Page head image

Euro plug receptacle to "figure-eight" coupler adapter

During my journeys I noticed that "wall wart" power supplies and travel adapters don't go very well together, especially when the wall socket is a worn out NEMA 5 one. The power supply tends to fall off very easily and wears off the wall socket even more. That is not so much of a problem with adapters for BS 1363 (UK) sockets, but often there is not enough space between the socket and a nightstand for the cascade of adapter and wall-wart. But as I always carry a bunch of C7 (figure-8) cords for the respective country, a C8 connector to euro plug receptacle adapter cable would be helpful (and lighter and smaller than most travel adapters.) Unfortunately, only the opposite seems to exist: I found plenty of euro to C7 plug adapters. So I had to build my own. I bought a euro socket  and a C7/C8 extension cord. From the extension cord, I cut off 30 cm of cable on the C8 side (the one with the pins), mounted the euro socket on the open end of the cable, and there we have our pigtail adapter:

US vacation maps update

It's 30 US states after last year's vacation:

Not Only A Travel Report: US Vacation 1976

I've been traveling the United States for many years, but where does my fascination with that country come from? There are, of course many aspects. America has a great cultural influence on Germany. American TV shows, movies and music are ubiquitous here, though they are giving a skewed picture of the country. History is also a reason. America had a strong military and political presence in Germany after the second world war. The existence of West Germany pretty much depended on America's protection — a protection that was based on more than just their own political and economic interests. The appreciation for Germany, in a cultural, not political way, goes way back into American history. Like those from other countries such as Ireland or Italy, German immigrants to America never lost the connection to their families back in Europe. Some German immigrants even had an important role in America becoming a „real“ country, but are virtually unknown in Germany. I'll briefly get back to that aspect later.

3D Printed Fan Holder for the Fursuit Hand Dryer

I couldn't find the fans of my Ultra Cheap Fursuit Hand Dryer last night and Anthrocon is next week. I now own a 3D printer, and with such a printer the answer to all questions seems to be PLA, so I quickly created a new holder. The most time consuming task is soldering the electrical connections by the way. The printer just happily prints while I'm doing other things.

A Lightweight Fursuit Body Dryer

Sure, I just could buy a wetsuit dryer, but where's the fun in that? Also, I wanted something that is lightweight and somewhat flexible. Thus, after a run to the hardware store and a lot of clipping and fastening zip ties:

The 10 Euro Fursuit Head Dryer

Admittedly, a dryer for the head mask is more work, but still can be very cheap. One important aspect: it has to be lightweight but must be able to carry a fursuit head without tipping. So, another boring Sunday afternoon project was born. Version 1 looked like this:

Ultra Cheap Fursuit Hand Dryers

Sometimes I enjoy building minimalistic but practical things. Like these fursuit hand dryers

Eurofurence Overflow Hotels

And here's a map of potential overflow hotels for Eurofurence, proposed by attendees: