Monday, July 29, 2013

Chinese Chili Tofu

NOTE: Please refer to the image above to have an idea about most of the ingredients:

Main Ingredient:
250 Grams Firm Plain (unflavored) Tofu. NOTE: If you want to try an Indian Fusion version, replace this with Paneer(Cottage Cheese)

For Batter 

4-5 tbsp cornflour 4-5 tbsp while flour  2 tsp soy sauce pinch of baking powder salt to taste 6 tbsp water

Other Ingredients:

Ginger Root about 1 inch 8-10 Garlic clove (if small) 4-5 (if large) 6-8 spring onions (mine were really small, see the picture) (Keep their greens separate for garnishing) 4-5 Green Chilies 1 Medium Size Green Bell Pepper 1 Medium Size Red Bell Pepper (OPTIONAL, replace with green) 1 Medium Size Yellow Bell Pepper (OPTIONAL, replace with green) 1 tsp soy sauce 1 tsp sugar 2 tbsp cornflour 1 tsp oil Salt to taste MSG or Ajinomoto OPTIONAL (Some studies suggest that they are unhealthy, but I think eating occasionally is ok, take your call) Red Chili Sauce OPTIONAL (if you want to make it hot)

Kitchen Tools:

Deep frying pan, Spatula with holes Kitchen Absorbent Paper A large bowl for batter A handy kitchen grater tool. A small bowl for cornflour mix.


Having yellow and red bell pepper will add natural color to our food, but if you don't have them, just use green ones.  It is absolutely Ok to increase of decrease some ingredients in this recipe, believe me it will taste just fine. Just cook it with love :)

Lets jump into the kitchen :)


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Hanging garden chair

This is a cross between a chair and a hammock, for use on sunny days in the garden or taking with you on a camping trip.  It is surprisingly comfortable and can be adjusted to give a fairly upright position (suitable for using a laptop) or a more recumbent one for lazing the afternoon away.  Similar chairs cost from £65 to £120 or more to buy, but you can have one for a fraction of the cost.  This is a good project for teenagers to make for Father's Day because everyone can contribute, whether it is with sewing skills, basic woodwork skills or tying a few knots. It should be easily made in a weekend.

My chair hangs just a short way above the ground, making it easy to get in and out of and allowing my feet to rest comfortably on the ground when I am in it.  You could hang the chair higher up but then you might need a ladder to get into it, which could be a hazardous exercise.  Some commercially available hanging chairs have a foot rest, which would be easy enough to add if you want to be well above the ground and don't feel comfortable with your legs just dangling. You will spin and swing around a bit in the wind if your feet don't touch the ground, but that is part of the fun. 

You will need

1.4 m (1 5/8 yd) of canvas (or other strong, rip-resistant, hardwearing fabric) that is at least 1.3 m (51") wide
Strong sewing thread
A reasonably powerful sewing machine fitted with a jeans needle and ideally a walking foot
2.7 m (3 yd) of 25 mm (1") wide webbing
A crayon, chalk or a biro
Ruler or tape measure
Strong scissors capable of cutting the canvas and webbing
Sewing pins
One 28 mm (1 1/8") diameter wooden broom handle, at least 1.2 m (48") long
Two 23 mm (7/8") diameter wooden broom handles, at least 1 m (39") long
10 m (11 yd) of 7 mm (1/4") rope from a climbing shop (check the breaking strain is well above your weight)
A length of thicker rope - length depends on how high up your tree branch is
A hand drill or power drill with 8mm and 10mm wood bits
A saw
Sandpaper
Teak oil or wood preservative
A carabiner capable of taking your weight plus the chair's (optional)
A suitable tree

Unless you live somewhere where the climate is dry, I suggest using canvas, webbing and sewing thread made from manmade fibres that will not rot if they get wet, because sooner or later your chair will get left out in the rain.  Opt for polyester or nylon instead of cotton if you have the choice.  Ideally, the canvas should have an open weave to stop rain collecting in it, but strength is more important than that.

Safety warning

The strength of this chair depends on the materials used and the quality of your stitching and knot-tying.  Mine takes an adult male weighing 11.5 stone (160 lb, 73 kg) with ease, but you may need to beef up the components if the user is substantially heavier.  When buying the rope and carabiner, check their load ratings.  Carabiner-type keyrings are NOT suitable.  Don't take chances, particularly if you want to use the chair to hang high above the ground.  Make sure the branch you hang it from is sound wood and thick enough to bear the weight of the occupant.  Remember that the load will be increased if the chair is used like a swing.  Check the stitching and knots every now and again, and certainly before using the chair after it has been put away for a while.

I have given suggestions for the knots to be used, but the best knot for a job depends on such things as the flexibility and slipperiness of the rope, its fibre content, construction and diameter as well as what needs to be connected to what.  If in doubt, consult a good book of knots or someone who understands such things - amateur sailors are usually good on knots. 


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EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Superclocked ACX Cooling Video Card Review

Legit Video Card Reviews

When we reviewed the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 video card last month we were impressed by what what it could do and we just had the NVIDIA reference design on-hand to come to that conclusion. Today, we will be looking at our first add-in board partner card, the EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Superclocked with ACX cooling. This card retails for $659.99 shipped and features higher clock speeds and a greatly improved cooling solution. Not bad, considering it retails for only $10 more than the base model!

evga-gtx780-acx-angle

When you first look at the EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Superclocked with ACX cooling video card you can see that it is certainly not using the reference cooler. EVGA has developed a new GPU cooling technology in-house called Active Cooling Extreme or ACX for short. This cooler will be available on both EVGA GeForce GTX 770 and 780 series cards, so you'll be hearing about this cooler a bunch in 2013!

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 w/ AVX Cooling Key Features:

Ultimate GPU Cooling – 15% average lower GPU and Memory temperatures give you the low temperatures needed for extreme overclocks, and with GPU Boost 2.0, it ensures your card maintains the maximum boost clock possible.No Compromise Heatsink Design – An increase of 40% in heatsink fin volume distributes heat evenly and efficiently.Low Noise Levels – The dual fan design dramatically increases airflow, meaning the fans only need tos pin at a much lower RPM, reducing noise levels significantly. In fact, it is 15% quieter on average!Double Ball Bearing Design – The EVGA ACX cooler features a double ball bearing design, meaning the fans have an average lifespan of 12 Years! This is 4X longer than the competitors sleeve bearing fans.Superior Blade Design – EVGA even went as far as crafting each individual fan blade with the utmost in quality. The fan blades on the EVGA ACX cooler are 700% stronger and weigh 25% less than competitor’s versions. This makes the fans 20% more efficient by requiring lower power levels.Dual Slot Design – No need to worry about bulky heatsink designs that cover unnecessary PCI-E lanes, the EVGA ACX cooler is a dual slot design, the optimal size for all forms of NVIDIA SLI.Dual Cooling Subsystems – Minimizing air turbulence between fans, this makes sure the airflow is distributed evenly, and reduces noise level.Reinforcement Baseplate – This helps to maintain a straight PCB, and helps lower mosfet temperatures by 7% and memory temperatures by 15%.

evga-gtx780-acx-s

Some of you might not know what the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 reference card looks like, so here is a shot of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 reference card with it's single fan blower style GPU cooler and the EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Superclocked w/ ACX Cooling that we'll be looking at today. This is a "Superclocked" card, so right off the bat you should know that it has been overclocked from the start. The EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Superclocked with ACX cooling comes with a base clock of 967 MHz a boost clock of 1020 MHz. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 reference card is clocked at 863 MHz base and 902 MHz boost, so this is a 12-13% clock increase on the 2304 CUDA Cores!  EVGA opted not to overclock the 3GB of GDDR5 memory and it operates at 6008 MHz (effective) like the reference card.

evga-gtx780-acx-back

EVGA also didn't touch the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and used the same exact PCB as the NVIDIA reference design. This means it features single 8-pin and 6-pin PCIe power connectors to supply enough power to the 250W TDP card and a pair of SLI connectors for 3-way SLI support. The EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Superclocked w/ ACX is 10.5" in length.

evga-gtx780-acx-io

Display outputs include two dual-link DVIs, one HDMI and one DisplayPort 1.2 connector. This video card easily supports 4K resolution monitors and supports up to four monitors concurrently. This is great for those wanting to run NVIDIA Surround or NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround technology.

Let's move along and take a closer look at the EVGA ACX Cooler!  




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Vine, the app that lets you share 6-second, GIF-style video clips, is now available for Android.

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Laser Cut Acrylic Rose with Etched Base

Final Rose.jpgHello everyone,  I made an acrylic rose display piece for a loved one. I was lucky enough to have access to an Epilog  laser cutter at the time. If I were to win an Epilog  Zing 16 Laser,  I would start a small business making sculptures, jewelery, and other cool and unique things.
When I made the rose I didn't have any plans drawn up. I went more by how a rose looked and what felt right. Feel free to use rose reference photos if necessary.  My list of materials are as follows:

1 sheet of 1/16" clear acrylic ( size of sheet depends on what fits in the laser)
1 acrylic rod 1/4" cut to the length you want
Heat gun
Heat gloves
Safety glasses
Needle nose pliers ( to hold the petals while you shape them)
1 sheet of 1/8" mirrored acrylic
1 sheet of 1/8" black acrylic
Black spray paint
Weld on acrylic glue
Glue applicator syringe
Laser cutter/ engraver
Computer with CorelDraw program

 With any project, please be safe and use appropriate safety equipment when needed.

100_1431.JPG   I first started by creating some petal shapes that varied slightly, in CorelDraw. I then sent the file to the laser cutter and cut them out.

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Make Your Own Cigar Box Guitar / Mp3 Player Amplifier

FinishedIMG_1132 -1.jpgI've wanted to create a Cigar Box Guitar and Amp for quite some time, and it seems like the Instructable Sound Hack and Battery Powered contestst were just the extra incentive I needed to give it a try.

This Instructable shows how to create a Cigar Box Amplifier, of course it can also be used as an MP3 player or Phone amplifier. I decided to build the amplifier before the guitar since it's certainly easier, but hopefully a Cigar Box Guitar Instructable will follow soon!

If you haven't heard of Cigar Box Guitars, you should check them out. YouTube has lots of videos demonstrating amazing sound from these 3 stringed instruments. 

Here's an example of a CBG in Action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIIEhH7xOXg


Actually they don't all have 3 strings, but hey this is about the amplifier anyway,
let's build one!PartsIsPartsIMG_1115 -1.jpgWhat's Needed for this Guitar Box Amplifier Instructable?
Cigar Box - I have a friend who occasionally smokes a cigar, he tells me they are all legal (at least somewhere in the world ;-) ). I noticed these can also be found at Yard Sales, on eBay and sometimes for free in Tobacco Stores. LM386 chip based amplifier circuit - I got a kit for this from http://tymkrs.com/, (some sites sell pre-soldered kits as well) but you can likely make your own. Parts needed are: Potentiometer, LM386 Chip, Resistor, 2 Capacitors, 9V battery connector and Guitar jack. 8 Ohm Speaker (I got mine from an old projection TV) Switch (optional) - didn't come with the kit, but I thought it would be handy to save on batteries. Wire Miscellaneous parts for decoration, most important is something to cover the speaker, (I used the plastic which originally covered the speaker on the TV). Optional: Handle, Legs, battery holder, Something to cover keep the box closed,  Tools Needed for This Instructable: Drill  Soldering Iron and Solder (unless you buy a pre-soldered kit) Hole Saw (optional) to cut the speaker hole (or use a drill and Dremmel or X-Acto knife) Now that you have your parts... 
Step One is to solder together the kit, as seen in the picture below. 
(It's a good idea to get a general feel for where all the parts are going to be installed before you actually start cutting wire and soldering. You'll notice I left way too much slack on my speaker wire)

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