11 April, 2011
I took the wife in for her weekly prenatal exam. Turns out she’s been having contractions for the past two days or so, she’s dilated 2cm and it looks like we’re probably going to see our daughter before the end of the week.
My bet is on tomorrow or Wednesday. Wednesday is game night…it’ll be Wednesday, almost surely.
10 April, 2011
I bought the original iPad a year ago and have loved the device since I first started using it…so much so the wife bought me a MacBook Air. The original device traveled with me internationally, was stuffed in a motorcycle tail pack for trips, did interstate jaunts. I wrote my dissertation proposal on it, painted pictures, played games, read books, and watched movies and TV shows on it. I used it more than I did my old Dell Inspiron 14 laptop (which was not exactly a shoddy device.)
I was a bit iffy on the new iPad. I played with it a bit and the speed of the machine was definitely improved. The addition of the cameras didn’t much matter to me, but the addition of a Verizon alternative for 3G was tempting. So I upgraded to the iPad 2 32GB Wifi+3G.
The good: the speed and stability are much improved. Websites load quick, games play fast (although my favorite, GT Racing is glitchy on the new device. Boo!) It’s thinner, it’s lighter — it’s verging to too thin and light, really — and still feels sturdy. Wifi runs just as well as the old machine. I’ve had none of the camera and microphone issues that others have had, so far, but I also haven’t really done much with them. I can’t comment on the 3G service, yet; I haven’t fired it up. The Verizon plan, however, starts with a 1GB/mo plan at $20…a much better deal than AT&T’s cheaper plan, but it’s not really cheap compared to the Death Star’s 2GB plan for a few bucks more a month. I never used a full 2GB when I bought that plan but did get close on the cheaper one. The speakers are about as good as the last, but seem a bit less powerful because of their placement.
Best of all: the battery life is maintained. I’m averaging an hour/10% of battery with wifi active and moderate usage. Turn that off and be sparing with the stuff you’ve got open and you’ll be able to pull the 14 hour marathon I did from Edinburgh Scotland to Albuquerque, NM.
The downsides: the camera — and there’s no way to put this kindly — suck. The backside camera is maybe a 1MPx and the resolution is worthy of a cheap 1999 digital camera. The frontside is better, but not much. There’s supposedly trouble with the cameras handling video, but I suspect that’s probably software related and will get fixed.
I had none of the other complaints — the backlight bleed, the yellow from the fixative, nor the alleged Verizon issues if you turn off 3G then reactivate. (This can be handled for the now by cycling the power.)
I also got the smart cover for the thing. One of the problems with the iPad — it’s gorgeous, but you want to protect it. Having a full cover kind of defeats the whole styling of the device. The smart cover protects the screen, but shows off the iPad. It connects with magnets and when closed, it turned the machine off; when opened, it powers on. Very slick. It can get in the way when held in landscape for games playing, and it’s supposed to fold up to be used as a stand, but I found it didn’t really like doing that. Practice your oragami skills… I had it come off by accident at one point while futzing with the way I was holding it, but that’s the worst thing I have to say about it.
So for looks and usability, the new iPad is tops. I can see it already taking over most of my computing needs from the Air. The price point’s the same as the old one, so it you were on the fence with the original, buy this one; if it’s too pricey, don’t.
10 April, 2011
The original Real Racing HD for the iPad was a solid game with good graphics, passable physics, and a nice challenging set of races. The downsides were that foremint hadn’t gotten licensing for vehicles, so everything was a generic Golf, Challenger, Mustang-style car.
The new game really takes advantage of the increase in firepower the iPad 2 has. Graphics are better, smoother, the game physics are improved with car damage for impacts — avoid the other drivers, while still difficult, is more advised in this version. They also got licenses for a bunch of cars — Ford and Chevy, Nissan and Volvo, MacLaren, Lotus, and Jag for the high end. The courses are essentially the same, but the better graphics and smoother response from the accelerometers on the iPad2 make drivin much easier.
For $10, it’s definitely worth the price of admission.
8 April, 2011
I’m Scottish. I love otters. I like cats. This combined them all in a great bundle of cute. Enjoy!
8 April, 2011
In the series, the Colonials use an assortment of rifles: for the first few seasons they are P90s (mostly likely because they had props from Stargate as well as shovelfuls of 5.7x28mm ammo — hence the move to the “futuristic” FiveSeven handgun), and toward the end of season one they’re using Beretta Cx4 Storm Carbines in 9mm.
Let’s face it: a 9mm carbine against an armored mechanical monstrosity is, well…stupid. So here’s a simple retcon for you — use the Beretta Rx4 Carbine in .223. They look almost the same, but they have a “real” rifle round that, if they were loading steel tips, could punch through Cylons. The Beretta Rx4 and the Benelli MR1 look almost like the Cx4…it if had balls.
Stats for Battlestar Galactica RPG: Leo GMR1 5.56mm Damage: d8W Range: 125 yards Cost: 3500 cubits Availability: Military. (Figure a civilian version would be semi-auto, cost half as much, and be “rare”.)
Now lets do it up for the James Bond: 007 RPG: Benelli MR1 / Beretta Rx4 5.56mm
The Benelli uses the same ARGO gas-piston system of their combat shotgun and R1 rifle series, giving the MR1 superb reliability and clean operation. The rifle uses standard M16/M4/AR15 magazines, which are released by an ambidextrous release on the receiver, the bolt release and safety are on the forward trigger guard. The rifle can be had in a solid stock or collapsible, like their M4 Super 90 series shotgun.
The MR1 is similar in power and range to AR carbines with a 16″ barrel, but the accuracy is slightly less precise — that said, the MR1 has a tendency to shot 2″ groups out to 300 yards consistently…it jus doesn’t tend to shoot much tighter. Recoil is less than on the AR series of rifles.
PM: 0 S/R: 2/10 AMMO: 30 DC: I/L CLOS: 0-20 LONG: 35-65 CON: n/a JAM: 99 DR: -3 RL: 2 COST: $1200
7 April, 2011
Bullshit. Sophos, a free anti-virus program for Macs, just found three trojan exploits that cruised in from websites in my Java folders for Safari on my MacBook Air. And yeah, yeah — malware, virus, whatever. Mac catch crap just like PCs.
Expect to see more malware written for Macs as they gain market share. (It works just like real software — why write it unless there are machines to run it.)
7 April, 2011
Been crazy busy here at the Campbell’s household. Between medical appointments, researching the dissertation, and preparing for the government shutdown to clamp the wife’s income shut, I’ve been busting the hump trying to get my next novel Perseus ready for primetime. That hasn’t left much room for anything else.
That said, Perseus is now in the 50,000 word range, about half done, and if I hold to my output level for the next fortnight, it’ll be into proofreading and editing before the end of the month, and might be up on the Kindle Store by the end of May. After that, I’ll start working on the print-on-demand version. If this happens as it looks like it might, I could have Perseus out for the public before the rerelease of Cawnpore, my historical novel set in the India Mutiny of 1857.
Work continues on an updated version of a certain venerable espionage game system. Hoping to have it ready for playtesting and layout by the end of the year.
31 March, 2011
I’ve been catching up on movies the past month or so, thanks to Netflix, so I’m just going to give a few thumbnails of a couple of the movies I’ve watched. We’ll use the traditional 4 stars nonsense, as well.
Splice: I rather enjoyed this. It’s not quite what I expected…in many ways, the monsters are the scientist protagonists that create this chimera that is part human (Dren) in an effort to make a new drug product. The woman they make grows at a remarkable rate (’cause all test-tube monsters grow at the speed of plot), is intelligent, vicious, but surprisingly sympathetic due to the actress’ performance. The female scientist has an abused background and she finds herself applying some of the same controlling methods to Dren. The ending is a bit of the usual creature-goes-rogue stuff you’d expect but the performances are good, and the weird child abuse vibe really takes this a cut above. 2.5-3 stars
Iron Man 2: A bit less focused than the original, but it cracks along, Robert Downey Jr. does Robert Downey Jr., and there’s a nice libertarian vibe to the movie I really liked. 4 stars.
Public Enemies: How you can take the story of John DIllinger and make it boring is a challenge, but Michael Mann rose to it. Uninspired performances, slow pacing, but good art, set ,and costume direction and it’s pretty solidly historically. Did I mention boring? 2 stars.
The Road: A movie so dark, slow, and uninteresting I turned it off after 30 minutes. If I want a reason to snuff myself, I’ll listen to The Wall in the dark with a gun after drinking heavily. Can’t rate it, because I didn’t finish it.
Funny People: Judd Apatow takes on the world of stand-up comedians and fame. Adam Sandler turns in a superb performance as a comedian who is dying and tries to atone for being a tremendous dick. While there’s a lot of funny moments — it’s a serious downer. Fame sucks, you have no real friends, and your competition/friends will stab you in the back. It’s also a good hour too long. It’s good, don’t get me wrong…just waaaaay too long. 2.5 stars.
eXistenz: Cronenberg takes on virtual reality with his usual biological creepiness. It’s slow, a bit muddled, and while it would have been a bit more interesting ten years ago, it doesn’t do the “life is a simulation” idea as well as The Matrix or Inception, and nowhere near as well as Ghost in the Shell 2. 2 stars.
Shopgirl: The novella was poignant and charming…so’s the movie. Love story between a lonely older man and a young shop girl who is lonely. She thinks it’s a real love affair, he’s using her to salve his loneliness. Interesting performance by Steve Martin. 3 stars.
Extraordinary Measures: Based on a true story (allegedly), Brendan Fraser’s kids have a rare disease and are going to snuff it any day. Harrison Ford is an annoying academic working on the most promising cure. Fraser puts together a foundation to fund the scientist, gets a pharmaceutical company to sign onto their work which is then coopted. Good performance by Fraser, Ford is Ford (so good), and the story is a gutwrencher if you have kids. No big surprises, plot-wise. 2.5-3 stars.
The American: I went on a lone assassin gets a conscience kick and brings his employers down on his head. (Le Samourai, Eastern Promises, Ghost Dog) so this is pretty much the same story, but set in gorgeous southern Italy. I’m not a huge Clooney fan, but he’s bloody good in this. 4 stars.
Run, Fat Boy, Run: Simon Pegg plays his usual likable loser who leaves his pregnant girlfriend at the altar. Five years later, he’s still stuckin a rut, but her new American boyfriend inspires him (out of spite) to run a marathon in London, competing with the new beau. Hank Azara does a good slow burn as we discover the kinda cool guy is actually a dick. We don’t get the full happy ending, but we get close. Fun fluff. 3 stars ’cause I like Pegg.
The Expendables: Put a whole bunch of action stars from the last 30 years together in a movie, pull a script from 1987 and update it by shooting it with modern action camera techniques, and give a few of the guys a touching scene to show they can act. Shake vigorously. There you go. Dumb fun that, if you grew up on this sort of action pic, will get you all wistful for Contras and Soviet existential evil. 2.5 stars if you’ve never seen Commando or Red Heat and said “I need this on VHS”, 3 stars if you did and bought them.
Scott Pilgrin vs. the World: I’m not read the comic, and now I want to. Yeah, Cera plays his usual affable geek, but it works here. The same director from Shawn of the Dead brings a great mash-up of video game and comic book tropes and gags that really work here. Boy has girl, dumps girl for mysterious hot girl that has a bunch of evil boyfriends he must fight, boy loses cool girl, fights to get her back, realizes the geek girl was cool, too…aw, just see it. Really! Chris Evans and Brandon Routh are great in their evil exes roles. 3.5 stars.
30 Days of Night: No friggin’ emo pussy vampires talking about their feelings and getting angsty about their vampirism. No sexy vampires. These bastards are fast, vicious pack animals and that portrayal, mixed with the dark, isolated setting of Barrow, Alaska real works. I wasn’t expecting the hero’s tactic for “winning”. Ben Foster doesn’t come off gay. 3 stars
Faster: The Rock Dwayne Johnson (met him before he was the Rock; nice guy) plays an ex-con that was the victim of a rip-off by another crew. He gets out and over 5 days hunts them down. Standard fare save for the secondary characters that are all very intersting in a way the lead is not. Johnson shows a bit of acting ability here and there, Billy Bob Thornton is good, Carla Guigino isn’t doing sexy. There’s a seedy doper cop (BBT), a perfectionist assassin out to stop the Rock Johnson who is fun (and I suspect trained by the same acting coach as Clive Owen.) It’s not as fast-paced as the title would suggest, tries to be a bit deeper than the usual action pic, doesn’t quite pull it off. But I really kinda liked it. 2.5 stars.
Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story: Set against his Sexie stand up tour, we find out he was born in Aden, raised in Ireland until he was eightish, his mom dies, he’s in boarding school, and then spends 12 years or so busting his ass to be an overnight success. He’s a touch, stubborn bugger from the look of him, crossdressing or no. 3 stars.
The Crazies: Remake of a George Romero zombie movie where the people aren’t really zombies. A government plane goes down and infects a small Midwestern town with a biotoxin that drives them nutty. Timothy Oliphant is not creepy or a bad guy in this; he’s the town sheriff trying to figure out what’s going on, then rescue his friends when the Army inevitably comes in and experiments/kill off the town’s people to contain the event. You’ve seen this movie before…it’s still done pretty well. 2 stars if you think everything Romero does can’t be topped, 3 for the rest of us.
Ondine: An Irish fisherman (Colin Farrell) discovers a girl in his nets. His handicapped daughter thinks she’s a selkie…is she a sea creature? Is she not? It’s a charming movie and very well acted. See it. 4 stars
31 March, 2011
Here’s my 2010 Triumph Street Triple with her new flyscreen and Pazzo Racing levers added (due to a slow speed tip-over that mashed the brake lever.) Tail pack on, as well in this one.
Gold adjusters mesh well with the gold forks and the orange flash on the tach.
29 March, 2011
Festo’s robotic herring gull takes flight.
Here’s the press copy:
Aerodynamic lightweight design
SmartBird is an ultralight but powerful flight model with excellent aerodynamic qualities and extreme agility. With SmartBird, Festo has succeeded in deciphering the flight of birds – one of the oldest dreams of humankind.
This bionic technology-bearer, which is inspired by the herring gull, can start, fly and land autonomously – with no additional drive mechanism. Its wings not only beat up and down, but also twist at specific angles. This is made possible by an active articulated torsional drive unit, which in combination with a complex control system attains an unprecedented level of efficiency in flight operation. Festo has thus succeeded for the first time in creating an energy-efficient technical adaptation of this model from nature.
New approaches in automation
The functional integration of coupled drive units yields significant ideas and insights that Festo can transfer to the development and optimisation of hybrid drive technology.
The minimal use of materials and the extremely lightweight construction pave the way for efficiency in resource and energy consumption.
Festo already today puts its expertise in the field of fluid dynamics to use in the development of the latest generations of cylinders and valves. By analysing SmartBird’s flow characteristics during the course of its development, Festo has acquired additional knowledge for the optimisation of its product solutions and has learned to design even more efficiently.
The Black Campbell 