Byaaaar? (Sad Pirate)

Pirate Bay guys got screwed.

Oh well, you can still get tasty torrents. As it says on their homepage, "Don't worry - we're from the internets. It's going to be alright. :-)"

Projects and postings!

I have been neglecting my Vlog, Blog, and the BB+B site a bit too much lately. I have been to preoccupied with projects and tasks. I hope the spree of posts I just did makes up for it.

Here are some of the stuff I still have on my to-do list that are in progress:

• Photograph and video my spud gun in action!


• Build a custom subwoofer enclosure for my truck.


• Install said enclosure, sub, amp, and wire that puppy up.


• Replace the brakes on the Ranger, she's a squeakin'.


• Upgrade my media PC. That guy needs some RAM bad. A nice video card with a DVI out would be swell since I can get a DVI to HDMI cable and get rid of that shitty S-Video cord. Wireless keyboard mouse are on deck too.


• Tint the windows in the Ranger


• Modify the Compaq PC that Mom and Dad ditched. I have some evil plans for it, you'll see!


• Plan some super-cool activities for B-Rad, J-Bone and I to do when the visit in May.


• Continue my progress on my "Ultra Top Secret, Totally Awesome Project." I am making it as perfect as I can. I want other nerds and aficionados to drool over it.

The death of the Compact Disc

All of my music is in digital format these days. I am tired of burning discs so I can listen to them in my truck. Not to mention audio books usually don't all fit on one CD.

Thursday I took all my CDs out of my truck and filed them in the closet with the other crap I don't use. I bought a new stereo and installed it.

I got the Sony Xplod CDX-GT630UI which has the convenient feature of a from side USB port. I just plug my USB thumb drive into my PC, load it until it bursts with audio files and plug the little Betty in the head unit. Shazzam! No more skipping when flying over railroad tracks. No more scratched discs. No more discs flying out of the visor holder. Simplicity is wonderful.

Download these now.

My neighbor Chad picked up a shiny new PC on Friday and asked me to hook him up with some good programs.

I sat down to make a list of my must-have PC software that some of you should check out. Not to mention they are all free! They will work with both Windows XP and Windows Vista, I have tested them all extensively on both operating systems. As to OS X, not to certain there. But if someone wants to send me a free Mac, I'll try them out!

• Mozilla Firefox. Because Internet Explorer was shit back in XP Service Pack 1 and I have been loyal ever since. Be sure to click the "Tools" menu and go to "Add-ons" to customize your browser as you see fit, this is what make Mozilla the better choice in my opinion. They have add-ons for everything! My personal favorites are; Adblock Plus like it says block ads, AnyColor lets you make your browser look exactly the way you want to, AVG Safe Search integrates with search engines to protect you from clicking evil links, and Ghostery tells you what websites are tracking your movements.


• AVG Anti-Virus Free. I relied on this software for years and it has always performed. I have it on 3 of my current PC's (My main use Dell, my media PC and the one I plan on modding) and my parents new laptop. You can set auto-updates and auto-scanning for no hassle virus protection.


• CCleaner. This tiny little program is one of my new favorites! It helps to clear out of all the shit and clutter in you PC. It removes old and unused files and clears away traces of your online history.


• iTunes. I used to be a big fan of Winamp, and gave B-Rad shit for using iTunes, but the program is so damn good. Plus if you have an iPod, you have to use it anyway. It makes burning CDs a snap, keeps my music organized and the streaming radio pumped through my media PC onto my home theater sounds amazing.


• VLC Media Player. This tiny little guy will play pretty much any audio or video file format known to man. If Microsoft did not make the Vista Media Player so much better, I would still be religiously using this. I do on occasion find a file that Media Player can't handle, so VLC is still on deck.

Now if you have a brand new PC out of the box, also be sure to get any trial or demo software or crap you plan on never using off there as soon as you can. It's just wasting your precious space.

Emergency Battery Charger

I was tinkering in the workshop and mashed together a little toy for my cellphone. In the random chance event that I have not charged my phone in a few days, no where near an outlet in the middle of nowhere and desperately need to make a call with a dead battery ... I made a portable battery charger.

If you refer to the really large image to the left (Click it goober) you will see what you need, so lets get started on how I made it.

:: Steps ::

1. Cut the purchased battery charger about 1 inch away from plug that goes into your phone, and strip back the strain relief and the two wires.

2. Cut and strip your 9V battery connector.

3. Trim your breadboard down to fit.

4. Solder the voltage regulator, connector, and plug together.

5. Make it fit in the tin.

Talk about great instructions, huh? Figure it out yourself!

I tested this several times and it really does work. I referred to my wall outlet charger and found that the enV2 needs a signal of 5VDC at .7A to charge. The 9V battery already sends out approximately .7A, so you just needs to step down the 9V to 5V.

This was any easy little project and price was around 10 bucks for everything EXCEPT the charger. Verizon is really fucking proud of it and charged me 30 bucks. Oh well, it was all just the fun of building it anyway.

Building

I have been very preoccupied these last few weeks constructing some miscellaneous gadgets and whirligigs.

I made a portable battery back-up for my cell phone out of a Altoid's Smalls tin, then I built a pneumatic potato gun. Right now I am working on a huge project that I will not spoil right now. If I take my time and do it right, it will be amazing.

Stay tuned for some pictures and videos of the before mentioned items (If I get around to it.)