One Last Bit...
Posted: Monday May 07 2007 @ 5:56am
Religious Order: Toys
One last bit about the HD-DVD ruckus. John Dvorak writes a surprisingly lucid article about it all.
Alright, no more posts about a stupid 32-digit hex key.
(I once saw Dvorak give a keynote at a conference. Funny, to be sure, but virtually content-free.)
Past posts about the stupid 32-digit hex key:
- HD Civil War
- One More Alternative
- Alternatives
- Zero Niner Fox Niner One One Zero Two Niner Dog Seven Four Easy Three Five Baker Dog Eight Four One Five Six Charlie Five Six Three Five Six Eight Eight Charlie Zero
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Justice Society of America
Posted: Sunday May 06 2007 @ 7:06pm
Religious Order: Toys
I've started reading the new Justice Society of America comic. Just read issue #5 this weekend. It left me conflicted. On the positive side, it had Wildfire, from the old, old, old Legion of Super-heroes. (Wildfire was always my favorite Legionnaire. And the old, old, old Legion was my favorite version.) But, on the negative side, it lacked even a single shot of Power Girl. No Power Girl? Why do they think I read the damn thing?
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HD Civil War
Posted: Sunday May 06 2007 @ 6:28pm
Religious Order: Toys
Despite my disappointment with Marvel's Civil War, it is nice to see them enter the debate over the cracked HD-DVD encryption key. (For the record, the key now shows up on 1,880,000 web sites. But not on this site, dammit!)
Here are some fair use excerpts from Marvel's HD Civil War:
- Page 1 of 2.
- Page 2 of 2.
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One More Alternative
Posted: Thursday May 03 2007 @ 5:49pm
Religious Order: Toys
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Alternatives
Posted: Thursday May 03 2007 @ 7:15am
Religious Order: Toys
----- ----. ..-. ----. .---- .---- ----- ..--- ----. -.. --... ....- . ...-- ..... -... -.. ---.. ....- .---- ..... -.... -.-. ..... -.... ...-- ..... -.... ---.. ---.. -.-. -----
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Citizen Prime!
Posted: Wednesday May 02 2007 @ 7:19am
Religious Order: Toys
Now that Captain America is dead (and Bucky not), where can this tired nation turn for inspiration? Why, to Citizen Prime!
Citizen Prime is a real-life superhero! Well, okay, maybe not a superhero. But he does have a costume. And he does go out on patrol, looking for wrong-doing. But, instead of cracking skulls, he calls the cops. Here's a short newspaper article on him, including a great video of Citizen Prime in action!
The guy has a swank crime-fighting uniform, including a mask, cape, body armor, and non-lethal weaponry. (It better be swank. It cost him around 4 grand.)
He also auditioned for Who Wants to be a Superhero. But he was turned down. I, too, know the pain of reality show rejection.
His main home-base is his MySpace page. Even cooler is that his page links to the pages of other costumed adventurers. (But those folks are just dressing up. Captain Prime is the real deal!
He's a 6 foot tall Scorpio in his 40s. Hey! Just like me! My wife, however, despite my pleading and my airtight arguments, will simply not allow me to go out fighting crime.
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Zero Niner Fox Niner One One Zero Two Niner Dog Seven Four Easy Three Five Baker Dog Eight Four One Five Six Charlie Five Six Three Five Six Eight Eight Charlie Zero
Posted: Wednesday May 02 2007 @ 6:50am
Religious Order: Toys
Wow! There's a big online ruckus going on over a key that can be used to decrypt Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs. Here's a little write-up on BoingBoing: Blu-Ray and HD-DVD Broken - Processing Keys Extracted.
So now, the AACS licensing authority is threatening to sue people left and right, demanding that the key, a 32 digit hex number, be removed from web sites. The result of their actions? Google shows the key is now on about 57,800 web pages. Removing information from the Internet is like removing pee from the pool. It can't be done. It's entropy. Deal with it.
And it's all so stupid. Y'know, I'm perfectly capable of ripping DVDs, and yet, I still buy them if I want them. Folks who want to pirate are going to pirate. All efforts and resources expended by the industry to prevent this only do one thing, raise the prices for their paying customers.
Now folks are selling T-shirts with the key on it. Which reminds me of the time I smuggled munitions out of the United States. No, really. See, back in the day, it was illegal to export strong encryption out of the country. Strong encryption was classified as munitions. Everyone else had it anyway, but it was still illegal. A guy made a T-shirt that displayed strong encryption code as long barcodes, in glow-in-the-dark ink. Being machine-readable, it qualified as a restricted munition. Of course, I bought one.
Later, I was invited up to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to speak about legal issues and technology. I brought the T-shirt with me, to demonstrate some of these issues. It wasn't until I was in the air, flying over the border, that I realized I was technically breaking federal law by bringing the T-shirt.
(I did make sure to keep away from any Canucks with barcode scanners!)
If you're ever in Saskatoon, try the Saskatoon Berry pie. It's really good.
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Boom, Boom! Out go the Lights!
Posted: Wednesday April 25 2007 @ 10:44am
Religious Order: Toys
Well, out went a single light. But it was strange. We've replaced nearly all the bulbs in our house with Compact Fluorescent Lamps. And they've been working fine. The technology has come a long way. They use much less power than incandescent bulbs, the light is nice and warm, they last a long time, they're merely warm to the touch, and the delay between throwing the switch and getting light has been nearly eliminated. (However, keep in mind that you can't just throw them out when they burn out! They contain bad stuff and need to go to a recycling facility.)
So I was really surprised when the bulb next to the office desk started to flicker. Then it went out. Then sparks started going off inside the base. No visible smoke, but it sure smelled bad. Plus, the whole thing was much hotter than it was supposed to be.
The replacement bulb is also pretty hot, for a CFL. Maybe the lamp itself is to blame?
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Sol in 3D
Posted: Wednesday April 25 2007 @ 7:54am
Religious Order: Toys
NASA has this cool pair of satellites called Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO). Both share the Earth's orbit, only one precedes us by a bit, while the other trails by the same amount, giving them a 45 degree separation. Both point at the sun. The result? Sweet, sweet 3D pictures and movies!
Need red/blue glasses? Get 'em at American Science & Surplus.
Bonus Link: Astronomers Find First Earth-like Planet in Habitable Zone! (Well, kinda Earth-like. Sorta.)
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Would You Ride This?
Posted: Tuesday April 24 2007 @ 6:25am
Religious Order: Toys
So, I'm sitting around, getting all excited about Griffin opening soon. Wow! That's an extreme coaster! Then I happen upon photos of a little coaster in Spain called El Abismo, which I think means The Abyss.
Before you look at the photos, here's a little description. The lift hill is straight up. It's not a launch coaster. It slowly pulls your car straight up. At the top, you don't crest the peak. Rather, the track curves back, over your head. That's right, you come off the lift hill upside down. But you don't then dive towards the ground. That would be too easy. Instead, the track twists, so you spin around upright, then back upside-down, and then the track dives towards the ground. This is followed by some hills and way-over-banked turns. And, judging by the site videos, the ride ends by using the lift hill as a brake. You go up it until you stop, then they lower you back down.
Oh, and the twist off of the list "hill?" Tain't supported by anything. It just stretches out there in space.
I'd almost be too scared to ride it. Almost.
Anyway, here are a load of photos of this beast:
- via Theme Park Review
- via the Roller Coaster DataBase
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