Why I'm dropping Google Analytics

 Posted on July 28, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  769 words  |  Lucas

First off, let’s just agree that I know that my blog dropping Google Analytics is going to have exactly zero effect on Google. K? I’m under no illusions that my little corner of the web is somehow special or important. Hell, I haven’t even looked at the analytics in over a year. So with that out of the way… Why’d I Have Analytics Anyway? Mostly vanity if I’m being honest. It’s fun to see a visitor count and a (hopefully) increasing numbers. [Read More]
opinion  ads  google 

The Best Thanksgiving Turkey

 Posted on November 16, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  718 words  |  Lucas

It’s almost Thanksgiving again, which means it’s time for my personal tradition - convincing people to try boiling their Thanksgiving bird. Why Boiling? I spent ten years in search of a recipe that made turkey taste good. I tried dry brining, wet brining, smoking, roasting, bbq, rubs and injections… In fairness, I never tried deep-frying, but when the list of possible side effects includes explosions and house fires… well, I just don’t need that much excitement in my life. [Read More]

Decker

 Posted on June 28, 2022  |  7 minutes  |  1344 words  |  Lucas

This is Decker: Not me, nor the facemask - which was a Covid Thing (more about that another time) - but that little collection of electronics and wires strapped to the side of my head. Decker is my longest-lived project by a mile. I started it in the fall of 2017 and I still tinker with it in an on-again, off-again fashion. It consists of a Raspberry Pi Zero W literally taped to a Vufine+ display and wired together with ribbon cable and a few thousand lines of Rust code. [Read More]
decker 

Lego Sorter Build Log 1: Neural Networking

 Posted on June 27, 2022  |  9 minutes  |  1818 words  |  Lucas

My current project is an automated Lego sorting machine. I’ve seen a few other blogs showing off their Lego sorters. They’re super cool! But they usually show off the completed final result and skip all the interesting learning that happened along the way. This series is going to be the build log of the process of designing, building and programming this thing. So far, the sorter does… well, nothing. But that’s getting a bit ahead of the story. [Read More]
lego  lego_sorter 

Wearable Software Principles

 Posted on June 19, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  698 words  |  Lucas

I’ve been writing software for Decker for about 4 years. During that time I’ve experimented a bit with what what works for having a display constantly in my line of sight. Rule 1: Make it Useful First People (including yours truly) will put up with bad UX if the program solves a need. But useless software never gets run. There are whole books to be written about how to write useful software, but one good technique is to start from a problem. [Read More]
software_engineering  decker 

Decker FAQ

 Posted on June 18, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  482 words  |  Lucas

I get the same set of questions about Decker… a lot. Frequently, even. So let’s just knock them all out here: Why? I’ve wanted a head-mounted computer since I was just a wee nerdlet. I thought it was cool and have pursued making one off and on for years. Unfortunately, I’m really not much of an electronics guy, so for most of that time I would run up against the necessity of soldering a video input board from a VCR onto a display unit from a camcorder and decide it just wasn’t worth it. [Read More]
decker 

First Post

 Posted on June 15, 2022  |  1 minutes  |  79 words  |  Lucas

I decided I might as well get in on this new “blogging” thing I’ve heard so much about. So why now? Well, over the past few years I’ve worked on a bunch of weird technical projects that took my fancy and I wanted to write down some of the lessons learned… and just sorta have a place to geek about about some of the technical details that excite me but don’t often get covered in a normal human conversation. [Read More]