Today I found a really cool custom firmware for my Netgear DGND3700 V1 modem/router which is discussed in this thread at forum1.netgear.com. The developer’s wiki page for the firmware is here. This firmware adds a few features such as ability to toggle telnet and ssh (a.k.a. “dropbear”) daemons on or off via the adminstrative web…

click on above image to visit manufacturer’s website Most people who have broadband have a separate modem which connects to the boradband service via phone or cable line, and a wireless router which creates a home wireless network that various devices can connect to. There are also modem/routers where everything is built into one. I…

This morning there was a message sent out on a mailing list I am subscribed to about an incident in Southern Calfornia in which a bicyclist who was riding perfectly legally within the area demarcated with the arrow markings along the road was erroneously admonished and given false information by an officer from the local…

My last post about coffee was how to make more gentle coffee by lowering the temperature of the water that is poured over the grounds. Here is another way to make gentle coffee with an amazing, exotic taste that you will love: finely grate some fresh ginger (I like to keep it in a ziplock…

After getting a new hybrid 6″ cotton/2″ foam futon and taking it home, I noticed it has an odor. The odor reminds me of linseed oil or linen or something like that. I was thinking about it, and then something made me think about the futon being treated with flame retardant chemicals. I did a…

This is a follow up to previous posts about going metric. Everyone should already have switched to celsius for temperature; metric units of centimeter, kilometer, etc. for length; and km/h for speed. If you haven’t made the switch make it now. Go into the settings for all your computers and other devices and switch everything…

Is this a joke? People should accept personal responsibility for not recognizing what something like Twitter is and move on. I got a Twitter account out of curiousity and wrote one, fairly minimal thing. Then some creepy person who I have never met and had no idea how they saw my comment responded to it.…

Watching a fascinating documentary about the Greek Euro Crisis presented from the interesting viewpoint of a British Euro-skeptic former member of Parliament. In this scene he’s interviewing a German MP standing somewhere in Frankfurt and there is this extraordinary building in the background. I’m glad I watched this video because it seems the only exposure…

click on image to visit manufacturer’s site What makes this tape measure cool is that it is metric/imperial, not imperial/metric as almost all the ones in stores in America are.  In an American store if you see tape measures, if they even have metric at all – which quite sadly most do not – they…

A futon mattress is basically a big bunch of cotton (and possibly some other hybrid elements like foam). While cotton is a nice material to lay on and has nice, airy properties, one downside is that it will easily suck up moisture from your body laying on top of it. Obviously moisture will have an…