Wow. I just noticed that I’ve got more than 500 posts on this site. That’s kinda cool.
Most of them seemed to make some sort of sense to me at the time.
Category: Random Nonsense
Sometimes I just feel compelled to share nonsense, random thoughts, and sometimes just stuff I want to save
The most awesome musical Craig Ferguson video you will see today
Dave Durant, Tony Buser – You’re welcome.
Doctor Who Christmas Special 2010 Trailer
Since the revival1 of Doctor Who they’ve had a Christmas Special each year, but it airs at least a day later here in the States. Last year I totally missed the Christmas Special and had to wait several more months before BBC America re-aired it. This year BBC and BBC America will be airing the Christmas Special on December 25! Huzzah!
In case you enjoy this show too, above is the trailer for the upcoming special. :)
- Regeneration? [↩]
Ideas for improvements on the Open Source Disc Shooter
Here are some of the ideas I’ve been kicking around:
- A magazine1 that you clip in the front of the shooter. When you clip it in it should depress a spring, or more likely, tension a rubber band. When you press the button clipping the magazine in, it could actually eject the empty magazine. That would be sweet.
- Lower profile. In looking at insides of the Tracer Guns, it looks like the only reason for the bulky barrels over a long thin slot is so the toy looks more like an actual gun. I’d rather have an optimal design that uses minimal plastic than something that looks like a gun.
- A variety of discs for maximum aerodynamics. In the designs uploaded to Thingiverse I included 18 variations on a disc. Perhaps some will fly or spin better than others.
- Rubber band powered mechanism. Rubber bands are easier to find, cut to size, and replace than metal springs. It could also lead to a more compact design.
I’m sure other ideas will come to me. I just wanted to jot them all down before I forget them.
Now that I have my chess set complete, it would be pretty cool to have a working OSDS prototype before Botacon.
Default Series Title- Hey, Dave, happy??? [↩]
It was called a “Tracer Gun”
Despite my best efforts I could not locate an image on the interwebs for the kind of disc shooter I remember playing with as a kid. Finally after much googling, I found a picture and the actual name of the type of toy. Apparently they were known as “Tracer Guns” and were produced circa the 1960’s through 1990’s. (Image of a Tracer Gun at right from collect-antiques.net). Whenever I searched for these online I only found references to larger disc guns that shot larger foam discs from cylinder mounted on top.
A variation I had not seen as a kid, but desperately wanted, was disc shooter that had a removable and re-loadable clip. In the pictures to the right you’ll see a grove about halfway down the barrel, just above a protuberance. That protuberance would house about 20-25 discs depending upon the gun you had. In order to load/reload the gun you would have to slip each disc under the firing pin one at a time.
Once I discovered the name of this type of toy, Wikipedia filled in the rest. They had some pictures of a tracer gun which had been taken apart to expose the insides. The best part is the gun depicted has a clip loading mechanism!
Having taken apart the non-clip version as a kid, I recall it having a similar metal spring as a source of power. 1 I believe the rubber band on the trigger is merely to keep it in place. The protuberance on the non-clip version and the clip on the clip version of the toys both contain springs for advancing the next disc into place.
To be clear, I am not looking to duplicate, copy, or replicate this toy. I don’t want that toy. Rather, I would love to print a toy of my own, or a collaborative, design that will shoot harmless plastic discs.
- They were quite breakable, unfortunately. [↩]
Help with the Disc Shooter?
The other day I sketched up a concept of a disc shooter – the style that used to be available in grocery store aisles at about my eye level. Strangely enough I noticed over time they moved them lower and lower on the shelves until they stopped carrying them entirely.
In any case, I’d really like to print out an open source version of a disc shooter. I was figuring that since we’re such good friends and all, you’d be willing to help out. I’ve already gotten the ball rolling and posted my work designing the various components.
I realize this is a frivolous use of your time, but wouldn’t it be cool to be all “pew pew!” and then I’d be all “pew pew pew!” 1
- I want to print mine in clear PLA so I can see the bits inside working and the discs in fluorescent red so they’re easier to find. [↩]
How awesome is this photo?
I’m surprise the universe didn’t explode. Old Spice Man and The Most Interesting Man in the World?!
Vincent, here I come!
The DeYoung museum in San Francisco has a special exhibit of Post-Impressionistic Painters on loan from the Musée d’Orsay in France. I’m taking the day off work tomorrow to go check it out. I know I’m not alone in saying Van Gogh is my favorite painter of all time. More than any other painter, Van Gogh’s works speak to me of the wonder in the world around us.
I mentioned recently how much I loved a recent episode of Doctor Who entitled “Vincent and the Doctor.” 1 Well, someone uploaded a clip and sped up the audio. It makes for disorienting listening, but the brilliant monologue from Bill Nighy as Dr. Black, a museum curator, answering the question, “Where do you think Van Gogh rates in the history of art?” Just tune in at 1:52 for his response.2
Amusing side note, the DeYoung has a list of things prohibited at the exhibit:
- No strollers or baby-carrying backpacks are allowed in the exhibition.
- Tickets do not allow for re-entry into the exhibition; there are no restrooms located inside the exhibition galleries.
- Sketching, photography, videotaping, and cell-phone cameras are not allowed in the exhibition.
Can you imagine? No sketching while standing in front of the most inspirational works of art in all the world?! :(
- That episode of Doctor Who may just stay on my DVR until it’s drives rot to pieces. [↩]
- Well… um… big question, but, to me Van Gogh is the finest painter in the world. Certainly the most popular, great painter of all time. The most beloved, his command of color most magnificent. He transformed the pain of his tormented life into ecstatic beauty. Pain is easy to portray. But to use your passion and pain to portray the ecstasy and joy and magnificence of our world? No one had ever done it before. Perhaps no one ever will again. To my mind, that strange, wild man who roamed the fields of Provenance was not only the world’s greatest artist, but also one of the greatest men who ever lived. [↩]
Right click
As someone with a modicum of javascript, URL hacking, and a passing familiarity with Firebug I sneer at websites that use javascript to disable right clicks. Frankly, I’m amazing anyone would bother doing it. There are just too many ways around these “protections” to make them worthwhile.
I recently was reading a website and started to select some text… to discover that they had included some javascript which blanked the content if you tried to select anything. And, of course, they disabled right click as well. There are hardly impediments to anyone who’s been using a web browser for more than a few years – but I found the experience amusing nonetheless.
If your content is important, why not do something to actually protect it rather than just annoy legitimate users?
If your content isn’t important enough to try some kind of actual protection schema, why are you bothering at all?
Vincent
I had kept a few choice episodes of Doctor Who on my DVR, including several from this most recent season. When working late, I like to have something playing in the background. Unfortunately, my wife deleted the second1 half of the Season 5 finale. Shortly after our DVR started to go and the whole thing had to be replaced. We got the new one, but they don’t offer a “comes with all the episodes of Doctor Who you were saving” option. 2
Well, it took a while but BBC America re-ran all of Season 5, which I’ve been recording.
The one episode that just gets me every time is “Vincent and the Doctor.” The guy who played Vincent was pretty damn good. If nothing else, that episode also included some of my favorite pieces of art of all time, including the one above.