Reviewing childrens’ TV from an adult perspective

Published on 7/7/2010 in General. 1 Comment

Like anyone with a toddler at home, our TV is permanently glued to the children’s TV channel.  Treehouse TV.

I watch a lot of these children’s TV series these days.  Enough to form opinions of them.

Big and Small

I like it.  I often wonder why Big doesn’t kick Small’s self-centered ass to the curb.  But it’s funny, with that straight-man/funny-man comic duo thing happening.  And the songs are often surprisingly good.

Thomas the Tank Engine

Somewhat formulaic, but apparently classic.  All the real train lingo appeals to the latent trainspotter in me.  I kinda prefer the earlier ones shot with physical models over the later CGI ones.  They’re primitive, but they have charm.  But even the CGI ones play it pretty realistic, unlike…

Chuggington

An obvious rip-off of Thomas.  I find it very distracting how the CGI trains bounce and flail around all the time.  I just don’t think a 70 ton locomotive should bounce around like a caffeinated chihuahua.

Franklin

This is actually quite watchable.  Not too formulaic.

4 Square

Episodes are very short, just filler really.  Each episode is one of the four different segments.  I will review each of them separately.

I’ve got a rhythm, gonna review it with ya

Moronic.

Review what the doo-wahs review

Moronic.

Poem

Moronic.

Ronaldo, review the segment.  Hup!

Mind-numbingly moronic.  Metito, wipe that ridiculous #$%^%# smile off your face.  Hup!

In the Night Garden

This is apparently the new Teletubbies.  Kinda trippy.  About 15 seconds of story, stretched out to 30 minutes, but can be fun if you’re in the right frame of mind.

The birds… I mean, “tittifers”… are disturbing.  They look like real birds, but they move like they’ve been hollowed out and their innards replaced with jerky robotics.  Way down near the bottom of the uncanny valley.

Waybuloo

WTF is this shit?  Crystals, yoga, chanting, meditation, levitating CGI creatures?  It’s a steaming pile of New Agey spiritual mumbo-jumbo.  It’s downright creepy.  The poor human kids that appear in this thing… I expect they’ll be permanently damaged by the experience.

Roll-Play

Ron shakes his fist at the irritating show.  Shake your fist!

One of the kids reminds me of a bully I knew in public school.  I dislike it for that reason alone.  But it’s also really stupid.

Wonder Pets

Lame-o.  Mega lame-o.  Painful to watch.  Why do they have to keep singing the same damn song over and over?  Why don’t they use some of that teamwork to whip up some new songs?

3rd and Bird

Not very interesting, not very lame.  Just boring.

Backyardigans

Sometimes manages to draw me in, somehow.  I like how the stories explore different parts of the world, different periods in history, different genres.

Manon

Weird-looking animation.  3D CG animation but rendered to look like 2D cel animation.  It doesn’t work for me.  And why does she have those four big thick black hairs, in addition to her regular hair?

Guess with Jess

I think this is supposed to teach kids the scientific method or something.  But they never really answer the question themselves.  The cow always hands them the answer.  In real science, there’s no talking cow to give you the answer.

Toopy and Binoo

Seriously trippy.  The people who make this show are getting some really good shit.

Max and Ruby

Pretty formulaic, but can be funny.  Max has some great toys, like the Screaming Blue Alien Gorilla, and the wind-up clockwork lobster that chases him around.

The Wot Wots

I like this one.  I like their crazy steam-punk spaceship.  Somehow I wasn’t surprised when I noticed that Weta is involved.  Probably the same guys that make this stuff.

How not to build a kegerator

Published on 4/18/2010 in Homebrewing. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

We’re planning a bar renovation, and I wanted to take the opportunity to build in an ultimate homebrew draft system.

The heart of this new draft system is to be a Danby DWC2727BLS.  The DBC2760BLS appears to be effectively identical, with a slightly different arrangement of internal shelves.  This is a “french door” wine/beverage centre.  The really unique feature of this unit is that the two doors open onto separate compartments, each of which can be programmed to a different temperature.  Each of the two compartments is just barely big enough to squeeze in a 5 gallon homebrew “Corny” keg, without any modification at all.

Combined with a dual-regulator CO2 system, this would allow serving two different beers, each at its own ideal temperature and pressure.  A cellar-temperature low-carbonation English ale on one side, and a sparkling cold frosty lager on the other.

I bought the fridge at a good “scratch’n'dent” price.  It was actually just the cardboard carton that was somewhat banged up.  The fridge inside was in perfect condition.

I started the required modifications today.  It has not gone well:

A $600 hissing noise

What the hell is that?  Some kind of tube?

That would explain the hissing sound when I stopped the hole-saw.  Not burning insulation, as I thought at first.  That’s really heart-breaking.

For anyone else looking to modify a Danby DWC2727BLS, that tube runs side-to-side, about 12-1/4″ inches from the back of the fridge.  At least that’s where it is on mine.  Maybe not always in the same place.

How could this have been avoided?

Manufacturer cooperation

When I was building my earlier Danby-based kegerator, I actually called Danby to inquire about the locations of any important plumbing.  I got nothing out of them.  They wouldn’t tell me.  So, I didn’t bother trying this time.

Perhaps they don’t want to encourage people to modify their products.  Perhaps they think that people modifying their products are more likely to accidentally release refrigerant into the atmosphere.  Perhaps they think that by cooperating with modifiers, they would be contributing to the release of refrigerant into the atmosphere.

I would argue that it’s only uninformed people that will accidentally release refrigerant.  These modifications are not difficult; anybody with some decent tools and a modicum of skill could accomplish them… given the required information.  By not providing that information, they contribute to the release of refrigerant.  What happened today proves the point.

Reading this guy’s web-page

I wish I had stumbled across this other kegerator-conversion page, for building a Sanyo-based kegerator.

This guy’s steps are mostly the same as I used on my earlier Danby conversion.  But he adds one really great technique I wish I had thought of: using an alcohol/cornstarch mixture to detect the locations of refrigerant lines.

Use a nibbling tool, not a hole saw

On my previous kegerator conversion, I used a nibbling tool to cut out the hole.  I didn’t have any hole-saws of that size at the time.  This time, I used a big hole saw.  The nibbler always gives me a blister, and I didn’t want that.  But the hole saw is a Bad Idea.  The hole saw will cut through anything vital before you know it’s there.

With a nibbling tool, you’re only at real risk drilling the first pilot hole, which is small.  After that, as you nibble around the big hole with the nibbler, you will immediately notice if you hit anything like a refrigerant tube, before doing any damage.

What now?

Tomorrow I will call some appliance repair specialists, see if it’s possible to repair the tube and recharge the system with new refrigerant.  I’m doubtful, though.  I believe this tube was the “capillary tube”, which runs between the condensor and the evaporator.  The specific length and dimensions of the capillary tube are carefully tuned to provide just the right amount of restriction.  Splicing in a repair might mess that up.

Also, it’s possible little particles of metal could have got into the tube, and may mess up the compressor.  The system is currently open to the atmosphere, and allowing water vapour in.  I tried to plug up the ends of the tube with bits of electrical tape as best I could, but it still may require a careful purging with dry nitrogen and a new filter/drier.

All-in-all, repair might be very expensive, if even possible.

I could also just trash this whole unit, and try again.  But I doubt I’ll find another scratch’n'dent bargain at $600.  I may have to pay the full price, over $1000.

A painful lesson.

Electronics for old people

Published on 2/27/2010 in Tech. 3 Comments Tags: , , , .

As our population ages, here’s one feature that consumer electronics makers really have to start thinking about: lock-down modes for old people.

I need a way to set up my Mom’s TV, cable box and DVD player in such a way that she can’t possibly screw it up.

Continue reading ‘Electronics for old people’

Expensive watches

Published on 2/25/2010 in General and Tech. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

The world of watches is a strange place. The best watches tend to be relatively inexpensive, while some rather poor watches are priced out of range of all but the very wealthy. By “best” and “poor”, I’m referring not to subjective things like aesthetics. I’m not even going to bother thinking about whether a Gucci watch is “better” than a Prada watch. I don’t give a rat’s ass about either of them. I mean the qualities that watchmakers have striven for centuries to achieve: accuracy, reliability, and useful features.

It’s pretty common knowledge that a $20 Timex is much more accurate than a $20,000 Patek Phillipe. From a purely practical point of view, the Timex is a better watch in almost every respect. So why is it that I am so drawn to look at these crazy expensive mechanical watches?

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Wheat decadent bone multi-layer

Published on 2/25/2010 in Funny. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Here’s a really long bit of insane Engrish from a box of Chinese candies. Just try to understand this, I defy you.

Wuxue city (old name Guangji county) the Guangji crunchy candy, origins from the Ming Dynasty wanlinian, because hands down a loyal son the mother to dye cold illness, by fries ripely the sesame seed, mixes by the sucrose, the mother eats on severalth to cough stops is restored to health, latter improves unceasingly after all previous dynasties famous teacher, chooses a name officially in the Qing Dynasty Daoguang Dynasty as the Guangji crunchy candy, spreads until now. [Ok, now breathe.]

But the Guangji crunchy candy assumes the wheat decadent bone multi-layer, the pine crisp tasty, sweet is not greasy, includes the protein, the carbohydrate, the meals textile fiber, the calcium, the phosphorus, hard, the manganese, the zinc and many kinds of nutrition ingredient and the trace element. Is the leisure, the traveling visits friends, the high quality goods. Burden sheet: Sesame seed kernel (ripe black hemp), white granulated sugar, fine bread flour, wheat tooth syrup, sweet-scented osmanthus.