So I got the PAiA FatMan assembled… And it doesn’t work. The power LED lights, the MIDI LED blinks when a signal is sent, nothing smokes, but it just doesn’t work. Needless to say, I’m slightly disappointed. I’m going to email PAiA with a link to all the photos. Hopefully they’ll be able to help me out or something.
VisionTek sure uses some wacky terms to describe their video cards. Check this out…
With 8 pipelines, pushing through 3 BILLION pixels per second, and 4 parallel GEO-Metry engines, processing 380 million [T&L] polygons per second, this card gives GRATUITOUS, adult entertainment. The 9800XT supports 128-bit, 64-bit and 32-bit floating-point color formats. HI-RES 32-bit, 3D gaming up to 2048×1536 for head-shooting, flesh-ripping, ALARMING graphics power.
The 9800XT fronts more than 18 BILLION (with a “B”) anti-aliasing samples per second for AWESOME performance up to 16 trilinear filtered texture samples per pixel. ATI’s programmable SMARTSHADERª 2.1 makes head-wounds and severed limbs look real with enhanced lighting and texture effects, while SMOOTHVISIONª 2.1 serves up full-scene anti-aliasing.
(taken from here)
Computers have gone to the ricers. :(
[UPDATE: I found a bit more…]
Here‘s the one I was originally thinking of when I went digging around VisionTek‘s site:
Freak’n KICK ASS performance
Xtasy 9500 Pro, powered by ATI’s RADEON™ 9500 PRO VPU with 128MB DDR memory WILL BLOW YOU… AWAY! ATI’s TRUFORM technology makes heaving orbs more ample and well-endowed, while HYPER Z™ II saves bandwidth for mo’ righteous performance in your more demanding sit-e’ations. ATI’s SMOOTHVISION, anti-aliasing, KICKS THE CRAP out of visual distortion, and sends that BI-A-TCH crying home to mama! That means better, smoother looking images. HI-RES 32-bit, 3D gaming up to 2048×1536 means that when ‘intense applications’ leaves his house, THE 9500 SLAPS THAT PIG DOWN, SAYS “GIMME MY MONEY BI-A-TCH!”BITCH’N Visual Effects
SMARTSHADER 2.0 provides FREAK’N AWESOME lighting effects. The 9500 PRO supports DirectX® 9.0 and OpenGL® ATI’s CHARISMA ENGINE II fronts ‘Transformation and Lighting’ (T&L) at 62.5 million triangles per second. “62.5M per second?”YOU BET YO’ ASS 62.5M PER SECOND! PIXEL TAPESTRY II, 3D rendering engine, powers an AWESOME 2.4 gigatexels/second for fill ratesat 32-bit HI-RES.Ever have TWO MONITORS at one time?
Throw in DVD support and you have yourself a threesome…
Heaving orbs? < sigh >
So, the PAiA FatMan arrived today. Of course I had to start on tonight…
Well, after 176 solder points and a few hours of work cataloging parts, writing down what’s missing (this frustrates me to no end), cutting, bending, and soldering, this is where I’m at. All jumpers in place, all resistors (except the couple which I’m missing) in place, ready to start placing the caps tonight. Hopefully PAiA will come through right-quick with the replacement parts. I’m missing things like the socket for the CPU (for the MIDI bits), a set screw for one of the knobs, an op amp, etc.
Oh well, at least there’s parts of the kit to work on in the mean time. :D This is fun.
I’m writing this so I can remember what went into today’s lunch. Well, the pot from which today’s lunch was served. I *think* it’s vegan, too.
[UPDATE: Yes, it is vegan. The only item in question was the Double Cream Stout, so I called the Kalamazoo Brewing Company, and the quality control lab assured me that there is no dairy in that beer.]
[UPDATE 2: Nope, not vegan. It would be if the Morningstar Farms meatless crumbles are replaced by something that doesn’t contain dairy. Checking Kellogs’ website, the Meatless Crumbles have a kosher status of Kosher Dairy. Oh well.]
Faboo Chili
· 2 Poblano Peppers (Diced)
· 5-6 Serrano Peppers (Chopped Finely)
· 3 Cooking Onions (Diced)
· 1 Green Pepper (Diced)
· 2/3 Bulb Garlic (Sliced into 1-2mm thick pieces)
· ~2/3 Large Bottle McCormick Chili Powder
· ~1-2 Tbsp Sea Salt
· ~1 Tbsp Ground Cumin
· 1 Bag Morningstar Farms Crumbly Bits of Not Meat TVP Goodness
· 1 Small Can Contidina Tomato Paste
· 1 Small Can Contidina Tomato Sauce
· 1 Bottle (minus one drink) Bell’s Double Cream Stout
· 1 Can Dark Red Kidney Beans
· 1 Can Red Kidney Beans
· 1 Can Corn
· 3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Put the olive oil, onion, garlic, and serrano peppers in the bottom of a large pot. Sweat everything together until the onions are just starting to get clear.
Put in everything else.
On low, let the mixture come to a boil and then continue to simmer for ~30 minutes.
Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool to eating temperature.
Turn the heat back on and return the mixture to a simmer for another 30 minutes or so.
Turn off the heat and serve, allow the mixture to cool for packaging, place in the fridge, whatever.
It’s very, very good.
Thanks to
Basically, you pilot a bomb that must be detonated to create chains of explosions. There are some bonus bits you can pick up to increase your score, speed up the game, etc. It’s almost like a combination shooter / puzzle game. Absolutely wonderful.
Download it here, and be sure to download the replay files here (light mode) and here (heavy mode). There’s good play technique that can be learned from the demos (waiting for the pink / quicken blocks to speed up the game, etc).
Very, very good.
My highest score thus far, on heavy mode, is 1045960 points, 80 chain, and no spare bombs left.
Can anyone recommend a good brand/model of digital multimeter? I’ve got a decent Radio Shack-braded Fluke knock-off, but I’m having mild concerns about it’s accuracy. I don’t want to spend too much, but some nicer tools would be handy.
[Crossposted to
All,
I added a new recipe to my personal website today: Herb Dipping Oil. While it’s written as a recipe, it’s more of a structure that can be modified and fitted out with different herbs as one desires.
This method of cooking oil and herbs together (boiling them in oil in the oven) has worked out great for me, so feel free to give it a try yourself. Also, if anyone is interested, all of my recipes can be found here.
[Crossposted in
It’s been a little while since I wrote an update about this, but my kitchen flooring project has progressed nicely and I’ve got some more pictures to show.
· Kitchen floor, all grouted. Just waiting for another day of curing and sealing.
· Kitchen floor, from start to finish.
· The whole gallery of all the stuff I’ve been doing to the kitchen and related areas.
· Obligatory before and current photo.
I’m just waiting for the grout to cure for another day, then I’ll get the sealer applied, moulding installed, and move the appliances back in. Whee!
Oh, and the grey boogers from the dust in the air when mixing grout is just squicky. (Although when working with wood they are whatever-type-of-wood colored, drywall is white, etc.)
Man, cLOUDDEAD fscking rocks. If you’re looking for a bit different sound, check out either the S/T cLOUDDEAD disc or the newest release, Ten. Both are great, although Ten has more of an indie rock sound to it, while the S/T is low-fi swirly piece with smooth flowing, powerful vocals.
Hell, while you’re at it, check out the Hymie’s Basement S/T as well. It’s Yoni (Why?) from cLOUDDEAD and Andy Broder doing a really nifty, especially catchy piece. 21st Century Pop Song just gets stuck in my head in a good way. I think it’s the most listened track on my iPod right now.
Top notch stuff, and a definite divergence from the same-old industrial that I’ve been listening to for the last many years while still remaining high quality.