Technology bitches!

I dumped the phone company 2 years ago and replaced it with VOIP service ooma. After a few hiccups it's been working quite well and I'm saving money. One nifty feature is that I can retrieve my messages when I'm on the road. The down side is that I need to use a laptop to access the messages because they are played back using flash, which Apple doesn't support (thanks Apple!). And since getting my iPad I've almost completely stopped using my laptop and net book.

Solution? The sky fire browser on my phone and iPad. This let's you watch flash content ( using magic no doubt) I just tested it and it worked flawlessly. Problem solved!

It'll also be nice to be able to watch embedded video on news sites.

Science!

If for some reason, you like to do things the hard way. You can now convert your iPod touch into a fully functional phone. I am not sure why one would do this, but it can be be done, and that's good enough for me!

www.Peel520.net

The Georgia Guidestones

I love a good mystery. And these are just cool.

Warsaw

Today was our first full day about the city. The Old Town is quite charming despite it being a recreation. 85% of the city was razed during the was but was painstakingly rebuilt using photos, drawings and paintings by artists like Cannaletto.

We visited one of the palaces used hy the King In the middle of a beautiful park. We then had lunch near the old town square. Amber is very abundant here and is used in all manner of crafts. It's alro reasonably priced. I sence fifty bits. We headed over to the Polish military Museum for the opening of a Hussar display. Lots of guys in costume. Some amazing work. The exhibit was amazing. Some stunning examples of arms and armor. Well displayed.

The upstairs dealt with later periods. The Napoleanic uniforms were just awesome. They really knew how to dress for war back then. Outside the grounds are littered with planes, tanks and other weapons including an ingenious armored car built for the Polish uprising.

Tomorrow opens the battle event with a parade and practice. Since we haven't drilled with these guys before (and I have zero experience) I will likely be assigned to cannon fodder duty. My job will be to die during some volley fire I'm fine with that. I'm just keen to be on the field Sunday with the largest group of winged Hussars in 300 years.

Look at this dog!

Off on adventure!

Thursday Rossana and I depart on our latest adventure. Despite all of our planning there are a few unanswered questions and we have no idea how it will turn out. But that's half the fun, isn't it? For this trip, we are returning to a place dear to my heart. Venice! From the moment I stepped foot in Venice years ago I fell in love with it. And I wondered what it would be like to be there during Carnival and dreamed of attending a masked ball in one of the palaces that line the Grand Canal. Come Friday I will wonder no more.

That's right, we're going to a masked ball! I am, to put it bluntly, beyond geeked. Rossana has been working on her outfit for months. The last few pieces of my outfit have arrived. Next Saturday we will enter the Zenobio Palace for the Casanova Ball; Night of the Masked Porters.

For those who are unfamiliar, Venice was for centuries the party capitol of Europe. Tales of the republics decadence are legendary. At one point Napoleon tried to put a cap on it, as three months of the year and a significant portion of the GDP were being poured into this event. Eventually, Mussolini banned it outright. But Venice would not be denied, and the Grand Celebrations have returned.

There are many events scheduled during the two weeks of Carnival (Or Mardi Gras as its known here). Parades, performances, concerts, operas and of course the Masked Balls. These recall a time when much of Venice wore masks in everyday life. Powerful and well connected men and women conducted their affairs in anonymity. Gambling, attending the theater with one's mistress... If no one knows who you are who can forbid you?

The largest events are the Dogaressa Ball, the Masherenda and the Casanova Ball at the Zenobio. Each event is held in a building dating back at least to the 16th Century. All attendees must wear historical costume. No Ghost Busters or Start Trek outfits here. The costume shops of Venice produce some of the most amazing outfits I have ever seen. And the price is quite high to rent them. This is where Rossana's skills and the kindness of several friends comes in. I am indebted to Mr. Weaver of Authentic Wardrobe for supplying me with a stunning jacket and waistcoat. Blonde Swan hats is making a tri-corn hat for me. The other parts have been make by Rossana and gathered from online and local resources.

For a while, it looked like we wouldn't be attending at all. Last season was somewhat crappy but we managed to pull a few good weekends near the end. Then there was the problem of getting tickets. Rossana tried no less than 5 times to purchase tickets. Each time she was thwarted by a crappy website, a payment system in German and finally Uncle Sam demanding to know every detail of our foreign bank transfer. Several skype calls were placed to make sure we were on the guest list and the apologetic hosts have assured us the various fees we incurred will be refunded and a lovely bottle of Champaign will be presented for our inconvenience. This is all well and good. But it is Monday and the tickets have not yet arrived in the mail. Using google Earth I have found a wall near the back of the Palace. Should things go pear shaped, I am pretty sure we can scale it and gain entrance to the event in a surreptitious manner.

It's been quite a while since I've been to a party, let alone a masked ball. The party doesn't start until 9 and goes (I am told) until dawn. We shall see how long we can endure. There will be performers of all types, much food and drink, dancing (with instruction by a classic dance master). There may also be fireworks!

Alas, our stay in Venice will be a short one. The weather at this time of the year is dreadful and the city is filled with tourists. So not long after the party we fly to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. We've found a tour that will explore Petra and several crusader era castles along with the Dead Sea. It will be quite a change from the decadence of Venice. Is it safe? Well, Jordan does border Iraq in the Al-Anbar province as well as Syria and Israel. But Jordan is a strong US supporter and a pretty stable constitutional monarchy. The State department has no serious red flags as of this writing but who can say.

I will post Facebook and blog posts as internet access allows. I will be taking a crapload of pictures. The party itself is lit by candle light. I don't know how well any shots will come out but I will do my best.

It is done!

At long last my secret project has come to fruition! Announcing the Mark 1 Brass Goggles. I'll be selling these things over at my website www.got-steam.com

This represents about 2 months of solid work. It was also a great learning experience. I displayed these at ChattaCon and have already sold a few pair. They are indeed pricey, but I think there is a market for a pair of high end brass goggles in the steampunk community.

Something in my eye...

There are times that I am truly cynical. That I loose much of my faith in mankind. War, disease, hatred. It seems that there is a never ending supply of misery dispensed by my fellow howling monkeys.

Then I see something like this and I smile. And laugh. I remember that we sometimes aren't complete assholes. Sometimes we do nice things for people we don't even know.

Pioneers...

If you have a television you may have seen this Levi's commercial:

While I am not what one could call a devotee of poetry I knew this wasn't written by some agency hack. It's Walt Whitman and you can find it here. It's good stuff. Apparently Levi-Strauss has a kind of scavenger hunt associated with this add campaign. It led to $100,000. It would have been nice if they had told someone about this contest. Just throwing a website at us means little in this age of constant advertising bombardment.

But I'm okay with having gotten a great poem out of it.

Bonus- The other commercial in this series features the voice Walt Whitman reading his poem "America"from a wax cylinder. It's both sweet and haunting.

Pure Awesome...

I don't know who was responsible for this. But they are my hero. This isn't the product of some one being lazy. This took work and a lot of love. If you don't know the inspiration for this, you are likely under 30. And that's a shame.

What the hell???

Why the !@#$ have I just learned about this NOW???

http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/synthful/post-apocalyptic-party-road-wa/index.php

http://www.laweekly.com/slideshow/view/28836900

I could have RULED Bartertown.

Goddammit.

I'm going... into the clouuuuuuuuuud...

Last week my desktop stopped working. Most likely the power supply is starting to go. Although my data was not damaged I couldn't get to it for a few days. Yes, I have a portable hard drive I use for backups but my most recent emails and most recently created files weren't available. I also couldn't write checks using my accounting program.

That sucked.

So I started working on ways to get my important and current data on the cloud (storing it on the internet). My upstream speed isn't fast enough to do total backups on line unless I want to leave my system on all night (I don't) and I don't need everything, just some important files that are constantly being updated. My first attempt? Dropbox. This is a nifty little app. You get 2GB free. Install it on two computers, save or drop any file in a special folder and BAM it gets synched. It also saves older versions in case you delete something at home. You can even have a public folder that anyone can see without a password. Cool.

So far, so good, but I like to keep minimal sensitive data on my laptop. I don't store passwords or important work files on it in case it gets stolen. Dropbox, however, is quite happy to copy important files right to my laptop including stuff I dont want everyone in the world to see.

There are two options;
1) don't install the app on my laptop and access my info through their website using a username and password.

2) Encryption. I can use TrueCrypt to encrypt any sensitive files so that even if they are on my laptop, they are protected.

The first option is easiest. Drawbacks? What if dropbox hands over my data to the gubment? (I'm looking at you phone companies, this has happened before) I also loose the helpful feature of simple synchronization. If I download an important file and alter it, I have to then upload it and then delete it locally. Annoying. With synch, if I am writing a story on one system, the latest version will automatically me available on the other, which is neat.

With encryption, I have to go through a setup process with TrueCrypt which basically creates a single size file. Down side? That whole file has to get synched each time I change it, even a small change. Upside? Available even if I don't have a net connection.

I am going to go for the second option for now. Test it and see how it works. Again, I can't store everything online, but in the event something goes very wrong, I will be able to get up and running on another system quickly. And of course, there's an iphone app that lets me access the non encrypted stuff as well. Sweet. I'm off... into the clouuuuuuuuud

Have any of you flirted with this idea? Anyone else getting rid of software installed on their computer and instead use web apps? Post in comments.

Shock the monkey...

Back in 1984 or so I picked up a cassette sitting on a table in the audio/video department at Bay High School. It belonged to a tech guy who worked part time for the school. It was marked "Peter Gabriel-Live". I popped it into a cheap cassette player, put on a pair of craptastic headphones and proceeded to have my mind absolutely blown.

The music was unlike anything I had ever heard before. It sure as hell wasn't Pink Floyd or pop music. It was something mesmerizing, haunting. From the first track (The Rhythm of the heat) to the desolate and sad "Biko". I listened to it over and over. One of the first CD's I ever owned was Peter Gabriel and when I got to hear his music on a semi-good system it blew my mind all over again.

You might know his more popular tunes Shock the Monkey, Salisbury Hill or Sledgehammer. But you owe it to yourself to listen to some of his other works. He did the soundtrack for The Last Temptation of Christ and is a central part of Real World studios.

A while back he provided the source track to some of his songs and invited to people to remix them as they wished. The results were pretty cool. You can listed to a warped but very cool version of Shock the Monkey here:

Watch this...

Eating Elizabethan for a week. Absolutely awesome.

Sweet tee's

If you're looking for a nice t-shirt based on your fav movie take a click over to Last Exit to Nowhere. There are some nice designs there for logo junkies like myself.


Via BoingBoing.net

More clever monkeys

Ok, I'm gonna need someone to take my wallet for a few weeks so I cannot order this thing. I mean, a working tricorder media player? For $350? Dammit! This is the kind of thing I would have given my left nut for a back in my more fervent fanboy days. And now that I'm a "responsible" adult I'm supposed to 'just say no'? Fuck that!

Okay... deep breath. As long as I don't ever actually touch one in person I should be safe.

Maybe.

Jesus Christ it's a Lion! Get in the car!

There was no greater genius than DaVinci. And this shit right here proves it.

I am not a number.. I am a free man!

It was many years ago that I first heard the original BBC show 'The Prisoner'. I say heard, not saw. My brother recorded them and played them for me when he visited. (No VCR, No tivo in those ancient times) It was a trippy show. Even more so when I actually got to see it. And the ending? Pure madness.

Now it's being redone. But from what I can see, it looks and FEELS just as whacked out (if not more so) than the original. Behold.

Joy

This upcoming Pennsic will mark my 10 year anniversary. I enjoyed my own wedding. I enjoyed having my family come and play with us a little while. I enjoyed creating my own service, not going into debt or having to rent a church/hall/limo, I loved having chicken wings and having Pennsic as our reception.

Weddings can be a source of joy, and I am all for anything that brings joy into the world. So with that in mind here is a great wedding procession/dance number.

Playing hookey

I looked out at the deck. It sat there, mocking me in its ugliness.

"You'll never get rid of me" it said. "There will always be more pressing projects."

"But I hate you." I said to the wood and brick monstrosity.

"I know, but it's too late to do anything this summer anyway. You open Great Lakes in a weeeeeeeek" it hissed at me.

And then I got the crowbar and screw gun.

In a couple of hours the railing was gone and I was working on the flooring. But the weather kept threatening rain. Also, tearing out the deck turned out to be...you know...work.

"We need to get out of here!" I said.

"Are you talking to me or the deck this time?" my wife asked.

"What? You, of course. Pack a bag. We're leaving."

And so we did. We grabbed our passports, some money and a change of clothes and took off for Niagara Falls. It's been many years since my last visit and I've never done a lot of the touristy things there. That was about to change. We took the more western Peace bridge and sailed through customs. Then we drove along the lovely Niagara Parkway. Once we hit the town we parked and set off for adventure. We rode the Maid of the Mist, which was awesome. In the morning we drove North into wine country. We visited a butterfly conservatory, a printing museum, bought some fresh cherries and indulged a dream of mine, a helicopter trip.

You know how I've blabbed that I wouldn't have a problem sitting next to a 'brown person' on an airplane because fear mongering in stupid? Well, I got the chance to put my money where my mouth was.

It seems a nice Muslim family wanted to take a helicopter ride. Ok. Cool. But then the men didn't want to go along. Just the wives (wearing burkas) and kids. Ooookay. Then the fuss started. You see, any time you go to an attraction at Niagara Falls, someone will snap your picture for the inevitable souvenir photo at the end. I knew this wasn't going to go well. The dutifull young woman tried to take shots of all of us and the women kept trying to tell her that they DID NOT want their picture taken. It was, in a word, awkward. Once the copter arrived we piled in. Strangely, they put one of the mothers in the front next to the pilot, and me, Rossana, the other mom and the two kids in the back. Why not keep that group together? Why not put the one male adult in the front? I don't know and there was no chance to debate when there are whiling blades of death above you.

Off we go, and it was AWESOME. I took some video with the new phone which I'll post soon. It was a trip flying high above the Falls. The helicopter was buffeted a little by the winds which gave it that slight roller coaster feeling. I can't tell of the ladies enjoyed the trip, and the one little boy sitting across from me spent most of the trip eyeballing ME as if I might do something crazy.

We crossed over to the American side and parked on Goat Island. I wanted to visit the cave of the winds (where you walk right up to the bottom of the waterfall and can also go behind it. But the wait was between 2-3 hours. Fail.

We strolled to the Amercian and Horseshoe edges before deciding to head home (with a quick stop to the Anchor Bar in Buffalo for some take out wings, of course).

I'm glad we took the trip, it's our last chance before the season starts and it's all work.

Update! Pics are Here.