Okay, so this will be the first part of my adventure into building my own computer. No, not from the parts you can buy at Newegg, but rather the parts you can buy at Mouser, Jameco, Newark, or DigiKey. (If you don't know who they are, and you're interested in what I'm doing or electronics design, check them out.) Below are the specs I'm shooting for in version 1 (and yes, I intend on doing more than one version of this computer):

Motorola 68000 CPU @ 6 MHz (the chip is capable up to 10 MHz, so there's some room for upgrade)
1 MB Flash ROM for BIOS, user settings, and who knows what else (2x512K 5V only Flash ROM chips)
256K of RAM (4x64K SRAM chips, very fast)
128K of Console SRAM (4x32K SRAM, very fast)
Custom console video card (using Altera CPLD/FPGA...not sure which yet)
Standard VGA output
Standard PS/2 keyboard support

Doesn't sound like a lot, but I'm sure it'll keep me busy for months. I know that 128K is a huge chunk of memory just to display text...I'd prefer something closer to 16K, but since the MC68000 has a 16 bit bus, I need two chips just to accommodate it (since each chip has an 8 bit bus), and I need two sets of them to facilitate easy bank switching (I'll explain later), so that means I need 4 chips in memory. I only have 2 16K chips, so the next step up is 32K, hence 128K of console RAM. Overkill, but better to be over than under. :)

The first step in building this computer is to create a program to burn some primitive programs onto the ROM chips, since the Motorola 68000 is too old to understand how to read programs from an SD card (like the newer ARM chips are capable of). To do that, I purchased an Arduino *sigh*, and wired up a quick test with one of the RAM chips I have. After some serious debugging, I finally have a working prototype. It's always so amazing to get so much work done in such a short amount of time.

Tags: computer, fun, hobby
Current Mood: amused

There are some stinks that stink. There are other stinks that aren't so bad. There are even some stinks that smell good, though you'd never admit it in public for fear of being looked at weird. And then...there was the hippie today.

Just for reference, I work in the back of my office, right next to the break room. There's no door on my office, so all the wonderful smells from lunch waft in when they feel like being a distraction. The stink of the garbage after a long week of fester. Tuna fish, peanut butter, and pepperoni "sandwich" stink. "Oh dear God in heaven that can't be edible!" stink. I thought I had smelled them all. Then, watercolorchild and I went to dinner at a Chinese buffet. Decent food, good selection, wouldn't mind going back.

Just as we had finished paying and were sitting having a nice conversation, in walked a group of hippies. There were at least five, but I couldn't get a good count. Why? The wave of stink hit me. This stuff was so bad, it was distorting the air, like pavement on a hot day. I've taken shits that didn't smell that bad! They smelled so bad, you could taste it...and I was tasting banana and armpit pudding. Ewww doesn't seem to have the right impact. It was more like *HOARK*!! You could've taken a cotton swap to any part of them, and cultivated a weapon of mass distraction. And I didn't even get that close to them. I got within 5 feet of them, and it brought a tear to my eye, it was that bad. I used to play football...an hour of hot, sweaty guys laying on top of each other, dripping salty, sweaty nastiness all over your face. This was an order of magnitude above that.

Seriously, they had dirt caked on their hands, their arms, their faces, and probably other places *shudders to think about*, and they were in a "serve yourself" restaurant. Why did they even let them in like that? It's a serious health code problem, never mind the smell. The dirt and nastiness alone would be enough to warrant kicking them out.

I feel sorry for the people who came in right before them. Nothing tastes quite as good as smoked stank sushi, and spicy thai chicken in a ball-sack sweat sauce.

Tags: disgusting, stink
Current Mood: disgusted

Republican politicians can now rest easy, since job creation is on a roll. I think I can finally smell what the Rock is cooking. Irony...and it smells like blood in the water. Very irony.

Tags: humor
Current Mood: amused

Dear Electronic Arts,

Your Madden football games cheat. But that's not news to you because you designed them that way. Let me tell you what I mean. Before the game starts, your program picks the winner of the game, and the play of the game can never deviate from that. At least, unless you're willing to get in there and "play". I don't play as a player, but as a coach since I, quite frankly, suck. But why offer a coaching mode if the coach can't affect the game by choosing good or bad plays?

Here are some of the examples of how your game cheats:

1) The game was tied 7-7, and I was on the 5 yard line about to score. The field was rainy and wet, but I had been running well and decided to run the ball into the endzone. Got a yard before he was hit and...oh, fumble. And he runs it back for a touchdown. Game ended, and I lost. Stuff like that happens though, even in real games so whatever.

2) In 6 weeks, my defense had made exactly 0 interceptions. Then, in my game against the Texans, his quarterback throws FIVE in one game. Not entirely unheard of, but I won that game by a mere 3 points. Yes, THREE points. After 5 interceptions, one which was returned for a touchdown, I won by a mere field goal. Obviously, you had selected my team to win and I just suck. Hello? I know, that's why I play on *COACH* mode. Since then, my team has still had 0 interceptions without me "simming" the game.

3) I played one game over 6 times trying to win it. It was the 49ers vs the Titans, and while neither is a terrible team, I couldn't get more than 40 yards per quarter, while Tennessee never seemed to be stopped by my defense until the last 15 yards. Amazingly, my games all ended with me losing by 3 or 4. DESPITE having such a suck game, I still managed to come within just a handful of points? Sorry, that just doesn't happen.

So I know your game is cheating. I know your game is playing unfairly for itself and for me, in order to keep the games close. My question to you is what developer do I have to blow to get the code that turns it off? I don't mind close games, but I would occasionally like to just see my team mop the floor with the other team, or to see some sort of balanced play instead of "1 yard run, -3 yard run, 86 yard pass!!!!!!!!!1oneoneone!!111! and yet still somehow not a touchdown, incomplete pass, incomplete pass, 0 yard run, INTERCEPTION FOR A TOUCHDOWN...computer wins! Computer wins!"

I can safely say that, until this glitch is removed from your games, I will never purchase them at full price.

Tags: games
Current Mood: annoyed

Somewhere, in Indianapolis right now, there are about 200 men whose stomachs are in knots. These are men whose determination, whose hard work, and whose sacrifices allowed them to reach the highest pinnacle they could ever hope to achieve, men who gave life everything they had and succeeded. They are men who, by the end of the night, will be honored or vilified for a mere 3 hours of their lives. For no other reason than they lost a game, they will be hated for weeks. For no other reason than they won, they will be venerated for months. Seems petty and selfish, until you consider the other side.

Somewhere, in America, around 50 million people waiting for a chance. Their determination, their hard work, their sacrifices have allowed them to fall just short. Today, they can do nothing but watch, and hope that for a brief moment, they can be part of something enormously successful. At the night's end, half will have a small taste of what true success will have felt like. At the night's end, half will go on living their "just short" lifestyles, with a bitter taste in their mouths, and one more crack on already shattered dreams.

If it keeps you going, if it keeps you fighting, if it keeps you from thinking "it'll never be me," then it's not just a game. It's a Super Bowl.

Here's to the winners, and to the losers of tonight. You are all awesome.

Tags: football, super bowl
Current Mood: contemplative

Okay, so it's only been 24 hours since the Denver Broncos won their first playoff game of the year, and already the media is slurping on his schlong like he's God. "He's a miracle player!" "They won in overtime on a miracle pass!" "He has Jesus with him!"

So, umm, no.

Here's the whole situation for those of you who don't follow football and don't want to bother watching the highlights of the game. For starters, the Pittsbugh Steelers came out of the gate hard, scoring twice in the first quarter. They were both field goals, so it wasn't very spectacular, but it still counts. Then, Denver gets 20 points in the second quarter, though 7 of them were due to an interception. Then, due to Tebow's "amazingness", the Steelers score 17 more points in the third and fourth quarters, to Denver's 3, tying the game up. And quite frankly, the Steelers should have gone for a 2 point conversion to put the game out of reach. But that's neither here nor there.

Once in overtime, Tebow threw a 17 yard pass and the receiver ran it in for the touchdown, ending the game.

I'm not going to say Tebow didn't play a good game, but can we all please stop acting like he's some gift from God? If God wanted Tebow to look good, he should've stopped the Steelers from coming back at all. He could have let Tebow score more touchdowns. Instead, he makes Tebow look like...a lucky SOB. Which is what he is. He's not ordained from heaven. He's not some golden child. He's not even humble. He's a hypocrite. (Those who pray in front of others are hypocrites, as per the book of Mathew, Chapter 6, verse 5: DarkMatter2525, Hypocrites, 5:54...but all of it is a good watch)

So good on you Tebow. You get a rematch against Tom Brady. I just hope God helps you with this one, because he sure didn't the last time you played. What was that score, BTW? 23 - 41? Ouch. Very ouch.

Tags: footbal, rant
Current Mood: annoyed

Every year, starting in the early days of December and continuing to the early days of January, there's a massive change in America. And it's not for the better. People get very short fuses, outraged by the simplest phrases like "Happy Holidays." People expect so much more done for them, just because "it's that time of year again...the time to be nice and polite...to *me*." Yes, I'm referring to that wonderful, joyful holiday of "I suck Jesus cock." During "I suck Jesus cock"-time, you can be as rude to anyone not celebrating "I suck Jesus cock" as you can be, and it's considered in good taste. If anyone greets you, or says good-bye with anything other than "Merry Christmas" or "Please, suck Jesus cock", it's perfectly natural and even expected for you to feign complete outrage, and to inform that person how wrong they are...and how they are going to "didn't suck enough Jesus cock" hell. During this wonderful, joyous time of the year, you can be as openly hateful, hostile, and vile as you want and it's justified. As long as you...well, you know. Because we all know that "Happy Holidays" is the real first step to heroin, pedophilia, and mass genocide of the Jews.

It is also the only time of the year when parents are allowed and openly encouraged to petition schools, in order to force all the students there to perform the "I suck Jesus cock" nativity play and see the "I suck Jesus cock" songs. It's simply wrong and immoral during "I suck Jesus cock"-time to sing anything that doesn't mention how much Jesus cock you suck. And while completely wrong and immoral for children to suck anyone's cock any other time of the year, it is completely accepted and expected for them to suck Jesus cock during this time of the year.

Of course, there are smaller offenses which occur that you, as a Jesus cocksucker, must also inflict on everyone else in America. You must always show your outrage for having to stand in line for more than 10 seconds. In fact, every 10 seconds, you are supposed to released an exasperated sigh, while every minute comment on how the line "isn't moving at all." If you have to wait more than 5 minutes for anything, you are expected to start singing the wonderful "I suck Jesus cock"-time song "Heathens kept the Christians waiting", which has a similar rhythm to "Glory to the New Found King." Not only because of tradition, but also because only Heathens work on stores during this most holy of month. It's like Ramadan...only moral.

And if any of this has severely offended you, I sincerely hope you listen to the following words. This is a month, like any other. Christmas is a day, like any other. To some, it has huge significance. To others, it has none. Respect *everyone* tomorrow, no matter their beliefs, and keep your Jesus cocksucking praying in the closet, where it belongs. Thank you. (And no, the word Christmas doesn't offend me as much as "I suck Jesus cock" would offend a devout Christian...but to some, it does. It all comes down to respecting everyone, not just the people like you.)

Heathens Kept the Christians Waiting

Heathens Kept the Christians Waiting
Trololololol and Roflmao!
Calm yourself, it's just a joke
'cuz I suck God's cock until I choke.
I'm so pious
and so holy
that you can't possibly
think bad of me.

Heathens Kept the Chritians Waiting
Trolololo LOL and ROFLMAO!


The previous has been an satirical (not SATANICAL) view of Christmas, as seen through the eyes of an atheist. I do not get offended by the phrases "Christmas" or "Merry Christmas", or even by the singing of religious songs during this time of year (which, by the way, is an old folk tradition). I, in fact, celebrate Christmas. I decorate a tree (pagan tradition), trade presents (pagan tradition), and gather with my family to eat many dead animals (pagan tradition). I only wish that the vocal minority of this religion would shut the hell up about the tiny, insignificant part where a church proclaimed that their religious figure was born on this day. If you would like to know more about this mostly pagan holiday, please watch this video about Christmas

Tags: christmas
Current Mood: amused

So I almost died tonight. And no, I'm not exaggerating. Let me 'splain.

I was driving home from work on the interstate, and I saw a truck on the side of the road. It had apparently pulled over and was now getting back onto the highway. So I moved over into the middle lane to let him back onto the highway. And like a typical idiot, he decides to get back on the highway at around 20 mph. And not continue accelerating. And then, merges into the middle lane. About 20 feet in front of me.

Now, at this point, I'm moving around 75 mph (5 over the limit), and there's no way in hell I could slam on the brakes and not hit the idiot, so I jerk the wheel to the left to go around. Then, to straighten out the car, I jerk the wheel back to the right (to avoid the guard rail). That's when the wheels broke loose from the pavement.

The next few moments, I was actually sliding sideways on the interstate at around 60 mph. The only thing going through my mind, aside from "FUCK THAT ASSHOLE!!!!!!" (which goes through my mind in a completely different tone when I watch porn) was "Please don't roll, please don't roll..."

Around the right lane, the tires grab asphalt again, and straightens out. Without rolling the car, or having one of any number of other cars slam into me on the highway, I manage to pull the car off the road. Quickly, I remove the seatbelt, and hop out of the car (probably stupid considering I wasn't that far off the highway, but adrenaline and all that) just in time to see that asshole just drive on by. Seriously, WTF?! Did he honestly think he had nothing to do with it? Hell, I was on the highway leaving Jacksonville one day when I had to slam on the brakes, the guys behind me had an accident, and *I* felt responsible for it. This asshole quite *literally* ran me off the road and just keeps driving?

So yeah....not having the best night.

Tags: accident, traffic
Current Mood: irritated

So for the past few weeks, my laptop has been performing less than stellarly with games. I'll be able to play for a few minutes without issue, then I get knocked down to around 4-5 FPS, then it comes right back. I checked everything. Hardware issues, software issues, virus...nothing. Finally, completely out of ideas, I checked temperatures.

I hadn't thought to do this before yesterday simply because the laptop wasn't feeling hot, nor was the exhaust gas feeling hotter than normal. But when I saw the 105 C measure on my GPU, I realized something was wrong. (That's well above the expected values of 50-70.) So I got some compressed air (misnomer, I know) and sprayed through the vents on my computer, hoping to fix it. After two attempts, I turn my laptop back on to a series of high pitched beeps.

And the GPU fan isn't coming on.

Oh....fuck....

After ranting to myself for a good 10 minutes about how I could've fucked myself over so badly, I calm down, hop on the web, and look up disassembly instructions. Maybe, just maybe, if I was lucky, it was a loose connection caused by the high pressure air. No problem, right?

Wrong.

Here's a disassembly guide for my laptop. I had to go all the way through to step 11.H in order to get decent access to the GPU fan and connector. Except the CPU heatsink. Wasn't about to touch that, and fortunately, it wasn't necessary. But the Wi-Fi card, the monitor, ...everything else was necessary. And a pain in the ass, because coupled with that long, arduous process comes the fear that with every screw (and there were a lot of them), you'll never be able to get the computer back together again.

And then, I dropped a fucking screw! FFFFUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKK!! Right into the CPU fan too. Shit...why me? So I had two options. Continue with the full disassembly, or shake the screw out. The first is correct, but the second helped me vent my frustrations. I didn't get the screw out, and said to hell with it. I wasn't hearing it rattle around inside the case, so all was well. (In reality, I didn't really care. I've lost screws before...it's not that big of a deal most of the time.)

By the time I was done with my disassembly, my 12 pound laptop weighed less than 2 pounds. I dismounted the GPU fan, and found a herd of dust bunnies. Seriously, it was the size of a peanut M&M.

Then came reassembly. And I'd like to take this opportunity to thank whoever came up with the ribbon connector. With a kick to the nuts. And another. And another. They have got to be the worst inventions ever created! A tiny slip of plastic that is secured by gently pushing another tiny piece of plastic. And forget it if you push to hard, or pull too hard getting it out in the first place.

Thankfully, luck was on my side, and I was able to get the machine back together, until I closed the monitor on the computer. Only one side clicked. I thought it was odd...maybe I had missed a tab or something? Nope, everything was smooth, but that damn screw that I lost found itself, and was apparently magnetized, because it stuck to the frame of my monitor! I couldn't believe my luck!! ....then I realized where the screw had to go. Time to take the laptop apart again. T_T

When I got everything back together, I plugged it up and pressed the power. It worked. Except now neither one of the fans were working. Great...fuck me. The screw I dropped in the CPU fan fucked it over. I'm batting 0 for 2 now. But, like a good boy, I decided to stress test the machine. Suddenly, the CPU fan came on. Yay! Then the GPU fan came on. Double yay!

And so now I'm sitting pretty at ~40 C for the CPUs and ~60 C for the GPU, even after the stress test.

........dead

Tags: computer
Current Mood: accomplished

Cowboys Cheerleader forced to delete Twitter account

I really have so much to say on this subject that I feel like writing a book. But to me, there are two primary things wrong with this picture. The first is, of course, that her tweets were benign. More than that, they were funny. If Dallas is worried about her condition, that she might worsen in the next few days and her posts might make it hard for the insurance companies to take it seriously--sorry, but I just can't finish this thought. I'm laughing too hard. We all know that won't happen. More likely, Dallas is worried about the "not a tough TE [tight end]" comment, because that makes Dallas look weak.

But shit...you think this is the first cheerleader to ever be tackled by a big, brawny man? Trust me, it isn't. I'm sure nearly every one of those women have been tackled at some point in their lives, whether by an errant player who stumbles out of bounds (as happened in the game), or by their friends/brothers/sisters in a game, or even in some sexual encounter...hopefully not forced on them. Not only that, but good professional cheerleaders are some of the toughest people in the world, bar none. Cheerleading is one of the most dangerous sports. (I'm not sure I agree with this list in its entirety, since I would put gymnastics much higher, if not above cheerleading, but I certainly agree with the distance between cheerleading and football.) So yeah...I think she's made of tougher stuff than the tight end. No question.

The second part that's wrong with this is the notation that your job can force you to close your Twitter account. Now, I may be at arms with Twitter, but it's nothing but a forum to express your own personal opinions. You know, that thing protected by the First Amendment called "free speech." But of course, business is exempted from following that law. They're allowed to quash your freedom of speech just because...they're a business? No. Sorry, but that should not be allowed. Well...no. It should only be allowed when you're at that business...like walking to work and telling everyone there how much you fucking hate their guts, then telling your boss to go fuck himself over his new sick-time policies. Yeah, that...I can see, but if I happen to make a post on my personal site saying what idiots those people are, and how screwed up that policy is, what right does my boss have to fire me?

You are an employee only when you are at work. And short of stealing company ideas or secrets, once you are off the clock, you should be entitled to say anything you want, even if the company doesn't want to hear it. Period. So, Dallas...is it a company secret that your tight end is a wussy boy? XD

Current Mood: annoyed