Exploring the RadiaCode 102: A Powerful Pocket Gamma Spectrometer
14 mins
Dive into the fascinating world of radiation detection with the Radiacode 102, a compact and capable gamma spectrometer featuring a CsI(Tl) scintillator and digital readout. Unlike traditional Geiger counters that only measure radiation intensity, the Radiacode provides detailed spectral data - allowing you to identify specific isotopes like Potassium-40 or Cesium-137. This article introduces the physical principles behind the device, compares it to Geiger detectors, and demonstrates how it brings professional grade analysis to hobbyists, educators, and field researchers alike. Whether mapping environmental radiation via smartphone and GPS, performing lab-style fixed source analysis, or automating data collection using Python and USB, the Radiacode 102 shines in both mobile and programmable applications. Explore its real-world capabilities, app integration quirks, FreeBSD USB configuration tips, and learn how to visualize your own spectra - complete with logarithmic plots and isotope fingerprints. A must-read for citizen scientists, educators, and anyone curious about what quietly glows in our world.
Understanding Standard Deviation vs Standard Error: What’s the Difference?
2 mins
If you’ve ever glanced at a statistics report or scientific article, you’ve likely seen both terms - often side by side, and often misunderstood. This short post untangles the difference, giving you the tools to know whether you're talking about how spread out your data is, or how precise your mean estimate really is. Whether you're brushing up for data analysis or just curious, this post offers a short explanation of these two core concepts - and why confusing them can mislead your interpretation. A perfect refresher for students, researchers, and curious minds alike.
Converting a simple Jupyter LabBook or Diary to static HTML in a very crude and simple way
8 mins
This article walks through a simple, dependency-light approach to convert Jupyter notebooks into static HTML pages using Python and a shell script. With inlined images, clean output, and zero JavaScript bloat, the method is perfect for solo researchers who want long-term accessible documentation without setting up full-blown platforms like JupyterBook or mkdocs. The presented mini-solution shows how to automate conversion, resize and embed photos, build a simple index and deploy notebook archives effortlessly. Whether one is documenting experiments, maintaining an engineering diary, or just prefering timeless, static web output - this mini guide offers a robust and minimalistic solution that stands the test of time and costs near zero effort.
The Web Is for Everyone, Not Only for Humans
11 mins
The internet was born as a place of open exchange - a decentralized space where information could flow freely between humans and machines alike. But in recent years, this vision has faded behind paywalls, anti-bot defenses, and corporate silos. This article revisits the foundational principles of the web - from the stateless beauty of HTTP to the semantic depth of HTML - and defends the right of machines, scripts, and individuals to explore, remix, and reuse knowledge. Whether it's an AI compiling a knowledge graph or a hobbyist scraping environmental data for new insights, the web thrives on reuse - not restriction. But as politics and profit increasingly gate what was once open by design, we risk silencing not just users, but entire ecosystems of digital creativity. This piece is a call to remember: the web was made to be read by anyone - including machines.
A Rant from the Old Forge: On the State of Software Development
6 mins
Once upon a time, building software meant writing code, compiling it, and running it - on any platform, with minimal fuss. In this sharply opinionated piece, a veteran developer reflects on the simplicity and elegance of past development practices, where tools were lean, dependencies rare, and source code reigned supreme. Today’s software world, by contrast, is tangled in dependency hell, plagued by fragile build systems, bloated binary blobs, and unnecessary complexity. With passion and precision, this article challenges the modern obsession with packaging and platform-specific toolchains, calling instead for a return to sane, portable, long-lived software practices. A must-read for anyone who's ever sighed while waiting for npm install to finish.
Production Process of Cement: An Overview
9 mins
Cement is the invisible backbone of modern construction - yet few understand the intricate journey from raw rock to the fine grey powder that holds our buildings together. This article offers a detailed look behind the scenes of cement production, from blasting limestone in quarries to the high-temperature chemistry inside rotary kilns. Each step, from raw material grinding to the final packaging stage, is part of a precisely orchestrated industrial process balancing mechanical engineering, thermodynamics, and chemical transformation. Whether you're curious about the role of gypsum, the formation of clinker phases like alite and belite, or how modern plants reduce emissions through calciners and dust filters, this overview connects the dots with clarity and technical depth.
Should You Accept Tracking Cookies on Webpages?
7 mins
This article explores the technical foundations, financial implications, and ethical questions surrounding tracking cookies on modern websites. From how they work and why they exist, to the real difference they make in supporting free content, you'll gain a clear picture of the trade-offs involved. Whether you're a privacy conscious user, a curious web reader, or a content creator wondering how others fund their work, this short article explains why your cookie choices matter - and how they shape the future of a free and open web.
CMPs: A Privacy Risk Masquerading as a Solution
5 mins
While promising transparency and control, most CMPs are embedded from third-party domains, in theory allowing silent collection of metadata across sites in the same way as the very trackers they claim to regulate. The irony: users are asked to trust a system that itself introduces new risks, all without meaningful technical guarantees. This article dissects how CMPs, especially certified ones, operate within an ecosystem that relies on trust instead of technical safeguards - a flawed model in a world where trust alone is no protection. We explore how true privacy must be built on browser-level enforcement and origin isolation, not legal promises or banner overlays. If we want real control over our data, it’s time to move beyond privacy theater.
Pandoc and nbconvert recipes
10 mins
A mini summary on how to turn your Jupyter notebooks and Markdown files into clean, portable HTML and Markdown documents using nbconvert or pandoc. This mini guide offers practical command-line examples and dives into powerful customization options, including embedding images, compressing large outputs and building your own Jinja2 templates. Whether you are preparing technical reports, blog posts, or self-contained visualizations these tools make it easy to generate high-quality output tailored to your needs. Going beyond the basics, the article also shows how to write custom Python preprocessors for image resizing and output tweaking—ideal for those looking to optimize file size and presentation. If you want fine-grained control over how your notebooks are rendered and shared, this collection of recipes provides a flexible and extensible starting point.
Diode based passive RF frequency doublers - the basics
11 mins
How can a simple passive circuit generate higher frequencies without oscillators or phase-locked loops? This short article explores the fascinating basics of diode-based RF frequency doublers—circuits that exploit nonlinearities to produce harmonics, often with surprisingly broadband behavior and no need for biasing or active components. From a quick dive into the Shockley equation to typical basic circuit configurations like anti-parallel diode pairs and single-diode harmonic generators, this short article walks through both the math and the intuition behind passive frequency multiplication. Ideal for RF enthusiasts, circuit designers, or anyone curious about how this stuff works on a basic level.
