From the folks that brought you lolcats and icanhazcheeseburger:
There, I fixed it!
All manner of interesting engineering-type geekery therein...
Showing posts with label geek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label geek. Show all posts
29 March 2010
21 February 2010
Wanted: Guinness Stout clone
So I've been looking for Guinness clone recipes, and am finding a lot of "like Guinness, but different in a slew of ways" hits
Does anyone that reads my blog have any idea what it is that gives Guinnes that amazing head, that.. ah hell, don't know how to describe it.. it's this:
Also, what is it that gives it that mouth feel, kinda like whole milk?
Still figuring out this brewing thing- lots of new things to learn, lots of new beer to try.
Since I've picked up brewing, I haven't looked at beer the same. Now it's more an intellectual pursuit, not just pursuit of a good buzz.
Does anyone that reads my blog have any idea what it is that gives Guinnes that amazing head, that.. ah hell, don't know how to describe it.. it's this:
Also, what is it that gives it that mouth feel, kinda like whole milk?
Still figuring out this brewing thing- lots of new things to learn, lots of new beer to try.
Since I've picked up brewing, I haven't looked at beer the same. Now it's more an intellectual pursuit, not just pursuit of a good buzz.
03 August 2009
Magic Jack- VERY pleasantly surprised!
OK, so I've seen this magic jack thing on TV for like 3 years and I admit I've been curious.
I'm no luddite and I'm sure not a stranger to things Geekish - in fact I've used Vonage for about 6 years, but still-- it's on an infomercial-- how good could it be? It's a rule or something- on an informercial, it HAS to be crap.
Things being what they are and times being the same, ie: TIGHT- I finally decided to throw $40 ($20 for the device, $20 for the year's service... and there's a 30 day money back guarantee which, according to several folks on the web, is valid) at the thing and see what happened.
(yes, two both my readers- I did my research-- found that the folks that are complaining about the device seem to fall into two categories: mouth-breathers who can barely use a keyboard when on the web... sorta... to spit their vitriolic complaints into the ether, and people who would starve to death with a truckload of canned goods, a rifle, a canopener, and an axe, and 50,000 rounds of .223 at their disposal. Either way-- not the brightest bulb on the strand, they)
Got the Magic Jack in the mail today- it arrived in 4 days (ok, I spent the $4 for express shipping- hell, it's reasonable, and I'm impatient- there's geekin' to be done!). It came in a soft-sided mailer, same sort you'd ship an AOL disk back in the day. (Yes, I know. Shut up.) Opened it, it ships in a simple cardboard and foam affair. There's no real directions to be had other than "plug into USB jack. Do not plug unto USB hub that isn't powered by AC"
(at this point, our complainers are already losing their damn minds.. "ZOMG111!!! THERE'S NO DIRECTIONS!!! IT'S SO haaaaaarrRDDDDDD1!!!! SOMEONE COME FIX THIS, I DON'T HAVE AN ENGINEERING DEGREEEEEE!!!)
No, I'm not kidding. I have supported users for... well, WAY too long. I know of what I speak, ok? Let's just say-- I'm way burned out on IT work. WAAAAY. I'm seriously considering getting my welding certificate.
So anyway-- being devil-may-care, I plugged the damn thing in... and...
.. it just worked!
One minor caveat- you must have patience- it'll install the software (software lives on the device- there's a bit of flashram, see) automatically, bring up the softphone (software phone.. this isn't that technical, really) panel, and bring up a wizard to walk you through getting your phone number, all automatically on most systems (those that have registry hacks done to avoid USB Autoplay may- *MAY*- have minor issue. But if you can figure out how to disable autoplay, you can damn sure open Explorer and launch the app yourself). The only gotcha- and it wasn't a huge one- is that I run Skype in the background 24/7 on this machine, and it wanted to use the Magic Jack as an audio interface. I clicked "disable" when the window spawned, and it's not a problem.
I got this because my ATT cellphone gets horrible service in my home. For $20 a year, why not? I've already made a couple calls and am VERY happy with the quality. I'll be keeping the device, no doubt about it.
BTW- the website and presumably the salesdroid if you elect to go that way on the phone, will try to sell you the next 5 years of service for a discount of $60, right when you buy, giving the impression it's "now or never". Don't. Get the bare bones, see if it works- *for you*- and if so, you'll see an advert pop up in the softphone panel giving you the same offer after you've installed the device.
For those techincally inclined: my system is an AMD Athlon64, 2.0Ghz, 2.0GB RAM, XP Pro 32-bit. Nothing stellar by any means. I can't comment on what the Mac experience would be with this product, and I don't believe they support Linux. Knowing LUGs like I do, though, I would be VERY surprised to find there's not already someone supporting them in the OS community.
The hardware side of things, in terms of what you'll use every day with the Magic Jack... is a standard single-line set. AKA a "telephone". I'm actually using a GE 28300EE1-A SkypePhone/landline combo handset. It's likely why I had that little instance of Skype trying to use the MagicJack as an audio device. Oddly enough, this actually sounds better on that handset than it did over my Vonage line. There will likely be some comparisons on that front in the near future.
So, yeah-- sometimes there's some good stuff to be had on infomercials. BTW- you can buy these at WallyWorld, Best Bastard, and Rat Shack as well.
Quite honestly, for $20/year, I'm not real sure how they're even leasing the phone number. If this holds out I may well kick Vonage to the curb- and they're already a stellar product even at $15/month.
So overall- my review for this product is 5 out of 5 rounds dead-center-mass.
I'm no luddite and I'm sure not a stranger to things Geekish - in fact I've used Vonage for about 6 years, but still-- it's on an infomercial-- how good could it be? It's a rule or something- on an informercial, it HAS to be crap.
Things being what they are and times being the same, ie: TIGHT- I finally decided to throw $40 ($20 for the device, $20 for the year's service... and there's a 30 day money back guarantee which, according to several folks on the web, is valid) at the thing and see what happened.
(yes, two both my readers- I did my research-- found that the folks that are complaining about the device seem to fall into two categories: mouth-breathers who can barely use a keyboard when on the web... sorta... to spit their vitriolic complaints into the ether, and people who would starve to death with a truckload of canned goods, a rifle, a canopener, and an axe, and 50,000 rounds of .223 at their disposal. Either way-- not the brightest bulb on the strand, they)
Got the Magic Jack in the mail today- it arrived in 4 days (ok, I spent the $4 for express shipping- hell, it's reasonable, and I'm impatient- there's geekin' to be done!). It came in a soft-sided mailer, same sort you'd ship an AOL disk back in the day. (Yes, I know. Shut up.) Opened it, it ships in a simple cardboard and foam affair. There's no real directions to be had other than "plug into USB jack. Do not plug unto USB hub that isn't powered by AC"
(at this point, our complainers are already losing their damn minds.. "ZOMG111!!! THERE'S NO DIRECTIONS!!! IT'S SO haaaaaarrRDDDDDD1!!!! SOMEONE COME FIX THIS, I DON'T HAVE AN ENGINEERING DEGREEEEEE!!!)
No, I'm not kidding. I have supported users for... well, WAY too long. I know of what I speak, ok? Let's just say-- I'm way burned out on IT work. WAAAAY. I'm seriously considering getting my welding certificate.
So anyway-- being devil-may-care, I plugged the damn thing in... and...
.. it just worked!
One minor caveat- you must have patience- it'll install the software (software lives on the device- there's a bit of flashram, see) automatically, bring up the softphone (software phone.. this isn't that technical, really) panel, and bring up a wizard to walk you through getting your phone number, all automatically on most systems (those that have registry hacks done to avoid USB Autoplay may- *MAY*- have minor issue. But if you can figure out how to disable autoplay, you can damn sure open Explorer and launch the app yourself). The only gotcha- and it wasn't a huge one- is that I run Skype in the background 24/7 on this machine, and it wanted to use the Magic Jack as an audio interface. I clicked "disable" when the window spawned, and it's not a problem.
I got this because my ATT cellphone gets horrible service in my home. For $20 a year, why not? I've already made a couple calls and am VERY happy with the quality. I'll be keeping the device, no doubt about it.
BTW- the website and presumably the salesdroid if you elect to go that way on the phone, will try to sell you the next 5 years of service for a discount of $60, right when you buy, giving the impression it's "now or never". Don't. Get the bare bones, see if it works- *for you*- and if so, you'll see an advert pop up in the softphone panel giving you the same offer after you've installed the device.
For those techincally inclined: my system is an AMD Athlon64, 2.0Ghz, 2.0GB RAM, XP Pro 32-bit. Nothing stellar by any means. I can't comment on what the Mac experience would be with this product, and I don't believe they support Linux. Knowing LUGs like I do, though, I would be VERY surprised to find there's not already someone supporting them in the OS community.
The hardware side of things, in terms of what you'll use every day with the Magic Jack... is a standard single-line set. AKA a "telephone". I'm actually using a GE 28300EE1-A SkypePhone/landline combo handset. It's likely why I had that little instance of Skype trying to use the MagicJack as an audio device. Oddly enough, this actually sounds better on that handset than it did over my Vonage line. There will likely be some comparisons on that front in the near future.
So, yeah-- sometimes there's some good stuff to be had on infomercials. BTW- you can buy these at WallyWorld, Best Bastard, and Rat Shack as well.
Quite honestly, for $20/year, I'm not real sure how they're even leasing the phone number. If this holds out I may well kick Vonage to the curb- and they're already a stellar product even at $15/month.
So overall- my review for this product is 5 out of 5 rounds dead-center-mass.
04 October 2008
Geekin' out with the kid...
Today I made a stove for camping with the rugrat.
Out of two soda cans!
No, seriously...
Tested it by boiling water for the kid and I for hot cocoa. Took 6 minutes to boil half a liter of water. I'd call it a success! By the way, it uses high-proof alcohol (70% or better, isopropyl, methanol, or drinking)for fuel.
Will build a bigger one shortly, as I've just reached the bottom of the second can of Foster's Lager...
Yes, I could have bought a whole messkit WITH a stove very similar, that is able to be capped and reclosed, for $30. I still may, for the ability to be able to stop and start the stove at will with fuel still inside. If interested, I believe they're called Trangia stoves.
This was mainly an intellectual exercise in figuring out how the thing works, if it works well, and to do something with my kid while instilling a thirst for knowledge and ability to reason through problems that might be encountered. Cost was really $0- I pulled the cans out of the trash.
Success, on all fronts, beyond measure. I'm gonna have to run this up the flagpole at the next Scout campout and see if they would like me to teach the boys how to do it (with adult help, of course).
Out of two soda cans!
No, seriously...
Tested it by boiling water for the kid and I for hot cocoa. Took 6 minutes to boil half a liter of water. I'd call it a success! By the way, it uses high-proof alcohol (70% or better, isopropyl, methanol, or drinking)for fuel.
Will build a bigger one shortly, as I've just reached the bottom of the second can of Foster's Lager...
Yes, I could have bought a whole messkit WITH a stove very similar, that is able to be capped and reclosed, for $30. I still may, for the ability to be able to stop and start the stove at will with fuel still inside. If interested, I believe they're called Trangia stoves.
This was mainly an intellectual exercise in figuring out how the thing works, if it works well, and to do something with my kid while instilling a thirst for knowledge and ability to reason through problems that might be encountered. Cost was really $0- I pulled the cans out of the trash.
Success, on all fronts, beyond measure. I'm gonna have to run this up the flagpole at the next Scout campout and see if they would like me to teach the boys how to do it (with adult help, of course).
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