Ren Faire, Excercise, Got My Camera Back

Here's the people I went to the Ren Faire with. . . left is Anna, dressed as Dagger from FFIX (great game -- great costume, too). . . center is Stacey (e or no e?), and then Patti, dressed as. . . . purple, with dragons. Then there's half of Chibi Chris. Sorry, dude, ladies take preference. Not pictured are me, Joe, Bob, and Bobbie.

Got my camera back! It was under warranty, and they fixed it for free. Now it works all perfectly and stuff. Here's a pic of crashed Stinky Cat to celebrate.

I went to the Ren Faire with some friends on sunday. I haven't been there in 20 years. It wasn't a bad day for it. . . after it warmed up a bit. It was very cool to see it again. . . as with many things seen a long time ago, it didn't seem as big as before. There were some new things built, but for the most part, it was the same as I remember it. The best part of the day was the Tartan Terrors, a group of comedians from Toronto, Scotland (har). They play Scottish music and do filthy comedy routines. . . and they have a guy named Sean McKeowen (sp?), two-time world champion bagpiper. I saw all 4 of their shows, they were great every time. www.tartanterrors.com if you want more info. Also saw lots of neat crafts, and lots of ladies running around in their skimpy period outfits, freezing their boobies off. Meh, guess if you gotta flaunt it, you have to be willing to make sacrifices, like body heat.

I've been getting excercise lately. I'm tired of being fat. Well, fatter than I want to be. I've been going to the local YMCA during lunch breaks, a few times a week. . . um, and sorta been keeping with it. Last week I made it out three times -- M, W, F -- and I want to keep that up. Today I made it a quickie, just used a rowing machine for 15 minutes. Rowing is killer! It uses your whole body, if you do it right. If you ever use a rowing machine with the electronics on it, look at the calorie display. . . usually, it will tell you that you will use up 800 to 900 calories per hour of rowing. That's twice, almost three times the amount for an hour of just bicycling. Eegads, it's easy to overdo it with the rower, though. . . if you hurt all over the next day, you over-did it. Ouch.

Nothing else to add for now. . . I'll be putting more pictures in now that my camera is fixed. Hell, maybe I'll even have more pictures of me! What fun! K, then. . . later on, y'all.

Science on TV

Wow, great sunrise this morning. . . lotsa peachy-colored clouds on a light blue background, clouds glowing white as the sun appears over the OH DEAR GOD MY EYES SHIT I'M BLIND DAMMIT ARRRRGH CURSE YOU DAY-STAR ARRRRGLBLEGLGHGH

Anyway.

80% of what I watch on TV these days is science or technology based. I watch all those channels whose names end in "Channel" -- History, Discovery, Science, Military, all those. There's tons of good science shows. My zeal for science shows started waaaaay back in the dark ages, also known as the early '80s. I remember the first time I saw the show Cosmos, created by Carl Sagan. . . in particular, I remember always fighting with my brothers, who wanted to watch Knight Rider, which was on at the same time. Cosmos has been available on DVD for a while now, and recently they have been showing it on TV. Ah, nostalgia. Most of what the show presents is common knowledge to any modern grade-schooler, but back then, astronomy was not a typical household subject. Cosmos is the reason I have a telescope sitting in my room right now. Even if I almost never use it, I still have that desire to study and gaze at and understand the stars. . . and it has everything to do with Mr. Sagan and his TV show Cosmos.

Given the TV offerings of late, science shows are a superior choice to anything else. I could not care even a little bit less who is eating what for money, or if they vote another slut off the island, or if another sitcom pushes the envelope. I'd rather watch a show about engineering disasters, or a history of the U.S. Mint, or a show about Da Vinci and his inventions. There's reality TV for you.

Presenting a random list of my favorite science shows:

~Connections. Ah, the first series of Connections has got to be my all-time favorite. James Burke shows how inventions lead to other inventions, and how our world came to be the way it is. Very first show started with the touch-stones used in the 1400's to test whether a metal was gold; an hour later, the Connections ended with the atomic bomb. It very well could have been a dry show, but Burke is an amazing narrator and writer. He makes you interested in all the science going on by emphasizing the human element. He frequently describes how certain events never would have happened if the right person weren't making a shitload of money from them. The show started in a one-hour format, then came the second series, Connections 2 (how aptly named!), which went to half-hour shows (didn't like that as much), and then Connections 3, back up to an hour each. Always fantastic to watch.

~The Day The Universe Changed. Also a show by James Burke, it focused on events and people rather than science. He showed the ideas and events leading up to the Renaissance, the French Revolution, tracked the history of banking and of law. . . A much more intellectual show. In particular, the final episode should be standard viewing for every human on earth. Burke describes the very nature of change, how mankind constantly re-evaluates his concept of the truth, and how whole societies cause that change. He always emphasized that the internet would be the tool to cause the next great change in human behaviour, as it united all the peoples of the globe into one society. Keep in mind that he was saying this in the '80s, when the internet was still a scientific curiosity in college labs. I would love to find this series on DVD. http://www.bbcfactual.co.uk/day_the_universe_changed.htm

~The Secret Life of Machines. God bless Tim Hunkin and Rex Garrod. They are tinkerers and they do special effects work for tons of TV shows. . . and they made an endearing TV show about the devices that we take for granted every day. Presented in layman's terms, and including fantastic animated shorts, the show tells you how things work. MacGuyver owes a fierce debt of gratitude to these guys. . . Tim and Rex do the experiments that we all wanted to do as kids, but couldn't for fear of burning something down. They use normal household stuff to explain concepts so that everyone can understand. One of my favorites: ". . . this is recorded on sticky-tape and rust!" http://www.secretlifeofmachines.com/

~Modern Marvels. This one is hit-or-miss. . . they cover such a huge range of subjects, no one can possibly be interested in all of them. They have the shows about engineering disasters, I think maybe 17 or 18 episodes worth. Earth movers, subway systems, ship building, metal, stone, plumbing, power tools, explosives. . . if you wonder about it, they have a show about it.

~Beakman's World. C'mon, that show rocked! Funny as hell, and they even had science facts here and there. Plus, that blond girl was sizzling hot!

~Mail Call. Not strictly a science show, but always fun to watch. Every show, I learn something new about the military. And R. Lee Ermy is a kick-ass host.

~Tales Of The Gun. Also a specialized show, obviously. But very very good. There's more to guns than just BANG. Guns have been part of history since the Chinese came up with the concept a thousand years ago. Almost every culture has its own relationship with firearms. Also shows the constantly evolving technology of guns, as tools and weapons.

~Einstein's Big Idea. Using historical re-enactments, this two-hour program examines the people and the science that all came together to become the famous e=mc^2. Goes on to show how that theory was applied, and how it brought about the atomic bomb. Briefly mentions that physics is still trying to grasp all the theories that Einstein unlocked with his big idea. The show was on a couple of weeks ago, but it is bound to repeat now and then. Surprisingly well-acted, compelling, and interesting the whole way through. Definitely worth watching again.

~Man, Moment, Machine. New show about how the right person having the right ideas at the right time result in the most fantastic inventions. Last one I saw was about the Bradley fighting vehicle. I have high hopes for this one.

Hm. . . I'd have to look up other series titles, but the whole family of Discovery Channels always has good stuff on. They have more one-shot shows than I would even care to research. Every time I go home and check the cable listings, I know that when I get to the high numbers where the science channels are, I'll find something good to watch.

Science is cool, people. Makes you sexy.

BTW. . . Hey Joe, how's it going with Dark Cloud 2? Glad I turned you on to it? Just remember to use the hell out of that camera, it will be worth it. And my fat robot Steve will ALWAYS be cooler than your fat robot Steve.

. . . oh, and the end of the Kim Possible movie, "So The Drama", Kim and Ron kissing? TOTAL BULLSHIT.

Several minor things

Lotsa little stuff to report.

First and foremost: I really should just take my PS2 and throw it out the window. I have four games that I am completely obsessed with, and not enough time to split amongst them. At the moment, Steel Lancer has me obsessed. For some reason, I just can't stop playing it. After that, Dark Cloud 2 is tugging at me, with its 400 different little things to do. Wild Arms 3 has been progressing nicely, and it was first in line, so I owe it some time. I really like Burnout 4, but that has been bumped to the 'party game' slot, to be played when friends come to visit. The good thing is that I won't even be looking at, much less buying, any more games until next spring.

I got my camera back, yaaaaaay! I messed around with it last night, and it works just fine now. My only complaint is that they didn't return the 16Meg memory card. . . I put some sample crappy photos on it to help them diagnose the problem, and sent it along with the camera. It didn't come back with the camera. Meh, it was free anyway, no big deal. But that means that I can start taking and posting pictures again, yaaaay!

Only 17 days until Anime USA. It is going to rock super-hard. I'm running my Mah Jongg panel, I'll get to see the Lisa G crew, have another weekend with Lisa M and Chris/Joe all in the same room. . . it'll be OSSUM. AUSA really is the best convention there is -- they have the best viewing schedule, it's in a great hotel, they are always well-organized, and their staff (at least a certain group of hard-core staffers) truly give a damn about making the whole affair run smoothly. This will be my 5th time at AUSA, and they just keep getting better.

Hey, y'all need to go check out Joe's blog. He's at www.neverknight.blogspot.com , I forget what the name is. Something about his head. Maybe if people read his blog, he'll stop whining so much. "waa waa, I guess you can read this if you feel like it, don't know why you would since I suck so bad, I'll just be over here killing myself boo hoo." Sheesh. How can anyone with his own apartment and his own sofa be that whiny?

Just got two more Mah Jongg sets from Ebay. I think now I have 15 total, which should be more than enough to run a workshop. If any of you are looking for an inexpensive yet still high-quality Mah Jongg set, you really should go to www.wherethewindsblow.com and check them out. The lady who runs that site also has an Ebay store, just look for the name "fscher" under sellers. Really great stuff and really great prices.

Done for now. I'll have tons of pictures and stuff to tell about AUSA in three weeks. Until then, be happy and healthy and dammit, don't eat that! You don't know where it's been!