Clock's ticking. And right away, I find that it's not so easy to source 3/8" x 5" pine boards for K2's cradle on New Year's Eve Day.
I thought that with their big lumber department and heavy contractor business, the old school hardware store would be able to split or plane a 1x6 piece of white pine for me, but no.
So I ended up with 1/2" poplar instead. For a couple of minutes [i.e., until I found them and saw the price], I thought I might get a hand plane and shave 1/8" or so off of each piece of the cradle. Give it that authentic, Mormon Pioneer Workshop Look.
Well, forget that. K2'll just get a sturdier cradle is all.
Archive for December, 2009
DT Instaproject: OGGG Grandpa’s Cradle
Thursday, December 31st, 2009All is Quiet on New Year’s Day
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
And nothing changes but the calendar.
I will most likely begin the new decade in the exact same spot that I end the old one, undoubtedly doing in the new year what it was I did in the the last – the safe money is on drinking something with the aftertaste of regret.
The year changes. The decade rolls over. Those that left us are still gone and those that are leaving will still leave. Debts will still haunt us and life will still taunt us and the laugh of my children will still make me melt.
The aughts are for naught and all is for the better – or so we are told to believe. They brought me my highest highs and my lowest lows and all of the life in between. I owe everything to them and they have taken enough in return. I can only hope that we are even.
The decade was a moveable feast and 2009 was the dropping of the bill – gratuity included.
2010 is a tease for the now. It promises promise and good things to come. I want to believe. I want to let the theory of a fresh start heal old wounds and move me, my family, my friends, my country and this mad, mad world towards new heights and clean slates. We’ve fallen divided for long enough. I want us to stand.
And nothing changes but the calendar, unless we want it bad enough.
_________
All is Quiet on New Year’s Day
Thursday, December 31st, 2009And nothing changes but the calendar. I will most likely begin the new decade in the exact same spot that I end the old one, undoubtedly doing in the new year what it was I did in the the last - the safe money is on drinking something with the aftertaste of regret.
The year changes. The decade rolls over. Those that left us are still gone and those that are leaving will still leave. Debts will still haunt us and life will still taunt us and the laugh of my children will still make me melt.
The aughts are for naught and all is for the better - or so we are told to believe. They brought me my highest highs and my lowest lows and all of the life in between. I owe everything to them and they have taken enough in return. I can only hope that we are even.
The decade was a moveable feast and 2009 was the dropping of the bill - gratuity included.
2010 is a tease for the now. It promises promise and good things to come. I want to believe. I want to let the theory of a fresh start heal old wounds and move me, my family, my friends, my country and this mad, mad world towards new heights and clean slates. We've fallen divided for long enough. I want us to stand.
And nothing changes but the calendar, unless we want it bad enough.
_________
Visit. Punch. Cookies. Comment. Leave.
Review: Voltron iPhone App — Megathrusters GO!
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
Here’s a quick test to see if you’d enjoy the Voltron iPhone game: Do the phrases “Activate interlock!” and “Form feet and legs!” invoke feelings of nostalgia, and can you recite the next lines? If so, I can virtually guarantee this game is for you; if not, you’ll probably still enjoy it.
I loved the Voltron TV show when I was young. I was old enough to recognize that the plot was always pretty much the same in each episode, and to notice that it looked a little odd when characters would talk because only their mouths would move. When I say I loved Voltron, I mean of course that I loved the Lion Force version, because the Vehicle version was just not as good: there were too many characters to keep track of, and, let’s face it, a giant robot with lion heads for hands and feet is much cooler than one with cars and such. I never understood why nobody ever made a Voltron video game — I mean, it seemed like such an obvious idea.
But now, with the 25th anniversary of the show’s creation, a video game has finally appeared, and the good news is that it’s a mobile game, and that it’s really well-done. First, the game makers were smart enough to include some of the actual animation from the show, so when the game starts up and bookending each Robeast challenge, you’ll get a clip that will, if you’re anything like me, cause you to grin like a little kid. You can skip these cut scenes, but I can’t imagine why you’d want to.
The game plays like a series of episodes: In each “act” there are five “stages,” one for each lion, and then there’s a Robeast challenge. There’s written dialogue in each stage, which is just cheesy enough that it might actually have come straight from the show. There is some audio speech as well, mostly in the form of encouragement from the characters (e.g., Hunk saying “All right, there’s a job to be done. Let’s do it!”). There is a definite story arc through each act, and an overall arc as well; for instance, you start the game with Sven piloting the blue lion, which should provide some foreshadowing to anyone who watched the show as much as I did.
The game mechanics are very straightforward and easy to master: You have a set of four arrows on the left side of the screen which control the movement of the lion, and three action buttons that will fire a missile, use the lion’s paw to hit something or swat away an enemy missile, or invoke the lion’s special power. Each lion has a unique special power, which provides a nice distinction between the missions. In the Robeast challenges, you are of course playing Voltron as a whole, sword and all, so your available actions are to strike the Robeast (in two different ways), duck or shield against its attacks, or do a special attack once you build up energy to do it. Once you’ve defeated a Robeast, it will unlock in the “Zarkon Arena,” which you can access from the game’s main menu, allowing you to fight as the Robeasts themselves against one-another. There are also quite a few “achievements” you can unlock throughout the game, and the game even has Facebook integration should you want to boast about it to your friends.
The Voltron game for the iPhone / iPod Touch is $3.99 on the iTunes app store, and well worth the price. It’s a lot of fun for those of us who remember the show fondly, and for many of those who’ve never seen it at all — I let my kids play it a number of times, and they had a blast, too, despite having virtually no idea what the story was about.
Wired: A well-crafted game that’s both easy and fun to play. And the way it evokes the world of the old TV show made me grin every time I played it.
Tired: It would be nice if you could have more than one game going at a time. As it is, while you can go back and replay old missions, you can’t start the game fresh without wiping out all progress that’s been made. This makes it very difficult for two or more people to share the game on a given device.
(All screenshots are copyright Sony Pictures Television. I was not given a free copy of the game.)
A trailer for the game is included after the jump.
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Cast of Dads 4: Happy New Year (and Making it to Midnight!)
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
The Cast of Dads could not resist getting together to record one last podcast for 2009. Certainly one of our highlights of the year was getting together because of the Sony DigiDad Project, and we have been having a lot of fun sharing our stories and just “shooting the breeze” together ever since in our weekly “Cast of Dads” podcast. We appreciate all the support from you and look forward to many more episodes of Cast of Dads in 2010. Together we are going to help make 2010 the “Year of the Dad!” and we could not do it without the great Dadomatic community! Here is what we talk about in our end of year podcast (hmmm, can you see a pattern here?):
- Gifts we Got
- Beer
- Microbrews
- Beer of the Month Club
- New Year’s Traditions
- Drinking in general
- Scotch
- Making it till midnight?
- 2010 Resolutions
- When did we do our first funnel?
- Dr. Does & Naughty Nurse —>
- Predictions for 2010
You can listen to Eposide 4 here, and you can also subscribe to Cast of Dads in iTunes.
On behalf of all the Dads in our cast, and everyone here at Dadomatic we send you our very best wishes for a safe, happy and healthy holiday and a wonderful New Year!
See you next year!
Cast of Dads is a group of podcasting and blogging dads who gather to gab about fatherhood. The cast of dads includes C.C. Chapman, Jeffrey Sass, Max Kalehoff,Michael Sheehan, and Brad Powell, who collectively represent 13 kids from the youngest of babies to full grown adults. Each of them brings a unique perspective to being a father.
Jeff Sass is the proud dad of ZEO (Zach, 21, Ethan, 19 and Olivia, 18). He is also a seasoned entertainment and technology exec and active social media enthusiast. You can see more of Jeff’s writing at Sassholes! and Social Networking Rehab.
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Fly On the Windscreen
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
Ah, Father Time 2009. It is well nigh time for you to beat feet. Pound sand. Make like a tree and get out of here. Please do not let the door hit you on that old man ass of yours...
Model Rocketry’s Big Idea Guy Is Back At Work
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
Image: Nasa.gov
So, what do you do after you set a world record by building and launching a nearly-four-story model rocket?
If you’re Steve Eves, you set your sights even higher: The Northeast Ohio guy who crafted a 1/10th scale Saturn V and sent it soaring in April is working on a second, more complex rocket designed to outfly his first one.
According to this article in The (Canton) Repository, Eves’ next project is a model of the Saturn 1B, used during the Apollo spacecraft testing years and later for the manned Skylab flights. This time around, though, Eves is aiming for another level of accuracy and creating a two-stage rocket, just like the real thing, as opposed to his single-stage Saturn V. The extra boost could push the 1B twice as high as the V, which hit 4,441 feet.
And here’s his great answer to why he’s doing it - “What’s the fun of doing something easy?”
Target launch date is sometime in 2011.
Open Letter to the Hotel Industry: Time to Get Your Game On
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
By Flickr user massdistraction. May be a Game Cube controller, which is only 8 year-old game tech.
Hello there, Hotel Industry Person, I am one of your customers. In fact, I’m a pretty good customer. I and my family have stayed in some of your hotels for weeks of total time in the last year on various vacations and business-related trips. I have helped you weather the current economic downturn, and have even purchased some premium services that are the real money-makers for you. It would be reasonable, I think, for you to hear me out on one or two things I’ve noticed; things you could be doing better to make me, the customer, happier and more likely to spend more money in your establishments.
You like to cater to family travelers, don’t you? At least, you give off that impression. If that is indeed the case, let me let you in on a little secret: kids need things to do in your hotel rooms.
Okay, hold on there. I know what you’re going to say. You have televisions in your rooms with on-demand movies to watch, and all sorts of cable channels, and…. wait for it… VIDEO GAMES! Kids these days LOVE the video games!
How old are you, Hotel Industry Person? Do you really consider yourself in touch with “the kids these days?” I can’t tell you how many hotels I’ve stayed in over the last decade where the special video game feature to the TV in the room was to pay some exorbitant hourly rate to play (I shudder to say) Nintendo 64 games. N-64!
So let’s just take a little look at what Wikipedia says about the N64, shall we? Oh look, the N64 was released in 1996. My goodness, do you know that was before my kids were even born? Let me put this as clearly as possible: the N64 was an aging game system before I even started being a family traveler, and you’re still trying to sell it as a feature in your rooms. This is what the kids these days call an “epic fail.”
Okay, I will cop to the fact that the picture above that I found online shows a LodgeNet system running Nintendo Game Cube games. Okay, so it’s only an 8 year-old system. Personally I’ve never seen that in a hotel room, but the picture is at least proof it exists.
Of course, many families have portable game systems and portable media systems that they bring with them, and which can be easily hooked up to TVs. They’d love to hook ‘em up to the TVs in your hotel rooms, except that in many cases those televisions have all their input ports and switches locked down, and only offer the excitement of LodgeNet’s most basic offerings (like the overpriced movies and N64 games).
But I can’t be too mean to the ubiquitous LodgeNet. Having checked their site, they seem to be offering all kinds of packages for hotels to use in offering the most up-to-date media capabilities to their customers - including lovely A/V panels for hooking just about any media device possible to an in-room TV. Then why does it seem most of your hotels only offer a system based on technology over a dozen years old?
And let me be clear - this isn’t a situation where I checked into an old hotel still holding onto equipment installed back in the Clinton administration. No, my most recent stay in one of your establishments was in a hotel tower finished in just the last year. The rooms were fitted with new Sony flat-screen LCD televisions. But they were running the exact same setup I’ve seen dozens of times before, including the N64 gaming system and a complete inability to hook up any peripheral devices.
So, what’s the story? I can guess. I can presume that you, person from the Hotel Industry, have made the decision along with a large number of your cohorts to use the cheapest available system, so that you can have something available for your marketing materials, but you also make sure you make your customers pay through the nose for what it offers. And you won’t let them use their own alternatives, for fear of losing a revenue stream. Pretty shoddy, if you ask me (and if you’ve read this far, you are in some way asking).
I’m sure there’s much more to this. I’m sure there are perfectly lovely establishments out there renting 360s and PS3s to their guests, and leaving all the various input ports open on the TVs so that people can bring their Blu-ray players with them if they want to. But if my sampling is indicative, they are few and far between, and you should really get off your collective duffs and do something about it.
</rant>
Okay, with that out of the way, please feel free to include your experiences with hotel in-room entertainment in the comments below. If you’ve found hotels or hotel chains with better setups, please let us know about them - so we can start supporting the good ones as wel!
What’s the Frequency, Kenneth: How GeekDads Tweet
Thursday, December 31st, 2009Sure, we GeekDads can blog, but can we microblog, too? An ongoing visualization project by developer Anthony Starks reveals some interesting insights about how we use Twitter.
The project—TweetFreq—originated last May after Starks noticed certain profile pictures (ahem and ahem) showing up often in his Twitter timeline. Starks, a consultant with interests in visualization and design, worked through the Twitter API to develop a Processing application to show this behavior in a new and interesting way. Since then, Starks has generated over five dozen graphs comparing how different people use twitter. In December, Starks iterated TweetFreq again and created wtf, a web server written in the new Go programming language.
The tool is particularly helpful when looking at groups, such as popular elected officials, celebrities, influential journalists, and CEOs. TweetFreq adapted quickly to the new lists feature on Twitter, allowing Starks to take any curated list and turn it into a graphic.
The top 10 contributors to the GeekDad blog are also heavy Twitter users (source: Anthony Starks)
To put this to the test, I asked Starks to look at the recent tweeting behavior of our active GeekDad contributors. Specifically, I sent him a list of the 23 authors who posted articles in December and had a known Twitter account, rank ordered by total number of published blog posts. The top ten most prolific boasted 40 or more articles since last April. For good measure, I threw in the main GeekDad account.
“Overall, this is a nice group to show how people use twitter,” says Starks.
He points to the daily rhythm visible in the graphics (see above and below), particularly noticeable with fitzwillie (Ken Denmead) and cebsilver (Curtis Silver). “The GeekDads are fairly prolific,” notes Starks.
The results do show some visible distinction between the most active contributors and their supporting cast. The first group—which accounted for 801 of 1,130 GeekDad blog posts (70.9%) over the last 8 months—uses Twitter more frequently, averaging about 63 tweets each per week compared to just 30 for the other thirteen authors. While this sample came during the holiday season, likely curtailing some online behavior (it did mine), the data suggests an interesting insight: Tweet more, blog more.
The supporting cast for the main GeekDad bloggers don't seem to tweet as much. (source: Anthony Starks)
Using other tools in the Twitter ecosystem (When Did You Join Twitter and Twanalyst), more distinctions seem to arise. The more prolific blogger group creates tweets with slightly higher readability and conversation, retweeting more but posting fewer links. On average, the Geekdads mention other twitterers about one-third of the time and include a link 1 in every 4 tweets.
Less clear is a difference between the adoption dates for the two groups (see below). Four of the ten GeekDads who created their accounts prior to Twitter clearing 1 million accounts in Spring 2008 were Top 10 contributors to this blog. Four of the top authors signed up for the service this past spring.
Some of the power bloggers are Twitter n00bs. (image: Kevin Makice)
For more on the Starks’ TweetFreq project, check out the presentation he published in early November and an explanation of the wtf server setup.
My apologies to authors Brad Moon, Moses Milazzo, Daniel Donahoo, and Tom Angleberger, whose Twitter accounts I couldn’t confirm, and the other GeekDads who didn’t post in December, for their exclusion from this report.
For New Year’s Day, a Double-Shot of Clone Wars
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
General Grievous springs a deadly trap for the Jedi heroes in “Grievous Intrigue,” an all-new episode of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS premiering at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT Friday, January 1 on Cartoon Network. TM & © 2010 Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved.
After a long hiatus for the holidays, Star Wars: The Clone Wars kicks off 2010 with back-to-back episodes: “Grievous Intrigue” and “The Deserter.”
Matt Wood is the sound editor for the show, and, more important, the voice for both Grievous and the separatist army of battle droids. He says, “I play the droids and Grievous as a twisted Abbot and Costello routine,” because both the lackeys and their master find themselves adrift in a universe that they can’t quite control:
I see Grievous’ hatred of the Jedi stemming from intense jealousy; the Jedi have a skill that has been unattainable by Grievous. . . . Even though the technical skill of the lightsaber has been taught to him by Count Dooku, Grievous still lacks the Force sensitivity to grasp the true nature of the Jedi. So many things seem just out of reach to Grievous, intensifying his jealousy and frustration.
Grievous is put in command of a massive droid army, yet the droids lack the skills to overtake the Jedi. The absurdity of the juxtaposition of those characters enhances my ability to portray them, especially because I record both Grievous and the battle droids continuously. . . . The droids are so limited by their mass-produced, low-cost processors and will never see the bigger picture of the war; their comedic navel-gazing will always be their undoing. While the General wants to be more of a leader and game-changer in the war, he has so far only been good at stalling our heroes. Personally, I like all of the moments of Grievous destroying battle droids, the ultimate manifestation of his frustrations. I play the droids and Grievous as a twisted Abbot and Costello routine.
The point about the battle droids’ “low-cost processors” is well-taken: they’re the netbooks of the war: cheap, useful in their way, but ultimately too limited to compete against either Jedi or clones.
Here’s a clip from “Grievous Intrigue”:
Don’t forget to check the web comic that fills in some of the gaps in the campaign.
Tune in this Friday at 9pm ET/PT on The Cartoon Network. (Finally, the 6-yr-old will stop asking!)