Consider the following scene from Batman Begins, where Bruce Wayne, preparing for his new life as the Dark Knight, sharpens his bat-shaped throwing blades on an ordinary bench grinder as might be found in workshops and indeed, suburban garages around the world. Unlike much of what makes Bruce Wayne Batman—his bat-vehicles, his supercomputers, his Tibetan ninja training—this is low-tech blue-collar stuff, accessible to the home DIYer and therefore dangerous to the home DIYer, if the movie's depiction of grinder use should be unsafe. And it is.

Bruce Wayne attempts a DIY project

Once again I've needed to quickly produce some labels for a small prototype run, and once again I've turned to off-the-shelf labels from the Avery brand. Just as I did the last time, I've made a template for Adobe Illustrator so that using these label sheets might be easier. If this is what you're looking for, please download the file below.

• Avery 5160 Label Template, Adobe Illustrator

It's already a good year for the small R&D team I work with: we've been lucky enough to get a laser cutter to experiment with! Ours is the 40W “fifth-generation” model from Full Spectrum Laser; it can cut up to 1/4 inch wood or plastic and can engrave anodized aluminum. It also features some slick software that acts as an ordinary Windows printer driver so that you can print directly from the software of your choice (for me in this context, usually Adobe Illustrator).

Completed laser setup

Like a lot of digital fabrication machines in the hobbyist end of the market, however, this device requires some setup to get it running. You'll want to mount the laser on a worktable or mobile cart big enough to support it and all the associated infrastructure. We equipped ours with a power strip for all the associated peripherals as well. On the left side of the photo is a small air compressor, supplied with our laser, that provides high-pressure air to the cutting head for purposes of blowing away anything that might otherwise adhere to the optics. This might also be useful in blowing out flames that may occur, which is definitely something to keep an eye on when laser cutting.

The rumors circulating among my friends and family are true: I have laid down arms and ceased resistance to Facebook. On January 29, 2014, I became a node in the Social Network. Like so many before me, I like to think that I'll profit from this alliance more than will the network itself. Time will tell!

Instead of making New Year's resolutions, I've written up some quantifiable goals for 2014 as a motivational tool; this is an idea that came to me via Brian Brushwood (although probably he didn't originate it himself). I did this last year as well, but in 2014 I'm publishing them openly here, hoping to use social pressure to exert some extra leverage against indolence and inertia.

Here's the list:

• Complete one 5k footrace
• Earn Fechter rank in HEMA
• Do 10 pullups in a set (I can do about 3 at present)
• Do 100 pushups in a set (I tested at 21 at the beginning of January)
• Do 200 situps in a set (right now I'm at 50–60)
• Add five new videos to Youtube
• Launch three new web projects
• Add five significant projects to my personal site
• Add eight artworks to my personal site
• Post 24 new blog entries
• Launch my crowd-funded project (of which more anon)

I'll be updating this with additional blog posts quarterly, to keep myself on track.