RainyDayScience

[rainydayscience]

Many people have the impression that being creative is a talent. Some people have it, others don't. However, neurobiologists, in understanding more and more about how the different parts of the brain interact with each other, are beginning to realize something different. The state of mind which fosters creativity is something which can be induced, exploited, and yes...hacked! In fact, people have been doing it for years.

A few years ago, we came across a few books (Mind Hacks, Mind Performance Hacks) on mind-hacking. The books are a great source of cool things one can do to the brain without the use of chemicals and the associated side-effects. Whenever we have some time on our hands, we would flip through the books and select something to try. We, of course, are no strangers to... [more] - Brain Hack #28: Onar

[rainydayscience]

Yesterday, we took a FirstLook at the waterproof case from SKB. Today, we will show how simple it was to create a custom-fit insert using the Pick-n-Pluck foam that came with the case, for the two pieces of Vixen equipment we want to protect.

We had to decide how best to layout the pieces inside the case. We removed two of the three foam layers so we could better understand how depth played in the layout. We worked through the various combinations to see what would work best. Things to consider are the space between the pieces and whether the items would bang against each other if... [more] -SKB/Vixen Installation

[rainydayscience]

When we took the Vixen Polarie mount and the Polar axis scope to L.A., it was easy enough to pack it in the carry-on case. That got us to thinking that we should get a dedicated case to protect the mount and the polar scope for when we use it in the wild. There are a couple of well known makers (Pelican, Storm, Otterbox) of ruggedized cases suitable for such a situation. We have looked at many of them in the past, and normally we would have gone with something from one of them. However, a while back a reader told us about a company called SKB after reading our DIY article about retrofitting a Pelican case. We had never heard of SKB, so we investigated.

SKB got its start in 1977 making guitar cases in a small garage in Anaheim, California. Today, SKB is a leader in the design and manufacture of molded polymer cases that are used in a wide range of... [more] -SKB iSeries Waterproof Case