit. Pi on Wikipedia Die […]

Over the last few months, my 1991 300D ran pretty badly. At first, I was able to get the engine’s power back to acceptable levels by fixing various leaks in the vacuum system, especially in the lines that control the turbo waste-gate. Without the turbo, I could start at the bottom of a small hill […]

Last week, I retired the last XP machine at work. Today Microsoft retires XP. Rest in Peace. [Update: interesting story about the iconic XP desktop background “Bliss”]

25 years ago, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. He almost named it the Mesh. Happy Birthday, WWW! Let’s keep the Web free and open!

Today, on my way to take Julia to school, my 1991 Mercedes 300D completed 300,000 miles (482.803 KM). Funny – the odometer rolled over at Brightleaf Square, right before the 11foot8 bridge!

(Nerd Alert!) Over the last couple of weeks I finally built my new machine. I ripped out all the Intel crap from my nice Antec Fusion case (DP39DP and a Core2Duo) and rebuilt it with an AMD A10 6800 APU on an ASUS F2A85M MB with 2 sticks of 4GB G.Skill Ares DDR3 1866 SDRAM. […]

A couple of weeks ago, I helped our new neighbor move a chicken coop on his property. He attached pneumatic caster wheels under the frame of this ancient, roughly 4000-pound structure. We then jacked it up with car jacks, knocked out the foundation, dropped it on the wheels and I towed it with my truck […]

A couple of days ago my 1991 Mercedes 300D counted Mile # 288888 288888 Meilen hat der Mercedes jetzt auf dem Buckel. Das sind 464920 KM. And yes, it’s 12/12/12 today. Funny numbers. PS: that’s 44,000 miles (70.000+ KM) on homebrew biodiesel just for that car.

More records from Larsen’s Sailrocket: yesterday, they smashed the Nautical Mile Record at 55.32 knots and improved their own 500-Meter record from Friday with a 59.38 knot average speed (all subject to ratification by the WSSRC). Sailrocket is on a roll! Just watch – they will crack the 60 knots average. They already hit a […]

Today, on the way home, this Google streetview car (on the right) turned into our neighborhood and followed us for a couple of blocks. When we got home, Julia and I ran inside and go a couple of masks and then came back outside to wait for the Streetview car to prank them, but we […]

“A well designed product does not require decorations” Ferdinand Alexander Porsche gave us one of the most beautiful cars, and one of the most enduring automotive legacies – the Porsche 911. He passed away today at the age of 76.

Spring is here – and so is the Doughman! 9 days ago we had snow, but for the last few days the weather has been warm and spring-ish. And on Sunday I got my team registered for the Doughman race! So it’s definitely time for spring. Sunday I managed to guess correctly the restaurants involved […]

(Blackout template by Zachary Johnson) Today’s unprecedented Internet protest against SOPA/PIPA censorship laws was a huge success. Thousands of websites observed a “blackout” and even Google displayed solidarity and has forms posted for contacting lawmakers. So far 13 Senators – mostly Republicans – have withdrawn their support for PIPA. This is not a partisan issue. […]

Wednesday, Jan. 18, some significant parts of the Internet will go on strike. The websites will only show one page related to the protest against the SOPA legislation the US Congress is considering. This law would allow the US government to shut down any site if there is any suspicion of copyright infringement. If the […]

Yesterday, two NC DOT workers carefully measured the clearance of the crash beam of the 11foot8 bridge. The question as to whether the signage is actually accurate – especially after the recent re-paving of Gregson St – has now been settled. The actual clearance is 11 feet and 10.8 inches (or 11.90 feet or 3.63 […]

Last week, a producer from MSNBC’s “Caught on Camera” contacted me about using my truck crash footage and about doing an interview.I was not so sure about doing a TV interview, but I couldn’t really think of any good reason not to do it, except that I probably would look like a dork. So I […]

Friday morning, around 2:00 AM, I was at work dealing with a major email server problem, when I started noticing the news headlines about the disaster in Japan. It sounded bad, but I was too tired and too preoccupied with my work for the magnitude of that disaster to really sink in. Later that morning, […]

Photo by Zack Wheeler Lunch today at Dain’s Place on 9th St. in Durham. I had a “Defibrilator” – a 1/2 pund burger with bacon, sweet chili, cheddar cheese, cole slaw … and topped with a hot dog … except I had mine with goat sausage. :)

Leaving work this afternoon, I encountered this beauty in the parking lot; a 1956 or 57 Porsche 356 Speedster (early Type A). I think this is one of the prettiest cars ever built. Yes it was essentially a souped-up beetle. But as such it combined the efficiency and simplicity of the early beetles with the […]