Hey. I was hoping some of you might be able to help me out here. I’m looking for 2 online items, and perhaps some of you have these things. Feel free to email me privately if you dont want to post here.
1. An invite to Waffles (I am a former oink member and it’s tough finding a suitable replacement)
2. A Windows XP SP2 OEM Activation Crack that WORKS 😉
It all started with this idea I had for a Halloween costume. I’d tell you more, but someone might take my idea. It’ll be good (If I can put it together)… But thats not what this post is about. Casey joined me and we went for a stroll through Home Depot. It’s always fun finding things there that are usefull, and not at all for what their intended use was.
We stopped in the PVC pipe aisle. The friendly staff at Home Depot kindly cut various sizes of PVC pipe and stacked them in a display. I picked up a 4 inch diameter pipe and a 2 inch diameter pipe and asked casey to start looking for various interconnecting peices. One of their less lazy employees came by and asked if I needed assistance. I explained I needed a peice to connect this to that and that to this and such. He asked, what I was using them for in a manner that showed not his curiosity, but to help recommend the right producs. The look on Casey’s face when I exclaimed, “I need them for a Potato Gun” was priceless.
Nonetheless, the clerk assisted me in finding all the right fittings and even recommended the PVC primer and glue. I already had the Spud Gun assembled and was walking around home depot looking for various parts I needed. I needed a push-rod and an igniter. The guys working (or I should say, not working) in Kitchens and Baths got a good kick out of it and advised I go with the BBQ igniter. I would like some sort of electronic ignition, but I can work on that in the future. They didn’t have the BBQ lighters in stock so I headed out to another home depot with Tiffany and Kerri. We picked up a BBQ lighter and I had everything I needed.
Assembly was simple. Casey and I primed and cemented all the PVC parts together and I gave it 2 days to dry. We drilled 2 holes and set 2 screws, a quarter of an inch apart from eachother. We hooked up the igniter to the screws and headed out for some Hair Spray and Potatos.
With all the components, we headed out to a secluded area and stuffed the potato into the barrel of the Spud gun (Spud Cannon? BOOMSTICK!!!). We sprayed hairspray into the larger chamber and sealed it shut. One of the leads from the igniter came loose so I had to hold it against the screw while I hit the ignition….
CLICK!
Nothing happened. I tried again…
Click..BBBBBOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!
I could have sworn that the entire spud gun turned orange for a second as the potato was launched way out of sight into the distance. The recoil pushed the gun back, even though both me and Casey were holding it! It was music to our ears (and enough to get us in serious trouble if anybody else heard. lol)… We took a drive by the probably landing area, but we didn’t find much and I wasn’t comfortable with parking the car and walking around.
The next step will be to find some large fields/woods where we can fire and test range/acuracy/etc and do so without bringing a lot of attention to us… Also, we have some plans on painting it and making it look a lot cooler. It’s very plain now, just some joined PVC. Picture available after the cut and I’ll post more when we decorate/paint it.
Okay, from the title you can probably guess that I’m not happy with the Microsoft cam. I hooked it up on my Laptop first, my main PC (Pentium 4/3.06Ghz/1GB Ram) and it worked okay. Yes, only okay. I immediately noticed the quality was a bit sharper than the original QuickCam that I was using, but it still looked pretty grainy. I loved the fact that it was a wide-angle lens. but the grainyness disturbed me a bit. Raising the quality of the cam did not improve the graininess. It only made the picture larger, with the same graininess. I then tried to run the cam on the camera server in my livingroom and after a half hour (or more) trying to get it to start up, i pretty much gave up. It runs SUPER-SLOW because all video processing is done by the software. I would rather spend $100 on good optics than software that makes the camera zoom and pan into your face (which worked moderately well on my laptop, I didn’t even try it on the camera server)
Webcam makers should work on making better cameras and not software to enhance a poor/noisy image. I may try one more cam, or maybe just get a video capture card and a good quality CCTV camera which I can pick up for under $100 easy.. MUCH less if I go for a used one.
I’ve watched a few people who also lifecast and asked them what they were using. One girl who had a super-sharp image was using a QuickCam Fusion.. I’ll have to check it out. The fusion is also less than the one I got, or if it doesn’t have a wide-angle option I may spend the extra $30 ($130) for the Super Vision which has been getting rave reviews, better than the fusion.
I was talking with Casey last night about LJ and it occurred to me that I haven’t posted anything in a bit. We were talking about how LJ is an online journal and should be used as a means to communicate our inner-most feelings and emotions with our friends. I never really saw LJ that way. I used it more as a means to catalog my life and to post generalizations of the activities I take part in. For the most part, my best friends are not on, and/or do not read Live Journal which is one reason I probably never saw it in the same way Casey does. Also, I don’t believe in publishing my private life for the world to see, nor do I see the need to post information on the Internet and then make it Private so only a select few can read. This is why my LJ, MySpace and website are open for anybody to read. if I want it private, I don’t clutter the Internet with it 🙂
Sprint Shannanigans
Over the past few months, friends of mine have been giving me pointers on how to scam Sprint for a new phone. The only advice I followed was to apply the Insurance on my phone, but I did not bring myself to break my phone just to get a free replacement. As it turns out, I didn’t have to. The screen developed a dead spot affecting my writing/typing on it, so I headed down to the Sprint store and they are ordering me a replacement. Since my phone is no longer supported/carried by Sprint, they ordered me the new one. The PPC-6800 HTC Mogul. It’s a Pocket PC phone, just like mine, but it’s running the newer Windows Mobile Operating System (WM6)and I think it has more memory than my phone did. I should have it with in the week.
Web Cam Connundrum
Did I spell Connundrum right? Oh well.. I finally took the plunge and spend $100 on a Web-Cam. For years, my Web-Cams have been run using Logitech’s low-end $20 and $30 cameras. I used to use the QuickCamVC which was a $20 camera with comparable quality to most $80 cameras of its time, but Logitech could not get the drivers to work with Windows XP. Even in Compatability mode. So at the advice of a Manager in Logitech, I bought their $50 webcam and the quality was EQUAL to their shitty $20 cam. I was annoyed, but it’s the cam I use currently. It’s grainy, the focus is never right, and works like shit in low light. This will change when I get home. I picked up the Microsoft VX-6000 web-cam. It’s reviews claim it to be a GREAT camera, so I’m looking foward to hooking it up and getting away from Logitech altogether.
I’ll post comparisons and reviews this weekend.
Yesterday’s festivities began with Improv Everywhere’s MP3 Experiment. Like the past 3 MP3 Experiments, participants were instructed to download an MP3 track from the IE website and refrain from listening to it until further instructed. We were instructed to synchronize our watches and head down to the The World Financial Center Plaza by the North Cove Yacht Harbor wearing a Red, Blue, Yellow or Green shirt. At 4:00 PM sharp, we were to start the MP3 and about 600 or so people did just that.
Like the past MP3 Experiments, we were lead around on a fun journey by Steve, the Mountain-dew drinking omnipotent being from above. The fun began with a huge game of twister on the colored tiles in the center of the plaza. Most of us couldn’t get onto the “twister board” area as there were so many people, but imagine if you were just there for lunch, or worked there and were outside on your break when people just hoarded around the plaza and started playing twister while everyone else waved them on from the sidelines.
We went for a walk, greeting strangers as we walked.. Smiling, Giving them thumbs up and even high-fiving people who were having picnics, walking dogs, riding bikes, etc… At a few points we even pretended to be walking dogs or roller blading. Imagine 600 people pretending to be walking a dog simultaneously 🙂 Outrageous.
We gathered in a clearing where we were instructed to take out digital cameras and camera phones and given specific instructions on what to take pictures of. Red and Blue but no Yellow, Take a picture with a camera, with no camera, with red and blue shirts only, with green shirts only, etc… Everyone was running around and taking pictures of everyone else. It was disturbing yet fun all at the same time!
next, Steve told up to form a human bullseye, greens as the bullseye, then reds around them. Yellow and green forming the outer two rings. Everyone had to squeeze close together then..oops.. The center should be red!!! red and green, Switch! 🙂
Then we all went into a game of freeze tag… Each color taking turns being, “It” and running around and freezing everybody. This got a bit chaotic because the people who started their MP3 early were at an advantage. I was about 20 seconds behind, so I had no idea who was “It” until it was too late.
Keep in mind that all this was going on while people were picnicing, sunbathing, etc.. There were maybe 40 or so people scattered across this field who were just there doing their thing, and about 600 or so of us doing all this around them.
After freeze-tag, we all laid down to rest. We just stopped where we were, laid down, looked up at the sky and waved. A harmonius wave of “Bye Steve!!!” was heard by those around us, at this point looking on in wonder. The MP3 track went on, about 5 minutes or so we just laid there and listened to steve’s younger brother talk us through relaxation techniques.
The MP3 Experiment ended and everyone sat up to applaud Improv Everywhere on another great mission accomplished.
I insist that if you read this, and are even the slightest bit intrigued, head over to www.ImprovEverywhere.com and sign up for the mailing list. You can take part in their next mission.