"Go With Throttle Up..."

Those 4 words will forever be engrained in my thoughts when I think of the Challenger. On January 28,1986, twenty years ago today, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 74 seconds into liftoff taking 7 brave souls with her after the utterance of those 4 words.

Everyone that is old enough to remember that day, remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing when the news came across the wire of the sad outcome of that mission.

As I type this, the shuttle program is halted. Grounded. Is this a good thing? Probably yes. The space shuttle is in dire need of a redesign. But it should not signal the end to manned spaceflight. Spaceflight is dangerous. There are many risks involved and these astronauts understood that. They had the "Right Stuff". If we could sit down with those 7 brave souls and ask whether we should just give up, I believe they each would encourage us to press on.

When asked if we should mothball the space program, I can imagine those astronauts quoting "Q" from the Star Trek The Next Generation episode 'Q-Who' when he replies to Captain Picard:
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you had better go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here! It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid."

Finally, I say to the crew of the Challenger, Godspeed. You have not been forgotten. You live on in our dreams. In our yearning to explore the heavens. As our fortieth president Ronald Reagan said -

"We shall never forget the last time we saw them, as they waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of Earth...

To touch the face of God."

Take Care,
SjN

The Infamous ATARI landfill - A Music Video???

In 1983 Atari transported around 15 truckloads of E.T and Pacman cartridges to a landfill in Alamogordo, NM, buried them, and left them for forgotten. So was born a legend. This legend has actually gained international notoriety.

But I've got something to add...

I lived in Alamogordo in 1983!!! I can honestly tell you that the infamous "landfill" event in fact did take place. It was all the news when it went down. You weren't allowed to go anywhere near that area of the landfill when the deed was done. A cement slab was actually poured over it's location. For more information on the whole landfill incident go here. Snopes did a really good job at confirming this once long thought myth. I just wish Atari & the State of New Mexico would allow visits to a partially uncovered section of the landfill. Talk about a geek Mecca!! I don't know about anyone else, but I'd definitely make the pilgrimage! But alas, one can only hope.

But that's not why I'm here. I found this really cool music video thats built around this conspiracy. These guys go on a pilgrimage to locate that secret cache of cartridges. Its actually a pretty good production!

Check it out right here -----> LANDFILL

Now if I could just locate that infamous ultimate Grand Prize, The Atari SwordQuest Sword...
SjN

Las Vegas - Make It So...

Greets all,
SjN here, getting an early start on the news.The 5th Annual Star Trek Convention Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Star Trek is coming to Las Vegas on August 17th - 20th 2006!!I'm jumping on this early because hotel rooms will fill FAST as the date draws near. Trust me, I KNOW! This is going to be an extreme NERD BASH! I can feel it. I'm so excited right now, I think I'm going to break into decimal to binary conversions!I've sent a note to my buddies over at Return Of Whatever to get on board for the show. Hopefully we'll all get together for a great time of food, drink and Nerdy Mayhem! Heck, everyone knows what happens when you gather a bunch of geeks into one spot for something as nerdy as Star Trek!! Insanity ensues!As I learn more details, I'll pass the message along. For now, I'm planning on staying at the nerve center for all things Star Trek - The Hilton: Las Vegas!

Hope To See Everyone There!
SjN

SLAG TIME!!

Alright folks, time to ring my nerd bell loud and clear.

I just picked up Alien Nation - The Complete Series in all of its Sci-Fi, Nerd Luvin', Geek Gatherin' goodness!

This series is 100 percent responsible for me losing mass amounts of gaming and BBS time during its run. There wasn't too much that could pull me away from my Commodore 64 back in those days and this was a rare exception! The whole concept of the slags setting up shop here on good ol' Mother Earth and then playing out the whole "race card" issue made for some great science and fiction!

Nope, they just don't make 'em like this anymore.

In other 'SjN' news, I'm going for my CCNP certification test in a couple of weeks so I've been really hitting the books. I'm confident that I'll pass it. My problem is that I've got tons of "street smarts" as I work in Cisco gear every day. Its the "book smarts" that I need to brush up on. In other words, there is a right way to configure and troubleshoot Cisco routers & switches, a wrong way to configure and troubleshoot Cisco routers & switches, and a CISCO way configure and troubleshoot Cisco routers & switches!!!

Such is my delima.

Well, back to the books for some quality study time and then its time to pop open a Dr. Pepper, grab a bag of Doritos and "Nerd Out" on ALIEN NATION!!

Take Care All
Stay Nerdy!
SjN

Keyboards Gone Wild!!

Okay, I usually don't plug new stuff without taking it through its paces first but I just HAD to say some words about the unbelievable keyboard that it getting ready to hit the store shelves. I swear, my nerd bubble is about to friggin burst!

Its called the Optimus Keyboard.

Now get a load of this, each individual key is armed with a tiny LED screen which you can configure to your heart's desire. Are you a Photoshop geek? No problem. Just configure the keyboard to display each key shortcut with its own graphic. Are you an online gaming fan? Again, just configure your keyboard to display the pertinent key commands all in its own colorful glory!

The coolness factor of this amazing keyboard is off the charts!

The Optimus Keyboard is slated for release on February 1st, 2006! Its rumored that the price will be in the $100 - $300 dollar range. Yea a bit pricey but well worth the cash if your an avid Photoshop user or other application that uses intensive keyboard commands.

If you want to learn more about this nifty little device, just head on over to their website-

The Optimus Keyboard

Now granted, I have yet to get my hands on this beauty, so I could be spewing out total garbage at this point. Just keep an eye out on the Net for this keyboard. Reviews are sure to start pouring in soon. I feel it is my duty as a nerd, to keep the masses informed on really cool geeky stuff coming around the corner!

I'm outta here.
Keep On Geekin!!
SjN

In A Past Life...

I wanted to be a comic book artist. You see, many a nerd have had dreams of working in the "Bullpen" over at Marvel. Drawing my favorite superheros and getting paid to do so. What a life that would be! Such was the case with me. Back in highschool, not only did I earn extra cash by doing book reports for all of the jocks and stoners as well as 'student teach', I also spent many an hour penciling and inking for my eventual portfolio that I would proudly hand over to the gods at Marvel then wait to be offered a job.

Then reality set in.

I still draw. I guess somewhere deep inside of me is that Marvel comic book artist is just dying to get out. I don't know, maybe its a pipe dream. But hell, what would life be without dreams?

Take this sketch of Wolverine for example. I first drew this back in the 11th grade. I don't know what became of the original. This one is around 3 years old and I did it from memory of the first one I did.

Hehehe... I still got it .

Even now, I'm working on a sketch of one of my favorite 'lesser known' superheros: ROM Space Knight. I remember as a kid I had a ROM 12 inch figure. His eyes lit up and he made all of these cool sounds. Then Marvel worked their magic and brought him to life in the pages of a comic book. He is frequently the victim if my pencils.

Maybe when I'm finished with the piece, I'll post it up here and see what you all think. I can always hang on to that one sliver of hope that a Marvel Exec just happens to wander across my meager dwelling here at MySpace and get him to think "WOW, I gotta get this guy to work at Marvel!!" How cool would that be?

Stay tuned, A geek is at play...

Stayin Nerdy...
SjN

And On the Seventh Day, God Created The Atari

So here's something you may not have known about SjN, he's a notorious Vintage Atari VCS-a-saurus Rex.

Ahhhh.... the Atari 2600. I credit this collection of circuitry, plastic and wood paneling 100% on why I consider myself a geek today. Its Atari's fault!!

As I type this, my beloved Atari (to your left) is silently resting behind the glass door of my entertainment center in my TV room. I've successfully connected it to my 52 inch big screen and to this day, it works exactly like it did when I first extracted from it's box. To show you what a nerd I am, I still have the box it came in.

Yes, its sad. Anyway -

I recently acquired a gem of a DVD titled Once Upon Atari. The DVD was created, produced and directed by Howard Scott Warshaw (Yar's Revenge, Raiders Of The Lost Ark & E.T fame) and is a fantastic ride through all the mayhem that took place in Atari Headquarters hallowed halls. If your an Atari geek like me, this DVD has to be in your collection!

Since I'm on the Atari subject, let me point you to some great links that any vintage Atari fan worth their weight in salt must have in their bookmarks:

Atari Age - Have You Played Atari Today?
Atari.org - For us extreme Atari geeks out there.
Atari Central - A great Atari Resource!

That'll get you started. Those links have tons of information & documentation on the VCS that will keep you busy for a long time.

Well, all this talk about Atari has got me jonesin for a game of Enduro! I think I'll retire to the TV Room and partake in a session! I'll push out more information about the 2600 in future posts. For now, use the links and get a little retro!

Coming Soon -
The Ole' Commode!! The Commodore 64!

Enjoy!
SjN

In With 2006!! Lets Get Our Geek On!!!

Greets All!
SjN here coming down from all the holiday parties that I was invited to. Right now I'm just being a slug and trying to recoop. I hope everyone had a great time over the holidays.

I sure did!

With all of the festivities out of the way, I can now turn my attention on to another passion of mine - TECH! Since I got my new iPod with Video for Christmas, I thought I'd post a quick tutorial on how to broadcast your video content through your TV. It can be a little tricky on your first go around. Bottom line, you don't need to spend big bucks on a special "Apple" connector!

Ingredients -
- First you need an iPod with video (obviously).
- Next you'll need an A/V cable. Be sure to get the 3 way plug
red/white/yellow RCA style on one end with the eighth inch 3.5mm
A/V style plug on the other. I picked one up for around 10 bucks
at my local radio shack. (see photo below)
- TV with RCA jacks (on front preferrably)

Setting Up The iPod -

TV Out:
Set up your iPod to ask you what TV settings you want each time you play a video. You do this by choosing Videos -> Video Settings from your main iPod menu. This screen offers three settings: TV Out, TV Signal and Widescreen. Select TV Out setting to 'ask'. Now, you don't have to do this but it makes it easier in the long run so you don't have to fumble around each time you want to play video on your TV.

TV Signal:
Simple, if you live in the USA or Japan you use NTSC. Europe and Australia use PAL. If your not sure where you live, you got bigger problems than not being able to display iPod video content on your TV!!

Widescreen:
Set this according to your TV type (4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratios respecitvely)

Connecting Everything
Start by connecting the eighth inch plug on the A/V cable into your iPod headphone jack.
Now here is where the 'Gotchas' come into play. Apple decided to send all the video signals down the red plug. (Normally, video is sent down the yellow plug). The audio comes down the yellow and white plugs. SO, to make things easier I've documented the correct order:

• Plug the red RCA plug into your TV's yellow RCA jack.
• Plug the yellow RCA plug into your TV's white RCA jack.
• Plug the white RCA plug into your TV's red RCA jack.
  

After making these connections, your ready to get down to business. On your iPod, get to a movie or video that you want to play. If you selected 'ASK' in the settings, your iPod will display whether you want TV ON or TV OFF. TV ON redirects your iPod's video output through the A/V cable and to your TV. TV OFF tells the iPod to display video on its own screen.

Select TV ON.

I use the volume on my iPod to adjust the levels and then can fine tune audio levels through my TV. What you should have next is this-



Well, hope you enjoyed my little tutorial! Have fun iPodding!!

SjN