Me: Well, I didn't see any cricks nearby or nothing.
Dad: Here in Arkansas, we call them creeks.
Me: Here in Tennessee we don't aspire to that level of erudition.
In hindsight, I think the correct word might have been elocution.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Sunday, July 15, 2012
So I've been playing a lot of Minecraft lately. Since most of the instructional/FAQ type material is teenagers making Youtube videos, here's the wisdom of those videos in condensed form.
- In Linux, most of the game files live in a hidden folder in your home directory called ".minecraft". Ditto for OS X. I haven't played it on Windows, so I can't say what the equivalent is there.
- If you want to install a texturepack, go to .minecraft/texturepacks and copy in the zip file you downloaded. No need to unzip it. The texturepack will be named the same as the zip file, generally.
- A lot of the sites with texture packs, mods, etc, are super shady. For messing around with my save files, I finally settled on a python app called "MCPlayerEdit". It's on github rather than a shady download site, and works well.
- The only map viewer program I've tried was Minecraft Overviewer. The default install didn't work because I had Python 2.7, so if you're a Mac/Linux user, just go ahead and compile it yourself and it'll work fine.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Trebuchet
If you want to pronounce it like a proper Southerner, I recommend starting with "Treeb-a-chett".
Anyway, I built a trebuchet over the past two weekends using plans from Issue 25 of Make. Let's see how that worked out.
I started by getting the nice folks at Home Depot to cut up a 4x8' sheet of plywood according to the plan spec. When I got them home, I laid out the base and attached the cross pieces to make it more rigid.
Next, I screwed together pieces of 2x6" board to make the uprights. These need to be very sturdy, as they provide the fulcrum for the throwing arm.
The uprights are attached to the base with strap hinges - the hinges are not what holds them in place, though. At the top of each upright, screw-eyes are inserted to act as anchor points for guy wires.
How to make a guy wire
Get a length of 1/8" galvanized wire rope. Use matching wire clamps to make loops at each end. When you mount the guy wire, put a turnbuckle at one end (I used 1/4" by 5" turnbuckles) to properly tension. This is easiest if you read the preceding sentences and execute them backwards like a Tarantino movie.
What? I mean fully extend your turnbuckle and use that length to measure how long your cable should be. This means you'll have a few inches of give in tensioning.
Attach yer Flanges!
The uprights get flanges, and the counterpoise deck gets flanges. Check underneath your chair. You guy a flange! Everybody gets a flange!
The end result of all that looks something like this.
Drill Yer Steel!
The throwing arm needs two holes, the cross needs a hole, and the end cap needs a hole. Drag your drill press out of its corner. If you don't have a drill press, don't try this at home.
Clearly the maid has been neglecting my drill press.
You'll bolt some screw eyes through these holes, and tension another guy wire along them. I assume this helps keep the throwing arm from bending or breaking under stress - it's never properly explained.
Anyway, you'll also need a ring to hold down the throwing arm when preparing for launch. Use a 2" hose clamp for this.
Now you're ready to attach the throwing arm and counterpoise deck. If you've been following along closely, your trebuchet will look something like this.
Finally, you're ready to build the trigger mechanism. I made a mistake here, in putting the chain mount in the center - this gets in the way of the stuff you're launching. Mount it off center, preferably off on one of the side decks.
Also - my panic snap didn't want to release very easily, so we devised a two-part trigger. On one side, someone pulls a nylon string to open the snap - this is the "safety". The snap stays caught on its lip until a person standing on the other side gives a solid yank from the other direction to pull the snap off the ring.
So let's see how it worked in our test runs with tennis balls and about 60lb of counterweight.
and...
As you can see, we had a little bit of trouble with the counterweight on that last go-round. I'll be switching to big ol' bags of cement next time.
Anyway, I built a trebuchet over the past two weekends using plans from Issue 25 of Make. Let's see how that worked out.
I started by getting the nice folks at Home Depot to cut up a 4x8' sheet of plywood according to the plan spec. When I got them home, I laid out the base and attached the cross pieces to make it more rigid.
Next, we added hinges. This is a fold-and-store trebuchet - it'll fit in your closet!
The uprights are attached to the base with strap hinges - the hinges are not what holds them in place, though. At the top of each upright, screw-eyes are inserted to act as anchor points for guy wires.
How to make a guy wire
Get a length of 1/8" galvanized wire rope. Use matching wire clamps to make loops at each end. When you mount the guy wire, put a turnbuckle at one end (I used 1/4" by 5" turnbuckles) to properly tension. This is easiest if you read the preceding sentences and execute them backwards like a Tarantino movie.
What? I mean fully extend your turnbuckle and use that length to measure how long your cable should be. This means you'll have a few inches of give in tensioning.
Attach yer Flanges!
The uprights get flanges, and the counterpoise deck gets flanges. Check underneath your chair. You guy a flange! Everybody gets a flange!
The end result of all that looks something like this.
The throwing arm needs two holes, the cross needs a hole, and the end cap needs a hole. Drag your drill press out of its corner. If you don't have a drill press, don't try this at home.
You'll bolt some screw eyes through these holes, and tension another guy wire along them. I assume this helps keep the throwing arm from bending or breaking under stress - it's never properly explained.
Anyway, you'll also need a ring to hold down the throwing arm when preparing for launch. Use a 2" hose clamp for this.
Also - my panic snap didn't want to release very easily, so we devised a two-part trigger. On one side, someone pulls a nylon string to open the snap - this is the "safety". The snap stays caught on its lip until a person standing on the other side gives a solid yank from the other direction to pull the snap off the ring.
and...
As you can see, we had a little bit of trouble with the counterweight on that last go-round. I'll be switching to big ol' bags of cement next time.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Sonos First Impressions
First impression: It's awesome. End of post. Good day.
Oh, you wanted more detail? Okay, so I just bought a Sonos Play:3 and Bridge unit. I've been looking for something forever that would stream music over wifi from my nas, and let me control what's playing with my Android tablet. It's been such an obsession that I've even learned to develop Android applications and read through the specifications of the DLNA protocol. Seriously. And then this Sonos company comes along and builds a slick product exactly to my wishes and desires.
The Good:
It works, and it's easy. The library software chewed through my collection (40k songs, ~300GB) in about 40 minutes. Very nice, as lots of software will choke on libraries that large (cough, iTunes, cough). The Android app is eminently usable. I just got it all set up this morning, and I'm already scheming on buying another Play:3 or Play:5 to add to the network. The bridge unit even has a two-port switch on the back, so it effectively doesn't burn a switch port.
The Bad:
I'm hoping the Android tablet app ends up looking more like the iPad app as they develop it further. From what I've seen, the iPad app is a beautiful multi-paned affair that looks basically like the Mac or Windows Sonos console. The Android app is perfectly serviceable, though.
The Ugly:
Found out my wireless router (an Actiontec MI424WR) won't propagate multicast between its wired and wireless interfaces, so I had to go buy an el-cheapo Linksys router (a WRT120N) and set it up as a layer 2 access point.
In Conclusion:
Update Jan 7, 2012: Downloaded Patton Oswalt's new album off Amazon this morning. Went and hit the "Update Music Library" button and hopped in the shower. It was done rescanning the entire library and had made the album accessible by the time I got out of the shower. With iTunes, I would've had to add the album manually, or delete and recreate my library from scratch over the course of about 8 hours. Sonos, you rock.
Oh, you wanted more detail? Okay, so I just bought a Sonos Play:3 and Bridge unit. I've been looking for something forever that would stream music over wifi from my nas, and let me control what's playing with my Android tablet. It's been such an obsession that I've even learned to develop Android applications and read through the specifications of the DLNA protocol. Seriously. And then this Sonos company comes along and builds a slick product exactly to my wishes and desires.
The Good:
It works, and it's easy. The library software chewed through my collection (40k songs, ~300GB) in about 40 minutes. Very nice, as lots of software will choke on libraries that large (cough, iTunes, cough). The Android app is eminently usable. I just got it all set up this morning, and I'm already scheming on buying another Play:3 or Play:5 to add to the network. The bridge unit even has a two-port switch on the back, so it effectively doesn't burn a switch port.
The Bad:
I'm hoping the Android tablet app ends up looking more like the iPad app as they develop it further. From what I've seen, the iPad app is a beautiful multi-paned affair that looks basically like the Mac or Windows Sonos console. The Android app is perfectly serviceable, though.
The Ugly:
Found out my wireless router (an Actiontec MI424WR) won't propagate multicast between its wired and wireless interfaces, so I had to go buy an el-cheapo Linksys router (a WRT120N) and set it up as a layer 2 access point.
In Conclusion:
Update Jan 7, 2012: Downloaded Patton Oswalt's new album off Amazon this morning. Went and hit the "Update Music Library" button and hopped in the shower. It was done rescanning the entire library and had made the album accessible by the time I got out of the shower. With iTunes, I would've had to add the album manually, or delete and recreate my library from scratch over the course of about 8 hours. Sonos, you rock.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Medicine
Went to Walgreen's, got my prescription flavored with "Ghoulish Grape." Later that night, when a ghost grape visited me, I couldn't stop screaming in terroir.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Lowe's Attack
So I've been fixing up the baseboards in my house. There are a lot of them that are pretty messed up, having been removed and nailed back on due to floor work.
Anyway, I had to run to Lowe's this weekend to get one more piece of trim. I picked it out, carried it over to the saw, and went looking for a helpful associate.
"No sir, the saw is down"
"No, we can't use any of the circular saws in the store"
"No, we can't use a handsaw either"
"No, you can't bring your own saw"
Well, crap. There's no fitting a 16-foot board into my car.
As I left, something shiny glinted from the corner of my eye: an electrical plug cover just by the door. A plan quickly formed itself. I'd go get my circular saw and a couple of cinder blocks, buy the long piece of trim and cut it up just outside the door like a parking lot ninja.
"I'd better check the plug to make sure it's right," I said to myself. I went over to open it up.
In addition to a few 110V plugs was a large nest of wasps. They weren't happy. Also, my opening the cover knocked their nest onto the ground. They got even less happy.
So I ran away, and bought my trim at Home Depot. So much for being a parking lot home improvement ninja.
Anyway, I had to run to Lowe's this weekend to get one more piece of trim. I picked it out, carried it over to the saw, and went looking for a helpful associate.
"No sir, the saw is down"
"No, we can't use any of the circular saws in the store"
"No, we can't use a handsaw either"
"No, you can't bring your own saw"
Well, crap. There's no fitting a 16-foot board into my car.
As I left, something shiny glinted from the corner of my eye: an electrical plug cover just by the door. A plan quickly formed itself. I'd go get my circular saw and a couple of cinder blocks, buy the long piece of trim and cut it up just outside the door like a parking lot ninja.
"I'd better check the plug to make sure it's right," I said to myself. I went over to open it up.
In addition to a few 110V plugs was a large nest of wasps. They weren't happy. Also, my opening the cover knocked their nest onto the ground. They got even less happy.
So I ran away, and bought my trim at Home Depot. So much for being a parking lot home improvement ninja.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Projects Lately
Fixing the Trim
When we put in tile awhile back, I put the same baseboards back into the bathrooms and kitchen, and they looked terrible. I'm finally getting around to replacing them. Pics coming.
Android Progamming
Built my first hello world app last weekend. Reading the O'Reilly Android book now. Very fun stuff.
Socks. Yes, socks.
I've got a couple of pairs of running socks that I've owned for about six years, since I was living in Dallas. This morning I put one on and it felt very weird, like it was pulling on the wrong side of my foot. After a moment, light broke free of the clouds and granted me wisdom: These socks are left-right differentiated, and I was feeling the arch support on the wrong side of my foot. One has a grey logo, and the other a black so you can tell them apart. I've owned them for six years and had no idea (granted, I don't wear them often).
When we put in tile awhile back, I put the same baseboards back into the bathrooms and kitchen, and they looked terrible. I'm finally getting around to replacing them. Pics coming.
Android Progamming
Built my first hello world app last weekend. Reading the O'Reilly Android book now. Very fun stuff.
Socks. Yes, socks.
I've got a couple of pairs of running socks that I've owned for about six years, since I was living in Dallas. This morning I put one on and it felt very weird, like it was pulling on the wrong side of my foot. After a moment, light broke free of the clouds and granted me wisdom: These socks are left-right differentiated, and I was feeling the arch support on the wrong side of my foot. One has a grey logo, and the other a black so you can tell them apart. I've owned them for six years and had no idea (granted, I don't wear them often).
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