Pi-hole Port Update Helper

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I’m a big fan of Pi-hole. Due to my instance running on the same Raspberry Pi as Home Assistant I have it configured for a different port than the default 80. Each time I run an update for Pi-hole I manually edit the config file and restart the service, because the update scripts reset the port. I finally whipped up a script to take care of it.


sudo cp /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf.old
sudo sed -i -e 's/= 80/= 8081/g' /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf
sudo systemctl restart lighttpd

Fixing a Simple Button & LED Circuit

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I found an old Christmas ornament which was supposed to light up by pressing a button. Before trashing the ornament, I tore out the circuit. While I was taking it apart and figuring out why it didn’t work, I turned on the camera and talked to myself. Probably boring for most people, but it might be interesting to see what I was thinking through the process. If you’re new to electronics (like me) it may even teach you a few things.

This is completely raw and unedited footage. Sorry about the noise in the background. I was using an electric heater because my boiler wasn’t heating up the house properly.

Quarterly Maker Box #MKR08 by Adam Savage Part 2

Nick Momrik1 Comment

In part 1 I said there would be more to come as I worked on the projects in the box, so here we go. The first project’s instructions were titled “How to Draw Essay” which consisted of Adam describing some of his experience with sketching and then giving several tasks.

Step 1 consisted of filling 5 pages of the notebook by drawing cylinders. It gets you thinking in 3 dimensional space. This was a neat exercise. I tried to draw different cylinders to keep it interesting.

Cylinders Page 1
Cylinders Page 2
Cylinders Page 3
Cylinders Page 4
Cylinders Page 5

In step 2, the exercise was to draw things from life. I couldn’t tell you the last time I tried to do this. I felt accomplished when a sketch was recognizable (though you may disagree on that!).

Life Page 1
Life Page 2
Life Page 3
Life Page 4
Life Page 5

Am I ever going to work as an artist? No. Every one of us can be an artist in our own way at our own level though. It’s fun to put ideas on paper and a good skill to practice. Definitely helps with making things when you can see that idea in your head on paper.

There was a time growing up when I wanted to be an artist. Maybe a lot of kids have a bit of that feeling when going through those early creative stages. Apparently I missed out on the gene my Papa Momrik had that was also passed on to my Uncle John, because they both had some talent. I never turned out to be any good at drawing, but I still have those creative juices and try to use them in my own ways.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

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People’s reactions seem to be all over the map after watching The Last Jedi. I enjoyed it. It’s a really fun movie. I don’t remember the last time I watched a two and a half hour movie without feeling bored or uncomfortable at all. When I got in my car I remember looking at the clock and thinking it was off; I couldn’t have possibly been in the theater that long.

Everything you said about this movie is wrong. If you walked out of the movie disappointed, listen to this podcast. Hopefully it’ll help you appreciate the film a little more.

I think a key point they make is Star Wars is for kids. We’re grown up kids now, but there are new generations of children being introduced to this universe with each movie. We keep getting older, but there are always going to be children watching their first Star Wars film.