Author Archives: Jake Spurlock

Jake is a geek, designer, and HTML+CSS lover. Taker of photos, and sometimes skiing and biking... He spends his time daydreaming about new WordPress themes and playing baseball and softball.

Been doing some hardware hacking…

One of the fun things about working at MAKE is having access to some fun tools like laser cutters…

I have wanted a Sous-Vide supreme for a long time, but the $400 price tag has kept it out of the kitchen. Using a few common parts from around the house, and a few from Home Depot, I built a controller that works just as well, and only costs around $35. For the uninitiated, sous-vide cooking, translated is “under vacuum”. Your food is placed in a vacuum sealed bag, and then cooked at a specific temperature. For a perfect medium rare, that temperature is around 130° f. So, what I built here uses a pid temperature controller regulate the power to whatever is plugged into it. In my use case, I have it hooked up to a crock pot, with the thermometer in the water. When the sensor notices a drop in the temperature, it turns the crock pot on, and turns it off again before it gets to hot.

Attempting my first sous-vide project. @seanragan would be so proud...

First experiment was eggs, and they were delicious, can’t wait to try the steaks tomorrow night.

If you want to build one, (and hey who doesn’t!) you can get all of the details here. Probably the only difference between my project, and the one that Sean did was he used a saw/drilling to cut the holes out, and I used the laser cutter at work. (Seriously, I need one of these at home…)

Water Bath Thermostat

Designers vs Coding

Good design and good markup provide structure to content. Good markup is a fundamental part of good design: beautiful on the inside, beautiful on the outside. HTML and CSS give another venue to provide structure to content in the native language of the web, and learning these guides decisions by surfacing the affordances of the medium. Design decisions are affected by both the content and the format, like how a sculptor would make different decisions if she were working with clay rather than marble.

via via Frank : Designers vs Coding.

However Vast the Darkness, We Must Supply Our Own Light.

Stanley Kubrick in his 1968 interview with Playboy:

The most terrifying fact of the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death — however mutable man may be able to make them — our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfillment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.

via Daring Fireball.