Sound, Mind, and Body.

Netflix.

2011-03-05T22:15:00.003-05:00

I've read a couple headlines here lately that seem to have the same sentiments about Netflix. Headlines such as the one by PC Magazine "Why There's Nothing Good to Stream on Amazon Prime or Netflix" and the statement made by Comcast CEO Brian Roberts "Netflix is the web equivalent of television reruns." I did read part of one of the articles and it makes a lot of sense. The article said that basically the reason there is so little current content is so that Netflix can keep their membership prices low. Well, I don't really agree with the current sentiments that are being made and in fact I would have to say that there is a lot of good content on Netflix.

Even when I had TV (I solely use the internet for my entertainment source now) I rarely was able to catch a show I would be interested in. I'm just not the type of person that bends my schedule because a certain show is on. So I missed out on a lot of great TV from the year 2003 to now. Now that I have Netflix, and occasionally watch Hulu, I get to see several of the shows I missed out on.

Right now I'm finishing up season 3 of 24, I'm smack in the middle of the first season of Lost (somehow the big reveal has escaped me so far) and I keep current with The Office, Parks and Recreation and Outsourced on Hulu.

I'm sure I'm missing out on some great television now but I don't really miss having to sit through ten out of thirty minutes worth of commercials and having to wade through all the crappy reality shows to find something worth watching.

I'm glad to have missed out on the train wreck known as Jersey Shore. As entertaining as it may be, it's just not good television. With Netflix, Hulu, and the wide array of content on each individual channel's websites, I get to choose what I want to watch and don't get caught being force fed the throw away programming that VH1, TLC, and several other channels have to offer. Plus it's cheaper!

Geocaching for Fitness.

2010-03-08T02:29:00.000-05:00

I have recently taken up geocaching as a new hobby. For those of you who don't know what that is, to paraphrase the "There's cache in them there hills!" podcast, geocaching is using a multi-billion dollar satellite system to find a piece of tupperware in the woods. Although there is much more to the activity, that sums it up in a nutshell. For more information go to geocaching.com.

GCPN7F

The main reason I enjoy geocaching is because it gives me a reason to get out of the house more often, enjoy nature, and see new places. When I started I figured that geocaching would be an activity that would help me to get some exercise. The truth of the matter is that geocaching is what you make of it.

GCK8A7

Geocaching involves looking at maps and using a GPS regularly, and getting excercise really is all in the planning. A park and grab which is a mainstay of urban caching is the least likely to ensure you get any excercise as it entails parking as close to a geocache as possible and may not involve getting out of your vehicle at all. The geocacher also has to be stealthy when retrieving a cache and so pulling up, quickly signing the log, and replacing the cache becomes the ideal way of geocaching in an urban setting, especially on busy days where there are a lot of people. So obviously riding around in a vehicle all day requires little to no effort. The way to maximize an urban geocaching day is to park and walk the town.

GC1Y2TP

Trails are really the way to go, although it is unlikely that one can make this a daily habit and still find new geocaches. Once you have found the first three along a trail, the distance can become too great to handle in a 3 - 5 hour outing. However one can try to push themselves further and reach the fourth or fifth geocache in the same amount of time. The plus to geocaching along trails is that you can also bike in addition to hiking many trails to add some variety to the experience.

GCYYBT

My current geocaching habit consists of finding 1-3 geocaches during an outing. I like to find geocaches that have a hike involved, but to rely solely on geocaching as a form of exercise just isn't going to get many people in shape. I have found that hiding geocaches is just as fun and makes for a nice way to get some exercise as well. Scouting for a good location to hide a geocache takes time and quite a bit of effort. So the combination of scouting, and finding geocaches could be more productive toward a healthy life, and rewarding in many ways.

A New Camera.

2010-02-13T16:00:00.010-05:00

Well, it has been a while since I last posted. I realize that I can only do so many things before something has to give, and unfortunately the Blog was dropped to the 'way-back burner'. I have been keeping people posted on my website about my camera, but I haven't said anything about it here. A while ago I got the wild hair to buy a Nikon P6000 after pouring through several PDFS of the owners manual for each camera I had my eye on. Forget all the reviews, all the specs you can find on websites about each camera you're looking at, the guy behind the counter doesn't know what he's talking about, he's just trying to sell you a camera. Look at the Owners Manuals! You'll thank me later. My big thing about this camera is that it worked well with the equipment I already had.

I have a PClix that only works with Nikon IR sensors, at least as far as I know. The PClix, which I have covered before is an intervalometer that allows me to take photos at set intervals. Well, the P6000 has an IR sensor that would allow me to use the PClix with it. The camera was more compact and had fewer moving parts to worry about than my aging Nikon D50. So I bought it at $360.

Man it was a thing of beauty, expensive, but cheaper than getting a D200, which was the other option. This camera had metal frame and shot great timelapse footage, barring a few issues that I'll label camera quirks. The P6000 also shoots video, has its own timelapse feature (the PClix allows many more options) and shoots Raw and Jpeg.

The problem is, two and a half to three months later, it fell 6 feet to it's demise.

I was setting up to do a timelapse of my fiance and I working a puzzle together. My method was to attach the camera to tripod, the tripod to the wall. I did so with a screw-in hook that I tethered with a piece of string wrapped around the hook and the leg of the tripod several times. That method worked well with my much heavier Nikon D50 before. The issue was that the lens on the Nikon D50 was slowly jarring itself into nothing but a blur with each photo it took.

So once I had set up my p6000 to do a new shoot, I had to step away for a moment to do a couple things elsewhere in the house and when I went back to the room, there my camera lay, a circle where the lens had hit embedded in the wood floor, the lens, completely jammed up, and me. Angry as hell me. I blamed it all on myself. I thought the string had slipped loose, since I didn't tie it in a knot for security's sake and it killed me. I'm hard on myself. It's my way to self improve, although probably not the most healthy way. After several days and a bricked camera later, I investigated further. I found out that the hook actually pulled from the wall. It wasn't my fault after all! I felt somewhat better.

So here's what the old camera looks like now:

I spent $8 on a .pdf download of a p6000 repair manual, so that's why it's splayed out in this box. I still have the intention of fixing it, if I can be allowed to order the lens assembly from Nikon at $80, but I managed to win a bid on a used one on ebay for a $200. I could hardly pass it up. The photo was taken with the new p6000.

A New Game

2010-01-03T16:57:00.008-05:00

I have come up with a new game. This game is similar to the Circle Game. The Circle Game engages the willing or most oft unwilling player's sense of sight and peripheral vision. The game I've created tests the sense of sound and centers on trickery of the mind.

I call it Sing n Lose. Well, at least that's what I've got to work with for now. The idea behind this game is to either sing, hum, or just play a song directly for people in earshot to hear and just see if they end up tapping the beat, singing, humming or whistling any bit of it after the song is over.

Now I've been playing this game for years without people knowing about it because I like to think that I've entered their minds and meddled with it, and therefore have the upper hand.

Like Ass Pennies only less gross.

Ass Pennies - watch more funny videos

I admit that the game gets more fun when introducing it to others. I don't personally play in order to hit someone on the arm as one does with the 'Circle Game' or 'Punch Dub', formerly named 'Punch Bug' but one could integrate that in the game if they wish. Some of my co-workers refer to this game as getting 'Gooched' because once a person has fallen victim to another person's attempt at getting them to sing a particular song, the winner owes the loser one uppercut to the Perineum.

Luckily no one capitalizes on the opportunity to do so.

The key to this game is that players must adhere the honor system like in The Contest since getting someone could take several hours for the person to react to the song. If you end up singing the song that someone sang near you a couple days before and it can be directly attributed to that moment. Count yourself gooched.

More Comparative Picture Fun!

2009-09-20T01:27:00.004-04:00

I don't care that they're not famous.

Joshuar Update.

2009-08-15T15:23:00.002-04:00

Wow, I really haven't been keeping up with this blog like I should. I apologize to anyone who gives a crap about that. But I'll go through some of the things that have happened recently. I finally got a job working in a call center whereby I have a obtained a couple new nicknames. The one I'm particularly fond of is JOSHUAR. Part Josh part jaguar, all Awesome! And the other I'm not as fond of is Peaches... Fail

But at least I have a job, which is spectacular. I'm really getting into geocaching, and other outdoor entertainment such as mountain biking, hiking and I'm considering getting into kayaking as well. Oh and I'm trying to learn to juggle too.

I also have an idea for an experiment. I try to live as cheaply as I can. I put water in my shampoo, have bought shaving soap to shave with, I buy the cheap contact solution, etc... But I was wonder how far I could take this. What would it be like to simply use dish washing liquid for washing everything for a month? I'd using it for showering; hair, face, and body. But then I'd also use it to shave with by lathering up and perhaps even for washing my clothes? Keep an eye out for the announcement if I decide to do this.

Thirth Anniversary

2009-04-07T04:06:00.004-04:00

I try to keep my blog semi-professional and keep my personal life just that. Sure the reader can get an unhealthy dose of my personal opinions, but to read of what is happening in my life is more rare. This is one of those rare moments that I just have to share, because it was an awesome day. I went to visit my girlfriend for the weekend, which is usual, but the difference was that this was the 3th Anniversary weekend.

Considering my current status I have to be careful with money, so I stopped in and got a rose to give to my gal. When I arrived, she acted funny, and told me to wait downstairs. She then hopped up the steps and came back down soon after and told me to follow. So I go up with her, sensing that there was a surprise awaiting me up there.

My girlfriend never ceases to amaze me with her talent. She is a sculptor, jewelry maker, cake artist, and designer. So awaiting me in the kitchen was this awesome cake!

She definitely outdid me this anniversary for gifts. Once I saw this cake it was decided that we would parttake in some Asian cuisine. So we went to Fuji House and had a Yaki Maki Maki Maki. I even said it to the waitress that way because I got such a kick out of it. Of course once I said it, I made myself more clear. It was actually a Japanese Yakiniku and Chicken platter, Maki Spicy Roll (Tuna), Maki Green River (Eel), and Maki California Roll (Crab). It was delicious.

Having used chopsticks with a little cartoon panda on the paper sleeve, I began to think about a geocache that had been placed outside the restaurant that I had previously found called Happy Panda. My girlfriend's fortune cookie had a great message that fit well in the context of geocaching. The fortune said "You will discover an unexpected treasure." This inspired me to revisit the cache.

So I neatly tore the little happy panda from the bottom of the sleeve and folded the fortune in half then placed the fortune inside the sleeve and placed it in the cache. I had the whole theme going too because I was wearing my When Pandas Attack threadless tee as well. Such a good day.

The Eye-Fi Wireless SD Card.

2009-02-17T01:51:00.004-05:00

Before I get to the nitty gritty, I have to brag about how cheap my eye-fi card was. I went to Circuit City on Valentine's Day '09 and they were all but wiped out. The store was so empty that a stranger came up to me and just gave me a gift card because she couldn't find anything for herself. I was kind enough to accept her offer and so I was +$24. The Eye-fi card was discounted 50% bringing it down to $50. So I ended up with an Eye-fi card at the cost of about $28 after tax!

Setup of the Eye-Fi is fairly simple. Upon inserting the card into the USB port using the adapter that comes with the package the card is automatically recognized and the installation process is completed quickly since the install files come preloaded on the card. Since Eye-fi is a wireless SD card, when I first saw that they included an adapter I thought it somewhat contradictory. Although funny at first, for the card to properly connect to wireless, one has to use the adapter to set it up first, so it's not really that strange. The user must have the card, a camera (which powers the card), and a wi-fi router in order for the card to work properly.

Once installed, my first impression of the Eye-Fi was one of restriction. The card works through an internet application called the Eye-Fi Manager which proves to be a sort of middleman. The reasons this is implemented are to promote the Hotspot Access Service (H.A.S.) at $15 a year, which allows the user access to more than 10,000 hotspots in the U.S., to allow the user to automatically upload photos to the a wide selection of photo-hosting sites and to keep things more secure.

The problem with uploading directly to photo-hosting sites is that not every photo I take is a masterpiece. It also eats away at a weekly limit quickly on Flickr. It is still an interesting feature that would be really nice with a subscription to the H.A.S. if you're on vacation and a lot of your friends and family want to see how the vacation is going with little lag time before the photos are posted.

The biggest reason I wanted this card is for time lapse photography. I want to transfer files directly to a laptop that's in range while shooting in remote locations. Since the card requires access to the internet in order for it to work, that feature isn't an immediately obvious option.

I have found a couple work-arounds to this major flaw of the card. Photojojo tells about how it could be possible to upload wirelessly to a laptop by connecting a wifi router to the laptop, whether there is internet or not. The other method as detailed by Dave Hansen would be to host a stand-alone server of which seems to prove difficult to do. I have yet to test either method but I think the latter would tailor to my needs. I will post an update when I test out these different methods.

EWJ Mighty Mugg IV

2009-01-22T20:00:00.002-05:00

Fail.

I'm going to sculpt a new head and make a new mold. The proportions are wacked so I plan to make a shorter fatter sculpt with less detail. The paint should take care of what I subtract from the detail on the sculpt. I think that by going light on detail it will be more true to the the style of a Mighty Mugg.

I removed the black piece that attaches the head to the body of the Mighty Mugg. The piece is well housed in the shoulders of the body. So there is no way to pry the neck piece off with pliers without destroying the Mugg body in the process. I recommend carefully removing it with a small rotary tool such as the Dremel.

Once I removed the neck piece I decided to sand the shoulders down so that the octagonal lip was no longer visible. I then used the Dremel tool to shape the plastic into the neck hole of the Earthworm Jim suit. In addition to the dremel tool for finer work I used an X-acto knife and sand paper in order to get the shape I wanted.

I left the Mighty Mugg logo on the foot for authenticity's sake. The next step is to sculpt a head, backpack, and crow zapper. Then I'll cast them, attach, and paint the parts and I should be done! I'll have to show what the casts look like but I'll try to have it done in two more posts.

My Most Memorable Gaming Experience.

2009-01-06T17:27:00.004-05:00

Half-Life 2, LAN Parties, DOD Source, Final Fantasy 11, I've spent a fair amount time with each of these games and I've had a lot of fun on each of them. But my most memorable experience was none of them. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 for NES takes the cake since it is a cooperative game which are by far the most fun. I was about 11 years old and I was at my friends house for the weekend. When we started we didn't have in mind to beat the game exactly but we sure did turn into a great gaming duo.

We battled the Foot Soldiers with brute force, Mousers stood no chance against us, the bosses were a bit of a challenge but we had them beat pretty easily. Krang proved difficult too since it had two mode, body mode and floaty mode. Still yet we powered through, in a mode of concentration like no other. We made it all the way to Shredder, the final boss. Shell shocked and hungering for more pizza we battled every hologram, and beat Shredder to within an inch of his life but we both died and the game was over.

Even today I struggle with losing in games. I get angry, curse, hit the desk, and just act ridiculous. Mom used to always say "It's just a game." Yeah? Well tell that to all the soccer fans of the world. I am passionate about video games. While I am playing a video game, in that moment, it feels like the ultimate accomplishment, or failure of my life depending on how I do. I vividly remember shouting a curse word while playing the NES, which was usual when Mom wasn't home, but Mom was home this time. I got the worst hot sinking feeling I think I have ever had that day. The punishment wasn't grand, but that feeling alone was enough.

The peculiar thing was that -- instead of trashing the place out of so much blinding anger we had this incredible rush of energy. It was like we had reached the peak of our lives. So since we were still brimming with energy, we walked -- no we floated through his cow field for over an hour blurting out our excitement to one another, talking of the intricacies of how we played and how we in many ways had triumphed, and yet ultimately failed. As we dodged cow patties we were truly elated. We wished of course that we had beat the game, which I had done a few times playing the game alone, but never in cooperative mode. We really enjoyed the experience.

I suppose that looking back on this experience, even though I'm not a huge fan of sports, I do understand why sports are so important to so many people. The passion for gaming and camaraderie I felt that day was almost an out of body experience. Which seems kind of dangerous when I think about it now. I think it would have been if that happiness had been replaced with the rage that I would normally have had. The absence of which baffles me to this day.

The Results.

2009-01-03T04:18:00.006-05:00

I didn't spend time counting how many of each type of coin I found, but here are the results for how much I found in 2008!

Change 2008. from Josh Rose on Vimeo.

Happy new year! Now it's time to collect 5 bucks from everybody. Oh and in case you were wondering.. this animation was the surprise, I know it isn't much, but it's something.

The Map of Your Life.

2008-12-29T20:00:00.000-05:00

They say that smell triggers the memory the best of any stimulation. I can think of a few memorable smells, but nothing reminds me more of very specific memories than sorting receipts. I remember the period in time, the group of friends I was hanging around at the time, so many different memories and emotions are brought up when sorting receipts. Like the time a friend and I went to the mall (a big thing to do when you live two hours away from the closest one) and were so crazy about Metal Gear Solid 2 that we each picked up a Solid Snake action figure from Software Etc... That's right Software Etc. not Gamestop. There was also the time that another friend and I went to Norde's Games and each bought a box of Magic the Gathering cards and took them back to his place and just tore through them, reading cards, rummaging through each other's spoils, being a bit disappointed by the condition of the brand new cards because a third of them were misaligned to the point to where you could nearly see the name of the next card on some of them.

With every bag of miscellaneous old receipts come the check stubs as well. I was able to piece together a comprehensive history of my grossly underpaid days at Pizza Hut. I was able to easily map my employment history through looking at my check stubs, even though I still don't know what happened to the ones from my days at Blockbuster. I even found my very first pay check, which totaled eight dollars and seventy cents. $8.70! For a person just starting out in the work force, that's a huge blow to the morale, having worked a week before receiving the paycheck, I remember muttering to the person next to me that I should just quit if the pay is gonna be like that. Then there are the random bits of memories that make their way into the bag as well. Such as a part of a label from an art piece that was submitted to the club I used to be a part of, a scribble on this receipt, a calculation on another, a warning of violation a friend I worked with wrote against me in jest that threatened to have my hands severed off as punishment.

To sort through receipts is really a sort of map of what a person's life is like. I will usually pick a receipt up off of the ground just to see what a person bought. They're never profound purchases though; gum, a bag of combos, a soft drink... I suppose that, in itself, shows something about the people who throw their receipts on the ground. The discarded receipts show me that they're horrible people for littering the ground and that they only throw down the small stuff. I'll probably never see a receipt for a 46" LCD Television lying on the ground. Maybe they feel that they're doing a service to the curious folks like me by doing it. I could live without it.

Seeing this history in a bag shows me how frivolous I seem to have been with my money. What if I hadn't bought that speaker system for my car that my neighbor helped me install or that collection of Magic the Gathering cards that I played regularly with a group of friends in college? Maybe I would be richer, but I wouldn't have all the memories.

The Rote Goodbye.

2008-12-22T20:00:00.001-05:00

I have worked at a few different places in my life. I started out as a short cook for Pizza Hut. One of the things they teach you is to be friendly by sending the customers out of the restaurant with a friendly good bye. A lot of my coworkers would send people off with the same line all of the time "Have a good day" whether it was day or night. This is how you can tell if your server is just going through the motions.

I didn't go with the same rote memory line and tried to pay attention to the time of day and even what season it was. Especially if it was near Christmas, I would wish the the customer a Merry Christmas on their way out, which in itself could spark a debate, but I did it simply as a friendly gesture.

For those of you who work in the service industry or in retail, if you do send people off with the "Have a good day" line every time an easy way around all this is to just say "Have a goodn" which is especially effective the south. But at least try to be more personable, people know when you're faking it.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-18T20:00:00.000-05:00

EWJ Mighty Mugg III

2008-12-17T20:00:00.003-05:00

I decided to split the mold down the side as opposed to cutting it into pieces as indicated with the yellow on the left.

Here is a photo of the sculpt after I extracted it from the mold. The latex seemed to soak up some of the oils in the clay slightly drying it out. It would still mold like clay, but I thought this a peculiar effect.

I then taped up the side and painted a layer of latex over the tape and the seam so resin wouldn't leak out.

Tada! Here is the cast I'll be using for my Mighty Mugg Custom.

Here is the first attempt at making a cast of the mold.

Detail.

Detailed detail.

Details.

Deets.

As you can see the result was less than spectacular. After discussing with my assistant what could have caused such catastrophe, we decided that not allowing time for the mold release agent to dry made the bubbles form. Had I properly used the agent, I probably wouldn't have had such a difficult time getting the cast out of the mold on the second try, but after some struggle I was able to get it out without destroying the mold.

Detail.

This was a great learning experience. This job is best done with help from another person if the mold isn't easy to work with. Since I had such an odd shape, and I did not take the time to make a brace that would allow me to properly pour the resin myself, my assistant held it while I poured and then we placed the mold in a cup stuffed with gift tissue to let it cure.

I was a bit sloppy with pouring the resin and I accidentally got resin all over my assistant's hands while she held the mold upright. She then waited for me to finish pouring (it starts to set in about 3 minutes) and the resin started to set on her hands. She spent the next hour washing her hands with dish detergent, lava soap, and nail polish remover to get the stuff off her hands and then another half an hour filing her nails.

Use rubber gloves! On the next try I used quite a bit less of the resin and my assistant wore gloves which she highly recommends as well. Because the resin cures so quickly it generates a lot of heat, which is another reason to wear gloves. After careful consideration my assistant and I decided it would be best to snip off the other end of EWJs head so that we could pour the resin in both sides, ensuring no bubbles would form in the narrow tip.

Now on to work on the Mighty Mugg's body, sanding the head, spraying with primer, and painting.

Gift Box

2008-12-15T20:00:00.001-05:00

I'm nothing like Martha Stewart, and I'm not one to tell someone how to wrap their gifts because I'm horrible at it. However I did discover a trick that allows you to use the boxes from gifts given the past Christmas without any confusion.

When I open a box and find that I got the same gift as last year, my mind immediately rattles off scenarios on what could have gone wrong, and then I open the box to find something completely different and I calm down. You would think that I would learn to expect seeing old boxes, but for some reason I haven't.

"What!? Another lamp!? Oh wait, cool."

Anyway, I feel that opening a gift to find a brightly colored and somewhat familiar looking box with something else inside is slightly unpleasant and can be remedied with the trick I'm about to show.

The trick is to simply turn the old box inside out so that the graphics of the old product are hidden inside the box and the brown inside of the box becomes the outside so that there is no possibility of confusion. As illustrated below:

Probalo solved.

Comparative Picture Fun!

2008-12-08T20:00:00.003-05:00

This is simply a light hearted look at the likenesses of people next to their cartoon counterparts. I mean no harm to anyone by posting these comparisons.

A Gelfling from The Dark Crystal.

Nitz from Undergrads.

A Doozer from Fraggle Rock.

Meg from Family Guy.

These just happen, I don't put any effort into searching for these, they just fall into my lap. In fact, I started them around 2001, so it will be a while before I have more. There was this one man in my home town that looked just like the G-Man from the Half-Life series but I was never able to get a photo of him, but maybe one day by happenstance I will get lucky enough to meet him again.

Timelapse and Geocaching Videos.

2008-12-04T04:40:00.009-05:00

Bear with the ads on the videos, Revver.com pays me according to the number of views and how much the video spreads to host my video on their site and the money comes from the ads. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Timelapse video of the county fair.

A video about geocaching.

Timelapse video of a lobster grow toy.

Ratings are a pretty important factor in getting the most views, the more good ratings the better so go to the links below and rate em would ya? There is a whole slew of ways to share the videos above by clicking on 'menu' in the video window. If you dig it, Digg it. I put the geocaching video on Digg myself.

You have to visit my Revver page to digg the videos.

In addition to the embedded videos above Vimeo is my favorite video site that I have uploaded these videos to. I just think it plays more smoothly and looks better. I also put them on youtube and metacafe.

EWJ Mighty Mugg II

2008-12-01T20:08:00.005-05:00

As promised here are some photos of the Earth Worm Jim sculpt I did for the Mighty Mugg Custom.

The clay I used is a wax-based clay which means that it won't dry out. This particular batch was made by a fellow artist, but is very similar to Castilene in that you have to use a heating lamp in order to soften up the material enough to work with it. Once you get to the later stages of the sculpting process the cooled clay makes for a firmer surface that makes it easier to do fine detail work.

Some people use polymer clays, which are desirable because the clay doesn't dry out and can be baked on low heat to harden it solid when the sculpture is finished. However, baking the clay can make for a difficult time, depending on the intricacy of the sculpt, if planning to do molds and casts of the sculpture. When doing casting and molding, the clay is then no longer the finished product and is often destroyed when releasing it from the mold.

I decided to try the Castin' Craft Mold Builder and Mold Release, and Amazing Casting Resin on my first try with molding and casting a sculpture. The process is fairly straight forward. Mold Builder is basically a viscous liquid latex rubber that once painted on a sculpture dries to a yellow rubber coating.

The directions suggest doing ten coats of the Mold Builder and also suggests using Castin' Craft Resin spray on the clay to coat the sculpture before using the Mold Builder. I did not before I started using the Mold Builder but I think it will be alright anyway since I partially peeled the mold off with no trouble.

Here is what the EWJ sculpt looks like with the Mold Builder applied.

So the next question is which method would be best to extract the clay from the mold? Cut down the side? Or cut the mold in half and do two casts that I would have to glue together? Yet another question that I'll have to figure out later is, how do I attach the head to the mighty mugg body and to where it is sturdy and still does not touch the rim of the neck?

The Aliens Have Landed.

2008-11-25T04:42:00.004-05:00

Meteor Landing Leaves Many Stunned.

I have been reading War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. This video seems appropriate. Just to be clear, I don't believe this is an alien spacecraft but this video does spark the imagination. This video makes me want to fly up to find the meteor myself! How often does a man find a real meteor?

I never have.

EWJ Mighty Mugg

2008-11-10T20:00:00.005-05:00

Since I am such a fan of Earthworm Jim I wanted to pay homage to him somehow. So I decided I would immortalize him in Mighty Mugg form, another thing I'm a huge fan of. Hasbro does sell blank Mighty Muggs but it's more expensive to get than buying a painted Mugg at a mega-mart because of shipping.

For the Earthworm Jim Mugg one thing was certain, I was going to have to take the head off of a Mighty Mugg in order to do a proper EWJ version. So I bought Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson).

Since I wanted to do a Gordon Freeman Mighty Mugg I bought a General Grievus figure since he comes with two light sabers, which could prove useful later on. After examining each of the muggs I found something unfavorable with the Gen. Grievus Mugg.

The head for this mugg seems to be made out of something similar to ping pong ball plastic. This would prove very difficult to take off since there's no give to such a hard plastic. Vinyl has plenty of give to it however and luckily Samuel L. Jackson's head is made out of Vinyl plastic. There is a way to tell the difference between the plastics each Mugg head is made out of although it may not be easy to do in the store. Please don't open the boxes in the store, there are collectors out there that like their boxes in pristine condition. If you look at the head closely you will probably be able to see a hint of a seam as highlighted above.

This should be a pretty good indicator that the mugg in question has a ping pong head. The other clue is that if you look closely enough, and I mean close, there is a little bit more texture to a vinyl head than a ping pong head. If you are lucky enough to happen across some loose Muggs at a flea market or someone's house, the easiest way to tell the difference is to peck on the head with a finger nail. The vinyl head has a duller sound to the harder plastic which has a sharper 'tick' sound to it.

Although there may be a few people out there who just long for a hernia, I would suggest not trying to pull it off straight out of the box. I was able to get the head off by pre-heating my kitchen oven to 150 degrees fahrenheit and then putting the figure in the oven on a pan for about 5-10 minutes. One has to be very careful in dealing with a kitchen oven, but by heating the Mighty Mugg up, the vinyl of the head is more malleable and so the head is easier to pry off. I feel that no more warning is due since people should know the Mighty Mugg will be hot when it comes out of the oven.

The head is hollow and fits very snugly on the torso.

The piece that fits in the head of the mighty mugg is hard plastic, and for this project will need to come off.

I'll post photos of my sculpture of EWJ's head next post so keep an eye out for that. My next task is to saw off the plastic piece seen above without damaging the torso, wish me luck.

Sucky Polls.

2008-11-04T13:22:00.007-05:00

I have never had a comfortable experience when I have voted. The first votes I cast were in a windowless one room building behind a windowless door. I generally like to know what's inside a building before I go into it. Sure, there were smiling ladies sitting behind a table, but the building could have been filled with bees for all I knew.

Luckily the building was bee free. When I walk up to such a foreboding building, I feel like I should be ready to defend myself against whatever is behind the door. The least they could have done was leave the door open so that people walking up to the place knew what to expect when they walked in.

Perhaps the buildings chosen to hold the polls are the only ones available but they sure pick the worst possible ones to make voters feel welcome to vote. Since I moved I had to change my address so that I could vote more locally. So I had a new location where I had to go to cast my vote. This time it was a school that was fenced in with rusty fence and once again the place designated to be the polls was windowless.

This time however on the windowless door a poster had been posted with duct tape scrawled around the entire border that said at the very top "PROHIBITED AREA AND ACTIVITIES" which can be read from the parking lot. Then in smaller font it stated the laws of the polling area which can be read when about 5 feet from the door.

Upon asking someone where I was supposed to go they said "behind that door up there", the same door that seemed to prohibit anyone to enter. Once I entered the forbidden door, I was received once again by smiling ladies, in a very poorly lit gym. If we are to encourage people to vote, there should be a much better atmosphere at the places where we are to cast our votes. What I experienced was ridiculous.

Custom Mighty Muggs

2008-11-02T20:06:00.011-05:00

Before Hasbro introduced the public to the Mighty Mugg there was Kidrobot. Believe me, Hasbro is not the first to produce "blank-canvas" figures. One thing Hasbro did right was selling an affordable version of a blank-canvas figure. I am new to doing custom toys but I really like the idea of it so my first two ideas were to do Earthworm Jim and Gordon Freeman.

I've always been a huge fan of Earthworm Jim. He is in fact my favorite video game character of all time. I find it difficult to believe that none of the major video game console producers have ever picked up this character as their mascot like Sega did with Sonic the Hedgehog, Sony with Crash Bandicoot, and Nintendo did with Mario Mario. That's right "Mario Mario". My girlfriend pointed out the fact that since they are "The Mario Brothers", Mario's last name is Mario and Luigi is "Luigi Mario". Heh.

Gordon Freeman is from the Half-life series of games by Valve Software which won critical acclaim and a multitude of awards for the original and sequel games. Hey, if I have to explain who Gordon Freeman is, then you've sorely missed out on one of the greatest series of games to date.

I will be documenting the process I go through to get the finished product, so expect to see more.

ASPCA Promotes Cruelty to Animals.

2008-10-22T12:21:00.002-04:00

Animal Cruelty

Seriously people, stop this from happening.

The Change Game.

2008-10-08T20:00:00.000-04:00

Josh is leading right now with a prediction of $6.44. Greg has a long way to go but is the next closest since he predicted $6.75. Lee is in last place with a prediction of $9.32. I am out of the running since I have found more change than the average of Josh and my predictions.

For November and December I will not be posting the change I find since I have a bit of a surprise in store for everyone. It's not much, but I'm still really excited about it. So just wait and see! Even though we're nearing the end of the change game, I have yet to receive any money from anyone which is intentional.

Sending the money through Paypal is option one which could be easiest if everyone has an account. Or all the money could be sent to me so that I can then send it to the winner and since this is a game based on trust there should be no concern over whether I will just keep the cash, especially since I started this whole thing in the first place.

Thanks to everyone for participating!

Game Cube Wave Bird.

2008-10-06T20:00:00.000-04:00

As I have stated before the Wii has its faults. I'm not here to trash it this time though, I'm here to address that Nintendo really needs to consider putting out another run of Game Cube Wave Bird controllers. True, there is still a third party wireless controller on the market but from my experience one should never buy a third party controller. Few people would use the Wiimote and nunchuk for certain games if they had a GCWB. One significant example is Super Smash Bros Brawl. The Wave Bird just works best for SSBB. The GCWB is wireless which is how controllers for the Wii should be and I just refuse to buy the "Classic Controller" they made for the wii.

This controller plugs into the wiimote and is powered by it. The way they made the cord come out of the bottom of this controller suggests to me that they want players to sit on the wiimote for a more enjoyable playing experience.

The idea of having to plug the classic controller into the wiimote just seems so inefficient to me. Perhaps since it does plug into the wiimote there would be a plus to hearing the sounds that are made to play through the wiimote's speaker, but this is a minor feature that wouldn't be missed. Why doesn't Nintendo just make a new version of the Wave Bird and make it so that the receiver fits flush on top of the Wii, and instead of gray it's white and shiny, heck even put rumble and a speaker in it too! This post may not have came to fruition if the GCWB is easy to find in used games stores but they're a rarity now.

The reason for this is because people are still using them! I went to a LAN party not too long ago and a lot of people were playing Smash Bros Melee on their Wii consoles (before Brawl came out) and everyone was using GCWBs!

Think about it Nintendo.

My Jargon.

2008-09-25T18:12:00.006-04:00

Everybody has their own jargon which is especially present while they're on the internet. So I figured I would highlight some of my own jargon that I use while I talk to people on the internet.

*nods* - I hate when people use "ic" and I hate having to use it. Something about it just irks me. The connotations of it come off a little bit negative to me and "whatever" is even worse. *nods* is a much more simple acknowledgment with no negative influence.

Of course there's "cool", "sweet", "I understand", and "I gotcha" also, but "cool" and "sweet" are reserved for things that you enjoy finding out about. "I understand" sounds too formal and "I gotcha"... well.. that one works pretty well, but I like *nods* best. To note, the double asterisks in google talk will make a word bold but I used it before google talk to indicate action. *Nods* is even more fun to say aloud when someone is talking to you in real time. Especially when there is No indication of a nod at all.

*shrugs* - "idk" is a more simple one to use, but there's no imagery involved and to me using it comes off as a sort of juvenile acronym tantamount to using "u" for "you", "4" for "for", and "2" for "too", "to" and "two". Wait... scratch "two".. I got carried away. *Shrugs* is another fun one to say aloud in the company of others with no indication of an actual shrug.

The next two terms are sort of how I have fun with language in public or with company. I enjoy trying to find shortcuts that when said don't register as shortcuts to others. I can't think of any other examples because I have to be in the moment but 'lo is a good example for now.

When you say "'lo" aloud to someone in passing, generally they just assume that they either didn't hear the "He" in "Hello" or don't even put any thought into it at all and just react as if there was nothing abnormal. I have even gone so far as omitting entire words from the beginning of a spoken sentence and getting away with it because they expected my answer. This principle is similar to that in which I used in "February 18th, 2008 REMIX", which was a "remix" of February 18th 2008 on Threadless. Seemingly a failure among my posts on Threadless.

hate - I try not to hate unforgivingly but some people really deserve it. I kid of course but mainly when I'm playing a game with other people online and they're better than me, I'll often spring "hate" on em. That's it, that's all I say "hate". It best describes my annoyance with their superior skills while minimizing the amount of whining I put on them. It's effective to use when you see something in public and you don't want everyone except the ones closest to you to know that you're not happy with something you've seen as well.

'lo - I don't know how other people are taking to this new term that I'm using. Generally when someone makes their presence known they say "Hi" of course. Well, I reply with "'lo" meaning "hello". I'm not trying to be a smartass by using it, but I do kind of enjoy the double entendre of it's usage. I thought about using " 'llo" as well, which could be pronounced "yo" if using the spanish principles of language i.e. "tortilla" but I think I'll stick with " 'lo".

'shop - The power of the apostrophe should be apparent by now. Sometimes I'll find myself using two in one word, such as "should'nt've". Well, in this case I use it to refer to photoshop without actually using the word photo, the apostrophe takes care of that. Usage: I just finished 'shopping our picture, wanna see?

b.r.b. - "BRB" is quite common meaning "be right back" but sometimes the person will catch you to say something else first before you leave when this is used. Sometimes a "brb" is much more urgent, like when you need to go to the bathroom. So I think the best way to really show that it's urgent is to use "b.r.b." which means "bathroom break". My friend started me saying "BURB" aloud when I have to go do something while in the company of others but I'm almost over that now.

:thumbsup: and (y) - This disappoints me regularly with chat programs. The only one with an actual emoticon is trillian, and I think it only works for ICQ. The text that you have to type for the thumbs up emoticon to show up is (y), but few people pickup on that in any other program unless they've used ICQ so I end up having to explain what it means. :thumbsup: is used in deviantart to call upon the emoticon equivalent, but I'm lazy and I don't want to have to type out :thumbsup: to convey a :thumbsup:. In fact I've done it too much already. If you type it out, you'll find your fingers jumping all over the place.

Blog - I try to keep this word out of my vocabulary. Blog is a horrid word. When I say "I have a new post on my blog," I immediately feel like a prude. I call it my "blarg" sometimes just to show my disdain for the word "blog" and I sometimes call a post a "blarticle" which is a portmanteau*3, but once I use it I feel like I've used a really offensive word. Probably because a "blart" is a blood fart and past this I never want to have to mention that again. So I guess ultimately saying "post" isn't so bad, and neither is "article".

Bye... - Sometimes goodbyes run a little long on chat programs. Some people combat this by simply closing the chat program immediately after saying bye. I use "Bye..." since I leave my chat programs on all the time. The "..." is supposed to hint to the other person that they should shut up in the nicest way possible.

I'd say by now, if you've made it this far, that you want to tell me "Bye..." so I guess I'll stop for now, this subject may require a revisit in the future when I feel I have enough information to further explain my quirkiness.

Taco Bell's Dog.

2008-09-16T04:34:00.003-04:00

I am Taco Bell's Dog. The television was on in the other room, and aside from the fact that I could hear the somewhat recognizable voice and the saucy sounds of the wind instruments, at the very end of the commercial I heard the pæan of that bell and immediately thought, *Mmm I'd like some Taco Bell tomorrow.* Therefore, I am Taco Bell's dog.

New Sensations.

2008-09-08T20:00:00.003-04:00

I recently took part in a flavor tripping party with some friends and it was very interesting. There's this fruit called the miracle fruit that a couple companies make into a concentrated tablet and sell on the internet. The point of this tablet is to change the way your tongue perceives tastes. It doesn't change the flavor of every palette, mainly sour flavors and some bitter flavors, but the affect on the bitter is slight from my experience. That may just be me as everyone has slightly different tastes.

I tried several different things during this experience: grape fruit, lemons, limes, vinegar, hot sauce, red bull, plain yogurt, Warhead Super Sour Spray, green olives, pickle juice, cream cheese, unsweetened tea, red and green tomatoes.

The first thing I grabbed was a slice of lemon, my eyes lit up! It tasted like candy, but at the end of the first nip I could feel a little bit of the acid sourness on the edges of my tongue. Red Bull was my favorite, generally Red Bull has quite the tang to it but with the miracle fruit it was almost as sweet as cream soda.

The dumbest thing I did during the party was to take a full tablespoon of vinegar. It did taste pretty good, but it kind of choked me up. Even though miracle fruit will change the flavor it doesn't change the harshness of any of the food. Because of that there is the danger that you could damage your tongue from having so many acidic foods, nothing that won't heal though.

Cream cheese, plain yogurt, hot sauce and green olives weren't the most pleasant however. Cream cheese mainly tasted bland, plain yogurt did get a little sweeter, but still just didn't taste too good. I like my yogurt with fruit. The miracle fruit just takes some of the edge off of the green olive, same goes for the hot sauce which also sort of choked me up.

If anyone has eaten macaroni and tomatoes with sugar that's essentially what I got from eating a tomato while tripping, the green tomato didn't taste as good as the red one but it still tasted pretty good as far as I was concerned.

A couple things I missed out on trying were cough syrup and sharp cheddar. Perhaps there will be a next time though.

The NY Times Article
_____________________________________________________________________________________

I know the question that is on everybody's mind is what would it be like to drink cold water while taking a warm shower?

I tried it recently. Although the results weren't as interesting as I expected it was still something new. Invigorating is not quite the word for drinking cold water while in the shower, but it is the word for letting the same cold water dribble down the chest while taking a shower. *shivers*

Of course if you decide you want to try to do the same, I would recommend a bottle. A glass of water would be hard to keep cold, especially if you let the shower water get in the drinking water. That scenario brings me to think of some pretty funny imagery though.

Inattention Theatre: Moon Landing

2008-09-06T02:46:00.005-04:00

This is the beginning of an ongoing series of videos that we're planning to do. I hope you enjoy it.

Here's the website for the company I work for: Play Attention

Change update.

2008-08-19T23:20:00.006-04:00

I have some competition. Whenever I am out it is usually with my girlfriend, and she has a voracious appetite for finding change. She has probably knocked me out of at least $.30. Incidentally she has promised a 5 spot and is on the list of predictions. She could manipulate the game in such a way to where she could win the pot herself by either tipping me off that there's a coin on the ground, or picking it up without letting me know if I were to find enough change for her to be in her prediction bracket. Luckily, there's little to worry about, because she is a genuinely honest person. That or a really really good liar.

Aside from the threat of sabotage, it has been sort of a dry period for finding change. Maybe she is trying to sabotage the game? Anyway, with the dry times, comes less things to mention on the topic. I had sort of decided to wait until I found at least three different mangled coins before I would post them, but sabotage is interesting enough to supplement with one photo of a mangled coin.

I found this one at a Hardee's drive-thru window. Mind you, I did say that drive-thru windows were off limits if I were to intentionally scour them, or open the door when I'm pulled up to one. But this situation is a little bit different in that we parked on the side that the drive-thru was on, and just past the window is the door to walk in to place an order. Because of this, it's pretty easy to see and grab any change that people had dropped.

The other side of the coin was relatively unharmed. Apparently asphault is a bit rougher on a coin than a rubber tire is. Go figure!

The Big Boss.

2008-08-11T23:46:00.008-04:00

About Adult ADD

Despite some flaws I would have to say that I am pretty proud of this short. I'm also glad it is finished. Be on the look out for others to come your way soon.

Vegeterrorists

2008-08-11T20:00:00.006-04:00

I helped raise a duck from a day old to a little over two months old. I have fed it, gave it water every day, and I watched it play in a big tub full of water with vigor. This week I'm going to eat it.

Many people won't have such a dose of reality presented before them. Even though a lot of people won't have to deal with this issue, I think it is very important to have to face it. I am against the message that the political vegetarians present. Don't like the taste of meat? That's fine. Cruelty to animals sucks too. But refusing to eat flesh because of a soft heart is ridiculous to me.

I can't say that I don't have a little soft spot in my heart for the duck, but to protest that it not serve as my nourishment would be hypocritical of me. Nature's truth is the reason I am so against the vegetarian's political reasons behind not eating meat. Animals eat meat to survive and so do we. Although there are herbivores, their stomachs are made to handle a solely vegetarian diet. There is a reason why our stomachs are made to handle flora and fauna. It is because we are supposed to eat both.

The wrong in all of this is not eating meat, the wrong is in wasting it. Gluttonous eating and wastefulness is shameful. If vegetarians want to protest they should protest the corpulent folks who stay in a buffet restaurant for two hours. By not eating meat I would go as far to say that vegetarians are insulting the needy who would love to have a little bit of chicken on their plate. Do we live in such a coddled society that people actually refuse food on principle? Those who are starving would be disgusted and call it ungrateful.

Perhaps my less than favorable view of the vegetarian way is rooted in my pet peeve of picky eaters. I don't speak of hatred toward the vegetarians, I just don't understand, nor do I accept their choice to not eat meat.

Camera Sensor Cleaning.

2008-08-04T23:00:00.001-04:00

There are a few sites that explain how to clean your camera's CCD. Copper Hill Images is the one I bought my equipment from, they also have tutorials on how to clean your camera's sensor. They also sent me a generic slinky with my order which they called a "Magic Spring." Cleaning a digital camera's sensor isn't really all too difficult so long as you have a steady hand and a little patience.

The websites that give you tutorials just get all worked up about how if you really screw up while cleaning your camera, you're going to damage your CCD. Replacing a CCD is very expensive, but from my experience you would really have to try to screw up your sensor to actually do it, especially if you watch or read any tutorials on how to do it at all.

The Arctic Butterfly sensor cleaning brush is ridiculously expensive. I had a trusted source recommend it, but after looking at it, it's really just a glorified brush with a motor used to shake off the dust. But I went with Sensor Sweep which is the brush you see in the tube above.

Something most important to remember with these brushes is that you should Never touch the bristles. Doing so greases it up with your filthy finger crisco and could mean transferring said grease on your sensor. Using either the Giotto Rocket-Air blower (seen below) or a pressurized can of air is supposed to statically charge the bristles of the brush and therefore make it easier to extract the dust from your sensor while clearing it of any dust on the bristles. This is the dry method of cleaning.

When using a pressurized source of air DO NOT use those small CO2 cartridges used in pneumatic powered guns. That type of cartridge usually has a little oil in it that is supposed to lubricate the inside of the guns that use them. Using one of those types of compressed air adapters that fit onto those cartridges for your camera could mean a gunked up sensor. Bad mojo. Using canned air the wrong way could blow frozen CO2 on your sensor. That's why I like the squeeze bulb shown above.

The wet method of cleaning uses the Pec Pads, the plastic and rubber wand, rubber bands and highly flammable methanol. The reason for the methanol is to be sure that it evaporates from the sensor. The reason for wet cleaning is to get any "welded dust" off the sensor. Basically that means that somehow moisture and dust came together on the sensor and sort of glued the dust to the sensor. Blowing into the sensor area with your mouth is a good way to make this happen, even if you manage not to spit, you're still blowing moisture from your lungs into the camera.

That's the basics. Just be careful. And don't say I didn't warn you, making mistakes could cost you a camera. Now go wash your hands!

Customizing your camera.

2008-07-28T23:00:00.004-04:00

This is a tripod.

If tied to the plate attached to the bottom of your camera or to the strap brackets on the sides, you can turn this string into a tripod.

Simply step on the string in a wide stance and then raise up to tighten the string so that you can better steady your shot. This method is best done while leaning on a wall. Doing so gives you three bracing points that will really help to steady your shot if you don't have access to a real tripod. Although this is not new, it is useful and can get you up to 3 extra f-stops on a shot in certain situations.

You need about 15 feet of string for this, I am 6 feet tall so 6ft x 2 + 3ft = 15ft because the string had to be double my height in order to reach the ground and each end of the string be attached to each side of the camera. I allowed the 3 extra feet so I could adjust my stance.

I thought the Targus Grypton tripod was worth buying. I can't say that it wasn't yet, but it amounts to me having screwed it up to where it won't hold up my camera the way it would have if I hadn't immediately tried to customize it.

By pulling off the top pieces of the tripod, I was able to fit a strap on it that I could then attach to my camera bag.

In doing so I cracked one of the points of articulation and rendered the tripod somewhat useless. I figure I'll get around to fixing it eventually. Scratching the inside of it was a meager attempt at adding some friction to the parts. Aside from working as a tripod, these things are almost cheap enough to buy 2 or 3 and use them in several different applications. I've thought about converting one into a multi-use tool using different attachments. A magnifying glass, reading light, alligator clips to name a few.

This button loosens the plate, you twist the piece just below it to either lock or unlock the plate release button.

Finally, the strap for my camera gets in the way often. I looked online and found that some people attach keyrings to each end of their strap and then some clips onto the rings. Here is my solution. This is especially helpful to setup a timelapse more quickly.

Grass Man.

2008-07-22T19:03:00.002-04:00

Grass Man. from Josh Rose on Vimeo.

Music: Quantum Robot - Introduction

Timelapse Gear

2008-07-21T21:20:00.004-04:00

The upcoming posts have been a long time in the making and I am excited to finally be able to post them. I have been perusing the internet to get an understanding of some of the tricks of the trade that a photographer can use to ensure an efficient shoot. I'll be covering three main topics of photography: Time lapse photography, photography gear tricks, and sensor cleaning.

If anybody watched Planet Earth and didn't feel inspired then.. well.. I mean, did you really watch it?! Planet Earth was amazing! I have had a fascination with time lapse and high speed photography for a long time. Finally, I am able to do time lapse and it seems like it will be quite a while yet before I can do high speed photography since the consumer market doesn't have many options (Casio EXILIM Pro EX-F1).

Only if you don't have an eye for it would you miss that there is a lot of time lapse photography on Planet Earth. The bulk of the time lapse shots have very complex movements. In order to do such complex movements the camera has to move consistently and smooth over a long period of time. To do a semi-circular pan of mushrooms growing the camera probably had to move from one side to the other over a week long period and probably quite a bit longer than that.

I don't yet have the capabilities to do such a shot, but with my Meade Telescope mount (shown below) I can pan across a horizon over a period of about three hours. This setup is particularly good for sunrise and sunset shots. I can also track the sun across the sky vertically if I wish.

Also if you have the Meade 497 controller (shown below) for this setup, you can program it to do more complex shots, such as having it pause for a certain length of time before it starts to pan. I have not delved into the intricacies of this tool yet however. The funny part is that if you want the mount to continually move you have to use a rather analog method.

Making the mounting plate for the telescope head is a bit of a DIY project. The way I attached the camera screw onto the plate was by taking the C-Clip off the screw, taking the screw off the tripod plate, putting the screw in the Telescope Head plate and then replacing the C-Clip.

If you want to see other methods take a look at The Milapse Panning System thread on the Timescapes Forum.

Milapse has a lot of good time lapse videos, tips and tricks on his youtube channel here: Milapse on Youtube

I have a Nikon D50 so I couldn't jump straight into time lapse myself. I had to buy the Pclix intervalometer to give me that capability. Some of the newer cameras have an intervalometer built in such as the Nikon D200.

The Pclix will allow up to 89 seconds between intervals. Then presets are available on 90 - 99 which can be customized if necessary. My camera's IR sensor turns off after fifteen minutes. I think if there is constant power however, the limit is negated.

The Pclix originally came with a nylon strap which I replaced with a clip so that I can clip it on my camera as shown below.

In order to make sure that a signal is received to trip the shutter every time, the people at Pclix recommended I get a fiber optic cable. They were right too, because the IR sensor is in the front of the camera.

The IR LED on the Pclix makes it difficult to set up so that the sensor on the camera recieves the signal every time.

Therefore taping the fiber optic cable to the sensor ensures a shutter trip every time.

Take note that since I have a Nikon D50 the fiber optic cable was the only option. Other cameras may allow the user the ability to plug a cable straight in to trip the shutter. Pclix has several different options on their site.

Musical Ignorance.

2008-07-18T12:15:00.000-04:00

In case you are as musical ignorant as I am because you don't like musicals then I should warn you that Mama Mia is a musical. True, it was on broadway for a while, but I only found that out after they started running the trailers. I don't live in New York. I have seen much advertising about Mama Mia and none of it that I've seen blatantly clues the public in to the fact that it is a musical. I did see Pierce Brosnan on The Daily Show and then I finally saw the characters singing in the blatant fashion I desire to see.

I want to see that it is a musical so that I can steer clear of it. It didn't really look that good as a regular movie either, but it seems that I'm not the only one that is musical ignorant. It seems the studios that produce these movies are as well because they ignore the fact that Mama Mia is a musical in their promotions of it. I was getting ready to watch Hellboy 2, and for whatever reason, the promoters thought Hellboy 2 would be a good place to promote MAMA MIA.

During the spot, never once was it blatant in the fact that it was a musical. This is a theater trailer! These are the trailers where studios pull out all the stops and show the movie in it's full light. Or should I say in it's best light? The studios seem to have come to the conclusion that it's bad PR to show that a movie is a musical. To me, it's a form of false advertising. I would be pissed if I were to step into a movie only to find that it was a musical. I would walk out and demand my money back. I predict that since it is now showing in theaters, they'll run trailers that are more blatant. I mean they even showed the Monster in post release trailers of Cloverfield.

Hellboy 2 was pretty good by the way.

All-Natural Chemicals

2008-07-14T02:58:00.000-04:00

According to Merriam-Webster Online the term Natural is accounted for in several different ways. One of the ways that it defines it is "occurring in conformity with the ordinary course of nature." Now often when eating, I will come across the words "all-natural" on the label. To me this label has been diluted by some of the most far fetched claims of a product being all-natural that to me it has lost all meaning.

To me, "all-natural" should mean that lemonade is literally squeezed lemons, water, and cane sugar. Artificial sweetener would render such summer beverage unnatural. Preservatives render it unnatural. Of course you can make anything sound unnatural. I watched a clip from Penn and Teller's "Bullshit" where they started a petition at a liberal rally to ban Dihydrogen Monoxide from use. Also more commonly known as Water.

Since we're on the subject, I also want to share the "What's Inside" section on Wired.com and probably in the magazine as well where they explain what the ingredients in a certain product of their choosing are. Check it out some time.

What sparked this thought in my mind was that I saw the label "all-natural" on a bottle of Sobe recently. Sobe takes pride in the use of herbal stimulants, and supplements in their products. On their website it states "The world's best tasting naturally flavored beverages." I didn't know there was a nature flavor. Does it taste like dirt? But the drink I had today had some questionable ingredients in it that don't necessarily scream "all-natural" to me. Sobe Yumberry Pomegranate Elixir is the drink I had and, well, can anyone explain to me how CALCIUM LACTATE and CHROMIUM PICOLINATE are "all-natural" ingredients?

I can't really end this one with a conclusion because I don't feel informed enough to leave a hard line "this is how it is" message. There are usually two sides to a story because parts of each are true and it is a person's perception that distorts the reality. So with that being said I guess I have to end with a question instead. What exactly is required to meet the "all-natural" guidelines? I'm sure it's not as strict as it is to get the "organic" label.

Fence sitting for the win!

Dead Batteries and Waste.

2008-07-07T16:12:00.000-04:00

A little bit ago I talked about how I had several items in my junk drawer that were now useless because it's cheaper to buy a new one than to buy the batteries it takes to power some of the items. Since then I've come to a sort of paradigm shift in the way I think, the way I buy, and my attitude toward my possessions. Every time I think about this, I can't help but to recall the movie Fight Club. The main point of the movie is that consumerism has gone out of control. Even though it's in a very guerilla and violent fashion the movie's message is that of resourcefulness. Is your bicycle tire flat? Are your spokes loose? Fix it! Don't buy another bicycle just because it needs a little work.

The trouble with this is that anymore it is cheaper to buy new in many cases. This is why we are some of the most wasteful people in the world. We throw away a LOT of trash. Or at least it is perceived to be trash. There is a place for everything other than in a landfill. Recycle all that you can, have a yard sale, and give away the stuff that doesn't sell. Now I realize that a lot of folks have a problem with clutter in their house.

This is usually due to the fact that many people buy a lot of things they don't really need, and among other things to the fact that they may need only a small portion of, for example, popsicle sticks. Stores often sell them in bulk and that's the only choice when all that's needed is a small portion. Now that may seem like a bad example but it leads me to my point. The first thing you are probably thinking is, why don't you just buy some popsicles and just use them once you have eaten the popsicles.

Well, that would only make too much sense! Think about what you buy and think of ways you can get around having to buy in bulk. I recently needed a piece of plexi-glass and a clock motor for two seperate projects I'm doing. I didn't need to buy a large piece pf plexi-glass and an individually wrapped clock motor. I just bought a clock for $5 and use the motor and the plex-glass from it instead.

And you don't even necessarily need to do that. Call and ask your family if they have any spare parts lying around. Then, not only are you being resourceful, you're also recycling what is to another person only junk parts. And furthermore, you'd brighten someone's day by giving them a phone call. They haven't heard from you in a while anyway, I'm sure they'd be glad to talk to you.

Ponder this for a while.

Internet News.

2008-06-26T11:10:00.000-04:00

I read on the internet that a large percentage of news in blogs is repeated and not original news.

Taking steps backwards.

2008-06-18T20:00:00.000-04:00

The decision made by some Internet Service Providers to try the usage based billing system seems like a huge step backwards to me. Why not upgrade the connection speeds instead? I know it is possible to have a much higher speed but for some reason most people are being throttled. This is a blatant refusal to move forward in technology in my view.

From Frontmen to Fathers.

2008-06-17T17:55:00.000-04:00

The transition from a single man to married with children is a big deal. It's an even bigger deal when it happens to the frontman of a rock band. Scott Stapp and Aaron Lewis are perfect examples. Creed's "My Own Prison" and Staind's "Dysfunction" albums were good albums. Heavy, driven, and edgy. Having a kid changes a man and that change is very obvious in Creed's "Human Clay" album, and Staind's "14 Shades of Grey" album.

These men clearly had their edge softened as a result of having kids. Now I can't rightly chastise these fellas for their new found happiness. I think it's wonderful that these people have found their heart, but I do think that it is sort of a detriment to rock music especially. Creed is obviously no longer a band, Staind is still going strong, with many chart topping songs. But I don't think that because it becomes popular that it's necessarily the best music. Most people's musical tastes are horrible and led mainly by the radio and heavy promotions.

My point is that if a person's writing style is directly connected to what is going on in their lives, it can be expected that the emotions portrayed in each album is going to be affected greatly. The only way to keep one's music consistent throughout the years is to sing about other things beside personal turmoil and changes I suppose.

Television Is Dead. To me anyway.

2008-06-11T02:55:00.000-04:00

A Season Without Hits

This article prompted me to post this, so blame CNN. Ever since I started working from home I have become incredibly televisionless when thinking of how often I used to watch. I estimate I watch television for a maximum of an hour a day on weekdays, during the daytime block, usually to watch Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert while I eat depending on the time.

The weekends are the bulk of my watching time since I am free then. That doesn't mean I don't watch shows elsewhere though. The bulk of my watching habits come in the form of free online content. Most of the networks offer something in the way of free entertainment online.

NBC, CBS, ABC, USA, South Park, Tom Green for a pretty good Tom Snyder style talk show.

Joost has a downloadable program with a lot of free content, if only my computer liked the program better I might have used it more. I just stumbled upon Hulu which I'm getting ready to try. Also if all else fails there's Alluc. Alluc is a site that just has links to other sites that people post that gives the location for the most part to illegally posted shows on several different sites.

I'm not against trying out other options that have a subscription format. I've already had a stint with Netflix. I may try Vongo next, although I'm iffy about how well it will play on my computer after trying Joost.

But one thing is for sure, I'm not very fond of the idea of having to pay for each episode of a certain season. I have never touched iTunes, I have given some thought to trying the amazon unbox, but 2 dollars an episode makes me want to cry a little. I would rather watch five ads throughout an episode on the network's site. Many more ads than five and I might start to get perturbed though.

Body Parts.

2008-05-29T11:32:00.000-04:00

My cat just left a present for me on my door mat. A rabbit's stomach, part of the lower intestine, part of a heart, the tail, and one of its back feet. At least one of the parts was a rabbit's foot. Such Luck!

Early Art V

2008-05-29T10:53:00.001-04:00

Here is more of my abstract art that I did as a child. I do remember the teacher telling us how to do the Rorschach, but I can't remember if she told us exactly what they are for. I kind of doubt it since we were in kindergarten and it'd be rather pointless to teach us so much about it at that time. I like the one with the circles best though, it has a tendency to lead my eyes around the page more.

I feel like the Rorschach test is a BS psychology thing though. Those images could be anything and I'd be interested in seeing a psychologist take the same test. I bet they'd suffer a meltdown from trying to take it because they couldn't let go of what they know enough to just answer the questions and would instead try to analyze the process of the test.

*shrugs*

I Lament.

2008-05-07T18:10:00.002-04:00

Upon searching Who to Boycott search page.

I admit that I bought Plans and Transatlanticism but it was at their concert. I don't know how the money is handled at every concert because there are several different record deals. But I feel that it is was worth taking the chance because I've heard that several bands get to keep the profits from merchandising. I guess I'll have to buy their new album when it shows up used on Amazon. :o(

*update* I've listened to this album several times and it pretty much sucks anyway so no big boohoo here.

The Next Experiment.

2008-05-07T12:44:00.000-04:00

I have really enjoyed documenting how much change I've found during the course of the year. I'm to the point now to where I could buy something from the McDonald's dollar menu with the change I've found, I could get a 20 oz refreshing beverage from certain stores as well, mainly Walmart. Perhaps I'll come back with a list in another post of some of the things I could buy. But the point of this post is to mention a new experiment that may take place during the course of the year 2009.

If I don't think of something better I might try collecting all the non-cardboard paper that I use during the year that I would normally throw away, shred it, and then let it collect in the form of a papier mache tree. During the course of the year I would document it with photos and by the end of the year I would have an interesting timelapse that would show how much paper is used. Most of which will probably be credit card offers and fast food to go bags.

The Human Footprint

Early Art IV

2008-05-05T20:23:00.000-04:00

"Amoeba Sun"

"King Quaft"

"Silia Smile"

I'd love to see what this guy would do with my art from childhood: The Monster Machine In fact I had thought about trying it myself, but I'd feel so much a copycat by doing it.. I guess I just need to get over it and try it out.

An In Depth Look at the Logitech Freepulse Bluetooth Headphones.

2008-05-05T15:27:00.001-04:00

I've had many problems with regular wired headphones when I once used them. I would get them ripped off my head when I would get up from my chair by having the wire snag the arm rests of my chair. I would constantly run over the wire with my chair and get it tangled, and when I jogged, sometimes my dog would run up behind me, leap, her front paws would snag the wire, and then she would yank my headphones off as she landed. I don't know how my ears are still attached.

Before I pick it apart I need to say that I really really enjoy this pair of bluetooth headphones. Since I enjoy dissecting things so much and getting very detailed in my description, I feel this review has its place on this blog as well. I'll make an attempt to put this review up on a couple of websites as well.

I decided to buy a pair of Logitech Freepulse headphones.

I got them new on J&R Music and Computer World for $56.94 which includes shipping. This was a great price because now they're selling them for $84.99. And the cheapest on a google search is around $70 currently. Since I've used them extensively I decided it was time to write a review about them.

The first thing that stands out about them, is that they only have a 6 hour battery life. Now, that seems like plenty, unless you always have headphones on while you work. I sit in this computer chair anywhere from 9 to 12 hours a day. I also use my headphones when I workout. So I probably have headphones on from 9 to 13 hours a day during the work week. This will clue you in that these headphones are at least tolerable to wear for long periods of time.

So I still had to go back to the old wired headphones at the end of the day and plug up the headphones to charge. I wish that these headphones had a removable battery so that I could have one battery charging while using another, but the battery is sealed inside the headphones and so I ultimately ended up buying another pair later on at Circuit City for $76.64 taxes included (they'll match their online price).

The marketing for these headphones seems somewhat misleading because they push that these headphones will adapt to any iPod on the market. I don't have an iPod. This set of headphones doesn't come with a USB bluetooth transmitter. Instead they come with a transmitter that plugs into any 3.5mm jack which makes it much better suited for using with an mp3 player.

Included is an array of different "adapters" that snap onto the transmitter so that it squares up with the iPod when plugged in.

If they really wanted to push it for the iPod one would expect the color of this headset and transmitter to be white but this is not the case at all.

The reception is reserved for a few feet. The signal has trouble going through walls and the advertised 30 feet is probably on flat unobstructed land. I've even found that if I have the transmitter in my left pocket, the signal has trouble going through my body and will sometimes go silent for about a second periodically. But when in the right pocket the silence isn't as frequent because the bulk of the electronics are in the right side of the headset.

Since I did end up getting two pair of headphones I found that each transmitter will only work for its corresponding headset. I find this unfortunate because I have yet to run the battery out on a transmitter, and if I could use the same transmitter on both pair of headphones I wouldn't have to switch to the other transmitter, perhaps using it the entire day.

After extensive use I have found that the rubber ear pieces eventually stretch out and can be easily lost. I somehow managed to keep track of them however and have resized them -- reads cut the excess off -- and glued them to the headsets permanently. The only reason that they come off that I can see is to gain access to the tiny screw so that they can be worked on and perhaps to replace the foam ear pieces (the headphones come with extra ones) when they wear down.

As an aside I'd like to mention that I also bought a different pair of bluetooth logitech headphones that also has a mic built in for my girlfriend as a gift and it turns out that they also will not connect to the transmitter that comes with my Freepulse headphones. Nor will my headphones connect to the USB transmitter that came with her pair either.

Oh, and supposedly the Freepulse headphones sync up to cell phones, but I don't have a bluetooth cell phone so I don't care.

CNET Video Review

New Posts

2008-04-29T01:20:00.000-04:00

Just to notify everybodeh, I have been writing some new posts, but they're showing up below the last post because I've been saving them for when I want to type them out fully. Here lately, I've been getting ideas for posts but I haven't felt like typing them out, so keep an eye out, and don't be afraid to scroll down.

technology porn

2008-04-09T00:37:00.000-04:00

More on this video below.

absolutmachines

bea.st

Cyberpunk:

Christopher Conte

Timelapse:

youtube.com/milapse

I want to do this kind of stuff but I'm no MIT graduate. I am dabbling in timelapse photography however so be looking for some of that.

The Diss Monologue.

2008-04-08T02:45:00.002-04:00

Venting in many ways is therapeutic. I do it a fair amount on here myself. But I usually have a subject to run with. However, sometimes people don't provide that and it turns into a really convoluted argument with oneself. The best example I can come up with right away is Timothy Treadwell. Better known as the grizzly man, Treadwell took several cameras along for his many excursions to go spend time with the bears that would eventually mean his and his girlfriend's demise.

Treadwell was fighting many demons, and so he at one point thought it necessary to provide us with a Diss Monologue. Timothy's Diss does accompany some sort of subject, but even then there's no real reason provided as to why he rants so angrily. It trails off into oblivion and it just makes him look like a fool.

Rappers do this quite often on their records. I would name a few but I don't listen to rap enough to do so. There was a time when I did listen to rap however so I've heard a few monologues. Usually it comes at the end of the song as it winds down.

I suppose that if Timothy hadn't died, his angry rant would never have came to light, but rappers put it directly on their albums that are sold to the public. What does it accomplish? Is it supposed to show that they're angry and therefore deserve their position in the music market? Either way, it just turns into the drivel full of profanity that is not something that I'd imagine anybody enjoys listening to.

Stop it.

California.

2008-04-07T21:05:00.000-04:00

I don't hate California but I'm definitely getting sick of the songs about it. California is what many consider the cultural and trend setting center of the world. So to have so many songs about California isn't so surprising. But I think there are just too many out there now. Since I don't live in there, I don't care to hear songs about it. I can't relate to these songs.

I have a couple albums that are pretty good, but were marred with songs about how trashy Hollywood is, forcing me to skip those songs most of the time. If an artist sets out to write a new song about California I really think they should consider all the others before they decide to actually go through with it.

I have been to California, so I can sort of see why people are so inspired to write these songs. I also think that the word "California" just fits so well into a song because of its structure that bands feel it would be a shame not to include it.

I guess my biggest complaint about bands writing about California is that often they end up releasing that song as a single. When they do the radio gets hold of it and beats the us all over the head with it.

Saving me much research and finger cramping here is a list of the songs written about California on Wiki.

So Much California

*As he realizes that he's listening to a song that's on the list.* >_< Damn it!

My Gas Saving Tips.

2008-04-07T04:28:00.000-04:00

I know that there have been numerous articles, and news reports on how to cut back on gas consumption while driving. But I still have to do add a thing or two to the vast amount of tips myself. I'll first start at the pump.

Get your gas either in the morning or at night when the temperature is cooler. Gas pumps are set to measure the volume of gas and not the density so when it's cooler you're essentially getting more gas.

I can't stomach doing this anymore for fear of embarrassment and perhaps an angry gas station clerk, but here's an extra tidbit for the brave. When you first walk up to the pump, if there are three different nozzles, I have found that you can take each one, before they are turned on and squeeze out about a cup of gas into your tank. Then you pick which nozzle you're actually going to use and start pumping with it. You could also try doing it again after you've finished pumping to see if you can squeeze in a couple extra cups of fuel as well.

Once you have finished pumping and have turned off the pump, turn the nozzle and then pump the handle a few times, the first pump will release the pressure from the hose, which often results in quite a bit of extra gas.

Pumping the handle after the initial one sometimes will produce a slow drizzle so if you want to stand there until the drizzle stops then by all means do so, but I've experienced times when I haven't seen the end of it and just gave up. But I've found that some newer pumps won't allow a person to pump the handle any more once the pump has been turned off.

Here's my main driving tip. I'm sure you've heard most of the others I'll cover, but I have yet to see any other article cover this. If you live in a mountainous region, throw it in neutral when going down a hill. I feel that this at least offsets having to go up the hill, which takes more gas than going on the flat. I drive 65 miles every other weekend to see my girlfriend and I estimate that I can coast nearly 12 miles round trip. The benefit to doing this is saving RPMs. I go from 2000 RPMs while in gear to 700 while in neutral. That's gotta count for something.

Make sure you deactivate cruise control before you do throw it into neutral because some vehicles will freak out and accelerate to really high RPMs since it's not in gear. Also DO NOT slip past neutral, because you'll throw it into reverse, and that will fuck up your transmission. Then the whole saving money on gas thing is out the window because you'll have to buy a new transmission. I suppose these are the reasons why the media leaves this one out.

I often drive at night with no one near me on the roads on the way back from my girlfriend's house so I'll usually take the inside of every curve I can on the four lane highway as well. Doing so ever so slightly shortens the trip.

The Patapon Pace.

2008-03-26T20:48:00.000-04:00

I recently got a PSP. I used it during GDC to show people my demo reel. I only used it three times, but one of the companies I showed it to was Valve, and that was a great experience. But, since I bought it, of course I had to go out and buy a ridiculous amount of games. One of the ones I bought recently was Patapon.

Just to inform those of you who haven't played it, there are a few things you should know. Patapon is a rhythm game, but nothing like DDR or Guitar Hero which have the scrolling indicators that let you know when to hit a button once the indicator reaches a designated point on the screen. In Patapon, you are essentially the god of a tribe. This tribe will react to the music depending on the combination of beats you use. There are three main types of commands, Guard, Attack and Advance.

The driving force that helps you keep the rhythm is the constant 1-2-3-4 of the tambourine. If you do well and hit exactly on beat with the tambourine you can tell by the sound of the drumbeat, if you're a little off, so is the sound of the drum. But if you do well enough you can send your tribesmen into a fever where they start jumping up and down and flinging enough arrows and spears to fill the sky. While playing you help the tribesmen hunt for food, defeat all kinds of large creatures, and fight other tribes. It's a good game!

Today, I decided to try taking a walk while playing Patapon, taking a step to each beat and it turned out to be a good walk! The persistent beat of the tambourine beckoned me to take each step at a faster pace than what I normally go. I actually worked up a sweat while walking today because of Patapon. It was very difficult to keep the rhythm with my thumbs without keeping rhythm with my feet, so there was a sort of synergy between my body and the game because of it.

Despite the fact that it was an enjoyable experience, there was a downside to playing the game. For one, I was horrible at the game while walking. I only came away with a handful of meals for my tribesmen after playing about 6 times (about a game per lap around my property). I lost the movement of my arms since I had to hold the PSP. Finally, it wasn't easy to see the screen because of the sunlight. But, I may do it again so that I can see if I can both keep walking with the beat and get my tribesmen into a fervor, because that would feel more like true synergy.

Water?

2008-03-26T14:27:00.001-04:00

There's a lot of different types of bottled water out there. All of which aren't worth buying unless you're not near a drinking fountain or near a trustworthy tap. The truth is, the water from the tap is very often the same water that is in the bottles. Well, maybe they run the bottled water through a whole bunch of coffee filters that are sewn together first, but mostly it's the same stuff.

However several companies including Snapple, Sobe, Propel, and Glaceau have their own versions of "water." "Antioxidant water", "life water" "invigorating water", "vitamin water" are the names of the waters that these companies produce. None of which are clear, none of which taste tasteless.

I'm confused though, if water has a flavor, if water is colored then how can it still be water? I would call it a flavored drink. Marketing stategy defeated.

Dead Batteries.

2008-03-17T20:39:00.000-04:00

Do you remember when Laser pointers were really popular? Audiences would basically cover performers in laser light. I'm sure it's still a little bit of a problem, but not as bad now. The reason it's not so bad now is because the batteries ran out. It's cheaper to buy a new laser light than it is the batteries to resupply your old one with power. So most people just throw it in a drawer and forget about it.

What a waste of good electronics. I dug through my drawers and brought out all the dead items that I would probably still use if I didn't have to spend up to 15 dollars on each thing to get new batteries. Here's all of the stuff that I have that's now useless:

Most of the batteries in these lights are dead from rolling around in my pocket and the button ends up pressing against the keys.

I would definitely still use this one, it has a timer, a radio, and a clock. The reason the batteries are so quickly dead on this one is because it is really easy to have the radio on without knowing it. I could really use the timer though (which is what I bought it for) for when I work out.

I would kind of like to know what kind of batteries are in different electronics however. The reason is because if I could find certain electronic devices that are super cheap, (at a dollar tree for instance) and then cannibalize the batteries and use them in the devices I want to use. But, that'd be a gamble to do, since there are several different types of small batteries. Plus I'd have an even bigger pile of useless junk.

So what to do with all these junked components? I don't know what I'll do with them, but I look for components that use Triple A batteries now. I also use rechargeable batteries. Take that battery companies!

Yes. I did pick these up.

2008-03-17T16:51:00.000-04:00

OMGEEZ! I've had a fun time trying to keep up with all the change I've found so far. I know it is such a mundane thing really, but I find it to be quite an interesting experiment. I'm pretty sure I've missed out on about 33 cents because of various social situations however.

The first miss was on an escalator between the set of stairs, I wasn't fast enough, and people were horny to get on the moving stairs, that was at least 6 cents. The second occasion was in San Francisco. I had more of an opportunity to get it, but there was a change hungry zombie across from it who was asking for change. I had the notion soon after the opportunity had passed to go pick up the 2 cents and give it to him. But, if you get in a situation like that you have to be ready for anything, and I didn't feel like dealing with him.

For the third I saw a quarter lying on the ground in front of a Hardees drive-thru. Now this situation is rare, because a person just doesn't happen by a drive thru. I've had to fight the urge to scour them for change because people drop a lot there, but it is an awkward social situation to just open your door and pick it all up while you're waiting on your food. But in this instance, we parked on the side with the drive thru and it was very near the entrance to the restaurant, but when I had the chance to snatch up the 1/4 dollar a car pulled up to get their food.

I've picked up some pretty dirty money. Certain coins were dirty enough to photograph.

This particular penny conflicts with the rules. As previously stated, change can only count if found out in public. This penny was found outside on the ground at my house.

I know I never dropped this penny because I would remember such a screwed up penny and I generally don't maim money for fun and neither does my Dad. I want to count this coin. But I need the OK of the people that have thrown in the pot in order to count it. They approve, it has been counted.

Yes. I did pick these up.

Why the Wii sucks. *Now with more video!

2008-03-13T20:49:00.001-04:00

There are several good points to the Wii. The motion sensing, the wifi, the virtual console... sorta. But I gotta throw off on the Wii a little. Here's a list:

1 Shovelware.
2 Lack of non crappy games.
3 Virtual Console.
4 I had to pay for the internet browser.
5 What? No Flash?
6 Lack of online play.
7 Making friends is a painful process.
8 You can fill up your memory easily.

Here's the Details:

1. Chicken Shoot, Pool Party, Carnival Games, Anubis, etc... Don't buy em, they're crap.

2. This one holds less water, there are several good games, but I feel like I'm being let down since the 360 has a ton of great games and most of them have multiplayer capabilities. I don't have a 360.

3. They seem to be neglecting the VC. Where's Battletoads? Earthworm Jim? Final Fantasy IV (then called FFII in America)? A Nintendo 64 game is 10 dollars. 10 Dollars! I can find Perfect Dark for $5 in a used game store, and yes, I still have my Nintendo 64.

4. My friend Josh got a Wii before I did. He got the Opera Browzer for free. I had to use 5 dollars worth of wii points. What the Crap!?

5. I want to watch a lot of video through my internet browser, especially Alluc.org but I can't because the internet browser doesn't have the latest version of flash equipped.

6. This is as much the fault of the developers. Medal of Honor 2 has online play, Smash Bros Brawl has online play, So does GH3. But I know you couldn't count all the games with online play on your fingers for the 360.

7. In order to make friends on the Wii you have to input their 16 digit code. They also have to input your code. Once you have done this you have to spin around without pausing 18 times with the wiimote in your hand. On the 360, it's just a matter of knowing the person's screen name.

8. I don't know what happens when you use all the memory available on the Wii, but I'd hate to think you would have to delete a game to get another one. After all you paid for it.

I suppose that's why it costs less. I suppose if I wanted all those things I would just have to buy a 360. But I'm trying to hold off because I need to learn some software for my job, else I would have one now and it would rule my life. But alas, if I actually bought more games for the Wii, I'd probably have a better experience on it. I've mainly been using it to play Game Cube games right now so I'll keep my Wii for a long time. Because I sold my Game Cube.

Gas Prices Rhetoric.

2008-03-11T19:11:00.000-04:00

Writers can lead us to believe just about anything. I don't know how I would handle writing articles about gas prices if I were in a position to do so, but I do know that I'm no too happy with the way writers are handling it now. I suppose they're required to be subjective and they end up writing articles like these: Gasoline: Painful and getting worse.

"Now there are some studies that say it's not really that bad."

Oh really? Are the people who do these studies rich? Doubling in price in little more than a year is NOT GOOD. I feel like I'll do ok, but what about those who live from paycheck to paycheck? Tell them that "It's not so bad." I remember when I was younger hearing an older uneducated man talk about the woes of earning a living and how the government was going to jack up the prices on everything, and that things were only going to get worse. I scoffed when he said it, but he turned out to be right. Well, at least about the fact that prices are soaring now.

Ultimately, I wish Americans were more willing to protest. Everyone is so jaded and apathetic, that they just don't rise up and protest anymore. I care. I want to shake down the walls of whoever is responsible for such ridiculous prices for gas. We're being robbed people! Gas used to cost me about $22 to fill up my Chevy Cavalier. It costs me nearly $34 dollars a tank now. Gas costs nearly the same as a gallon of milk does now. When I was 17 years old gas was somewhere around $.80 a gallon. I'm 26 now and gas is $3.20? That was only 9 years ago.

This photo was taken on January 13th, 2007:

Everything is NOT OK! Protest!

Price Gouging Petition

Brick and Mortar to Ashes and Dust.

2008-03-07T01:00:00.000-05:00

My local CD shop after more than 10 years of business is gone. They were a cool little shop and it pains me to see them go. They had a SWEET sale before they closed shop though, so I got a lot of stuff for cheap. I had a really interesting conversation with the owner of the shop though.

Steve Jobs may very well have had his hand in their demise with the advent of iTunes. I told the owner of the shop that the reason he didn't get much of my business is because I boycott the RIAA. That also being the reason that I walked out of there for the last time with only used media.

When I told him that I boycotted them he said "Why!?" I was taken aback at his reaction but I told him how I felt about it. He, being a part time DJ in addition to running the shop knew pretty well how things worked in the music business. He told me that he thought overall the RIAA tried to help musicians. He did admit that their practices were questionable, but that ultimately they helped musicians do better than if they were independent.

Although Cloud Cult seems to be doing well, I can see how the RIAA does lift a lot of the burden off the musicians backs so that they can concentrate on writing and producing the music they want to. But my problem with the RIAA is that they don't give the artists nearly what they deserve.

The guy that I spoke to also said that he thought the artists were struggling quite a bit right now. I think I believe that. I'm sure it is much more difficult to become a signed artist right now because iTunes only charges $10 an album so there is much less revenue to give to the artists. David Byrne goes into great detail on the situation that musicians face here: David Byrne's Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists — and Megastars The 360 deal being the worst possible deal for artists to agree to.

So, in boycotting the RIAA I'm sending a message to two parties. The RIAA and the musicians. Basically I would like to see the RIAA ended and I would like to see musicians begin to converge on their own and figure out a new method of helping each other to get noticed. Ok, I guess that just doesn't happen as we all know competition is a big part of the music business. After all that's why all these boy bands popped up at the same time back in the 90's. They gotta cash in.

Ultimately I feel that since music has become so commercialized, it has lost much of it's sincerity. I'd love to see no more payola radio, no more bands releasing one ballad to sell their record only to find upon purchasing their album that they're thrashcore country metal rapstars, no more "the first album was great, but the second album blew" careers... Ahhh what an utopian dream.. Of course it's not ever going to be perfect, but it could be so much better than it is now.

Speaking of Cloud Cult, I'm going to see them in concert in April. I'm really looking forward to it and I just love how they handle themselves business-wise as well. Their new album came out yesterday, go check em out!

What did the five fingers say to the face?

2008-03-07T00:52:00.000-05:00

It sounds like the RIAA is getting SLAPped with a counter suit that could be very troubling for them: The Wired Article

PWND

2008-03-04T13:49:00.000-05:00

Someone posted this in the comments section of my threadless blog, and it's friggin hilarious!

GDC Photos.

2008-03-02T22:39:00.000-05:00

Live Katamari.

Bioshock's Big Daddy.

Super Smash Brothers Brawl

Morgan Webb playing the Wii Fit.

Recoil Steam Punks.

Man I need a flash for my camera, but I assure you I was packing around enough equipment already, so that's why some of the photos.. well... all the photos blow.

Game Developers. A Conference. A Peeved Job Seeker.

2008-03-02T21:17:00.000-05:00

At some point in the recent past my girlfriend and I drove nearly an hour to our Alma Mater to see if we could get any help with searching for jobs. Once we got there, we were basically told that everything is done online now and that we should do it all on there. Even though we were told on an earlier trip to the same office that the lady who helped us on the later occasion was great and that she could do a lot for us. If everything is done online, then what exactly is her purpose then? Why are they paying her a salary?

Tantamount to that story, I had a great time at the conference this year but one thing about it really irked me. I traveled all the way from Virginia to San Francisco, California to present my demo reel to the game companies at the career fair only to be told by some of them that I should submit it online because they're not taking them there.

Not accepting them there? At a career fair? I was insulted. I felt that it was rather rude of them not to accept reels. I will submit my reel online, and understand that it is a more tidy method of receiving them for the companies, but for someone to have to travel such a long distance only to be told that they don't accept demo reels there is just unacceptable.

I had heard though, that some companies had booths set up nevertheless because they did on site interviews to the ones who had submitted their reels prior to the event. Also, I think there was also purpose for them being there to talk to investors. and finally, I heard that another reason they wouldn't accept them is because they would have to fly them back, adding an expense to their trip. But I hardly think those are excuse enough to shrug off those who were seeking jobs.

I thought driving 50 minutes to my college was bad.

(This blog written in part on a PSP, which I think is kinda cool.)

Leap Day.

2008-02-29T23:03:00.001-05:00

Happy Leap Day!!

Beware of Worm Holes!

February 18th, 2008.

2008-02-28T03:17:00.000-05:00

My trip started near a tall circular structure that was to be used to make lightning that would be used to to make the world move. But, because of some angry and fearful individuals this structure stood useless. Once my trip began I crossed a great river overseen by a green one-lane bridge with steel trusses overhead. The road was a long and winding one. Many people lived off of this land I traversed. Strange creatures of the night whose eyes glowed bright green roamed about and threatened me with their quick evading movements.

Mowell road eluded me and I traveled onward, second guessing myself. Upon retracing my path I discovered a road named Mowl instead. "Why not take it?" I thought and took a chance with it. I dipped and swayed and bumped through the night, as I moved along the trail, not another traveler in sight. I trekked onward on a one lane road with much doubt in my mind, baffled at the direction a digital god had given me. This road perried and swayed against my attacks and I countered it well against its own, until finally this long winding serpent named Mowell had come to an end.

This new path I took was a bit more comfortable to travel, but forked was it much to my dismay. I veered left thinking it a continuation of the same road. I traveled and proceeded for quite some time. Living in these lands meant a life of cattle. To the cattle a life of fences and bailed hay. Along this road upon which I veered shown blazing orange eyes. As most do sleep during this time, one cow, so brazen, thought it a good time to have a snack. So this cow fought sleep long enough to enjoy some fresh hay. The late night cow gets the hay much as the early bird gets the worm, I suppose. I saw this cow twice, once from the back end and then once from the front end as I decided to try using the other half of the fork.

As I danced along the other half of the fork, many lights shown upon my visage. I thought it peculiar to see such a place out in the middle of nowhere's land. As I reached the place where the light came from I saw many large land beasts that were mechanical in nature, whose bellies were filled with an abundance of things. I decided that my belly should also be filled and so I stopped across the road from these grumbling creatures who billowed smoke from their horns.

Once inside I skulked about weary from my strange journey. I needed rejuvenation, but I could not choose what that sustenance would be. As I rummaged around, a dark skinned man with a barrel of a torso trudged about. His locks ran half the length of him and were white as that of a clergyman's robe. He carried with him a drinking cup that mimicked the shape of his torso with which he refilled to the brim, so that his tongue would not be parched during his own bizarre voyage. Bizarre enough I imagine, to turn a man's hair white.

I gave the shopkeep her pittance for my victuals and continued on. A muted ring sounded from my pocket and upon my inquiry, I heard another voice calling me. This voice asked if I was to be arriving soon. I spoke about much of my travels and they were pleased to know of my whereabouts. Nearing the end of my journey I came upon a mighty village with buildings to either side of me that seemingly tried swallow up the road with their steps and sidewalks. The roads became awash with green, then red, and then green again. And I was there. I met with the only one courageous enough to fight against sleep's beckoning call and he had a dog who was most excited by my arrival, even though we were mutually strangers.

This fellow so courageous showed me things most humorous, told me the latest news and showed me where I could rest my head. I readied myself for the inviting throes of sleep. And soon, all was quiet and peaceful as the people who dwelled inside the house of the welcoming host all laid in rest.

July 9th, 2006.

2008-02-28T02:30:00.000-05:00

Everything was muddy. Any grass was worn away by thousands of feet. People were unhappy and miserable. I was on a bit of a slope with a friend and he had an Astro Van. There were also several vehicles lined up on the side of the muddy slope. My friend was determined to get the van through and took off up the hill while I stood next to a green pickup truck. When I looked up the hill again he was no longer riding in his van, because he managed to procure an ATV.

He tried to climb further up the hill with the ATV but couldn't so he backed down the hill rather quickly. Because of his careless nature in backing down the hill he slammed into the truck that I was standing next to. I was rather angry with him for hitting it because it seemed rather obvious that he did it on purpose, but I left him alone because he also seemed angry.

Later on, I was on a rooftop and the people of the town I was in were still miserable. It seemed like everything was caked in mud and the air was thick with a sense of disaster. Many other people were on the rooftop with me and were abundant on top of several other buildings as well. Suddenly, balloons started appearing next to the people as if from a single speck of dust the was floating in the air and grew quite large. The balloons brightened the town with their color against the drabness of the mud that covered everything.

I couldn't believe my eyes! A woman who weighed over 300lbs who stood next to me took hold of one of the balloons. I held my tongue of objection to her stepping to the edge of the rooftop with balloon in hand and I feared for her life as she stepped of the ledge. She floated! She floated and descended to the muddy ground below.

Once she touched ground I raised my eyes to see that several other people joined her in floating to the ground and the sky filled with people who held tight to the string attached to their balloon and each of them slowly descended to earth. Perhaps there was a chance that we would overcome the drabness of this muddy world after all.

Regret.

2008-02-26T16:32:00.000-05:00

I've always wondered how people can live without any regrets. I've heard it several times "I don't regret a thing I've done." Well, that says one of two things about you. Either you're a really good person and literally haven't done anything that merits regret later on, or you're a really terrible person who just doesn't let the things you have done in your past bother you. I've also heard the statement following the previous, "There's no point in regretting the things that I've done, they're done, I can't change them, so I don't worry about them." I can see the point made here. I just don't accept it. Regret is a mechanism that is supposed to teach you not to do certain things again. Living regretless seems a Godless act to me. If you don't believe that you are held accountable for your actions after death by a higher power, then I can see how you can live without regret.

I've also heard "I'll try anything once." several times. That statement really disturbs me. I know a couple people that died before the age of 30 with that attitude. One in a drunken car crash and another of spinal cancer from taking way too much ecstacy. It just seems such a reckless statement to me. Sure, we all will die eventually, but why not try to live as long as possible?

The reason I've been thinking about this is because I do have regrets in my life. Some of which aren't really worth the effort but still bother me anyway. For instance, I regret having been a bit of an ass to someone I worked with at a former job. I would like to seek this person out to apologize. I have actually been afforded a few opportunities to make amends with some of the people that I feel I have wronged.

For instance: When I was in college there was an artist who had an art installation displayed in the gallery right across from the photo lab I had to work in. The piece incorporated a television that showed several cuts of footage of politicians and war, with Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You." playing over the footage. I have nothing against Stevie Wonder but the song is repetitious as is having only played once. But to have it repeated over and over again is very grating. So, while I worked on my photos, one of my teacher's student workers supervised us as my class worked in the lab. I confided in the fellow that the particular piece in the gallery was really getting on my nerves.

I actually liked the installation in the gallery, because it was thought provoking, but the song was getting on my nerves so as I worked in the photo lab I stopped what I was doing, walked over to the art installation that was in the gallery and unplugged the sound feed so that Stevie Wonder would SHUT UP! Later I found out that the fellow I confided in was the same guy who did the art installation. I felt pretty bad about it but figured that was going to be the end of it.

As fate would have it, that wasn't the end of it however, because I was actually afforded the chance to apologize to him at a party that we both attended. He was very kind and I felt much better afterward. Now it is no longer something that irks me every time I think about it because I feel that I have rectified myself. So it has been a goal of mine to continue doing little acts of rectification that can both make the person I've done some wrong toward feel better as well as myself.

Demo Reel.

2008-02-24T01:48:00.001-05:00

www.joshr3d.com

Upon researching a potential employer...

2008-02-15T04:59:00.000-05:00

From the Epic Games Fan Art and Fan Site Policy on the Epic Games site: "1.4 From your Fan Site, do not link to any website that promotes or exploits cheats or hacks to Epic’s games or any other games. If you do, we’ll be very unhappy and may sic our lawyers on you."

I laughed.

Here's the rest of it for a few more chuckles, someone must've been tired when they wrote it: Epic games legal junk that's actually kinda funny

Yay! Lee's not dead!

2008-02-14T22:36:00.000-05:00

Heh, some of my friends... He recently got into a six car pile up so he's dancing because he made it out of it just fine.

Beatbox Kitchen

2008-02-14T13:45:00.000-05:00

How to Rock the Kitchen Beatbox
Watch more DIY videos on 5min.com

I'm mostly putting this on here so that I have a quicker go to when I want to watch.

Change, updated.

2008-02-11T18:24:00.000-05:00

Well, so far this little experiment has been fun. The biggest concentration of change I've found is in Walmart at the registers; four dimes and several pennies. The main reason for this entry is because of a small happening came about that is note worthy.

I was standing and waiting for my food to be brought out and there was this guy in front of me ordering. When he paid for his order and got his change he looked at it and immediately threw it in the trash and walked away. There are several reason why this bothers me.

He obviously didn't want the change. But mostly it bothers me because he was so inconsiderate to have thrown it in the trash. People like me would have loved to find that change. But more importantly a homeless person or the salvation army or some organization like that could've put that change to use. But now it is on its way to a land fill.

From what I heard when he threw it, it sounded like it was probably about 3 cents but still, how mind blowingly prickish of him. And no, I didn't go digging in the trash for it. I did find a penny on the ground while I was waiting for my food though.

Stay updated on the total, because I'm going to announce the total at the end of the year in a special way. It's not much, but I'm excited about it.

God Willing.

2008-02-08T02:18:00.000-05:00

This year will be the first year I will observe Lent. It started two days ago now, and as a Christian I am supposed to fast, or abstain from something, but knowing how I am, I don't want to oath myself into that because I know I will slip up, but I will give it an honest effort and God willing I may actually be successful at it.

I am going to try not to swear as much, which isn't a lot but if I get flustered or upset they flow more freely. Occasionally a word or two will make it into daily usage as well. I will also try to curb my anger, which can get pretty intense, and sometimes over nothing, especially while playing video games.

Thanks to Lee for pointing out that Lent has indeed started.

Trajan.

2008-02-07T22:06:00.000-05:00

I got a chuckle out of this:

Cell Phone Spam.

2008-02-07T20:47:00.000-05:00

It's coming folks! Cell phone numbers have gone public. This means that you could be getting calls and text messages from anyone. My girlfriend and her family received several text messages that said, " Hey, I saw your profile, You're cute. Go to www.douchebagswhoshouldn'tbecallingpeople'scellnumbers.com "

Ok, so that wasn't the site. Fact is I don't remember it, and besides that if I did I don't think I'd be putting it on such a famous blog. Hah! Either way their site doesn't bear repeating.

I think the fact that phone companies have released people's private phone numbers is absolutley ridiculous. I suppose the phone companies are very happy about this though because now there will be more calls made, so more minutes will be used, so more money will be made.

Bahhhh!! I will not have it! I would really like to boycott the bastards for this crap that they've pulled, but pandora's box has been opened, and there's no way to stop it. So here's the best way to deter telemarketers from calling you and running up your phone bill: Do Not Call List

Babies and Gentlemen!

2008-01-31T15:49:00.001-05:00

WHY!? Why do some business owners insist on using babies and small children in their commercials? There's a local car dealership that runs commercials occasionally, and the woman who owns the dealership holds a baby in her arms as she promotes her Ford Trucks. The baby has no purpose in the commercial but she has it with her anyway. Then some business owners put the kids in front of the camera and make them do the commercial.

I've seen several billboards with babies on them as well. One in particular said "Is your heart a mess? Then go see my Dad." And it shows a family photo of baby who had been turned loose on something like cake and icecream or buffalo wings. You know, something really messy. The billboard was an advertisement for a cardiologist. I do have to give the cardiologist some credit though, at least they tied things together better than most.

It all boils down to sentimentality. When I studied photography in college my teacher said that you should let go of the sentimental value for your artistic photographs. It clouds your judgment toward them and makes it more difficult to edit which ones to show the public. I see the teacher's point though. You see, art and advertising are not places to inject sentiment. That's reserved for family.

There is a big difference between family photos and artistic portraits. When taking artistic portraits, it is all about the lighting, the composition, the contrast and colors. Family photos are meant to document loved ones. You can compose good family photos, but sometimes the photos that aren't the most perfectly composed are the ones that have the most sentimental value.

In the same regard, these commercials that business owners make with the children in them can have great sentimental value to them. But no one else cares. It's not an effective advertising campaign.

Target Practice in Portal.

2008-01-30T17:24:00.000-05:00

The 18th level of Portal is a good place to set up some targets for some live fire target practice. As if anybody ever really needs to.

The target practice is mostly for fun, but here is how to do it: Go through the level as normal or use noclip to reach the high platforms. Once you've reached the high platforms, you will need to use noclip. Fly from one platform to the next and then place a few enemies on each: npc_combine_s, npc_metropolice, npc_zombie, or npc_stalker. Just be warned that the stalker models freak out when you kill them. It's kinda disturbing, as are the stalkers.

You can even stack them on top of one another by going above the first enemy and aiming the crosshairs at the top of his head and then activating a new npc command. Once you have the enemies set up, go back to the bottom platform and pull out your favorite weapon and fire away.

Here are a couple of weapons cheats:

sk_plr_dmg_pistol 5

sk_max_crossbow 10

These are the default values, the command edits the amount of damage done, and the second command edits ammo, just replace the numbers to whatever you want. You can also see on the drop down list all the other weapons available and can scroll through them with the arrow keys.

Portal Suicide.

2008-01-29T04:55:00.000-05:00

HA!

Portal Polygamy.

2008-01-29T02:47:00.001-05:00

If you're tired of your old companion cube, get another one! The other one can just do the dishes and raise the kids. When the companion cube dispenser opens it reveals that there are indeed two companion cubes. It takes a slew of console commands to retrieve the second one, but it isn't really all that difficult to do.

First you have to open up the console and type: sv_cheat 1 (this allows cheats) and then sv_portal_placement_never_fail 1 (this allows you to place a portal almost anywhere, specifically on metal surfaces.)

Exit the console menu and shoot a portal on a wall near the cube tube and then enter the console again. Now you must type impulse 101 to allow you the Half-life 2 weapons, and then type noclip and fly above your new mistress.

Shoot your second portal on the wall next to the new companion cube and settle down on an invisible ledge above the cube and deactivate noclip.

Once you have done that, switch to your gravity gun so that you can more successfully grab the cube and propel it through the portal. You can either hop through the portal you've made inside the tube, or you can noclip back to the floor. Now you have two companion cubes.

The easiest way to tote both of them around is with the gravity gun.

But it would seem your bohemian ways can't last for long, as GLaDOS asks that you sacrifice one to appease her.

But hey at least you still have your mistress. Or did you sacrifice your wife? You sicko!

And just when you think you are home free...

I have yet to find a way around destroying both of them. I've experimented with trying to spawn extra companion cubes but I have yet to find the right command. I think it is possible because there should be a code representation of pretty much anything that exists in the game, so one stands to reason that a companion cube could be spawned.

Portal Cheats.

2008-01-27T17:07:00.000-05:00

After beating portal without using cheats, in order to have more fun with it is to use the developer console to your advantage. Now, since Portal is a direct offshoot of Half-life 2 there are several things you can do in portal that normally you couldn't without using the console. The commands that you use in the console are called Console Variables or cvars for short. In order to access the developer console, while in game you must hit escape, click options, click the keyboard tab, click advanced... and then enable developer console.

For a complete list of all the variables go here: PHLwiki

For the nitty gritty HL2 Cheats go here: cheats.ign.com

And here for Portal nits and grits: cheats.ign.com

Here are some of the more frequented cvars that I have been using.

sv_cheats 1 - This enables you to cheat, set sv_cheats to 0 if you want to turn it off.

notarget - Enemies and turrets will not try to attack you.

noclip - You're no longer restrained by walls, ceilings, and floors.

impulse 101 - All weapons. Considering that the only weapon you have on portal is the portal gun, this is a pretty cool code, especially since you get the gravity gun as well.

impulse 102 - Spawn a skull.

god - no damage

npc_create npc_zombie - creates a half-life 2 zombie, even though there are no zombies in the portal game.

The next two commands are used together.

npc_create_equipment weapon_shotgun,smg1, or ar2 - Although a combine soldier stays stationary you can choose his weapons. There may be a way to make them damage you using more variables but you can figure it out and let me know. The soldier will still look like he's shooting at you. There are no sounds, so for instance, you won't hear the blasts from a shotgun the combine solider is shooting.

npc_create npc_combine_s - If you get close enough to him he'll still try to hit you. He's especially good to use for target practice.

npc_create npc_fastzombie - These fiends are fast and mean.

npc_create npc_headcrab - They'll still jump at you, but they don't have their sound effects in the portal game. Neither do any of the other enemies you spawn.

npc_create npc_turret_floor - This turret is in Half-life 2 but can still be spawned into portal. It doesn't speak to you like the portal turret but it can be reactivated, although it is difficult to get them to stand upright again once they have fallen over. The do seem to spawn better than the portal turret but it's still a pain sometimes. Still I'd choose to spawn this one over the other.

npc_create npc_portal_turret_floor - This turret is pretty hard to deal with because when you execute the command the turret pops up in such a way that it immediately tries to fall over and if they do there's no way to reactivate them. But they definitely have more personality, so they do have a plus side.

You can also skip to the different maps by typing: map testchamb_a_** and replace ** with numbers 01 through 15. One other thing to mention, the numbers don't correspond with the actual number of the test chamber.

record [name your video here]- this command will record a demo video for you. When using the command it should look like this: record stabbedhenderson

"stabbedhenderson" being the name of the file that will be spit out once the video has completed recording.

stopdemo - stop the demo you're recording

A lesser known menu that can be accessed is the debug menu. In order to access it press shift+F1, to exit it press shift+F1 again.

I will go into detail about certain scenarios you can do with these cheats in future posts. There's just too much to cover in one.

Bar Soap vs. Bodywash.

2008-01-22T20:19:00.000-05:00

I'm finding that bar soap gets me cleaner than bodywash. You know how a clean plate will kind of squeak? Well it seems like with the bar soap I get a result tantamount to that. The body wash seems to leave a scent better, and perhaps that's why it doesn't give the same result as bar soap. Because it is leaving a fragrance residue on your skin. I might switch back to bar soap. Oh well, that's all I can muster about the subject. Happy cleaning.

This was a triumph!

2008-01-21T14:29:00.000-05:00

I recently beat Portal for going on the third time. It's a very quick game, but just a captivating piece of physics and subtly spooky entertainment.

Companion PC

3D? Closer to VR.

2008-01-16T16:17:00.000-05:00

I have to make a game using this. HAVE TO!

Johnny Lee is the MAN!

Drools

2008-01-07T13:31:00.001-05:00

Casio EXILIM Pro EX-F1

Ohhh yes. If the video is good on this thing I may have to purchase it. I'd like a good video camera with still frame capabilities. Especially since it can record video at 1200 Frames Per Second! Although, I would like to have the option to hook up an external hard drive so that I can record it at full resolution with no shortage of space. So I might wait and see what the competition is like.

I want adventure!

2008-01-03T21:07:00.000-05:00

I used to play Paintball, then it was airsoft. I've never had such a rush in my life! Roller coasters are close, but they only last about 5 minutes. It's a day long adrenaline rush! Sure it hurts but that's why your adrenaline starts flowing is because of the fear of pain. I stopped playing paintball because my friends did.

I stopped playing airsoft for the same reason, plus some of the other people that played were real assholes. They changed the rules to allow Hi-Capacity magazines, which means they could spray BBs for a lot longer without changing magazines. BBs cost a lot of money, and if everyone has Hi-Cap mags I'd also have to have a Hi-Cap Mag just to keep up. I also got turned down on an offer with a couple of players as well. So I dunno, I was just left with a bad taste in my mouth.

But I want that rush back! I want to do something! I want to go camping, hiking.. Something!

Actually.

2008-01-03T17:26:00.000-05:00

Maddingo from my threadless blog commented on the recent blog about the RIAA suing a man over ripping CDs saying "Actually as it turns out while the RIAA has worded the ripped mp3s as "unathorized copies"

What they are actually suing him over is sharing the files via Kazaa"

engadget story on this issue"

I'm glad he cleared that up but the RIAA still needs to be stopped.

Hrmmm, who to vote for...

2008-01-03T01:04:00.001-05:00

Having problems figuring out who to vote for in the upcoming elections?

http://glassbooth.org/

This site is a pretty interesting way to find out. And a lot quicker than having to read every individual candidates websites. And it gives you the facts. Not just what the candidate wants you to hear.

*End advertisement*

Seriously though... go out and vote! Maybe in doing so you'll not hate the next president. Go vote in the primaries especially, I think they're as important if not more so than the main election.

Tallying.

2008-01-01T20:14:00.001-05:00

I visited a friend last night to celebrate the New Year and I found a $.10 on the floor. I thought, Awesome! But alas, the rule is that I have to find it in public. So I left it at his house. I'm having a hard time finding takers for the $5 pool, but I have a whole year to convince them I guess. In regards to that, another rule I'll set is that I can't tell them the amount I've already found before they've given their prediction. If they know how much I've found six months into this little experiment, they could take an average and perhaps gain an advantage to predict by.

I did already state my prediction, which was: $2.26. Two days before this experiment began I did find a dime in Walmart! W00t! I love finding change! I heard a little story on the radio how this man who only used cash and saved all his change ended up using the change over time to buy a new car with. That's a whole lot of ca-ching.

Happy New Year everyone!

BOYCOTT THE RIAA!!!

2007-12-30T02:29:00.000-05:00

OK, Now they've crossed the Line! Read this: "Ripping is Stealing"

Boycott The RIAA

Stop The RIAA

Free Jammie

Once again, buy used CDs, buy indie, or buy directly from the artist. The RIAA is nothing more than a money leeching parasite!

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down II.

2007-12-27T18:22:00.000-05:00

Indeed there are many things a person needs to survive in emergency situations, which has become evident upon making the list of all the supplies. But another thing that is quite important is to have several skills available in case such a situation could arise. Here's a list, of sorts, of the different skills and abilities that would come in handy.

Physical fitness. This one is rather important, because you never know when you may be required to take an extensive hike or swim*. Endurance is especially important. For instance: You get stranded in a forest that has a large population of bears. Bears will track food down for miles and if you think that one is following you be ready to take extensive measures to get out of the bear's way.

Self Defense Tactics. Knowing how to fight, how to defend, how to take a punch can be an important part to survival. "Lord of the Flies" is an interesting scenario that shows how crazy people can get. Of course there are several other stories that do it in a less bland fashion.

*Swim. It won't do much good to be physically fit in the water if you don't actually know how to swim.

Knot tying. There are several different types of knots that a person can learn. And each task could be best accomplished by knowing the specific knot that the task calls for.

Marksmanship. If you have a gun, you need to know how to shoot it. A shotgun, is for close range, a rifle for long range, a crossbow has more of an arch than a bullet. Practice shooting.

CPR, Heimlich Maneuver, General First Aid. This one is pretty obvious, and can always be handy. The first aid includes knowing how to suture a wound, stop bleeding and how to keep things sterile.

Edible? Don't eat it if you're not sure if it will kill you. Know what's most nutritious and what's poisonous. Eat very small portions and eat often. Also consume a lot of water, especially if you have to endure rigorous activity.

Hunting and fishing. Learn how to be stealthy, how to track animals down, know their habitats and of course your marksmanship will come in handy here as well. Fishing may be easier in some regards if you have the right tools. *Ahh more things to add to the supplies list*

Fire. You have to keep warm. If your body goes into a state of hypothermia you will die if you don't get warm. Fire is also great to signal your location, boil water, cook food, and well, I suppose we all know how useful fire is. It can also be dangerous of course so take care and know how to keep it under control.

Mending. Clothes don't last forever. So being able to patch them up would probably be very useful.

Morse Code. This may be more important than you think. HAMM Radio, light signals, and maybe even pecking on a wall to be stealthy could be an important form of communication. It is far down this list for a reason though, because if the other person doesn't know Morse Code then it's not really going to help much.

Play. If you can find the time, keep your mind busy. If you have company, laugh and try to enjoy yourself despite the circumstances. If you can't keep your sanity, then you will not last long.

Wii!!

2007-12-25T19:29:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to say that I've written a blog from my Wii!

What fun!

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down.

2007-12-22T19:32:00.001-05:00

I've been watching Jericho and reading The Walking Dead. It's putting me into survival mode. I'm going to make a list of stuff I need in case of an emergency situation. Of course, Jericho hits a little closer to home than The Walking Dead. Now there are two situations that these supplies call for, a situation of anarchy where a whole town, state, or the country is in a state of emergency. A more plausible situation is where I am either lost in the woods or stranded because my car broke down. I will label each item accordingly (A for anarchy and S for Stranded)

Large Tank or Barrel for gas. (A)
A Generator. (A)
Two Way Radios (A)
Hand crank gas pump. (A)
Siphon hose. (A)
Shovel. (A)
Binoculars. (A)
Rope. (A/S)
Map. (A/S)
Compass. (A/S)
Cat litter. (Specifically for tire traction)
At least 20 Jugs of Water. (A)
A simple tool kit (hammer, flathead and phillips screw driver, crescent wrench, crowbar.)(A/S)
Hand crank flash light/radio. (A/S)
Flash Light. (A/S)
Batteries (all sizes). (A/S)
Candles. (A/S)
Glow Sticks (A/S)
HAM Radio. (A)
Lighter, Matches, and Flint. (A/S)
Canned Foods or MREs (meals ready to eat). (A)
Back Pack. (A/S)
A Whistle. (A/S)
Blankets. (A/S)
First Aid Kit. (A/S)
A Knife. (A/S)
A Pistol. (A)
A Rifle w/ Scope. (A)
A Shotgun. (A)
Crossbow? (A)
Axe. (A)
Lots of Ammo. (A)
Motorcycle or Four-Wheeler. (A)
Bicycle. (A)
Books. (A)

Now, realize, any gas powered machine is only reliable as long as there is a solid supply of gas. So that's why a Bicycle is a must. A single lit candle will supposedly keep you warm in a car if you get stranded because your car breaks down and you're stuck in rain or snow. Of course you should keep the vents closed so that the heat stays in.

Survive.

Congratulations.

2007-12-22T18:29:00.001-05:00

Today I became occupied with something that allowed my mind to wander. And because such a situation came about, I thought back to a recent social gathering that I attended not too long ago. I overheard a man who is twice divorced, congratulate a newly engaged woman. Although he congratulated her, what I heard was more like "My Condolences." I sat in the floor thinking, as I toiled away at the task at hand, about how a congratulations for becoming engaged from someone who is twice divorced could be taken almost as an insult.

If I were the one being congratulated by that man, I would be under the impression that he isn't sincere. Not that he means to be insincere necessarily, but because of his experience with marriage, I would not feel that he means to congratulate most sincerely, as that man is very likely biased tremendously against marriage.

On the opposite side of this I would take a pastor's congratulations whole-heartedly. Let's assume of course that the pastor in question is indeed a just man with no secrets. This man has the authority to bring a man and a woman together in holy matrimony. So to be congratulated for it from a pastor would leave me less skeptical of the possibility that the man has biased thoughts behind his eyes and in congratulating me he would also vicariously be giving me his blessings.

Now that I've gone through this social scenario, I have come to the conclusion that this is not the most just of thinking. For in thinking this way I have faltered in that I have judged the person who gave the congratulations. Perhaps it's not so important a thing who is giving the congratulations, but just that they are giving the congratulations. But in my human nature it is hard not to have such thoughts regarding the sincerity of someone who is giving their congratulations.

My Sentiments Exactly.

2007-12-20T15:58:00.000-05:00

I'm a Christian. And to read this just makes me feel good to know that there are other people out there with the same thoughts. I wonder how I'll deal with these issues when I have a child.

A Commentary on the Holidays

A word of caution.

2007-12-18T20:09:00.000-05:00

Don't make yourself dizzy in the shower. For your health.

Store Brand Goods.

2007-12-17T20:18:00.000-05:00

Many of the store brand goods are actually name brand products that have simply been relabeled. So if you feel like you need name brand products just to look like you're not a cheap person, then you're probably poorer than those who enjoy the same products as you at a cheaper price.

The Wiki

My Taste in Music.

2007-12-17T13:09:00.000-05:00

My music tastes vary widely but there are really two that I focus on. Rock and Alternative both Mainstream and Indie. Bare in mind that I do boycott the RIAA so when I buy music I make sure none of my money goes to them, either buying used or directly from the artists.

Here is the moral dilemma I deal with. I've listened to several types of rock music. Some I just stay away from altogether. I don't agree in the least with most of rock music's messages. I don't do drugs, sex isn't a main focal point of my life, and well, I do like to rock.

Blasphemy is something I stay away from as much as possible. It bothers me. Now, I'm not the most holy of people. I don't like the fact that I have to say that statement and I do work toward being a morally just person. The problem with all of this is that I love the sound of rock music. I love the energy.

I don't even mind if I can't hear the lyrics from all the screaming and growling going on. To me screaming in itself can be a talent. Could you go out on stage and do that every night? I wouldn't want to as I would bet that it would eventually mess up your vocal chords as evidenced by the lead singer of Avenged Sevenfold.

On the opposite side of this, there's Country Music. A vial grotesque super mainstream type of music. The kind where the music writers are the real ones making money. Did you know Garth Brooks doesn't write his own music? I challenge you to find someone who does write their own music in country music. To say that someone doesn't would probably be inaccurate but it would be interesting to find out who does. I don't like most country. I enjoy Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash. Some of the older stuff is good at times, because it seems more honest and less tailored to line the big wigs pockets with platinum.

But there's one positive to country. The stories. Those who actually do the writing of these songs do a good job of it. Interesting, dramatic and often touching stories. After all, it is country. The emo for hillbillies. I can relate to some country as well. I am a man of the mountains. But far from a Redneck. I would consider that word to be a racial epithet against me.

I have found a couple of bands that kind of touch on both sides of this hunger for stories and rock music. Death Cab for Cutie and The Weakerthans. Very good bands, but I suppose I crave more. So, who do I turn to? What bands do you suggest? I like rock, alt folk, alt pop, not a huge fan of rap though. Similar bands are The Postal Service, Cloud Cult, and Bishop Allen.