Writing, apps, and projects by Ben Hannahttps://benhanna.com/https://benhanna.com/growing-meals/https://benhanna.com/growing-meals/I started a nonprofit that connects kids in early childhood education with healthy meals.Wed, 03 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMThttps://benhanna.com/asheville-magnet-fishing/https://benhanna.com/asheville-magnet-fishing/I wanted some random things to do with my kid on sunny days, so I picket up a magnet fishing kit. Basically, you throw a really strong magnet on a rope into water (lake, river, etc) and see what…Mon, 26 Feb 2024 08:41:18 GMThttps://benhanna.com/dad-blog/https://benhanna.com/dad-blog/I have only done something like four posts in the past 3 years on this blog. In that time I have moved across the country, had three kids, rebuilt a company to survive the pandemic then transitioned…Mon, 02 Jan 2023 08:37:46 GMThttps://benhanna.com/notes-from-dweb-camp-2022/https://benhanna.com/notes-from-dweb-camp-2022/We (Custom Camps) recently finished running the week long, 430 person Dweb Camp 2022. This gathering of technologists took place in Navarro CA, in the ancient Redwood forests. We got a beautiful note…Fri, 02 Sep 2022 16:48:27 GMThttps://benhanna.com/oakland-to-asheville/https://benhanna.com/oakland-to-asheville/In April our family moved 2600 miles across the country from Oakland, CA to Asheville, NC. Like many others, the pandemic influenced our timing but we are also part of the first wave of US climate…Mon, 06 Sep 2021 11:21:38 GMThttps://benhanna.com/keeping-your-sanity-with-mute-filters/https://benhanna.com/keeping-your-sanity-with-mute-filters/I still use RSS to pull information from the internet to my eyes. It is the most efficient way of gathering information from multiple sources without having to manually dig, and it avoids the brain…Mon, 29 Jan 2018 09:52:00 GMThttps://benhanna.com/cost-of-newspaper-subscriptions/https://benhanna.com/cost-of-newspaper-subscriptions/My brother Matt asked why there is no useful comparison of the cost of newspaper subscriptions. Some Googling made it clear – this consumer comparison does not exist. So, I took a few minutes to…Thu, 09 Nov 2017 15:22:54 GMThttps://benhanna.com/great-state-by-state-summary-of-solar-benefits/https://benhanna.com/great-state-by-state-summary-of-solar-benefits/https://www.thesimpledollar.com/solar-cost-comparison-state-by-state/ Andy Bowen gives a great breakout, with more charts on the costs of going solar at The Simple Dollar.Mon, 06 Nov 2017 10:23:00 GMThttps://benhanna.com/california-is-burning-while-everything-else-floods/https://benhanna.com/california-is-burning-while-everything-else-floods/There have been 30% more individual fires this year in California than there were last year. Many more in Oregon and up into Canada. A few have been near our place in Nevada City. Multiple regions…Fri, 01 Sep 2017 11:36:32 GMThttps://benhanna.com/crossing-the-country-for-the-eclipse/https://benhanna.com/crossing-the-country-for-the-eclipse/The first solar eclipse Mandy and I saw was in October of 2014. That one was a partial eclipse, but nobody seemed to care. We grabbed glasses from the Lawrence Hall of Science, and joined crowds in…Wed, 23 Aug 2017 06:31:06 GMThttps://benhanna.com/santa-cruz-and-5000-pound-mammals/https://benhanna.com/santa-cruz-and-5000-pound-mammals/This weekend Mandy and I went down to her college town of Santa Cruz and walked among 5000 pound Sea Elephants. Santa Cruz is about an hour and a half south of San Francisco if you take the freeways…Sun, 19 Feb 2017 21:31:10 GMThttps://benhanna.com/the-twitch/https://benhanna.com/the-twitch/A few times a year my lower eyelid starts to twitch. It is annoying, but not painful in any way. It is happening now and I looked up the different reasons it can occur: Computer eye strain Caffeine…Wed, 01 Feb 2017 13:40:34 GMThttps://benhanna.com/i-got-a-robot-to-clean-my-floors/https://benhanna.com/i-got-a-robot-to-clean-my-floors/Mandy and I are notoriously bad about sweeping up our floors. Our dog sheds like crazy and this leads to little dustbunnies building up in all of the corners. We had resigned ourselves to living with…Wed, 31 Aug 2016 12:09:32 GMThttps://benhanna.com/self-selected-news/https://benhanna.com/self-selected-news/I am starting to feel a problem, exacerbated by the election coverage, and I don’t know the solution… Unless you live in a state controlled society, you probably get news from self selected sources.…Tue, 08 Mar 2016 19:42:12 GMThttps://benhanna.com/cheese-wonderful-cheese/https://benhanna.com/cheese-wonderful-cheese/Have you ever sat down to an appetizer plate of good cheese and found that you completely ignored the rest of the room until all the delicious morsels had been disposed of? If so, you might be…Sat, 30 Jan 2016 17:38:20 GMThttps://benhanna.com/1514-2/https://benhanna.com/1514-2/Over the past few weeks Mandy and I have been getting the land ready for a yurt. Over the New Years Holiday, some friends came up and helped us make it a reality! We had the framing for the platform…Thu, 07 Jan 2016 12:17:09 GMThttps://benhanna.com/egg-nog-review/https://benhanna.com/egg-nog-review/Egg Nog, a drink now sold by every creamery in America from November to December, has a long and storied past. It is responsible for riots, was drank by English aristocracy, and was even used to…Tue, 15 Dec 2015 10:15:10 GMThttps://benhanna.com/its-an-automotive-future/https://benhanna.com/its-an-automotive-future/Some 12,000 hours ago Elon Musk announced that his company, Tesla, would “not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, must use our technology.” Public interest in Tesla spiked,…Tue, 17 Nov 2015 20:19:41 GMThttps://benhanna.com/the-importance-of-gatherings/https://benhanna.com/the-importance-of-gatherings/Last weekend we held the third occurrence of “The Great Waffle Off.” Over 30 people showed up to our house for an afternoon of waffle goodness with baking, drinks, a backyard fire and plenty of…Tue, 10 Nov 2015 15:01:58 GMThttps://benhanna.com/required-registration/https://benhanna.com/required-registration/The government has some interesting priorities of who to make register for purchased item. Guns vs Drones.Wed, 28 Oct 2015 10:48:42 GMThttps://benhanna.com/the-lure-of-adventure/https://benhanna.com/the-lure-of-adventure/It is like the National Park Service has a little fairy telling them “You know what… Ben is a little disillusioned with the way things are right now. I bet you can get him if you send the following…Tue, 06 Oct 2015 11:16:29 GMThttps://benhanna.com/on-to-the-land/https://benhanna.com/on-to-the-land/Mandy and I recently purchased seven wooded acres with a stream in the Sierra Foothills. It is four minutes outside the town of Nevada City, in Nevada county, California. I have spent a week up on it…Tue, 15 Sep 2015 22:29:40 GMThttps://benhanna.com/australia-the-rest/https://benhanna.com/australia-the-rest/I got so wrapped up in enjoying the trip that I couldn’t be bothered to keep writing while I was on it! After the stargazing, we made our way west towards Broken Hill. Broken Hill is far out on the…Sat, 05 Sep 2015 00:05:26 GMThttps://benhanna.com/australia-day-08/https://benhanna.com/australia-day-08/We left Gibraltar National park and made good time heading south west. Our eventual goal was Broken Hill, a town on the edge of the outback and about as far out as you can go in New South Wales…Sun, 23 Aug 2015 07:29:22 GMThttps://benhanna.com/australia-day-6-7/https://benhanna.com/australia-day-6-7/Day 6 I left Mandie’s place around lunch time, and headed north to pick up Jason at the Gold Coast Airport. He was getting in late at 10:00pm and I really needed to hunker down and get some work…Sun, 23 Aug 2015 06:37:15 GMThttps://benhanna.com/australia-day-0405/https://benhanna.com/australia-day-0405/It occurs to me that these posts are inaccurately named. I have actually been in Australia since August 9th. However, I was working the first week and have only started traveling around the country…Wed, 19 Aug 2015 08:04:00 GMThttps://benhanna.com/australia-day-3/https://benhanna.com/australia-day-3/Day 03 I woke up to my dad face timing me, forgetting about the time difference. It was 7:30am, so not too bad. The sun was coming up over the estuary, and I decided to stay awake and start…Mon, 17 Aug 2015 01:03:42 GMThttps://benhanna.com/australia-day-02/https://benhanna.com/australia-day-02/Day Two I was in no rush to leave Mungo National Park, and ended up hanging out long enough for the rangers to come by and collect the park fee. $14 AUD wasn’t a bad price to pay, but if I had been…Sat, 15 Aug 2015 23:07:10 GMThttps://benhanna.com/australia-day-01/https://benhanna.com/australia-day-01/First night in the camper in Australia! Left Sydney around noon/1:00 and drove a few hours north, taking the scenic “tourist routes” and just enjoying the first time being alone in almost a week. I…Sat, 15 Aug 2015 23:02:46 GMThttps://benhanna.com/bay-area-water-bubble/https://benhanna.com/bay-area-water-bubble/We really are in a horrible drought. As Mandy and I look for land, this becomes more and more apparent. Lakes are low, boats are on the ground, and rivers are only trickles. In the Bay Area, we don’t…Mon, 13 Jul 2015 18:30:13 GMT