Copy this sentence into your livejournal if you're in a heterosexual marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by the bigots who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.

I've been slowly accumulating pieces for this media center for months now (because I'm cheap and I use ebay a lot to score good deals).

( Graphic I drew showing connections behind this cut )

Some of the hang-ups I've had are these:
1. I bought a 500mA charger for the wireless touchscreen. Turns out when it says it needs 1.6 Amps, it means it. I fried the charger and ended up getting a 2 Amp model.
2. My wireless keyboard was very cheap, and as it turns out, it is in Spanish, as much as a keyboard can be in Spanish. It has keys for all the ~n and upside down punctuation and such but it works the same as a US keyboard. It has 3 configurable hotkeys which I have programmed to launch Netflix (in the explorer browser), Winamp, and PowerDVD - awesome!
3. I bought a VGA to Composite Video cable really cheap, like $3 total including shipping. I tried it out, and it turns out that you have to have a special video card with the option to modulate at the TV output frequencies. I ended up buying a $12 VGA to VGA/S-Video/Composite Video modulator box.

All this stuff goes up on a little shelf I'm making for the pantry. I added some wires to the power button on the laptop so I can route it out to a button on the wall in order to turn it on and off without climbing up into the pantry. I'm thinking of a button like this: .

The pantry then has power for everything via the light in the ceiling and I can run all my cables parallel to the A/C vent tubing that passes by.

These inventory robots are soooooo cool. Below is a video of the robots in action moving inventory around.

Video!

I read this article in IEEE Spectrum about 3 MIT grads who are revolutionizing order fulfillment and warehouse organization with robots. Apparently they have sped up order fulfillment from staples and walgreens to be 3x faster than the old conveyer-belt methods and(/or) uses 1/3 the employees.

It's a cool read, the article describes the robots, how they work, what they do, a little about the AI, and there are lasers and cameras and stuff so you know it's cool.

There is not much video of these in action, but there is this video the KIVA company did which is the robots dancing to The Nutcracker.

Searching for frosting recipes on recipe.com, I found this:

Pimp Poop

( copy of the recipe )

What does the subject mean?

Well, as far as I can gather, it means that nanosolar has a solar panel manufacturing plant that can produce enough panels in 1 year that can produce 1GW of solar electricity.

They do this with a special ink that doesn't require the same vacuum process that other panels require, making it go faster and cheaper. 200x cheaper, in fact. Also, the panels are more efficient than the vacuum panels, up to 14% more efficient for the same surface area, so that helps too (only 86 nanosolar ink panels are needed to produce the same output Wattage as 100 of the old panels).

Here's a video of the factory process. It's not really all that interesting but I am glad they have it running.

I got an estimate to replace our house electricity with solar panels. We're looking at $75000 to completely cover our power needs, and 100% of our roof space. We don't have that kind of cash laying around, so we're not doing it. Were that 200x cheaper...that's only $375. I doubt the 200x is real, but I'm with these guys 100% if they offer a deal like that. Hell, I'll buy enough for 2 houses!

Affordable solar for everyone!

Idiocrasy is a great movie by Mike Judge, possibly best known for Beavis and Butthead and Kind of the Hill and Office Space. The movie is a comedy and a social commentary on global dumbing down.

Dax Shepard is not the star of the movie, but he is the star of my new LJ icon, which is all this post is really to show off.

1. Start with a projector mounted up high.


2. Add a 60"x80" screen.


3. Make a battery operated Wii Sensor bar from old TV remotes.


4. Add a Nintendo Wii.


5. Kill the lights. (see the IR LEDs from the sensor bar? They show up on digital cameras.)


6. Have fun until your arms are sore! (You can see the blue arc in the Large Image - that's ameliajune's Wii-Mote in action.)



I called Nintendo about a broken Wii-mote, and the hold music was a Zelda Symphonic Suite. Friggin Awesome.

I'm starting a petition for 28.09615385 hour days.

No more ties to ancient lunar dogma.

Who cares if the sun is out when you have the internet and a car?

A year of seasons will be experienced in a mere 312 days instead of 365.25.

A standard 6 day week will be implemented, with 40 hours being accomplished by working four 10 hour days, which many people already do. This brings the days-off-of-work ratio up from 6 of every 21 days to 7.

Now you can stay up 2 hours late and sleep in 2 hours and still be right on time, every day!

Also, we would eliminate time zones (since we're not bound by the sun anymore) so you can call Madrid and Tokyo on 3-way and everyone will be wide awake.

All months would now be just 26 days long, and that means all months would be equal in length as well.

Plane trip itineraries would no longer be confusing!

Naturally, the months would be named the same, since the initials of the months July-November spell my name and I like that.

Add a comment to this post if you want to sign my petition! Free yourselves from long-standing British oppression! Down with Greenwich, up with 28.09615385 hour days!

After a 7 year hiatus, I've started a new comic on comicgenesis (formerly keenspace)! It's called NanoQuest and is loosely based on the Tucson National Novel Writing Month Club's IRC D&D games.

Current Mood: ecstatic

The Office with Steve Carell. I am not sure why I didn't watch it sooner, but it makes me laugh like Family Guy used to make me laugh before it kinda jumped the shark.

I would like to thank the 7 illnesses that have ransacked our house for opening me up to this show and another great show, Dexter - the serial killing serial killer man guy. It has charm, suspense, and quite possibly the most suggestive (violence, not sex) intro ever- all using breakfast foods. So awesome.

I saw this trailer back in 1999ish, sometime after a bugs life and toy story.



This trailer made me so excited since it uses White Zombie's More Human than Human, and even contains a Southpark reference!

Watch it and cry a little since it will never be...

I just wet my pants watching this! Rob and Johnny are redoing all the UFrealms toons to make them more animated, more epic, more awesome!



Watch for the armored bear cameo at the end!

Nanosolar Panel #2 available for auction on Ebay.

So I'm crusading for a total solar conversion from oil and these guys are going to help me do it. I watched a little video from GE's Ecomagination campaign (see links below) that said that if we cover 7% of Arizona with solar panels, it could power the entire United States (during the day, if it is sunny).

The total area of Arizona is 114,000 sq mi (295,260 sq km), of which land takes up 113,508 sq mi (293,986 sq km) and inland water 492 sq mi (1,274 sq km). So, doing the math on that, 7% of 114,000 sq mi = 7980 sq mi, which is only 16.22 times the area of all the inland water in Arizona.

If nanosolar is really 10x better output than standard cells, then we only need to cover 0.7% of Arizona with panels.

If a solar panel is the size of a sheet of plywood - 4'x8', then we only need 7 billion sheets! The US population is currently (according to google) 301,139,947 people, so that means we're each responsible for 23 sheets each. I think we could set up a national power tax for that and barely notice it, especially if our monthly power bill goes bye bye.

After we hit 7% or 0.7% or whatever it is, we could just keep going too, and sell our electricity to other countries. We could push for electric cars to completely replace fossil fuel based cars, which would significantly increase our power demands, but since we're already blanketing the desert with panels, why not go for broke?

If we stop covering the desert and start covering parking spaces, every parking space in the US, that would take a huge chunk of surface area out. Assume one panel per car, and the DMV has 243,023,485 passenger cars registered to drivers in the US. That right there is about 1/23rd of the area needed (based on the 7% number). Parking spaces outnumber cars too, so you could even assume 2/23rds of the area needed is available from covered parking. If we start putting them on rooftops, even more area is available.

I could go on, but this is a long enough post. I'm just very excited to see this Nanosolar panel take off. The company says they are booked with orders for the next year, and they only sell to qualified volume customers. I hope they or the customers roll these panels into residential availability. Existing panel systems are available for about $2000, and they knock $20 off your monthly bill or so. If this nanosolar technology is 5x to 10x the output, then that would probably start paying your entire bill and put some power back into the system, such that your neighbors might end up paying you.

Nanosolar home page

Showcase story on some vineyard that is all solar from GE Ecomagination

All GE Ecomagination ads.
Direct link to Solar Video

Current Mood: bouncy

I just got a CNN alert: "-- MLB steroid report: Use widespread, includes biggest stars"

Like, duh.

Here's a sidebar ad from yahoo mail:



So I read this and look at the picture and think "Is this mystery shopping for female companions, like in Amsterdam?"

These ads remind me of the home show ads on all the bus stops around town which was a photo of a well endowed woman, and not anything related to home and garden improvement or construction.

So gross. So exciting!

I may have blogged this before, but it came up in my gmail ads again and I just can't figure out why.

For this post, I think my icon should read "I Wiped Batman's Ass!"

Here's a pdf: Beginner's guides to Herbal Colon Cleansing

Wow. Lego starcraft in flash.