Ha ha, your post caused a fun flashback. A few years ago I spent some extended time on the open ocean. When I finally got to shore, I couldn't walk straight. I almost fell off an escalator at the mall, and I was totally sober at the time. Lots of fun.
Re:Internet on TV? Really?
on
I Want My GTV
·
· Score: 1
Acer Revo FTW!
Sure its not a power house, but it plays media from the basement server great, it plays Shoutcast radio streams great, my TVtorrents.com account gets a'lot of upload time, and the kids are playing PBSkids.org on it right now. With HDMI and fiber optic audio, it plugs into my LCD TV and amplifier and the VESA mount hangs it off the back of the TV out of site and mind.
If the Google TV can fill all these needs without breaking the bank, I think it will be a hit.
I was thinking it might be useful to hide your micro-SD card from your phone camera after using it in a secure location. Maybe touring a nuclear power facility, or a competitors fabrication plant and secretly taking pictures with your cellphone. When it comes time to exit the facility, simply swap your phone memory card with one full of family photos and phone numbers then hand over the phone for inspection.
The typing game we used (the dude jumping over the hurdles) was great. We figured out that if you clicked open a menu, typed what the screen displayed, then closed the menu it would give you something like 999wpm.
Grab a couple trays from McDonalds, park the back wheels on the trays and set the E-brake.
You don't even need snow.
After driving a pickup for a few years I bought a '94 Geo Metro. First road trip we hit snow. I went around a corner a bit fast, back end slid a bit, I over corrected and spun into the ditch. After we dug it out, I took it to the mall parking lot to figure out this front wheel drive thing.
Didn't the GG step in last year to put that coalition on hold? I don't pay TOO much attention to politics, but last year when everyone was fighting like dirty school kids I seem to remember the GG had to step in. With the Liberals and NDP pretending that because there's a minority gov't, the people clearly wish to have a coalition rather then the clowns we elected. The way I remember it, they were trying to push a non-confidence vote through before the Christmas break. The GG was out of the country at the time, and had to rush back to put an end to the nonsense. Because the elected fools are really only concerned about themselves, and Dion knew this was pretty much his last chance at PM, they couldn't be trusted to make a decision based on the good of the country. Michaëlle Jean stepped in and sent everyone home early for christmas break during which time the politicians had to listen to their constituents who were very unhappy with the whole thing. By the time they got back to work, the coalition had dissolved and we were back to normal.
Regardless of your political standing, the whole thing was done without voter support. Michaëlle Jean had the power to either endorse the coalition (allowing the losers to form the gov't), or to call an election. We just HAD a stinken election. Because the GG office is not elected, she was able to make the decision based on the good of the country, not the twisted/manipulated view of our elected representatives.
But yeah, that was a good time going into a recession.
What was really amazing was once I went camping with some friends up in the mountains and at the time someone had the right contact and we were able to borrow a piece of Gen 3 night vision. Lying on the ground in the mountains with a high quality image intensifier was pretty crazy. You could see an almost continuous stream of meteors as well as more stars then I ever imagined.
About a month ago I was trying to get Ubuntu working on my computer in my electronics lab in my basement. I have several computers in my home running windows, but have always wanted to learn Linux.
So I got Ubuntu installed and everything worked.
Then I wanted to install a program from the ubuntu installation (point and click) program.
I selected the program and told it to do it's thing.
It didn't work.
I posted on a forum for some help. Some of the responses were useless (degrading) but some of the responses were of people genuinely trying to help. Eventually I DID manage to get the program running, but it involved a LOT of command line.
I then tried to figure out how to program pic microcontrollers from the linux box. After pulling my hair out for a couple weeks following how-tos on WINE and stuff I gave up, installed windows, installed the software and was able to program the pic that afternoon.
Electronics are my hobby. Computers are not. Every time I try linux I get a little bit further then the previous attempt, but I still get stuck on something stupid. I suppose I could be considered a lazy computer user because I am used to windows, but having to spend hours and hours trying to get things to work that should just work is frustrating and takes energy that I would rather spend elsewhere.
I haven't given up entirely though. My next project is to build a surveillance system using Zone Minder on a linux box. Apparently my hardware is supported, so we'll see where it goes.
I've got NES thumb. Both my thumbs pop when I bend them. I blame this stupid motorcycle game where you had to do Left-right, A-B really fast. I don't remember which game it is, but my thumbs remember skipping school to play it.
We picked up a huge bin at a garage sale last summer. Most of it was Lego, but there was just enough Mega Blocks to frustrate you. They don't fit right, they don't hold very good, and the colours suck.
I am a big fan of competition. Hopefully this drives down the price of real legos.
If they lost the trademark though, Mega Blocks can start marketing their product as lego. That would suck.
I just picked up a Tecktronix Type 453 for $50 from a hole in the wall electronics shop run by a bunch of cool, really old geeks. Awesome place.
If you are just starting out with electronics, maybe building a few audio circuits, stepper controllers, Pic circuits, etc, I would go for a cheapo (oh wait... I did) old one. As you get more familiar with what you need to do, spend some cash on one with more functionality. My last employer had a sweet Digital scope. One function that was really nice was it had filters for properly triggering off a tv signal. Also it had a thermal printer. Very nice for taping in the notebook. I would imagine some newer ones will have a digital camera like function that can store the data in a JPG using a memory stick, etc. Yeah, that would be sweet.
Somewhere along the lines I saw a kit to make a scope out of an old game boy.
How's it working out for you having your government take a "hands off" approach to your banks? (assuming you are an American).
Ted Rogers was on CBC the other day, and made a comment about how when he was sitting on a board of a bank, there was one bank regulator (govt official) for every member of the bank at all the bank meetings. He said he didn't understand the need for the government oversight until now.
My personal belief is that the government (the people, remember) should own ALL the infrastructure and license it to private service providers. I know it isn't perfect, but I feel it is the best. Businesses have one goal, making a profit. Governments have (or should have) one goal, providing a service to the constituents.
That's what I like about Canada. Now if we can only just elect a majourity government so we can get something done instead of just arguing...
I think part of the problem isn't just the dumb cow (we had a hobby farm when I was a kid), it is the rugged terrain.
If you REALLY wanted to automate your cattle herding process, a good first step would be to flatten your land. Take out all those dangerous canyons, trees, fallen logs, boulders, and gopher holes. If your acreage is in Saskatchewan, most of the work is done for you if it is in the Peace River BC area, a bit more work. Here you might want to employ an army of robots with shovels and dynamite.
I say just hire a couple mexicans. Trying to automate everything is stupid. And yes, I am an automation technician presently building an automated mouse trap in my basement.
I work probably 8 hours a week for my employer, plus maybe 15 hours a week driving to a job site. The rest of the time? Sitting on slashdot ready to spring into action!
I may not put in a lot of hours, but when they need something done, I do a darn fine job of it. In about 15 minutes I am leaving to drive 3 hours to do a 15 minute repair job then go back home.
If my boss were to start giving me grief over not working 40 hours a week, he knows I would be out of there, and then he would be stuck where he was before. The previous guy with my job couldn't even do a good job for the 8 hours a week that was required of him.
With me, the job gets done regardless of the time it takes, and THAT'S what matters. The customers love me, and my wife and kids get to see me.
I use Mailinator. Sounds real manly (like terminator), can get it anywhere, no annoying password restrictions, and pretty much any common word @mailinator.com is available.
My address is fishead(at)mailinator.com (address obfuscated to trick spam bots)
I have a spare 350SBC (5.7L) in my back yard that I just picked up for $75. We could have pulled it out of the donor truck in about 20 minutes, but I wanted the wiring harness, so it took an hour.
I pumped the hoist with one hand...
After having my Pathfinder engine replaced with a book shop time of 16 hours, I am loving my SBC!!!
All devices should have over-voltage protection by default. Even if the device you are manufacturing comes with a super-wahzoo psu that is absolutely limited to 5Vdc output, your device should be able to handle 30Vdc and not have a problem. Simple electronics design, not complicated rocket science. Varistors are cheap. Resetable surface mount fuses are cheap. Voltage regulators are cheap.
Future Shop and Breast Buy sell standard USB device cables for $30. Then the salesman tells you that if you buy a cheap one, it will suffer from signal loss and lower speed. If the world standardized small electronics on one power port, manufacturers can ship their products entirely without chargers. Then the "Pop-up add" style salesman can sell you a USB-mini charger for $50 and tell you that your warranty will be void if your "un-certified" charger ruins your device. He can then sell you a product protection plan on your charger for an extra $10. Or you can go with the "Monster Cable" charger that has extra line filtering... bla bla bla.
I can attest that this works, and you are the first person outside of my family that I have heard it from.
I used to do that when I was giving the chore of separating the chicken from his head. I had an old beam that I would place the chicken on, stretch her neck out and draw a line away from her beak on some dirt on the beam. When you do that, the whole nervous system must be on pause because they don't even flap a wing after you cut their head off. Hmm... any biologists needing a research project?
Slashdot Mirror
So when can we start having honest discussions about chiropractors and global warming scientists?
Ha ha, your post caused a fun flashback. A few years ago I spent some extended time on the open ocean. When I finally got to shore, I couldn't walk straight. I almost fell off an escalator at the mall, and I was totally sober at the time. Lots of fun.
Acer Revo FTW!
Sure its not a power house, but it plays media from the basement server great, it plays Shoutcast radio streams great, my TVtorrents.com account gets a'lot of upload time, and the kids are playing PBSkids.org on it right now. With HDMI and fiber optic audio, it plugs into my LCD TV and amplifier and the VESA mount hangs it off the back of the TV out of site and mind.
If the Google TV can fill all these needs without breaking the bank, I think it will be a hit.
My little brother (car salesman) says of these people "Couldn't finance a ham sandwich with a five dollar deposit".
I was thinking it might be useful to hide your micro-SD card from your phone camera after using it in a secure location. Maybe touring a nuclear power facility, or a competitors fabrication plant and secretly taking pictures with your cellphone. When it comes time to exit the facility, simply swap your phone memory card with one full of family photos and phone numbers then hand over the phone for inspection.
The typing game we used (the dude jumping over the hurdles) was great. We figured out that if you clicked open a menu, typed what the screen displayed, then closed the menu it would give you something like 999wpm.
Grab a couple trays from McDonalds, park the back wheels on the trays and set the E-brake.
You don't even need snow.
After driving a pickup for a few years I bought a '94 Geo Metro. First road trip we hit snow. I went around a corner a bit fast, back end slid a bit, I over corrected and spun into the ditch. After we dug it out, I took it to the mall parking lot to figure out this front wheel drive thing.
Didn't the GG step in last year to put that coalition on hold? I don't pay TOO much attention to politics, but last year when everyone was fighting like dirty school kids I seem to remember the GG had to step in. With the Liberals and NDP pretending that because there's a minority gov't, the people clearly wish to have a coalition rather then the clowns we elected. The way I remember it, they were trying to push a non-confidence vote through before the Christmas break. The GG was out of the country at the time, and had to rush back to put an end to the nonsense. Because the elected fools are really only concerned about themselves, and Dion knew this was pretty much his last chance at PM, they couldn't be trusted to make a decision based on the good of the country. Michaëlle Jean stepped in and sent everyone home early for christmas break during which time the politicians had to listen to their constituents who were very unhappy with the whole thing. By the time they got back to work, the coalition had dissolved and we were back to normal.
Regardless of your political standing, the whole thing was done without voter support. Michaëlle Jean had the power to either endorse the coalition (allowing the losers to form the gov't), or to call an election. We just HAD a stinken election. Because the GG office is not elected, she was able to make the decision based on the good of the country, not the twisted/manipulated view of our elected representatives.
But yeah, that was a good time going into a recession.
What was really amazing was once I went camping with some friends up in the mountains and at the time someone had the right contact and we were able to borrow a piece of Gen 3 night vision. Lying on the ground in the mountains with a high quality image intensifier was pretty crazy. You could see an almost continuous stream of meteors as well as more stars then I ever imagined.
...again.
Third time this week.
About a month ago I was trying to get Ubuntu working on my computer in my electronics lab in my basement. I have several computers in my home running windows, but have always wanted to learn Linux.
So I got Ubuntu installed and everything worked.
Then I wanted to install a program from the ubuntu installation (point and click) program.
I selected the program and told it to do it's thing.
It didn't work.
I posted on a forum for some help. Some of the responses were useless (degrading) but some of the responses were of people genuinely trying to help. Eventually I DID manage to get the program running, but it involved a LOT of command line.
I then tried to figure out how to program pic microcontrollers from the linux box. After pulling my hair out for a couple weeks following how-tos on WINE and stuff I gave up, installed windows, installed the software and was able to program the pic that afternoon.
Electronics are my hobby. Computers are not. Every time I try linux I get a little bit further then the previous attempt, but I still get stuck on something stupid. I suppose I could be considered a lazy computer user because I am used to windows, but having to spend hours and hours trying to get things to work that should just work is frustrating and takes energy that I would rather spend elsewhere.
I haven't given up entirely though. My next project is to build a surveillance system using Zone Minder on a linux box. Apparently my hardware is supported, so we'll see where it goes.
I've got NES thumb. Both my thumbs pop when I bend them. I blame this stupid motorcycle game where you had to do Left-right, A-B really fast. I don't remember which game it is, but my thumbs remember skipping school to play it.
I agree. Mega blocks are crap.
We picked up a huge bin at a garage sale last summer. Most of it was Lego, but there was just enough Mega Blocks to frustrate you. They don't fit right, they don't hold very good, and the colours suck.
I am a big fan of competition. Hopefully this drives down the price of real legos.
If they lost the trademark though, Mega Blocks can start marketing their product as lego. That would suck.
Odd thing is that the signal seems to be carrying a message. We have decoded it, and it seems to read: F-I-R-S-T---P-O-S-T-.
I just picked up a Tecktronix Type 453 for $50 from a hole in the wall electronics shop run by a bunch of cool, really old geeks. Awesome place.
If you are just starting out with electronics, maybe building a few audio circuits, stepper controllers, Pic circuits, etc, I would go for a cheapo (oh wait... I did) old one. As you get more familiar with what you need to do, spend some cash on one with more functionality. My last employer had a sweet Digital scope. One function that was really nice was it had filters for properly triggering off a tv signal. Also it had a thermal printer. Very nice for taping in the notebook. I would imagine some newer ones will have a digital camera like function that can store the data in a JPG using a memory stick, etc. Yeah, that would be sweet.
Somewhere along the lines I saw a kit to make a scope out of an old game boy.
How's it working out for you having your government take a "hands off" approach to your banks? (assuming you are an American).
Ted Rogers was on CBC the other day, and made a comment about how when he was sitting on a board of a bank, there was one bank regulator (govt official) for every member of the bank at all the bank meetings. He said he didn't understand the need for the government oversight until now.
My personal belief is that the government (the people, remember) should own ALL the infrastructure and license it to private service providers. I know it isn't perfect, but I feel it is the best. Businesses have one goal, making a profit. Governments have (or should have) one goal, providing a service to the constituents.
That's what I like about Canada. Now if we can only just elect a majourity government so we can get something done instead of just arguing...
I think part of the problem isn't just the dumb cow (we had a hobby farm when I was a kid), it is the rugged terrain.
If you REALLY wanted to automate your cattle herding process, a good first step would be to flatten your land. Take out all those dangerous canyons, trees, fallen logs, boulders, and gopher holes. If your acreage is in Saskatchewan, most of the work is done for you if it is in the Peace River BC area, a bit more work. Here you might want to employ an army of robots with shovels and dynamite.
I say just hire a couple mexicans. Trying to automate everything is stupid. And yes, I am an automation technician presently building an automated mouse trap in my basement.
I was listening to CBC today, and they mentioned the trademark of the words "with glowing hearts" as well as the french version of these names.
very ghey
I work probably 8 hours a week for my employer, plus maybe 15 hours a week driving to a job site. The rest of the time? Sitting on slashdot ready to spring into action!
I may not put in a lot of hours, but when they need something done, I do a darn fine job of it. In about 15 minutes I am leaving to drive 3 hours to do a 15 minute repair job then go back home.
If my boss were to start giving me grief over not working 40 hours a week, he knows I would be out of there, and then he would be stuck where he was before. The previous guy with my job couldn't even do a good job for the 8 hours a week that was required of him.
With me, the job gets done regardless of the time it takes, and THAT'S what matters. The customers love me, and my wife and kids get to see me.
I use Mailinator. Sounds real manly (like terminator), can get it anywhere, no annoying password restrictions, and pretty much any common word @mailinator.com is available.
My address is fishead(at)mailinator.com (address obfuscated to trick spam bots)
It must be their Flash animation that's causing all the bandwidth. Why does a city need a flash banner?
http://ci.sheboygan.wi.us/
I have a spare 350SBC (5.7L) in my back yard that I just picked up for $75. We could have pulled it out of the donor truck in about 20 minutes, but I wanted the wiring harness, so it took an hour.
I pumped the hoist with one hand...
After having my Pathfinder engine replaced with a book shop time of 16 hours, I am loving my SBC!!!
All devices should have over-voltage protection by default. Even if the device you are manufacturing comes with a super-wahzoo psu that is absolutely limited to 5Vdc output, your device should be able to handle 30Vdc and not have a problem. Simple electronics design, not complicated rocket science. Varistors are cheap. Resetable surface mount fuses are cheap. Voltage regulators are cheap.
Future Shop and Breast Buy sell standard USB device cables for $30. Then the salesman tells you that if you buy a cheap one, it will suffer from signal loss and lower speed. If the world standardized small electronics on one power port, manufacturers can ship their products entirely without chargers. Then the "Pop-up add" style salesman can sell you a USB-mini charger for $50 and tell you that your warranty will be void if your "un-certified" charger ruins your device. He can then sell you a product protection plan on your charger for an extra $10. Or you can go with the "Monster Cable" charger that has extra line filtering... bla bla bla.
I can attest that this works, and you are the first person outside of my family that I have heard it from.
I used to do that when I was giving the chore of separating the chicken from his head. I had an old beam that I would place the chicken on, stretch her neck out and draw a line away from her beak on some dirt on the beam. When you do that, the whole nervous system must be on pause because they don't even flap a wing after you cut their head off. Hmm... any biologists needing a research project?