Time to get a little serious and stop being an internet tough guy amateur wise-cracking blogger for a minute. I came across a really interesting article the other day, where you can turn your thumb drive into a personal web server:
www.delsquacho.com/blog/2008/04/17/setup-a-personal-portable-web-server/
So naturally, I've spent a better part of this evening trying it out. The instructions tell you to install a fairly straightforward program, XAMPP, that installs and runs everything for you. This is good, because server level details are waaaay beyond my technical knowledge.
Of course, even using XAMPP seems to be beyond my technical knowledge. I've been trying desperately to get this thing up and running. I got Apache working for a little bit, but when I stopped the server, unplugged my thumb drive (which I'm supposed to be able to do), and tried to start it up again... Apache screams at me. Like all the time. Errors galore.
So I'm installing XAMPP for the 3rd time as I write this. Hopefully, the 3rd time is the charm!
Any help from anyone on the internets would be greatly appreciated. I'm trying to do this for a side project I'm working on, and having a little test environment would be unbelievably useful.
Aug 29, 2008
Web servers and thumb drives, together at last
Happy Labor Day from The Unwind
Just wanted to let you know that I won't be posting as normal on Labor Day. I could use the day off, both from work and this self-imposed committment, to recharge. At least that's what I'm telling most people. Actually, I just plan to eat hot dogs and hamburgers until I go into a food coma.
Have a safe and happy holiday weekend!
Aug 28, 2008
Trippiest. Website. Ever.
http://www.secrettechnology.com/mouse/opening.html
That has to be one of the trippiest websites I've ever come across. Seriously, the "wtf" factor alone is worth the price of admission. I've tried to understand this site. I've given up.
The only things I can say about the site for sure is that:
- It was created either by a crazy person or someone under the influence of some powerful drugs
- To fully appreciate it, you need to be either crazy yourself or under the influence of said powerful drugs
Aug 27, 2008
Got Jott?
A voice sprang from the phone, tough to make out with it being on speaker. "Jott feeds," my coworker replied. Jott feeds? Is that even English he's speaking? "The Unwind" my coworker bellows. Suddenly, it's yesterday's post... being read to me over the phone! My jaw hit the floor.
That co-worker was, of course, one of the masterminds behind Traveling Munchies. Anyone who's been to their site knows they are no stranger to the new, trendy technologies so it was no surprise that he had discovered Jott.
Jott (http://www.jott.com/) is a really cool, robust text-to-speech service that allows you to speak reminders, calendar dates, emails or whatever into your phone, encode it into text and send it where you'd like it to go. Or you can manage it all online using their slick interface. It also lets you read anything that has an RSS feed over the phone by reading it to you.
As an aside, the voice is a little creepy, reminding me of GlaDOS from Portal a little bit. But whatever, you can finally listen to The Unwind from your phone! Right? ....Right? Is this thing on?
There are different service tiers, and I'm using only the basic free one, but I'm very happy with the service. Its interface is slick, and I'm still figuring out all the bells and whistles this thing has (hint: it's a lot). I can say that it really is incredible the scope of this little service, and I highly recommend that you try it out for yourself. I've added a "listen to this site" button over on the right for ease of access.
Jott-ing: GlaDOS is still alive
I figured I'm going to test just how eerily like GlaDOS Jott's reader voice is... by using some GlaDOS quotes. Listen in to see if you agree:
Click here to continue reading "Jott-ing: GlaDOS is still alive""Unbelievable! You, [Subject Name Here] must be the pride of [Subject Hometown Here]!"
"Did you know you can donate one or all of your vital organs to the Aperture Science self esteem fund for girls? It's true!"
"That thing you burned up isn't important to me. It's the fluid catalytic cracking unit. It made shoes for orphans. Nice job breaking it, hero."
Aug 25, 2008
Fist Over IP (FOIP) Telephony
Some time ago (I honestly can't remember when), I doodled this after a series of really frustrating telemarketing calls:
I call it Fist Over IP (FOIP) telephony. While I doubt we as a human race have the quantum physics ability to actually transport someone's fist over a phone line or over the internet, we could install a fist into each person's phone. A judicious press of the "punch button" is all it takes to activate it.
At very least, we ought to do this for telemarketers' phones. It would be some sort of deal: in exchange for not hanging up on them until the telemarketer finshes his pitch, we get to punch a telemarketer. They close more deals, we get more immediate and tangible karmic retribution. It's win-win!
Someone invent this, pretty pretty please. Click here to continue reading "Fist Over IP (FOIP) Telephony"
Aug 24, 2008
(Olympic) Gold Farming
It's odd that once every 4 years I start to care about sports I wouldn't even be caught dead watching. Suddenly, gymnastics is exciting and I pretend I know what people are doing what flips and spins and... I don't know, lutzes? Watching Olympic ping-pong gives a zen-like feeling, with you and the camera surreally calm and centered in around all the chaos. Weightlifting was intense. And why was I watching field hockey at 3 in the morning? Or, for that matter, why was I watching horse jumping at all?
Through all of it I kept chanting, if only in the back of my mind, "USA! USA! USA!". It was like some kind of patriotic heartbeat that was ever present the entire Olympic games. It's strange - can someone explain to me why? WebMD isn't turning up anything...
NBC's coverage of the event was awesome. My only gripe was they (understandably) gravitated to the US events, but I would have loved to see some of the events we weren't really competing for - those shooting events that got almost no coverage would have been interesting to watch. But other than that I thought they did a great job not just showing events, but explaining them as well. To most American viewers, we don't know the first thing about some sports (diving, gymnastics, water polo, etc), and the commentators did a great job of making sure us simple folk could follow along.
Also, not once did NBC ever make a protesting Tibetan monk/Olympic torch joke that Beijing naturally lent itself to. Classy bunch of folks, they are.
There were plenty of things to be proud of at these Olympics. Michael Phelps winning 8 gold medals, two of them miraculously, is something I likely will never see again in my lifetime. Dara Torres, a 41 (!) year old woman, turned in a unbelievable silver medal performance. The Redeem Team put men's USA basketball back into gold medal position. There is too much to count - USA earned the most total medals (110), each with it's own story.
USA did however come in second overall, losing to China who had fewer (100), but many more gold, medals. We'll get them next time around... bring on Vancouver!
Aug 22, 2008
The Heavy Jet
I'm really really facinated by Garry's Mod. It seriously can be a pain in the butt sometimes with the difficult posing of lifeless ragdolls (amongst many other things), but the end result is either gained experience with the bajillion tools the program has or a really neat photo.
In tooling around with it today, I created a new in-game mode of transportation: THE HEAVY JET! Why? Simply because I could. Click on any of the below for the higher-res versions.
Of course, the Heavy Jet comes complete with a state of the art security system: Gun Mouth.
And a close up of the Scout riding the Heavy Jet.
The Legend of Neil 5
Another Thursday, another episode of The Legend of Neil, brought to you by the good people at effin funny. It's NSFW, as always, but I just can't get enough of this series.
Which brings me to sadder news. It appears that the next episode, which will air in 2 weeks' time (Sept 4th), is the finale. Come on, guys! Neil has like 8 other levels to go!
Aug 21, 2008
Cooking gone wrong: Paula really really hates you for some reason
You ever watch a cooking show and really salivate over what the host is making? It looks so good and the ingredients sound really creative and interesting? Doesn't it make you hungry?
This is the opposite of that.
Fumbling around these here internets, I found a clip of a cooking show "Paula's Home Cooking". The host, Paula, is a southern woman who decides to demonstrate how to wrap macaroni and cheese with raw bacon and fry it. I repeat: she's making deep fried, bacon-wrapped macaroni and cheese. I'm no psychic, but I'm guessing your stomach hurts now.
There is so much wrong with this video, it's not even funny (ed: yes it is). Go ahead and count the number of things that are really wrong with it. I count 7, and I've listed them after the break.
To be clear, this is Paula's thinly veiled attempt to kill you. I gained weight just watching this video, and am now afraid I might suffer a heart attack in a few minutes. Watch at your own risk.
For those of you playing at home, the things that are wrong with this video are:
Aug 20, 2008
New! Meat!
Did I mention TF2 is freaking awesome?
The new heavy update has been released today, and there is a crap-ton of stuff that came with it. One of the things released is a new "Meet the" video, where historically this video series would introduce one of the game's character classes. This time, however, we're introduced to one of the new unlockable weapon for the heavy: a sandvich.
To eat it, you basically have to not carry around your shotgun and be completely vulnerable for 4 seconds while consuming the "edible device". The upside is that you can self-heal 120 points per sandvich (a sizeable amount) between fights. Time will tell if this addition keeps the class fair and balanced versus the other classes, or if it'll be tweaked down the road a la the Backburner's health bonus.
One this for sure is Valve is one creative group of s.o.b.'s, and this addition - and video - is hilarious. This game just continues to ooze with personality. Go ahead, meet the sandvich:
Aug 19, 2008
PSA: TF2 Heavy update is CREDIT TO GAME
In honor of the new Team Fortress 2 heavy pack that's slated to appear today, I decided to whip up a couple of pictures in Garry's Mod. For those that play the game with me, it's no secret that I despise heavies almost as much as I despise pyros. The following is part public service announcement, part an excuse to use Garry's Mod some more, and part cry for help (someone stop me!). Click the below images for higher-resolution.
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Should you play the game in the next couple of days, you'll see a large amount of the heavy class roaming around as people try to unlock achievements.
Please, stab them. Stab them all.
Thank you.
Aug 18, 2008
The Universal Wedding Dance Theory
Just came back from an awesome wedding in Maryland, and I think I've discovered something. Something big. I call it (for those of you who didn't think to read the post title) The Universal Wedding Dance Theory. In broad terms:
No matter how ridiculous the dance move, the more people that do it, the more accepted and imitated it becomes on the dance floor.
It's a little more nuanced than that, but that's the basic gist of it. I actually came up with the equations, which I'll share
One thing I noticed is that critical mass is about three people. One lone person doing a ridiculous move gets laughed at. Two people doing the same move are just shrugged off and accepted. Three however, becomes a trend and suddenly everyone else starts to join in.
Upon discovering this theory, I realized this is the only rational explanation for how the macarena, chicken dance and electric slide could have ever caught on. Also, while it's still not proven in field tests this theory may even hold true for the Elaine Dance. Click here to continue reading "The Universal Wedding Dance Theory"
Aug 14, 2008
The Legend of Neil 4
It's Thursday, so effin funny continues their quest to ensure I'll never be able to play Zelda again... er, they released another episode of The Legend of Neil. As always the video is NSFW, but hilarious.
Aug 13, 2008
Totally not posting anything relevant
This blog for me is seriously fun, but holding myself to adding to it 5 times a week poses a challenge. There are only two things that can stop me: writer's block and life getting in the way. While I thankfully still have not had any major bouts of writer's block, tonight it's life that's getting in the way. I've got a major report due tomorrow for work that's still not complete and as much as I like doing this blog, I like being gainfully employed more.
So I'm shamelessly mailing it in tonight. Here, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1UF6eDZutk.
Barack Roll
Also, the heavy pack for TF2 comes out August 19th. Joy!
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