20240329 Suddenly screen-accurate

 When it comes to props (aka theatrical property) there are some terms to describe them which I am wary about. Perhaps it is industry speak which by their labels indicates the origin of the prop. If you want to know more about these terms, showreelrelics.com has a much better explanation. Some props comes with COA and other forms of documentation, which increases their authenticity. But, in some reports, even authentic props were discovered (too late) to be not what it was. Below are the two terms I've often encounter but there are more here, from OriginalProp.com.

Screen Used

 Let's look at this term. It is basically saying that the prop appeared on the screen. But the question is, how can this be proven? In real life, actual props are quite rough so they do have 'tells' or unique markings which would identify them. These props can be a Hero, stunt or background props. And it can be made easier if that was a one of a kind prop. On the Internet, most have preferred to use the term, "screen matched" instead.

 One of the more reliable source to determine its authenticity is to trawl through prop Forums such as TheRPF, which is still going strong. Through the search, one can gleam information such as their history, unique anecdotes and methods to verify the prop.

Screen Accurate

 This is a much more interesting term. This applies to a prop replicas which, if held against the screen, matches in every detail. So, you would see this term often when its about the replica's accuracy, especially when the main intention is to sell it. This is also the time where each detail would be 'defended' and speculated, and everyone learns from it. I mean EVERYONE from makers to recasters to sellers to customers to... well, you get the picture.

 Apart from the tells and painting and details, there is another factor which makes screen accurate props more authentic, and sometimes, to the point of being an original prop. And this happens when the production or prop makers decide to use readily available, commercial replicas of the prop. It can be a scale model kit or a toy.

 The thing is, this has been happening for quite some time. For example, Star Trek uses scale model kits of the Enterprise while Doctor Who does the same with their Sonic Screwdrivers. . Imagine you waking up one morning to realise one of your toys is a screen accurate item. However, you won't get much out of it because everyone else who has it, has the same screen accurate item.

Using commercial replicas

 Propmakers are often under pressure to deliver a working props within budget and on time. But what happens if the production needs a hundred or two of the working props? They have to plan on how many would be Heros, stunts or even background props. I think, any number more than two or three is enough to be considered a problem. And this is where the idea of using toys or scale models come in to play.

Ghostbusters

 So, yeah, for Ghostbusters: Afterlife which needs 198 ghost traps, they went shopping at Wal-Mart. And I am sure, overnight, everyone who has one, would be overjoyed that their toy suddenly became, "screen-accurate". (I have yet to have one myself and I am sure, I will be able to come across one, or two.)

 

 

 In Ghosbusters: Frozen Empire, thanks to Adam Savage, who revealed that the prop masters actually used a Haslab Proton Pack! So, what does this all mean? The Wal-Mart Ghost Traps and Haslab's Proton Packs are now screen-accurate items. So, when (eventually) I open my Haslab pack, it is already a screen used props sans weathering, I guess

The shell (top) and the cyclotron are from Haslab.

 

 

 

 

20240328 Servicing my Bengmobile2

 

 

 I can tell you that today is a very special day for me. After more than 25 years of owning a car, I finally know how to... change the engine oil. I've seen the guys do that everyday but today, I get to do it by myself (i.e. unsupervised). And just to clarify, I bought my own engine oil and stuff, plus we had to wait until after all the other cars were done.

 It's a very simple process where you drain out the oil at the bottom and fill it up at the top. The main thing is to know which tools to use, how to get the car oriented properly in the bay, which nut to release and, for my Bengmobile2, where the oil filter is hidden. Oh, and also, make sure the engine is cooled down somewhat. Don't ask how my fingers got... nevermind,

During the session, I learnt a lot about my car and some preventive maintenance too.

 

See the date? It's more than 4.5 years already and they battery is still going strong!
That's Europower for you. Previously, it was an Energizer, which lasted 4 years.

Got a little worried there as a few months ago, aswe kinda sucked out the brake fluid months ago.
The guys said it was most probably the dirty oil cap which was not cleaned.

Next would be the Aircond which, during the day, was never cold. We discovered that the left sponge (many thanks to WL Autoparts for the picture) is missing. These two black sponges acts as a kind of makeshift cold air intake and thermal barrier from the hot engine air next to it. Yeah, it's basically, a heat shield. So, I need to get them soon.

Anyway, after watching some videos on Youtube, this one is giving me ideas since the double-sided tapes are claimed to be weak.

20240324 Homemade Chili Oil

 Ever since I realised I could mix ketchup with chili sauce at KFC, eating there became an adventure. Decades later, when I found out that the Clownhouse also had Black Pepper, it was even better. At that age, I have come to accept that most of us Malaysians must have some kind of sauce for our food. Never mind if it is already flooded with its own sauce or drowning in it. We would still be looking for some sauce. It's already a (bad?) habit and in some establishments, I suppose that it can be considered an insult to the Chef. I mean, at the back of the kitchen, they worked their magic to come up with a delicious meal and you'd still be asking, "So, can I have some... ketchup?"

Where's the Sauce?

 While I was abroad studying in the UK, and working in other places, sauces or rather, condiments, were usually not readily available and if they do, it comes in the the boring form of vinegar based ketchups. So, for a Malaysian like me, eating with the lack of sauce was torture. In Malaysia, we have sweet ketchup and the Heinz ketchup for a start. For chili sauce, we have the sweet ones, the famous Lingam variety, the Thai version, the garlic version and so on. Within these parts of the World, there are a lot more sauces than just mayo variations.

The Red Chili Oil

 I cannot remember when was the first time I've encountered chili oil but I do know its from some Chinese restaurant. This little oily red mound of chili flakes which is spicy yet crunchy really got me hooked. And if I could, I would be eating them by the bowls accompanied with steaming white rice instead of the main dishes. By the turn of the Millennium, I was buying bottles of them and later, in the mid-2010's, I kinda moved on to Lao Gan Ma.

However, it was not until recently that I came across some recipes on how to make chili oil. After reading a few of them, I came up with some theories.

- It is the aromatic oil which is very important

- The hot aromatic oil is used to 'cook' the chili flakes mix at the final stage

- I still have no idea how to make it crunchy

Making my own

 The ingredients for this is basically very simple and since this is my first try, I am going to use what I is in the house. But I'd have to buy the chili flakes (non-Sichuan) and Spring onions.

Ingredients

Main

100gm of chili flakes (2 packets of 90gm each, close enough)

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

pepper ('some' because we ran out)

 

The Garlic Mix (Important: Read this)

This is the part which was not in any of the recipes I've gone through. My intention is to deep fry them with the infused oil, hoping for a crunchy garlic. The aftermath is anything but.

3 bulbs of garlic, chopped ( I got smoked ones instead, but not sure about this)

3 fresh chili api (the small ones which gives you that, "OMG" taste)

3 fresh chili the bigger ones that is hot but not too hot

In the background are the ingredients to infuse the oil.

  

Oil Infusion

3x spring onions (bulb and stalks) , cut roughly

1½ cup of cooking oil

1 inch of ginger, sliced to 2mm thickness

4 cloves of garlic, taken from above, smashed and roughly cut into 3 slices each

 

Preparing the Chili Flakes

Put the two packets of chili flakes into a glass or porcelain bowl (they will be heated up later).

Mix in one teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 tsp pepper

While mixing, slowly add in 1 Tablespoon of water.

Mix thoroughly and add in another Tablespoon of sugar, salt and water.

Mix again, and finally, add a Tablespoon of Oil

Preparing the Oil

Pour half of the oil and heat it up. You will know its ready when you throw in a thin slice of ginger and it starts to bubble. My infra-red thermometer said it was about 208ºC.

Add in the ginger and leave it alone for 30 seconds.

Add in the garlic and leave it alone for 15 seconds.

Add in the spring onions and leave it alone for 15 seconds or so

Lower to oil to about 80ºC and let it sort of simmer for 3 minutes or so.

Once you get the aroma, remove the ingredients, leaving only the oil.

 

After removing the ingredients from the oil, I kept the oily garlic and ginger. The spring onions was a little too soft.

 

Now comes the most controversial part. I heated up the oil to about 150ºC, then threw in the garlic mix and deep fried them very quickly. It did not work so I lowered the oil temperature to let it simmer.

'Cooking' the Chili Flakes

 Lastly, I added the remaining 1½ cup of oil and heated the wok again to about 150ºC. Slowly, pour some of them onto the chili flakes and stir. Bear in mind, there is a lot of oil, so it took me about four or so attempts. If I were to pour them all, the chili flakes would be burnt.

The bubbling was quite fast and it's not easy to capture then while pouring the hot oil.
You have to do this but by bit so as not to burn the whole thing.

 

The first sample on the left is so-so. It kinda taste better with some last minute sprinkle of salt and plus 2 Tablespoon of sesame seed oil.

Even without adding a tablespoon of light soya sauce, the chili oil is kinda dark already.

The verdict

Well, it kinda tasted OK for a first try. I am spoiled with the commercial ones like Lau Gan Ma. It's nice but just tasting the chili flakes in kinda boring. So, on the next try, I will need to get some actual szechuan chili flakes, bay leaves, star aniseed, some pepper and paprika.

The 1½ cup of oil gave me about two medium sized jars.
This photo was taken about 4 days after where the first jar is almost empty because my eldest and I whacked them at every meal. I think by now, the ingredients are fusing with each other and it tastes kinda nice.

20240315 Termite Attack: 20 years later

The Silent Destroyer

 When you hear sounds in the wood, it is never a good sign. The house is not shaking because it was built on a firm foundation. And besides, the railway is about 2 kilometers away. This can only mean one thing: Termites. And I hate Termites. I also hate Silverfish and Mosquitoes but Termites is right at the top of the list.

 It is the very pest which destroys every thing that is moist and pulpy in its path. It is also the same pest which also destroy things you hold dear and to add insult to injury, whatever it ate is replaced with its brown gunk aka poop. By the time I was in my early thirties, I have amassed a lot of stuff to which some might say, junk. And I like store them junk in boxes so that I won't trip or accidentally stepped on them.

All is lost

Around this time, in the early 2000's, the surrounding neighbours were renovating their house like every few months. So, if one of the house has a hidden termite nest, the construction work would have disturbed it causing them to relocate to another house. And months later, if that house also has some renovations, it would move on to the nest house and so on.

Unfortunately, we do not have any plans to renovate the house (yet). And so, unknown to us all, our house was the next target. Nobody noticed the termites until I did a routine quarterly check on my stuff. And on that day, I had a very bad day. We quickly checked on other spots but apart from my Parent's bedroom and the Kitchen, everything was still standing.

 With a sad heart, I had to rummage through the debris to recover what I can. Most of them were model kits and some of them were Special Editions or Limited Editions, whatever. By the time I have separated them from the gunk, I laid them on to about three big basin containers. Sadly, because they were so big, whatever available makeshift covers were not enough when the rain came. Most of the stuff, tiny little parts, carefully separated from the poop were washed away into the drain. Also, because of my panicking, I tipped one of the basins over, thinking they contained only plastic bags.

 

This photo was dated: 27th August, 2004 at 7:03:42PM.
I remembered holding the wet plastic bag of Revell's Special Edition USS Voyager. At that time, I described it as holding a dead cat by the skins while its insides were at the bottom. That was how I felt. The plastic bag is the original factory packed which the termites found a hole and had a field day.
It's been 20 years and I was almost at the stage of forgetting the event and cutting my losses until I discovered this image on a Hard Disk. Now I am sad all over again.

 

20240313 Custom Macro Keyboard

The QWERTY exercise

 Being the lazy bugger that I am, sometimes I hate the Function keys in situations where I need to use them repeatedly. If you look at the keyboard layout, the function keys are way up above the QWERTY keys while my lazy hands like to just comfortably lump themselves at the bottom. Having said that, there are some software which allows for customised (and sometimes common) keyboard shortcuts but for the rest, that's another kettle of fish.

 When I place my hands on the keyboard, they would assume their natural pose which is more like upside-down cupping. OK, actually, the natural pose of the hands and fingers on the keyboard resembles more of a pianist. But unlike the pianist who moves their hands horizontally, typists have the extra displeasure to contend with 6 horizontal rows of keys. In other words, your fingers curl and lengthen all the time, as if its looking for a mine or something. It's OK to just type but after some time, the fingers would start to rebel if you stretch them for the numbers and Function keys at the top.

The Macro Keyboard

 OK, *ahem*. So this is a nice excuse to get a macro keyboard and its no secret that I've been eyeing them for years. Oh, you didn't know? Maybe that's because I did not tell anyone out loud. The only set back at the time was that I was not too involved with Circuit Board Designs and CAD software. OK, I was into SektchUp and Inkscape but those commands are normal alphanumerics which involves a combination of CTRL and SHIFT keys.

 Still, its a good time (than never) to get one now despite having to pay close to RM100 for it. Originally, it was much higher but that was years ago. There are a lot of uses for macro keys where you can string a multiple command at the press of a button or even use them for faster response in a game, I suppose. For my case, I just want to invoke command/ options without having to search for the right key, wasting precious mili-seconds and breaking my concentration.

First Impressions

When I opened the package for the first time, I was shocked that some of the keys fell out. Then I realised, this is a good thing because this means, they key switches are interchangeable. Although these are the RED LINEAR keys, I can later change some of them into the BLUE CLICK keys, starting with just the top row.

The build of the Macro Keyboard is, how shall I put this, feels like a homemade DIY kit or something from a Kickstarter project. Don't get me wrong but I am thinking that at some point in time, they came like so. It's all built with Laser cut acrylics, 3D printed sides and screws centering on a single Printed Circuit Board. So, if it really came out as a kit, I'd would have bought it there and then.

I chose this version which has white keys.
It has optional Bluetooth connection but I'd still need the USB-C port to charge the battery.
The port can also be used as wired option and is really needed to program the keys.

The Macro keyboard is made of four physical layers (I just forgot to label the last bottom layer which is laser cut acrylic). Here is the business end where all the cables and options are made possible. Note the same name LAYER BUTTON which expands your keyboard from 15 to 45 macros.

When it arrived, some of they keys fell out. After a few seconds of dismay, I realised that these keyboards are interchangeable (and also, because I did not scroll down where the seller said these are Outemu Switches and are interchangeable). Right now, they are linear types where they are silent and has no tactile feedback. So, as time goes by, I can actually swap them for different key types.
Update: 14.03.2024 This is also the very same key switch location that is not working. I have swapped with other switches and it still does not work. So, I'll have to open it up soon.

This is how I will place my hand and the intended orientation of the Macro Keyboard. Although I have yet to test it fully, the only thing I need to improve is to have the thing stop sliding about. It has some heft but still light enough to move around unintentionally. Plus, I might want to cover the round chrome knobs with some anti-slip tapes or strips.

Maybe some thin rubber feet might help and I am thinking about 6 to 7 small pieces.
Once the protective sticker has been removed, it would be a very good surface to stick on.

The Software

Of course, needs software of some kind to enable the Macro keyboard. I know this because after plugging in the USB-C cable on both ends, nothing happened. I had to trace back to the seller's page which read:

Instructions and customized software are available after purchase

And try as I might, there were no further communication apart from the usual pleasantries that comes after taking your money. Luckily for me, a quick Google search lead me to the supposedly manufacturer, SIKAI.

After downloading the software, configuring the 'Hot Keys' is very simple just as long as you remember that programming can only be done via the USB-C cable. The software offers various macro shortcuts from keyboards, to mouse, to multimedia and even LED colours (only available if you use the USB-C cable). And the only time you need to use the software (and cable) is when you need to program the hot keys.

There are quite a few variation to the design. Had I know about the LAYER feature, I might not have gotten the 12-key version but maybe, a more modest 9-key vertsion.

 

 

I am very sure there is another software version as this one looks quite generic since it displayed 16 keys instead of 12. But man, I am having fun with the Macro Keyboard and on my EaglePCB software, it worked like a charm!

 

 

 

One more thing

 As long as you use the USB-C cable, the light up LED features will be available to you. So, the following options are self-describing and it was nice. But after a few minutes, I decided (for now) that it is best not to have them lit up. Maybe it's a little too distracting or there is not enough light effects that suite me (but Mode4 was the closest) or maybe, I'm just not in the mood this evening.

4. RGB Lights: Red、Orange、Yellow、Green、Cyan、Blue、Purple.

LED Mode0: Close the Light.

LED Mode1: Steady on (All Keys)

LED Mode2: Fast Glow (From First to Last Keys)

LED Mode3: Fast Glow (From Last to First Keys)

LED Mode4: Light Up when Pressed (Single Key)

LED Mode5: White Light (All Keys)

 

And another thing

Remember I talked about Layers? After testing it for a while, where different software have different keyboard shortcuts, each Layer must be used for different software. All of a sudden, the three layers were quickly used up. Damn.

 

20240308 Losing Focus Pt. 2

 Whelp, in less than three months, my glasses broke again. I thought the metal frame would have lasted longer but unfortunately, I was wrong. The problem with my getting new frames/ glasses has been quite annoying for the last decade because I seldom return to the same shop after each breakage incident. It was either my luck or, that the frames I've chosen never last.

 The damage this time were one of the padding to the nose pads. They were not made from silicon or whatever soft material. Disaster struck when after some lens cleaning, one snag with the cleaning cloth broke it. And all of a sudden, I have bad thoughts about the manufacturer and their family members.

  

 

Its not the End of The World

 I mean, if you  look at it from another person's point of view, a pair of broken glasses is not their problem. OK, maybe that example is not right but whatever it is, it is still not their problem. And while moping about what to do, it is not their problem. Still, I do know that in the following days, I would lose focus in what I am doing or about to do.

The Solution

I have two solutions that comes to mind. And both require me to do some work, which on a hot night, is anything but. And both requires me to work on the glasses no matter which path I took.

A. The Repair Kit

One way to make sure this won't happen again is to get a repair kit. And so, off to Shopee and China surfing I go. And after two days of searching and looking for the best bargain (I'm besotted with FREE SHIPPING as long as my order is over RM15.00) I do realise that, I have to pay money more than I wanted to. But on a more serious note, what am I going to do with the excess screws that might or might not fit to my current and future glasses?

 

The Glasses Repair kit and I'm not sure what I'd do with the extra parts or if they would rust after some time.

 

B. Repairing it myself

 Looking back, I am pretty sure I do have a few frames which I can salvage the parts from. Its just that... well, it's just that these nose pads have either browned and usually have icky soft green goo that you can spread like a mini jam. That's the result of my sweat dripping and flowing onto the nose pads and reacting with the metal. Them sweats just being their acidic self, did what they did.

And so, I am going to transplant one of the nose pads (left) onto my current glasses (right).
Note both lens have yellowed, a phenomenon which happens about two to three weeks (or even sooner) after you wore the glasses. That's Malaysian weather for you.

You can just remove the pad by unscrewing the screw. Note all the green gunk that accumulated over the years, from the screw to the pad and into the receptacle.

Luckily, the green goo has dried out over the years and I have a choice to either dig it out or leave it alone. Since I have some time...

This is the broken nose pad.

 

20240308 The Vertical Mouse

 And so, despite having gone through a lot of mice over the years, and after so long, I decided to try a new Mouse that has a different form. It's more than three weeks and now, it is time to reflect on my new mouse. In the past, I have used weird ones like:

Trackball

 This was a fun one. It literally saved my wrist and table real estate. The big size meant I can really rest my whole hand on it. Clicking the buttons were a breeze while the whole mouse is stationary. The only part of my hand which had to work was the thumb. It was OK but once it requires precise mouse pointing, the trackball was out. But after two decades, I am sure trackball technology has improved tremendously. This was the mouse which had additional buttons to flip the Webpages forward and back, something my thumb immediately takes a liking to.

 It was also the mouse which started me on a biased journey to favour new mice with that two important back/forward buttons.

I think this was the A4Tech model (left) I had since Logitech was much more expensive
Image courtesy of xahlee.info

The Handheld/ Floating Mouse

 I don't know what else to call it since it need to be held by the hand and is wireless. The mouse was shaped like a Star Trek Phaser and apart from the usual left and right buttons, it has a built-in laser pointer. And yes, a trackball. It was more fun as a shooting Phaser than what it was originally intended for. The trackball was positioned in the middle which I presume was for both left and right handed users. It has no gyroscopes like the ones you see now, I can put my hands down and concentrate on the trackball. It's sole function during Powerpoint presentations became quite apparent.

I bought two versions. The first comes with the PS/2 connector while years later, it was updated with the USB.

The Vertical Mouse

 This mouse claims to prevent problems with the wrist and the twisting of your forearm when using conventional mouse. On the first few times, my hand was not that comfortable holding what I could only describe as a sliding fin. But once the muscles have adapted to the new positions, it is quite nice.

 Although my forearm is now in its natural untwisted position, there is a new problem. With a conventional mouse, where I 'ran out' of table space, I can use my fingers to kick stuff away or extend my fingers upright, lift up the mouse and drag to reset the position. But with the vertical mouse, grabbing it was sometimes difficult since the smooth tilted angles does not any 'finger-holds'. Plus, the mouse is made of two main parts, but where the two pieces meet, their sharp edges often gets snagged on the bottom of my palm. But the most irritating thing is that, sometimes the bottom edge of my palm falls to the table which the mouse then takes the opportunity to run over it. In other words, the mouse comes to a stop.

The Brand is called Jomaa

There was a special price so I chose Red Rose trims in Black instead of Black trims on Black.
There was another model which is metallic Purple.

This is how I held the mouse and unfortunately, South Paws would have a big issue.
There are four buttons on the mouse; two each for Left and Right and each button lets you click silently or with an audible feel.

I wished there were Yellow Gold or metallic Blue trims

The mouse is Wireless and runs on one AA bettery. It uses either 2.4Ghz RF or, Bluetooth.
Sadly, the button for choosing the connection lies at the bottom of the thumb area. The top is to indicate your choice.

See that triangle at the bottom, that's the wireless connection selection and when your thumb feels tired, and the mouse does not move, you know what happened. And this happens at least a few times a week.

As for the small little button in the middle, its the dpi selection which is nicely hidden. I often forget about it even when I was using the scrolling wheel.

By the third week or so, my hand has formed its own stance.

I had to use some sandpaper to reduce the sharp edges and now the mouse feels much better.
Maybe I should add a non-slip pad so that the whole palm would not slide down.

 

20240305 Community Guidelines

Community Guidelines

I kinda hate that word which I encounter earlier in Facebook. Most of my Friends would have been warned on their postings due to this 'Guideline'. Many lamented that their posts were either gone or, they were in FB Jail. So, we are not allowed to say or post things that will upset the Community. And frankly, I am still upset, in fact, seething. So do forgive me if my train of thought derailed and went diving on another tangent.

The Socmed Police

Once the platform is monitored (or Policed or, OK, censored) it is no longer a

We knew what you did... years ago

Granted that this platform is not ours but we can use it for 'free' as long as we accept their T&C whether we like it or, well, not. What really irks me is that despite trying to keep it clean, a sudden change or fart in the Community, what ever I did years ago now paints me as tethering on the edge to being the Bad Guy. Let's just say, years ago, you loved melons and all of a sudden, it is now associated with part of a female's anatomy. Then you get warnings after warnings about your postings, images and stuff about melons.

And this is not just Facebook now. It affects Pinterest and also, Blogger as well. Granted its their platform and they can do whatever they want. Its just irritating that after so many years, a post about something gets you into trouble. And that goal post is constantly moving about.

Whatever is on the Internet, stays on the Internet

Yeah, the Net is like one big Hard Disk, forever recording any so-called incriminating shenanigans and stuff I so willingly uploaded. So, it's going to be a hassle deleting every item I uploaded and not only that, duplicated by others.

How now, Brown cow?

Remember those Jokes about your potential employer looking into your Socmed accounts and all that? Yeah, I know it's pointless but man, at the back of my neurotic mind, I know it might affect me at that point in time and if not, at some point in the future.

To be honest, I am not bothered by all these right now, just the irritation that gets under my skin. It's like the Headmaster coming after me for throwing rubbish on the floor when I first entered school decades ago.

You know what, personally, I should not be bothered by all this and I should be diverting all my energy to working on my Website.

It's not me who blurred the image but Pinterest. Plus, I don't remember this image at all.
Maybe its the dress that I was interested during some weird character deisgn.

 

So, yeah, go ahead, man. Bring it on.