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Robin Williams

Robin Williams

Much has been written about the death of Robin Williams this week, and much more will be said in the days to come, but after reading Robin Williams and Why Funny People Kill Themselves, I don’t know that I want to read any more…

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CNC Hip-Hop

CHC Hip-Hop

I don’t know if the Maker Movement has any hip-hop artists in its ranks, but at some point someone is going to want to write a rap mentioning CNC machines, so I’ve compiled a list of suitable rhymes for “CNC” and I present them here.

Note that some of these words/phrases are serious, and some of them are just for fun. It takes all kinds.

  • Jamboree (fun word)
  • Wait and see (should be in reference to the time it takes to finish a job)
  • Filigree (should be in reference to detailed artwork.)
  • My man Adrian B (should be in reference to Adrian Bowyer of the RepRap movement.)
  • Look good to me! (should be in reference to how a job turned out.)
  • Jubilee (fun word)
  • My main man Bre (should be in reference to Bre Pettis of MakerBot)
  • Bumblebee (fun word)
  • Bruce Lee (fun, but could also be in reference to strength/power.)
  • Guarantee (fun word, but could also be used in reference to how a job turns out.)
  • Tree (should be in reference to the consumable used for a job is wood, which comes from trees.)
  • Billy D[ee] (should be in reference to Billy Dee Williams or the other Billy D)
  • Whiskey (fun word, but you should think twice before combining alcohol with any power tools.)
  • Debris (should be in reference to the scraps/waste left after a cutting job is finished.)
  • Banshee (fun word)
  • Emcee [MC] (this one is obvious, I should hope.)
  • Waikiki (fun word, possibly only suitable for Jerry Isdale.)
  • Potpourri (fun word)

Alright! That should be enough to get started… can you think of any more?

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I heard you like cameras…

GoPro Mount

Yo dawg, I heard you like cameras, so I put a camera on your camera so you can take pictures of taking pictures…

Occasionally 3D printing is accused of being useless, or worse, silly. Well this is anything but silly, and it’s certainly not useless.

GoPro Mount

By combining the hot shoe mount I recently printed along with this Female GoProHD Mount we’ve got the camera-on-a-camera thing down like nobody’s business.

GoPro Mount

So yeah, camera on camera action, courtesy of 3D printing. Yeehaw.

But seriously folks, one of the great things about open 3D printing is that combos and mashups are quite common, and since we’ve first jammed a piece of chocolate into a hunk of peanut butter, sometimes things just go better together.

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Business Cat Explained

Business Cat

The other day I was playing working with our IR thermometer which just happens to have a laser built into it, and the cat decided it was some sort of toy. Obviously there are laser pointers sold as “cat toys” but dammit, the IR thermometer is a serious tool for science!

Anyway, I told my daughter that on the Internet there is a picture of a cat and the cat is wearing a tie, and behind the cat is this multicolor background, and the cat looks really serious, and he is a business cat, and the caption says “I need you to stay late tonight, we really have to catch that red dot.”

I thought it summed up the current situation nicely, but somehow I don’t think the words had the same impact as just seeing the image.

And then I felt bad for people who are sight-impaired and can’t enjoy these goofy photo memes.

And then I felt envious of people who are sight-impaired, because maybe they aren’t wasting precious minutes of their lives seeing these stupid pictures of cats/animals/people/Willy Wonka with captions.

And then I thought about building a text-only web site that just explained these pictures in great details…

And then I thought about building some sort of phone service using Twilio to explain memes to people verbally.

And then I probably ate a cookie or something and forgot all about it.

You’re welcome.

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Unacceptable, Netflix!

No Depth of Field!

No Depth of Field!

No Depth of Field!

Dear Reed Hastings,

I am a pretty forgiving guy… I mean, I can forgive a lot of things… but this is unacceptable!

The lack of attention to the shots in your latest video are terrible. Who the hell shot this!? Did they really think a T-stop of 16 (or was it 18) was the best idea? I mean, sure, you are shooting outside, and maybe you didn’t have any ND filters handy, but come on!!! To put it in other words, “I find your lack of depth-of-field disturbing.”

I’m not saying everything needs to be shot at 1.3. I dunno… maybe you were going for some sort of “low-budget video” look or something, to be more like the common people of YouTube or something. Either way, I was completely disappointed in the video. Besides the technical issues, the characters were not exactly likeable.

I recommend sending this back to the writers for some tweaks, as well as hiring a new cinematographer.

Your truly, Netflix Customer and Film Critic, raster