I’ve been using an AeroPress since Christmas and I love it. I often get the shakes if I drink multiple cups of coffee, but the 4 ounces I get out of the AeroPress isn’t quite enough on most days. Yesterday at IKEA I bought this mini French Press. It’s 13.5 oz, which produced a much better amount of coffee this morning.
I had my new YI Action Camera in one of those strap bags on my back today at Maker Faire Detroit and must have bumped into something. 😦 Hopefully it’s not too expensive for a new screen and easy to replace.
Update: Roughly $70 for a like-new replacement screen on eBay. Apparently it’s pretty easy to replace.
Charlize Theron is a badass, especially since she did her own stunts. I’m looking forward to seeing where they take the series. Theron’s character, Lorraine Broughton, has the potential to be Jason Bourne, or even better.
We stayed the night and played Forest Dunes Golf Course this morning, which is ranked #5 in Michigan by Golf Digest for 2017-18. It’s a great course, but after having so much fun on the Loop, we think our expectations may have been too high. After the round, we struggled to think of more than one hole (#9) that was really memorable. The course was similar to a lot of other places in the state, only a lot more expensive. Don’t get me wrong, the course was in excellent condition and I loved putting on their greens, but if we were to go back, we both said we’d rather play the Loop twice so we could play both directions.
Exactly how my round wentJere teeing off on #9
Nestled on 500 acres of heavily wooded land within the Huron National Forest, Forest Dunes has become one of the country’s most peaceful and exciting golf experiences.
In this pristine setting, British Open Champion Tom Weiskopf designed a parkland-style classic with modern enhancements.
“Forest Dunes replicates classic style and emulates a risk/reward involvement on most every hole,” Weiskopf said. “I consider this golf course to be in the top three which I have ever been involved in the United States.”
Forest Dunes features a number of intriguing challenges including wide open meadows, hardwoods, century-old red and jack pines, rugged native dunes, scruffy sand areas and water features. The front nine at Forest Dunes highlights parkland-style holes meandering through corridors of red and jack pines, with elaborate bunkering and sandy waste areas on the sidelines.
Today, I played The Loop course at Forest Dunes with my buddy Jere. Hands down the funnest course I’ve ever played.
The Loop is a one of a kind because the 18 greens can be played in two different directions. One day the course is played clockwise, referred to as the Black version, and the next day it reverses as the Red, which is what we played. It switches back and forth every day all season. The course won Golf Digest’s best new public course for 2016. In GD’s rankings for 2017-18 it’s rated as #8 in Michigan.
The Red routing plays counter-clockwise around The Loop, starting to the right of the 18th green and playing toward the red flag in the distance. There are red flags on the front nine and white flags on the back, but if you’re ever unsure of which way to go, keep right except to pass!
The Red is a more traditional design, in the sense that the starting holes give you a bit of time to loosen up. There are a couple of hard holes going out, but the challenge really turns up a notch from the 8th through 11th holes, and the short par-4 12th can produce a six as easily as a 4, for those who get too greedy. The last four holes are a difficult finish.
The latest HackerBox came yesterday, which is about a week earlier than expected. Unfortunately I saw the Instructables guide and know the contents, so an unboxing video would have been uneventful. Since this box doesn’t have a ton of individual items I thought I’d do a quick value lookup.
HackerBox reference card – $1 (estimate)
HackerBox sticker – $3 (estimate)
6″ PCB ruler – $4.68
Half-size breadboard & jumper wires – $6.09
MicroUSB cable – $5
GY-273 Three-Axis Magnetometer – $3.77
MicroSD Card Reader Module – $7.98
RobotDyn Arduino Nano V3 – $6.99
NEO-6M GPS module with integrated antenna – $12 (couldn’t find the same module)
16GB MicroSD card – $9.49
MicroSD card adapter – $9.99
Prices are from Amazon. Several of these items are cheaper if you buy packs of them, but I used all single item prices. I’m sure HackerBoxes gets discounts buying in bulk and some of the items are definitely knockoffs, like the SD card. Total cost of putting together this box on my own would run about $69.99 from my quick searching. Good value for my $44 subscription.
I don’t have any of the Arduino Nano style microcontrollers, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it compares to other boards. I’ve messed around a little bit with the accelerometer (Three-Axis Magnetometer) on Circuit Playground Classic, but it will be neat to have a standalone module. The GPS module is the coolest part of this box. Would be neat to make something for the car or for running. I’m starting to accumulate quite the collection of breadboards and jumper wires.
Obsidian 3D Printer: High Quality, Sleek, and Affordable.
I don’t like backing crowdfunded projects, but Kodama already had one successful 3D printer project, delivering to all of their backers. I really want a 3D printer and the price is right, so I’ve backed Obsidian. When I jumped in, the project was 1,100% funded!
…adults and children alike mastered the keyset in less than two hours no matter what method of training was used. (In comparison, learning to type on a keyboard takes about 10 hours.)
Build a clock for your entertainment center with a Raspberry Pi
Using a browser tab to build a clock is something I haven’t seen before. One of the projects I want to do at some point is build my own alarm clock, maybe even using a relay that can turn on a light when the alarm goes off.