Atomic Fireballs http://www.atomicfireballs.com/index.php A website dedicated to All Things Important... to me. eng_utf8 Copyright 2009 2009-10-21T20:09:52-07:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 The Great Internet Migratory Box Of Junk: A damn fine idea! http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=82 http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=82#comm I received my first (and hopefully not last) TGIMBOEJ today! TGIMBOEJ stands for "The Great Internet Migratory Box Of Electronics Junk", and the concept is simple; someone fills up a box full of electronics stuff and sends it to someone else. Generally the next recipient has signed up at the TGIMBOEJ web site and requested a box, although you can also add names to a list that comes with the box. When you get it you take what you want and add what you wish, then send it on to the whoever you choose. It is like the ultimate non-linear chain letter combined with Xmas for geeks. I heard about it on the MAKE RRS feed posting and it sounded cool, so I went the the TGIMBOEJ web site and signed up to request a box. Within a couple of days I was contacted by "Ronald", who later we will see is from Gray, TN. I confirmed I wanted the box, and a few days later I received it. As per the requested protocol I am documenting what I find and what I take. Some of the stuff was quite boring (to me) and some of it was quite interesting (to me)! 82@http://www.atomicfireballs.com/ I received my first (and hopefully not last) TGIMBOEJ today!

TGIMBOEJ stands for "The Great Internet Migratory Box Of Electronics Junk", and the concept is simple; someone fills up a box full of electronics stuff and sends it to someone else. Generally the next recipient has signed up at the TGIMBOEJ web site and requested a box, although you can also add names to a list that comes with the box. When you get it you take what you want and add what you wish, then send it on to the whoever you choose. It is like the ultimate non-linear chain letter combined with Xmas for geeks.

I heard about it on the MAKE RRS feed posting and it sounded cool, so I went the the TGIMBOEJ web site and signed up to request a box. Within a couple of days I was contacted by "Ronald", who later we will see is from Gray, TN. I confirmed I wanted the box, and a few days later I received it. As per the requested protocol I am documenting what I find and what I take. Some of the stuff was quite boring (to me) and some of it was quite interesting (to me)!

I start with a picture of my "junk shredding area", an unfinished counter in a spare kitchen located in an unused section of our house. This is so you get a sense of scale when you see the migratory junk.





Here is the box. The box size is a TGIMBOEJ standard so as to keep shipping costs down. The 500ml bottle of water is for scale.





In the lower left corner we find the codename of this box, which is "Gray-A". I think I was the first recipient of this box, since it came from Gray, Tennessee and I was the first name on the "send to" manifest. I was rather amused at the note "Rattling is OK!!!", and I noticed on Flickr's TGIMBOEJ pool that most or all of the other migratory boxes in the wild say something similar. I guess until I read that it had not occurred to me how disconcerting such a clattertrap of a box might give the USPS cause for concern; they would probably assume they broke something in transit!





Opening the top shows a thin layer of packing paper.





Now we get down to it! PARTZ! SWAG! This was my first view of the junk.






Here I have meticulously, nee anally, sorted and attractively presented all the crap inside. There are about 18-20 pieces inside depending on how you count. Looks like it runs a fairly broad gamut! I will break down every single item for you, because I love you that much. Snootches!





First we have the cable pile. Short lengths of Cat5 in white or blue jackets, a standard "IEC" power cable with NEMA 5-15 on one end and a C13 line socket on the other, and a USB A-to-miniB cable with a ferrite.





The blue things are from a tractor-feed printer and used to advance the paper, to the upper right there is some kind of mechanism from a paper tape feeder like on a cash register or printing calculator, and the thing in the upper left is in all likelihood the guts to a multi-outlet power strip with telephone surge protection.





This is a close-up of the tractor feed mechanism, opened showing the "teeth" and closed as it would be to feed paper. I bet these suckers are getting hard to come by!






Top down, left to right: programmable digit thingy (more on this in a sec), broken pager, keypad with no keys and an LCD, the Petsmart recycling bag the LCD came in, and a fan with cut leads.





Except for serious pocket wear this is the only obvious damage to the pager:





OK, I feel REALLY stupid for not being able to remember what this is called! What it does is allow you to set a number on the display by using itty-bitty mechanical buttons that move the digits forward and back, and you can read the pins on the cable to determine what the digits are set to. Pretty cool.





Here we have an LCD display control panel with some printery options on it (maybe from the printer that gave up its tractor feeds?), a seriously old-school Sylvania VCR IR remote, and a near-mint Kodak Star 110 camera. I must admit the camera made me chuckle; I'm so damn old I remember when 110 was a brand-new format!





This was one of the cooler surprises; a new-in-the-box combo flashlight and lamp... or as the highly Eurocentric labeling says a "torch" and a "tube". When I pulled this out of the box I felt certain it must be a UV tube since it appears like a purple-tinged black.





This was deceptively cool; an electronic water valve for a refrigerator. When I glanced at the box I snickered and thought it was sort of lame, but when I pulled it out I realized this might absolutely MAKE someone's project. It looks like this inlet is about the same as a garden hose, making this absurdly flexible in application. I'm pleased as hell to forward this on and hope it finds a great home.






This is a speaker terminal block pulled from what must have been a nice home stereo speaker (or pro cab?). It has a little bit of soft foam stuck to the inside ring but it would be easy to clean off. Very nice, almost new.





I don't know what model it is, but it is obviously a Microsoft wireless optical mouse. You'll note that a dedicated USB receiver dongle is in its storage slot on the bottom. Probably plug and play for some Windows user who needs it.






And that is it!

I have to admit I was slightly disappointed. Maybe I expected too much from TGIMBOEJ, as some of the junk being shown off on the TGIMBOEJ Flickr pool was sooooooo damn appealing, but this box is brand new and it was started by a regular guy and his parts drawer, while I am pretty sure some of the stuff I have seen on Flickr was started by Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories who doubtless have access to a tremendous amount of electronics swag. That said, Ronald started this box off well, and I am pumping it up quite a bit. Where some people have parts drawers I have parts ROOMS, and yes that is rooms plural. As an example of this I have taken a couple of shots of my counter showing what is located to the immediate left and right of the small "clean" spot I made so I could document this box. This is stuff I accumulated in about a month.






I have friends who know not to throw out anything remotely electronic or electrical; they give it to me and I strip it for treasure, then responsibly dispose of the remnants by taking it to a hazardous waste dropoff... which is a CRAPLOAD better than what most people do, which is just dump it into their usual trashcan to be hauled off to the city dump. ALMOST ALL ELECTRONIC CONSUMER PRODUCTS ARE HIGHLY TOXIC TO THE ENVIRONMENT! You REALLY should take all your TVs, DVD players, dead iPods, toasters, and just about anything else that uses electricity directly to a hazardous waste drop. Sure, they may just dump it in a shallow pit 75 miles outside of town in an undeveloped area of national forest, but at least you tried! ;)

This is what I am keeping; the combo light and the digit thingy:





Here is a shot of the combo light in "torch" mode:





And here is a shot in "tube" mode:





Here is what I am adding. More or less from left to right and from top to bottom:

--~20 stereo-capable thumbwheel pots with datasheets
--an old Blackberry
--the original model of Dell DJ, sans hard drive
--a remote controlled car who's supercap I burned up (remote incl.)
--an ST accelerometer demo board, which blinks an LED when it is bumped
--two Griffin Technology Powermates, one in silver and one in black
--2 LED samplers from Agilent (those bright ones are BRUTAL!)
--a Micronas headset reference board (basically a USB stereo audio card the size of a flash drive)
--a pack of Rohm-branded mints from CES 2006. I do not guarantee freshness. ;)
--a 4-LED 1-pushbutton circuit board pulled from an HP printer, with cable
--an optical sensor of some kind, also pulled from a printer
--a friggin' mess of infrared LEDs of various types, all nicely in Digikey bags so you can look them up.
--New-in-bag 9pin serial cable, probably came with a programmer and I have a kajillion already
--a first-surface mirror pulled from a laser printer
--I think the DIP chips include microphone conditioners, Cypress PSoCs, and some 3.57MHz NTSC colorburst oscillators
--a small grab-bag of optos I had lying around (giant LEDs, right-angles, dot matrix, etc.)
--a LiIon battery from a Motorola cell phone (very easy to interface with)
--a "SMD removal kit" from Emulation Technologies
--a slightly hacked-on GE CF reader (case is open, CF rails are shaved, but it works)
--a 6.5MHz crystal (where the hell did I get such an oddball?!?)
--some HP/Agilent IrDA transceivers
--two identical Cirrus Logic dev boards for IR comm (obviously you would want two)




I spent about an hour looking at the web sites listed on the TGIMBOEJ "request for box" page, trying to find that special someone who I thought deserved it. I decided to send this box as far away as I could, in order to help mix things up a bit, so I looked at people on the west coast. For those of you who leave nothing but your Twitter page, get a clue! Many people listed sites almost certain to go away, like Comcast user pages, Blogger and other "services", and all the other flavor-of-the-moment trendy web crap like MySpace and Facebook. It came down to 3 people, and the one who gets the box had her own domain and web site with actual interesting content.

Here is a link to the whole Flickr photo pool, in case you want to see something in higher resolution:

Don's TGIMBOEJ Flickr pool

I would like to thank Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories for coming up with the concept of TGIMBOEJ and getting the ball rolling, thanks to the TGIMBOEJ wiki for providing a place to learn more and request a box, and Ronald from Gray, Tenneessee for starting off a new box ("Gray-A")and sending it to me.

I eagerly look forward to my next box! :)


(C) 2008 Don Stratton ]]> default 2008-09-07T14:12:00-07:00 Hi-def videogames on the Xbox 1 http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=81 http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=81#comm If you have an original Xbox (the old black one, not a 360) and a state-of-the-art home entertainment system with surround sound and a hi-def TV, you really ought to take a look at some of the hi-def games that can make good use of your gear. The original Xbox is still an amazingly credible game platform in 2008, even though the original Xbox is now 7 years old and largely considered obsolete, but to really compete with today's Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 games you have to use every bit of the old hardware. Interestingly, most games don't push the Xbox hardware to anywhere near the edge, but these few that do look every bit as good as many 360 and PS3 titles. OK, no, not really, but still... mighty impressive for a "dead" console. 81@http://www.atomicfireballs.com/ The original classic logo... l33t!If you have an original Xbox (the old black one, not a 360) and a state-of-the-art home entertainment system with surround sound and a hi-def TV, you really ought to take a look at some of the hi-def games that can make good use of your gear. The original Xbox is still an amazingly credible game platform in 2008, even though the original Xbox is now 7 years old and largely considered obsolete, but to really compete with today's Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 games you have to use every bit of the old hardware. Interestingly, most games don't push the Xbox hardware to anywhere near the edge, but these few that do look every bit as good as many 360 and PS3 titles. OK, no, not really, but still... mighty impressive for a "dead" console.

I am only listing games that work at 720p or greater. All games listed work in 16:9 except where noted. It is interesting that all but one of these games supports 5.1 audio; I guess the "25 To Life" team didn't have surround sound set up at home and didn't think anyone else would notice the lack of support. I am also listing the whopping SIX games that claim to support 1080i, but I wouldn't expect much from them if I were you as doing 1080i does push the old Xbox hardware to the limit and beyond, so you may find that there is some frame rate problems, stuttering, etc. with heavy 3D action games like "Enter The Matrix". Still, when Neo is standing in a post office lobby detailed with Grecian columns and marble floors (right before all hell breaks loose and you have to clock the ho's) it does look terribly impressive! Of course then people start shooting at you and the frame rate goes down as low as a Gumby cartoon, but still, it is playable and damn pretty.

I admit I really only use my (pwnd) Xbox for media center playback (using XBMC it upscales all video to 720p or 1080i REALLY well), but "Enter The Matrix", "Justice League Heroes" and "X-Men Legends" (both 1 and 2) are great to whip out and show your friends how good an old Xbox game can be.



Xbox game title
1080i?

All games 720p, 16:9, 5.1 except where noted


25 to Life
(no 5.1 audio, just stereo)
Amped 2
Atari Anthology
yes
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Crash Nitro Kart
Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure
Dragon's Lair 3D
yes
Enter the Matrix
yes
ESPN Major League Baseball 2K4
(16:9 only in 720p)
ESPN NBA Basketball 2K4
Evil Dead: Regeneration
FIFA Soccer 2006
FIFA Street
FIFA Street 2
Freedom Fighters
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
Justice League Heroes
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
(known to have 720p problems)
MVP Baseball 2004
MVP Baseball 2005
MX Unleashed
yes
MX vs. ATV Unleashed
yes
NBA 2K3
NBA Ballers
NBA Live 2006
Scarface: The World is Yours
The Sims: Bustin' Out
Soul Calibur II
(4:3 window in 720p)
Steel Battalion: Line of Contact
Street Hoops
Syberia
yes
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
Tony Hawk's Underground
Tony Hawk's Underground 2
Total Overdose
True Crime: Streets of L.A.
The Urbz: Sims In The City
Virtual Pool
The Warriors
World Series Baseball 2K4
X-Men Legends
X-Men Legends II: Rise of the Apocalypse




(C) 2008 Don Stratton ]]> default 2008-07-07T16:00:00-07:00 A person can be so right, for all the wrong reasons http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=80 http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=80#comm While doing some research on 3D imagery I stumbled upon this quote from a newspaper columnist who was reviewing a Bjork concert: "Bjork's songs are like stereograms -- you know, that brightly colored, jumbled-looking computer-generated art that you have to stare at, relaxing your eyes, until a central image emerges from the background." I have a slightly different definition. Oh, I couldn't agree with him more that Bjork's music, and indeed her whole visual approach, is VERY much like a random-dot stereogram... you walk away from it with your eyes crossed and sporting a headache. 80@http://www.atomicfireballs.com/ While doing some research on 3D imagery I stumbled upon this quote from a newspaper columnist who was reviewing a Bjork concert:

"Bjork's songs are like stereograms -- you know, that brightly colored, jumbled-looking computer-generated art that you have to stare at, relaxing your eyes, until a central image emerges from the background."

I have a slightly different definition. Oh, I couldn't agree with him more that Bjork's music, and indeed her whole visual approach, is VERY much like a random-dot stereogram... you walk away from it with your eyes crossed and sporting a headache.

]]> default 2008-06-15T13:37:00-07:00 In Tom's Life, He Loves You More! http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=79 http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=79#comm Tom Yarbrough has (finally) released his first CD, "Far Cry From Gone", now available via iTunes ($9.99), Amazon ($8.99) and others (but please buy it from Amazon as I can't stand Apple's stance on DRM and the greedy bastards have the nerve to charge a dollar more than Amazon!). On Tom's web site he mentions that the album "Far Cry From Gone" took, and I quote, "several years". Man, that is an understatement! I've known Tom nearly as long as he has been active in music, so I have been exposed to some of the tracks on his album for nearly as long as I have known him. It always seemed like he was JUST ABOUT ready to release something, but finally after years of dicking around he has released his first (but hopefully not last) commercial album. 79@http://www.atomicfireballs.com/ Tom Yarbrough has (finally) released his first CD, "Far Cry From Gone", now available via iTunes ($9.99), Amazon ($8.99) and others (but please buy it from Amazon as I can't stand Apple's stance on DRM and the greedy bastards have the nerve to charge a dollar more than Amazon!). On Tom's web site he mentions that the album "Far Cry From Gone" took, and I quote, "several years". Man, that is an understatement! I've known Tom nearly as long as he has been active in music, so I have been exposed to some of the tracks on his album for nearly as long as I have known him. It always seemed like he was JUST ABOUT ready to release something, but finally after years of dicking around he has released his first (but hopefully not last) commercial album.

Obligatory mini-review:

I am not an expert in genres, but to my ignorant ears it would seem Tom is shooting for something like "adult contemporary country". That isn't even close to my cup of tea, so it make reviewing this an exercise in "target demographics"; if you are NOT Tom's usual audience, then consider what I have to say since I am not an ass-kissing fanboy, and if you ARE Tom's usual audience then you probably clicked off this page when I said "ass-kissing fanboy". That's fine, I have nothing to offer you because our tastes are likely too dissimilar.

"Far Cry From Gone" is a VERY well-engineered and performed collection. With something like 8 years to work on some of these songs you would think Tom would be able to play them well (he does), and with various friends in Nashville who play instruments or have their own recording studios you would expect that the mix sounds professional (it does). A great example of how Digidesign made the world a better place for all of us.

As I said, I am the last person to tell you what is good in "adult contemporary country", so if there is any chance I will sit still and listen to something it is because it contains some sort of crossover appeal. Tragically, Tom does not seem to have a single hard rock/heavy metal song on the whole disc (WTF Tom!?!) so I have to limit myself to songs with a "pop" sensibility. THAT limits me to one song, the title track.

"Far Cry From Gone" is one of the oldest songs in this collection, and in my opinion quite capable of moderate crossover success. Not everyone will like the style, but as a dyed-in-the-wool headbanger and avid worshiper of my lord Lucifer I still find this track has a great feel and groove to it.

The song "Far Cry From Gone" was the official test song of the very first iTrip, back in 2003 or so. I had gotten a hold of a ZIP file being passed around Griffin labeled "rough mixes", which contained three of Tom's work-in-progress songs. Of the three ("Far Cry From Gone", "Cool Water" and "Tell Me") I thought the track that stood head and shoulders above the rest was "Far Cry From Gone". One day while testing handmade iTrip prototypes I needed an audio file that panned back and forth between the left and right channels, so I grabbed a microphone connected to my computer and threw together an audio file of me droning "left... right... left... right..." in a emotionless monotone for 30 seconds as the channels switch back and forth. While effective, around the thousandth time I played it my co-workers began to get annoyed and begged for something less intrusive and grating. I really don't know why I selected "Far Cry From Gone", but I loaded it into (the now defunct) Cool Edit and quickly started muting 5 second blocks of alternating left and right audio. The result was amazing... it just so happened to fit the tempo of the song for the first two verses, so that you'd hear "I'm a long way from leaving baby, I'm a far cry from gone" coming out of the left speaker and then "When you get home in the eve'nin, baby I'll be hangin' on your arm" coming out of the right speaker, and so on. VERY cool coincidence of my editing. This hard-panned version was named something like "Far Cry From Gone (Hard Pan)", which Tom thought sounded like a cool name for a band. This file was sent to Griffin's manufacturing partner, preloaded onto an iPod to be used for test purposes. A short time later a desktop PC-based test system was devised, also using Tom's edited song. Reports from the Chinese factory girls was that they liked the song, although they eventually did get savvy enough to start using their own Chinese songs as test files, but for at least a year (probably two) every iTrip in the world had played some of Tom's "Far Cry From Gone".

I often play guitar and sing at my friends parties and social functions. I have recently taken to playing "Far Cry From Gone" (in a slightly simplified version... hey, I'm no Tom Yarbrough!) and most everyone who hears it is extremely impressed. I am pretty sure if I was 20 years younger, had my frickin' hair and passed the song off as my own composition I could get laid by chicks who thought I was really tender and creative. Much as I would love to claim it for my own I instead steer people to Tom's website, particularly now that the album is finally out. So Tom, don't bother suing me for performance royalties; the gigs were unpaid, the set list was not advertised, and I think I may have gotten you a couple paying customers! ;)

I notice the final release mix of "Far Cry From Gone" is 4:20. Heh. Heh heh heh. Is Tom trying to send us all a secret message, ala The Beatles?!? Is Tom a closet head? IS Tom the walrus?!?

Speaking of The Beatles, and the role they play in Tom's life... well, let's just say "In Tom's Life (He Loves You More)". WTF am I talking about? Ladies and gentleman, devotees of Tom, his mission and his music... I HAVE A RARE, UNRELEASE STUDIO RECORDING OF TOM!!!! YES!!!! O.K., the reality isn't so dramatic, but I do have yet another Tom story...

The man who effectively ran Griffin for nearly a decade (sup, Van!) was keenly interested in expanding the Griffin product line beyond the video monitor adapters Griffin was known for at the time (this was in early 2002, years before the iTrip or Powermate). As a guitarist he was keen on integrating our latest product, the iMic USB sound card, with a cheap multichannel audio mixer, and bear in mind this was YEARS before Apple even thought of GarageBand (mad props to Van). Since the iMic was my project, and since I was also a guitarist who could appreciate Van's vision, I was given the task of building a proof-of-concept device. Basically I soldered the I/O's from an iMic to the I/O's of a $100 mixer and shoved the guts inside the mixer's case with only a USB cord to betray the fact that the mixer was modified. Van brought a decent quality mike (probably an SM-58) and an electric guitar, and we did a little testing. During the testing I was recording EVERYTHING, "one take" with no interruptions, with the intent of analyzing the audio later.

Tom wandered by my cubicle and saw the mini-rig I had going, so I passed off the guitar to him while I fiddled with the hardware and recording software. He started plinking out a melody, so (lacking a mike stand) I grabbed the live mike and held it in front of Tom's face. Without hesitation he broke into the first verse of The Beatles "In My Life", which he amusing screwed up partially by getting the lyrics out of order and then trying to backpedal and correct it (in the span of one second), at which point he gave up on the lyrics and just hummed the rest until he finished. Someone happened to walk up as we were doing this and Van began to explain to them what Tom and I were doing. Tom put down the guitar when he was done and went back to his desk.

I then saved the file I had been clandestinely been recording this whole time, and the real work began!! Operation: TOM'S FIRST SINGLE!!!!

I'll spare the details, but I took two mono tracks (Tom's vocals and his guitar playing) and ran them through several of the effects in Sound Forge, to ultimately build a pseudo-stereo final mix of a song I now call "In Tom's Life (He Loves You More)". I think it is a must-listen for all Tom Yarbrough fans, so I have thoughtfully posted it online!

Update: The free MP3 hosting service I was using seems to have gone away. Any Tomfans are welcome to E-mail me and I will send you a copy.

BTW, here is a picture of Van (left), Andrew House (middle) and Tom (right). Van and Tom were creating/celebrating "Look Like Andrew House Day", much to Andrew's considerable concern. Van's inclusion of plastic "rotting inbred country yokel teeth" certainly helped put his effort over the top! If you listen carefully to "In Tom's Life (He Loves You More)" you can hear a vocal murmuring, which is Van talking in the background. The murmur turned out kind of Beatles-like too!

Lock up your daughters, and possibly their cousins and sisters!


So, I believe that "In Tom's Life (He Loves You More)", which I "released" around May 2002 via the internal Griffin file server to anyone who wanted it, constitutes the first public single and to date ONLY Beatles cover tune from Tom Yarbrough. Tom, if you include it on your next CD as a hidden bonus track, I want engineering credit!

I include this picture "just because". This was an Andrew House idea that I executed in about 15 minutes. Tom was not asked or consulted... or thrilled at the result. ;)

Tom truly is 'More Than A Woman To Me'!






(C) 2008 Don Stratton

]]> default 2008-05-29T14:17:00-07:00 The meaning of "versus" and "with"; a lesson for the kids http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=78 http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=78#comm "Versus" generally means "opposed to" or "against", while "with" generally means "and" or "in partnership". Therefore, a porn movie called "Savannah versus Peter North" would be fairly inaccurate, as the featured performers are not engaged in traditional adversarial behavior. Nor would "Ludacris versus Kris Kross" be remotely accurate unless the two rappers started shooting at each other during the recording session. It isn't a battle, it isn't even a competition of skill, it's a fucking rap song, niggaz! You wanna be stupidly "modern" just for the sake of sounding different? Why not "Ludacris + Kris Kross"? I really hate the misuse of a mathematical symbol to mean "and", but it is better than "versus"! Oh yeah, I forgot, that fucking teen emo version of Shakespeare's "Romeo + Juliet" (the movie that started me on my long path of hating Leonardo DiCrappio) pretty much fucked that up for everyone. 78@http://www.atomicfireballs.com/ "Versus" generally means "opposed to" or "against", while "with" generally means "and" or "in partnership".

Therefore, a porn movie called "Savannah versus Peter North" would be fairly inaccurate, as the featured performers are not engaged in traditional adversarial behavior. Nor would "Ludacris versus Kris Kross" be remotely accurate unless the two rappers started shooting at each other during the recording session. It isn't a battle, it isn't even a competition of skill, it's a fucking rap song, niggaz! You wanna be stupidly "modern" just for the sake of sounding different? Why not "Ludacris + Kris Kross"? I really hate the misuse of a mathematical symbol to mean "and", but it is better than "versus"! Oh yeah, I forgot, that fucking teen emo version of Shakespeare's "Romeo + Juliet" (the movie that started me on my long path of hating Leonardo DiCrappio) pretty much fucked that up for everyone.
]]> default 2008-01-28T11:29:00-07:00 Pretty RAD after all http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=77 http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=77#comm I received the first of my two RAD 2.0 robots, and I must say I am impressed. I can see why so many people snap these up for robotic platforms, as the track drive and arms/waist are very functional and there is a ton of space inside to cram electronics. In this installment of the on-going saga I detail the basics of a stock RAD, and discuss where I might go from here. Read all about it here in Chapter Two: Pretty RAD after all. 77@http://www.atomicfireballs.com/ I received the first of my two RAD 2.0 robots, and I must say I am impressed. I can see why so many people snap these up for robotic platforms, as the track drive and arms/waist are very functional and there is a ton of space inside to cram electronics. In this installment of the on-going saga I detail the basics of a stock RAD, and discuss where I might go from here. Read all about it here in Chapter Two: Pretty RAD after all. ]]> default 2008-01-19T19:22:00-07:00 When I am 75 years old... http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=76 http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=76#comm I will still be unable to hear certain spoken numerical sequences without breaking into gansta rap. I could be sitting in the community area of my nursing home, a UPS driver could come in and ask someone where room 187 is, and I will be muttering under my breath "yeah, and you don't stop... cuz it's one eight seven on a undercover cop..". A guy could be having a heart attack at a mall while people are screaming "CALL 911!", to which I will be muttering "...nine one one is a jokey joke now!". 76@http://www.atomicfireballs.com/ I will still be unable to hear certain spoken numerical sequences without breaking into gansta rap. I could be sitting in the community area of my nursing home, a UPS driver could come in and ask someone where room 187 is, and I will be muttering under my breath "yeah, and you don't stop... cuz it's one eight seven on a undercover cop..". A guy could be having a heart attack at a mall while people are screaming "CALL 911!", to which I will be muttering "...nine one one is a jokey joke now!". ]]> default 2008-01-18T15:45:00-07:00 I Can Has A Robot! http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=75 http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=75#comm I have finally found something to inspire another serious long-term static entry; my ongoing story of buying/fixing/hacking a couple of old Toymax RAD 2.0 toy robots. Read the first chapter of what is sure to be a ridiculously long process of turning an old toy into a modern marvel: Chapter One - I Can Has A Robot. 75@http://www.atomicfireballs.com/ I have finally found something to inspire another serious long-term static entry; my ongoing story of buying/fixing/hacking a couple of old Toymax RAD 2.0 toy robots. Read the first chapter of what is sure to be a ridiculously long process of turning an old toy into a modern marvel: Chapter One - I Can Has A Robot. ]]> default 2008-01-08T15:21:00-07:00 Proton Geeks: the site all Proton users must see http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=40 http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=40#comm When I was researching my purchase of a PIC micro BASIC compiler I discovered the Proton Geeks web site dedicated to the Crownhill Proton compiler, and thanks in part to the efforts of users like this it gave a lot of weight to my decision to go with Proton's complier. While the site is not flush and laden with every code frag you could ever dream of, what is there is carefully crafted and extremely well done. There are projects and tutorials on some remarkably sophisticated subjects like playing back WAV files from an SD card, or using a PIC as a MIDI controller, and they have some software available in the form of system plugins or standalone apps that can really make development a breeze, such as the GLCD bitmap creation tool or the code frag library manager. All in all, absolutely must-see stuff for anyone using Proton. Proton Geeks 40@http://www.atomicfireballs.com/ When I was researching my purchase of a PIC micro BASIC compiler I discovered the Proton Geeks web site dedicated to the Crownhill Proton compiler, and thanks in part to the efforts of users like this it gave a lot of weight to my decision to go with Proton's complier. While the site is not flush and laden with every code frag you could ever dream of, what is there is carefully crafted and extremely well done. There are projects and tutorials on some remarkably sophisticated subjects like playing back WAV files from an SD card, or using a PIC as a MIDI controller, and they have some software available in the form of system plugins or standalone apps that can really make development a breeze, such as the GLCD bitmap creation tool or the code frag library manager. All in all, absolutely must-see stuff for anyone using Proton.

Proton Geeks ]]> linkdump 2006-04-26T21:01:00-07:00 Homemade PCBs done very well http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=39 http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=39#comm I remember my first PCB, made with press-on traces and a Radio Shack etching kit. Rough work, but by the 3rd board I got pretty damn good. Today, I couldn't imagine drawing or pressing traces on a PCB since there are so many better ways, but I still can appreciate etching my own board. I have been looking for a cheap and effective way of doing limited production prototyping, and this is the best looking method I have ever found short of photoetching. Toner Transfer System 39@http://www.atomicfireballs.com/ I remember my first PCB, made with press-on traces and a Radio Shack etching kit. Rough work, but by the 3rd board I got pretty damn good. Today, I couldn't imagine drawing or pressing traces on a PCB since there are so many better ways, but I still can appreciate etching my own board. I have been looking for a cheap and effective way of doing limited production prototyping, and this is the best looking method I have ever found short of photoetching.

Toner Transfer System ]]> linkdump 2006-04-12T17:44:00-07:00 Homebrew 3D laser scanner http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=24 http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=24#comm Man, the extreme teknohacks just keep coming. This guy made a 3D laser scanner system out of a line laser, a webcam, a PC-controlled stepper motor system and a little homebrew software. He does not give you construction plans or firmware, as he wants to encourage people to make the system better by doing it themselves. He explains the theory and his general construcion in great detail, so I wouldn't be surprised if someone takes him up on the challenge. Homebrew 3D laser scanner 24@http://www.atomicfireballs.com/
Homebrew 3D laser scanner ]]> linkdump 2005-11-30T08:00:00-07:00 Someone modded the iTrip LCD! http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=23 http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=23#comm I love stuff like this, especially when it is on one of "my" products. This is your basic "crack the case and extend the antenna" mod. Not at all technical, and fun for all ages, so all iTrip LCD owners should take a peek. iTrip LCD mod 23@http://www.atomicfireballs.com/
iTrip LCD mod ]]> linkdump 2005-11-21T09:43:00-07:00 Now you know the horrible truth http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=22 http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=22#comm I love those guys at Despair.com! Back in the day that Griffin was cool I spent an evening with Paul ordering about $300 worth of posters for the office (some of which we never did have the guts to display). This is one of their newer posters. Very cool joke about engineers. Everyone go buy one. Inspiration poster 22@http://www.atomicfireballs.com/
Inspiration poster ]]> linkdump 2005-11-17T08:54:00-07:00 Another Google Map thingy http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=14 http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=14#comm This one plots census data from 2000 over top a given region.  Note that it starts centered on southern California, so just zoom out and recenter on the location of your choice.  Shows demographical info for a 1, 3 and 5 mile circle.  Note to self, after viewing my neighborhood: move, soon.http://65.39.85.13/google/ 14@http://www.atomicfireballs.com/ This one plots census data from 2000 over top a given region. Note that it starts centered on southern California, so just zoom out and recenter on the location of your choice. Shows demographical info for a 1, 3 and 5 mile circle. Note to self, after viewing my neighborhood: move, soon.

http://65.39.85.13/google/

]]> linkdump 2005-10-20T10:02:00-07:00 Google map + war driving = free WiFi in Nashville! http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=13 http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=13#comm This is a great application of the Google Maps API; users submit locations where they have found WiFi access and this site plots it on Google Maps.  Informative, if for no other reason than I found out that all local Krystal burger joints have open access points.  I still don't want to EAT there, but now I know it is cool to just hang out in their parking lot.  ;)http://www.nashville2600.org/wifi.html 13@http://www.atomicfireballs.com/ This is a great application of the Google Maps API; users submit locations where they have found WiFi access and this site plots it on Google Maps. Informative, if for no other reason than I found out that all local Krystal burger joints have open access points. I still don't want to EAT there, but now I know it is cool to just hang out in their parking lot. ;)

http://www.nashville2600.org/wifi.html

]]> linkdump 2005-10-20T09:44:00-07:00 Of course it was a pr0n link... BabeEngine.com! http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=11 http://www.atomicfireballs.com/pivot/entry.php?id=11#comm Figures my first link would be to a porn site... sorta. This is a fascinating search engine that appears to take user-submitted links to web sites with free content, and allows you to search for said free content by a lot of specific parameters. Like em' with "big tits", a "choker" and a "lollipop"? Three checkboxes and a "Find Babes" press later and you've got what you want! Well, no, not really. That didn't get any hits the day I tried it, which I only did for the sake of accuracy in this link report. :) But hey, more common yet uncommon parings like "fishnets" and "kitchen" got me two hits! w00t! Here's hoping they drive Google right out of business. ;) http://www.babeengine.com 11@http://www.atomicfireballs.com/
http://www.babeengine.com ]]> linkdump 2005-10-17T20:13:00-07:00