As we were hiking in the Indian Peaks range of the Colorado mountain last week, we walked right past dozens of these toadstool mushrooms, with only a faint clue of what they were.

Unbeknownst to us, we were hiking among living deities! The nectar of the gods! THE IMMORTAL MUSHROOM-SACRAMENT OF ANTIQUITY! (Writing about mushrooms is awesome because you get to use fun words like hypnotic, sacrament, mushroom-cult, ecstasy, deity, comatose, etc.)

Now that the foundation is done, the hard part is behind me and the walls are going up quickly!

As 2020 was coming to a close and 2021 was just around the corner, I was finishing development of a new version of our skill for the Alexa smart speaker. It was a total re-write, and it changed the skill from being able to perform only a single intent (play our live stream) to providing a dialog-based menu of many intents to choose from. With the new skill, listeners can choose to either play our live stream, play our HD2 live stream, play the latest newscast recording, or play an on-demand. (One day I would like to add another intent: make a donation.)

Making motorcycle parts!

I'm doing everything from the footers to the roof shingles, from designing the plans to raising the walls.

It's never really finished, right? But it's close enough! Here's some glamour shots of it around Portland OR.

Here's how I took ten 4p modules of LG Chem pouch cells and turned them into a 20s2p pack for my 1967 Honda CA160 classic motorcycle that I am converting to electric. I'll need a 72v battery back that can continuously supply around 50 or 60 amps to my 4kw QS hub motor. These used li-ion cells should to the job!

Selecting the motor and battery pack, and taking care of body work while the EV parts make their way to me from China.

Here's why and how I'm converting an old, busted, non-running Honda CA160 "Baby Dream" to a battery powered EV.

It's been five years since I published my book, Functional Programming in Javascript. And since then a dramatic shift in the programming language has unfolded.

This is how I fixed and repaired a very large dent in my friend's motorcycle: a 1973 Honda CB125.

After dropping the suspension, I had a problem with the tires rubbing the inside of the rear fenders. Here's how I fixed it!

Don Henley's "Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac" lyric never made much sense to me.

This is how I repaired my old miata seats, reversed the "foamectomy" that a previous owner did, and also raised the seats over an inch to get some extra seating height in the car.

Everything you need to know to install a curved-glass windshield into an air-cooled VW! Step-by-step instructions, lots of pictures, and even a video!

It's a big job and it took me a few weeks! But it's totally a do-able job for the average car restorer like myself. Here's how I did it.

I turned two old bicycles into one. Here's how.

The Valley of the Giants is a very small area with very large trees, many over 450 years old. The hellish 30-mile drive through ravaged industrial timberlands to the giants makes one appreciate the importance of this refuge.

My wife gave me until the end of April to wrap this thing up. Did I get to drive-able in time? Click to find out!

I get the doors mounted, new wheels mounted, repair the front apron, test fit the fenders, do some rust repair, and make brackets for the front bumper. Almost done with stage 2!