Rambling Amble #3: King of the Nerds Review

After watching the season finale of King of the Nerds on the Syfy channel, I had some definite thoughts on the show.  Some spoilers.  Good show, worth the watching.  Not perfect.  Lots of room for improvement in season 2.

Part of FlashCast #84, on the FlashPulp podcast.  I agree with Jrd.  Having a popular vote on the last episode makes it "President of the Nerds," not "King".

Rambling Amble #2: Vine Review

While taking my daily walk (which doesn't happen every day, but I try), had some thoughts on the new app, Vine.  Let's you record 6sec videos and post to their site and crosspost to Twitter and Facebook.

Since I had to make it a video to load it here, used some of the vids I made the other weekend while playing bingo in Alpine Oregon.  Tiny town, location of our Community Center, serving the southern part of the Benton County area.  Opening spot is a doodle I made on the Sketch Club app.  I was trying for blackberry vines as they cascade down a pine tree.  Happens lots around here.  Other pics were taken during this amble.

It's a great app, and if you have a device that can use it, I highly recommend it.  It's still a work in process, but I enjoy being on the ground floor of new stuff.

Also part of FlashCast #83, on the FlashPulp podcast.  Many great segments to listen to on the pod.

Rambling Amble #1: Robot Combat League

Watched the first episode of this new SyFy show the other day.  Was walking with the dogs and thought it be fun to record a review of it on my iPod with my new cool headset.

The picture in the movie I made from the audio is a little Sketch Club drawing from my iPad.  It's what I was doodling while watching the episode.  It's my interpretation of the fight.

Again, I can't just upload the plain audio.  Had to turn it into a video.  But that's ok.  Let's me share my doodle.

Update 1: You can also hear this as part of the FlashCast #82.  Part of the FlashPulp family of podcasts.

Update 2:  Since I like to record during my daily walk (ala Nathan Lowell), I'm going to call these recordings "Tibbi's Rambling Ambles From Oregon", or maybe just "Ramblings Ambles" for short.

New Headset

So I got a lovely present for my anniversary earlier this year.  Open Ear Headphones.  Uses bone conduction to take the sound to your ears instead of sticking things in your ears.

Better yet, it includes a microphone so you can record sound.  Decided to test it out, ala Nathan Lowell's walking talks.  Just to see how well it dealt with the rustling of my coat and all that outside noise.

Weirdly, while Blogspot allows the uploading of video files, it doesn't allow the same for audio files.  Had to turn the audio file into a movie so I can add it into this post.  Silly, but that's blogger for ya'. :)

 

The podcasts I mentioned in this short bit of sound are FlashPulp/FlashCast and Brass Needles.  I highly recommend them.

December 1st was an exciting day.  Not only did I get a second Thanksgiving dinner with family on Saturday, but it was the launch of the audio podcast of Cowry Catchers Book 4: Out of the Ashes.

In celebration of this release, there was a video contest on the author's website.  The winner would get to select an existing character, who would be featured in a story. 

I entered, as did one other person.  And guess what?  We were both so good we both won!  Here are the two winning videos.

My winning video:

(Character selected: Thessalyn)


Other winning video:

(Character selected: Lu)

So, enjoy the videos.  Also, listen to all the books, including the latest at the Cowry Catchers

*****

A favorite podcast site is "Every Photo Tells...."  Once a month a photo prompt is posted to inspire writers.

July's photo set my mind on fire and this is the story that came out.  What follows is the photo prompt, and the text of the story.  Audio reading can be found at here

It was such a simple plan.  This was the only thought running through his head.  Much like the gerbil he'd had as a kid.  This thought was like that small animal, running endlessly in a hamster wheel.

The snow was still falling, but not as hard as it had been earlier.  It glittered in the light of the lamppost he leaned against.  So white. White as only newly fallen snow can be.  Except around his leg.  That was tinged red from the blood seeping from the mangled mess the coyote had made of it.  He looked at the small package again.  The cause of all this trouble.

It was late evening when he'd gotten the call from a friend who brokered off-the-record deliveries.  You called his friend when you had something that had to get somewhere quick, no questions asked.  His friend employed drivers who didn't care what it was, as long as there was a payday. 

His friend give him an address where he'd receive a package for delivery.  That address was your basic non-nondescript warehouse.  There'd been an average looking fellow standing in front.  He was handed over a small sealed package, small enough to fit comfortably in a jacket pocket. 

He'd also received an address upstate, nearly to the border.  As well as the promise of a sizable bonus if he delivered before the sun rose again.

Using his phone, he searched for the address on one of those mapping engines.  After a bit of study, he decided to take a shortcut.  It would cut a couple of hours off the trip.  He'd be there in plenty of time to get that bonus.  There was even a small town about midway along the road, where he'd be able to stop for gas and use the restroom.

At least that was the plan.  Until a tire blew.  Until he discovered he hadn't fixed the spare from the last time he'd gotten a flat.  Until he tried his cell and realized there wasn't a signal to be had for love or money.

Thankfully, according to that online map, he was only a couple of miles down the road from that little town.  Surely there's been someone at the gas station who'd be able to sell him a spare, and give him a ride back to the car.  Better yet, maybe there's be a car he could rent for a few hours.  He could make his delivery and come back for his car, all freshly repaired by the oh-so-helpful imaginary gas station attendant.

Getting a flashlight out of the glove compartment and putting the package into his jacket pocket, he started walking down the empty dark road. 

He kept to the tracks made in the snow by earlier vehicles.  It worried him only slightly these tracks had newly fallen snow in them.  As if no car or truck had been on the road in hours to crush it into the pavement.  The trees on either side of the road seemed like walls in the blackness.   Brush lining the road made it seemed like it was an impenetrable forest.

It hadn't been too cold when he left the city, but out here in the country the temperature had dropped more than he was comfortably dressed for.  The snow made small drifts in places.  However, most of it seemed trapped up in the branches of that forest.

He sped up his pace, hoping to generate some extra body heat.  It would also get him to that town and gas station quicker. 

There were animal noises all around him.  They'd been getting louder.  Were there supposed to be animals awake at night? 

Then, he heard a noise behind him. 

He turned, shone the light around, but nothing.  Turning back around he resumed walking.  He'd take a dozen steps or so, and again, that noise.  Like something heavy crunched the snow behind him.  Turning, he still didn't see anything.  Was he imagining something was following him?  He set an even faster pace.

Just when he thought he would break into a run, not a good thing when on a dark country road with only the light of flashlight to go by, all the animal noises stopped.  He stopped too.  Dead in the middle of the road.  Then, just ahead of him, the coyote stepped out of the brush and trees lining the side of the road.  It's eyes were set to glowing by the flashlight.

Goosebumps covered his arms.  Heck, it felt like they were covering his entire body.  He started walking again, quickly, not quite running.  He'd thought he'd read somewhere acting confidently in the presence of a wild animal could make it leave you alone.  He also scanned the side of the road for a loose branch, or a rock.  Anything he might use as a weapon.  He tried to keep an eye on the coyote without looking directly.  He'd read a direct look could incite an attack.  Or would looking directly at them prevent an attack?  He couldn't remember.  He felt he'd be babbling if he tried to speak just then.

The attack was silent.  One moment he was walking down the road.  The next, he was down on the ground, the coyote ripping into his leg.  The fall had knocked the breath out of him, but he didn't think he could have yelled, he was that shocked by what was happening. 

At moment later, he was screaming.  From the pain in his leg, from seeing his blood outside of his body.  He tried to pull away from the coyote, but it just caused the animal to shaken his leg more.  He raised the flashlight, still in his hand, thinking to attempt to brain the beast over the head.  The movement of his arm caused the package to fall out of his jacket's pocket.  Something inside rattled, as if some piece of it had broken off from the solid whole.  The sound of it seemed to echo into the night.

The coyote's ears pricked up at the sound.  It dropped his leg and snatched up the package.  Then turned and run back into the forest.

The package was gone?  Great, he thought.  Now this was serious trouble.  Far more serious then a wild animal attack that left your leg looking like raw meat.  The kind of people who bought this kind of delivery service didn't accept excuses like "A coyote attacked me and stole your package.”

He had to get the package back or he was a dead man.  It would be less painful to just bleed to death on this road.   Ignoring the pain, and the blood dripping down his leg to the ground, he got up and started after the coyote.  Was the light dimmer?  When was the last time he changed the batteries in the flashlight?

In the dim light he could just make out what he hoped was coyote tracks in the snow.  He limped down the trail, trying to keep as much weight off his bad leg as possible.  Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any branches on the ground thick enough use an a crutch.  Branches still attached to trees were too thick to break off with his bare hands.

Tree branches, bent from snow, tickled his hair, then dropped snow down his jacket.  He wished he'd taken the time to pick up his heavy coat.  The one with the hood.  The bushes he struggled though were leafless, but still seem to hold more than enough moisture to drench his pants.  The upside to this, his wounded leg was so cold now it didn't seem to hurt as much.

Then just ahead he saw it a bright light.  He could also see the trees and brush were thinning out.  He was coming to some kind of open area.  Then he stood at the edge of the forest.

The coyote was waiting for him just ahead, under a lamppost in an open field.  The lamp shone brighter than the full moon would have, if it hadn't been hidden behind the clouds. 

What was a working lamppost, heck any lamppost, doing out there?  And why was that damn coyote standing beneath it.  It was spooky.

As he stepped out into the openness, the snow began to fall again.  Heavily. 

He'd stood still too long. He was getting colder, and his leg was really throbbing.  He needed to sit down.  He needed to get warm.  He needed to have never taken this job.  But he had.  And he had to get that package.

He limped forward, out from under the forest, toward this oddly lone lamp.  It shone so brightly, making the snow glitter madly in its light.  The coyote's eyes were shining.  It's fur, beaded with moisture, also shone. 

It seemed to take forever to walk across the field.  As he got closer, he realized it wasn't just a field he was walking across.  It was the remains of pavement.  Overgrown with wild grasses.  Dead now with winter.  Then he recognized the foundation of a small house.  Then another one that had probably been a store.  Finally he realized he was walking through the leftovers of the town he'd seen on the map.  The town he'd been walking toward, hoping for a friendly gas station attendant to help him with his tire troubles. 

He'd heard how a local economy could sink so low that only one option was left to what few inhabitants remaining.  Sell the buildings to recycling firms who used the salvaged materials to built anew far away, where people still made a living.  Then use the funds to make a new life elsewhere.

Leave it to him to pin his hopes on a ghost town.

So, the town was gone.  The gas station was no more.  Yet somehow, this lamppost still remain.  Still powered and putting forth the welcoming light of its cold comfort in the darkness. 

And that blasted coyote was still standing under it.  Still holding the damn package.

No.  It had dropped the thing at the base of the lamp.  Then, with what looked like a smile, the coyote turned and loped away.  Into the darkness and new snow.

He stumbled forward.  Stretching out his free hand, the one not holding the flashlight, he weakly grabbed on to the post.  He be t down to pick up the wet, chewed upon box.  Then found he didn't have the energy to straighten back up.  He hugged the post as he slid down.  The snow cushioned his landing onto the ground.

And here he was.  Mangled leg slowly leaking blood onto the snow.  Yet, for what it was worth, he had the package.  A little worse for wear.  Well, maybe much worse.  At least as broken as he was.

He wasn't going to make the delivery before dawn.  Hell, he wasn't going to be making any deliveries ever again. 

It had been such a simple plan.  How did it go so wrong?

And so ends this story.  Hopefully, more to follow.

Alsea Falls Visit

Cool and cloudy, but with enough sunshine to be a lovely summer day at Alsea Falls in Oregon.  It is a favorite spot for picnics and hikes.

Played with my litle video camera and filmed at the falls itself.

All around, a pleasant day.

Ashland Getaway

Had a fun weekend in Ashland, Oregon this last weekend. 

Stayed at the Best Western.  They have a automatic pancake maker. 

Never seen one of those before.  It was awesome!

Went to a new play, "White Snake".  Interesting story, nice acting.  The costuming and the staging was so beautiful and creative.  Ashland is always a lovely place to visit.

Ashland is filled with folks who enjoy their creativity.  Like using bedposts for fences:

So, there was good food, great company.  We met up with friends to hang out with for the weekend.  We walked through Lithia Park, which is a lovely little park.

Of course we had to stop at Rice Hill for ice cream on the south-bound and the north-bound journeys.

All in all, a perfect weekend

New Audio Recording Setup

The other day, I purchased a new (to me) Snowball microphone.  For my next trick, I cobbled together a pop filter.  Here is the result:

Then, to prove I come by my geeky cred honestly, I figured out how to record audio on my iPad with my new mic.

To test out my new setup I recorded a very short story for a librivox scifi collection.  I present for your listening pleasure: "The Natives" by Katherine MacLean

I think it's odd that blogspot still doesn't allow mp3s to be uploaded.  To share this I had to make it into a movie.  Silly waste of bandwidth, but I don't run the site.  So, enjoy the pics I added.

Personally, I think my voice hasn't quite grownup.  But reading aloud is so much fun.  How can I resist sharing the joy.

Getting ready for Raglan Shire's Medieval Fest

Stomping grapes for wine



It's going to be an awesome time in the Shire.

Jousting in Second Life (as a tiny)

Raglan Shire is having Medieval Week soon and I've discovered jousting!

Tiny jousting ponies from Zephyr Pennell (And Lone Star is hosting the joust I think). Lances are being supplied by Slydel Rau. Tiny armour is made by Zekeen Phoenix.


All Geared Up, Ready To Joust



Resting my pony after a hard day's jousting


It's going to be fun in Raglan Shire!

Back at the new home on the second life mainland

Trying my hand at growing corn. At my old place in second life.

I have 7 roots and each one will have a cob on it eventually



Made a little movie about my two little chicks I have there, and my adventure in growing corn.


youtube link

New Second Life Home

Bought some Estate land with a friend. We wanted a few more prims to play with.

Set up a lovely cottage, pretty trees, a fishing dock, a few chickens, and there will be a barn with horses soon.

Playing with OpenSim

Decided to take the plunge and make my own Region, just for fun. Building on MacOSX isn't that bad. Nice instructions available here and here

Downloaded all the stuff needed for building and running OpenSim: Mono, Xcode, and Subversion.

Here's the script I wrote, based on these pages (buildopensim is the directory I do all the opensim stuff in, your milage may vary)

#!/bin/sh
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/Versions/Current/lib/pkgconfig
export PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin:/Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/Versions/Current/bin

cd buildopensim

svn co http://opensimulator.org/svn/opensim/trunk opensim
cd opensim
./runprebuild.sh
nant

cp ../buildopensim/OpenSim.ini bin/OpenSim.ini




Be sure to make the following changes to the OpenSim.ini file:

;physics = basicphysics
physics = OpenDynamicsEngine
av_capsule_radius = 0.68
av_capsule_standup_tensor_win = 1900000
av_capsule_standup_tensor_linux = 1900000
av_density = 80


Then start OpenSim

#!/bin/sh
cd myopensim
cd opensim
cd bin
mono OpenSim.exe


Still not working exactly right (can't walk into hollow boxes), but most everything else is available. Now if I can figure out how to transfer my Sculptie Studio in there so I can play with a million prims if I want

I have discovered Sculpt Studio, in Second Life.

It enables you to build sculpties inworld. On sculpties.info there are lessons for learning how to use it. I've made a video of lesson 2, mostly to show a friend.



Click the image to go to the video on youtube