Farsong Blog-o-Matic

Here are the haps, my friends:

Monday:
• Left my cell phone on the bus. Freak out for about ten minutes, then fret for another twenty before meeting the bus on its way back and claiming said phone from the driver.
• Noted that the laptop-end of the AC/DC adapter/power supply was unusually warm, and more kinked than remembered. Also: kind of melty.

Tuesday:
• Noted that the kink in the wire, where it enters the laptop plug, was not just warm, but more hot and melty. Predicted failure the next day.
• Noted that the topcase (keyboard, trackpad, and palmrest) has cracked more. Decide to look into repair, Friday, after presentation for which laptop is needed.

Wednesday:
• Woke up to find that the laptop-side plug was behaving erratically, 12h ahead of schedule at least. Decide to wait until Thursday afternoon to see about replacing it, and steal borrow father's MacBook Pro's power supply if needed. Disconnect laptop and take it with.
• Return with a 30% charge, plug in the laptop, dick around on the internet for a few minutes before noting "OH SHIT IT'S SPARKING AND SMOKING!" Quickly unplug it, grab a MacBook Pro adapter, and inspect the plug. Large holes in the plastic sheath. Welp, looks like it's time to replace it.
• Go find local apple-care place. Get replacement power supply, get topcase ordered, chat about how the topcase replacement will take 30 min tops, and about how it's a pain to open iBooks. Will return Friday to replace the topcase when it comes in. Leave with shiny, new power supply which should not have the design flaws of the Rev b Magsafe power adapters.


Basically, that's as bad as it gets for me + tech. I mention it not because I'm complaining, but because I find life really amusing. If it's software, I can usually fix it.

I think something needs to be done to counteract the grumpyness caused by the last posting. Since the unicorn chaser is mostly a boingboing thing, I found this instead. Cool free things on the inter-webs.

The Secret Life of Machines. Probably my favourite show when I was about six (apparently geekyness manifests at a young age).

[anyway, via mental_floss]

First, in regards to the current status, I'm still looking for a job but I haven't found a job (It's like that Smiths song, except I'm not actually miserable). Additionally, I've been putting together The List. It's the list that anyone who cares remotely about music makes at the end of each year. I'll give you a sneak-peak: there are fewer than ten entries on the List.

I'm also working on another thing, but I don't want to give that story away. Plus, it's not even finished yet. There's only a page drawn, not even inked. I'm fairly certain that I've been influenced by Northworld's tale-telling style, of late. As for the content, it's based in the city of Transit. The city of Transit is on the Pacific Northwestern coast, but farther north than Vancouver (because it actually has snow in the winter-time). As an added bonus, this is the city that VII (Seven of the Metal Arm) wanders and the city that Dylan's university is in. I'm having fun.

The only problem I forsee will be the scanning, as the stuff I'm drawing on is 11"x14" and my scanner bed is 8.5"x12". I would go on to mumble something of how I need a new, better brush-pen, but I don't really like the way the tips work on them and will stick to micron pens for now.


I'm also getting excited about the newest Scott Pilgrim book. I really like Bryan Lee O'Malley's work.

And in that vein, I found a cool article over at Newsarama about how Shoen Battle Manga (Bleach, Naruto, DBZ, etc.) are really quite similar to superhero comics.


And unrelated to the other topics, but never the less, cool, a windpower generator based on the old Narrows bridge ("Galloping Gertie"); harnessing the power of destruction for power to generate electricity (that sentence was amazingly poorly written, before). It's efficient, and really small and cheap. And the video is really cool.
[via Slashdot]

[I'll start at the end]

There is a reason that people go to local shops. That reason is, simply, because of the friendly service.

( In short, I have a new 28mm lens and a free tee-shirt that I might actually wear )

The funniest part of the whole story is the fact that it was all placed in a big, yellow Nikon bag (they had run out of Sony Alpha bags).

Yep, camera loyalties (and the three-way debates between Nikon, Sony-which-was-Konika-Minolta, and Canon) rage even more fiercely than the Mac-vs-PC debates (and everyone knows that Macs are better).

This Wednesday, I got a pair of Bluetooth-enabled Logitech headphones for the iPod.

Simply put, the headphones are simple and easy to use, though the sound quality is not nearly as good as wired headphones, though the bass frequency response is surprisingly excellent; the headphones are not cheap or tinny. However, there are to reasons what make these headphones wonderful: first, they are wireless ergo free of restrictive cords what catch on things whilst walking. Point the Second: they are a talking point, upon which I field such annoying queries as "Those headphones! They have no wires! Are they wireless?" though once past these, the conversation progresses.

A little heavier than normal headphones, these are not too heavy or bulky, and are also quite well-designed.

Full review after the jump.
( Logitech Bluetooth Headphones for iPod )


P.S.: The new Decemberists album, The Crane Wife, is amazing.