Oi! I've been friends with the owner of that screetchy, nerdy laugh (presuming you're refering to co-host Frank Ling) since we were in 4th grade. OK, so maybe he doesn't have a radio voice, but he *is* funny (in a wonderfully nerdy way) and he knows his stuff.
My wife liked it, but it isn't in use at the moment because of a few drawbacks: no 1 key, no backspace, and no Escape. I'm working on a second version that should fix these things. In fact, I think the second version will be a complete "laptop" with the screen inside the case.
I spend enough time doing fix-it stuff at work (I'm a Desktop Support Tech) and get payed enough that I neither need the money nor want the work. The practical result of this is that I either do it for free or not at all. If it's a personal friend or family member, I work on it like it's my own PC. If it's just someone I know socially, I'll gladly give advice but for actual work will point them to a local PC shop or a coworker who does side work.
Ah, finally - a networked camera. I think this could come in very handy for reporting on protests, police brutality, or even celebrities: sure, you can smash the camera, but the images are instantly stored elsewhere, preferably someplace secret and safe.
I turned a manual typewriter into a computer keyboard.
I'm currently working on turning some old intercom units from an abandoned hospital into a wireless intercom system by hacking them together with FRS radios.
It didn't happen to me, but a friend once had an intern position on a movie set in which he had to stand in six inches of cold water and keep two electrical wires in contact.
Which is an interesting idea because Cerritos has *very* strict building appearance laws that severely restrict outdoor advertising, to the point where the Toys R Us in Cerritos had to turn their R around the right way to change it from a logo to a name (legally).
My company is trying out Altiris right now and we haven't been very impressed. The software for setting up an entirely new image works great but the Personality Transfer (or whatever they call it) for migrating a user from one machine to another takes *forever* - on the order of six hours for about 1GB of user data, and this is with both machines plugged into the same hub.
What seems strange to me is the way text messaging is being singled out. Lots more people communicate by email and (voice) cell phones than text messaging, and these allow people to spread word just as quickly (with the exception of actually sending a text message during a movie, which I've never seen anyone do).
What evidence do they have that text messaging is the new, prefered medium for panning craptacular movies?
Your first stop is San Francisco's Exploratorium, an absolutely amazing hands-on museum dedicated to "science, art, and human perception." Exhibits range from the fun and simple to the complex and educational. Look at live chicken embryos; build a catenary arch; mess with your depth perception; stick your (gloved) hand into a mulch pit to feel the heat; explore crystal formation; spin like a top! Nothing beats this place - my wife and I even had our wedding reception there.
Your second stop will be the main branch of the New York Pubilc Library, a gorgeous 19th/early 20th century building that simply looks like a library should. If anyone gives you trouble, this is the right place to use the line, "Back off man - I'm a scientist."
Others have mentioned Arcata, Eureka, and Ferndale as all being home to the original KSR. It should be noted for those not familiar with California geography that these are all the same race. As mentioned above, it started in Ferndale in 1969 but eventually the starting line moved north, so that now the three-day race starts in Arcata, crosses Eureka Bay, and eventually ends (after climbing the Slippery Slimy Slope) in the Victorian/hillbilly town of Ferndale.
It really is an amazing sight to see (especially the Sculptures trying to get up the Slope in the rain!) and I highly recommend that anyone who can manage to be six hours from the nearest major airport over Memorial Day weekend make an effort to attend.
I've come to the conclusion that when a geek gives a computer a newbie they are in fairly regular contact with, the geek becomes responsible for the computer for as long as it lasts. It isn't that the newbie consciously thinks that you are to be held accountable when things go wrong, it's just that from then on they think of you as their own personal comptuer geek, and even one that already knows the system in question, so they go to you first with questions.
The situation is a bit exacerbated when the newbie is a parent that was unsure about getting a computer in the first place, because not only do they turn to you for help but they hold you personally responsible for persuading them to get a computer in the first place!
The moral of the story: be careful of the gifts you give and the favors you do- you may be expected to do them again. And again. And again.
The biggest thing people seem to have mentioned is the lack of a backspace key. Yes, it is a problem. While reading people's comments on here, I finally had an idea of how to fix it- there are a couple of other keys on the typewriter that aren't being used, like the "1/2 1/4" key. The "backspace" key cap could be moved over to that key , which could then be wired on the underside just like the rest. It would even be closer to where backspace is on a regular keyboard. Thanks for getting me thinking about that.
As for my wife being limited by the regular length of a line, this isn't the case unless she were to try using it as a typewriter at the same time. Otherwise, she would still be able to type merrily away even though the carriage had come to the end of the line, so there really isn't a problem there.
One person emailed me with a link to an even cooler creation of his from a few years back: http://www.idiom.com/~decay/art_folio/letter.html
Erik
it is a wonderful thing to be the guy who's ready
on
Go Go Gadget Minisaw
·
· Score: 1
Where my wife works, I was at one time known as The Lesbian's Dream- it seemed like every time I was around some random person, generally a lesbian, that she worked with would need something fixed, and I was always the one with the tools. The highlights:
Parking lot gate is locked, car inside. Solution: lockpick set.
Bracelet chain broken. Solution: leatherman.
High heel breaks off shoe. Solution: superglue.
Other favorites:
My boss shows up at work and starts to take off his motorcycle leathers, only to realize he forgot to put any pants on first, back at home. Solution: spare pair of shorts.
A radio station is giving stuff away to people who can answer questions or produce odd items. They ask for a chicken bone. Solution: rubber chicken (keychain).
My wife and I loose our luggage flying from Paris to Tel Aviv on our honeymoon. Solution: complete toiletries kit (incidentally, I think it very cool that the Air France "lost luggage kit" includes a condom. Very French).
Random woman asks for a lighter. Solution: pocket torch.
Countless times the day has been saved by the duct tape, WD40, micro torch, candle, tape measure, digital camera, handspring with attached cell phone, trash bag, toilet paper, water balloons, post-it notes, floppy disk, GPS receiver, spare shorts, sewing kit, leatherman, maglite, pens, pencils, marker, tablet of paper, spoon, compass, transit map, deodorant, toothbrush, comb, or calipers I always have in my backpack.
There are two ways to go about doing this but both require access to a poor (but lovable!) country. Let us say, for example, Guyana.
First and most socially acceptable, simply agree to purchase a small island. Not just to own, though- you want to actually secede, gaining not just property rights but complete legal autonomy and independence. You could perhaps enter into a set of treaties with the former-government to make it more palatable, such as non aggression and fishing rights, but the land would be completely and totally yours.
The second -and for some reason more frowned upon- option would be to buy the presidency. This could be done either in one of the old fashioned, underhanded ways (such as forming a rebel army or bribing officials to rig the election) or in a much more honest way: publicly offer the people of the country your entire fortune in exchange for the post of dictator-for-life. The money could be put into the national coffers, used to make public improvements, or distributed directly to the citizens. In the case of Guyana, this would come out to about $1400 for every man, woman, and child in the land. Assuming parents got their kids' money, this would be right around the half the annual income for an entire family. If nationalized, this would be more than the entire governmental budget for four years! Such an offer would be hard to resist for such a poor nation, and they may well look upon you as a national savior -perhaps even a god- should you choose to rule benevolently.
So one billion dollars can buy you a nation, with an option for godhood.
Or does the NY Times article read like something straight out of The Onion? I mean, come on- what real person would say, "A guy in the store can make a mistake or give you a hard time, but not the machine"? Yes, it appears that the fine editors of The Onion have obtained a new useful passwords and are now disseminating entertaining tidbits in the straight press.
It sounds tacky, but buying used can have it's advantages.
When I asked my now-wife to marry me, I knew that not just any ring would do--not because she would want something expensive (not even her friends would care about that), but because she would want something with character. The stuff being sold today just doesn't have any, so I decided to go used.
Not just used, but antique. I found a small estate jewlery shop which happened to have the parfect ring--a sort of art-deco design, made in the 1920s (yes, it happened to have a diamond). They were happy to strengthen the band and resize it (hint: get some calipers and measure your girlfriend's rings while she's away to get the ring the right size).
So for a bit less than what I would have spent on a bland new piece of silver and carbon, I was able to find something with character that was older than my grandparents. Assuming her friends have any class whatsoever, just think how envious they'll be of such a prize on her finger!
Although I applaud the attempt at such fanatical precision as something that is A.) challenging B.) informative and C.) possibly producing unexpected technological advances, the actual goal of measuring the distance to the nearest milimeter is a bit silly.
Why? Because the surafce of the moon is not perfectly flat. There are hills and valleys, meaning that level of precision is going to far exceed the level of inherant uncertainty.
Recently an office in London has decided to forgo all timekeeping devices, all the way down to watches being banned and little pieces of tape being placed over the Windows clock on their machines. The idea is that without a sense of time, people will work when there's work to do and stop working when there's no work to do. It's too soon for them to have reported results, but the experiment itself is interesting.
As for me, I *theoretically* work 40 hours per week, but I tend to show up around ten and leave somewhere between five and six. All that really matters to my overlords is that there's someone manning the help desk during work hours and that our jobs all get done. All in all, a very healthy attitude, I think. And one that allows me to read, play Starcraft, or go for a walk when I feel like it. Of course, there are the occasional all-weekend voyages through NT Administration Land, but those are more than made up for by the extreme flexibility of my "9-5" hours.
Slashdot Mirror
Oi! I've been friends with the owner of that screetchy, nerdy laugh (presuming you're refering to co-host Frank Ling) since we were in 4th grade. OK, so maybe he doesn't have a radio voice, but he *is* funny (in a wonderfully nerdy way) and he knows his stuff.
My wife liked it, but it isn't in use at the moment because of a few drawbacks: no 1 key, no backspace, and no Escape. I'm working on a second version that should fix these things. In fact, I think the second version will be a complete "laptop" with the screen inside the case.
-Erik Fitzpatrick
(the creator)
Why do you hate me so? This is going to kill my alotted bandwidth. Could I get a heads up before getting slashdotted?
Fortunately, not all com satelites are geostationary. Internet access at the South Pole is present, but spotty - about 17 hours per day, IIRC.
I spend enough time doing fix-it stuff at work (I'm a Desktop Support Tech) and get payed enough that I neither need the money nor want the work. The practical result of this is that I either do it for free or not at all. If it's a personal friend or family member, I work on it like it's my own PC. If it's just someone I know socially, I'll gladly give advice but for actual work will point them to a local PC shop or a coworker who does side work.
That is the ultimate geek matchup: Ken Jennings vs the Zerg vs 2600.
Ah, finally - a networked camera. I think this could come in very handy for reporting on protests, police brutality, or even celebrities: sure, you can smash the camera, but the images are instantly stored elsewhere, preferably someplace secret and safe.
I turned a manual typewriter into a computer keyboard.
I'm currently working on turning some old intercom units from an abandoned hospital into a wireless intercom system by hacking them together with FRS radios.
It didn't happen to me, but a friend once had an intern position on a movie set in which he had to stand in six inches of cold water and keep two electrical wires in contact.
Which is an interesting idea because Cerritos has *very* strict building appearance laws that severely restrict outdoor advertising, to the point where the Toys R Us in Cerritos had to turn their R around the right way to change it from a logo to a name (legally).
I'm sure they'll make up for the lost footage with plenty of Arwen Gets Naked scenes.
My company is trying out Altiris right now and we haven't been very impressed. The software for setting up an entirely new image works great but the Personality Transfer (or whatever they call it) for migrating a user from one machine to another takes *forever* - on the order of six hours for about 1GB of user data, and this is with both machines plugged into the same hub.
What seems strange to me is the way text messaging is being singled out. Lots more people communicate by email and (voice) cell phones than text messaging, and these allow people to spread word just as quickly (with the exception of actually sending a text message during a movie, which I've never seen anyone do).
What evidence do they have that text messaging is the new, prefered medium for panning craptacular movies?
Your first stop is San Francisco's Exploratorium, an absolutely amazing hands-on museum dedicated to "science, art, and human perception." Exhibits range from the fun and simple to the complex and educational. Look at live chicken embryos; build a catenary arch; mess with your depth perception; stick your (gloved) hand into a mulch pit to feel the heat; explore crystal formation; spin like a top! Nothing beats this place - my wife and I even had our wedding reception there.
Your second stop will be the main branch of the New York Pubilc Library, a gorgeous 19th/early 20th century building that simply looks like a library should. If anyone gives you trouble, this is the right place to use the line, "Back off man - I'm a scientist."
Others have mentioned Arcata, Eureka, and Ferndale as all being home to the original KSR. It should be noted for those not familiar with California geography that these are all the same race. As mentioned above, it started in Ferndale in 1969 but eventually the starting line moved north, so that now the three-day race starts in Arcata, crosses Eureka Bay, and eventually ends (after climbing the Slippery Slimy Slope) in the Victorian/hillbilly town of Ferndale.
It really is an amazing sight to see (especially the Sculptures trying to get up the Slope in the rain!) and I highly recommend that anyone who can manage to be six hours from the nearest major airport over Memorial Day weekend make an effort to attend.
For a good laugh, the rules are available online.
I've come to the conclusion that when a geek gives a computer a newbie they are in fairly regular contact with, the geek becomes responsible for the computer for as long as it lasts. It isn't that the newbie consciously thinks that you are to be held accountable when things go wrong, it's just that from then on they think of you as their own personal comptuer geek, and even one that already knows the system in question, so they go to you first with questions.
The situation is a bit exacerbated when the newbie is a parent that was unsure about getting a computer in the first place, because not only do they turn to you for help but they hold you personally responsible for persuading them to get a computer in the first place!
The moral of the story: be careful of the gifts you give and the favors you do- you may be expected to do them again. And again. And again.
Ah, but did you notice that I blurred out all identifying info on the deposit slips? I'm not *that* sloppy!
Erik
The biggest thing people seem to have mentioned is the lack of a backspace key. Yes, it is a problem. While reading people's comments on here, I finally had an idea of how to fix it- there are a couple of other keys on the typewriter that aren't being used, like the "1/2 1/4" key. The "backspace" key cap could be moved over to that key , which could then be wired on the underside just like the rest. It would even be closer to where backspace is on a regular keyboard. Thanks for getting me thinking about that.
As for my wife being limited by the regular length of a line, this isn't the case unless she were to try using it as a typewriter at the same time. Otherwise, she would still be able to type merrily away even though the carriage had come to the end of the line, so there really isn't a problem there.
One person emailed me with a link to an even cooler creation of his from a few years back: http://www.idiom.com/~decay/art_folio/letter.html
Erik
Other favorites:
Countless times the day has been saved by the duct tape, WD40, micro torch, candle, tape measure, digital camera, handspring with attached cell phone, trash bag, toilet paper, water balloons, post-it notes, floppy disk, GPS receiver, spare shorts, sewing kit, leatherman, maglite, pens, pencils, marker, tablet of paper, spoon, compass, transit map, deodorant, toothbrush, comb, or calipers I always have in my backpack.
There are two ways to go about doing this but both require access to a poor (but lovable!) country. Let us say, for example, Guyana.
First and most socially acceptable, simply agree to purchase a small island. Not just to own, though- you want to actually secede, gaining not just property rights but complete legal autonomy and independence. You could perhaps enter into a set of treaties with the former-government to make it more palatable, such as non aggression and fishing rights, but the land would be completely and totally yours.
The second -and for some reason more frowned upon- option would be to buy the presidency. This could be done either in one of the old fashioned, underhanded ways (such as forming a rebel army or bribing officials to rig the election) or in a much more honest way: publicly offer the people of the country your entire fortune in exchange for the post of dictator-for-life. The money could be put into the national coffers, used to make public improvements, or distributed directly to the citizens. In the case of Guyana, this would come out to about $1400 for every man, woman, and child in the land. Assuming parents got their kids' money, this would be right around the half the annual income for an entire family. If nationalized, this would be more than the entire governmental budget for four years! Such an offer would be hard to resist for such a poor nation, and they may well look upon you as a national savior -perhaps even a god- should you choose to rule benevolently.
So one billion dollars can buy you a nation, with an option for godhood.
Or does the NY Times article read like something straight out of The Onion? I mean, come on- what real person would say, "A guy in the store can make a mistake or give you a hard time, but not the machine"? Yes, it appears that the fine editors of The Onion have obtained a new useful passwords and are now disseminating entertaining tidbits in the straight press.
When I asked my now-wife to marry me, I knew that not just any ring would do--not because she would want something expensive (not even her friends would care about that), but because she would want something with character. The stuff being sold today just doesn't have any, so I decided to go used.
Not just used, but antique. I found a small estate jewlery shop which happened to have the parfect ring--a sort of art-deco design, made in the 1920s (yes, it happened to have a diamond). They were happy to strengthen the band and resize it (hint: get some calipers and measure your girlfriend's rings while she's away to get the ring the right size).
So for a bit less than what I would have spent on a bland new piece of silver and carbon, I was able to find something with character that was older than my grandparents. Assuming her friends have any class whatsoever, just think how envious they'll be of such a prize on her finger!
Just to be pedantic, throat singing is from Tuva, a Russian province just north of Mongolia. Tuvalu is in the south Pacific.
I'll shut up now.
Although I applaud the attempt at such fanatical precision as something that is A.) challenging B.) informative and C.) possibly producing unexpected technological advances, the actual goal of measuring the distance to the nearest milimeter is a bit silly.
Why? Because the surafce of the moon is not perfectly flat. There are hills and valleys, meaning that level of precision is going to far exceed the level of inherant uncertainty.
But still, a worthy task.
Recently an office in London has decided to forgo all timekeeping devices, all the way down to watches being banned and little pieces of tape being placed over the Windows clock on their machines. The idea is that without a sense of time, people will work when there's work to do and stop working when there's no work to do. It's too soon for them to have reported results, but the experiment itself is interesting. As for me, I *theoretically* work 40 hours per week, but I tend to show up around ten and leave somewhere between five and six. All that really matters to my overlords is that there's someone manning the help desk during work hours and that our jobs all get done. All in all, a very healthy attitude, I think. And one that allows me to read, play Starcraft, or go for a walk when I feel like it. Of course, there are the occasional all-weekend voyages through NT Administration Land, but those are more than made up for by the extreme flexibility of my "9-5" hours.