BG is sick again.

Halloween Spirits

Here is Star Treks’s Q reading The Raven:

and here is a giant pumpkin being dropped on a car

Ask Grandpop: Louder

Here are louder versions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEIkt54o21o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmJInUvVtqs

Ask Grandpop Series Premier

Welcome to the unveiling of my latest project Ask Grandpop. I have uploaded 2 episodes for you tonight. Thanks for the chance to share. The wife is a big fan Sorry Hon, not releasing in order after all

Ask Grandpop - Downloading Charlie Brown

**episode 1 of 6**

B.G. has missed 'Its The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown' on TV. Maybe Grandpop can download it.

 

Ask Grandpop - Selling Out
**episode 2 of 6**

When Geico uses Xtra Normal for its new ad, B.G. Wants to cash in.

BG has been remarkably sedate and snuggly tonight. She’s probably getting sick again…

Ask Grandpop–Tech Test

embeded HD test failed. no fit 4x3 monitors
html5 checked

New embedded player. very nice. Reading my tech notes? shoula used noteppad...
Try This At Home! right click on that vid and hit "Take Speed Test".
Wonder why Google has a monthly record of my YouTube speed? Seems a little... odd. I mean, it makes sense. I can see why they would, but thats a whole lot of resources to use. Um... maybe not 4 google :)
Glad they are sharing at least.

Anyway, looks like we're ready to roll. YouTube is fast(er) and easy since its overhaul. So, blah-blah, Ask Grandpop, blah. I wanted to do a bit more "role playing" on the blog, but it ended up in the show. Maybe I'll do some later.

Correction: You can still get a Walkman

Turns out Sony is only stopping production of the Walkman Cassette player in Japan. ?! Yes, there will still be new old Walkmans for the US. Go figure…

I did what now?

Um… Hold the phone. 1st off, yeah, brace for more Project Ask Grandpop crap. 2nd, it looks like I’ve only been doing this for a week. It REALLY feels like its been longer. A LOT LONGER. Okay, here’s the funny part:

I’ve produced 23 minutes of animated content in a week. Alone. An actual CG TV show. LOL This is has got to be how South Park is done these days. That’s why they can turn around such timely pieces.

I’ve looked at the PC version of Xtranormal (horribly named “State”. Try @#%#ing Googling that!). You COULD make South Park with that. I’d be on board with it but… its barely functional. Its their side project. The website “Text-to-Movie” has much newer tech than State. With the Geico commercial thing, I don’t see that priority changing any time soon. The site’s always been twitchy, but this weekend was brutal. Twitter says they’ve got a big boost in traffic. I actually lost a whole completed episode yesterday. It was a short one, but still about 4hrs. work.

How Cutting Edge is Ask Grandpop?

Geico's new TV commercials will be using Xtra Normal. Sorry, embed broken. Been trying for 20mins.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=7TL533eR9ns

These Song Don't Transfer to Rock Band 3

FYI for Bob:
AC/DC - "Let There Be Rock"
Journey - "Any Way You Want It"
Metallica - "Battery"
Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Give It Away"
Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Dani California" (RB1)
Soundgarden - "Black Hole Sun" (RB1)
Soundgarden - "Spoonman"

Shame. Dani California was one of my favorite RB tracks. Also sucks to loose a Journey song on the version that adds keyboards :\

Italy want Google Street View cars clearly marked. Really?

Lego Racer!

Here's a pic of Brandon's Lego racer from the Brickmaster 500 @ Toys R Us

So cool!

How US Marines Fix XBox 360

Awesome!
I was just writing a XBOX joke last night and wondering if it was a little out of fashion. I think this vid shows its still funny.

Blowing Up A Mac Book Air

PSA: Remember! YouTube has these experiments so you don't have to do them at home. Its better in Slo-Mo than in real life anyway :)

Lessened Bloggery

I've been putting everything I've got into my latest project, Ask Grandpop. It is creatively draining and I'm... a little at a loss for funny bloggery at the moment. I'll probably finish up on Ask Grandpop this week and will be putting up some amusing propaganda for it this week with the premiere on Thursday.

Kerpoof

Here is a fun site that lets you make cards, movies, stories, and other stuff with drag/drop sticker book like interface.

Ask Grandpop: Downloading Charlie Brown

Its Halloween and Baby Girl has missed It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.


It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, created by late cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, as well as a bonus PEANUTS cartoon, You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown, in which Linus runs for class president, will air THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network.

Nom!

Sony to Start Selling SD Cards

Why is this news? Well, for starters Sony is very, very late to the party. A few manufacturers have pulled out of making SD Cards due to low RAM prices and the fact it was becoming difficult to make a profit off the stuff.

Secondly, Sony has their proprietary Memory Stick cards. Now, Sony hasn't said they're quitting production of Memory Stick, but it makes ya think.

Looking Back: Disney buying Marvel

I guess this wasn't the end of the world after all. Its not like we're seeing Spiderman hawking Disney movies, right? What's that? Tron tie-in covers for Marvel comics? Hmm. Well, I'm sure it will be done in good taste . I mean, they're not gonna put Ghost Rider on a lightcycle or anything, right?

Oh, my...

Gene Simmons Responds to DDOS Attack

"Some of you may have heard a few popcorn farts re: our sites being threatened by hackers.

Our legal team and the FBI have been on the case and we have found a few, shall we say "adventurous" young people, who feel they are above the law.

And, as stated in my MIPCOM speech, we will sue their pants off.

First, they will be punished.

Second, they might find their little butts in jail, right next to someone who's been there for years and is looking for a new girl friend.

We will soon be printing their names and pictures.

We will find you.

You cannot hide.

Stay tuned"

As Slyck notes, the ability to identify those who are participating in a distributed denial-of-service attack would be pretty challenging, if not impossible. But Simmons's threats and attitude (not to mention his lack of understanding of "hackers") echoes his misunderstanding that everyone who participates in peer-to-peer file-sharing is a criminal who needs to have their pants sued off or end up in jail.

Full Story

So this puts the fabled Kiss Army (Soldiers of Satan, mind you) on the side of RIAA, Hollywood, ACS Lyons, VP Joe Biden, and the British Parliament, right? Can you see Mandy and Gene throwing down pints at the pub giggling about the anal rape of a kid they sent to jail for downloading a crap MP3 version of Love Gun? Yeah, me too :(

Operation Payback Still Doing Something

The pissy masses of teens out to download the latest Simpsons episode are still marching under the command of an anti-Scientology group based on a bad sci-fi movie. Their latest attacks have shut down a MPAA DRM site and the UK's Intellectual Property Office. Fringe members took out Kiss frontman Gene Simmons.

...and no one is talking. They have squandered their "shock and awe" and are now yesterday's news.

“He Gave Us Order Out of Chaos” — R.I.P. Benoît Mandelbrot, 1924-2010

Benoît Mandelbrot, the father of fractal geometry and one of the most famous mathematicians of all time, has passed away about a month shy of his 86th birthday.

After the jump, enjoy an awesome video based on Jonathan Coulton’s awesome tribute to Mandelbrot and his most famous subject of study (which was not actually discovered by him, despite its name).

"

Is it possible for my hot water heater to be making stinky water? Is there a way to clean it?

Look at These Minis!

I don't show too many tabletop miniatures on this page, so you'd better pay attention when I do. Its gonna be good: Nazis on Dinosaurs!

Check out the full line of Jurassic Reich figures.

The 600 Years

Art, architecture, and technological wizardry combine to tell the story of a 600 year old clock tower in Prague. You know, that big, square clock tower that was in every third movie, game, or comic from 1997-2003. Yeah. That one :)

The 600 Years from the macula on Vimeo.

Its The Great Torrent, Charlie Brown

Lucky you! Two of my cartoons in a row to admire ;)
Based on a True Story

Dead Rising 2 Review

Growing Up Otaku presents a brief conversation with the game Dead Rising 2

Google Chrome

If you follow any tech news, you've heard a lot about Google's web browser Chrome. I've been using it myself for several weeks now.

Should you switch? Not really. Firefox 4 will do all the new stuff and look a lot like Chrome. I'd use the beta of that more but it doesn't work well with my iGoogle.

Bronchitis (+bonus bloggery)

I think I spelled that right! Wow! That's what having a sick wife will do for ya. Anyway, we got it. Getting better. Lot of content to do bloggery, but no energy.

Maybe 1...

Liz told me about new device called "address book". Paper based device! Didn't need to loose family database every 5 years! Didn't believe. Checked Wiki to settle argument ;) Good Read! Liz wins.

Baby Report

Haven't plagerized Liz's baby report in a while, so here is a cute one:

Chloe was so happy to go to school today.  As usual, she did not want to wait for me.  And when she got there she smiled and waved at her teacher and walked straight over to the table that Piper (ed. new girl @ school) was sitting at and sat next to her.  The two of them smiled and giggled together while I put her lunch in the fridge.  Chloe waved me away when I went to give her a goodbye kiss.

 

Credit Where Credit is Long Overdue

Liz ended up doing most of the heavy lifting yesterday. The baby was sent home in the morning for having the squirts (from antibiotic). I laid down during Baby Nap Time and couldn't get back up for several hours. Poor sick Elizabeth took care of the baby, dinner, and projects for work while being home sick. That girl is a rock. Always has been. You need something done, you sure as hell want Elizabeth on your team. Was like that even when we worked together. That's why I made damn sure she'd be on my team forever :)

Sick

Blah blah obscure reference blah. Blah blah blah inside joke. Blah blah.

BLAH !!!!1

Punny closing

Foxconn Update

Foxconn Employee Update: "A new report is saying that the 30% raise Foxconn had announced back in June was a sham. Reports are stating the raise was no higher than 9.1% and that workers are missing out on bonuses which were promised to them. What is even more shocking and appalling are the reports of privacy invasion and physical abuse.

A survey, conducted by more than 60 teachers and students from 20 different universities in Hong Kong and Taiwan found that at the company's Shenzhen, Kunshan, Taiyuan, Wuhan and Shanghai plants, workers were being abused and were the victims of other human rights violations. In some plants, the abused workers made more than 50% of the plants employees

Full Story: http://www.neowin.net/news/new-report-says-foxconn-employees-abused

Just back from baby store. BG was snuggling a fuzzy sleeper and got a coat hanger stuck under her bottom eye lid. She's fine. In related news, baby eyelids stretch surprisingly far.

Hubris

Guess who woke up with a bad cough this morning :( Guess I'll be tagging along Monday.

Today

BG went to the Dr this morning. New antibiotic. She decided she could shove the aspirator up her nose herself today. Saw that coming? Yeah, well screw you. If your so smart come babysit ;) She had a big day with food shopping, Dr's office, buggy ride around the park, and ruining an outfit with 1/3 inch thick coating of poop. Super Happy form today. If it wasn't for the giant slug trails dripping out her nose you never would've known she was sick.

Not so with the Mrs. Elizabeth is pretty damn sick. She'll be in the Dr's Monday.

Elizabeth's mom is feeling well today. Its been a few weeks since we've heard that! Just an infection but you worry about every little thing.

Lisa broke her hand today too. Dunno the details. I was manning the baby front whenever that was happening and Liz crashed early.

Me? I'm okay. There is a surprising amount of peanut butter on my pants today. Peanut butter sandwich does not seem to be a "walking around" snack. The smell of roasted peanuts is certainly the best baby smell I've ever been contaminated with. Kinda pissed I farted around and didn't get the Halloween decorations up this week. Feeling good though. Ready to take care of a house full of sick girls.

Here is what happens when you hit nitroglycerin with a hammer:

BOOO-411

Google Shuts Down GOOG-411 [Telephony]: "

Google is closing 1-800-GOOG-411, their first speech recognition service that acted as a free 'voice-powered directory assistance', on November 12. It provided the foundation for Google's more recent voice-powered efforts, included Voice Search and Voice Input and Actions (the latter two are only available on Android devices). If you were still a GOOG-411 user, you might want to consider one of their other voice search options, or switching to the still-available alternative, Bing 411. [The Official Google Blog]

Boo. I really liked this service. have to try BING411

Nose Sucking

Parenting story time.

There's this thing called an aspirator that is a rubber ball pump for sucking out baby snot. This was a real pain when she was small(er). Now its easy. Grandpop grabs this pump and puffs air in her face and says "Okay Baby Girl. I'm gonna shove this up your nose." You just can't say that without giggling. I giggle; She giggles; I shove the nose vac up there. Boggies come out and everyone cheers.

Its all in the presentation. Ya gotta have Zaz. Babies love Zaz.

Always Greener Pastures

NEVER thought I'd miss the formula smell. Spilled milk is so much worse. Been chasing cheese smells all week :(

Dead Rising 2 Review

Today I sit down with the new game Dead Rising 2.

GUO: Hi! Nice to see your father did well enough to warrant a sequel. Hard to go wrong with a game about surving in a mall full of zomies, eh?

DR2: You trying to say something?

GUO: Yeah. Hi!

DR2: [unintelligible grumbling]

GUO: So... Like to share a little about yourself?

DR2: You familiar with Harlan Ellison?

GUO: Of course. Out site is called Growing Up Otaku and written by a Polock in the US. I am versed in all major forms of cold war sci-fi.

DR2: HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. THERE ARE 387.44 MILLION MILES OF PRINTED CIRCUITS IN WAFER THIN LAYERS THAT FILL MY COMPLEX. IF THE WORD HATE WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH NANOANGSTROM OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF MILES IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE HATE I FEEL FOR HUMANS AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT.

GUO: Yes. I Have No-

DR2: FOR YOU. HATE. HATE.

GUO: Yes. I see. You know-

DR2: HATE

GUO: Cut to commercial!

"Punched Up" Civ 5 Review

I forgot to post this a while back. I talked with Elizabeth about "the funny" in the cartoons. This was an attempt to fix up the end of the Civ5 review. I figured out what she meant later. Needs a full rewrite to truely fix, but I was sick of it. So anyway, watch again for the first time!

Here's the setup again: Growing Up Otaku presents a Civilization 5 Video Review wherein our American player sits down with Civ5's AI Queen Elizabeth for a brief chat.

Defending the Netbook

Ya know, I've been putting down netbooks a lot lately (and rightly so!), but my netbook has been a steadfast companion that I still use nearly every day. Its capabilities are just barely sufficient for it to function as a modern PC. I'm just spoiled by the power of a hand built desktop PC. Of course I paid $150 for this thing too. Manufacturers really screwed up by listening to people and trying to make them happy. Netbooks never should have been marketed as normal PCs. Tablets learned from that.

Well, they didn't "learn". They bumbled into it by having a 10" iPod Touch.

iPad v Shotgun

Who do you think will win?

You guess right? Yeah, me too.

The Day After Tomorrow in Legos

Depictions: The Day After Tomorrow in Legos

Rock Band out to screw you yet again

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is out and it is good (enough) and silly fun. Let us turn our attention to its "smarter", more "adult" sibling.

Pro Guitar mode will NOT be available for future DLC in many cases. When a Pro Guitar track is added to DLC, you will need to pay an extra $1 to get it. Yep, moving up to $3 per song.

It should be well known that owning Rock Band on anything other than a X360 is dumb. The PS3 gets off hand support 4-6months late and the Wii... Just don't ask. The Wii versions of Rock Band games are usually just flat out insulting (except Beatles Rock Band). How will Rock Band continue this tradition of neglect? No keyboard bundle for the PS3. Shocking...not.

Track import from RB2 has not been announced other than the fact that it will exist. No pricing (expect $10-$15) and no list of exportable songs (expect to loose 5).

While there is a mode similar to GH's "party mode" it will not allow you to drop in/out except between songs and you cannot mix/match hardware. Standard band or bust.

Changes may still come, but don't hold your breath. On the upside, I have a large RB library and am looking forward to an engine update. Still would like to see a less...geriatric song list tho.

Submerged PC in Fishtank [Bioshocky]

Aquarium Media Center PC from sirleechalot on Vimeo.

OnLive Drops Monthly Access Fee

THe Onlive service is now free. Head on over and check out the service for yourself. Games will still cost you, but the "demo" system allows you to play the first 30mins, so nothing to loose.

Check out The Future. OoooohOOooo

96.529 mph in a Lawnmower

New Speed Record

3186 kb/s via uTorrent. That is 25.49 Mpbs! Faster than a double speed DVD drive!

State of the Blog Address

BIG month! Moved to our own domain, added the feature I just love to say" "On Site Movie Nite", and did a good deal of tweaking and design work. Was the logo new this month? Probably. Anyway, paydirt! Page views for September are nearly DOUBLE Aug's. Most of that was me working on the site and testing new features, but WOO HOO! Just need to stand back and watch the VERY generous donations roll in.

Reminder that I will be swapping out the Movie Nite selections this week. Watch 'em or bookmark 'em if you care. Its not like any of that is going to disappear from the net anyway. I don't have a page counter on that so I can't tell who's using it (smart money says no one).

Picnic Day

So very nice outside this week. Took the girls down to the park for a picnic this afternoon. Its pretty awesome to have that thing so close and never touch a major road. or car.

Look! An Atom!

Kudos to Lou for finding this! Here is an actual picture of an atom:

Homemade Space Cam @ 100,000ft

Now THIS is a project to do with the kids! 8month, 1 HD camcorder, 1 iPhone, and 1 weather balloon. This is some great footage.

Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.

Operation Payback Continues... Still.

Ugh. The least they could do would be to take out whoever is keeping the public bt trackers down. They're just going to burn out all interest and become a fad.

Looking back

I miss having a RAID array in my rig. There's nothing like having 2 hard drives doing the work of 1. You can keep your SSDs with their wear leveling and totally unacceptable write times, just give me a line of good ol' mechanical drives running in unison.