| Making stuff to make stuff. :-P |
[01 Dec 2009|05:17am] |
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mood |
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 intrigued |
] |
I totally should build a MakerBot Cupcake. Although instead of dropping $$$ on fancy laser-cut panels, I may just print out the plans, glue them to some wood, and go at them with a drill press and a knockoff-brand dremel. Could probably cut the price other ways, too.
Biggest issue I see is that its build area is kind of small. Maybe once I get it all figured out, I could make a bigger version. Or maybe use it to build a RepRap, those look like they should handle printing bigger parts. (Hmm. Would a scaled-up MakerBot Cupcake just be a MakerBot Cake then, or what?)
Anyone know anything about these things?
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| Random Quiz... |
[27 Sep 2009|10:17am] |
| What kind of bear are you? Your Result: panda bear you are a gentle giant! you are loving and compasionate, and people like you are becoming endangered, but you have what it truly takes to be a great freind! if there where more people like you, maybe there wouldn't be so much evil in the world! | | black bear | | | grizzly bear | | | polar bear | | what kind of bear are you?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz |
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| Notes to self... |
[20 Aug 2009|06:57pm] |
| [ |
music |
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Sade - Smooth Operator.mid |
] |
LF RF LR RR
FWD X X _ _
REV _ _ X X
CWR X _ _ X
CCW _ X X _
FWL _ X _ _
FWR X _ _ _
BKL _ _ X _
BKR _ _ _ X
FWL FWD FWR
CCW ??? CWR
BKL REV BKR
PSI ??? SND
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| Odd Tracking Number? |
[07 Aug 2009|08:23pm] |
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mood |
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confused |
] |
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music |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-gY6OJz0-k |
] |
Does anyone know where I need to go to use a tracking number in the format "RR ### ### ### PH" (each # being a number)? Most tracking numbers I can paste into google an it automagically figures out whose they are and tells me where to go, but this one it doesn't for some reason.
Mostly I want to know where my new game cartriges are now and how long until they get to me. (I got Pokemon Jade, Pokemon Green Version, and Digimon Emerald. [PIC])
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| Huh. |
[05 Aug 2009|09:16am] |
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I wonder whatever happened to these?
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| Random Quiz Thing... |
[03 Aug 2009|04:07pm] |
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mood |
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 amused |
] |
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music |
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Sonic_the_Hedgehog_2_ForbiddenMemory(ofaForgottenDream)_OC_ReMix.mp3 |
] |
Your result for What color would your lightsaber be?...
Black BeamThe Wild Card 
Your flexibility in your decisions makes your particular approach to any situation hard to pin down. You either don't go into any two situations the same way, or you try to shape your expectations to suit whatever culture or business you are dealing with. Your balanced mix of style, sense, and aggression make you almost completely unpredictable, both in combat and in discussion. No one is able to predict exactly what you're going to do and say, much less what you're thinking. Others like you: Qui-Gon Jinn (not pictured)
Take What color would your lightsaber be? at HelloQuizzy
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| LM 3914? (Part 2) |
[31 Jul 2009|12:34pm] |
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mood |
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confused |
] |
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music |
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Motörhead - Overkill (HD) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2B27Jr2_4w&fmt=22 |
] |
(Part 1)
Ok, on closer examination, it can be set to show 0-1.2V by adding a single resistor. (1.2 apparently being the minimum.) Meaning a step of 0.12V between LEDs. I need a step of 0.04V between LEDs.
Now, if I use a 3x voltage multiplier of some kind on my source, that lets me use a step of 0.12. But then I need to set an offset voltage to the LM3914, so it displays the correct range (1.86-3.06V I believe?)
I know it /can/ be done (otherwise cascading them wouldn't work), I'm just not sure how to do it without needing to add extra (useless) LM3914 chips. (Especially since the local electronics store seems to want $8 ea. for them!)
Also, about the outputs: Can I use one red LED on 3 outputs (2.34-2.46, 2.46-2.58, and 2.58-2.70 after the multiplier)? Or do I need a separate LED for each? And can I let the unused outputs (below 2.34 after the shift) just float? Or do I need to stick something on them, even if it's just a generic non-light-emitting diode?
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| LM3914? |
[28 Jul 2009|09:09am] |
| [ |
mood |
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curious |
] |
| [ |
music |
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Motley Crue - Kickstart My Heart |
] |
I wonder if an LM3914 is an apropriate choice if I want to take an input voltage and 4 output LEDs, and light up one LED from .78 to .90v, one from .90 to .94v, one from .94 to .98v, and one for .98v+ (only one LED at a time)?
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| Weird games. |
[15 Jul 2009|09:01am] |
| [ |
mood |
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 tech stuff |
] |
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music |
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Mistabishi - Printer Jam (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is-HVxmUELQ) |
] |
I wonder why the game cartridges I always seem to have the most fun with are the weird bootleg multicarts with assorted hacked games, unlicensed games, and what's often referred to as "hong kong originals", which usually seem to be a sort of odd mix involving original (often shoddy) game programming, occasionally with bootlegged popular characters tacked in.
Like the "Pandamar" SMB hack on one of my multicarts (significant sprite changes, music changed, title screen changed, color palettes modified, &c.)
Or the unlicensed GBADEV.ORG 2004Mbit Competition cart I bought off eBay - All fully-original stuff, "Nintendo Seal of Approval" nowhere to be found. Even states in the intro screen that it has nothing at all to do with the Nintendo company.
Was looking at a copy of "Pokemon Jade" on eBay the other day, but it went up to at least $26 I think, more than I felt like paying for one single-game cartridge.
For that matter, these multicarts and such seem to be hard to find and getting harder. Game stores that take trade-ins won't touch them, so I can't buy them there. They're amazingly sparse on eBay now, too. And the kiosks selling "Power Joy" stuff at the mall disappeared a while back. Rather annoying.
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| Coffee Maker. |
[30 Jun 2009|04:26am] |
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At least my new (well, new to me) coffee maker seems to work. Instead of spilling hot water all over the place like the old one. Plus it's a lot simpler. The only thing resembling any kind of control is the slider that goes from "mild" to "strong". (I just pushed it over to the end labeled "strong".) Instead of a zillion pieces and parts and buttons and things, you simply add water, add coffee bits, put the lid on, plug it in, and leave it alone until the weird noises stop. Then you grab the handle and pour the coffee out into a mug or whatever.
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| WoW Stuff... |
[01 Jun 2009|04:43pm] |
| [ |
mood |
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amused |
] |
They should totally add some sort of boombox to WoW, even if it doesn't actually do anything but sit there and make noise when you set it somewhere.
They could even have two kinds, [Gnomish Stereophonic Audio Replicator] and [Goblin Blaster].
I'd think it would be an engineering item. Sits in your inventory, and when you select it and a spot on the ground, it would temp-spawn the appropriate boombox there, which would then disappear after x minutes or when canceled, and it can of course only spawn one at a time. Somewhere between the game's fishing mechanics and its dynamite mechanics I guess?
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| Stuff and Food. Food first I guess. |
[21 May 2009|02:46am] |
| [ |
mood |
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 accomplished |
] |
| [ |
music |
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Motley Crue - Kickstart My Heart.mp3 |
] |
Discovered that burrito shell + ketchup + basil + oregano + shredded cheese + meat + microwave = passable small imitation pizza. Mostly discovered this by being hungry and throwing those things together to see if the idea would actually work or not.
Got a new knockoff-brand nerf gun. Sounds sort of like an air-raid siren when it's spun up and ready to shoot. Guessing it's not supposed to have a slight ozone smell coming out the front after I've used it though. Tempted to try to upgrade it, mostly for increaed rate of fire and increased range.
Also, these blocks are sort of nifty for some reason.
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| GPS thingy. |
[15 May 2009|04:37am] |
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mood |
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Ooooh... |
] |
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music |
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10 - MegaDriver - MetalHog - Scrap Brain (Sonic 1).mp3 |
] |
Well, I got a GPS thing, and it seems to work for the most part.
Although it always shows me as being almost half a block south and a tiny bit west of where I actually am. And if you tell the nav program I downloaded to give you directions, it crashes instead. But at least it still mostly shows your current location, which is still quite helpful.
Naybe I need to find a different nav program to download...
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| Different kinds of black licorice? |
[26 Apr 2009|01:30pm] |
| [ |
mood |
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 curious |
] |
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music |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5UGpw4oyfw |
] |
Am I the only one who's at all picky about licorice?
Because I've noticed that there's a big difference between the boring licorice you see in most stores, and the good licorice that's a whole lot harder to find.
Besides the fact that the good kind tastes better, the easiest way to tell them apart is to bite the end off. If it's still shiny and black where you bit it off, it's the boring lame kind. If it's a sort of a dullish brown there instead though, then that's the good stuff.
Does anyone else have /any/ clue what I'm talking about?
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| Electronic Stuff... |
[14 Apr 2009|07:36pm] |
Great. Appears that the 4X4 keypad I have connects the "row" pin to the "column" pin, while the chip I have is looking for both the "row" and "colmumn" pins to go high. :-/
Maybe I can fake it with tiny relays, or I think there's a way to use transistors as switches maybe... (one between ground and each "row" pin, one between +5 and each "column" pin, and the output on each one supplying +5 to the associated row or column input pins on the chip.)
...
On a side note, anyone know if there's such a thing as a 2GB PC2700 SODIMM?
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| Random idea... |
[26 Feb 2009|01:11pm] |
| [ |
mood |
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curious |
] |
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music |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB5fV_Pewlg |
] |
I wonder what the simplest cheap way to implement this would be?
Preferably involving not much more than throwing some standard, easy-to-find ICs and a mic and headphone socket onto a board and hooking on some batteries, a mic, and headphones.
Or is this just a really stupid idea to begin with?
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| Computer stuff... |
[27 Jan 2009|09:00am] |
| [ |
mood |
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confused |
] |
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music |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0FeKSVJM5I&fmt=18 |
] |
Something I've noticed:
I've seen laptop Blu-Ray drives.
I've seen laptop HD-DVD drives.
I've seen desktop Blu-Ray/HD-DVD combo drives (even some that will bur Blu-Ray discs)
But I haven't seen any laptop Blu-Ray/HD-DVD combo drives, even in read-only.
Does such a thing even exist?
(On a side note, I haven't seen any cardbus TV tuner cards that don't have that stupid plastic lump on the end, either. Why not?? NTSC/ATSC combo would be preferable of course, but even cards that only support one of those could be interesting... Bonus points if it does FM too.)
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[08 Jan 2009|10:56pm] |
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mood |
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 irritated |
] |
Well this is annoying. Spent $12 on a CD, and an amazing percentage of Track 8 is bleeped out! And it's not like it's one of those retarded "clean edit" CDs (although it does claim to be "digitally remastered"), there's a big "Parental Advisory Explicit Content" logo on the front, and the other tracks have all sorts of bad words in them.
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| USB GPS thingy. |
[05 Jan 2009|07:45pm] |
| [ |
mood |
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curious |
] |
| [ |
music |
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Journey - Wheel in the Sky.mp3 |
] |
Anyone happen to know anything about these? The "no software or driver included" thing is sort of irritating, although being USB, it may install its own driver or something. And the less-than-$10-and-free-shipping is rather nice.
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| Odd LiveJournal/FireFox 3 Interaction? |
[01 Jan 2009|11:10pm] |
| [ |
mood |
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annoyed |
] |
On the desktop, which has FireFox 2, this doesn't happen, but on my laptop, which has FireFox 3, whenever I browse LiveJournal I end up with a bunch of __setdomsess and get_domain_session.bml entries in my browser history. And it's annoying. Anyone happen to know why it does that, or at least how to make it stop doing that?
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| Upgrades... |
[01 Jan 2009|07:10pm] |
| [ |
mood |
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>:-D |
] |
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music |
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Dr. Reanimator - Move Your Dead Bones.mp3 |
] |
Seems like I can't keep my hands out of almost anything I buy...
Got a laptop for Christmas (Actually, I recieved it early on the 18th, but whatever), and already I've done these things:
- Replaced the 512MB stick of RAM in it with a 1GB stick of PC2700 (PNY brand, was on sale at Best Buy for $38), now it has 1280MB RAM total.
- Bought a 3-pack of styluses for $6, came with some useless NDS game card case in the pack too, keeping one of them behind the CD cover and stashing away the others as spares.
- Ordered an AKE BC168 PCMCIA dual USB2.0 card for it.
- Bought a RocketFish Micro Bluetooth adapter for it. Works fine in my USB extension (need to use an extension to plug in thumbdrives or they won't fit), but once the the AKE BC168 arrives I'll just stick the BT adapter straight into the stock USB1.1 port, I think the cover will even close on the port with the BT adapter in.
Tempted to do these things:
- Upgrade the 40GB 4200RPM HDD to at least a 5400RPM with higher capacity, but NO WESTERN DIGITAL DRIVES! I've NEVER had good luck with those, every single drive that I've ever had die on me was a WD! (Too bad SSD drives are still so much $$$... A 128GB SSD would really rock, although even a 64GB would probably fly right along, just wouldn't be as big.) MUST be PATA.
- Find one of the stock CF readers, hope they'll also do SDHC (I think there's an XP hotfix for that?) - Using the stock reader to keep the second PCMCIA slot free.
- Might ask around if there's any NTSC/ATSC PCMCIA cards that can be cut down to fit flush, so as to let the PCMCIA slots cover still close with it in. (Would still need to detach the antenna to close the door, but that's really no problem at all.)
- Stuff a USB GPS inside it somewhere?
- I wonder if a Blu-ray drive could be shoehorned into the stock drive pack currently holding a CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive? Maybe when Blu-ray drives come down in price a bit...
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| :-) |
[23 Dec 2008|10:57pm] |
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| Epic Win. |
[11 Dec 2008|01:41pm] |
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mood |
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amused |
] |
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music |
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14 - MegaDriver - MetalHog - MetalHog (VS Robotnik) (Sonic 1 And 2).mp3 |
] |
Okay, this is just epic win. And free, too. :-D
Artist:MegaDriver Album:MetalHog
Their albums "Metal Axe" and "Metal Beast" are cool too - Try and guess what games those are based on without looking first. :-P
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| A couple interesting ideas I've had for computer mice... |
[04 Dec 2008|09:08am] |
| [ |
mood |
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 creative |
] |
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music |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIamxm54wQI&fmt=18 |
] |
Came up with a couple interesting ideas for computer mice:
Replace the scroll wheel with a smallish trackball. Treat the vertical axis like a normal scroll wheel. Treat the horizontal axis like a second horizontal scroll wheel. Yes, I know they make mice where you can press the wheel to one side or the other to imitate a second scroll wheel, but those sort of suck, it's more like combining a scroll wheel and a nubby mouse instead of combining two scroll wheels.
Other idea: A mouse that works more like a joystick - pressing the mouse to one side is the same as continuously moving a normal mouse sideways. I suppose it'd be sort of like an inverted nubby mouse, except the nub is alightly longer and attached to a base (with some form of ball-and-socket connector?) so it doesn't slip, and it'd look like a regular mouse stuck to a big base. Something like this might be nice for shooting games, actually.
I'd also settle for the original rectangular Logitech Trackman being rereleased except with optical guts and maybe a scroll wheel on it somewhere, perhaps on the middle button. But that obviously isn't going to happen. (Although perhaps I could take an old one and stuff the insides from a newer mouse into it, that's almost tempting...)
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| Note to Self |
[29 Nov 2008|11:54am] |
Note to Self:
Pick up bottle of contact cleaner from Radio Shack later.
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| Random question thing going around... |
[12 Nov 2008|02:04pm] |
| [ |
mood |
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curious |
] |
If you saw me in a police car, what would you think I got arrested for? Answer me, then post to your own journal if you want, and see how many crimes you get accused of.
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