The Toshiba Satellite


Twenty years ago when I was in college this was my laptop. I still have fond memories of it. I eventually got a PCMCIA card for it that not only had a joystick port, but also had a built-in soundcard and speaker that let me hear the full range of game music and sound effects for the first time. I also had a docking station for it. Plus the ability to swap between a CD drive and a floppy drive (with the other one in a housing connected by a cable if needed) at will was amazing. Good times.

Adam Savage looks at some props from Excalibur.


I recognize the props, but I'm not a fan of the film. What I was interested in was the Enterprise-C model in the background.

Steve Shives tackles Fan Service VS. Fan Entitlement


I think he's confused about what those two phrases really mean. Fan service isn't just "make what you think the fans want" and fan entitlement isn't just "I think I have the right to ask you to remove this from canon because I personally don't like it."



By all means, creative staff with a vision and passion for that vision should be allowed to proceed without worrying what the "fans" will think about it. But Steve seems to think that all creative staffs have that vision and passion, and they don't.



I'm reminded of what Nicholas Meyer said when confronted with the opinion that you can't kill Spock. "Of course I can, the question is if I can do it well." Whether current Trek is being made with the old passion or is merely assembly line product is up to personal opinion.

So where was Main Engineering on the 1701, anyway?


We Travel By Night tackles the question, making a reasonable argument that there were two engine rooms (impulse/saucer and warp/stardrive) using the same set. The different corridor configurations outside and the named decks would support this hypothesis. Furthermore it could be argued that whenever Kirk (and Finney, and Kevin Riley) were the only people in Engineering, they were in the engine room that wasn't being used at the moment. Scotty goes from the Impulse room to the Warp room or vice-versa as needed.

An amazing LEGO Mario level using 14 motors.


I love it when fans are able to show off their passions and hard work to others.



The only improvement I could think of is adding a series of buttons in front of key scenes to trigger appropriate sound effects for those scenes.

Only Wintergatan has problems like this


How accurate can you make a marble drop so it passes cleanly through a ring only a little bigger than itself?

Lofty Pursuits makes ham candy for Thanksgiving.


Confession time. I hate ham. The very smell is nauseous to me. However, I love pork and bacon. No, I can't figure it out either.

Kevin Conroy died today. Ouch. Time for some tributes.


General Batman DCAU Tribute
This one is more Conroy based, including the Arkham games

I couldn't find any Star Trek cakes over at Cake Wrecks, so I did a more general Google search. It's Star Trek Cake Day!


Of course we have to include the Data's nightmare Troi cake

A nice image of the Constitution Refit 1701
The bridge of the 1701
For some reason the 1701 is sinking into a cylinder of water as Kirk and Spock lean against it
You have to see the messed-up proportions of this 1701
Voyager after being compressed in a vice
An impressive 1701-D, probably fondant around a frame
Kirk and Spock in front of the NX-01. No, I don't get it either.
Is the Millennium Falcon chasing the 1701-D, or vice-versa?

A Trek wedding cake
Busts of Spock and Sulu
A Trek/Wars crossover wedding cake
I'll bet you never thought you'd see Geordi marry Sailor Mars. Don't ask me why his skin is so pale or why he has a TOS film commbadge.
A threefer: Star Trek, Halloween, and wedding. I don't see the TNG S1 miniskirt uniform very often, so it's weird that he's wearing a uniform from a few years in the future. Wibbly wobbly timey wimey indeed.

Adam Savage examines the original 1701 shooting model


I could've sworn it was larger (they keep saying 11 ft, but I seem to recall all the reference materials saying 14 ft), given previous photos. I may have even seen it in person when the Smithsonian did their nationwide tour back in the nineties (great field trip!).



I still think it's silly that there is some "you have to change x% of the design or you'd have to pay someone royalties" nonsense that keeps the classic design from ever reappearing.

Some interesting LEGO mechanisms, along with plenty of footage of them destroying themselves when given a motor that was too powerful.

The YouTube channel Watchtower Database does DCAU videos, and it's "Zeta Month" over there.


Anyway, they just posted a video about how all of the tech in the DCAU's "present" could've led to the Zeta Project, along with some remarkable connections between "present" characters and those who could've worked on the Project.


It's comforting to know that I'm not the only nutjob who looks into deep lore for connections. Even though I'm not into deep DCAU lore as much as Trek, that doesn't mean I don't respect the efforts of others.

Someone created a CG "LEGO stop motion" movie (slightly abridged) of The Voyage Home. Using the original voices, of course. A few interesting design choices, especially where clothes are concerned.

While XKCD is always clever, it rarely makes me actually LOL. This recent one does.



(If you need an explanation, watch this video).

Some LEGO builders are just plain nuts.


A machine to tip over giant dominoes and then automatically set them back up so you can tip them over again.

Don't have the money to buy a self-transforming Optimus Prime? You can just make your own with aluminum cans, dowels, and magnets!


Personally I think the self-transforming figure drifted too far away from the original for the sake of the gimmick. The flap behind Optimus' head and the feet in particular.

This year's Cliff Stoll update has the actual maker of the glass Klein bottles come to his garden to make one on camera.

The official trailer for the new Mario movie


I'm still conflicted as to whether this looks good or not. Some of the voices rub me the wrong way, and integrating game mechanics into a narrative-based world is a delicate balancing act that few adaptations can pull off. At some point you have to ask why there are floating blocks all over the place. Who put them there? How are they floating? How come Mario doesn't crack his skull when he jumps into one?

Kirstie Alley died today.



I still wonder what would've happened if she had stayed on as Saavik. I always thought that it was simple ego on her part, but it turns out that the studio tried to shaft her on salary.



I also remember one of her most infamous performances in Toothless.