Archive for the ‘diy’ Category

DIY : Standing Desk

Apostolos blogs about the many advantages of using a standup desk opposed to a sitting desk- from brainstorming to ease of focus, this ninja needs to try it!

Throwback Thursdays : DIY Green Car

Organic Container Gardening

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No space or time? Try container gardening…a 101 that covers info on soil, containers, vegetables, watering and insects…

One of the biggest mistakes organic gardeners can make is using treated wood for containers. Chemicals that the wood has been treated with can leach into the soil and into your vegetables. Choose raw, natural wood instead. Ceramic or clay pots are also available, and of course, the cheapest option is plastic. Make sure all the containers have areas for drainage. Most store-bought containers have a hole in the bottom already, but if you’re making your own, be sure to add one. (Source)

My Ninja, Please! 4.22.11 : Open Source Hardware

Starting off as a Wiki, Marcin Jakubowski is transforming maker culture….for the better! My NINJA, Please! Oh, and happy Earth Day 2011!

My Ninja, Please! 4.13.11 : Coffee Shrooms

A couple of students learn about social entrepreneurship and mushroom farming on coffee grounds and share at TEDxPresidio:

DIY : Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

.:joythebaker.com->

DIY : Hold a Meeting

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-For every session, create a document clearly stating: The meeting’s Purpose (Why we are here); Its Desired Outcomes (What we will achieve by the meeting’s close); Assigned Roles (Primary facilitator—the manager, secondary facilitators—everyone else in attendance, minute-taker, timekeeper, and scribe); and an Agenda with clock times and topic leaders).
-Show respect for the agenda but remain flexible in using it—modify times, priorities, and items as circumstances dictate.
-Call for a process check and ask, "What is the best use of our team’s time right now?" whenever we see time on an agenda item running out and we haven’t achieved the desired outcome linked to it.
-Use a "parking lot"—a separate flip chart page—for collecting information that is important to hold on to, but is not germane to the topic currently being processed.
-Stimulate contributions by actively seeking information and opinions from others in a sincere manner, using open ended questions. ("Why do you think it won’t work?)
-Test comprehension when unsure about what’s being said. (So what you’re saying is . . . Right?)
-"Open the gate" to bring in quiet or non-participating individuals.
-Positively recognize and support the constructive participation of others to maintain an open collaborative climate and keep people involved.
-Summarize and post all decisions and action items along the way for all to see.
-Avoid being a disruptive meeting participant, but when a person is disruptive (dominating, interrupting, starting side conversations, tuning out, rambling, overly argumentative/sarcastic), all attendees share responsibility for dealing with it.
-Welcome and foster constructive differences as the key to critical thinking, while always being alert to stop personal attacks.
-Be flexible in team thinking and the search for options because the team’s collective wisdom produces better ideas than solo or dictated thinking.
-Be more concerned with "what’s right" rather than "who’s right".
-Review all decisions that were made, all action items, that were assigned, the "parking lot," and any postponed agenda items at the end of every session.
-Conduct a meeting assessment at the close of every session. (Ask: "What did we do well today?" "What could we do better next time?"

.:smartblogs.com->

DIY : Program a Quantum Computer

DIY : Wireless Keylogger

Not sure why you would want to do this, but here is a DIY for monitoring user activity on a computer.

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