About Bam's Thinkery

Who's Behind This

Hi — I'm André-Michel, a chemist by training and a self-taught developer based in Montréal, Quebec. Bam's Thinkery is a solo project: I design, build, and maintain every tool here myself, in my spare time.

It started out of frustration. I got tired of opening a unit converter or a timer and being greeted by ads stacked four deep, buttons that don't work on a phone, and interfaces that haven't been touched since the first Obama administration. So I started building my own replacements. One tool turned into ten, ten turned into a hundred.

How I Keep the Tools Accurate

My background is in chemistry, so citing sources and getting the numbers right is a reflex. The health, finance, and technical calculators reference the formulas and authoritative standards they're built on — Mifflin-St Jeor for metabolism, EFSA and the Institute of Medicine for hydration, and ACGIH, NIOSH, OSHA and ASHRAE for the industrial-hygiene tools.

Where a result depends on an assumption, the tool says so. Nothing here is a black box: the method is written on the page, so you can check the math yourself. If you ever find an error, the contact page goes straight to me.

My One Rule: Zero Friction

Every tool must work the moment the page loads. No sign-up form, no cookie wall blocking the interface, no “start your free trial” modal. You open the page and the tool is there, ready.

Free should actually mean free. None of the tools are crippled demos of a paid product, and you're not the product either — I don't sell your data or build behavioral profiles. Non-personalized Google AdSense ads keep the lights on. That's it.

All computation happens locally in your browser. When you type a number into a loan calculator, run a Pomodoro session, or generate a password, none of that data leaves your device. There is no server receiving your inputs.

What Makes It Different

I obsess over the details other utility sites skip. In practice, that looks like:

• Mobile-first layout. Every tool is designed for a 375 px screen first. Touch targets are large enough to tap without zooming. If a tool feels awkward on a phone, I consider it broken.
• Bilingual EN/FR. Every tool exists in English and French with proper accents and natural phrasing — not machine-translated placeholders. Switch with one tap; the URL updates so you can bookmark your preference.
• Four themes. Warm, Cyber, Edit, and Terminal — because you should be able to use a tool without it torching your eyes at 2 a.m. Your choice persists across visits.
• Keyboard accessible. Every interactive element is reachable by keyboard and announces itself correctly to screen readers. Accessibility is not an afterthought.
• No cruft. No newsletter popups, no fake urgency, no clutter. Just the tool, clearly labeled, doing exactly what it says.

A Few Tools Worth Trying

With 100+ tools, it can be hard to know where to start. Here are six that see heavy daily use:

• Pomodoro Timer — a 25/5 focus timer with task tracking, custom presets, and an audible chime.
• Loan Calculator — monthly payment, total interest, and a full amortization breakdown for mortgages and car loans.
• BMR Calculator — basal metabolic rate via the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, with a plain-language explanation.
• Password Generator — cryptographically random passwords of any length. Nothing is ever sent to a server.
• Industrial Hygiene Tools — a set of exposure, noise, ventilation and heat-stress calculators, each citing its standard (ACGIH, NIOSH, OSHA).
• Cooking Converter — cups, tablespoons, grams, ounces, millilitres and more, because every recipe uses a different system.

Browse all 100+ tools →

My Other Project

Sync · Carry is a mental-load diagnostic for couples. It helps partners map who carries what — household tasks, planning, childcare — and start an honest conversation about the balance. Also free, no account required, at bams-thinkery.ca/sync-carry.

Frequently Asked Questions