As usual, I have a lot I want to talk about but little time to do so, which means we will have to cut a long story short (much like my dear old mother, I usually do things the other way).

Let’s start with the fact that I just saw an awesome Hestia project on Kickstarter. As an aside, in the ancient Greek religion, Hestia was the goddess of the hearth, daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and one of the 12 Olympian deities, but we digress…

Have you ever tried to take a picture of the Moon with your smartphone? The result is somewhat disappointing. I’m sure you know what I mean. You look up in the sky one evening and there’s a glorious full moon that’s the biggest you’ve ever seen, so you whip out your smartphone and snap a picture. But when you look at the result… meh!

Well, this Hestia project promises to turn your smartphone into a smart telescope. Furthermore, if you splash the cash for a solar filter, you’ll be able to take awesome photos of the upcoming 2024 solar eclipse.

The good news is that they’ve already been pledged more than $3,600,000 of their original $10,000 goal. The bad news is that, as I pen these words, there’s only 15 hours to go before Kickstarter closes its doors with respect to pledging for this project.

A couple of weeks ago I posted a blog about a Self-Solving Levitating Rubik’s Cube. Well, I just saw a really cool video about a guy who can solve Rubik’s Cube’s in a matter of seconds, and who uses them to create artworks.

Every now and then I get an urge to start building something (I only wish I had the same urge with respect to finishing my half-completed projects). Suffice it to say that I am sorely tempted to replicate Jiri Praus’s LED Sphere.

Speaking of creating things, have you ever done anything with string art (a.k.a. pin-and-thread art)? This is characterized by an arrangement of colored thread strung between points to form geometric patterns or representational designs such as a ship’s sails. Sometimes you can buy a kit which starts off with you hammering nails into a board. The reason I mention this here is that I just saw a video offering a New Spin on String Art Machines. I want to build one!

Last, but certainly not least, my chum Jay Dowling just sent me a link pointing to a YouTube video entitled How to Impress a Woman.

After watching this video, I think we’ll all agree that the age-old adage is true: It’s not the size of your instrument that matters—it’s what you do with it that counts!