621 // November 27, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving! It has been a very relaxing and yet eventful past few days. Hubbie and I have escaped the city as of earlier this week, and have enjoyed some fresh mountain air. Along with a couple of personal friends who joined us, we had a huge turkey feast on Thursday with his family and gave thanks to not only each other, but those we could not be with on that day.

I also had some time to shoot some new labels I created for Crooked Keg. Their brand-new Scarecrow II Pumpkin Ale was a huge hit among the guests up here, and was quickly gone before the day was out.

Oh, and I have to mention that the fresh mountain air must be the remedy for the common cold or bronchitis. Mom joked that the ill used to be sent to the mountains for any respiratory illness… and she might be right. For those concerned, I am feeling 100% better than I have been the past two weeks! We went on a short hike today up Mayflower Gulch (12,415 ft) just south of Copper Mountain, and had nothing but clear lungs, blue skies and beautiful weather.

I have so much to be thankful for, and I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving.

ok, so we did actually do an extractbrew over at Brewnut’s the other day. It was nothing flash, but a good opportunity for us to get our hands dirty and do some brewing. This happened a few weeks back, so it is already bottled and will be ready for drinking soon. Time to start planning the next Brew.

Everyone has a first step when they start thinking about Homebrew. some people buy a kit, others start researching on the web. For some reason I started collecting empty stubbies. Not sure why, but i did. hmmm.

As far as cabals go, the Suicide Pact is an odd, insular bunch.  The three mages that compose the cabal are close as kin, even if they had only known each other over the internet a few years ago.  An old, washed-out salaryman, an angry construction worker and a bastard army brat had nothing in common except for a singular goal:  to die in a most poignant fashion, to leave this sad and broken world in a way that echoes their emptiness inside.

The plan was perfect, the combined suicide note were carefully written and rewritten for clarity.  Their clothes were selected to look best in the newpapers.  They opted to go for charcoal burning: painless, stainless and effortless.  All they’d have to do is lie down, take deep breaths, and go to sleep.

At least, that was the plan.

Most of the other mages in Tokyo contest their stories, but the Suicide Pact claim that it was at this moment that all three of them found themselves in Stygia.  While lost in the realm of the dead, the three stumbled about, coming to one singular conclusion: Death was not what they really wanted.

And so they worked their way towards a great tower that rose above the gloom, helping each other as each succumbed to their weaknesses, finding true camaraderie here in the land of shades.  They could not explain it, but they were certain that this was the way out.

The Suicide Pact remained together even after they awoke, choking and gasping, running out of the room to breathe fresh air.  They had learned something, become something more.  It was a strange, but powerful transformation, and all three of them shared a bond that was forged beyond the Fallen World.

—-

The Suicide Pact is a Free Council Cabal composed of Rei Hiramatsu, a sixteen year old Japanese-American Army Brat who never knew her real father, Yuji Ogata, a Construction Worker whose drinking habit caused his wife and child to leave him, and Ryunoske Yamadera, a retired Salaryman who gave all his years to a company who sacked him for being “redundant.”

All three of them are Free Council Mages, with no real interest in getting involved in the “politics” of the Consilium.  Instead, the Suicide Pact has set up a Suicide Prevention and Grief Counseling Hotline, using their magics to help people discover the truths that they died to learn.  Having a few friendly ghosts as allies to serve as an additional information gathering network doesn’t hurt either.

This doesn’t mean that it’s always easy however, as the Suicide Pact has also taken to the field to stop a Gaki or two that’s been terrorizing neighborhoods and even a serial rapist once.

—-

Notes:

The Suicide Pact was an exploration of the theme of Hope in light of the Moros.  It’s easy to make a dour, emo Moros, but entirely different to take themes of Death and merge those with Hope and Friendship.  This Cabal makes for a good ally for Cabals of any alignment, as the Suicide Pact hold their mission to preserve life as more important than politics.  This isn’t to say that the Cabal is a pushover either.  The Cabal has garnered a massive following of grateful mortals and allied ghosts, and should any of the Suicide Pact be pushed into a corner, the assailant had better be prepared to be mobbed from all sides.

So I kegged the alt beer last night. Ended up with a keg and a bit.
Tastes a bit fruity from the hydrometer.
This might end up being my case swap beer if the Oktoberfest doesn’t hurry up.
Still need to carb the beer up and bottle…
Might be a job for swap day as I don’t see a lot of spare time in the next week or so…

The time has come to explore the wacky world of mini-mashing!  And a surprisingly easy & rewarding experience it was too.  So, how did it all begin…

The plan was to make a nice session bitter for My Dad’s Christmas present using the Challenger & Whitbread Golding hops he grew for me.  Of his hop plants the Challenger was the most productive so I dreamed up this recipe using an estimated %AA typical for the variety.  I estimated on the low side thinking the reduced daylight hours in Teeside wouldn’t be perfect for hop oil production.  The grain bill included crystal & amber malt for sweet, biscuity flavours & torrefied wheat for head retention.  I opted for Windsor yeast as it’s supposed to leave lost of fruity esters & a relatively high gravity for a bit of body.

Nederdale Gold ESB

• 100g Torrefied Wheat
• 155g Pale Crystal Malt
• 78g Amber Malt
• 1kg Marris Otter
• 1kg light DME

Hops / Boil / Weight / IBU

• Challenger 6% AA                       60’            14g           17
• Challenger 6% AA                       30’            5g             4
• WGV 4%AA                                 30’            7g             4
• Challenger 6% AA                       20’            6g             4
• Challenger 6% AA                       10’            17g            7

1 x Windsor yeast

So with the day off work I commenced the usual equipment sterilisation & then thought about how I was going to do this.  There are various mini-mash how to’s available on the internet. My method has been culled from those & tailored for what pots & pans I have in the kitchen.  So I’m going to use a 6 litre cast iron casserole, large muslin cloth & oven to conduct the mash.

Mini-Mash Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 60°C and put the cast iron pan in to heat up.
2. Once hot, line the pan with the muslin & tip in the grain.
3. Add strike water at a ratio of 1:2.9 Kg per Litre (worked out to be 4 litres at 74°).
4. Stir the “porridge” & cover with the lid.  Mash in the oven for 1 hour.
5. Heat up 4 litres of sparge water to 73°C.
6. Remove muslin to large roasting rack.  Decant wort to boiling pan.
7. Put muslin back in the iron pan & add the sparge water.
8. Leave for 15 minutes.  Remove muslin & squeeze a bit.
9. Add wort to boiler & add the DME.
10. Top up to 13 litres & check gravity.  Bring to boil & add hops!

Sounds easy!  Unfortunately there were a few hiccups along the way.  Upon adding the strike water the mash temp was bang on 67 °C.  Huzzah, thought I, and swiftly put the pan in the oven.  After 15 mins I checked the temperature & it was at 70°C!  Fearing an overly dextrinous wort , poor attenuation or even enzyme denaturation I added some cold water to bring it down.  I added a bit, stirred & it plummeted to 61°C.  It seems I’d not stirred the porridge enough & was measuring the temperature of a hot spot.  The pan was basically at its limit so I put it back on the stove & heated it gently to bring it back up to temperature.  After that the mash temperature was stable & all progressed as planned.  The mash pH was 5.3 which is pretty much ideal I think.  Upon adding DME to the boiler  & topping up with water I took a sample, chilled it & checked the gravity. 1.044!  I had mashed, with about 21 gravity points coming from the grain.

Now for the hops.  However, upon taking them out the freezer however I noticed that several bags of Challengers didn’t look to good.  They were dark brown, some had mould on them & they smelled musty.  It seems my Dad didn’t do a particularly good job of drying them out before storage, so several bags had to go in the bin.  The EGV’s were fine though but still leaving me with not enough hops to do the job.  The only other hops left in the freezer were Glacier, the quality of which I was a bit unsure of.  However, they smelt fine upon opening them so they were used for the 10 and 20 minute additions.  Who knows what this Frankenstein’s monster of a beer will taste like!

The time has come to bottle the cider. It has been sitting in a cool dark place for a while now and has cleared nicely.

In the photo you can see the demijohn which is ready for bottling on the right and a second demijohn of cider which I started off at the weekend on the left. Quite a difference.

The cider has been siphoned into bottles, each with 1 tsp of sugar added to kick off a bit more fermentation in the bottle to add some sparkle, but unfortunately there was about 8 and a half bottles worth of cider in the demijohn and I only had 8 bottles which left half a bottle’s worth of cider which needed a home. Fortunately I had a glass handy and it won’t go to waste

I have decided that making beer from kits is fine, but it would be much better to make up my own recipes using malt extract, speciality grains and hops. To do this you need to boil the wort and the hops, and then cool it rapidly down to 20°C. To do this you can either place the pot in a sink with cold water which you replenish frequently, or you can use a wort chiller.

I decided that rather than purchase one, I would make my own as they are easy to make and an I am a cheapskate .

One trip to Wickes later and I had all I needed, 10 metres of 10mm copper piping, 2 jubilee clips and a coil of hosepipe.

The copper pipe was already in a coil so I just had to tighten the coils by hand so that they would fit into my stock-pot, and leave two tails pointing upwards where the hoses would attach.

To ensure that the coils stay tight together, I have looped some copper wire (the earth wire from some old twin+earth cable I had lying around) .

Two lengths of the hose were cut with enough length to reach the sink from the hob and these were fastened to the tails of the copper pipe using some insulating tape wrapped around the copper to  build up the thickness and the jubilee clips.

To test it out and to also clean any nasty residues from the copper, I filled my stock-pot with 11.5 litres (approx 2.5 gallons) of water and added a good amount of citric acid and some vinegar and brought it to the boil.

When it was boiling I placed the chiller into the liquid for about 10 minutes. The hot acidic liquid cleaned up the copper a treat.

When I connected one of the hoses to the tap and turned it on, the liquid started cooling fairly quickly, within 10 minutes it was almost down to the magic 20 degrees.

It may not be the best looking bit of kit but it works well and was half the price of the commercially available chillers.

That's Tifa, as far as I'm concerned.

“When I wear this, I am a God, a Concept, an Ideal. Forget yourself, and become Nothing and Everything at once.”

To transcend the limits of your humanity by becoming a symbol is the very focus of the Avatar Legacy.  Using principles of Zen married into the subcultures of Cosplay and the Internet, this recently born Legacy of Warlocks aspires towards enlightenment by shedding their Ego, paring away at the self until one can finally reach the point where one is ready to understand the universal Truth.

To allow the Avatars to overcome the self, they select symbols to transform into.  Some take up the mannerisms, speech and costumes of beloved anime and manga characters, as well as those from live-action tokusatsu shows, while others resort to the anonymity of the internet, hiding behind handles and made-up personas, breathing life into imaginary identities, making them real.  More moderate members take on various “Common” roles, manifesting as the kindly taxi driver, the greeting lady in a shopping mall, or a security guard in the subway.  These “roles” are no less valid, and many Avatars bask in the inherent anonymity of a stereotype.

The Avatars have also taken to harnessing the very symbols that they represent to encourage ideas, memes and concepts that sway the youth towards chosen opinions on issues such as ecological awareness, politics and other causes deemed worthy.  This power to swing opinion is a double-edged sword, as the Avatars have also been known to fall victim to their own pride and self-righteousness, using their own symbols to further hate or discrimination as well.

Parent Path: Mastigos or Free Council
Nicknames: Dolls, Pretenders
Suggested Oblations: Zazen Meditation, making a costume, cross-dressing, successfully passing yourself as someone else in public (usually a celebrity)
Concepts: Professional Cosplay performer, Anonymous Internet Symbol of Justice, Good Samaritan

Attainments:

1st Attainment: Knowing the Symbol
Prerequisites: Gnosis 3, Mind 2, Empathy 3

The Avatar’s first step into losing the self, is to embody the universal appeal of their Symbol.  As long as the Avatar is portraying someone else, they gain the benefits of a Mind 2 “First Impressions” spell at all times, with successes equal to the Avatar’s dots in Mind.

2nd Attainment: Wearing the Symbol
Prerequisites: Gnosis 5, Mind 3

At this stage of an Avatar’s path to enlightenment, the Avatar learns to manifest his Symbol by will alone.  The Avatar gains the inherent ability to benefit from the Mind 3 “Impostor” spell, with the Avatar rolling his Manipulation+Expression or Subterfuge, and gaining automatic successes equal to his dots in the Mind Arcana.

3rd Attainment: Becoming the Symbol
Prerequisites: Gnosis 7, Mind 4

The Avatar’s transformation is nigh complete at this stage.  As long as the Avatar is “in-character” with a given role, the mage may benefit from the Mind 4 “Skill Mastery” spell, gaining temporary dots in a chosen skill equal to his Mind Arcana.  These may push a skill to a Maximum of 7 dots, and these skill dots may also be distributed among multiple Skills.  The only limitation is that these skills must coincide with the “Stereotype” of the role being taken.  An Avatar who has taken the persona of an Accountant, for example, may not use Becoming the Symbol to gain dots in Firearms.

—-

Notes:

The Avatars Legacy was born out of looking at the Cosplay community and trying to see what kind of Spiritual / Philosophical concept could be applied to it as mages.  The Free Council strives to find Magic in the modern world, and this one came naturally to me.

For the Japan nMage game, I was looking at using the various zoku, or subcultures as a basis for many Free Council Cabals, as they fit the Free Council’s almost frenzied dash to innovate, create and push the boundaries of the now to find new and greater secrets hidden in the world as is.

… deserves a quiet night.

So, being the ‘tards we are, we chose last night after a frivilous game of OzTag.

Bad Idea.

It was our first all grain batch, so we had no idea what we were doing, or how long it would take. Anyways, we started at 2000

2000: Problem 1. The recipe uncle Dave had photocopied us was nowhere to be seen. Cue a citywide search, well, my car and his apartment. Joy of joys, we’d found it.

2030: Problem 2. The recipe uncle Dave had photocopied us had a problem. The right hand 2 or 3 words on each line had not copied. This shouldn’t be too much of a problem, however those words told us how much water to use in both our mash and sparge. After reading so much telling us how important it was to be accurate in measurements, we were on our own. We mashed with ‘an amount’ of water. Luckily, we knew the temp at got in bang on.

2100: Problem 3. Hops. We had 2×100g of hops in containers. We needed 1*21g, 3*14g according to the recipe. As we are not drug dealers, we have no accurate way of weighing small amounts. Fail. Solution: Lay the pellets out in a line, do a bit of maths and then cut the line. Easy.

2130: Mash complete. Start to lauter (get beer out of the tun). This went quite well, until…

2200: Problem 4. Due to assumingly wrong amounts of water, we didn’t get enough beer, this is going to be a 25% smaller batch. Not a problem, but its back to the line game with the hops to decrease by 25%.

2215: Problem 5. Unfortunately I left the thermometer within 3 feet of him, he broke it. Good job we don’t need to measure temperature any more

Now boil for an hour…. Starting at 2230, this is going to get late.

Our burner worked perfectly, except for the fact it also burned some paint or something adn made the balcony stink.

We’re now in radio silence as the ‘lady of the brewery’ has gone to bed.

2345: Cooling. Our cooler worked a treat, and we got the boiling wort into Frank, almost ready for fermenting. temp was a little high though. It seemed our cooler was breaking the The Law of Conservation of Energy. Even with no wort running through the cooler, the water exiting the cooler was extremely hot. Unf, a measurement could not be taken due to no thermometer. After an investigation, we discovered problem 6: The plumber had connected the hot water pipe to the cold water tap. No wonder it didn’t cool it so well.

Anyway, at 0030, the brew is finally in the pot, we’ve cleaned up to a point and we can go to bed.

Details of ‘Bann’ to follow shortly….

Morale of the story, brew in the daytime, not the night.

Ca y est, j’ai fini de monter mon kit d’analyseur d’antenne. Les détails sont sur la page suivante.

La prochaine étape sera certainement de réaliser moi-même un émetteur-récepteur HF petite puissance en BLU. Je suis tombé sur le concept du BITX de Ashhar Farhan, VU2ESE, radioamateur indien pour ceux qui ne reconnaîtrait pas le suffixe de son indicatif. Il y a même un groupe Yahoo le concernant, mais apparemment plus accessible en ce moment depuis mon beau pays. Sunil VU3SUA propose des kits fabriqués en Inde à des prix très très intéressants. Il propose une option VFO DDS et même des kits générateurs SSB Bingo (ça va faire plaisir à F6BCU). Je pense que ça pourrait me faire un beau cadeau de Noël… je m’en vais négocier ça avec mon épouse dans les semaines qui viennent!

J’ai longtemps lorgné sur le Forty et j’avoue que j’aime ce que fait F6BQU et son approche pédagogique. Les kits QRP Hendricks sont aussi très intéressants et les documentations (en tous cas celle du BitX17A) sont un modèle de didactique et justifient à elle seule de passer par ce fournisseur. Malheureusement même si le prix est très correct (surtout face aux prix européens en ce moment), quelques dollars sont pour moi une différence non négligeable vu du Viêt-Nam. Je crois que mes voisins indiens sont plus indiqués.

Homebrew Direct Conversion Receiver

Last week I gave a presentation on kits and homebrew to the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club (OVMRC). It was well received by the members and I have had some nice feedback.
There was a request for the slide deck which I include here in pdf format:

Kits and Homebrew Talk.

If anyone uses material from this for talks or further distribution all I ask is the Creative Commons license I use be adhered to. So, do not make money out of it and attribute the content to me.

I would be happy to receive questions and comments on the slide deck as well as the talk, if you attended. Feel free to leave a comment.

I need to start blogging more about the beer I sample and my passion for a good homebrew. I’m (I could be wrong on this) but about 10 batches deep in homebrewing. Some I have done with friends, some I have done alone. Regardless, all but one has basically turned out delicious.

The pleasure and enjoyment I get out of crafting a good beer and serving it up to someone is really growing and my confidence in creating a good brew is growing as well.

Recently I made a wheat beer from a recipe from Bellingham’s local homebrew store (North Corner Brewing Supply). Cracked a bottle of the brew about a week ago and was fairly disappointed in what was pouring, however, yesterday I gave it another go and SUCCESS!!! I have wonderfully carbonated delicious wheat beer. Totally pumped!! I opened two bottles last night, one was in a 22oz bottle and the other was in a 12oz bottle. The brew in the 22 tasted like it was a little further in the carbonation process than its smaller counterpart. Regardless, I’m giving these guys a couple more days and then I will post a picture and a review of my efforts.

Well last night I placed a bottle of nettle beer in the fridge to chill in readiness for a tasting tonight.

It was a tense moment as I eased open the bottle, I was also very brave in opening it at the dining room table rather than at the sink. Fortunately I was greeted with a delicate hiss of escaping carbon dioxide and a few bubbles formed.

Initially the beer had quite a dry sharp taste, similar to a very dry cider, but after it had warmed slightly some of the dryness had gone (think it had chilled a bit too much).

Despite the excess carbonation problems experienced I am fairly pleased with the result a lightly sparkling alcoholic drink which tastes of herbs :0). A few more weeks should ease some of the harshness so it should be ready for Mid Winter.

This is definately a recipe for further experimentation, but it will have to wait till the spring when the nettles start growing again.

As with all feats, skills, class abilities and farm animals, some oracle curses are more equal than others:

Left-Handed: You favour your left hand. You take a -4 penalty on disguise checks. You take a -2 penalty on attack rolls and skills checks with weapons and implements designed for right-handed people. Weapons and implements customised for left-handed use cost 10% more than the base item’s cost (this does not increase the cost to magically enhance an item). To modify a right-handed item so that it can be easily used by a left-handed person costs 10% of base item’s value.

You gain a +1 southpaw bonus to all melee attack rolls and a +1 southpaw bonus to your AC against melee attacks. This bonus even applies against other left-handed characters, since they are not accustomed to fighting left-handed characters. At 5th level you gain Improved Feint as a bonus feat, even if you do not meet the normal prerequisites. At 10th level your southpaw bonus to all melee attack rolls and to your AC against melee attacks increases to +2. At 15th level your southpaw bonus to all melee attack rolls and to your AC against melee attacks increases to +3 and you gain Greater Feint as a bonus feat, even if you do not meet the normal prerequisites.

In your backpack, you may find:

• An ornamented, silvered, left-handed fish knife (25 gp)
• 37 failed attempts at creating a left-handed pen and a horribly smudged journal
• A portable hole – an unfortunate result of turning a glove of storing inside-out in an attempt to make it fit a left hand.

- jatori

Well, if the amount of empty bottles in the morning is any indication of the quality of the beer, then Saturday was a massive success…

However, a special mention has to out to a certain guest who was the first to crack open a non homebrew beer, AND then proceeded to snatch the last Rice Krispie Chocolatey Mars Bar Goodness. We all know who he is so won’t point any fingers.

It seems Awbeg got the thumbs up from the seasoned beers drinkers, and Avonmore passed a blind taste test against Cooper Pale Ale. All of which bodes well for the home brew competition on in the Local Taphouse on Thursday evening.

As usual the bacon explosions went down a treat, especially the one filled with cheesy goodness.

Thanks to everyone for coming, stay tuned for the Bandon launch and other goodies.

I have completed a small update to the blog.

Homebrew Channel installation pack now includes Savegame Manager

The Homebrew Channel installation pack remains a standalone modification pack for those that wish to just use Homebrew on their wii, and not use an illegal commercial backup loaders.

As Bootmii is also a part of this installation I have noticed recently when playing around with my own Wii that restoring from an old NAND meant I sometimes (not always oddly enough) lost some of game saves. Most notably Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit.

This is the main reason for the inclusion of the Savegame Manager app. Guidance is now advised in the restore nand sections about using this app to safely move your saved games to the SD card for later restoration if a saved game file is lost or out of date.

The Homebrew Channel installation pack also continues to contain the Bootmii Configuration Editor app and the Homebrew Browser for downloading more homebrew apps.

HOWTO: Install The Homebrew Channel, DVDx and Bootmii

Preloader updated to Priiloader

As the developer of Preloader announced a long while back he was no longer going to work on the application a number of people have been making mods since the source code was released. phpgeek has been one of the main modders and working now with DacoTaco they have developed Priiloader which is now becoming the preferred modification of the original code.

Priiloader has now replaced the old Preloader in my guides for pre/priiloader and users should find it is much easier to install and hopefully without as many issues. The mod of 0.29 is still included in the pack purely for anyone that has installation issues.

HOWTO: Install Priiloader for helping prevent system bricks if Bootmii cannot be installed to boot2

Files moved to sendspace

Due to Mediafire seeming to have a number of issues over the past week and the annoying fact it fails to recognize any new files I try to send to it or delete, I have moved all files to sendspace. The link pages are a little harder to find the actual download link, it’s found at the bottom of the page. Apologies for this slight inconvenience however sendspace offered the best alternative for a system I could work with in the manner I wanted too. Particularly as it provides an upload manager application that is Linux compatible. Any problems with the links let me know.

Now there’s a Maniac Mansion 3D remake work in progress!

As far as I can see, they’ve done that with a game creator tool named 3D Gamestudio and its programming language Atari lite-c.
I surely have to check THAT out if I get further into C/C++ in the next time. It looks very interesting and seems to be the right tool for us “casual” programmers.

The game creators also put a YT video up:

Nice work, let’s see how and when the final version performs.

Christmas is near. Have you written your letter to Santa yet? I’ll be writing mine soon, but first I have to figure out what I will ask for. The list of possible choices is too long.

For the fiery side of life:

• Pro Q Cold Smoke Generator
• 4 griller’s joy (german site or find the US site here)
• a good cast iron skillet
• DigiQ II automatic temp controller for my WSM
• permission to cook all meals outside

• 27 liter electric canning kettle (To use as an HLT or as boil kettle for smaller batches)
• 20 liter french oak barrel or 32 liter chestnut barrel (found a good deal on them)
• 50 liter brew pot (sometimes you just need to brew a bigger batch)
• march pump
• a bottle of 1980 De Dolle’s Speciaal Brouwsel
• a job at a small brewery

hmmm, perhaps that last one sounds the best. Now I just need to write Santa a very convincing letter.

So what are you thinking about asking the big guy for? Anything beer, brewing, fire, or cooking related? Come on, let’s hear from you. I know there aren’t a whole lot of readers of this fine blog, but I’ll be sad if only my wife responds (he says, setting himself up for failure).

ESTOS PASOS FUERON REALIZADOS Y CONFIRMADOS EN MUCHAS WIIS Y NO DEBERIAN SER PERJUDICIALES. SIN EMBARGO, ESTA WEB NO SE HACE RESPONSABLE SI MATAS A TU WII, SI PIERDES INFORMACIÓN O CUALQUIER TIPO DE DAÑO A TU SOFTWARE O HARDWARE. HAN SIDO ADVERTIDOS.

INSTALAR EL HOMEBREW CHANNEL

El Homebrew Channel (De ahora en adelante HBC) nos permitirá ejecutar cualquier tipo de aplicación desde la tarjeta SD. Es necesario para casi todo el software disponible en Wii.

¿Que hay que tener instalado primero?

• nada

¿Que Necesitamos?

• Una tarjeta SD (O SDHC si tenemos un Firmware superior a 4.1)

Instalación

El método de instalación depende de la versión de Firmware del Wii. Para conocer la versión de tu Wii, ve al Menú de Configuración del Wii y mirá en la parte superior derecha. Debe aparecer algo parecido a esto: “4.2U”. En este caso, 4.2 es la versión del Firmware y U representa la región de Estados Unidos. Ahora sigue las instrucciones dependiendo de la versión que tengas:

Mi versión de Firmware es 4.1 o inferior.

¿Que descargar?

• BannerBomb. Descarga aad1f_v108.zip desde esta página.
• Instalador de HackMii 0,6 o superior de esta página.

Procedimiento de Instalación

1. Si tu tarjeta SD tiene un directorio sd:/private, renombralo a otra cosa(e.g., privateviejo)
2. Descomprime los contenidos de aad1f_v108.zip en la raiz de la memoria sd:/
   • Ahora, deberás tener un archivo en sd:/private/wii/title/aktn/content.bin
3. Descomprime HackMii Installer y copia boot.elf a la raíz de la tarjeta SD (sd:/)
4. Dirigete a (Wii), Data Management, Channels, SD.
   • Ten cuidado con este paso. No quiere decir que vayas al Menú de canales de la SD,
5. Te debe aparecer el díalogo de “Load boot.elf?”.
   • Si no te aparece nada, descargate otra versión de BannerBomb desde aquí e intentalo de nuevo hasta que funcione.
6. Selecciona “Yes”
7. Lee la advertencia y espera a que aparezca “Press 1 to continue” y aquí presionamos el botón 1,
8. Revisa que puedes instalar y que no, y presiona A para continuar.
   • Si alguna opción dice No además del BootMii en el boot2, entonces este Wii tenia instalado algo peligroso anteriormente. No podremos continuar con este método.
9. Selecciona “Install the Homebrew Channel” con la palanca direccional y presiona A.
10. Selecciona “Yes, continue” y se instalará el HBC.

Mi versión de Firmware es 4.2.

¿Que descargar?

• BannerBomb. Descarga abd6a_v200.zip desde aquí.

• Instalador de HackMii 0,6 o superior de esta página.

Procedimiento de Instalación

1. Si tu tarjeta SD tiene un directorio sd:/private, renombralo a otra cosa(e.g., privateviejo)

2. Descomprime los contenidos de abd6a_v200.zip en la raiz de la memoria sd:/Ahora, deberás tener un archivo en sd:/private/wii/title/aktn/content.bin

3. Descomprime HackMii Installer y copia boot.elf a la raíz de la tarjeta SD (sd:/)Lee este paso con cuidado. La tarjeta no debe estar insertada antes de ejecutar este paso.

4. Presiona en el Icono de la tarjeta SD (para el Menú de Canales de SD). Luego inserta la tarjeta.5. Te debe aparecer el díalogo de “Load boot.elf?”. Si no te aparece nada, descargate otra versión de BannerBomb desde aquí e intentalo de nuevo hasta que funcione.

6. Selecciona “Yes” Si alguna opción dice No además del BootMii en el boot2, entonces este Wii tenia instalado algo peligroso anteriormente. No podremos continuar con este método.

7. Lee la advertencia y espera a que aparezca “Press 1 to continue” y aquí presionamos el botón 1,8. Revisa que puedes instalar y que no, y presiona A para continuar.

 

9. Selecciona “Install the Homebrew Channel” con la palanca direccional y presiona A.

10. Selecciona “Yes, continue” y se instalará el HBC.

Versión Original de Dr. Clipper. Traducido por recon_zero. Este árticulo está protegido por Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License

Just as I finished posting, an RSS feed from GamePolitics.com catches my eye.  It also caught my ire, inspiring me to create another post.

A gamer named Erik Estavillo is suing Microsoft and Nintendo of America in a lawsuit filed on November 18, with the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.  Microsoft is being sued for “undue stress”.  Estavillo’s Xbox 360 console was affected by the Red Ring of Death.  He says that, because he cannot afford for its repair, he has “sadness he will have in the mean time of finding one he can afford.”  For Nintendo, he claims a recent Wii system update had disabled his Homebrew Channel.  He says that he is unable to unlock characters for Mario Kart Wii and believes that Nintendo is forcing him and others buy another game to perform this process.

Some gamers may know about Erik Estavillo.  For the rest of the populace, here’s a brief history:

Erik Estavillo was a gamer who played on Sony’s Resistance: Fall of Man through the PlayStation Network.  His account was banned by the moderators from the forums and the network for multiple violations.  So, Estavillo sued Sony Computer Entertainment America, or SCEA, because his First Amendment rights were being suppressed.  In addition, he also sued them for stealing his pre-paid points.

However, the judge threw out the case, stating no plausibility for First Amendment rights.  The judge explained that Sony’s network is not a ‘company town’.  This means that Sony has no relationship with the local or national government in terms of organization, function, or electoral body.

Estavillo was not pleased.  He filed an appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  As of this writing, the appeal is still in process.

Throughout the legal process, Estavillo has claimed numerous mental and health condition:  depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia (the fear of crowds) and Crohn’s disease.  He claims that video games have helped him alleviate these conditions.

So, now it’s on to why this person has raised my ire.

First off, this whole legal process is based on free speech.  I am reminded of a quote from a high school teacher:

“The right to swing my fist ends where your nose begins…”

The moment someone says something that is damaging and harmful to another person’s well-being, all bets are off; there is no free speech.  I watched a video of him harassing a player about his name and making lewd threats.  I don’t see how his commentary is considered free speech if he’s defacing a player’s name and describing where he’s placing a piece of fruit.  If I was a moderator during his tirade, I would have banned him immediately.

The second reason is his defense.  I find it very disgusting and shameful that Estavillo is using mental and physical sickness to push his case.  According to a post from GamePolitics.com, his list of ailments have “… lead to his leaning on videogames [sp] “heavily” for happiness.”  In essence, he’s using his illness as a crutch to support his argument, figuratively speaking, and shifting the blame away from himself.  I doubt diseases can speak, and they are not choosy about whom they infect.

Finally, I find the pursuit of these lawsuits to be frivolous.  If the only reason that Estavillo is making lawsuits is to harass the gaming industry, I don’t think he will have many supporters.  Yes, the spotlight is on him but no one is going to step in it.  In fact, very few people would associate with him, including myself.  I don’t see any reason to sue the gaming industry because of irresponsible behavior.  The industry has a right to ensure their networks and forums are amicable, accessible, and comfortable to all users, even if it means banning those are opposed to it.  It’s a great waste of time, money, and energy for Estavillo, California, and the gaming industry.

If there’s one thing I’d like to say to him, it’s this:

Grow Up!!!

(Below are links to posts and articles that detail Erik Estavillo’s ‘quixote quest’.  View at your leisure)

• Banned Resistance Player Alleges Sony Violated Free Speech and Stole Money
• Judge Able to Resist PSN Lawsuit
• Banned Player Appeals Verdict
• Banned Player Targeting Microsoft and Nintendo
• Eric Goldman’s Blog about the Judge’s Decision

Yep, we are now operating an online radio station. Most of the time you will hear great country music from yesterday and today, but there is going to be a lot of surprises. Instead of a boring, old podcast, we are going to broadcast beer events and tastings, live! You read me correct, we are going to do live events.

You never know, we might play music, we might talk about beer, we might go crazy. Won’t you stop by and check out our radio station?

 Click Here to get to the Beer Loons Radio Network

Há um tempo estive no forum Digiforum e vi um tópico sobre controlar o tempo do obturador e um dos usuário postou alguns links sobre controlador caseiro para Canon e topei a fazer um.

DIY (Do It Yourself) – Disparador para Canon

Esse controle não requer algum circuito integrado, capacitores, transistor, pilha ou qualquer outro cacareco de eletrônica para dificultar o nosso trabalho. Além do mais, a solução do fabricante é caro.

Outro detalhe é a Canon alterar o conector de entrada para alguns modelos. Galera, não é universal esse controle, servirá para os seguintes modelos que encontrei e/ou testei : 350D, 450D, 1000D e 500D. Os demais usa um conector chamado N3, eu não encontrei por aí, nem na Santa Efigência.

Materiais

- 1x conector de audio de 2.5mm;
- 2x botões simples (apenas fecham o contato como botão de qualquer controle de video game);
- 1x botão de liga/desliga;
- fios de telefone ou fio de audio;
- 1x caixa de plastico ou metal para fixar os botões;

Caso não encontre o conector de audio de 2.5mm:
- 1x conector de fone de 3.5mm (é um conector parecido com o de fone de ouvido);
- 1x adaptador de fone de 3.5mm para 2.5mm;

Passos

Seguir o esquema abaixo:

Como fica a parte de dentro do conector de audio:

Conector de 3.5mm e seu adaptador para 2.5mm:

Com o adaptador:

Este é meu disparador “tupiniquin”

Resultado

Um controle muitíssimo barato, extremamente customizável e detalhe você impressional seus amigos.

Links de referência:

Link 1 | Link 2 | Link 3 | Link 4