Somebody brought us a nearly new iMac the other day. The problem description was "cd stuck in the drive".  What do we find when we crack open the machine (suction cups, and 30 minutes of swearing at the ineptitude of Apple designers later), and pull the disc out of the drive? A normal CD with a mini disc TAPED TO IT. They wanted to see if they could do that in order to read the mini disc.

The stupid, it BURNS. Or at least I wish it would. Some of these people do not deserve to live.

Eurocom rebadges stuff from Compal and other ODM companies for their boat anchor notebooks. Their stuff is heavy, hot, and only portable if you like hernias. This, however, is taking it to a whole new level. 2.8gHz quad core Xeon with 3 2.5" HDDs for storage. Up to 8GB of ram. 17" display. All of this can be yours for a price of well north of $3000 and a backbreaking 12lbs. Oh, and if the battery will actually last an hour on it, consider yourself lucky.  Considering the thing is made entirely out of ABS, its a good thing you CANT carry it far, cause it is going to be a flextaxtic pile of crap.

Oh wait, its not a "laptop". Its a "mobile server". Riiiiiiiiight. Why BUYS these things, seriously?

Tags: craziness, eurocom, geek, notebook, work, xeon
Current Mood: amused

I know its all the rage for coeds to show skin these days, but come on.  It is really hard for me to intelligently explain your problem when you're waving your 38DDs in my face and are damned near trying to poke my eye out with a nipple. The view's nice and all, but not when I'm trying to actually work.

Current Mood: amused

Somebody just pointed me to this link of the Paladin of Shadows series by John Ringo. You too, will be shouting "OH JOHN RINGO NO" by the time you finish the review, likely several times.  Warning: the review is pretty graphic, so if things like graphic sex & violence offends you, then dont click it.

I've read all the books, and I enjoyed them in a "check your brain at the door" sort of way. I even told Ringo so in an email, and got a nicely worded thank you in reply.

Tags: fiction, kildar, oh john ringo no

So, we've got a GI Joe movie in the works, right? Apparently so. They're also doing a sequel to The Last Starfighter.

Yeah, you heard me right. One of the first feature films to use CGI is getting a sequel. Here's to hoping it doesnt suck too badly. I have my doubts.

But oh, to see a GunStar do a death blossom with modern rendering....

Tags: last starfighter, movies, the 80s

I had one of these come across my bench today, and I thought I'd share my impressions. Check behind the cut for details and pictures.



So, what did I think? Overall, I have to say this is a marked improvement in the build quality of Inspirons. The metal base makes the machines much less prone to flexing than previous models. The keyboard interface design is VERY nice (and the same as the Latitude prototype I was shown not too long ago). I cant say I care much for the styling. It seems too $BLING-y to me, but thats a matter of personal taste.  I didnt have the machine up for very long, so I'm not going to comment one way or the other on the quality of the display or lack thereof.

So if you need something large enough to land an F-14 on, you could make a worse choice.

Tags: dell, geek, inspiron 1720, work

This is a Yak-52TW. Its a new version of the old Yak-52, this time with a fully retractable conventional (thats "tail dragger" for those of you who dont speak airplane) landing gear, and a slightly beefer M-14 radial engine with a 3 blade prop.  It looks kinda like the CJ I posted earlier (and the normal Yak-52 looks even more like one) but they're very different planes. They just share design parents in common. The airframe is rated to a crazy number of gs, so you can do damned near whatever you want with it.

All for the fraction of the price of a "real" warbird.  Still more than I can afford, but I'm gonna try to find one somewhere semi-locally to get a ride in if I can. It ought to be really fun.

And If I was gonna build a kit plane, here's the plane it would be:



 
That, dear friends is a Griffon Aerospace Lionheart. It is based loosely on the 1930s vintage Beechcraft Staggerwing in its overall layout.  Its  construction, however, is all modern. Made of fiberglass and composite, the airframe is nice and strong, yet light. The landing gear is conventional, and the plane has an absolutely absurd range (to the tune of 1400 nautical miles or so). With a cruising speed of 210mph, you wont take all day getting there, either.  The engine spec'd for the kit is an oldie, but a goodie: the Pratt & Whitney R-985 radial engine, rated to roughly 450hp.

Its got style in spades. I like it.

Tags: aviation, lionheart, piston engine, radial, yak

Do NOT throw your 2 month old MacBook out of a window and let it fall down one story to the ground, then bring it to me with a shattered display and a seriously warped casing expecting a cheap magic fix. The unit is totaled, and AppleCare will not cover it. See if Mommy & Daddy will buy you a new one, kid.


So in short, MacBooks have the flight characteristics of a brick, but do bounce nicely. Once or twice, anyway.

Current Mood: amused

This is the Nanchang CJ-6A. Its a Chinese made 2 place trainer aircraft that was built in fairly large numbers starting in 1961. Its basically WW2 technology, and appears to be derived from a Yak design that the Chinese built under license.  Its powered by a very robust 285hp radial engine (which is good, because as we all know, Real Airplanes Have Round Engines). It has a top speed of just shy of 185mph, and decent range. Cost to get one imported from China with the bare minimums is something like $60k, and you can get one fully tricked out with lots of toys for around $100k. Still too rich for my blood, but you certainly couldn't touch a SNJ for that sum of money. But hey my birthday is in June. So y'all know what to get me.

The plane has become quite popular in Australia among Warbird enthusiasts due to its low cost, and is gaining popularity here in the states as well. So far I haven't found anybody on the east coast offering rides yet. But I'm still looking.

And in other aviation news. lordjosh2004 and I are making preliminary plans to get our Sport Pilot's licenses  next summer, provided we can find a place that offers an immersive training program.

Tags: nachang cj-6a, piston engine, radial, warbirds
Current Mood: interested

You really need to fix your materials selection for the Macbook.

No really, you do. You KNOW the palmrests on these machines are prone to splintering in the corners due to both the thinness and type of material used in their construction. You even have a program to cover replacing palmrests that are out of warranty due to this particular flaw.  So explain to me why I'm seeing this problem on BRAND NEW MACHINES? You guys just refreshed the model lines.  That new production machines STILL have this design flaw is inexcusable.

I hope every member of your mobile design team dies in a fire so you can hire a competent staff.

No love.

Me.

Tags: apple, asstastic design, geek, notebook, work