A thought before election day
Just a little something to consider before heading to the polls. … Read more
Just a little something to consider before heading to the polls. … Read more
Halloween was a bust this year – little E was plagued by a stomach virus just when he needed it the least (like there’s a good time for that sort of thing); I spent most of Saturday trying to keep up with the upchuck. Needless to say, no trick-or-treating took place this year… and no one came to the house this year, since Xena’s doghouse has been relocated to the front of the house. (Xena goes as Cujo every Halloween.)
In the meantime, me and my three-year-old boy spent all weekend exploring one of the most enduring and conceptually disturbing survival-horror video game franchises of all time. Strong stuff for a pre-schooler, you say? Sure it is, but it’s all so innocent. … Read more
There’s a neat archive of old, old computer print advertisements on the web, which turned up this interesting little gem, a short-lived home computer called the Ohio Scientific Challenger 4P:
Whoa… what’s up with those joysticks?
Those, my friends, are Odyssey2 joysticks – the original detachable kind, seen below on the left side. (To its right, just for reference, is its immediate ancestor, the Odyssey 4000 joystick, which changed the orientation of the casing and the placement of the button for reasons unknown.)
(The Odyssey2 joystick is rotated that way for comparison to the Odyssey 4000 joystick – these photos were originally taken for the Phosphor Dot Fossils Level 2 DVD. The Odyssey2 joystick was always held with the action button at the upper left corner.)
The Odyssey2 and the Ohio Scientific Challenger 4P were both released in 1978; the Odyssey 4000, the last dedicated console released by Magnavox before the Odyssey2, was released in 1977.
So the question becomes: who made the joystick? Did Magnavox (makers of the Odyssey consoles) make the joysticks and license the design to Ohio Scientific? Did Ohio Scientific originate the design and license it to Magnavox as early as ’77? Did both parties license the design from someone else entirely? (For that matter, did the joysticks for the Ohio Scientific machine actually look like that, or did they grab the first available joystick they could for the photo?)… Read more
The true (but necessarily vague) tale of the time I had to sue someone for stealing from theLogBook.com. 😯 Also included: more weird radio stories, waterproof droids and… a cat on crack.
Listen here:
[audio:https://www.thelogbook.com/earl/podcast/10292010-ohpoopy.mp3]
Right-click here and “save as” to save to your hard drive or MP3 player; leave feedback with this post or in the forums.… Read more
A couple of my Facebook friends recently posted some personality and intelligence test results courtesy of an app there. I’ve taken those same tests before, but it’s been a while; I went directly to the site for the tests rather than do the Facebook app (even before the recent revelations, I just don’t do Facebook apps) under a silly pseudonym. But what the heck, I’ll post the results here, even if I don’t want them to have my info. … Read more
War stories from the end of locally-owned radio. The goofiest radio commercials you’ve ever heard. Highly unprofessional and inadvisable behavior. Plus special appearances by little E and the Devil. 😯
Listen here:
[audio:https://www.thelogbook.com/earl/podcast/10222010-radio.mp3]
Right-click here and “save as” to save to your hard drive or MP3 player; leave feedback with this post or in the forums.… Read more
So tonight I wetted little E’s head down after he’d been splashing around in the bathtub for a couple of minutes, as a precursor to a shampoo attack. So keep in mind, the kid’s been sitting in warm water and splashing around for a couple of minutes, but when I pour water on his head (with ample warning), he says “DAD! YOU GOT ME ALL WET!”
Um… … Read more
…remember this post about the weird dream? … Read more
Whatever happened to VWORP!, the Doctor Who guide I was supposedly going to have ready in time for OVGE next month? What, this little thing?
I had a weird-ass dream last night. I do not know what it means. I should specify that my subconscious chose to ooze this one out in one of the brief bursts of REM sleep that I had between little E’s outbursts last night (he’s not feeling great). This dream happened between 5am and 8am this morning.
See if you can follow me on this one. … Read more