Friday, August 27, 2010

A Sucker Born Every Minute: The Vivitar 35mm Camera

Ok, I've officially seen everything. I half expect Vince or the resurrected spirit of Billy Mays to be hawking this product. You need to go to their site and watch the video. My father, for the love of him, is a Luddite. HE CAN EVEN USE A GODDAMN DIGITAL CAMERA.


But enough of that, the add has all the hallmarks of 'As Seen On TV' marketing.



It has the initial pitch


Then, a show stopper!
Oh how I love seeing those words. They are a mark of (lack of)
quality to any ad I see.



In the end, the deal was better than expected:


Now THAT looks like... crap. If you read the fine print, you pay an extra $7 "shipping and handling" fee for the first camera. Then another $7 for "processing and handling" for the second one. $24 is still cheap, but then you factor in buying more film and film processing charges and yeah this is a cheap alternative to downloading them to your computer. For Gaia's sake this is ridiculous. The features of "Built-in flash" and "Motorized Automatic Advance" reek of "We have extra stock of these. Jimmy, make an ad campaign to get rid of them now!"

And Jimmy did, and will reel in many poor saps.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Whoa, a 'The Next Generation' cast listing shows what could have been.

I pulled the below picture off of Gamma Squad's post on the subject: This is an internal memo about the possible casting for all major characters in the hit TV show of years gone by:




All I can say is holy hell. I can't see anyone other than Stewart having played Picard. Denise Crosby might have made an interesting Troi, but Sirtis had bigger assets (two, in fact. On her chest ^_^ ). Sirtis was notably absent from the list, as is Brent Spiner whom played Data. I can't peg Reggie Jackson for Geordi, or Wesley Snipes for that matter. Speaking of Wesley... JD Roth? He was 19 at the time playing a pre-pubescent ubernerd/mary sue hybrid. Weaton was a solid choice, even though even he hated the character in the end:

Friday, August 20, 2010

Things that make me laugh at my job

Conversation that occurred today at work between coworker and I:

Coworker: It's just I hate when they call in with stupid questions.
Me: There are no stupid questions. Just sarcastic answers to simple questions *smile*
C: "Ahhhhhh How do I start my VPN?"
Me: (sarcastic "Birds and Bees" voice) Well when an Icon and a cursor love each other very much they go *click click* and 9 ms later a window is born.
C: What if it is two icons?
Me: (blank stare for a second)
(hysterical laughter from both of us)
C: It'd produce some kind of error, maybe a General Protection Fault?
Me: IRQL not less or equal to
(more hysterical laughter)
Me: Paging in a non-paged area?
C: Something like that.

#Blogin5 Challenge: Multidimensions and Gravitation Lenses

First off, if you read my post about chaos you know I have a rather odd look at physics of the universe, theoretical or otherwise.

I picked up on these two videos about 6 months go and I'm going to link them here before I go forward:




Ok this is going to be quick but at the same time your eyes will gloss over: If we take the idea that you can use the gravity of massively heavy objects to distort light, called a gravitational lens, does that mean gravity is a function of the 3th dimension? Or is it possible, given that light could be a function of the 4th dimension (given we can't exceed it or time). The reason why I ponder this is that you are effectively traveling through the same amount of space but at a given slower time. Time, being a function closer to length, has only one dimension. Does this mean that gravity bends it? Meaning it would be a 5th or 6th dimensional property? And maybe that's the reason why we've been unable to locate the particle that controls gravity, like we've located for the other 3 forces.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

What Country Do I Live In? (Ground Zero Mosque Rant)

I'm going to open up my rant here with two videos. But before I do, I will make this clear: I am in favor of this 'mosque' (see Olbermann's video) being built.

Frist, Obama's words a week or so ago:


Second up is Olbermann's special comment on the subject:


With those show, and using the date from both, I have to ask exactly what country did I wake up to today? I'm pretty damn sure that freedom of religion is protected under the Bill of Rights. Yep, it's right there under the first amendment in the free exercise clause. What's better in the wharrlgarble over this is the fact that it's not even a mosque. Yes there is going to be prayer, but so too would you find this at a YMCA. In fact, it just sounds like a YMIA-like building. To be honest, this sounds like a great place.

But no, religious intolerance has to come into play doesn't it? Listen, we're going to go through a rather hard concept to follow, or at least hard for closed minded people to follow. Freedom is a dual-edged blade. While I don't like the Westboro Baptist Church and their protests (though I did like the geek response to their Comic-Con one) my freedom in not likely thing and being able to express this dislike allows them to exist as well. There is no "because I'm right you can't be allowed to be wrong" in freedom. And I don't like having, as a pagan, Christians get in my face trying to save me. But their right to practice and spread their religion is what make our countries great. Want to be a different religion in a Muslim world? Well, you might be a Shiite or a Sunni in Iraq, but try to be a Jew or anything other than a Muslim you're in deep shit. Like dead deep shit. So we live in a 'free' world, but we don't want to tolerate other ideas/religions? Yeah that makes perfect sense.

In parting, I'll leave you with the words of Henry Rollins (from 2004 but still relevant):

Friday, August 13, 2010

I ain't scared of the 13th

I am not, to put it in a long winded way, triskaidekaphobic (from Greek: tris = 3, kai = and, deka = 10). I have fun, though, with days like this. I find superstition fascinating (just about as much as chemistry or politics, or gaming). All in all I have to say I am either a reverse jinx or somehow protected from superstitious harm. Perhaps because I was born on Halloween? Or maybe that just explains why I'm so damn weird XD.

I seem to flaunt bad luck charms wherever I go. I have for instance, as a child, owned one of these:
Mine was named Phidoux (you pronounce it 'Fido' in French)

I've walked under countless ladders (well, ones tall enough for me to fit under). I have done so many things I should be having the largest run of bad luck next to the Chicago Cubs. I actually have this book, and read through it for things I hadn't tried yet:
It has a horse, a rainbow, and an eagle on the front. Therefore it must be new age.
So basically, I have a field day on Friday the 13th. I see how many people I can spook. I have to admit, it's only a few :(

Monday, August 9, 2010

Hall H is a problem

You'll have to forgive the lateness of this post. I've been a bit ill the past few weeks so I had to put this post on hold. Who cares though, here it is:

I arrived at roughly 8:10 am on Thursday to attend SDCC. For the uninitiated the San Diego Convention Center is a 615,701 sq. ft. facility in downtown San Diego. To but it bluntly, the place is huge. Ginormous would even be a good word to describe it. So after getting my convention pass I make my way, I thought, to Hall H. I was initially stuck by Room 6A (far southeast) and was told, by a helpful staff member, to go towards the center of the convention to the exhibit level via the stairs there.

I go to said area only to be told by what ended up to be a not-so-helpful staff member that what I really wanted to do was go all the way around the center to get to the exhibit level. This would be fine for any part of the exhibit floor EXCEPT HALL H.

The reasoning of the second staff member sending us around the complex was that the escalator from there only lead outside. This happened to be exactly where we needed to go. So rather than have a minute chance of getting a decent place in line an excruciating 20 minutes was spend in a nerd herd (seen in the pictures below, taken by me) only to find out there was a shorter route.

So after wasting my time there doing this I come to the horrifying realization: I have no ability to actually get into line to see the panel I wanted to go see, Tron Legacy, because everyone is lining up long before I even reached the convention center. And that line was for Megamind, the panel before Tron.

I’m not alone is my anguish here: I had read up on several Comic-con “Survival Guides” prior to attending this year that Hall H is notorious for its line. No other place, from what I understand, has such a long line. Here is a a picture from last year. The most notable difference from then to this year was the addition of tents over the line to block out the sun. Here are some pictures I took from the ground myself this year:

That's the hotel, the tents, and a metric ton of people as I left at 7pm on that Thursday



Given this is the worst of the worst is it any wonder why there haven’t be any serious injuries in this line? Oh, wait, that’s right. The whole point of my thoughts here was because that is exactly what happened the Saturday of Comic-con.


Well, let me reference a later article here for a moment. While it is easy to believe the former, where the assailants didn’t know each other, the latter still tells of the tensions that come up at Hall H. If the men involved were friends, or even just a casual acquaintance, as the latter article presents we can still gleam that in the end there is just too little space for far too many people all in one place.

We need to ask ourselves what predicated this violence. It is an addition of several factors together. First Hall H holds 6500 people and has a line at least equal to but most likely higher than that number. Moreover no one is forced out after any panel discussion (this is true for any panel discussion). This leads to both camping in the line and camping out inside, watching several of the panels before you see the one you were actually waiting for. Like my example in my experience above, those that wanted into Tron Legacy were in line long before Megamind started.,

Because of the is the line starts early in the morning, long before the first panel of the day. This has the effect of placing too many people into one cramped space. And I speak of both line and convention hall here as they become inseparable at that point.

Thirdly, though mild this year generally the hot, dry July air drains even the most hardened con-goer. Imagine being baked in a low degree oven for several hours a day and you will start getting the picture. This admittedly was mitigated both by mild weather but also the strategic placement of tents to keel line-waiters in the shade.
Lastly is what I consider the weakest link of all : Comic-con ‘security’ is a volunteer force. I don’t mean to insult those that work SDCC for little or no pay, but you are not professionals whom would be trained to take care of scuffles. Or at the very minimum you are not police officers. You know, like the ones that had to be called in after everything went to hell and someone had a pen stuck in them?

Wrapping this all up into one neat package: It is a wonder why Hall H hasn’t destroyed the SDCC as of yet. Hall H is a nightmare situation. You mix in frustration of a long line in the hot sun, exhaustion of waiting several panel discussions, and general anger of not being able to sit and enjoy what you really came to see. Mix in more frustration as previous attendees are not cleared to make space for those in line. And you dare not leave as losing your spot will force you to wait in another long line. It comes to a point where even giving a friend some breathing room is asking too much.



It comes down to, most of all, crowd control. Like thousands of fans vying to see their favorite rock band. Don’t think this analogy is appropriate? It might be as the whole of concert attendance fixed itself after 11 were trampled to death in a 1979 The Who concert. Festival, or general, seating was listed as a cause in the lawsuits that followed. Cincinnati, host city of the dreaded concert, was the first to ban general (unreserved) seating, and other soon followed. Now it is almost unheard of to NOT have an assigned seat. In summary the issue is a lack of true crowd control, poor security, limited room for attendees, and the lack of a system to flush out campers from the system so other may enjoy the panels. This gives way to rabidness of fans,
especially of the geek type. It ends up being a match tossed into a pile of greasy rags.



If I am going to complain this much about something I feel I should at least try to offer some constructive criticism or more to the point some ideas on how to alleviate this problem.

The hardest thing would to do would be to abandon Hall H alltogether. No more big name, big studio presentations or panels. As great as this sounds for the trouble it would remove it would also remove much of the fun from Comic-con. In other words, bad idea that no one will take me up on. It would be a waste of space as the hall cannot be split up into smaller and more manageable viewing areas.

With that idea in the trash, an idea that would have saved 11 people 31 years ago would be assigned tickets. You would be stuck with whatever you were given, but also you wouldn’t need to wait in line forever and not be able to get in. This would either be purchasable or handed out in a fair lottery. This would also have to go hand in hand with clearing out the hall after every event. Would you stay after the credits in a movie theater to see the next film? No, you don’t have that right. Nor would you have the right, because you were more psychotic and got in line during the wee hours of the morning, to be seated for the next hall presentation. This, in my mind, would only apply to Hall H as the other rooms as of yet do not have the issue of overcrowding.
I use the word yet there because for all the good a ticket system would be it would also create problems. Have you ever seen scalpers for concerts? Imagine the cash a front row seat selected by a lottery would go for, or for that matter the fights over such a coveted ticket. But let us say neither of these ended up being a problem. Where do all those people whom would normally be cooped up in Hall H go? Everywhere else to be frank about it. As it stands you can line up before a panel and be relatively assured a place to sit. If we double or triple the lines, using those displaced in this scenario, we only spread the problem around. The problem of space pushed many major showings (mostly of full length movies/anime) to the adjoining hotels this year. The convention center has run out of space.

Therefore we can come to only one conclusion: The San Diego Convention Center has outlived its usefulness. Just as a child needs new clothes one they grow up so too does Comic-Con need bigger clothes. If we fix one are, Hall H or other, we only push the problem out to outlying areas. As it stands the security detail can’t handle a simple scuffle let along a full fledged assault. Even at over 600k sq. ft. we geeks are bursting out of the place at the seams. Or we get cramped back down into place like a pressure cooker, amplifying frustration until we steam over and have one taken by paramedics, the other by police.



Now you have to wonder where to put all of us if not in San Diego. I think I might have a solution. The Anaheim Convention Center over boasts 800k sq. ft., with several halls that hold capacities double what is in San Diego. And that’s just the main floor, with two higher ones available. That’s an extra level over San Diego. I don’t think Anaheim would even mind me mentioning them, seeing as they have been rumored to be bidding for the move. And this was long before the stabbing that occurred this year.
So if is is true it can’t happen soon enough.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Well this is sad: Two tour buses of High School Band members crash, two dead

I was a bando in high school. For those that might not know the term, it means I was a member of the Estancia High School Marching Band. I played the baritone horn, and a little sousaphone, during my 4 years in high school. One of the only things I miss from those years is the camaraderie of the group. We were family, in a way. I still kind of keep in touch only with those I knew during those years.

In all, we were a family: We fought each other and for each other. We loved one another as family and more. We weren't the greatest players but we didn't care. Our director, Linda, was both stern and kind. While those may be opposites in a normal world, in the bando-verse it means she pushed us to be the best we could be, but not to the point we hated her. Sadly, after I graduated in 1998, some rather unsavory elements (read: holier-than-thou students/parents) pushed the wrong buttons and Linda retired some years later. All in all though it was good times while I was there.

So you may be asking yourself where I'm going with this. Well, each year of band we would do what we called Tour. Tour was basically a gigantic field trip. In my years we normally went to San Fransisco (one year, my senior, was Las Vegas), when to a competition or something, then came home. It was a week long adventure of marching, playing games on the ride there, pulling pranks. We even had a tradition of stealing a road sign, preferably one that wasn't going to cause traffic accidents, to take back to the band room.

These two points, the traffic and the bus rides, brings me to a sad story today. Two bus-loads of students from a Missouri high school collided with a pickup and a semi-trailer. Two were killed: The pickup driver and one student. My heartfelt remorse over the loss of both the driver, Daniel Schantz, and the student Jessica Brinker and her family who have now lost a loved one. When you are in a group like that, even in a big city (these students were from a town of about 600 or so from what I gather), I can only imagine the pain this tragic accident has caused.

In the end we, where I went, were family. Though we never had this tragedy I would never wish it upon my worst enemies. It would make those enemies even madder at me than normal.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

The Prop 8 decision: A good read.

So I picked up the final ruling that overturned the disastrous Prop 8 last night. While some of you may get glazed eyes when reading leagalese (or weaslese, depending on your view of the profession), I find them fascinating. I blame having worked as a copy boy for civil bankruptcy firm about 10 years ago.