When Chuck Norris Tells You To Have a Merry Christmas, You Have a Merry Christmas

Never to be outdone by Jean Claude Van Damme, chuck Norris has offered a response to JCVD's Volvo split, and packed some holiday wishes in besides:




Merry Christmas to everyone!  In lieu of a gift this year, I have made a donation on your behalf:

It truly is a Festivus miracle...

The Force Action Figure - Now Available!

A while back, I referred to the Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru action figures, which I had figured finally covered all of the major characters in Episode 4.  Little did I know that one of the most important concepts in the Star Wars canon was still awaiting representation - The Force!

That oversight has now been addressed:

Sold out on ebay, the Force was going for a $13.95 "Buy it Now" price.  Keep an eye on the seller - he has Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru on sale now, and hopefully will have some more Force figures will become available.

 

Survivor 28 BBB - Beauty, Brains and Brawn?

Just watching the Survivor 27 - Blood Vs. Water Finale, and a quick clip was shown to tease Season 28. The clip showed the letter "B" repeated three times, interspersed with someone doing a physical challenge, what appears to be a puzzle, and a woman in the water. Quick guess - Survivor 28 will begin with three tribes divided into "Beauty", "Brains" and "Brawn".  What do you think?

Update:  Jeff Probst confirmed the theme for Season 28 at the end of the reunion show:  "Survivor Cagayan: Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty", starting with three tribes of all new players.  Hope they can keep up the level of this season, which has been the best in years!

More information on next season at Entertainment Weekly.

Aaron Sorkin + Lego = Awesome

After watching the first few episodes of the Newsroom, I found myself jonesing for some old-fashioned West Wing walk-and-talk.  I realized that not only have I not seen the final two seasons of the West Wing, but also that I had the Lego Architecture White House waiting for my building attention.

So this past Saturday night, I embarked on a West Wing marathon (now available on Amazon, free streaming for Prime Members, in HD, no less!).  Rather than just jump into the middle, we started from episode one, and enjoyed a nostalgia-fest being re-introduced to CJ's wit, Josh and Donna's repartee, Sam and his call girl, Charlie's keen insights on where the President's glasses may be, Leo's dedication and secret AA meetings, Toby's "New York Sense of Humor" and President Bartlet's tender-but-goofy back pill fugues all over again.  It is a show which has aged extremely well, and can still move you once in a while.

On the construction side, the Lego White House came together beautifully:

While it is not very large, it was a detailed build, with a lot of small pieces, but I was very pleased with the result.  The included direction manual also has details of the building's history and structure.  I learned that President Calvin Coolidge was upset by the leaky roof and replaced the roof and attic with a third floor using steel girders.  While it solved the immediate leak issue, this new construction was not done properly and resulted in weakening the entire structure of the building, which was addressed a couple of decades later during the Truman Reconstruction.

The West Wing was not added until 1901, and the Oval Office until 1909 - it is amazing to realize that these centerpieces of the White House with all of their historical significance were only added in the last century.

Overall, it was a very successful TV/Lego marathon - it will be hard to go back to the Newsroom after this.

If you look closely at the balcony on the South Portico, you may be able to catch President Josiah Bartlet antagonizing over the proper response to the latest outrage in Qumar.

Extremely Rare Photo of Tusken Raiders Travelling Side By Side

Guess they will need some Banthas to cover their tracks...

Great post from Geeks of Doom!

Is the new Kris Kross album ever going to come out?

Makes waiting for Chinese Democracy seems look wiggity-wiggity-wack.

To tide us over:



Or in keeping the "'Jump' from the past" theme with the season, "And just like the Prodigal Son I've returned - 
Anyone stepping to me you'll get burned..."

Solution to iOS 5.1 Download Problems

Looks like Apple's servers are taking a pounding with all of the demand for iOS 5.1.  If you have gotten the error, "There was a problem downloading the software for the iPhone.  The Network connection timed out.", find the solution below:

MAKE SURE TO BACKUP YOUR DEVICE BEFORE UPGRADING.

1.  Download the IOS 5.1 Firmware directly from Apple by clicking on the links below, save the file to your desktop:

iOS 5.1 (build 9B176) is compatible with iPad 1, iPad 2, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch 3rd & 4th gen, and iPad 3. Additional builds are available for Apple TV 2 and Apple TV 3.

• iPad 1
• iPad 2 Wi-Fi
• iPad 2 GSM (AT&T)
• iPad 2 CDMA (Verizon)
• iPad 2,4
• iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 4 GSM (AT&T)
• iPhone 4 CDMA (Verizon)
• iPhone 4S
• iPod touch 3G
• iPod touch 4G
• iPad 3 Wi-Fi
• iPad 3 GSM
• iPad 3 CDMA
• Apple TV 2 (9B179b1)
• Apple TV 3 (9B179b1)

2.  After downloading the desired firmware, you can shift-click (PC) or option-click (Mac) the "Update" button in iTunes. A file dialog will open and let you choose the downloaded ipsw-file from your desktop.

3. Proceed with the upgrade as usual.

4. If you get Error -3002 at this point, try to do a Restore, rather than an Upgrade - remember to shift-click (or option-click on a Mac).

Please let me know if you have any issues with this procedure in the comments section below.

Check this post for similar solutions for iOS 5: http://obscureport.blogspot.com/2011/10/solution-for-ios-5-download-problems.html

Dungeons and Dragons Revisited - A Great Overview of the Phenomena

My highest recommendation for "Destroy All Monsters" by Paul Lafarge from a 2006 issue of The Believer magazine. For anyone who grew up playing D&D, this article is a must read.  For anyone who didn't play, you can learn what the fun, and the fuss was all about, and with the benefit of time, a little of why it was important to its adherents.  It covers the basics of the game (and its complexity), the history and controversy of its creation, extraordinary growth through corporate ups and downs, its cultural place, effects and backlash, and takes a look at what was at the heart of the obscure game that created its own niche and captured so many adolescent imaginations, including mine.

Engaging writing, perceptive analysis, and even some intrepid investigation (like going to Gary Gygax's house!) make this piece fun, informative and thought-provoking.

It takes me back to when I got my first Basic Set at around 8 years old...

Moment of 80's Nostalgia Zen

Or why we "dial" the phone, what "high speed dubbing" is used for, blowing on game cartridges, the scream of a modem connecting, watching TV shows at a certain time and (working) pay phones..

And we didn't get Gopher, WAIS and Lynx until sophomore year of college!

For the exhaustive list, 100 Things our Children May Never Know About from GeekDad...

Credit for Sharon from Texas for inspiring this post.

My Blackberry Is Not Working!

Like a tech version of Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" - check out this brilliant skit from "The One Ronnie" on BBC:

How to Free Up Space in iCloud

I found that after my first sync after upgrading my iPad to IOS 5, I was already running out of space in my iCloud account.  Of course, the option to buy more space was immediately offered, but after doing a little digging, I was able to drastically reduce the amount of space I was using for backup.  Here's how:

1.  Go to Settings, then choose iCloud, then Storage


2.  Select Backup/Manage Storage


3.  Select the device you want to edit


4.  Deselect any Apps which you don't need to backup - especially those that don't include any data, those with data you have backed up in other places (like my photos) and apps that you can easily re-download from the App Store if you need to.

That's it - I was able to cut my iCloud usage by about half by eliminating just a few apps.  Now I need to figure out how to use the space I freed up!


Here's an Apple Support article with more details:  http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4847

Solution for IOS 5 Download Problems - Error -3200, -3259, -3002

As Apple servers are overwhelmed right now by users trying to download IOS 5, many users are reporting "Error -3200" or "Error -3259" for iPads.  The error is just an indication that your download is timing out because of all of the demand.  If you want to bypass this problem and get IOS 5 as soon as possible, here's what to do:

MAKE SURE TO BACKUP YOUR DEVICE BEFORE UPGRADING.

1.  Download the IOS 5 Firmware directly from Apple by clicking on the links below, save the file to your desktop:

iOS 5 IPSW Firmware Update Files

• iPhone 3GS - appldnld.apple.com­/iPhone4­/041­-8356.20111012.SQRDT...
• iPhone 4 GSM - (AT&T)- appldnld.apple.com­/iPhone4­/041­-8358.20111012.FFc34...
• iPhone 4 CDMA - (Verizon) - appldnld.apple.com­/iPhone4­/041­-9743.20111012.vjhfp...
• iPhone 4,1 (4S?) - appldnld.apple.com­/iPhone4­/041­-1317.20111012.UVTgr...
• iPad - appldnld.apple.com­/iPhone4­/041­-8357.20111012.DTOrM...
• iPad 2 WiFi - appldnld.apple.com­/iPhone4­/041­-9618.20111012.Zxb22...
• iPad 2,2 – GSM (AT&T) - appldnld.apple.com­/iPhone4­/041­-9619.20111012.y34Nx...
• iPad 2,3 – CDMA (Verizon) - appldnld.apple.com­/iPhone4­/041­-9620.20111012.pnB4r...
• iPod touch 3G - appldnld.apple.com­/iPhone4­/061­-8360.20111012.New3w...
• iPod touch 4G - appldnld.apple.com­/iPhone4­/061­-9622.20111012.Evry3...
• Apple TV2 - appldnld.apple.com­/AppleTV­/061­-9621.20111012.Vgijx...

2.  After downloading the desired firmware, you can shift-click (PC) or option-click (Mac) the "Update" button in iTunes. A file dialog will open and let you choose the downloaded ipsw-file from your desktop.

3. Proceed with the upgrade as usual.

4. If you get Error -3002 at this point, try to do a Restore, rather than an Upgrade - remember to shift-click (or option-click on a Mac).

Please let me know if you have any issues with this procedure in the comments section below.

UPDATE - Similar solutions for iOS 5.1: http://obscureport.blogspot.com/2012/03/solution-to-ios-51-download-problems.html