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The end of an Era

Earlier this month something unbelievable happened, StumbleUpon closed down.  I didn’t know it was founded in 2002.  I started using it in 2005, or 2006 I think.  I can’t remember exactly, I’m pretty sure that I started using the site well before that blog post, but who knows.

Endless hours, nay, days were spent stumbling across the internet.  I found many a strange photo, or comic, or video.  Some interesting natural? formations.  The whole basis of the Going Green series of posts started from some stumbles.  I had interesting conversations with people, sadly I can’t remember any of their names.

It all started with that browser add-on.  You know, back in the hay-day of browser add-ons.  You couldn’t open someone’s browser without 36 different things opening up, stealing all your cookies, and making life really weird.  Yet back then, no one cared.  I gladly stumbled all over the internet, well into the morning hours.  Things slowed down when I switched to the Chrome browser.  And things practically disappeared when the browser add-on turned more into an iframe.  I guess SU wanted even more of our dataz.  It might have been around this time that they changed their logo from the cool green SU to the strange ugly orange.  I see that as the death of them.

I honestly not have known that they were shutting down had it not been for this Reddit Post.

Regardless, me and my 42k likes will live on forever.  They might not be relevant, they might not even exist anymore, but good golly, they were some great times wasted away on the immature internetz.

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What Up Bitches???!>

It’s me.

I’m back.

Suck it.

Sorry, things have been hectic around the Deadly Computer parts.  I don’t know if ya’ll remember, or if I ever told anyone.  I bought myself a house.

Long story short.  Houses are a lot of work.

I’m finally in a place where I can spare some time to update the blog every now and then.

Yes, this means that for the first time in who knows how many years I missed a traditionally annual post.  And I’ve let Alternate History Thursdays lack for almost 2 months.  But fear not everyone.  Because I’m back, and 2018 isn’t even 1/3 over yet.

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VR Mario Kart

I gotta say, I never really was a fan of the Virtual Reality games and ideas.  But watching this side by side video of what the user sees, and how they have to interact with the game to play, I like it. A lot.  Is it practical for home use, not a chance.  Would I pay $5 for a $5 minute experience at a mall, or an amusement park or other event, heck yes.

{reddit}

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Alternate History Thursday: Electricity Gone

Things have quickly spiraled out of hand in the great city of New York.  Soon after the bridges were leveled, and the tunnels blown up, the Mayor of NYC officially declared his intention to secede from the State.  He wasn’t totally crazy, he wasn’t going to secede from the Union, only the State.  However, the Governor wouldn’t have any of it.  It was either be a part of the state, or leave.  This sentiment was echoed by The President.  The Mayor immediately decided that his gold was worth more then enough to start his own country, and at 8 million people, it would be a respectable country in it’s own right.  Unfortunately, gold would end up being it’s only export.

They would have to import practically everything from the mainland.  This was their weakness.  And so, fittingly, on July 4th, all power to the island of Manhattan was cut off.

The lights had gone out on Broadway.

This is the turning point where the Mayor lost control of his city.  Without electricity those hundred story buildings were impossible to get into or out of.  The water pumps weren’t able to get up all the way either.  Food started to go bad, though there was still a steady supply coming in from approved importers.  Though, that didn’t last long because the union workers on the docks went on strike, or just sailed to the greater NY/NJ/CT area and claimed asylum.  Riots started up along the edges of the city which remained connected to the state.

Through it all, there was a dedicated group of individuals who vowed to fight.  They were determined that if they couldn’t have NY as it was, no one else was entitled to it either.

The city, and the country was about to be on the brink of a war.  Who would survive, who or what would fall, and how much longer will it last?  August is around the corner, and with it come some major anniversaries, will they be honored?

As always, listen to the song while you read, it’s better that way:

Continue reading “Alternate History Thursday: Electricity Gone”

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Pure Photos

Photographer Robin de Puy teamed up with Spa, and spent 6 months developing the technique to take photographs through a drop of water.  It’s quite something to be honest, though it’s wildly impractical.  In order to get it working, they had to use a Teflon coated glass plate, an electrical current, and mirrors.  It’s all neat and everything, but it’s not for the real world unfortunately.

{Peta Pixel}

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The One

That’s what they hoped the new Xbox would be.  The One.

Well, not really, it was just based off of the love of The Matrix, and ideas that it would be a unique, immersive world.  The rest of the video goes over some of the history of how the video game console came to fruition.  The idea that the Kinect was going to re-birth the gaming system was pretty ambitious of them considering that Nintendo started that trend previously.

Any Hootie and the Blowfish, that was a pretty neat video, wasn’t it?  I really liked the part when Balmer crashed the party and insisted that the new console be a White Tower of Power.*

{Destructoid}

*Ok, I made that part up.

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Alternate History Thursday: No Bridges, or Power

The situation with the Federal Reserve Bank is getting out of hand.  Conventional wisdom said to let the world have it’s gold, after all, what good is it if you can’t use it as a bargaining chip.  Much of the rest of the country is coming back online and being functional again.  Except for New York State.  The Governor of New York has asked the President of the United States of America for assistance.  The President is a very popular guy in New York, so he thinks he can ease tensions by making a personal appearance with the Governor of New York State, and the Mayor of New York City.

There’s a big extravaganza planned for June 06, D-Day.  The day was chosen because it represents when one group of people came and liberated another.  That’s what the Governor and President saw this meeting as.  The Mayor on the other hand did not.  Using the ceased arms from one of the many armory’s on the island, the Mayor built up a small militia of followers to protect him.  Not wanting to make it seem hostile, the President came with just his usual Secret Service detail.  This is still America after all.  At least, that is what everyone thought.

The morning of June 06 came, and the meeting took place.  Everything seemed to be going as planned, progress on a future was being made.  Concessions were talked about, arguments were made, and The Great NYC summit was underway.  Talks went on for about a week, The President personally presided over some of them, but had 49 other states to attend to.

By June 19th everything seemed to be coming to an end.  That is, until word got out that China was exerting it’s great economic strength on the President to release the gold from the Fed, and let them take ownership of it.  That was a problem because that gold didn’t belong to China.  Hong Kong it argued was a much safer place for this great resource, and much closer to the developing technological powerhouses which would end up using the gold in computers.

The Mayor of NYC saw this as a loss of faith in the city.  Not just by the President, but by the world.  New York City was never one to go down quietly, so on June 19th, all entryways onto the island were cut.  Bridges were blown, tunnels imploded, ferries sunk, and airport runways mined.  Important people, and regular people alike were stranded on the island, and there was no idea if or when they would be allowed to leave.  What is going on?

As always, hit the break for the song.

Continue reading “Alternate History Thursday: No Bridges, or Power”

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Alternate History Thursday: 42nd Street

While 42nd Street doesn’t exactly cut Manhattan in half, it was the proverbial divide of the city.  Those in the north who were closer to the mainland were convinced that the government’s story was correct, there was nothing to fear, this was only a temporary glitch on the way towards a better world tomorrow.  As you go closer to the water, closer to downtown, closer to the financial district, and more importantly, closer to the World Trade Center, this view was shared less and less.  With all of the money, both virtual, and physical, that’s concentrated downtown, there was less convincing towards the government’s official story.

It did not take long before a power struggle started in lower Manhattan, particularly by the financial district, and the New York Federal Reserve.  You might be getting a Die Hard with a Vengeance vibe, and you’d be accurate in your prediction, however, it doesn’t happen this month.  The seeds are planted though, that’s what I’m telling you.

Because most of the gold held in the NYFR is foreign owned, it didn’t take long before each of the nations tried to reclaim their money, and bargaining power.  However, as trustworthy as those nations are, their representatives were not.  The first few withdrawals of gold were pretty standard, until word hit the owner nations when multiple withdrawal requests came through from one nation on the same day.  It was then that gold withdrawals were halted from the reserve.  As you can imagine, that didn’t go well with the sovereign nations.

The Federal Government ordered the reserve to release the gold, but by this time the Mayor of New York City, who fully believed in the global conspiracy theories regarding the event, was defiant.  Unfortunately, there was too many other real issues that the President had to worry about, and the National Guard was busy literally, putting out fires across the nation and trying to rebuild crumbling infrastructure to get the economy back up.

By June of 2001, the state of New York was more or less back in working order.  The less part being the five boroughs of New York City.  It wasn’t martial law that was declared, it was more like secession.  Not from The Union, but from the state of affairs of the world.  It wasn’t voted on, it wasn’t unanimous, but it was the new status quo.  A series of events has started to turn, and there is no turning back now.  Alliances are being built, while bridges are being burned.  New Yorkers would take it all in stride.  Just you wait an see.

As always, hit up after the break to watch the video while you read this post, it’s much better that way, trust me.

Continue reading “Alternate History Thursday: 42nd Street”

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DIY 3D LED POV

Is that enough acronyms in the title?  No, I think I can get a few more, don’t you?  I find the rotating LED signs interesting, though useless.  I can’t think of a reason to make one, and as such, I don’t really want to spend too much of my already valuable time making one.  I know I would have a difficult time figuring out how to get power to the LEDs, let alone a program to control them all.  No, I will stick with old fashioned wood working thank you very much.

{Hacked Gadgets}