Author: John Poole
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A Fortuitous Gift Mandates Custom Thank You Cards
In November, 2025. ironically a day before my birthday (unbeknownst to the donor), I was given two books that were illustrated by Gorey. The present was wrapped with high quality wrapping paper… paper good enough to be book binding liner, a white ribbon, a beautiful note card with a readable handwritten note, a print-out of…
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Lithium Battery Alert
<p>Adam Savage of Myth Busters Fame released a 21′ <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y23nfAOiXQ">video</a> “The Surprising Flaws in 18650 Lithium-Ion Batteries”on YouTube on January 20, 2026. Adam has 7,100,000 subscribers. Adam interviews these two employees from <a href="https://www.lumafield.com">Lumafield</a>:</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jualexju">Alex Hao</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreas-l-bastian/">Andreas Bastian</a></li> </ul> <p>The upshot is that Lumafield has used a scanning device to see…
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A Powerful Punch: Soixante Quinze
Spring is arriving, and so will the legions, yes 3,000+ of tulips and 3,000+ of daffodils, of bulbs I planted may be blooming. A perfect time for a Tea. And what to serve? A powerful punch: Soixante Quinze, also known at the “French 75” purportedly created in Harry’s Bar in Paris in 1915 after the…
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LilyGO T-Beam SUPREME Case Comparison: Cost, Durability, and Field Practicality
After surveying available case designs and materials, printing several variants, and comparing service-bureau options, I concluded that the Alley Cat case offers the best balance of durability, access, and discretion for real field use. While I specified nylon for my print, other materials such as ASA (Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate) are also viable; the rest of…
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Voron Design – 3D Printer
pas pour les âmes sensibles [Not for the faint of heart]” – François Rabelais? Voron Design is a three dimensional printing (“3D”) project created in 2015 to create a no-compromise 3D printer that was fun to assemble and a joy to use. It had to be quiet, clean, pretty, and continue to operate 24 hours…
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HollyWood
These were the last two of about 9 trunks of holly that were 20-25 tall at Peck Cottage next door. These two were especially difficult because they were leaning towards our house and the iron fence and Internet lifeline were in its path were it to fall into our house. I used ground anchors with…
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Sawmilling Redwood Boards
<p>When we lived in Napa, CA, we removed a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoia_sempervirens">coast redwood</a> (<em>Sequoia sempervirens</em>) that was 6 feet in diameter at its base and 12 feet from the corner of a Victorian cottage we ran as a vacation rental and threatened the foundation. Moreover, I learned from a former lumberman that redwoods have “sleepers” which…
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Winnie – My Classical Music Partner
<p><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-384 aligncenter" src="https://salemdata.net/johnpress/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Winnie_and_MrBanana-275×300.png" alt="Golden Retriever with stuffed toy Mr. Banana" width="275" height="300" /></p> <p>Our golden retriever, Winnie, embarked to Eternity on Friday, December 19, 2025, after several months of battling 2 cancers, one incurable and the other metastasized. She was 11 years old. We bought her so I would have a running…
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Greenhouse Bench Prototype
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">I’ve created a prototype of a greenhouse bench based on my memory of benches used in greenhouses made by Fricker’s Greenhouses of San Gabriel and Southern California Greenhouse Manufacturers of El Monte. Both of this institutions have vanished and there is almost nothing available on the Internet about them. This was a project scheduled…
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Emergency Debridement Surgery
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A prized orchid I purchased several weeks ago which bloomed and suddenly became overcome by rot needed quick action. I have never seen anything spread so quickly. I sent and email and left a voice mail with the Florida vendor Saturday afternoon when I discovered the rot, but they had closed for the weekend. …