Often students and colleagues ask “where do I learn that?”, or “where is a good place to start learning…” To answer those questions, this page collects a variety of materials that have been useful to me over the years as reference, as learning materials, and to keep up to date with current practices in software, electronics, and the things I’m interested in. This is the 2021 revised version.

Rex Harper (w1rex) and I hosted two kit building sessions at the March 2021 QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo. Rex did most of the talking and showing, I was more the camera operator, chat-upkeep, and support. It was a blast. Both sessions were recorded and they are available on YouTube and Vimeo.

John Muthyala had a very nice article published in EDUCAUSE Review that features our work on the Portland Women’s History Trail.

It was a day like any other when a colleague and avid tabletop gamer asked, “Have you ever thought about making a Crokinole board?” I suspect he had recently seen the Shut Up & Sit Down Review of Crokinole earlier this year and the magnificent board they played on. Then, on Thanksgiving holiday, I had the epiphany that this was the game on the back side of the Carrom boards that have been around my family for at least two generations! So, of course, I had to build one.

Do you have what it takes to save the Internet? As skilled members of a technical team, you must keep malicious software programs from spreading while developing and deploying patches for four previously unknown software vulnerabilities on a world-wide network of data centers, server, and workstations.

This is what happens when you have a laser engraver/cutter and too much free time on your hands while driving to and from work. You get a custom dice game and computer simulation to determine how playable it is! This game is really designed for the upcoming (tonight) game playing troop meeting the Scouts have scheduled. It’s incredibly simple, you roll two dice to determine the winning point total and then take turns trying to roll your way there by adding or subtracting your rolls. It’s that simple… except that the dice only have 3, 4, and 9 on the faces!

A simple game I created in an hour or so this past weekend at the Colby/Bates/Bowdoin Hackathon (Feb 24, 2019) using PICO-8. You are a hungry polar bear (Bowdoin’s mascot) on a chunk of floating ice. You need to catch fish to keep yourself alive. Use the arrow keys to catch the jumping fish to extend your time and increase your score. As time goes on, the fish don’t fill your belly (time) as well as they used to so you need to get quicker at catching them!