Tongoys + 3 hours = custom made standing desk
As a writer my work is about sitting by the computer all day (and some nights ;-). When my back began feeling stiff I decided I needed to change my work environment. The solution was to modify the desk so that I could stand instead of sitting.
I wanted to avoid spending a lot of money. Therefore I had to build it myself. At first I thought I would need to build something from scratch out of wood. Then I came to think of my daughter’s Tongoys. It can be used to build a house, a bed, a castle or whatever one can imagine. Why not a standing desk?
First I started taking measures. My IKEA standard office desk is 120 by 80 centimeters and 80 centimeter high. At 191 centimeters above ground I figured I would need to raise the desk 40 centimeter to have a convenient standing height. Then I measured the Tongoys boards and found that 12 x 18 holes (Tongoys is measured in holes) was exactly 80 x 120 centimeters! Six holes high it would raise it 40 centimeter, but I decided to use seven holes to get an edge stopping things from falling over.
When the measuring was done the fun part began. I needed to design the table. At first I thought of making it as simple as possible with only a flat surface to put my laptop on. With the Tongoys solution it was easy to make it a little more advanced so I added a raised shelf to put my 22 inch screen and speakers on and another one inside the desk to hold my six external hard drives. That way I could make room for other things in the cabinet currently holding the disks. Designing my desk took about an hour.
Building it took another two hours. I made it very sturdy. It can easily hold my weight standing on it (if for some reason I would want that). At the back of the table surface I left an opening so I can have the computer cables out of sight.
Once the work was done I put it on top of the desk to see if the design worked. It did! As an added bonus I got a lot of storage space under the desk. The subwoofer fit nicely in there. I am thinking of also putting my printer and scanner there and get rid of another cabinet.
I admit this solution isn’t the most subtle one. It is made from a toy. :-) It does, however, serve its purpose more that well.
Read MoreBrooklyn Space Program launches space balloon with camera
Who would have thought that a couple of science interested friends would send a balloon with a video camera and an iPhone into space to take pictures of the world outside earth. That is what Brooklyn Space Program did.
The balloon rose to 100.000 feet before it burst and sent the space craft back down to earth.
Read MoreSoap bubbles big as cars
I thought I had left my soap bubble days behind me. When I saw this video I wasn’t so sure anymore. It looks almost unreal.
Soap Bubbles ten or fifteen meters long and several meters wide. They were made by Sterling Johnson at Stinson Beach in California.
You can make your own super soap bubble mixture by following the recipe found here:
Make your own soap bubble mixture
And the magic super wand can be assembled using this illustrated guide from Instructables:
I found the video and links via Lifehacker.com.
Read More