Look tasty don’t they? I actually prefer the plain mint and chocolate ones however these came as an unexpected gift in the mail. Along with a hilarious pint glass and a book on Physics called “The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality” I will probably write a post about the book when I finish it. Back to the mints. Judging from the packaging this appears to be a package full of mints from top to bottom, full of minty deliciousness.
See the truth about marketing, packaging and deception after the jump.
I have had my eyes on a getting a fountain pen for quite a while. I have been more interested in writing lately and I seem to have a fascination with doing that writing with both a computer and handwritten. I was bored one night and decided to do some research on fountain pens, how to use them and which models are affordable. Then I was sucked into the internet vortex and spent a few hours wandering around looking at amazingly written paragraphs of script, YouTube Videos on different pens, and countless reviews of pens.
A nice site I found is titled Beginner’s Guide to Fountain Pens, the pen that jumped out at me from these reviews was the Lamy Safari. This pen seemed like a great starter pen because it is a utility pen, all function with a simple and reserved design. It comes in many colors, takes cartridges or a converter to used bottled ink. Retailing for about $30 this pen is very affordable.
While my brother-in-law (BIL) was staying with us over the past two days, I got a crack at two new android devices I had not seen yet. Of course they did not leave the house without being rooted. I sort of talked BIL into it by tempting him with more free apps and divesting himself of all the carrier provided garbage. Not a hard sell.
We attacked the Kindle Fire first. Let me say, first off, that I was really impressed with the device. Having an iPad myself, I had the defacto tablet to compare the Fire to. The Fire came along with a lot of hype and it appears to live up to it, especially after being rooted. We did not put cyanogen on it but just rooted and got the android market on there. It is not an iPad by a long shot, however, it is a really nice tablet / ereader for the price.
We followed this guide and video to root it. The process was ultra smooth and took less than an hour to do. No hiccups at all except having to do it in bootcamp because of some windows only tools. Not a huge deal for me but it might suck for people without access to a Windows installation.
We also followed this guide to put the android market on it. We did not do the custom recovery or CM7 mod because I was not sure he wanted his Fire to look like a big phone from the CM7 mod.
This was even easier than the Kindle Fire, probably because I rooted my phone with Cyanogenmod in the past. When I did my HTC Hero about 2.5 years ago, the process was much less refined and took a lot longer to do. It is quite amazing how far the process has come in that time frame. I do wonder why we still have to do this to our phones, I would like to see them have the rooting option be a check box like running unauthorized apps. Simple and easy.
We followed this guide Cyanogenmod HTC Desire and everything went super smooth. Easy to follow guide and just about anyone should be able to follow it. The CM7 was a huge hit with the BIL. CM7 has such a clean and smooth interface it is hard not to like it after getting away from the default carrier interface. I really enjoyed being the one to root the phones and pull back the curtain a bit for the BIL. He has not really had much exposure to hacking and I am hoping this little taste of fully owning an electronic device sheds some light on the options that are available for those who choose to seek them.
Last night we played some new games. Munchkin Zombies and Zombie Fluxx. I have played Munchkin Zombies, with friends, in the past and it was a blast. All of them are gamers, though, and my two partners for these games were not.
I have a soft spot for zombies. Those lovingly dumb and scary zombies never cease to amuse me. Games, TV, Movies, if they have zombies in them, I am interested.
Both of these games were great fun. Having played the original Munchkin with my gamer friends, and enjoying it, Munchkin Zombies was pretty simple to learn and play. Liking the Munchkin system, adding zombies was a total plus.
My partners tonight, who had never played Munchkin before and never played role-playing games, the experience was quite different. The play seemed restricted, and I found myself explaining things that would be familiar to a role-playing gamer. Also I noticed that this frustrated my non-gaming partners a lot. They got the hang of it by the second game but both said the game made them angry. That seems fair, Munchkin really does a great job at mocking role-playing games so it seems fair that the humer is lost with non-gamers. Continue reading →
My Birthday on Thursday was a good one. I headed up to Cabelas, after work, to retrieve my brother-in-law. He was going to be staying with us for a few days. Of course, while I was there I could not help browsing around. Picked up a shirt, a Tapco Intrafuse Stock, and a Tactical Solutions extended Mag release for my Ruger 10/22. This gun was the second gun I purchased and I have had it for about 15 years. It is a fantastic shooter and tons of fun but it was feeling a bit stale.
I spent the night rooting his Kindle Fire and installing the new parts on the 10/22. I had been eyeballing one of these kits for a while and with some Holiday money burning a hole in my pocket this seemed like a great time to do it. The Tapco kits get really good reviews and Cabelas had it for like $99.
Here is what the Ruger 10/22 looked like before I started.
I should have been taking pictures during the process but there are enough installation videos on youtube to go around. It was really easy to install, almost too easy. I think it took about an hour. No modifications are required to the gun. All the factory sights stay on, just the old stock comes off. Even the extended mag release was really easy. Remove one pin, take out the old one and insert the new one. That is it. The best part of this stock swap is the “tacticool” look. The stock has two picatinny rails for a bipod, lights, optics, what ever furniture your heart desires.
I still need to get a few more things like a new picatinny base for the factory scope location and some new rings for the buckmaster I had mounted on it. I might change optics but the Buckmaster would shoot 2″ groups at 100yds so I am hesitant to replace it.
This was a very easy and fun project. I would highly recommend that anyone with an old 10/22 lying around who wants to dress it up a bit, give this kit a shot. It really is top notch. I will report a bit more once I get the scope mounted and get it out to the range for a bit.
Another trip to Gander Mountain. This time to their Gun World location in Germantown. This place is pretty amazing as far as selection goes. Prices not so amazing. Basically they have just about every popular gun and a lot of not so popular ones as well.
It looks (from the barricades) like the work is being done by Miron Construction from their website it seems that they have done a few LEED and Green projects in the area.
A small amount of detective work turned up an article stating that these are supposed to be 4kw generators and will be placed facing Silver Spring Drive. They are on that side of the building and some more work needs to be done to determine the make and model of these turbines. Frankly I have never seen vertical turbines like these before. So more research turned up information about the shape of the turbines.
Gorlov Helical Turbine – Designed in a helical configuration, this type of turbine came up in the beginning of the 21st century to solve the issues faced by a Darrius turbine. These are self-starting and offer better reliability (Wind Turbine Zone, 2011).
This looks very similar to the design of the ones I found on the ground outside the building.
A bit more searching around lead to a company called QuietRevolution that makes vertical turbines that look very similar to this Gorlov design. They have a model called the qr5 that is specified peak power at 16m/s is: 8.5kW aerodynamic; 7.0kW DC; 6.5kW grid. This could be our model and manufacturer.
I plan on snapping some more pictures and adding them when they are done with the installation.
The larger question for me at least is whether this installation is hypocritical. Two 4kw wind generators are not going to make a difference. They are a token gift to the power gods. If a computer can draw a maximum of 400w with a normal power supply each of these guys could offset 40 computers at idle. Does it make a difference in reality maybe not. Will my company promote the heck out of the fact that they have two wind generators on the building you bet. The expenditure is worth it for the green credit right now.
Greenwashing? What do you all think?
Update 1/3/11: They are up on the roof. I tried to snap a photo today while driving home but it did not work too well. I will snap one tomorrow on the way in. They look nice but the comments from people have been interesting. Egg beaters or kitchen mixers have been popular descriptions for what they look like. I wonder if my employer will be publishing any information as to their actual output.
I finally got around to cleaning up my desk a bit. It tends to be a dumping zone for just about everything I happen to be carrying when I reach the end of my house. I spent some time cleaning it up, dusting and reorganizing all of the cables. The issue that I have is even when I clean there is always a small pile of things that just don’t seem to have a home. They sit there and breed, when I am not watching them, and spread until they have completed their domination of my workspace.
Rebel Items
Here is a closeup of the rebel items staged for breeding and the ultimate takeover. I need to develop a strategy for dealing with these items. I have tried moving them to another place, in their current form but then they breed there. I have tried to disperse them in smaller configurations but like mold that only seems to hasten their growth. I have even tried to place them in a box, hidden away but then I spend 30 minutes looking for one of the items.
There does not seem to be a suitable method for dealing with this clutter. I am open to any suggestions the internets may provide. I need to curtail these things before they take over my desk again.
I am not sure how many people still write thank you notes for gifts much less write them by hand any more? I had always never felt much of a desire to write them or receive them. That is until I became fascinated with fountain pens and handwriting. I am pretty sure that this desire comes from my determination and fascination to do things “old ways”.
This fountain pen is a Pilot Varsity disposable pen that I borrowed from a friend, who also happens to have a fetish for fountain pens. His fetish is much more expensive than mine at this point. I have yet to actually purchase one of my own but I have narrowed the options a bit and am looking forward to taking a trip to the pen shop. Yes, we actually still have a pen shop in this city. It will be a fun day. I have a post in the works on some of the pens I am looking at and will finish it shortly.
I liken my fascination to these pens to other things in my life that require a ritual. Making coffee, or tea, in my house is always whole bean and loose leaf. Both require a ritual of preparation that enhances the pleasure for me. I get the sensations of grinding the beans, and smelling them, not to mention a far superior cup of coffee or tea. Another similarity is preparing food, most meals here are lovingly crafted from whole ingredients, again requiring preparation.
I think that the act of taking out paper, inking a pen, and then writing, slowly because the words take much longer to form this way than typing, completes the act. It provides sensations that are not present with a computer which spits out perfect type every time. These thank you letters are unique, crafted by me solely for the recipient. This lets them know that I really appreciated their gift with a little bit of my time and creativity.
Everyone should try sending a handwritten letter or note to someone. It will really brighten their day and yours by writing it.
Today I went with my Wife to pick up her new Ruger LCP. Here is an account of what I saw to the best of my recollections. Names have not been changed because those named have done nothing wrong.
Gander was an absolute mess, especially the gun counter. There was easily 10 people waiting and only two guys working. It was not looking good at this point. We needed some other stuff like .380 ammo and some cleaning patches for the guns so I planted the Wife in line while I went shopping. When I got back it was only another 10 minutes or so till a nice gentleman named Clayton helped us out. He seemed a bit flustered but worked quickly processing the pickup of the new handgun.
