4.15 - project: Basement Remodeling

My Basement Bar / Gameroom Project seems to be consuming most of my spare time. (What little there is.)

I will be updating the project weblog weekly at the very least, so be sure to bookmark it. Or, you can subscribe to it's RSS/RDF feed.

11.28 - Redesign

Redesigned my "Adventure" section, making it a separate site. It's so specialized that it needed it's own space. Now, to clean up the mess here...

9.16 - Remember...

"There is no need to be afraid of noises in the woods. Anything that wants to kill you will stalk you...silently."

Saw that quote on alt.rec.camping. Makes me smile every time I read it.

9.15 - TGS4!

cheerleader: ya'll are so whack
the ugly one: whiggity whack?
cheerleader: no, just the regular type

9.14 - Two Things

One: There's nothing more exhilirating than punching a hole through a target at 50 yards with a hollow-point fired from a Savage .223 (Thanks Gary!)

Two: Badgers Badgers Badgers Badgers Badgers Badgers Badgers Badgers Badgers Badgers Badgers Badgers MUSHROOM MUSHROOM!

9.11 - Movies

Dust Devil - I've actually seen one on these in Arizona. Much different than their destructive counterparts here in Ohio.

Why We Love the Mac - Another funny variant of the popular Mac "switch" commercial.

9.7 - Two Unusual Articles

Soundless Music Shown to Produce Weird Sensations

Traffic Zoology

8.24 - H2

My wife bought me an H2 for my birthday! Next year, I hope to get a helicopter to go with my yacht.

8.15 - Sean's Satirical Headline of the Week

Headline: Light Bulb Blows in Ohio Power Plant - FoxNews Begins Wall-to-Wall Television Coverage

8.4 - Spamity Spam!

My monthly procmail report shows that I received over 1800 spam emails in July. That's about 71% of the total email that I receive. Lucky for me, I use SpamAssassin to filter my email so none of it reaches my Inbox. Granted, I do occassionally have to deal with false positives and vice versa, but it's well worth it given the volume.

Prior to SpamAssassin, I used to use my own home-grown Perl program (spamfilter.pl) which worked fine, but didn't have any advanced scoring features.

7.15 - Tornado Warning

About 20 minutes ago, the sirens outside went off and I moved my family into the basement -- tornado warning. I paced around the sliding glass door anxiously watching the clouds while my wife stood in the basement doorway. The sky turned green and then a thick shade of yellow and the wind started picking up. The weather report said a funnel cloud had been sighted 3 miles East of Batavia (which, thankfully, is East of here.) I called all of my family and friends along the front to make sure they were allright -- so far so good...

7.8 - 4th of July Storm

We spent the Fourth of July at a friend of a friend's house for a cookout and fireworks. As 9pm rolled around, the sky started getting dark -- not from nightfall, but an approaching rainstorm; we decided to go ahead and make our way down to the park where we had already set up blankets. I pulled two of my kids plus my nephew in the wagon down the block and across the street followed by my wife and my two other daughters, plus a few others from the party.

As we started down towards the park, the wind kicked up and people started leaving. When we noticed why people were fleeing, the dust had already started blowing up from the ballfield. Quickly, we crossed back over the main street as the wind began to bend trees over. My wife turned and asked me what we should do and I shouted "Run!". We ran back to the house and got the kids to safety while others went back down to help out at the field. I left the house to help and by the time I got down to the corner again, the dust was so bad that I could not see. The wind sounded like a tornado and I was sure that it was coming soon. When I finally located the missing people from our party, we took shelter on the front porch and fiddled with the satellite trying to get an idea of what we were dealing with.

The storm eventually passed, but not before bringing down tree limbs, drenching the streets, and setting off nature's own fireworks display in the sky.

6.26 - Refreshing

It's scary when spending an hour re-organizing the wiring in your rackmount cabinet counts as refreshment. I need a new hobby.

5.14 - Organization

To make things easier for me to deal with (not to mention to better organize my hobbies), I've divided the website into three main sections: The first section is the one you're reading -- the blog. The second contains a listing of my "projects". The third contains information about hiking, geocaching, exploration, and camping.

5.7 - project: pylon

Over the last month, I've been working on an instant messenger "bot" using AOL's IM service and Perl. What sparked this project was the need to do something with all of the information and links that I collect throughout the day so that I view and organize them later. Initially, I built a web interface driving a hierachical database -- it was a bit bulky for quick use, but nice to have the tools to add, edit, and delete entries. Ultimately, I decided on an IM bot to feed the database because it's quick and effective. As a test, the "interesting links" section on the right is driven from that interface.

I will put together a project page once I get past some initial testing. If you're using AIM, pop in and tell pylon808 "hi". You can get a full command listing by typing "help".

4.28 - Gravity

Gravity is swift and unmerciful. The time between when I was swinging on the vine in my backyard in front of the kids to when I was writhing in agony on the ground must have been less than a half-second. Lesson learned -- I'm too old to fly.

4.25 - XML Feed Now Available

This blog is now available through an XML (RSS/RDF) data feed. For those of you that have Trillian Pro with the News plugin, you can now get spooky.blog updates by adding a custom feed. spooky.blog RDF data feed.

4.1 - Ghosts of Albion

Came across a neat Flash animated series called "Ghosts of Albion". Very interesting use of Flash to deliver media content.

3.24 - Weather In Iraq

It seems that our local weather forecasters are feeling a little left out while their colleagues get to run with the troops in Iraq -- Now every evening with my local 7 day forecast, I get the weather in Iraq. And they're somehow able to do it with a straight face. "It will be a sunny day in Iraq tommorrow with temperatures ranging into the mid 70's..." Ridiculous!

2.12 - Snowrollers

I tend to feel that there isn't enough mystery in life. Usually when you mention fairies or monsters or mermaids, it's usually followed by someone saying "they don't exist." Doesn't leave much to the imagination, does it?

Well, today while I was driving home from work, I noticed something unusual in a large open field near my house: hundreds of small, rolled snowballs. The heavy winds from the night before had been playing with the snow, slowly rolling it and forming "snowrollers". Simply amazing. As my daugter put it: "It looks like the wind fairy let the wind out to play and they each tried to make little snowmen." I was amused and reminded that even little things like the wind blowing snow around can seem mysterious and mystical.

2.8 - Steal This Image!

Once again I am faced with the problem of "hot-linked" images. If you're unfamiliar with the term, it's when someone posts an IMG tag that links directly back to your site. Instead of doing the right thing and stealing the image, they waste your bandwidth with every hit of their page by linking to it. Bleh!

Sounds trivial, but it adds up. The bulk of my problems come from online forums that allow users to choose an avatar, or image, that is associated with each post they make.

To make a long story short -- Apache's mod_rewrite did the trick. Now, Hot-Linkers are treated to an image that isn't exactly the one they were expecting.

If you're interested in protecting your bandwidth, here's the simple rule (place it in your .htaccess file):

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://mydomain.com/.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule \.(gif)$ http://mydomain.com/stealing.gif [R,L]

1.26 - Header Graphic Update

Update: The header graphic now changes with the phase of the moon as well as the time of the day. It's not 100% accurate, as I can only tell if the moon is new, full, first or last quarter. None-the-less, it seems to be working.

Now it's off the make some random weather graphics and perhaps to get started on Spring, Summer, and Fall.

1.12 - Header Graphic

Working on an idea for the header graphic: it changes based on what time of day it is. For example, during the day, you'll see the same scene but in full daylight. At dusk, you'll see a sunset and at night...well...a nighttime scene. Currently there are only four pictures:

• Daytime
• Sunset
• Twilight
• Night

I have the code worked out to change the phase of the moon but have not yet generated the graphics for it. My plan is to have graphics for all seasons, all moon phases and all weather conditions. And the big question: Why? Because it's winter.

1.8 - 3D Worlds...

The other day I was thinking about 3D worlds such as that found in Turbine's Asheron's Call and how expansive environments like that could be used as fancy chat rooms or online colaboration areas. Today, Slashdot ran a story about a Metaverse called "There".

This has been talked about as the "next big thing" for quite a while now, but it's always fascinated me how people act in virtual worlds. For example, during my short 3 month stay in Asheron's Call world of Dereth, I noticed that in each of the towns there were people acting like beggars, thieves, con-men, etc. The same goes for FPS games: in BF1942, team mates will kill for planes.

Rambling, but bottom line: I think there is a lot more to virtual worlds than has yet been explored. Social behaviors found in real life are reflected in these metaverses and I think that warrants some study. Time, time, time...

1.1 - Visual Data Organization

I need some way to visually organize data. I found a neat product called Personal Brain 2.0, but it's $80...a bit pricey. Perhaps there's a free alternative...

12.25 - Happy Holidays

"May you have
walls for the wind
a roof for the rain
drinks bedside the fire
laughter to cheer you
those you love near you
all that your heart may desire"

Happy Holidays!

12.22 - The Water Saga: Part Two - The Morning After

Fortunately for me (and unfortunately for this story), the basement was bone dry in the morning. The only reminder of the "flood" was my 5 gallon bucket full of water, a wet-dry vac, and a make-shift dam.

[more...]

12.19 - The Water Saga: Part One

When I left work at 4pm, the rain was really coming down -- I made my way to the bus stop and took shelter under a small overhang while I waited. On the ride home, the bus had to divert from Columbia Parkway due to what the driver thought was a wreck, but probably was due to the water flowing down the hillside and over the expressway on it's trek to the river.

[more...]

12.13 - Snowflake

I spent some time with Photoshop to re-design the header graphic -- now I have a winter scene. I like the cartoonish aspect of it, but it's missing a little cottage on the left side...perhaps I'll do that another day.

I really like the design of another blog that I came across: annia.network. The visual style is very clean with rich colors.

12.11 - SodaPlay

Interesting website: SodaPlay.com.

Your basic constructor: a spring. And with that spring, you can build simple machines that walk, crawl, or roll-around on the screen. Tough to learn the concept, but once you do, it's a lot of fun.

11.26 - Very Strange Indeed

11.25 - Excuses

So I'm trying to come up with excuses as to why I'm not going to get started on this trebuchet. I think I'll just blame the stinging, bitter-cold wind.

Instead, I'm going to waste some of my time exploring the caller ID system. Fortunately, there's plenty of documentation. Now, if only I could find a working modem in this house.

11.18 - Killer Fish

"maybe the fish killed the hamster"

11.17 - There Is No Law

For some reason, I decided to divert some of my trebuchet project time to making a Grit Truck video compilation set to a really sweet techno tune by Messiah called "There Is No Law". The file ended up being like 38MB and roughly 10 hours of work, but well worth it.

It's currently posted on the Grit Truck website. Enjoy!

11.15 - Global Tag

So I received the "snowball fight" chain-letter the other day and it got me thinking: tag. So I built a web/email-based "tag" game.

There are a few problems: 1) There is no point. 2) It's extremly easy to break the "chain". 3) There is no point.

So...I suppose it's back to the drawing board to figure out what to do with it.

11.4 - New Adventures

I posted two new "adventures" today -- hiking at Paint Creek and exploration of the Chilo Locks.

I'm still planning my trebuchet...making lots of drawings but no progress. I discovered a secret stash of wood in my basement. Well...not so secret, but very very mysterious!! Ok...maybe not so mysterious.

10.31 - Hallowe'en

10.31 - Trebuchet Competition

Competition. Now the desire to build a trebuchet has morphed into a contest. The rules: 1 trebuchet, 3ft max height, able to throw a tennis ball for distance and accuracy. My competitor has already started on a prototype.

10.29 - Trebuchet

I think I want to build myself a trebuchet. Not large enough to launch a car, but enough to at least make a good video and perhaps a few pictures (oh, and it has to be dirt cheap.) Unfortunately, I'm not too handy...perhaps it's time to call in The Mechanical Engineer.

10.27 - Old Drawings

There was a time when I would sit down for hours and just draw. Now it seems like a million years ago. Perhaps all of that creative nrg has been channeled into something else. Or maybe it's just lying dormant waiting for the right moment. I can feel it tugging at me...the need to draw. Time.

10.24 - Tinkering

Quasi-insane people really make this world an interesting place to live in. Without them, we would be left with the dull normalized humans who walk the straight and narrow, never to explore their creative evils. Over the years, I feel I have lost some of that creativity, but it's nrg is there and I can feel it ebb and flow like the tide.

10.12 - Smokestack

Lost in the dark on an unfamiliar road, I spotted the smokestack looming over the trees. Suddenly, the car was crossing a bridge and the secondary square stack came into sight -- a "P" in an oval painted on it's face. The road seemed as if it was going straight into the facility, but at the last moment, it curved around it's North side. Fear was slowly reaching a boiling point. Why was this place putting off such a strange vibe is still beyond me, but I need to go back. To get a better look and perhaps some pictures.

UPDATE: I found out what that place was...in the mid 1800's, during the Civil War, it was a munitions factory. It's called the Peters Cartidge Company. The daytime pictures on the link are even spookier than seeing the place in the dark. I'm still not sure why the place freaked me and my wife out so much.

10.8 - Ring Tones

Typical mundane blog entry: I saw a lady waiting for the bus today fiddling with her cell phone for a full 5 minutes trying to select the right ring tone.

10.7 - Blogs, Filters and Notebooks -- OH MY!

Slashdot posted a book review about weblogs today and the comments that followed (the better part of Slashdot), classified blogs into three categories: filters, blogs and notebooks. The general view of blogs is that they mostly contain useless drivel from ego-tripping teenagers. Slashdot and Kuro5hin are blog-like, but lean more towards an online community. Fark, is a good example of a filter. I haven't found many useful blogs yet, but I haven't really been looking either. This project aims at data organization for filters and blogs, but on a higher level -- blogs can be useful for tracking project status, findings, call center tickets, etc. I'm still working out the concept, but I'm pretty sure that a blog format could be useful for more purposes than telling us that your dog turned 3 today.

10.4 - Thoughts...and possibly a hammer and duct-tape

Much progress made on the project today...now I just have to gather my thoughts (and my notes) and possibly a hammer and duct-tape, and start building. Oh, and Red Hat 8.0 looks pretty, but still does not function 100% out of the box. sigh.

10.3 - spooky.blog

Further defining this project (at least, I must before it becomes too large to manage) -- I've come to the realization that I must use XML and a database. That's all I have right now, but it looks damn good on paper.

10.2 - Herbal Tea

In my quest for clarity, I stopped drinking soda and replaced it with herbal tea. What was I thinking? Honestly, it isn't so bad -- the lack of caffeine, but the process of getting a drink is no longer as easy as popping the top of a can.

10.1 - Bankrupted by Beanies

I saw a bumper sticker today that said "Bankrupted by Beanies". Perhaps they would have been better off spray-painting "idiot" in huge letters across their rear windshield.

9.28 - Hiking

Our now annual hiking trip seems to have turned out OK despite problems with the trails being covered with horse droppings. This year, we went to East Fork Lake in Southern Ohio. We did stray from the trails quite a few times in order to check stuff out. Notably, this photo shows a U.S. Army Core of Engineers structure -- gated with plenty of warnings. It houses something do to with the dam, but we're not exactly sure what.

9.12 - The Sky Fell

"Did anybody look up today? Here in the Midwest, while this tragedy can seem so close on the TV it almost vanishes into the background when you step outside and see everything and everyone going about their business normally. Until you look up. When the FAA shut down all domestic air travel, they almost turned off the sky. It was a pure blue here in Iowa today, interrupted only by the occaisional cirrus cloud. Right now, the stars wink alone. The contrails, the glints of silver in the sunset, all gone. Routes out of DSM, STL, Chicago, Kansas City, Minneapolis crisscross the sky daily, but not today. It felt very strange to look up at that barren sky. It's a sight that hasn't been seen in many decades, and I don't expect to see it again." -- Mecuria posting to Slashdot

This captured my sentiments exactly. It's surreal that the sky above the US is completely devoid of commercial aircraft.

8.27 - Burning Man

Burning Man 2001 began today in Black Rock City, Nevada. Since I learned about Burning Man two years ago, it's always intruiged me. There are a lot of cool exibits (and people) plus plenty of techno to go around. Perhaps some day (in the distant future, like after my kids have graduated high school) I'll get to go...until then, there's always the photo gallery.

I've also been working to redesign the look of this site -- I picked up some really cool Photoshop tips and have been testing them out. Also, pictures of Spookyworld will be posted soon as well as some really spiffy MRTG stats. Stay tuned for more cool projects -- winter is fast approaching, which means plenty of time to get stuff done indoors!

8.22 - Great To Be Back Online!

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, spookyworld is back online. This time, the extended downtime was not due to a power outage, but rather a move. The house that we had been building was finally ready and we moved in August 4th. Well...sortof. We are still technically moving in, but at least everything is somewhere in the house.

Currently I have put aside the LCD project for TVDinner due to time constraints with trying to get the network up and running in my house. I've become very familiar with my 110 patch panel, 66 block and tangled mess of CAT5E. I'll post some pictures plus a "how I did it" when I get a spare moment.

I've also been playing around with MRTG -- a nifty little program that draws some really nice graphs like this:

More on that later...the dust is still settling, but stay tuned for some project updates and more pictures.

7.18 - Spookyworld Outage

Spookyworld (my home network) was down for about 16 hours because of a nasty storm that rolled through our area at about 8pm last night. The storm snapped several trees in half and did some damage to my fence. Unfortunately, my battery backup on the server, firewall and network equipment only lasted for about a half and hour.

7.13 - New Favorite Cartoon: Invader Zim

Ok, I'll admit that I have to fight with my own kids for cartoon rights -- they like Rugrats, I like Powerpuff Girls and Dexter's Lab. Now, however, I've become addicted to a new cartoon: Invader Zim.

If you haven't seen this cartoon yet, you must turn to Nickelodeon (yes, the children's channel) on Friday nights at 9pm EST. Created by Jhonen Vasquez, this cartoon is definately not geared to just children. The simplistic animation style is similar to Futurama, but with a darker side to it.