zhrodague - We do Zhrodague, right?

Brick Edging - pear - slanted radial

drewzhrodague — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:46:42 -0400

I freaked out last year, and pulled the bricks out that were in the ground as some sort of forgotten walkway. After much use of many bricks, I decided to use them as edging in the yard. Mike helped me put this one together. The pattern is a slanted radial of bricks. If I were to design this properly, I'd have to use some kind of math that I don't know, so Mike and I just squished the bricks into the shape, until it looked right. The layer of bricks underneath is a mirror-image of the top layer. This surrounds our pear tree.

I have an image of the bor

symmetrical offset multi-quad antenna

drewzhrodague — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:21:42 -0500

I built this antenna as an experiment. I looked at a few patents, and was inspired by some of the designs for fractal antennas. Without much knowledge or calculating, I put this together from 12/2 romex. I used an El-Cheapo balun from sadoun.com, but I would not recommend these ultra-cheaply-made units. I am using a $0.99 set of baking-racks as a reflector. This picks up every signal around in the City, even though half of the signals are on the other side of my slate roof. I am using an HDHR ATSC/QAM/8vsb HDTV ethernet tuner thingy. 1080p through my ol

Econojacked

drewzhrodague — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:19:09 -0500

Econojacked - adj. - The forceful seizure of one's economic system.

Zhrodague Television Channel Aggregator

drewzhrodague — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 13:59:43 -0500

I propose a method for displaying channels across the world, collected from users everywhere. This scenario, would be similar to sites like WiFiMaps.com, Flickr, and others, where users upload their content, which is then aggregated with other users' content, to form a large set of data for display. Users can see what channels are actually there, whether VHF, UHF, HDTV, QAM, 8vsb, Cable, Satellite, FiOS -- whatever -- in a non-marketing-hype kinda way. This could be coupled with sites like Zap2It, or SchedulesDirect, to provide an additional layer of clarity in what is advertised, versus what is reality, and even different package-plans or antenna types. Coverage maps can be provided generated and overlayed with Google Maps. This should prove to be an interesting feature for the Internet.

Free Satellite TV in North America

drewzhrodague — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 16:40:55 -0400

I've been monkeying around with FTA Satellite for MythTV, and I have having two hells of a time. I have collected the appropriate hardware, a 30" dish, universal LNBF, and a Hauppauge NOVA-S DVB card -- and all the required cable. I even have a signal meter, compass, mounting hardware, and some other crap. But I can't find any discussions on Google of other people doing these things from the US. I've found discussions about Linux driver issues, Microsoft Windows configurations, non-USians, dish-aiming, signal-strength issues, and even information about the same tools I am using. None of the discussions are of MythTV users aiming their dishes in North America -- so here's mine.

Intertainfo

drewzhrodague — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 19:20:10 -0500

Intertainfo, n. Thinly sliced information, entertainingly slathered atop Internet detritus fillets.

Soylent Crime

drewzhrodague — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 17:37:09 -0500

I suggest the phrase 'soylent crime' should be used to describe a crime, where the body is consumed by something -- as if I were to grind up my neighbor, and use the result as a fertilizer. Soylent crime is a crime, where some act of soylency has been performed.

the automated recording of a television show

drewzhrodague — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 11:55:41 -0500

I had decided to automate television shows in a few specific ways, after taking a trip with a friend to pick up a used and decommissioned television studio. I thought about it for a long time, and came up with a long document describing how to do it. Unfortunately, some kids at some university whipped up an implementation before I was able to do it, and so I kinda backed off a bit. One thing that has been a result of my thoughts, is to automate the recording of a live news/talk show, without the need of a cameraman, or editing.

I propose to do this with a couple of scripts -- one that does the recording, and one that does the timing for the audio and cue playback. This doesn't seem too hard, except that I can't figure out how to record from any of the (now numerous) collection of webcams.

washing machine hack: fruit centrifuge

drewzhrodague — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 00:18:02 -0400

I intend to dump a whole bunch of peaches into an old "Easy two speed spindrier" washing machine. The six peach treas in my yard produce more fruit than I know what to do with. The only solution is to ferment it all.

The washing machine has two chambers: an agitation chamber, and a centrifuge chamber. The agitation chamber contains a spindle and rotor, which is shaped like a screw tapering towards the top. The centrifuge chamber has a basket of sheetmetal, which has holes drilled into it. The washer was probably intended to fill the agitator and go through an agitation cycle, and then start the centrifuge.

I am a spam fighter

drewzhrodague — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 19:18:01 -0400

Everybody hates spam. From penis pills, to texas holdem, to phentermine and hoodia, to asbestos lawyers. As a systems administrator, part of my job -- part of my lifestyle -- is to fight spam. I fight spam at work, I fight spam at home -- it is required of me, as a node on the Internet, as a human on the Internet, and as a consumer of Internet. I fight spam at every level, from email, to web, to the information that I seek out. There's a lot of it out there, and there is even more than that.

I've been plagued by spam email for over 10 years now. Having established my permanent email address that long ago. I posted on Usenet. I've posted in mailing lists. I've posted web pages, blog entries, and comments on other people's blogs. None of my previous dealings is any contribution to the usefulnes of my mailbox. Unfortunately.

Epson 1520 Hack

drewzhrodague — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 21:13:57 -0400

Epson 1520 Hack

THis is a hack I did with my friend Gus, on a sunday afternoon. The idea is to modify an Epson Stylus Color 1520 inkjet printer into a printer that can print onto either the floor, or walls.

Camping with Static

drewzhrodague — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 20:29:30 -0400

I posted the pictures from my camping trip with Static, and a couple of other people. Neat stuff going on, though I need to take more pictures. when I do. staticcamp

dell c640

drewzhrodague — Wed, 24 May 2006 18:11:15 -0400

this is my Dell c640.

compaq 2000vz

drewzhrodague — Wed, 24 May 2006 18:11:06 -0400

Compaq 2000vz

G4TV's Banzai - no play show?

drewzhrodague — Sun, 21 May 2006 00:03:05 -0400

This sucks. I absolutely love Banzai on G4TV -- this is interactive TV. This is that which they promised us in the '80s. Unfortunately, it's 11:00 PM EST, and Banzai is on -- and I can't play. According to their site, I can only play on Tuesdays at midnite, but the show is on NOW, and I wanna play NOW! Bastards!

soside sprinkles

drewzhrodague — Sat, 20 May 2006 02:21:44 -0400

I snapped this the other day while it was sprinkling. This came out well.

half buckwheat honey

drewzhrodague — Sat, 20 May 2006 02:02:59 -0400

When I bought honey from E-Bee Honey, I picked up both sunflower honey, and buckwheat honey. I didn't know much about them, and couldn't find information on the Internet about what meads to make with 'em. Raw buckwheat honey smells like a wet dog.

I had to cut the one gallon jug in half in order to get the honey out of it. This stuff was pretty solid. After cutting the jug in half, I spooned out the mead into the soon-to-be-boiling pot. I figured I'd take a picture to show what it looked like.

MRE - mead ready to eat

drewzhrodague — Sat, 20 May 2006 02:01:50 -0400

Okay, so you don't eat mead, you drink it! This is what finished mead looks like, after you pour it into glasses sitting on a stool. I did the obvious for this -- setup a stool, put glasses on it, and poured the beer-bottled mead into the glasses. Then I took this picture. Mead is perfect for starting off an evening with some close friends.

tan mead foam closeup

drewzhrodague — Sat, 20 May 2006 01:59:54 -0400

Yecch. This is the tan foam skimmed off the top of my boiling must.

tan mead foam

drewzhrodague — Sat, 20 May 2006 01:58:36 -0400

Some mead recipes recommend that you boil the must, and scrape off the foam that appears ontop. This is what that foam looks like, if you were to plop the stuff on a plate. I resisted the urge to taste this foam, as it is detritus, insect parts, bacteria, larvae bits, and other kinds of stuff I'd rather not know about. Although, it looks like it might taste sweet, and maybe have a nutty flavor.

strawberry mead clarity

drewzhrodague — Sat, 20 May 2006 01:57:20 -0400

I was kindof astounded that the mead would be this clear. Especially after being a sick kind of milky fluid for so long. Note the orange/red color, which I thought was both from the honey and the 2lbs of strawberries.

This is a little while after racking it the first time. I poured all of the strawberry sludge into a beer bottle, and capped it. Over time, the top of the bottle is clear, and the bottom has the sludge, which continues to compact itself. When you tip the bottle over, the air bubble slides down the side of the inside of the bottle, and does not disturb the sediment. I'll have t

crop circles in my fermenting mead

drewzhrodague — Sat, 20 May 2006 01:55:16 -0400

Less interesting than real crop circles and pentagonal hurricanes, these circles formed at the top of my lime mead while fermenting. Anyone else see this pattern before, either in brewing or in cell culturing? I was affraid that this was evidence of some spoilage, but the mead seems to be okay, but still needs to sit for a very long time.

soside streak church

drewzhrodague — Sat, 20 May 2006 01:43:28 -0400

This one came out okay. I was experimenting with the shutter settings, and the ISO. This is before I became familiar with some of the manual settings in my Canon A620. I must have moved it while it was taking a series of pictures, and got this neat streak-set, and ghosted cars.

The timer function has the ability to wait n seconds, and take x shots. While this timer function is useful, I would prefer if it waited n seconds, took a shot, and then waited n seconds, took another shot, etc. Too bad there aren't any cameras with open firmware. I'd love to go and tweak a couple other things.

soside storm view

drewzhrodague — Sat, 20 May 2006 01:38:20 -0400

I took this and another photo simply by leaning out of the door, and snapping away. I didn't get the darkness of the sky like I really wanted.

Google Maps Hacks (Hacks)

drewzhrodague — Fri, 19 May 2006 12:18:56 -0400

author: Rich Gibson
Schuyler Erle
asin: 0596101619
binding: Paperback
list price: $29.99 USD
amazon price: $19.79 USD

Mind Hacks : Tips & Tricks for Using Your Brain (Hacks)

drewzhrodague — Fri, 19 May 2006 12:14:04 -0400

author: Tom Stafford
Matt Webb
asin: 0596007795
binding: Paperback
list price: $24.95 USD
amazon price: $16.47 USD

Mind Performance Hacks : Tips & Tools for Overclocking Your Brain (Hacks)

drewzhrodague — Fri, 19 May 2006 12:14:03 -0400

author: Ron Hale-Evans
asin: 0596101538
binding: Paperback
list price: $24.99 USD
amazon price: $16.49 USD

Flash Hacks : 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools

drewzhrodague — Fri, 19 May 2006 12:14:02 -0400

author: Sham Bhangal
asin: 0596006454
binding: Paperback
list price: $24.95 USD
amazon price: $16.47 USD

Google Maps Hacks (Hacks)

drewzhrodague — Fri, 19 May 2006 12:12:48 -0400

author: Rich Gibson
Schuyler Erle
asin: 0596101619
binding: Paperback
list price: $29.99 USD
amazon price: $19.79 USD

G4 TV's Star Trek 2.0 Crashes

drewzhrodague — Wed, 03 May 2006 10:57:05 -0400

G4 TV has this new game, Star Trek 2.0. This is an example of interactive TV, where an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, is displayed with a stock ticker. Throughout the episode, various facets of the Star Trek universe -- as companies on what they call the 'Spock Market' -- are bought and sold. The show features trivia facts, a stock ticker, and a live chat with the topic of the hour. Players watch the show, and buy and sell these stocks while the show is going via the Internet. Seriously a neat idea, until you look at the implementation.

Of course, being a big Captain Kirk fan, there's no way I can avoid playing this game, in spite of its shortcomings. Trek is Trek, and when it's on, I'm there to watch, even if it is just on in the background while I do other, seemingly more important things. Its quirky, and the idea that this show is now an interactive game, played against other players, is just too good to pass up.