It’s the holidays and I’d love to hang out with family, but the “Christmas With the Duke” John Wayne marathon on AMC might be enough temptation to keep me on the couch all day.

It’s the holidays and I’d love to hang out with family, but the “Christmas With the Duke” John Wayne marathon on AMC might be enough temptation to keep me on the couch all day.

What’s been keeping me busy lately. 

My department at work, Software Development, puts on a holiday party every year for our NYC office. On top of all the food, we try to have at least one big surprise each year, with past examples being a Plinko board and tap system in the conference room. This year we took it to a new level got budget approval to make a custom arcade machine.

Instead of trying to agree on just one game, we decided to buy a cabinet, hack it, and then load on every arcade game ever made. So we went out and purchased a four player Spiderman cabinet off of craigslist. The existing control panel (what holds the joysticks) was Spiderman specific so we ordered a custom panel from Long Island with new buttons, joysticks, and a track ball off the internet. I came in on a Saturday to wire everything together into breadboard circuit. This hooked up into a computer running MAME and Hyperspin. Next, we had to driver hack the video card in order to get it to output at 360x240 resolution with a 15hz refresh rate. Custom graphics were created and ordered and then everything was assembled over the course of a few evenings.

Aside from the printer messing up the color balance of the graphics — they’re supposed to be neon’ish color — I think it came out pretty well. The front end, Hyperspin, looks really slick (video) and the games feel just like you’re playing them on the original machine. With three kegs on tap and a free arcade machine, my office just became the coolest bar in the Financial District.

Found this “Team Realtree Outdoor Energy Drink” at a gas station in Pennslyvania. I really like the coordinated camo pattern/flavor. Call the cops, this city boy is going to have one.

oldhollywood:

Drama in the Air (1904, dir. Gaston Velle) (via)

“Who are nobler than the martyrs of science?” cried the lunatic. “They are canonized by posterity!”

(May this terrible narrative, though instructing those who read it, not discourage the explorers of the air.)

-Jules Verne, Drama in the Air (1851)

These are pretty neat stills. Though I actually really like the “who are nobler than the martyrs of science?” quote.

Chad and Shalini: Newlyweds.

Chad and Shalini: Newlyweds.