Get off the floor or ground without hurting your knees.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/2549610968873010

Top 4 DIY Hand Tools to make for woodworking

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BmoJnJ6SY/

#1 a measuring stick you can lock into a specific measurement (Marking Gauge).

#2 Similar to #1, but with support for 45 degree angles, and a removable ruler (Routing Groove Jig).

#3 a sanding block.

#4 an easily centered Dowel Drilling Guide with support for corners or straight stock.

Grok is now in Copilot - xAI models are being added as subprocessors, giving users another choice in Word, Excel, &PowerPoint

https://www.windowscentral.com/artificial-intelligence/microsoft-copilot/grok-is-now-in-microsoft-copilot-but-dont-expect-snark-in-your-spreadsheets

"Microsoft Copilot will soon support Grok models from xAI. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint users in the Microsoft Frontier Program can test Grok models now, with general support expected to roll out in the future."

"Grok models are being added to Microsoft's Online Services Subprocessor list."

" Using Grok as a subprocessor helps Copilot tackle different tasks and provides redundancy that protects against outages or issues with other subprocessors."

"Once an admin enables the integration, you can set Copilot in apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to automatically pick the best model for a task, or manually pick between GPT, Claude, or Grok directly from a drop-down menu in the interface."

Bringing modern USB xHCI support to Windows 98/ME/2K

https://yeokhengmeng.com/2026/08/xhci98-usb-host-driver/

Everything is open-sourced here if you want to jump right in to use it: https://github.com/yeokm1/xhci98.

"The USB host controller on most modern PCs today is based on the Extensible Host Controller Interface (xHCI) USB 3.0 standard. It was first publicly finalised by Intel in 2010 and is now the de facto standard superseding prior USB host standards. Updates to the standard have been provided over the years with the latest now at 1.2c.

Given its relatively recent introduction, only modern operating systems like Windows 8 onwards natively support it. Supporting older machines will require the chipset vendors to provide the driver stack which is the case back to Windows XP. What if we want to go back further?"

"I wanted to see if I could build a native xHCI driver for Windows 98. Especially with AI assistance today, this should be possible right?"

"usbport.sys is a USB 2.0-era design. It has no concept of SuperSpeed and neither does anything above it. Doing USB 3.0 properly would mean replacing the entire host controller driver (HCD) stack on the operating systems and I doubt many machines using those OSes would benefit from that speed anyway.

Fortunately every USB 3.0 connector also carries the USB 2.0 wires and xHCI exposes them as a separate logical port per connector. The driver manages those USB 2.0 ports and leaves the USB 3.0 ports unpowered. A SuperSpeed device upon not detecting any active USB 3.0 lines, then falls back onto the USB 2.0 pins of the same connector and runs at High-Speed. That is why the flash drive above benchmarks at USB 2.0 speed."

 

If I Had to Start Over, I’d Buy This Raspberry Pi – RaspberryTips

Pi Zero 2W - https://raspberrytips.com/buy-this-raspberry-pi/

10 useful Linux commands

https://www.howtogeek.com/these-linux-commands-showed-me-life-is-better-without-windows/

Alpine is a Linux distro that fits in 200MB

Small by modern standards, but still useful. https://www.howtogeek.com/the-smallest-linux-distro-thats-actually-worth-using-in-2026/

8 things you should never do in Proxmox (unless you want your homelab to crash)

It does it’s own file management - don’t try to ‘help’. https://www.howtogeek.com/things-should-never-do-in-proxmox-unless-want-homelab-to-crash/

Stop using the cd command — the Linux zoxide command is faster, smarter, and easier

https://www.howtogeek.com/stop-using-the-cd-command/

GPT-6 Astra - Wikipedia

This release is more powerful than, and perhaps more out of human control than previous AI models. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPT-6_Astra

Using Tables with Python

Python can read data from tables and can be used to present (output) data in table format.

How to make a Table in Python?  https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/python/how-to-make-a-table-in-python/
"Creating a table in Python involves structuring data into rows and columns for clear representation. Tables can be displayed in various formats, including plain text, grids or structured layouts. Python provides multiple ways to generate tables, depending on the complexity and data size."
"Tabulate module is the most efficient way to create tables. It offers various formatting styles, requires minimal code and automatically aligns data properly. This method is ideal for small to medium datasets where quick visualization is needed"
"Pandas library is a powerful tool for handling large datasets. It provides easy-to-use table structures with built-in functions for filtering, sorting and exporting data. While it adds some overhead, it is the best choice for working with structured data at scale."
"PrettyTable offers an easy way to generate well-formatted tables with a clean, readable structure. It allows for customization, such as column alignment and border styles, making it useful for reports and console applications."
"String formatting manually structures table data without any dependencies. While it gives full control over spacing and alignment, it lacks flexibility and automation, making it inefficient for large or dynamic datasets."

Python can read data from tables and can be used to present (output) data in table format.

Read And Write Tabular Data using Pandas: 

    https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/pandas/read-and-write-tabular-data-using-pandas/
Pandas read_table() function: 

    https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/python/pandas-read_table-function/
Good examples here ...

pandas.read_table  https://pandas.pydata.org/docs/reference/api/pandas.read_table.html
Detailed syntax ...

Python Pandas - read_table() Method:

    https://www.tutorialspoint.com/python_pandas/python_pandas_read_table_method.htm
"The read_table() method in Python's Pandas library is used to read data from a general delimited (including TSVs, CSVs, and other delimited formats) text file into a Pandas DataFrame. It provides flexible options for parsing data from various storage back-ends, including local files, URLs, and cloud storage services. It also supports various delimiters and file formats, making it ideal for handling structured data for analysis tasks."

Pandas read_table — Read general delimited file into DataFrame:
    https://www.askpython.com/python-modules/pandas/pandas-read-table

Parsing Tables From Text Files:
    https://codesignal.com/learn/courses/parsing-table-data/lessons/parsing-tables-from-text-files

Using Python with MS-Word Tables:

    https://python-docx.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/tables.html
"Word provides sophisticated capabilities to create tables. As usual, this power comes with additional conceptual complexity.
This complexity becomes most apparent when reading tables ..."

Creating Tables With Tabulate:  https://datagy.io/create-table-in-python-tabulate/
"How to Display Data in a Table Format in Python

1. Import the tabulate function from tabulate

   Run the following code from tabulate import tabulate

2. Pass your data (such as a list of lists) into the tabulate function

   Pass a data structure into the function, such as this:
   data = [['A', 'B'], [1, 2], [3, 4]]
result = tabulate(data)

3. Print your resulting table

   To print the data, print out your resulting table using print(result)
   "
   ... and much more ...

Python Tabulate: Creating Beautiful Tables from Your Data:
    https://www.pythoncentral.io/python-tabulate-creating-beautiful-tables-from-your-data/
"Tabulate is a Python library that transforms various data structures into formatted tables. It's designed to be simple, lightweight, and flexible, making it an excellent choice for displaying tabular data in terminals, markdown documents, or other text-based contexts."
"Installation:

# Install tabulate using pip
pip install tabulate
"
"Basic Usage
Let's start with the most basic example:

from tabulate import tabulate # Sample data data = [ ["Alice", 24, "Engineer"], ["Bob", 32, "Doctor"], ["Charlie", 28, "Designer"] ] # Column headers headers = ["Name", "Age", "Profession"] # Generate table print(tabulate(data, headers=headers))

This basic example creates a simple table with three columns and three rows."

"Output:

Name      Age  Profession
------  -----  -----------
Alice      24  Engineer
Bob        32  Doctor
Charlie    28  Designer"

Dyno Testing Cleveland Heads On A 347 Small-Block Ford

If you're building a small block Ford engine, consider using Cleveland style heads on your Windsor block.  In this test, the 'Clevor' made a little more power across the entire RPM range, and the benefit increased as the RPM increased.

https://www.enginelabs.com/engine-tech/dyno-testing-cleveland-heads-on-a-347-small-block-ford-pt-2/

PC BIOS and Hardware Optimization Tips

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DS5hBViNw/

Enable Intel XMP (or AMD EXPO) in BIOS for best memory performance.

Always use matched pairs of RAM sticks.

Install RAM inn the preferred slots first  (check M/B manual).

Install GPU in correct slot - typically the 16-bit slot closest to the processor.

Use best (max) refresh rate for your monitor - easy change, but may reduce screen resolution.

Install games & other software on a fast SSD where possible.

Enable resizable BAR ...

Install fastest (or only) SSD in fastest M.2 slot (check M/B manual).

Leave at least 5% of an SSD's capacity available for system use ...

Provide appropriate cooling to avoid thermal throttling.

Ensure you're using chip-specific / GPU-specific drivers where available.  Update often.

Check BIOS for updates monthly.

Reduce the # of startup & other apps / processes running in background.  This can include RGB software for the M/B or GPU.

Don't disable the Windows Page File ...

ooRexx (Open Object Rexx) REXX interpreter

"Object REXX is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, object-oriented (class-based) programming language. Today it is generally referred to as ooRexx (short for Open Object Rexx), which is the maintained and direct open-source software successor to Object REXX.

It is a follow-on and a significant extension of the Rexx programming language (called here classic Rexx), retaining all the features and syntax while adding full object-oriented programming (OOP) abilities and other new enhancements. Following its classic Rexx influence, ooRexx is designed to be easy to learn, use, and maintain."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_REXX

Open Object Rexx (ooRexx): the home for the products & projects associated with ooRexx:

https://www.oorexx.org/index.rsp

https://www.oorexx.org/downloads.rsp

https://sourceforge.net/projects/oorexx/files/

https://www.oorexx.org/docs/index.rsp

Learning the REXX Language (may very significantly from ooRexx - need to check):

https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos/3.2.0?topic=guide-learning-rexx-language

Open Object Rexx Tutorial:  https://rexxinfo.org/tutorials/articles/oorexx_tutorial_by_hf.pdf

Haiku (operating system)

^{This OS has been suggested as a good fit for older laptops ...}

Haiku, originally OpenBeOS, is a free and open-source operating system for personal computers. It is a community-driven continuation of BeOS and aims to be binary-compatible with it, but is largely a reimplementation with the exception of certain components like the Deskbar.^[7] The Haiku project began in 2001, supported by the nonprofit Haiku Inc., and the operating system remains in beta.^[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku_(operating_system)

https://www.haiku-os.org/

https://www.haiku-os.org/about/

https://www.haiku-os.org/get-haiku/    <<==== Downloads

It looks like this is still an active project as of 2026 for x86 32-bit and 64-bit platforms:

https://github.com/haiku/haiku

DIY Battery Charging Station for Power Tools

A couple of different designs - try ideas from each:

https://www.anikasdiylife.com/diy-battery-charging-station/

This version includes mounting methods for a variety of chargers: 

https://fieldtreasuredesigns.com/diy-battery-charging-station/