Christopher’s Internet Affliction

Well! Seems like the ‘Open Source’ hardware community is full of crap, ie; one of the largest vendors, Sparkfun Electronics. They spent about a month and a half playing up a ‘free day’ where they were giving away 100k in parts. Nice, right? You read the article, you think that it’s going to be something that they’re at least a little prepared for, and will be handled in a decent and respectful manner. Uhm, no. Not in the slightest. They got horribly slammed, servers effectively down for the couple hours that they supposedly gave away these parts.. Now, I already had an account with them, as I often placed orders with them before, so I simply prepared my order beforehand, and had it ready to go. And so, when orders started to come in for ‘Free day’, I just had to finish my order, and there we go! Planning and foresight prevails! Uhm, no. Sparkfun spent a lot of time playing up their server setup, too, saying that we *might* have some difficulties.
That turned into two hours of pushing ‘refresh’. Then, I couldn’t place the order. Of course, then the offer was over.

In list form:

1. Don’t offer something unless you can deliver it in a timely manner. Playing it off as a ‘contest’ against bad server architecture is a poor way of doing it. That’s not random at all, it’s a bait and switch- I feel fooled and fucked over now.

2. It was immensely disrespectful towards their customers- I spent two hours trying to push an order through a broken web app- one of the most frustrating things one can experience. That was totally crap- this is how you treat loyal customers?

3. This could have been done in a fair manner. There’s a lot of different ways- a lottery, a percent off for customers, anything but a free-for-all. But they had to choose a manner that actually upset a lot of their customers? What?!

Anyhow, the bottom line? I’ll never spend another dime with these jerks, because they don’t respect the community at all- They royally screwed the pooch on this one- I can take a clear-cut win/lose scenario, but don’t piss me off for two hours and expect me to come back and actually give you any money! And I’m very sure that I’m not alone at all on this one- Sparkfun seems to be more about taking advantage of the customer than actually doing something useful- I browsed around and found everything I needed elsewhere, for at least 40% less.

And Sparkfun? Be a little more honest, next time. You did a great job of ticking of a lot of people and losing a lot of customers- Get people’s hopes up then just drop them, right? Congrats on that. Did you even give away anything? This could have been a scam from the start, give a little away, get some shills.. In any case, I’ll give my cash to Mouser.com or Digikey, they’re cheaper, better selection, faster shipping, and Adafruit has everything else I could want. You just fail at taking care of your customers, and I regret spending a dime with you in the first place, and even hearing your name irritates the hell out of me. Screw you!

Ok, so there’s been speak.. of a odd introduction of BUTTERMILK in my fridge, so I did what any commonsenseical young man would do: Make a couple biscuits, get bored of said biscuits after two, then make BUTTERMILK PIE!

It’s ugly, sugary, buttery tart mess, and it’s also absolutely amazing. Just.. take my word. Make it. Photo is an example of ‘ugly’, recipe courtesy of interwebs. A buttermilk dessert. It will kill you. This is ultimately your choice. We’ve been gobbling mounds of it like Robert Downy Jr.,  right off the tabletops and stairwells. We get bored, I guess.

(more…)

So, sometimes I’ll feel fine with trotting out a little bit of an old, favorite bit of poem.. This one has been a longtime favorite, it brings up a rather good point, at least I figure so, and it’s a little funny, too. Meanwhile, I think that every one around can use a decent cigar and a couple minutes out of the game, right?

Yeah, and Maggie sounds like a <I>bitch</i>!

The Betrothed

“You must choose between me and your cigar.”
–BREACH OF PROMISE CASE, CIRCA 1885.

Open the old cigar-box, get me a Cuba stout,
For things are running crossways, and Maggie and I are out.

We quarrelled about Havanas–we fought o’er a good cheroot,
And I knew she is exacting, and she says I am a brute.

Open the old cigar-box–let me consider a space;
In the soft blue veil of the vapour musing on Maggie’s face.

Maggie is pretty to look at–Maggie’s a loving lass,
But the prettiest cheeks must wrinkle, the truest of loves must pass.

There’s peace in a Larranaga, there’s calm in a Henry Clay;
But the best cigar in an hour is finished and thrown away–

(more…)

So, I machined together a few Ant-style chassis for some ‘bots- I am planning on making them close to real ants- exploration for ‘food’, but always heading home at the end of the night. I couldn’t wait, and I wanted a test for the joints on the chassis, so what to do? Strap a vibrating motor on it! Let that thing shake itself apart… but it didn’t.. then it hosed me with eyebeams.. oh crap. Here are photos before it all went awry.

Look into his eyes.. is it redemption? Or is it.. DOOM?

Our new overloads await. Whoops.

Oh! How I adore a few things: Simple electronic toys and a jab at established mores. (Irreverence is my anti-drug.) Anyhow, this post is all about the fun that we all had some of in the mid to late 90’s- Vibrating pagers. I don’t know about you, but I always smiled when my pager (affixed to dirty punk rockly, patch-covered pants) would scoot its way around a small table.. And Lo! A dozen years later, and apparently, I’m not the only one! The peoples over at Evil Mad Scientist Labs have documented a little more into the evolution of what could be called A Very Dumb Robot.. The Bristlebot.

The premise is simple: Take an old cell phone or pager, harvest the motor, and fix it up with a battery and slap it on a toothbrush. With a little planning, you can order the motors off the internet for about a buck a piece, Grab some dollar store toothbrushes, and find some cheap 3v coin cells, and you’re off to the races! It’s kinda fun to get a little herd of these guys together and run them all over the kitchen floor.. Or, go a little further and do a little anthropomorphizing. A favorite one of mine, and perhaps only one of two bristlebots I own anymore, has a pair of eyes, and little doom-hands flailing about over his little disky-body. Oh, just Look For Yourself.

And so, as it goes, I got Bored one day and put together one of my favorite Dumb Robots so far- The Flying Spaghetti Monster Bristlebot. I was touched by His Noodly Appendage, and the joy of the FSM was rained upon the world… That afternoon, the fimo flew, hot glue was glued, and the Noodly One was given an earthly body: Perched upon a 7,000 RPM motor with a die glued to it, prone to flying off and hitting one in the eye, given a seat upon a hairbrush.. truly,  a rather odd thing to see!

TORCHWOOD SEASON THREE

All five episodes, magically being shown at Chris’s house. No commercials, Exactly as shown during world premiere in Britain.

Saturday; July 11th, 2009 Time: Based on Consensus – Put aside five hours

Non-Alcoholic beverages & really good popcorn provided.

Well, you could have a go at that bottle of Chardonnay I have, and those two little bottle of Merlot. I’m never going to drink them, but they’ll desperately need a dusting. Send an email.

“It’s like rice cakes for Doctor Who fans”

(more…)

Sometimes, it’s nessasary for me to just pat myself on the back and make biased observations and mildly clever ‘alt’ tags.

July 4th the Fantastic Party at V&B's House.

Courtesy of Sprung Photography, fine photography for fine people.

(also hoarked without asking. I’m sure Ms. Sprung doesn’t mind.)

Which one is me? I’m the handsome little devil that can pull off wool dress slacks, suspenders, and white Adidas.

Not so bad...

Hey, someone’s second place at.. FROSTING! c’mon, c’mon, lick it, lick it.. *shakes rump like a 1987 Geo Metro* (slowly and clumsily, like a riding lawnmower)

Originally a comment on the Skirt Full of Fire blog, in response to a much better written article.

1. Marie Curie – Kicked ass droppin’ science when women weren’t ‘allowed’ in that club, has a still-radioactive journal, and gave her life for some of the greatest advances in science at the time. Curie? Fuck yeah.

2. William S. Burroughs – Have you ever read ‘Naked Lunch’? His writing was so taboo at the time, and fucking brilliant. He had the balls to do it, and do it he did.

3. Matthew Barney – ‘The Cremaster Cycle’ says it all.. him and Bjork do make the perfect freak couple.

4. Forrest P. Mims – Coined the term ‘Citizen Scientist’ and is regarded as one of the 50 greatest scientific minds living. What makes him a freak? He ignores the science money, openly doubts global warming, and does what he thinks will make the world a better place, while being careful not to let other’s money taint his work and direction. He suffers for this, but it’s great.

Hello!

I left the house this weekend! Oh me! Oh my! Fancy, fancy! Who would have thought such a thing! But, yes, on occasion, I like to venture out into the real world and enjoy some good ol’ fashioned visceral experience. You know me- I’m a party ani-mule.. slamming gin & tonics (hold the gin, please!) at the bar, dancing on the bar, leaving at closing time, covered in sweat and various goo, yanno. The usual. You know how C-dawg rolls. (edit: I just try to be polite and un-noticed!)

Anyhow, this was a very fun event! I’ll have to check it out again sometime. It was at Exit, a Chicago punk-sorta-club, which was fun- I knew the doorman, so that made cigarettes fun, met a friend from the intarwebs, and had fun overall! I really like seeing people so happy!

The event was hosted by Vaudezilla, a local burlesque troupe. I met Red Hot Annie there, whom I’d been bantering with online for a couple years now.

But most of all, I went to see my friend Jolie perform. She’s an excellent and devoted belly dancer, and it was high time I saw it for myself. So, onto the train I go, leaving the safety of The Embassy (some call it an apartment) for points new and unknown.. And here we go.. wait for it.. SHAMELESS PLUG: GO TO JOLIE’S SITE. TAKE CLASSES!! She fucking rocks and is good stuff all around. Trust me!

I did put new batteries in the camera, but apparently, they’re good for about eight photos. But that’s okay! Photos after the jump.. Keep in mind, if they’re good, they were lucky shots. These guys move too fast for me! >_< (more…)

Here’s a little work in progress that I’m tooling about with.. the tube will end up drying to a clear red resin, with two LED lights inside.. The circuit is mostly for looks- just pretty shinies! But, that center chip contains about 35 lines of C++ to control the lights in the test tube.. What’s growing in there? Oh, and the tube will be suspended between the two branches with jute and some shiny wire. And whatever else I make up.

nom nom nom!

Hello!! I found a great recipe and gave it a go today.

Like most other people, I love Hummus, I can eat it up by the bucket, but sadly, to get the really good kinds, you really have to pay for it. Eight ounces can get up to five or so dollars, and hey! I can eat that in one sitting! So. the Great Unemployed Cook sets out again, in order to see what he can do about this. I started off with a few criteria before I found a recipe to try. I wanted everything as fresh as possible, of course, along with proper spices. I also wanted to use dried chickpeas (that’s Garbanzo beans, as well) over canned, for the sole reason that dried beans retain twice as much of their nutritional value over canned. Also, dried is cheaper! Sounds like two great wins to me. Certainly, you have to wait a bit longer for dried beans, but I think it’s worth it, on those two facts alone- and I suspect, that they probably taste better, too! Just something about something being preserved in a wet metal can with heat in god-knows-what just doesn’t sound optimal.. so, given the choice!

Anyhow, I’m going to go ahead and mention it: Get creative and add what you like to your hummus! Red peppers are easy to roast over a gas range, olives, garlic.. make yourself happy. You’re making something wonderful for your body, tasty, and just good all around. Also, if you have a lot of infused olive oil around.. hmm! Anyhow, after the jump, here’s the recipe I used with great success today, with my own notes thrown in.

(more…)