Roborant: rob"o*rant, n. A roborant drug; a restorative or tonic.

Category: Engineering

I'm an engineer, both by birth and by education. I can't look at a building without wondering about its construction. I can't get a new toy without wanting to take it apart and see how it works. I just can't bear to use things without understanding how they work.

Wind Energy: Still a Scam

I've said it before and I'll say it agin: wind energy is a scam

Meggy Jr and Peg Solitare

The Meggy Jr kit is fun! Easy to put together and easy to program.

General Electric Urges Students To Study

In about 1961, GE was trying to talk America's youth into studying math, science and engineering. The resulting pamphlet was pretty well done.

Last Touches

Just a little bit of landscaping and another load of decomposed granite and we're done.

Giant Brains or Machines That Think

Giant Brains! Sounds like a zombie movie, but it's actually a blast from our past.

No More Manhattan Projects!

I'm getting sick of some wag proposing a "Manhattan Project" every time there is a perceived crisis.

Projects, We've Got Projects

A couple of easy projects for the tinkerer.

JavaOne

JavaOne was a blast this year. The rate of technological change shows no sign of slowing down.

Java 5, for-each and autoboxing: Not Always What You Expect

You have to do more than understand the language you're programming in. You also have to understand what the compiler is doing with your code.

Wind Energy

According to a serious expert on energy generation and transmission, wind energy is a scam.

Good Passwords

There are lots of good ways to pick secure passwords. Here are a couple you probably haven't seen before.

Why the iPhone is a closed system

If you thnk about it for a minute, it's obvious why the iPhone has to be a closed system. For now.

Apple's iPhone

My predicitons about the Apple iPhone.

The Heinlein Juveniles

The Heinlein juvenile novels were the inspriation for generations of engineers. I think, however, that Heinlein had a big plan behind the whole thing.

Is Solar Power Right For Me?

Is solar power right for you? I don't know, but the estimates provided by the Solar Electric Power Association sure seem bogus to me.

Safety Tips

Just a few safety tips for working on projects like this

Challenge-response authentication

You don't have to use SSL to provide a fairly secure login to your website. Here's how to use a challenge-response scheme to get around sending passwords over the internet in clear text

Push Button Cooking

In the 1950's, GE promised us a push-button future. To give us an example of that world, they advertised a push-botton oven. After nearly sixty years, my grandmother still has one of these and I've photographed it.

Finish Work

Every construction job has its "finish work" and this project is no exception.

Taking Shape

The fountain finally starts to take shape after we pour the "tall part" at the back.

Foundation

We pour the three interconnected slabs that will support the fountain and planter boxes.

Walls

I decided to go with concrete block for the walls. This would work out, but take a lot longer than I had planned.

The Fountain Project

Sometimes, you start a project with no clue about what you're getting yourself into. This was one of those times.

Wasted Energy

The debate over "renewable" energy is premature. Before we look for "green" ways to generate power, we ought to quit wasting so much of the power we already generate.

Apple Turns Thirty

Apple turns thirty this week. Like a lot of people, I have some nostalgia for a company that I've been associated with for more than twenty years.

Apple I Replica Creation

I saw this book in the bookstore and was immediately drawn into the premise. Wouldn't it be cool to build a working replica of the Apple I computer — one of the very first computers to launch the personal computer revolution? What could be cooler?

The Roborant Publishing System

I needed a tool that would let me create the kind of website I wanted — not exactly a blog, not exactly a wiki. So, I wrote one from scratch in Java, using Tomcat, Struts, and Tiles and the rest of the usual tools of a J2EE programmer.

Today's Prediction

New technology that will be important soon.

Going Orbital

is it ever going to be practical for a planetfull of humans to have easy access to space?

Infernal Combustion Engines

What about those electric cars? Any hope there?

Nuke Talk

A general discussion of radiation, how it works, how it is measured and what is dangerous about it.

Estimation and Calculation

There are a few numbers that are handy to keep in mind as you go about your daily tasks.

Bull Creek is Safe From Fire

What are the rules for where you locate fire hydrants? Whatever the rules are, I think they've been broken here.

Survey Party

How surveying used to be done back in the olden days.

Aero 101

Women in engineering. I'm all for more of them, but you can't just force them...