A recent trip to our local, relatively speaking, Borders entertainment outlet became the highlight of an otherwise depressingly commercial week. The friendly and knowledgeable staff, thoughtful displays, and aroma of freshly brewed coffee all added to the experience, but it was a discovery in the Gardening section that immediately put a smile on my face. I usually browse that particular section in most book retailers I visit. Gardening has always provided me a great deal of enjoyment, and I can't help but to learn as much as I can on the topic. It was while replacing a book concerning the use of natural stone in landscaping, that a certain word caught my eye- Cannabis. "Cannabis? Surely not", I thought to myself, but there it was; a growing guide detailing cultivation of that much maligned species. As brain finally was able to accept the presence of Cannabis Cultivation guides sitting on an open shelf in a corporate media retail outlet, other titles popped into awareness and dozens of books appeared. I couldn't help but to laugh. Try it for yourself- a search for "cannabis" in books at the Borders website returned 108 titles. I gurantee you most if not all will be on their shelves.

The Internet Explorer Development Blog informs site developers many IE-specific and aggravating CSS bugs will be fixed. Until then Microsoft developers recommend phasing out any hacks and workarounds. In the spirit of this bold proposal, I built the new USL Site Theme using no CSS hacks. Opera, Firefox and Netscape for Windows render the site quite well- I still have to work out a non-IE-specific Float Drop in the Content Edit pages.

As for Internet Explorer, don't bother. I mean that. The site is essentially unusable and just plain ugly. If you're curious, go ahead and try, but I won't take responsibility for any aggrivation incurred if you attempt serious navigation. Once you're using a browser with non-farked CSS 2 support, you should see a Front Page currently set to display User Blogs and a variety of links arrayed in Four Columns. On pages requiring room for a large table of data, like the Fora, the Third Column will disappear. Aside from any minor theme changes, keep an eye out for some updates to the news aggregator- I'll be pulling and adding sources. The reason will be made clear soon enough.

For those of you with an interest in Internet-based radio and television programming, try GBStv on for size. On right now:

Anime Music Video Hell 3: The Movie A series of rather actually funny "sketches" of music very well layed over anime.

Pure entertainment. Watch it. I command it.

Photovore09 recently recommended Art Crimes; a portal for international graffiti art and urban culture websites. The organization is a bit haphazrd by modern web standards, but the art displayed is excellent, and the sheer amount of it makes the digging worthwhile.

Petco's fish weren't the healthiest specimens, but Mel bought an Apple Snail, a Betta and nine Neon Tetras on Tuesday. At last count this morning, 5 of the neons have died. We've narrowed down the cause to a gill disease probably stemming from stress; it seems that the popularity of the tetra is leading to over breeding and subsequently a general lack of hardiness. Petco does have a guarantee, but we've only been able to recover three of the fish corpses; our snail seems to be 'magnetically' attracted to dead fish and ravenously feasts on the bodies, leaving naught but a few chunks of bone or fin. Regular treatments of a broad-spectrum antibiotic should cure the tank.

Also on Tuesday- roadside Bonsai. That's right- we found a Japanese dude selling Juniper Bonsai from a van on a roadside corner across the street from Petco in the parking lot of an abandoned Blimpie. I got a 7 year old, well-formed tree for only $25! He also had bottles of specialized fertilizer for sale- two for $5.50. rad.

We've spent the last two weeks preparing for and attending art bazaars. We've tried farmers' markets in the past, but we would only make enough to cover entry costs. Our booth at the Valley Junction Art Festival proved much more lucrative; we pulled in over $400. Even after taxes we'll cover the entry costs, new displays and canopy. With luck the 2005 Fall For Urbandale Open Market on Saturday, October 1st will go as well; fortunately for us, people have been buying small gift items and we have a large stockpile.

We aren't expecting the same level of turnout for the FFU Open Market, but we are guessing people will be buying the same kind of items. That means less time in front of the lathe creating more expensive bowls and more time spent tracking inventory and updating our online catalog, but I really don't mind the work as it trains me to think about our work as a business instead of an excuse to spend time in the shop.

Speaking of the which, our basement workspaces were entirely overdue for cleaning and organization; I had to make room for a new lathe, and Mel rescued her studio from stacks of old papers and boxes of junk. All in all we've probably hauled a dozen full garbage sacks of crap out of the two rooms; it's amazing how much useless detritus people shove into odd corners and cabinets. And that's just the garbage; we've already hauled four full truck loads of stuff to Goodwill. I know we've been guilty of the same packrat behavior, but at least Mel and I ditch our stuff relatively regularly. I don't know how many decades of debris was represented in the heaps we've extracted. With the debris cleared and tools in place, work with the new lathe could begin in earnest and in a few days I had stacks of new bowls and platters ready for sale. All the effort has definitely proved worthwhile; I'm much more productive with a better machine and more efficient surroundings.

The Minnesota Renaissance Festival is quite the affair. Tradition demands we; Holly, Jerrod, Bret, Cory, Melanie and I; attended the event in costume- as pirates- Arrrr! I find that going in full regalia definitely adds to the experience; I mean, how can one truly appreciate the fun of a ren-fest without a bit of immersion. Wearing your favorite Nascar t-shirt and baseball cap indicate a desire for isolation- at least I feel that way. I understand that a ren-fest is something truly spectacular, but why go just to gawk when you can join in? And doesn't it make sense to dress properly for your activity of choice? After all, you don't wear a tuxedo to the beach do you? It doesn't even require that much effort to look "peasantly".

Shopping was also quite fun. Mel purchased a wood mug with strap and cap, while I bought several smaller items- a mug cap, walking stick, chainmail bracelet and a new leather wallet. We found a few wonderful pottery studios, one from What Cheer Iowa. Mel and I got a pair of tiny condiment bowls from them. We definitely plan on a visit to their studio in the future.

Yes indeed, Mel and I went back for another round of fair action Sunday evening. We had to retrieve my contest entries anyway, so we arrived early to take in more of the insanity that is the Iowa State Fair. More jam was purchased, as it is extremely delicious, pork burgers consumed and, to our hearts' dismay, so was a batter-dipped deep-fried Snickers Candy Bar. Thankfully, Mel and I split a single greasy, sugary bar- I don't think I could have handled an entire "Scottish Confection". Yup, those wacky Scots sure do enjoy batter and hot oil.

We also caught a bit of Vocal Trash- "Designed to combine tight vocal harmonies with the grit of "Street Instruments", Vocal Trash delivers a unique blend of Oldies, Rock and Roll with contemporary beats, to achieve a sound not soon forgotten by spectators young and old." Sure, it may be a little cheesy or hokey, but I can't deny the group's musical talent; their beats were tight and fast, and the vocal work excellent. Granted, they play a clean, family-oriented show, but they provided energy, vitality and rhythm normally lacking from such performances.

Windiz Update provides an alternative update service for users of Microsoft operating systems. Quoting their list of reasons to use the service:

• No personally identifiable information is collected from your computer.
• No more unwanted spyware -- Microsoft Internet Explorer can finally be removed from your computer (if that were possible).
• It lists just the updates you need. If an update has been superceded by a newer one, it will not ask you to install the older one.
• Using enhanced data from MSBA, WindizUpdate will find more security patches needed for your O/S than the "other" website.
• If there is a security issue with a component that you have not got installed, it will not ask you to update it. For example, if you have not installed hyperterminal, it will not update it.
• It is not restricted to just Microsoft products. Software from other vendors can also be updated.
• Upgrading to the latest version of Internet Explorer is not considered a Critical Update!
• Works on Windows versions no longer supported by Microsoft -- Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 95
• Our plugin is not an ActiveX control.
• Integrated download manager with error detection -- you can cancel downloads at any time, and the next time you wish to install the cancelled update, it will continue from where it left off. Only corrupted sections of the file are redownloaded.

Sounds great to me, so I gave it a shot, and yes, it seems to work just fine. Site functionality is excellent and the interface is familiar. That said, this service caters to non-IE users; Mozilla Firefox 0.9.3, Netscape 4.0, Mozilla Firebird 0.7, Opera 5 and K-Meleon 0.9 are supported. Of course, this does eliminate yet another excuse for using IE. I personally know a few people that still cling to IE because certain sites, espcially Windows Update, require it's use.

Mel and I hit the state fair this past Saturday; it was busy as hell. Full parking lots turned away drivers early in the afternoon, and the grounds were just as packed with fair-going folks. We made a beeline for the Cultural Center as I decided to submit a couple of entries for judging- an enclosed form bowl turned from Catalpa with Silver Maple inlay, and a scrollwork Buddha made from solid Cherry. We wound our way through the crowds and up to the second floor of the Center, our lust for competition results aching for fulfillment. We did not expect our Buddha to place, and indeed that was the case; wildlife and other traditional scrollsaw patterns usually take top honors. We did, however, expect to place with the bowl; everyone who had seen it was rather impressed. We managed to take second place, and as a first time competitor new to the world of bowl turning, I am rather proud of that.

Other wanderings included a visit to the Swine and Cattle Barns to gaze upon the gigantic forms of the "Big Boar" and "Super Bull". The bull weighed 2,996 pounds; the boars nearly 2,000. Absolutely incredible.

No visit to the State Fair would be complete without sampling the "cuisine"; in this case corn dogs, pizza, funnel cakes, beef jerky and roasted soy beans. We aso bought some Spring valley Honey and Clear Creek Orchard Wild Plum Jam; which I must say is absolutely delicious. We've eaten half the pint jar already.

It was an adventure for sure, and we plan on going back for more Firday evening; this time we're going with friends, so it should be even more entertaining.

Mel and I went to Return of Zod last Saturday, and I must say, it was hella fun. Event photos of course can be found online at ubersonic; I'd have my own to post, but alas I forgot the memory card for my "digi-cam". On a brighter note, Mel and I did score a Zod themed apron, perfect for grilling and other cookery. Musical highlights included Photovore09 who rolled in from Minneapolis to spin a bangin' ghetto-tech set, and forcedperfect assaulting the stage with breakcore live PA. Of course, I must mention my good friend D3F1L3 who will be crossing the ocean to the land down under. I wish him him well as he embarks on amazing Australian adventures.

The venue was a privately owned chunk 'o' riverside property near Iowa City. The owners gave us the evil eye as we pulled in, but that aside, the vibe was generally quite positive- it's hard to go wrong with a few dozen party kids camping next to a river. The geodesic dome I helped Hoeken build was in full effect; I'm actually rather impressed with that homebrew project. Since camping was involved this meant fire, and being the pyro I am, the first order of business was inspecting fire pits for hot coals. I managed to resurrect one fire and used that to build a new one at our campsite.

Musically, personally, spatially; the party was quite good. My only real complaint was one shared by Mel- the music was incessant. We were simply unable to sleep through the unrelenting and life-suckingly mediocre house music blaring through the dawn hours. It was so bad that we almost left the party without saying goodbye to our friends- even Jake who is leaving for Australia. This particular problem gave me serious doubts about attending similar outdoor events; I need sleep too much- I just can't function without it. In contrast, I did attend Blueshift last summer, and at that event there were blissful breaks in the music for sleep.

Unforunately I won't be able to make Blueshift 2 this year, but that's perfectly acceptable- I need to complete my transition to Des Moines. At any rate, I'm lending a hand with party decorations. In this case it is plywood robot silhouettes in fitting with the ubersonic tent robot theme.

Yup, those are plywood robots.

Building implosions seem to be a rather festive affair; we came across families, grills, pets and press while biking outside the day-glo orange plastic barrier at the Towers Implosion. The local and regional outlets are covering the event with mobile satellite units and "chopper" mounted cameras. Videos can be found at the WOI-TV website; they even have a special content section titled "Misson: Implosion". Naturally, with all of the excitement, I am inclined to offer my own images of the implosion. To that extent I am looking through the photos fresh from the digi-cam, and will post some pics later this evening. Speaking of pics, I realize most of the images are broken. The new Image Module for Drupal 4.6 doesn't seem to recognize the old files, so I will probably have to remove all the old nodes and create new ones.

Now you can enjoy the Towers Implosion Experience in glorious full color.

Implosion Sequence

Aftermath

Panoramas

All photos by

Brian Johnson except "Implosion Aftermath 00 & 01" by Stephen MacDonell. Photos taken with an HP PhotoSmart 215.

Today I attempted securing an enployment opportunity at the West Des Moines Best Buy; what a waste of my time. Melanie spotted an ad for their "Job Fair" and I decided that it might be worth checking out. I submitted to their online application forms, and upon arrival at the store, I was informed that I had filled out an application for the wrong store location and would have to contact the wrong store for employment opportunites. As the wrong store was on the other side of Des Moines, I decided that it would be far simpler to re-apply for the correct store. Thirty minutres later I returned to the "Job Fair" and informed them of my re-application; this time I didn't for a second interview. Translation: we're too lazy or lost in pointless formality to actually talk to face to face as adults conducting polite professional conversation. I probably spent less than a minute inside of the store and over ninety minutes filling out online forms and battling traffic. At this point I am willing to wait for their return call, but I have serious doubts about working with such a unknowledgable and inhuman staff.

Shop activity has been at an impressive level this week. Adam and Becky comissioned a bed frame; sleeping on the floor became tiresome. The materials employed are decidedly modern folk-art; dimensional pine lumber and galvanized steel hadware. While the structure is desk-esque, my minimal design makes good use of the materials; low clean lines, eposed hardware and linseed oil finish with a satin luster prevents the bed from looking imposing or blocky. Aside from the asthetic goodness, I'm finally receiving payment for my work. What I earn will contribute to my bandsaw fund. That, in turn, will allow me to more efficiently process turning stock. People seem to want bowls. The lathe stand is still pending, but I think I should take the time to build it. I need a sturdier platform for turning larger bowls.

This blog entry comes to you via my "new" Fujitsu Lifebook. It has a wicked hot K6-2 450 CPU and 192 MB of RAM. While it's not spectacular, it is more than enough to handle text-editing; and that's all I use to create and surf my sites. I have to head down to Des Moines tomorrow morning for a Des Moines Music Coalition web meeting. I am looking forward to what should be a productive meeting. The DMMC site is Mambo-based; a good CMS, but the module/component updates are few and far between. The event calendar is especially important for our site, but it is woefully database inefficient and produces poorly structured html output. I am extremely tempted to build something better- integration with a venue/artist directory would be sweet.

I've been busy in the shop, as seems to be the usual lately. Currently, I am putting together a bed frame for my friends Adam and Becky. The money I receive for labor should pay for a good portion of a new bandsaw. I definitely need access to a bandsaw full-time if I keep buying stacks of turning stock. I'm also thinking of taking a part-time job at the Woodsmith Store's Garden Center. It pays $10/hour, which isn't bad at all. Just depends on the number of hours they want. I can swing 15 or less.

Street Art Goes Global, Online - The Wooster Collective website is fast becoming the place to showcase graffiti (the good stuff) and street art from around the world. By Rachel Metz. Wired - Culture

Wooster Collective There are some fantastic pieces exhibited on the site. Treat yourself to delicious eye-candy.

A new version of Drupal has been released, and that means I'll be updating the site. There are a buttload of changes, so the site will be down for some time while I install the new system and associated modules. Changes in the 4.6.0 release can be found here.

So far, the shop reorganization project is going well. Mel picked up a copy of Jim Tolpin's "Working at Woodworking" and it has been extraordinarily helpful. Developing an efficient workflow plan was my first challenge and I've been shuffling tools, benches to fit this new layout. I constructed a beefy yet mobile lumber rack to hold my raw materials and purchased the supplies I'll need to build a mobile lathe stand with integrated tool and accessory storage. Space is limited so the shop must be reconfigurable.

2) The project must be well-planned. I have to have a sequence of steps that must be carried out so I can configure the shop layout accordingly.

3) Organization- A place for every thing and everything in its place. I have to be more diligent when it comes to keeping all my stuff in place. It will be much easier to keep my space clean and to keep it flexible if the shop is neat and tidy. I definitely have more planning and much more work to do, but I think it will be worth the effort to "professionalize" my shop space.

It's been a while since my last entry and I am regretting it. The past couple of weeks have definitely been interesting and of course, there is much to report. I guess I should start with shop news. I delved further into the world of bowl turning, and so far it has been quite the education. I have been experimenting with green wood turning, and while I love this technique, it has one major drawback; the wood cracks and splits terribly if it isn't properly cured. I have been searching for curing methods beyond the old-skool hit-or-miss and lengthy process of "controlled" air-curing.

I've tried microwave curing and it seems to work fairly well, but the results are definitely inconsistent as the timing and power levels must be inferred based on wood species and size of the piece. I've had good luck with walnut, but my recently harvested honey locust seems to require an increased cooking time due to it's higher density. A definite advantage of the microwave techinique is that it kills fungus and insects; both serious issues when selecting recently felled timber from wood piles.

Another classic curing method is to soak the rough piece or blank in PEG (polyethelyne glycol) which chemically "dries" the wood. Evidently this method works well, but PEG is rather costly at tens of dollars per gallon. I did a bit of searching online, and discovered a very promising alternative- concentrated dishwashing detergent. The detergent seems to do the same job of displacing water in the wood as PEG, but it is far less dollar intensive and reports indicate beneficial wood condiditioning properties. In addition, the process of rough turning, soaking, finish turning and finishing can be accomplished in one full shop day. Fantastic! I think a combination of microwaving (to kill "bugs") and soaking should produce the results I seek- a cheap, quick way to condition and stabilize turning stock.

** EDIT **

We picked up a 90 ounce bottle of dish washing detergent this afternoon, and whipped up a batch of 3:1 water to soap solution. A few test pieces are soaking now, and we'll se how things turn out. I suspect we should up the amount of soap in the mixture, but we'll see what happens. After all, the only advice I've seen on the process recommends a 1:1 ratio, but that comes without any observations or experimentation to support it. That said, there are factors that will affect my current test. Some of the pieces are rough turned and have been air-drying. Others are finish-turned and have been insufficiently microwave cured. My goal is simply to stabilize the wood to prevent further degredation.

Mel picked up "The Natural paint Book"; we tested a few natural finishes for our woodcraft items. A paste made from beeswax and turpentine produced excellent results; the finish was smooth and satiny. Staining with tea and iron acetate worked like a charm. However, our beet dye didn't perform very well. We'll try steeping larger amounts of vegetable matter. I also have some Paduk sawdust from a turning project; it should make good dye. I've also been hunting down a food safe finish for my bowls. Mineral oil and beeswax is one option, but I am a bit leary of using a petroleum product. 'Tried and True Wood Finishes' has a line of food safe, solvent free, oil-based finishes that look promising. Also found during the hunt for color- Sinopia. It's a nice site, and they have tons of bulk pigments for sale- handy for making custom finishes and paints.

You can find just about everything on eBay- even high quality, reasonably priced wood turning blanks. Melanie bought a couple chunks of Boxelder. The red coloration is commonly thought to be caused by the infection of the fungus Fusarium reticulatum; however, recent research indicates that the staining seems to result from non-specific wounding, mechanical or otherwise. Considering the rapid growth rate and short life span, it seems to me that growing Boxelder in a managed setting could make it a rather lucrative tree- especially if the red staining considered to be desirable could be encouraged manually.

Anyway, I bought a chuck so I could try my hand at bowl turning. The process facinates me and I can't wait to try it out. To that extent, when Grizzly backordered the chuck, I canceled the order and hopped over to eBay. I'll probably order from the Grizzly catalog in the future; their customer service was prompt and friendly, and the prices are low. lab notes:

Build Your Own TV Without Broadcast Flags - doom writes "An account of an event sponsored by the EFF, a "roll your own television" build-in. The San Francisco Bay Guardian has coverage in an article entitled Build Your TV!". From the article: "According to the FCC, the flag is going to ease the nation's transition from today's analog televisions to tomorrow's high-definition televisions. What exactly does it mean for a government agency to "ease" the transition from one kind of TV signal to another? In this case, it seems to mean making the entertainment industry feel very warm and fuzzy inside." The EFF's efforts against the flag have been covered before on Slashdot. SlashDot.org Damn, I almost missed the boat on this one- totally forgot about the broadcast flag. Looks like it may be time to save up for a new tuner card and get back into Linux. That's the problem with using Windows- stagnant software keeps you blind to the ever-evolving digital world.

Local food 'greener than organic' - Buying locally produced food is even more important for the environment than buying organic, a report says. BBC - Sci/Nature Iowa seems to be doing a pretty good job of encouraging such trends. The Horticlutre & Farmers' Markets Bureau, The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Practical Farmers of Iowa and other organizations are definitely pushing hard for a greener and more economically viable ag industry in Iowa. I think the real issue, though, is convincing consumers and large distributors that buying local is better. That said, I have been noticing postive changes at large grocery chains like Hy-Vee in the past few years. Localy produced dairy, eggs, meats, honey, vegetables and fruits are sold along side interstate imports. Now while this is definitely progress in the right direction, I think the best solution is still a large-scale network of farmers' markets; big box retail of any type is simply inefficient. I guess in the end, sustainable agriculture and greener food production and distribution is a matter of consumer education.

New Vulnerabilities Discovered in Firefox 1.0 - jflint writes "Today, the security firm Secunia has released 8 more security vulnerabilities it has discovered in Mozilla products, including Firefox and Thunderbird. The exploits "could be used by criminals to spoof, or fake, various aspects of a Web site, ranging from its SSL secure site icon to the contents of an inactive tab."" SlashDot.org Swing on by the Firefox release page to pick up a copy of 1.0.1, and be sure to check back for updates/security fixes. Looks 1.0.1 covers the spoofing issues mentioned in this article.

Last night we watched Legend of the Wu-Tang Clan starring Jet-Li; a fantastical movie; simply amazing. The action was fast-paced and well choreographed- even the camera work and dialogue was rather intense. This film has definitely earned a spot on my all time favorite kung-fu movie list. That said, the subtitles were washed out for a good portion of the film, but they didn't fully elucidate the subtle nuances of the plot anyway, considering the rapid-fire nature of the dialogue. My only real complaint is the obviously degraded quality of the master used to produce this particular DVD. After all, the movie was originally released in 1993 so there is no reason for washed-out color and film jitter.

Global blogger action day called - The web blog community is calling for bloggers worldwide to lend support to two imprisoned Iranian web diarists. BBC - Tech The Committee to Protect Bloggers has some interesting articles. Honestly though, I was expecting much more traffic on the site; especially after the BBC coverage. To me it is interesting to see the current rise of the "blog". I mean, the concept really isn't new at all- people have been using the web as a repository for journal or diary like blurbs for quite some time. All that was required for the viral growth of blogs was the removal of the technical hurdles; thanks to a variety of sites such as Blogger.com; and the application of a catchy/sexy/saavy name like "blog". In the end, blogging is good for the Internet and its users; after all, blogging is helping to bring about some homogonization of document structure and greater adherance to standards thanks to RSS feeds and other forms of syndication. Other blog sites of note: Dave Barry Wil Wheaton Collaboration Cafe The Agonist

Mars pictures reveal frozen sea - A huge, frozen sea lies just below the surface of Mars, a team of European scientists announces. BBC - Sci/Nature The interpretation is based on images taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on Europe's Mars Express spacecraft. These show extensive fields of large, platy features - reminiscent of the fractured ice floes found in polar regions on Earth. Rad. There seems to be mounting evidence for large amounts of sub-surface water on Mars. Combined with observations of fluctuating metahne levels in the atmosphere, out chances of finding life or evidence of past life on Mars seem increasingly likely. Exciting times.

I recently fell in love with Drupal's news aggregator system. I've feeds form SciFi.com, DesmoinesMC.com, SlashDot.org, Wired.com, Space.com and the BBC News. I'll be adding more feeds and at some point will probably categorize ultrasciencelabs growing list of syndicated news. Additionaly, Drupal features a "blog-it" option for registered users; this allows you to post a blog entry that automatically places the content from the RSS feed, a link to the story and it's title into a personal blog entry for discussion. I extended that feature further by adding a "discuss content in forum" link that does the same- only with a forum entry. The accumulation of news feeds in addition to the breadth of submission topics required a re-working of the fora. I added a number of new categories, the list of which will grow and change as the site matures.

From Space.com WASHINGTON -- A pair of NASA scientists told a group of space officials at a private meeting here Sunday that they have found strong evidence that life may exist today on Mars, hidden away in caves and sustained by pockets of water. What Stoker and Lemke have found, according to several attendees of the private meeting, is not direct proof of life on Mars, but methane signatures and other signs of possible biological activity remarkably similar to those recently discovered in caves here on Earth. Such a find would of course be fantastic, albeit not terribly surprising. Scientists on our own dynamic world have found life in the most inhospitable places- from volcanic vents to the blackest depths of our oceans.

We definitely needed a diversifeid portfolia of fora. Topics ranging the gamut of geekery have been submitted, and we'll add new categories as necessary. Be sure to post forum topic suggestions in the "bug reporting & suggestions" forum.

Well, I finally took the time to update the looks and layout a bit; if only I would do the same for my project logs... one thing at a time, I guess. The forums may need a little tuning yet, but overall I think the site is looking much better- be sure to let me know if it is teh s uck- constructive criticism is always welcome. In other news, I am in the process of adding some news feeds; check "news feeds" in the top menu, or the "DesMoinesMC.com" block in the left menu. Rock.

NOVA, the science-based PBS TV program has a new site "scienceNOW". Definitely a good resource if you enjoy learning. Show clips, transcripts, interviews, recommended reading are all available online. Cutting edge science and tech on the air 5 times a year as a magazine series- looks pretty promising.

Much like RoboCop (minus the armor, weapons, and surly cyborg disposition), Sega Toys brings the world the "Near Me"- a furry robotic cat. Story courtesy 3-yen. The Near Me (playing on the sound “nya", which is the Japanese for “meow” and sounds like to “near") is a furry cat robot that could almost pass for a real life (but kinda stupid) kitty. Cost? 35,000 yen ~ $350 US.

Listening to Talk of Iowa this morning revealed Sony, IBM and Toshiba have formally presented the inner workings of their 'Cell' microprocessor at the International Solid State Circuits Conference. 8 cores, 10 instructions per cycle, it's been tested with operating systems, it will be the heart of Sony's Playstation 3, and it will debut at speeds OVER 4GHz. Recommended Reading: Cell Architechture Expalined More Details: InformationWeek The Register

Wooden Mirror Wow.

Floppy the Robot I was digging through my ancient bookmarks and found this. I may have to experiment- after all, I do have a pile of dead floppy drives.

Heavy Pie sent this to me last night: purepwnage check out the episodes.... I can dance all day! I can dance all day! BOOM! HEADSHOT! hilarious. I sincerely hope you know nobody that are like this. FPS Doug... lol. freakin' lol. From purepwnage: My roommate Jeremy is a "pro gamer" that pwns everybody. If you play video games, you have probably been pwned by him. If not, chances are you soon will be. The life of a pro gamer is often a challenge since your talents are rarely appreciated. I've watched the first three episodes so far, and I must say it's pretty damn entertaining. I will have to put up a banner.

I've been reading up on the proper methodology for sharpening my turning tools, and the recent warm weather has given my the opportunity to apply that research. I re-ground, honed and polished my skews, spidle gouges, and roughing gouge. The medium-grit wheel on my bench grinder was perfect for re-shaping the cutting edges, and my 120/220 combination oil stone was all I needed to hone the tools to razor sharpness. Built-up resin was quickly polished away with a buffing wheel and tripoli compound. Of course, all this work wasn't just for fun; I was handed some interesting turning blanks in the fall and I've been fiending to chuck them into the lathe. My mom requested a pair of padauk candlesticks, there are a couple chunks of camphor burl, a piece of english walnut, and two myrtle burl bowl blanks. Needless to say, enough stock to keep me in turnery projects for some time.

At some point I would like USL to serve as a community site for central Iowa modders/geeks. I'm reaching out to the community in search of an appropriate mission statement.

Most of you probably know orbiting debirs is posing an increasingly serious problem for future space missions. Here’s the heavenly clutter count as of December 29, 2004. There were 9,233 objects large enough to be tracked and catalogued by the USSTRATCOM Space Surveillance Network. Of this total there were 2,927 payloads, along with 6,306 object classed as rocket bodies and debris. That’s the stats as listed in the January issue of The Orbital Debris Quarterly News, issued by the NASA Johnson Space Center Orbital Debris Program Office in Houston, Texas. That's a whole lot of fast-moving crap. In other news, researchers managed to find a little more of the universe's missing matter. The new observations, by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, reveal two huge intergalactic clouds of diffuse hot gas. These clouds are the best evidence yet that a vast cosmic web of hot gas contains the long-sought missing matter, scientists said Wednesday.

I was on the hunt for a better theme system for Drupal last night, and my research led me to phpTemplate. It's a flexible and straightforward system for site theme creation and customization, and I found a handy template set with all the Drupal visual features enabled, like user avatars (which I like), based on this engine. Now all I have to do is incorporate my old Chameleon based design into the phpTemplate engine.

I decided to move the case mod work logs from the forum to the Drupal book system. I have some ancient work logs that deserve resurrection, and it seems to be a lot easier to add them a page at a time as a book. You can browse what I have so far by clicking the "books" link in the top menu. Check back for updates if you are into the whole work blog thing. In other news, I am on the hunt for new polls. Add suggestions if you're inclined. Also, the "geek news" could use some more content; if you have some interesting news to share, drop me a line. Crimminy Shit Buckets!

Most of the people I know, when asked, would declare Des Moines to be a pretty crappy city. I completely disagree. As far as cities in Iowa go, it probably has teh most potential. True, it has a no dancing after 2am law, yes, they are spending far too much money on an Events Center that doesn't have any parking (as far as I or my friends can tell), and sure, it's in Iowa- Iowa for chrissake. I argue that it doesn't take a lot of effort to find cool shit in Des Moines, though- very little in fact; but we live in a country full of people spoon fed information from birth, so open wide, y'all... My girfriend, Melanie, lives in Urbandale, a DSM suburb. Her friend Nikki and Nikki's finace Alan flew in from Atlanta this weekend for a wedding, so I drove down for a visit. They came in late Thrusday night and had to attend the wedding on Friday, but we all had a chance to get together for fun on Saturday before they had to catch a flight back Sunday morning. After a hearty breakfast of Frech Toast, we went for coffee at Zanzibar's Coffee Adventure; fan-freakin'-tastic. Alan bought four pounds of beans for his brother. Why? Atlanta has crap for good coffee. That's right, folks, Des Moines has better coffee than Atlanta. After that, Nikki had to get a sandwich from Manhattan Deli just down the street. Aside from offering kick ass sandwiches, the brownies rock, and the egg sald comes highly recommended. And the crew behind the counter? They're the same cats that worked here when Nikki was coming here for lunch- and they looked the same... fountain of youth in deli form? Anyway, after lunch 2, we went downtown for a little window shopping. First up, Projects for some modern furniture coolness. The gear is hella tight, but the prices are definitely not for the faint of heart. However, Alan and I, as designers/craftsmen found a lot of creative inspiration, so it was definitely a worthwhile visit. After recovering from the sticker shock, we went to Gong Fu Tea - 118 teas, tons of tea pots, and slick decor. They have zojirushi electric dispensing pots, too. After oogling the kick-butt decor at Gong Fu, we cruised over to the Botanical Center for a little greenery. The orchids are flowering and the coffee trees are putting on buds. The cacti flowered earlier in the winter so they're looking a little bedraggled, but the tropicals are growing like mad. One of these days I'll have to check out the River Walk Cafe. By this time we were absolutely famished so it was time for sushi at Taki. Fortunately we got there just as they were opening so we missed the supper rush- I guess the place is regularly packed. Mel, Alan, and I ordered a big-ass pile of maki rolls and some nigiri zushi- it totally kicked ass. The unagi was super tasty. Nikki ordered vegetable tempura; the batter was fantastic and the presentation was superb. All in all, a wonderful meal. The next time I go there for supper I will have to try their teppanyaki. Bellies full of vinegared rice and fish, we met up with Nikki's parents at the Embassy Suites downtown. After grabbing some free drinks from the bar (happy hour rocks!), we chatted with the 'rents for bit, and were inevitably invited to dinner at The Latin King. While we waiting for the reservation we donned our swim-clothes and bopped on down to the hot-tub; an all-to-brief visit to the hot tub, but wonderful none the less. The Latin King is pretty cool. We had a drink at the bar while waitng for our table, Boulevard Wheat on tap for me. The food was tasty, the atmosphere was pretty good, and we had a ton of fun. After supper 2, we went back downtown for martinis at The Lift. If you're looking for a stiff drink, try Frank's Dirty; vodka, olive juice, olives. A big glass of olive-flavored vodka. The S&M is super sweet- think liquified Jolly Ranchers. The Cosmo is tasty; sweet, but not overly so, and sour. I want to say we had a Cran Apple, too, but after three and a half martini's in a couple of hours, things get a little fuzzy. The music was some house brought to you by some house DJ's, and the bar was packed to the gills- right up to closing. We abandoned ship when the bartenders started cranking up the lights. Sunday morning came far too early. Atlanta was under the gun of a nasty ice storm and Alan and Nikki had to call the folks to track down another flight. In the meantime, her parents invited us to brunch at Jimmy's American Cafe. The food was good- if you knew what to get. Mel ordered a Belgian waffle that was definitely sub-mediocre; it wasn't even warm enough to melt the butter. I had the steak and eggs, which I thnk was the best value on the breakfast menu. I ordered my steak rare, and the 6oz sirloin arrived tender, juicy and bloody. The eggs over-easy were just right, the potatoes were awesome, and I got 4 pieces of toast for dippig in the yolks- all for $11. The potatoes and toast (or roll) were $2 sides if you ordered a different breakfast.

My projects had been wallowing in neglect the past few months. The elite machine had been in desperate need of a hardware and cosmetic upgrade, and the Dragon was partially disassembled, gathering dust on a shelf. After recently overhauling my room and work area, I realized I couldn't afford to have my mods sitting around serving no useful purpose other than holding down carpet. I started with the elite machine. The hardware upgrade included a new Super Socket 7 baby AT mobo, and this necessitated the fabrication of a new motherboard tray. I reworked the cables; even taking the time to disassemble the power supply and neatly wrap the power cables. I re-routed the rope light and now the side panel emits a nice glow once again. The dragon was a bit trickier. After a few years of recording audio at live events, a layer of dust and fog-machine film had coated the system inside and out. I stripped the machine down to the chassis and gave all the components a good cleaning. The years of smoke and dust had really done a number on the wood elements as well, so I gave all those components a fresh coat of oil finish to restore their luster. I straightened out the rat's nest of power cables and reconnected the long-missing CCFL. I upgraded the CPU last summer and this required a heat sink upgrade, but I hadn't had the time to integrate the new cooling fan into the case. With the modifications for that out of the way, I added high-brightness LEDs behind the dragon scrollwork on the CD-RW; I think that update made the biggest visual impact of the cosmetic upgrades. Just before I undertook the upgrade process, I had posted old photos of the cases to drum up a little traffic for the site at hardforum.com, [H]ardOCP's community website. I was using the thread to track my work on the cases, and a few days after posting the original Dragon photos I received a PM from the editor of the largest PC magazine in China: hello! I am the Chinese editor working for the biggest PC hard ware magazine (www.microcomputer.com) and i want to print your DRAGON case on our mag. I need u supply the full-size pics and 1000words my ICQ:3*******0 my MSN: *******@163.com my E-mail: ****@cniti.com best wishes! looking forward your reply! At first I was understandably skeptical, after all, I'm just some dude in the middle of Iowa, but it turned out to be on the level and I'm pretty excited about the prospect of having my work in a widely read publication. I consider it to be a pretty big honor as it puts my work in the same league as the cats from bit-tech.net, and they are "teh a wesome".

What a week. The last few days were a blur of computer parts, boxes, and bins. I've been rummaging through my assorted stacks of used components. The piles were overgrowing my workspaces, and this, of course, necessitated some pruning. Thank you eBay! If any of you are looking for some older hardware, I've got a pile posted for sale; my eBay ID is bruce42_saiyaman. There's stuff from Socket3 motherboards to a couple of VooDoo3 video cards. Testing all that hardware was a pain, but I think a day or two spent babysitting a test bench was worth it. It's forcing me to organize and focus on finishing projects instead of collecting junk; and as a bonus, the money generated from parts sales should provide the capital for new, better projects.

The next step is selling some custom cases. Time for shameless self-promotion- if you are interested in custom gear, contact me at bruce42@ultrasciencelabs.com. I specialize in modding and upgrading old gear; I like hacking apart old stuff as opposed to just buying a bunch of factory pap online, throwing it together and calling it a "case mod". How can it be a case mod if you didn't mod anything?

I found this fantastic wooden case while digging through the Hard Forums. I like wooden cases, but it is rare to find one that is so well done. My current work-rig is a plain-jane Enlight 7237; it's sturdy as hell, but all that hardcore steel needs some de-beigeification. Wood, stone and steel would be a nice combo, but I have yet to come up with a design I like.

As old as PC mods get :: Custom ELF kit Turns out that the IMASI PC featured in "Wargames" starring Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy was a mod :: @ imsai.net ** UPDATES ** > 12-29-2006 + links verified active + merged with "WarGames IMSAI"

Been working for the Des Moines Music Coalition desmoinesmusiccoalition.com for the past two months. They've kept me pretty busy, but I think the site is finally coming together nicely. Nothing thrilling to report from the labs, otherwise.