Blog | mechdrew

Make posted a tutorial last January for building your own digital TV antnna but somehow I missed it until last week. Tonight I tried it out, and it works! It took about an hour and required a few salvaged parts (an old board, six wire hangers, some screws and washers, and a TV transformer) but I couldn’t pass up free after seeing the performance of the $20 craptactular specials that were available at the store. I decided to omit the base/stand since I was just putting it behind the TV anyway. Compared to the horrible bunny ears we were using before (we have a large antenna in our attic but have never bothered to adjust it) we get perfect reception on all channels. If you have spare time and feel like saving a few bucks, make sure to check it out at the link above, there is a PDF schematic and a video of the process.

I seriously don’t remember how I found this, but a few weeks ago I read about how to make your own microwavable popcorn. Much like most people, I always thought there was something special in the bag (a chemical maybe) or some special design to those big plastic bowl poppers that made them pop the corn better. Turns out there is nothing special at all, just a bunch of wasted money.

All you have to do is put 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels in, well, anything really, but as most people have recommended a brown paper sack works great. Just use the same amount of time you would have for a brand name microwave popcorn and you should be set.

I didn’t actually try it for myself until tonight. I ended up using a 1/3 cup instead of the recommended 1/4 cup and that resulted in needing more time. But it tasted fantastic, was less messy than my traditional stovetop popper, and was extremely simple. Plus, I got to put real butter on it instead of that artificial junk that comes in the store bought bags. If you want to save money and improve your popcorn quality, just do it yourself!