This is what drowning the government in the bathtub looks like.

Made part of a mirror cell for an 8" telescope using CAD + my home made CNC. https://brainwagon.org/blog/2025_09_30_cnc_mirror_cell/

I spent the morning tinkering together some Python code to generate a sort of "anti-business" business card. I like to have something that has my email and blog/Mastodon information on it, but perhaps with a sense of whimsy. Now that I'm retired, I don't hand them out to 'serious' people. I find […]

Some lovely new pins (many cat-themed) from my time at the #makerfaire yesterday.

My basic test as to whether a LLM is powerful enough to write code is to ask whether it can create a quine in C with a particular phrase (such as my name) within. Most of the smaller models have no chance of making one that works. I was successful using gemini-cli and their pro model.

I took a picture of Pluto on two consecutive nights using my SeeStar S50, with about 10 minutes of exposure. Huzzah! You can see it moving against the background stars. #astrophotography

I'd be more comforted by Disney's reversal on Kimmel's suspension if I thought that they had a genuine moment where they reconsidered their policy of appeasement, and not just "in the moment, this is causing us grief. Maybe next time we can get the FCC to be more subtle, so we won't have blow […]

Today's garage gem is a bunch of random telescope parts that I got while hunting for a particular one in my garage. Mirrors. Diagonals. Focuser. Mirror cells. All sorts of goodies. More #mygaragegems here: https://brainwagon.org/blog/2025_09_21_day_079_cornucopia_of_telescope_parts/

Sigh. The last time I bought a new car was in 1997, but I fear my Ford Expedition may be reaching the end of its life.

[uspol] It's like the folks at Disney didn't even watch the show.

Thinking about stuff too complicated to fit on a protest poster.

[uspol] Today's #protest sign took inspiration from one of my favorite episodes of one of my favorite TV shows all time. Too cerebral? Perhaps. But in the words of Worf/Picard: PICARD: We think we've come so far. The torture of heretics, the burning of […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

#cnc project before breakfast: a 221B sign designed using a script that was tinkered together with Gemini CLI. More details (and a link to the code) at https://brainwagon.org/blog/2025_09_18_making_a_sign/

Got the latest flu and COVID vaccines yesterday. Kaiser asks if I have one of a long list of comorbitities, which I of course do, but they don't ask you which one, so if you want the vaccine from them, just say "yes", and get the jab. Stay well out there folks.

i forgot to recharge the seestar, so it died after about 20 minutes of exposures. Still, the Eastern Veil (NGC 6992) $astrophotography

55 minutes of exposures of M33 through my Seestar S50, tidied up with Siril. #astrophotography

I wonder at the wisdom of waking up at 5:00AM, being unable to return to sleep, and deciding to do maintenance on my blog. Oh well, too late (early?) to worry about the wisdom of my actions now. Recovered 1K+ broken image links from the Internet wayback machine, and patched up the referencing […]

Okay, new ESP32 module installed in my CNC to replace the one I inadvertently burned out. It appears to work. Huzzah.

The only thing worse than burning out the ESP32 board in your CNC is not knowing why you burned out the ESP32 board on your CNC. And having to wait a day for replacements. And not knowing if something else is gonna blow the new ones out. Or if the controller board itself is dead. F*ck.

Tomorrow's goal: construct the "pendant", a hand hold control for the CNC with a jog wheel and touch screen interface.

Hmmm. My copy of Malacara's Optical Shop Testing appears to be missing. Frownie face. Where the hell did I put it?

I'm once again reminded of how my hatred for cmake burns with the fire of a thousand suns.

78 in the series of #mygaragegems: an oscillating spindle sander, which is getting more use now that my CNC is beginning to churn out stuff. https://brainwagon.org/blog/2025_09_08_day_078_oscillating_spindle_sander/

The most baffling #f1 race I've seen possibly ever. The only thing stupider than Lando allowing Piastri to pit first is for the team to ask them to swap after a slow stop. Absolutely gobsmacked.

Took Princess Pepper, the senior lady of our cats to the vet to have two teeth extracted today. :( She's home and doing fine, but obviously pretty doped up. I gave her a little pet and she started purring REALLY loud. Hope she has a good recovery.

Still working on getting experience with the work flow, but I used OnShape to design a simple gantry to hold the power and vacuum hose, and then cut my very first parts out of 1/2" plywood. Patchouli is impressed. I made a couple of minor mistakes, but the […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

The hardest part of a project is getting started. The second hardest part is not letting trivial setbacks destroy your momentum, returning you to the hardest part.

An accurate headline: "In win for infectious diseases, Florida to end all school vaccine requirements" -- https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/09/in-win-for-infectious-diseases-florida-to-end-all-school-vaccine-requirements/

Pondering using 2020 aluminum extrusion for struts on my 12.5" telescope project. Might be cheaper than either 1" tubing or 1" box section, and probably easier to work with. #telescopemaking

Spent a couple of hours practicing with onshape to try to get better at it so I can work on the design of my 12.5" telescope. As an exercise, I tried to reproduce the astrosystem mirror cell that I got years ago at the San Jose Astronomical Swap.

Sometimes for inexplicable reasons of seemingly trivial consequence, your day just sucks.

Extracted the vector data from the Battlezone source code.

Tinkered together a new header image.

Progress on the #cnc front: my third (and first successful) try at doing relief carving on my Lowrider CNC. The lines are visible, but the detail is pretty good. I may have to try something in wood soon. (Copernicus crater model cribbed from NASA)

It's been a couple of weeks since my last daily (ahem) garage gem post. I've been busy with my CNC and haven't done much digging through my old tools, but this one is worth the wait: an old steamfitter's "alligator" wrench that was likely used on the Southern […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

My name is a tad out of the ordinary because I capitalize both the V and the W. This seems to baffle a great number of computer systems, which often split my last name into a middle name and a last name even though I never put a space between the two parts of my last name. This is exacerbated by […]

I cut a new acrylic cover for the CNC this morning, although not without a tiny bit of drama/excitement/failure. More at https://brainwagon.org/blog/2025_08_25_cnc_cover/ #cnc

Took me the better part of two solid hours to disassemble and install the new strut panels on the CNC, but it's back and ready for duty. I think I've had enough time in the shop today though, and I will save doing some acrylic cutting for tomorrow.

Goofed the design on try one, but this worked fine.

[uspol] Is there a single Republican arguing against California's proposed redistricting that has said anything about the Texas redistricting? Just curious.

Progress on the CNC router has come at the expense of increase randomization in the shop. This morning's goal: a pointless battle against the inexorable forces of entropy. Wish me luck. #myprojects

Ever attend a function where you wonder if you were invited by mistake?

More CNC madness: cutting struts. Not perfect, but certainly serviceable for the target usage, and a good learning experience. https://brainwagon.org/blog/2025_08_21_cutting_more_struts/

Today, I learned about Zalgo text. Get a load of this: b͙͕̀ͮ͋̑ͅrá͇͈̼̆ͧ̓ĭ̡͈͑͂n͈͝ẃ̸͐̋͒҉̟a͇̦ͭͦ͗̌͠g̠͚̹̺͑̾̊ͦ̀o̧n̲͙̎̉̂ͨ

First serious thing cut on the CNC: the strut plates for... THE CNC! Can skynet be very far away? #cnc #myprojects

Hmmm. World Anthotype Day is coming on October 25h. I haven't done much with this stuff lately. Perhaps this will be a reason to dust off my printing frames and try something new.

“We believe that every individual and family should have the freedom to decide for themselves how much Cesium to include in their diet, free from meddlesome government interference.” - new FDA spokesperson, soon, probably.

Got some raspberries yesterday, so time to make a clafoutis.

We’re finishing up the editing on the @defcon Voting Village talk videos and expect to have them online in a day or two. (Bonus: the audio in the videos is much clearer than it was live in the room.) Didn’t make it Hacker Summer Camp this year? Watch this space!