http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress WARNING: This blog contains writings known to the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:15:38 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2011/12/20/tool-tray-for-roland-mdx-40a-milling-machine/ http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2011/12/20/tool-tray-for-roland-mdx-40a-milling-machine/#comments Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:31:48 +0000 piper http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/?p=610 A friend of mine bought himself a Roland MDX-40A desktop milling machine, with the optional ZCL-40A rotary axis.  It was from an E-bay seller.  It comes with a large assortment of tools and accessories.  But they all came in a bag.  Hard to find small items, and not very well protected. As one of our [...]]]> http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2011/12/20/tool-tray-for-roland-mdx-40a-milling-machine/feed/ 0 http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2010/11/07/the-lost-truth-about-martinis/ http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2010/11/07/the-lost-truth-about-martinis/#comments Mon, 08 Nov 2010 01:32:43 +0000 piper http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/?p=546 Myth: A Martini is any random concoction that strikes your fancy, served in a conical glass. Reality: A Martini is gin or vodka, with a hint of vermouth, typically (but not necessarily) served in a conical glass. It is not the conical glass that makes a Martini.  It’s the ingredients.  And the conical glass sucks [...]]]> http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2010/11/07/the-lost-truth-about-martinis/feed/ 2 http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2010/07/07/reviewing-childrens-tv-from-an-adult-perspective/ http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2010/07/07/reviewing-childrens-tv-from-an-adult-perspective/#comments Thu, 08 Jul 2010 04:33:02 +0000 piper http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/?p=539 Like anyone with a toddler at home, our TV is permanently glued to the children’s TV channel.  Treehouse TV. I watch a lot of these children’s TV series these days.  Enough to form opinions of them. Big and Small I like it.  I often wonder why Big doesn’t kick Small’s self-centered ass to the curb.  [...]]]> http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2010/07/07/reviewing-childrens-tv-from-an-adult-perspective/feed/ 5 http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2010/02/25/expensive-watches/ http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2010/02/25/expensive-watches/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:48:16 +0000 piper http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/?p=184 The world of watches is a strange place. The best watches tend to be relatively inexpensive, while some rather poor watches are priced out of range of all but the very wealthy. By “best” and “poor”, I’m referring not to subjective things like aesthetics. I’m not even going to bother thinking about whether a Gucci [...]]]> http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2010/02/25/expensive-watches/feed/ 5 http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2009/07/26/welding-cart/ http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2009/07/26/welding-cart/#comments Mon, 27 Jul 2009 03:16:17 +0000 piper http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/?p=480 I completed an introductory welding course at Conestoga College last year, and bought myself a small oxy-acetylene torch outfit.  I figured my first real project should be a welding cart. I had my gas cylinders freestanding up against a wall, and that’s just not very safe. I try to cultivate a healthy fear of compressed [...]]]> http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2009/07/26/welding-cart/feed/ 4 http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2009/07/26/welding/ http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2009/07/26/welding/#comments Mon, 27 Jul 2009 03:16:10 +0000 piper http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/?p=487 Last year I took an evening course in Basic Welding at Conestoga College. It was just an introductory course for people who want to learn how to weld for their own projects. No credit toward welding as a profession. It covered oxy-acetylene and a bit of GMAW (aka MIG). I like oxy-acetylene, but i didn’t [...]]]> http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2009/07/26/welding/feed/ 0 http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2009/01/26/avoiding-upsfedex-brokerage-fees/ http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2009/01/26/avoiding-upsfedex-brokerage-fees/#comments Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:31:18 +0000 piper http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/?p=457 I wrote previously about the extortionate “brokerage” fees charged by UPS and FedEx for imports into Canada. That post has attracted a huge volume of response from other enraged people.  I have learned more since then, including an interesting response direct from the Canada Border Services Agency. If you contact UPS, they’ll tell you that [...]]]> http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2009/01/26/avoiding-upsfedex-brokerage-fees/feed/ 284 http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2008/12/30/sticky-snow-blower-cable/ http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2008/12/30/sticky-snow-blower-cable/#comments Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:25:27 +0000 piper http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/?p=448 I’ve had growing problems the last couple years with one of the control cables on my Sears snowblower.  One of those cables like a bicycle brake cable, with the inextensible inner wire, and the incompressible outer sheath.  I’m sure there’s a technical name for cables like that, but I don’t know what it is.  (Update: [...]]]> http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2008/12/30/sticky-snow-blower-cable/feed/ 8 http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2008/10/21/old-memories-trapped-in-126-film-cartridges-part-2/ http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2008/10/21/old-memories-trapped-in-126-film-cartridges-part-2/#comments Wed, 22 Oct 2008 03:57:30 +0000 piper http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/?p=333 Part 1 I got the processed films back from Film Rescue, quite a long time ago now. They didn’t really rock my world, I’m afraid. I finally got around to uploading the images to my home photo gallery, here.]]> http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2008/10/21/old-memories-trapped-in-126-film-cartridges-part-2/feed/ 0 http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2008/08/18/i-hate-henrys-waterloo-store/ http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2008/08/18/i-hate-henrys-waterloo-store/#comments Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:12:43 +0000 piper http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/?p=314 I hate Henry’s Waterloo store. Why? Let’s review the security camera footage… A man walks in, approaches the Canon counter, sets down a camera bag, and waits to be helped. He dinks around with the iMac on the counter for a while. Looks over the lenses behind the counter. Checks his Blackberry. Takes a couple [...]]]> http://www.thegatesofdawn.ca/wordpress/posts/2008/08/18/i-hate-henrys-waterloo-store/feed/ 31