Use the hidden secrets of the cosmos to impress your friends and family, see things otherwise hidden to the human eye! All this is within your grasp with  an astounding new tutorial.

Head on over to the How-To section and learn the secret of checking the batteries in your remote control with nothing but a cellphone camera.

A movie is included for your edification and enjoyment.

When a problem rears its head, Chrome Cow Labs leaps into action. I recently had some time-tracking chores to bring under control, and my first instinct was to write a series of calendar tools in Excel, driven by a couple of different Perpetual Calendar algorithms.

I geek, therefore I am.

Follow the link and download the spreadsheet. There is a monthly calendar, and two graphing implementations, in addition to several worksheets that expose the workings of the perpetual calendar.

For the monthly calendar and graphs, simply enter the Month and Year in the Title line, and the proper dates and days will auto-generate.

This workbook uses native Excel functions. There is no Visual Basic scripting driving the calendars.

Just remember, these calendars are only valid after 1752, probably.

I have been spending a bit of time with macro photography of late. I have a penchant for crawly critters [ link fixed ], which I have indulged for over a year now.

I’ve always had issues trying to take these photos indoors, or in dark places. Because the subject matter is so close to the lens, the built-in flash will frequently cast the shadow of the lens into the picture.

So, armed with a high-output halogen flashlight, a few bucks worth of supplies, and some junk I had lying about the house, I built a hands-free rig for lighting these tricky macro photographs*.

I documented the project over in the Chrome Cow Labs section. Stop by and take a look, then build your own!

*In the spirit of full disclosure, the wolf spider photo above was taken before I built the rig. I just like that photo…};^)