Random idea towards battle mecha

In that ever so fluctuating nature of my brain fluttering across wikipedia, from Android Police, to the Tata Nano, to wing mirrors, to various car and hydraulic topics, something occurred to me…

What if we could combine some type of dual purpose fluid that could serve as both an effective coolant, and as a suitable hydraulic fluid, and use a set of tubing to work it into a system where moving helps provide the circulation of coolant, and develop some kind of nanotubes that can be contracted, by having a computer control the application of electric current…

Thus, big ass robot moves by shocking some hoses, that in turn pump coolant around. I can’t help but wonder, if engineers have already tried this, in a bit, something smaller than and less robot like than a Mackie, but still suitable to prove it can be done. Like wise, I can’t help but wonder if after a golden age in engineering, could we also achieve some kind of hydro-electric power generation around this, that can be kept going, and just require something like a battery assisted jump start?

I’ve always had a bit of an interest in figuring out how to make giant mecha actually work >_>.

Curse you irony!

Just before I got up to pee, I was looking at Skinomi carbon fibre skin protectors and thinking, “Maybe later” after I get my new dock.

Guess what? My foot caught the fucking charging cord and slid my Prime off the desk, and me “Snap catching slash pushing” it against the desk to keep it from falling: just gave me a finger nail sized ding in the aluminum backplate.

*groan* nothing like denting $600 because it takes for fucking ever to get a dock shipped here: that extra batter life and keyboard really helps.

The Big Android Browser Test

There have been a couple of things on the net about various browsers, I’m sure, but certainly nothing comprehensive that I have found. Like wise, over @XDA in the Transformer forums at least, things tend to get muddled up after awhile from all the commentary.

So I thought I would install a shit load of browsers and do some testing! My test procedures can be found here.

It will take a while to do in my off hours and I doubt I’m going to get much done today, stuck home with the parental unit sick, so, I’m pretty much on butler call all day :-/. I’d rather be getting work done, like debugging yesterdays crap near interrupt free.

The trouble with ice cream

I brought some Eddy’s ice cream while we were waiting at the pharmacy, because it was the early Grand brand that had Neapolitan. When I opened it this morning, I couldn’t help but notice there was only like 15% Strawberry, 1/3 Chocolate, and the rest was vanilla!

On the up side, it is very decent ice cream:).

Thoughts on Android Game architecture revisited

A while back, I blogged some thoughts on game architecture for Android. In the time since, I’ve looked a bit at the Light Weight Java Game Library (LWJGL) and Maven, and am developing a bit of an interest in just how much one could push shader programs to maintain performance.

I’d rather like a Maven setup, and something that will support both PC systems and Android, and it seems that Maven even has an Android plugin :-). That got me to thinking about source tree architecture and the notion of sharing a library between a PC / Android game setup and how that might fit into a source tree. Then it hit me! Break it up into separate sub modules, and create a master project for each. Nice, easy, and simple. Also has a perk that it should work with any decent version control system, not just Git.

Hehehe.

The Farthest Staar

The will to greatness clouds the mind
consumes the senses veils the signs
we each are meant to recognize
Redeeming graces cast aside
enduring oceans new-found promise
that the end will never come

We live in times when all seems lost
But time will come when we’ll look back
upon ourselves and on our feelings
Embrace the void even closer still
Erase your doubts as you surrender everything

We possess the power
If this should start to fall apart
To mend divides to change the world
To reach the farthest star
If we should stay silent
If fear should win our hearts
Our life will have long diminished
Before it reaches the farthest star

Wide awake in a world that sleeps
Enduring thoughts Enduring scenes
The knowledge of what is yet to come
From a time when all seems lost
From a dead man to a world
without restraint unafraid and free

We possess the power
If this should start to fall apart
To mend divides to change the world
To reach the farthest star
If we should stay silent
If fear should win our hearts
Our life will have long diminished
Before it reaches the farthest star

If we fall and break
All the tears in the world
Cannot make us whole again

We possess the power
If this should start to fall apart
To mend divides/ to change the world
To reach the farthest star
If we should stay silent
If fear should win our hearts
Our life will have long diminished
Before it reaches the farthest star

The Farthest Star—VNV Nation.

Are companies like Facebook Internet cowards?

Some people in this country, still concerned over the whole SOPA/PIRA bit seem to have been mild in their  blackouts, and it makes me wonder, if they are against the bills are they cowards then?

Sites such as Amazon, Dropbox, and TwitPic have added bumper stickers to their U.S. site, Flickr is supposed to be extending users the option of blacking out pictures but has otherwise chickened out on striking. Google is operational but blacked out their doodle, in proper Google fashion, so they’re still doing something.

Then, there’s a few that are apparently not concerned enough in the the Internet that keeps them viable in business, to risk even that little a public display – Facebook, eBay (and thus PayPal), and Twitter for example.

One could argue that businesses shouldn’t take part in such things or politics at all, and that’s reasonable enough IMHO, except when the freedom of the Internet is a huge part of their business. Then it’s your head in the same noose that all of us are. If Facebook and Twitter are as big as it is reported and they care about this, they surely could have joined the effort…the amount of  suicides and ensuring bad press is obvious enough reason to not go on strike but come on at least a bloody bumper sticker! They make profit off part of the Internet, and provide service that can help people change the world and in Facebooks case probably make higher profits than we can dream of while they are at it. Yet if they have so little back bone over something like SOPA and PIRA now, what would they do if a bill came down the pike, that would mandate everyone censoring free speech off the internet? Write a memo saying we don’t like that implementation and count the cash as long as they still make profit out of the deal? Cowards!

I believe that if people fifty years ago were like Facebook is today: people of dark skin would still be getting forced to the back of buses in this country, and nearly two hundred and forty years ago… there would be no United States of America today.

Companies like Facebook, eBay, and Twitter need to grow some bigger balls.

How to make your own buttonhook cheap

When working a while back on my private tactics compendium, I summised that we probably call the Button-hook technique after the use of a real buttonhook. Well, my new work shirts are a pain in the ass to button at the collar, so on the way to the office this morning, I thought about how to make one. Yes I’m cheap and I like solving problems here and there lol.

Unfold a paper clip like so:

And you have yourself a buttonhook for like a penny versus $5-$15 out of a store!

Plus if you push the little end closed, you have an ear clip just like my father would make. Those are the most awesome way to clean ear wax out of your ears—qtips are no good.

Playing with linpack and power save modes on my prime

This is what I’m getting with basically just a few web pages open in Opera:

  • Performance mode: up to 90-125 MFLOPS. Usually in the one hundred and teens.
  • Balanced mode: averaging around 75-115 MFLOPS. Most often between 90-110.
  • Power Save mode: averaging around 50~70 MFLOPS.
Every test was in multithreaded. The first anandtech review of the Prime has a good stack of stuff in it, I’m just fiddling around out of curiosity, not profiling :-).On the TF101 which has no power save settings in the stock ROM, and I believe my notes are recorded here.