Category Archives: Self-Sufficiency

True Confessions of a Covid Denier

Mid March, just as a pending lockdown of the Dallas/Fort-Worth (DFW) area was being announced, I was turning onto I-30 heading back to Tennessee. My trusty Infiniti FX35 (aka “Missy”), with which I have weathered many client engagements, was full to the brim with client material, after what was to be a many-months onsite assignment […]

SAT Saturday

Yesterday, we took our homeschooled 15-year old daughter to take the SAT in Statesboro on the campus of Georgia Southern. The turnout was enlightening, 80% or more of the test-takers that morning were girls. I’ll drill into the informal stats about the boys in a future piece. For now, think about the future implications of […]

Monsters Attack Blueberries!

Our hormone-free blueberry cuttings experiment continues over at Old School Tech, this time with an attack by monsters, and an update on progress. Why the preoccupation with a hormone-free process? Mostly to make sure that this work can be repeated if supplements were not available. So far, the critical materials, from the pressed pulp containers […]

Heirloom Blueberry Cuttings, Part II, The Cuttings

Old School Tech continues its heirloom blueberry cuttings series, this time about preparing and soaking the cuttings themselves. Although this experiment deviates a little from normal cuttings techniques, it appears to be producing promising results so far. As mentioned last week, we had great results a couple of years ago from these same plants. This […]

Heirloom Blueberry Cuttings, Part I, Background

Old School Tech has released an article introducing a new series on heirloom blueberry cuttings. This project is simple, uses simple materials, makes a great homeschool earth science project, and can create a large number of new plants from a single shoot. As the article mentioned, we had the material for hundreds of new cuttings […]

Your Small Business Checking Account

SoftBaugh has released a new small business tips article, this time about opening a business checking account. While admittedly simplistic, this article lays an important foundation for future articles. It also encourages even sole proprietorships to open a separate business account to make tax time easier, and easier to anticipate. Here at Starving the Monkeys, […]

Double Conversion UPS Update

Old School Tech has released an update in the double-conversion UPS series. The latest article describes detailed test results with two different loads, one load more than twice the nominal rating of the batteries, and the other much less than the nominal rating. What emerges from this latest article is a rule of thumb to […]