Rant 616 / Artificial Pressure-Sensitive Skin!

The lobster may be a delicacy today, but once upon a time it used to be eaten only by the poorest in North America. It had such a stigma that servants had to sign an agreement to limit the number of times they can eat lobsters each year. It was actually quite different in Europe where in France and Netherlands the lobsters have always been eaten exclusively by the wealthy. Then again, the French would eat anything just like us Chinese.

:O













From this twitter page:

"See, you think I give a shit. Wrong. In fact, while you talk, I'm thinking; How can I give less of shit? That's why I look interested."













You know, I have a really crazy idea today. My allergy to the local climate has always got me to think about how I can keep air conditioner on without spending billions on electricity. In fact I think about that whenever I have to open my window to ventilate my room, which is almost everyday. Sometimes it gets rainy and cloudy the entire day so I don't have to open anything.

Anyway just now I suddenly recalled those booths the Starcraft players stay in when they're playing in the tournaments. If you haven't seen one, I suggest you watch a game or two. There are plenty of videos on Youtube.

Basically it's just a tiny booth just for the guy and his computer. What if I have a slightly enlarged version in my room and instead of my air conditioner I buy one of those smaller ones that stand on the floor?

Disregarding the space issue, how can I construct such a booth?

It is definitely doable. I just need to look around to see if there's any junk at home I can dismantle to build the frame. Then I need to find a way to make sure the cold air does not seep out too much at the bottom. Next I have make sure the warmed air from the back of the computer casing gets out of the booth either by sticking the back of the casing outside or by piping it.

Above all, it needs to be lightweight and non-permanent so that it can be lifted when the floor needs to be cleaned.

Hmm...













Barely 2 months since the release of Starcraft II, TG-Intel Starcraft II Open Season 1 begins! However, the live stream has limited number of connections available, so one has to open it early to watch any of the games. I tried it just now for half an hour, going back to click on it every now and then, and I could not get in at all.

On the other hand, I'm sure someone was streaming it on www.livestream.com although I didn't bother to go to that site because I was too preoccupied with other things. It is common for such hot games to be re-streamed live by someone who is watching it at the same time directly from the website.

Can't blame us for watching the games somewhere else and causing a loss in hit counts on the GomTV website if they can't handle the traffic.













Just found out about www.mturk.com where people can work for money which they can spend on www.amazon.com. The work available is mostly about writing essays which pay like US$1-2 each and the word limits are 100-500 each. Don't really dare to try the sampling tasks which require me to register for trial memberships even though they pay more than most and claim that we can cancel them easily. I just don't feel comfortable giving away my debit card number for such things.













So right after I ranted about sex dolls, I find news about artificial skin that can detect pressure. Interesting development, eh?