| (no subject) |
[Dec. 23rd, 2009|11:41 am] |
When I bought my 37" LCD TV a few years back, I paid an extra $180 for the super-mondo-warranty from Newegg.
For the first year or more owning the TV, everything was working fine and I had a bit of buyer's remorse about that.
Then, the component inputs shit the bed. Everything else about the TV works fine, just not those inputs.
I'd sort of been working around the dead inputs for a while, hooking stuff up on sub-optimal composite inputs to get around the dead ones. I kept planning on calling the warranty service at some point, but it never seemed urgent, and the TV was manageable as is.
Well, the warranty was about to expire this month, so I finally called in for repairs. Turns out the TV is no longer having parts made for it, so they had the option of replacing the TV or paying me back. They told me what model they would be willing to replace it with, I checked the specs online and found it did what I needed (at least 1 VGA input, and at least 3 DVI or HDMI inputs).
So, after I sign some paperwork, they should be shipping out a new TV.
The best part? They told me it was my job to deal with the "broken" TV.
I suppose if the TV was completely unusable that could be annoying. But since the TV is fine as long as you avoid the component inputs? Awesome.
Hey, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) quish, start thinking about where you'd like to have a second 37" LCD TV in the house. I'm going to veto the bathroom right now, even though it would be funny. |
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| Amp Memories |
[Dec. 4th, 2009|04:15 pm] |
This video is totally effed up. And awesome. And a good explanation of why you don't often find mud golems.
Alex Gopher - Party People
I had totally forgotten about it until I just found that CD on my shelf. |
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| Yet another WTF moment in music... |
[Dec. 2nd, 2009|11:04 pm] |
Amazon just recommended to me an album by MC Honky. For reference, the only time I had ever heard of this band/name was when one of my overnight MTV2 Tivo sessions caught the video for Sonnet No. 3 (Like A Duck). As far as I knew, the band was a one-off flash-in-the-pan that never went anywhere.
So why was Amazon recommending it? It says it was because I like the Eels (which I do).
A bit of quick searching turns up strong evidence that MC Honky was a one-off project by Mark Everett (of Eels) under a pseudonym since it was so bonkers that he wanted to differentiate it from his regular work.
And now you know! |
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| Obliterative nostalgia |
[Nov. 18th, 2009|08:30 am] |
There is currently a backhoe destroying the in-ground swimming pool across the street from us. I got to watch them dismantle part of the fence, gently pluck two small trees/shrubs out of the opening, carefully drive through this new opening up to the edge of the pool, put down the side feet, and then lay into the top edge of the pool wall like it had just insulted their mom.
They appear to be going around destroying the top lip of the pool. They just casually pushed the diving board aside as it made a screeching metal noise.
The pool looks like it was extremely expensive once upon a time, but I've never seen it filled or maintained let alone in use the time we've lived here. The couple who's house it is appears to be older, with all their kids moved out, and grand-kids sometimes visiting and playing in the yard. |
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| If Bad Idea Dinosaur Worked With Henry Ford... |
[Nov. 13th, 2009|07:19 pm] |
Some of you may remember me back in college often going on about how a gas powered pogo stick could be made, and daydreaming about the technical issues.
For whatever reason, I remembered this horrible idea today and decided to search online. Sure enough, I'm not the first to have had it. Someone was actually manufacturing and selling this basic idea in the late 50's and early 60's under the name HopRod.
Doing some more skimming and reading comments, pretty much every single person who got a chance to use one says it was exceptionally difficult to ride and very dangerous. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 13th, 2009|06:02 pm] |
Bronto! Bronto! Brontofelis! HO!
(It may take you a moment to get it, but hopefully you'll chuckle when you do...) |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 12th, 2009|11:34 pm] |
I was crawling TvTropes for entertainment tonight, and have decided that I live with a meganekko and a mega neko and am happy about both. |
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| Mind the Banned Xboxes |
[Nov. 12th, 2009|06:14 pm] |
Within the past week, Microsoft used some means of detecting Xbox 360s that have been used to play pirated games, or have been modified to allow the play of pirated games. The details of how they detected this haven't really come out yet, but there has been no mention in the news of a backlash against false positives, so I'm guessing it was reasonably accurate.
In any case, in one fell swoop, Microsoft banned every one of those units from ever going onto Xbox Live ever again. I've heard an estimate that it was around 1 million units in total that they banned. They can still be used to play games locally just fine, even pirated games. But they cannot go online for any downloadable content, firmware updates, or online play of any kind.
These banned Xbox units are currently being dumped onto the used market in large numbers. Some of the Ebay listings are honest and say "banned" in the description. A lot probably aren't, though. Also, Gamestop hasn't traditionally tested online functionality of Xbox units when they take them as trade-ins, and probably have quite a few of these banned units in stock right now.
So, just saying, if you see any way-too-good used Xbox 360 deals in the near future, it might be one of these units. It's probably also worthwhile to pass this warning along to relatives who might be thinking of buying a used Xbox 360 for Christmas. |
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| Awesome Nynex Ads |
[Nov. 2nd, 2009|05:48 pm] |
I made a reference to some old ads yesterday which quish totally didn't get. I did a quick bit of searching, and found a few that I think lots of people would enjoy:
My favorite growing up was the "Riveting Machines" Nynex ad, but I sadly didn't find that one yet. I'm pretty sure these are right up there with the "I can walk like a penguin!" ads from New England Aquarium in terms of memorability for anyone who grew up around here. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 30th, 2009|03:28 pm] |
I was just looking at the cover of The Gathering Storm a little more closely. It's still the same artist as has done all the other Wheel of Time covers, Darryl K. Sweet. However, the quality of work on this cover is a bit poor compared to the others. I almost wonder if he's taking the Mercedes Lackey route and saying "aw, fuck it" to the series.
Honestly, Rand's arms look super-stumpy, even considering he's missing a hand. His chest and head are a bit too big compared to his legs.
And is that supposed to be Aviendha in the background? She looks like a streetwalker! How much makeup is she wearing and why is her blouse opened so far and pulled off her shoulders?
The house in the background is pretty awesome, actually, but it's just a background. It seems a bit over the top compared to how I imagined it as described in the book. I'm also going to assume that the giant hole in the front of the building is a plot point I haven't gotten to yet.
Actually, maybe Aviendha was undressed and getting it on with Rand when some evil monkey commandos came by, blew out the front of the building, kidnapped someone and flew away. Then, if she just threw her blouse on in a hurry, that might explain why it's falling off, but it still doesn't explain the makeup. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 30th, 2009|01:37 pm] |
For those who haven't been linked to it elsewhere, OkCupid's new statistics blog is freaking awesome. A couple of the math-heads who helped put together the matching system are doing data mining and analysis on various questions that OkCupid users have answered.
Some pretty amazing data. They only started it semi-recently, and I highly recommend going back and reading all 5 or 6 posts they've made so far. They've been doing one every month or so. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 29th, 2009|05:20 pm] |
A few of my friends are perpetually unlucky and deserve better. |
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| Tag! You're it! |
[Oct. 19th, 2009|06:08 pm] |
I was thinking of making a big, elaborate post about this, but due to lack of time I'm just gonna come out and say it:
I think it would be the most awesomely bastardish thing ever if the entire Wheel of Time series was secretly Robert Jordan pulling a green gorilla joke on everyone. Even funnier now that he got someone else to finish it for him posthumously.
I'd still want to exhume his body and punch him in the gut, but I'd laugh about it later. |
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| Related to the news story du jour... |
[Oct. 15th, 2009|06:26 pm] |
I'm currently listening to "Up, Up, and Away" by The Fifth Dimension on the radio. Check these lyrics:
Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon
Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon
We could float among the stars together, you and I
For we can fly we can fly
Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon
The world's a nicer place in my beautiful balloon
It wears a nicer face in my beautiful balloon
We can sing a song and sail along the silver sky
For we can fly we can fly
Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon
Suspended under a twilight canopy
We'll search the clouds for a star to guide us
If by some chance you find yourself loving me
We'll find a cloud to hide us
We'll keep the moon beside us
Love is waiting there in my beautiful balloon
Way up in the air in my beautiful balloon
If you'll hold my hand we'll chase your dream across the sky
For we can fly we can fly
Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon
Balloon...
Up, up, and away.....
Talk about dark humor...
And they apparently found the boy okay... |
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| Is that Wikipedia in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? |
[Oct. 13th, 2009|10:59 am] |
Random cool gadget idea: WikiReader.
It's supposedly available for sale starting today, but their "buy" links are still missing. This is all amazingly simple technology, and I see no reason why they shouldn't be able to do this for their estimated $99 price.
Text-only, but still pretty awesome. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 8th, 2009|10:27 am] |
On my way to work I passed a car with New York license plate "3M T43".
In (literal) hindsight, it was obviously a vanity plate, and a damn ingenious one at that. |
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