Blue, Moon(roof).

This evening I decided I’d motor home with the moonroof open in the Saturn, and flipped the switch between the two visors. The glass lifted obligingly and then froze about 1″ away from the front edge of the opening, dead in its tracks. No sound from the motor, no grinding in the tracks. This has happened before, a number of years ago when Saturn was still in business and the car was under warranty, and they replaced the broken part free of charge. Now we’re on our own.

A search online revealed a detailed explanation of how to disassemble the roof of the car to get at the relevant parts (and take the entire moonroof assembly out), and another post contained the key bit of information I was looking for. GM, in its infinite wisdom, used a drive motor with a built-in manual gear to help wind the glass closed in the event of just such an emergency. In their customary stupidity, they hid access to this manual gear by covering it up completely, so in order to get a screwdriver on it, one has to remove the entire headliner. (Contrast this with our Honda, where there’s an unobtrusive plastic cap over the manual wind mechanism in the middle rear of the roof. Pop it off, and you’re in business).

So, tomorrow morning I’m going to head to Crazy Ray’s to see if they’ve still got one of the three SC-1′s from a month ago, and pull the switch to see if that’s the problem. If it still won’t close, I’m going to pull the headliner down over the weekend, crank the window closed manually, and just enjoy the breeze from the side windows instead.

Babyproofing.

Finn has been standing up and getting around under her own power for a while now, and one of her favorite things in the world is to watch Melmo on the TV—to the point where she’ll bang on the picture tube with both hands. She quickly figured out how to turn all of the components on and enjoyed hitting the power button on the TV repeatedly so that it would turn on, turn off, turn on, turn off, until the day when the button broke and fell backwards into the plastic case, along with one of the volume buttons. No big deal, really; we have a remote, the TV is at least 15 years old, and we’ve been considering a replacement TV for a long time. Until that day, however, I had to find a way to halt any expensive damage before it’s broken beyond repair, and make sure she doesn’t electrocute herself sticking her finger into the case.

Along with the greenhouse, a comically dangerous electrical system, and a half a ton of anthracite coal, we inherited a sheet of 3/8″ plexiglas when we moved into the house, which I figured would be thick enough to stand up to little hands.

I measured and cut a sheet on my table saw after taping the bottom half with blue painter’s tape to prevent scratching, and then clamped it on the edge of my worktable on the shorter side (so that the long side hung out over space). Using a propane plumber’s torch, I heated the edge by moving the flame back and forth slowly and applying gentle pressure to the free edge. After some time, the plexiglas clouded (because of the direct exposure to flame) but became pliable, and I bent it down carefully to an angle a little more than 90°. I placed the back of a chair against it while it cooled, and after about 20 minutes I had a clear shield made for our stack of components.

The bottom is deep enough that the components sit on top securely, so that their weight (and they are heavy) holds the shield in place. I’ve since cut about 6″ from the top of the example shown above so that it’s just a little higher than the XBOX. Finn can’t get her hands around the edges to reach the buttons, and our remotes work flawlessly through the plexiglas.

I then made a second shield for the TV and this time used a heat gun to bend the plastic, which was much more successful—there was no clouding or discoloration at all, so I’m going to redo the first one to match. The final step will be to buy a smaller rounded router bit (I have a 1/4″ radius bit, but I need something like a 3/16″ to work correctly) and smooth and round the edges off so that Finn doesn’t cut her fingers.

What Startups Are Really Like

What Startups Are Really Like. I’ve been peripherally and personally involved in several startups, and this is a good breakdown of what it’s like. (via DF.)

Make a Kegerator

File this under “future projects”. Make a Kegerator – Wired How-To Wiki

Xbox Media Center.

Hmm. I picked up a first-generation Xbox for $20 at a yard sale a few months ago, and i’ve played it sporadically since then (I now have a family, so it’s low on the list of priorities). This headline caught my eye, though: Transform Your Classic Xbox into a Killer Media Center. I have to do some sleuthing to see exactly what my Xbox configuration is.

Tomato Blight?

Oh, crap. Late Blight Fungus Threatens Tomato Crop in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.
“…the outbreak spread in part from the hundreds of thousands of tomato plants bought by home gardeners at Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, Home Depot and Kmart stores starting in April.” We started a bunch of ours from seed but two of the ones I’ve got in containers are organics from Home Depot.
Here’s info on identification and treatment.

Build-As-You-Grow Potato Bin

Build-As-You-Grow Potato Bins. Ooooh, I sense a very simple and inexpensive project coming on…

Jeep regulator repair kit

Looking through eBay for replacement Jeep parts, I found a $50 repair kit for a $500 OEM replacement part. I’m seriously considering this solution instead of trying to source a new regulator.

Flickr 366

This Flickr set from Noisy Decent Graphics is what I’ve been trying to do this year, only much, much better.

DIY Flash cord with RJ-45

Camera Hacks: Extend Your Flash Cord with Network Cable I wonder if this actually works or not? It might be worth a try.