The notebook

Writing

Notes from the bench: how things were made, why some of them didn’t work, and what we’d do differently.

September 2, 2026 CSS

Auto-sizing resizable table columns

Resizable table columns that auto-fit their content until you drag one, then remember only what you changed. Plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript, no dependencies.

Abdul Jalil

The Nissan Sunny's radiator lying on wet tiles after pressure washing, surrounded by a wide spread of brown mud washed out of its fins.

August 21, 2026 Diagnosis

We were certain it was the water pump

A car came in overheating with two hours on the clock. We told the owner the water pump was dead before we'd had it in our hands. It came off perfectly fine, and so did the thermostat. The actual problem was a radiator packed solid with mud.

Abdul Wahab