Cool things

Nov. 4th, 2003 10:07 am
kingandy: (Default)
[personal profile] kingandy
Begun, the microseries has. Well, not yet, but soon, soon. They'd better release that on DVD, I tell ya.

Other cool things:

I went to Somerfield (supermarket) in the city centre this weekend and they are trying out a wonderful new thing: Self-service checkouts! I got to scan things in, and also weigh things on the scales, and push money into a slot at the end. And it doesn't mean lower employment, because they have to employ two people to stand next to the checkouts all day, helping people who fail to understand how to operate them properly. Or just have problems due to computer stupidity. After each item you scan it shouts, "NOW PUT THE ITEM IN THE BAG, PUNY HUMAN" (I'm paraphrasing), as there's bags next to the scanner on special prongs that are supposed to detect when you've put the item in the bag. Only the prongs failed utterly to notice even a single item that I put in, and each time I failed to obey the machine it shouted, "WAIT FOR ASSISTANCE, PATHETIC FLESHLING," as though I had somehow misunderstood the bag/item interface, that most simple part of the whole operation. The assistants told me "Yeah, ignore that bit, it's crap."

And:

Something random and almost cool that I found out this weekend. Several times now I've seen what I thought was the first of a two-part Sabrina episode, where Salem swallows a Time Ball and runs away at the end. Well, at the weekend I happened to be looking up Nick Bakay (voice of Salem) on IMDB to see what else he'd been in, and my eye was caught by his multiple appearances as Salem Saberhagen in various different series. My first thought was that he was abusing his power as writer and producer (or something) and just having himself cameo, but it turned out that all four shows (including the Sabrina Time Ball episode) used to air on the same night, made by the same production company; apparently one week they decided to do a special crossover night event kind of thing. The Time Ball plot ran through all four shows, picking up some of the cast from each as it went. I imagine the fans of Boy Meets World may have been annoyed to find their stable, normal, mundane sit-com invaded by somebody with random magical powers, but I'm all in favour of crossover TV. I've always said I'd love to see Sabrina cross over with Buffy, or Charmed ... mostly so they could get annoyed with how easy magic is for her. :)

Links to the three non-Sabrina episodes can be found on Nick's TV Tome page, down in Guest Appearances in the year of 1997. Doesn't he look a twat? I always pictured him with black hair.

Andy's New Mission

Date: 2003-11-04 05:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pkgem.livejournal.com
Your new mission, if you choose to accept, is to track down all four "time ball" episodes and air them at your home with friends, food and booze (low fat of course :-)

Re: Andy's New Mission

Date: 2003-11-04 05:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] batelf.livejournal.com
I second the idea. Anything for a laugh.

Re: Andy's New Mission

Date: 2003-11-04 08:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pkgem.livejournal.com
According to Paul, it is entirely possible to plug our computers into our big TV. I've no idea how but he seems sure. So if you are able to track them down in PC format, we can always hold the event at mine. Not sure what the picture would be like though - bigger TV may be bigger pixelation (or something). Well, its all hypothetical anyway :-)

VCD's

Date: 2003-11-04 08:34 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] stsquad.livejournal.com
Easy, use vcdimager. Then write the image with your favorite cd record that understands .cue files et voila:

[alex@cambridge 307-TheShipment]$ ls -1 *.mpg
307-TheShipment[1of5].mpg
307-TheShipment[2of5].mpg
307-TheShipment[3of5].mpg
307-TheShipment[4of5].mpg
307-TheShipment[5of5].mpg
307-TheShipment[credits].mpg
308-Promo.mpg
[alex@cambridge 307-TheShipment]$ ls -1 *.mpg | xargs vcdimager
finished ok, image created with 212175 sectors [47:09.00] (499035600 bytes)
[alex@cambridge 307-TheShipment]$ cdrdao write --device 0,0,0 --driver generic-mmc videocd.cue

Re: VCD's

Date: 2003-11-04 08:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] samharber.livejournal.com
Ahh.. your geek abilities know no bounds....

the best crossover ever (well, technically it was a spin off but who really cares) was Mork appearing in Happy Days. The showdown between Mork and The Fonz was hilarious.

Re: VCD's

Date: 2003-11-04 09:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] stsquad.livejournal.com
Well if you install cygwin which does a sterling job of turning legacy OS's into something useful you will indeed be able to build vcdimager. I'd of gone mad if I hadn't had Cygwin available to me at my last job.

Your chances of getting the cd burning software running on it are much more limited (as hardware interfaces are involved). But I'm sure there are *some* standards complient bits of software out there for your platform of "choice".

That started out as a useful answer and got a bit zealous at the end :-P

Date: 2003-11-04 10:47 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kermix.livejournal.com
Should you decide to embark upon such a project, you would do well to research the KVCD umbrella of nonstandard specs - resolutions, formats, and the DVD player compatibility chart. KVCD is actually a rag-tag bunch of specs and settings (and something about a quantization matrix) that can produce higher quality material than the older standard-compliant (S)VCDs.

In other words, you can get the most out of MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 with the help of a KVCD template (I use TMPGEnc), and then burn it to a VCD or SVCD via Nero or whatever else you might be able to get your hands on.

If I'm too confusing I could reinstall MSN I suppose.

Date: 2003-11-04 10:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ubernils.livejournal.com
Yeah, we have some self-service checkouts at the local supermarket. Both me and my roomie are cashiers, so we can whip through the whole thing, but everybody else just seems so confused by the system.

"Waaaiiit....so I put the item...here? And it.......scans it. And then...I guess...it goes....in...the...bag...thingee. Oh, there's some sort of problem...I'll just stare at it for a minute to see if it goes away. Now it wants my money. Wait, that's not right. Oh nuts....I pressed the wrong button.......*rings for help*"

Touchscreen technology is cool :-)

Date: 2003-11-05 08:26 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pkgem.livejournal.com
My highway code test (or whatever they're called nowadays) involved a shiny touch screen. There were people on hand to help if you got confused by the "new technology" (this was over 3 years ago now...) but I grasped the concept of touch the screen on the picture you want to be your answer very quickly. I whizzed through with 100% in half the time! You see, I'm technically proficient at driving. It's just when it comes down to practise that I falter...

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