“They” being RBR. During my last stop in the shop, Rob approached me about helping with a redesign of the RBR site. What made him think I’d be good for that? He found Disjunction and liked what I was doing here (specifically the regular blog entries).
So there you go, kids. Fill a blog with articles about bikes, furries, charities, electroshock therapy, and gadget reviews. It might just get you some site work. It’s not that I’m afraid of people finding Disjunction, it’s just that I never assume anybody is reading it beside my wife and folks reading FnDragon’s LJ friends list. I’m guessing that Rob was checking out his referral logs and saw it mentioned there.
In other news, I’ve sold my kayak. I was sad to see it hauled off in the hands of another man, but I was happy to see $350 in 20s and 10s in my hands. Next to go will likely be about 25% of my book collection - the stuff I have no intention of reading again or of reading for the first time. Normally, I’d trade those in at Webster’s for store credit, but getting credit just means I would replace books I didn’t read with more books I won’t read. For once, I think I’ll see what Webster’s will give me in cash.
Oh hey, I know… How about I turn this post into a virtual yard sale? Check my goods after the cut, yo. Read the rest of this entry »
When my Rock Band drums broke, I placed an order with WalMart.com for new ones since they were a mere $54. Shortly after that, Brandy told me to just go buy a set in the store so I could get back to rocking. I did so.
And then I sent my broken drums back to EA.
Earlier this week, the EA replacements and the WalMart order arrived on the same day, giving me three sets of drum kits for Rock Band. That’s some major overkill right there.
I’m actually going to keep two sets and return one (unless somebody reading this wants a cheap set of 360 drums), but the important part is that I’m back in action. And tonight, Brandy will join me in a drum duel.
I guarantee this will be the first and last time she plays drums with me.
1. Replace the hard drive - It’s commonly known by now that the PS3 hard drive is not quite as locked down as the 360 drives, which is interesting since the 360 drives are portable and the PS3 drive is inserted into the system. For just over $100, you can plug a 2.5″ 250GB SATA150 drive into the PS3, format it, and be up and running in mere minutes. Might as well do it right away to save you the minor hassle of backing up and restoring files (plug in USB HD, copy, put in new hard drive, copy back).
2. Get an external drive enclosure for the drive you took out of the PS3 - These can be had for $10-15 and will provide you with an external drive for extra data or PS3 backups.
3. Have a media server? Get TVersity - You can certainly use Windows Media Sharing, Media Center, et cetera to stream content to your PS3, but TVersity handles on the fly transcoding for a wide range of formats while being smart enough to not transcode natively PS3 supported formats and also allows streaming of pod/vodcasts. Want to catch up with the 1Up Show? Zero Punctuation? SModcast? Pull it up in the PS3’s XMB via TVersity and have at it. Pair up TVersity with uXM and uSirius to stream audio from XM and Sirius radio to your PS3. It works great, though you won’t get current song/artist info. Of course, TVersity isn’t the only option. There are lots of other DLNA compatible servers out there that will work just as well.
4. Take everything off screen - If you have a PSP, adding a PS3 to your life can be a rather liberating experience. Recent firmware revisions for both devices introduced Remote Play - essentially, remote desktop for the PS3. Any of your streamed media can be played wirelessly on the PSP through the PS3. The limitations are that you can’t play Blu-Ray discs or most games through Remote Play (PixelJunk Monsters and Lair both work), but you can play your stored or streamed audio/video and play PS1 games via RP, both downloaded and off the disc!
5. Use RP way remotely - Access to the PS3 XMB also means access to the Playstation Network Store. When new demos, trailers, and other content arrives, you can pull out your PSP from any spot with open wifi, connect to your PS3 at home, pull up the Store, and queue up all your downloads. Later on, you can log back in and do any installs of demos you might have grabbed so that you can get right to playing when you arrive home. The PS3 now has a form of wake-on-LAN so that it does not have to be left on to allow for this remote functionality.
6. Let your PSP control your PS3 jukebox - Later this month, PS3 firmware update 2.20 will add an “Audio Output Device” option for Remote Play, allowing you to specify that all audio should be played via the PS3 instead of being piped to the PSP. This will allow you to play all your music from your home theater speaker system without having to turn on your display (a major bonus for those of us on projectors who are sensitive to bulb life).
7. Install another OS, stream your games to it - Yep, if you want, you can go about installing Yellow Dog Linux and set up the PS3 to dual boot. Why would you want to do this? Geek factor, mostly, but once you have Linux up and running you can also install StreamMyGame to “play” your PC games on your PS3. I have not tried this yet, so I can’t speak to how well it actually works, but it’s an interesting idea. And yes, since you’re in Linux, you can use your mouse and keyboard as inputs.
That pretty much covers what I’m doing with my PS3 when I’m not playing games or watching Blu-Ray. The upside in my life is that I’m a lot more in contact with all of my media. The downside is that I haven’t finished a book in a month. 
I once again find myself in a position in which I have a sum of money at my disposal and no immediate need to apply it to something practical. It is therefore time to enter my annual post in which I contemplate which unnecessary purchase most appeals to me! Weeee!
Here are the possibilities:
- A new kayak - this is probably a poor choice since I’m not entirely sure I spent any time in my kayak last year. My rationalization is that if I had a new, more capable boat, I’d spend more time in it. This, however, conflicts with the desire to get…
- A new bike - No, there’s nothing wrong with my trike. Nothing at all. But I would very much like to also have a recumbent of the two wheeled variety, preferably one that folds so I can transport it even when I have to take Gareth and his wheelchair to school. Though, my transport issues could be solved simply by purchasing outdoor storage for my trike since the reason I don’t take it with me regardless is that I have to store it in my basement which has only an indoor entrance.
- A bike rack expansion - The company that makes my current bike rack has recently started selling an accessory for it that allows one to hang a trike off the back of the rack, which would mean no more bug splatter all over the front of my trike from being on the roof. It would also mean no more lifting the trike to the roof of my element and having to secure it from both sides of the vehicle.
- A PS3 - Now that Blu-Ray is the de facto winner of the HD media war (for now), I feel as though I can justify a PS3 purchase. But the games, oh the games. Are they really there just yet? Does that even matter? If my goal is to have a Blu-Ray player, then no, the games don’t matter. I like to think, however, that I would one day like to play games on a game console.
- A new camera - While I’m not a fan of carrying around a bag of lenses (been there, done that), I am a fan of higher image fidelity, RAW mode, larger image sensors, and hot shoes. My DSC-H2 has done well by me, but I’m tired of filtering out purple fringe or of being limited to 16×24 prints.
- A new PC - This is the least likely option as I’ve simply abandoned PC gaming. Perhaps I’d get back into it were I to have a capable machine, but Brandy and I are trying to set ourselves up to spend more time with each other while one of us is computing, not less. A gaming PC wouldn’t aid that in any way. A gaming laptop might help, but I hold gaming laptops in low regard (high price, low shelf life) and will actively avoid such a solution.
So yeah, it’s a rough life, I know. No matter what, I’m going to be doing about a month of research before I can make a decision. Bikes and cameras in particular are not purchases to be entered into lightly (at least, not if you’re really picky).
UPDATE: Two days after writing this, I picked up a PS3 and a widescreen monitor. So much for patience. Still, though, I’ve got enough left over for a camera upgrade and am looking forward to judging the performance of the Olympus 570UZ when it comes out. I’m just not ready yet to go back to carrying a bag of lenses around with me.
14 days. Two weeks. Half a month. An eternity. All of these describe the time between now and the release of Rock Band.
I’ve been a Harmonix fan for a long time, so I’m more than happy to keep following them along their development path, especially if it means buying a host of peripherals good for one game only. (See also: DDR, Pump It Up, Karaoke Revolution, Ace Combat 6, Beatmania, Donkey Konga) My Rock Band pre-order was filed with a local Gamestop some time ago, so it’s now just a waiting game.
Well, a waiting and accessorizing game. You see, it is never enough for me to just get a stock game and play it. Oh no, I must add to the experience in some way. For DDR, it was making custom control boxes for my dance pads. For Guitar Hero, it was purchasing aftermarket guitar straps and decals in order to make the toy controllers look dorkier than originally designed. And now with Rock Band, it’s all about setting the stage.
To that effect, I have on order a few items. The first is a microphone stand with a boom arm so that I can position the mic for a variety of scenarios: standing with just the mic as the lead singer; standing with the mic while playing guitar; sitting with the mic while playing drums. Of course, I can’t sit at the drums without a good seat, so I’ve also ordered a drum throne.
On the cheap and easy side of things, I’ve printed out the game’s track list and have started hunting for the tracks on the Zune Marketplace since I’m licensed for them under my monthly Zune Pass. Why do I need to do this? Because I’m hoping to join the ranks of drummers who sing, even though what I’ll be doing is neither really drumming nor really singing. But in order to do both, I’ll need to know the song lyrics since I won’t be able to follow the screen cues for the lyrics and the drum hits simultaneously.
I know what you’re thinking: “Travis, you have my undying admiration for your faux rock aspirations.” And I thank you for that. I also thank my loving wife whose eyes will certainly roll at watching me dive into yet another obsession. Perhaps she’ll feel better when I present her with the gift of leather, eyeliner, and a choker so that she can masquerade as my groupie.
Or, perhaps not.
There are times when I feel I’ve hit the heights of nerdery, when I look at family, friends, and acquaintances wondering why it is I am so very far removed from sharing their priorities in life. My home and office are decorated with objects that would drive a 10 year old child into raving lust. I am better versed in videogames and cartoons than I am in literature and wine. There isn’t a single day that passes without a reminder that I am not the same adult as the other adults I know.
But then I see things like this and realize that I’m far more normal than some people. The “this” in this case is a Manhattan group of Jedi enthusiasts who gather for light saber training. And the sad part is that I wish I were freakish enough to join them. How cool would that be? Getting together with Star Wars geeks, spinning through choreography, slashing through the air with your saber replica…
If Alec Guinness could do it, so can I.
There were three toys from my childhood that have always remained in my heart, warmly remembered, triggering nostalgia at a moment’s notice. Two of them were unabashed nerd toys. The third was beloved for its style and inner workings.
Toy #1: Dataman. It’s a calculator that plays very basic math games. I received this toy as a Christmas gift the same year that I got my Mego Star Trek figures (complete with Enterprise Bridge playset) . I spent hours with Dataman learning my multiplication tables and playing with factors. When you got something right, the LCD patterns would make it look like celebratory confetti was raining down Dataman’s display. This is probably the only toy that I have bothered to repurchase as an adult. I don’t know what happened to my original, but I do have a Dataman with its manual, purchased via eBay. I also don’t know if the intended pronunciation is “day-ta-man” or “da-ta-man”. A mystery for the ages, perhaps, or until somebody chimes in to school me.
Toy #2: BigTrak. Oh my ever loving god… It’s a futuristic tank you can program! With a laser! And sound effects! And a transport that dumps things! This was easily my first introduction to programming. It is with the BigTrak that I built the skills that would lead me to become a LOGO (well, turtle) master in the fourth grade. When the TV commercial hit that showed off the Transport with its ability to haul an apple into a room and dump it on the floor? Bliss. I had to have it. I received the BigTrak for Christmas, which prompted me to ask my parents how in the world Santa’s elves could build electronics and, specifically, Duracell batteries. That was the year that my parents broke the news: Santa sometimes buys stuff at the store. So close! I nearly repurchased the BigTrak but never pulled the trigger. Brandy also attempted to secure one for me but was unsuccessful. Now Gareth has a voice activated R2-D2 that can do the same thing though it lacks a laser or an ability to specify exact degrees of rotation or a kick-ass tank design.
Toy #3: StarBird. This toy is fondly remembered because it eradicated my fear of toy disassembly. The Starbird is a huge hunk of plastic that splits into several parts. The head disconnects from the main body, the inside of that head slides out to become a separate piece, and two simple attack fighters slide off the rear wings to provide support during battle. There was also a rotating rear cannon set on a plastic ball. The two coolest features of the Starbird were the laser effects (pew pew accompanied by red LEDs) and the engine acceleration/deceleration sounds. If you tilted the Starbird nose-up, you would hear the engine climb in pitch and force. If you tilted it nose-down, the engine would decrease in pitch and become soft. This mystified the hell out of me. After playing with this feature for a few weeks, I had to know how it worked… so I took apart the Starbird. Inside the head of the ship, I found a small metal enclosure that held a 1/4″ steel ball. When the Starbird was tilted back, the ball made contact with the rear of the enclosure, trigging the acceleration sound. When tilted forward, it made contact with the front of the enclosure, triggering the deceleration sound. Mystery solved and first toy disassembled in the name of discovery.
So what happened to nerd toys? Aside from LEGO Mindstorms kits, I can’t think of much today that provides for challenging electronic play. I guess there are still the 25-in-1 electronics kits (”Make a working AM radio!”) and toys from specialty companies, but not really anything that shows up in the Sears holiday catalog where all my toy shopping occurred during childhood.
Of course, it could be argued that children are engaging in much more complex puzzle solving by playing video games, handheld or otherwise, but those games don’t typically result in skills that translate to other pursuits. Knowing hit combos or boss patterns won’t help you figure out your taxes. I think that today’s kids are awesome at reacting to stimuli, but I wonder if their toys actually do anything to teach them how to process information.
Gareth has one toy that teaches rudimentary spelling - three letter words only. Where’s the Speak & Spell to take him beyond that? It’s largely dead. Today’s youth get all their educational electronic play through the VTech products, but I’ve played a few of those and they really don’t require much thought. You can get something wrong a thousand times and never be penalized or told “Wrong!”. You just keep doing it over until you get it right. The toys of my youth let you know when you messed up and made you do it over. Failure avoidance is a great motivator.
If I didn’t want to have Dataman tell me “GAME OVER”, I had to learn math. If I wanted the BigTrak to make it around the kitchen table and into the living room, I had to learn distance, direction, and sequential command design. If I wanted my StarBird to work after learning how it worked, I had to remember what pieces went where and in what order (not that this was a function of the toy… I’m stretching here). Where are the toys today that drive children to want to learn? Where are the toys today that allow children to fail? Where are the toys that will be remembered warmly by little boy and girl nerds when they’re in their 30s?
I hope those toys are out there somewhere.
When the Nintendo Revolution was first announced, I was all, “Meh.” And then when the name was changed to Wii, I was all, “Ick.” Then when the pre-orders opened up, I was all, “Bah.” And as games slowly trickled out, I was all, “Yawn.” But when I tried somebody else’s Wii and made my own Mii, I was all, “Cool.” But the stores were all, “Nuh-uh.” And then Target was all, “Stock!” And I was all, “Buy!”, but then I was all, “Money. :(” So Brandy was all “Anniversary!” And I was all “Buy!” But the stores were all “Nuh-uh”. Until this morning when Wal-Mart was all “Stock!” and I was all “BUY!!!” and now am all “Work. :(”
So yeah, I now have a Wii.
Gizmodo had a story up today about a woman who got a $1 million bid on her late husband’s Transformers collection. Follow the link and check out the photos - it is a truly impressive cache of vintage Transformer goodness.
What struck me, however, was the mention that this woman could not legally sell the original Megatron as it resembled a Walther P38 and lacked the blaze-orange barrel tip. As a result, she is “giving” those items away with the auction.
Surely it can’t be illegal to sell vintage goods that bear a mild resemblance to a pistol? That can’t be right. Turns out though that it is. You pretty much have to read the entire chapter 76 of 15 USC to understand it, so go check that out.
If the toy gun is a replica of a firearm manufactured after 1898, it must have the orange tip. If it doesn’t, it can’t be sold after November 5, 1988 (reselling the item, even if it was manufactured before that cutoff, qualifies as “entering commerce”). It’s worth noting that this version of the restrictions implies that toys whose manufacture and initial sale predate May 5, 1989 are exempt from the requirement in perpetuity.
Interesting, then, that there are no restrictions for selling real firearms in a private sale beyond believing that the buyer is 18 or older and that the buyer claims to have no legal restrictions regarding the purchase and ownership of said firearms (eg, no prior felonies).
Let’s recap: toy gun from early 80’s that turns into robot - possibly illegal to sell to anyone; real gun from any year that can put a hole in a target at 300 yards - legal to sell to nearly anyone.
I’ve been puzzling this out a bit and here’s the only conclusion I have reached: the sale of real guns is acceptable because at least then police will know it’s a real gun and can shoot at will. The sale of unmarked toy guns is unacceptable because then police will have to think twice about shooting and that would be awful. As long as only real guns are in the hands of the public, we’ll know exactly who to shoot.
Assuming gun owners don’t paint their firearms orange. Oops.
It seems like more and more vehicle designers are coming up with tadpole configurations - two wheels in the front, one in the back. Certainly, I love my pedal trike to bits, so I can see how something like this would be a joy…
All the speed of a motorcycle with all the safety of a trike. Unfortunately, it’s also all the cost of a car. Still, though, it would make hill climbs and centuries a whole lot easier.
I’d link you to the manufacturer’s site, but I can’t get their Flash to work in either Firefox or IE with any consistency. Instead, here’s a Times article of a test ride.
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