Mid Week Break – RC Car Race

August 8th, 2018 by DustyLoft No comments »

Mid Week Break – RC Car Race

August 8th, 2018 by DustyLoft No comments »

Far From Perfect – By George Farina

July 8th, 2018 by DustyLoft No comments »

Via: https://www.georgefarina.net/store/farfromperfect/index.php

I spent most of 2017 writing a book called “Far From Perfect” (described via the below press release). Before I started writing, I decided to put together a timeline of different events I went through during the span of my life. This was done on a spreadsheet. I went back as far as I could remember. I’d enter the date of the event. In the next field I’d write a description. I ended up with about four hundred lines. From there, I decided to start writing.

Once I started writing, I wrote six days a week and spent almost the entire day typing away. I’d go to bed thinking about what I wanted to write the next day. If I thought of something I felt couldn’t wait, I’d often get up in the middle of the night. I’d fire up the computer and jot my thoughts down.

The book took about nine months to finish. Then, I spent about a year making adjustments, while trying to figure out the best way to move forward with publishing. During that year I was often traveling. The adjustments and research were done sparingly, as time permitted. After researching the many different avenues for publication, I decided to take the self publishing route.

Currently, the entire book is being printed and bound by the author. Each book takes about a half hour to put together. Then, the binding is glued and set to dry overnight. The next night the cover is glued to the binding and set to dry overnight. From start to finish it takes two days to create each book. Because of this process, each book is a little different. This is a self published book in every sense of the word. Each book purchased is truly a one of a kind.

The book was written, typed, edited, and proofread in its entirety by the author. Please be understanding in regard to potential errors. There are over 70 thousand words and 285 pages. Even though the author used diligence, he is only human and as such prone to making mistakes. Far From Perfect takes place in East Hampton, Connecticut, Cromwell, Connecticut and Miami, Florida.

Without further ado, I would like to announce the publication of “Far From Perfect” via the below Press Release :

Far From Perfect Press Release:
(Date: 7-8-2018) This press release is to announce the publication of my first book: Far From Perfect – By George Farina. I’m not a New York Times Best Selling Author. I’ve read books on their best seller list. The words flow effortlessly. They are rhythmic. They thrust a person’s imagination into a new and exciting world. Parts of what I’ve written might come close. I guess that’s up to the reader to decide.

In this book I tell a story. It’s a true story. It’s a story that was written with a lot of thought. It’s a story being told as accurately and detailed as possible. It’s a story detailing part of a persons life. It is also an informative story. I try to pass on as many of the things I’ve learnt as possible.

This is a book about a life. It’s about the experiences encountered during that life. The things witnessed. Throughout that life many different events occurred. People entered and left. These were people I met in school. They were neighbors. They were people I met at an abandon 18-wheeler truck trailer, during a time when I didn’t have any other place to stay. They were people I met at events, at work, and even in the middle of the street. I met people through chatrooms, Myspace and Plenty of Fish.

Many of these people took parts of a “far from perfect” life to enjoyable. Their personalities; their character; their charisma made parts of my life exhilarating. They gave me many amazing memories. I relived them vicariously while writing. These are memories I accumulated over the course of forty years.

With that said, as the title states, my life was far from perfect. I’ve been through plenty of struggles. Some of the struggles I didn’t include, simply because I don’t like thinking about them. I know I’m not the only person on this planet who has struggled throughout their life. I didn’t set out to write a book. Circumstances led me to writing. Now that the book is finished, I think people might like hearing a few of the stories I’ve detailed. Others who’ve been through struggles might relate.

When I started writing, I wasn’t in a good place. My head was filled with all that went wrong. It was filled with all the terrible. As I continued writing, I started thinking about the people I’d known, and all the crazy things we’d been through. I thought about their personalities and their sayings. I often laughed to myself as I wrote about them. They drowned out much of the terrible.

Even with many of the terrible times excluded, I wrote about enough struggles to justify keeping the title. I hope the people who decide to read Far From Perfect find it enjoyable.

Far From Perfect can be purchased at: https://www.georgefarina.net/farfromperfect

Far From Perfect – By George Farina

July 8th, 2018 by DustyLoft No comments »

Via: https://www.georgefarina.net/store/farfromperfect/index.php

I spent most of 2017 writing a book called “Far From Perfect” (described via the below press release). Before I started writing, I decided to put together a timeline of different events I went through during the span of my life. This was done on a spreadsheet. I went back as far as I could remember. I’d enter the date of the event. In the next field I’d write a description. I ended up with about four hundred lines. From there, I decided to start writing.

Once I started writing, I wrote six days a week and spent almost the entire day typing away. I’d go to bed thinking about what I wanted to write the next day. If I thought of something I felt couldn’t wait, I’d often get up in the middle of the night. I’d fire up the computer and jot my thoughts down.

The book took about nine months to finish. Then, I spent about a year making adjustments, while trying to figure out the best way to move forward with publishing. During that year I was often traveling. The adjustments and research were done sparingly, as time permitted. After researching the many different avenues for publication, I decided to take the self publishing route.

Currently, the entire book is being printed and bound by the author. Each book takes about a half hour to put together. Then, the binding is glued and set to dry overnight. The next night the cover is glued to the binding and set to dry overnight. From start to finish it takes two days to create each book. Because of this process, each book is a little different. This is a self published book in every sense of the word. Each book purchased is truly a one of a kind.

The book was written, typed, edited, and proofread in its entirety by the author. Please be understanding in regard to potential errors. There are over 70 thousand words and 285 pages. Even though the author used diligence, he is only human and as such prone to making mistakes. Far From Perfect takes place in East Hampton, Connecticut, Cromwell, Connecticut and Miami, Florida.

Without further ado, I would like to announce the publication of “Far From Perfect” via the below Press Release :

Far From Perfect Press Release:
(Date: 7-8-2018) This press release is to announce the publication of my first book: Far From Perfect – By George Farina. I’m not a New York Times Best Selling Author. I’ve read books on their best seller list. The words flow effortlessly. They are rhythmic. They thrust a person’s imagination into a new and exciting world. Parts of what I’ve written might come close. I guess that’s up to the reader to decide.

In this book I tell a story. It’s a true story. It’s a story that was written with a lot of thought. It’s a story being told as accurately and detailed as possible. It’s a story detailing part of a persons life. It is also an informative story. I try to pass on as many of the things I’ve learnt as possible.

This is a book about a life. It’s about the experiences encountered during that life. The things witnessed. Throughout that life many different events occurred. People entered and left. These were people I met in school. They were neighbors. They were people I met at an abandon 18-wheeler truck trailer, during a time when I didn’t have any other place to stay. They were people I met at events, at work, and even in the middle of the street. I met people through chatrooms, Myspace and Plenty of Fish.

Many of these people took parts of a “far from perfect” life to enjoyable. Their personalities; their character; their charisma made parts of my life exhilarating. They gave me many amazing memories. I relived them vicariously while writing. These are memories I accumulated over the course of forty years.

With that said, as the title states, my life was far from perfect. I’ve been through plenty of struggles. Some of the struggles I didn’t include, simply because I don’t like thinking about them. I know I’m not the only person on this planet who has struggled throughout their life. I didn’t set out to write a book. Circumstances led me to writing. Now that the book is finished, I think people might like hearing a few of the stories I’ve detailed. Others who’ve been through struggles might relate.

When I started writing, I wasn’t in a good place. My head was filled with all that went wrong. It was filled with all the terrible. As I continued writing, I started thinking about the people I’d known, and all the crazy things we’d been through. I thought about their personalities and their sayings. I often laughed to myself as I wrote about them. They drowned out much of the terrible.

Even with many of the terrible times excluded, I wrote about enough struggles to justify keeping the title. I hope the people who decide to read Far From Perfect find it enjoyable.

Far From Perfect can be purchased at: https://www.georgefarina.net/farfromperfect

A Fun Little RC Car – Megatech MegaPro 1/18 Scale RC Car

July 25th, 2017 by DustyLoft No comments »

The MegaTech MegaPro RC car is great fun and very durable making this video today’s Green Tea Break. It’s 4wd; its fast and can handle almost any off road condition with ease. The MegaPro is 1/18 scale and is well balanced. The the car I own was purchased in 2009. Some of the modifications can be purchased including dual engine kits (allowing a second engine to be installed in the car), oil shocks and different types of tires.

Megatech Megapro Remote Control TruckMegatech Megapro Remote Control Truck

Megatech Megapro RC TruckMegatech Megapro Remote Control Truck

A Fun Little RC Car – Megatech MegaPro 1/18 Scale RC Car

July 25th, 2017 by DustyLoft No comments »

The MegaTech MegaPro RC car is great fun and very durable making this video today’s Green Tea Break. It’s 4wd; its fast and can handle almost any off road condition with ease. The MegaPro is 1/18 scale and is well balanced. The the car I own was purchased in 2009. Some of the modifications can be purchased including dual engine kits (allowing a second engine to be installed in the car), oil shocks and different types of tires.

Megatech Megapro Remote Control TruckMegatech Megapro Remote Control Truck

Megatech Megapro RC TruckMegatech Megapro Remote Control Truck

Evolution Of The Internet

June 16th, 2014 by DustyLoft No comments »

This 1990’s commercial got me thinking about the early days of the internet. I’ve been fascinated with the net for as long as I could remember. I figure because the world wide web is so vast I liked it for different reasons at different times in my life. It’s somewhat funny watching this today, not only because the video itself has some funny parts, but also because most of what’s talked about is second nature for so many of us. It seems like much of what’s said is relevant today. Meaning the infrastructure of the internet hasn’t changed all that much since it was first introduced.

Considering I’m in my 40’s, I feel lucky to have been around the net since it was first introduced in the early 1990’s. My father started working as a computer operator in 1965 and later switched to programing in the mid 1970’s. Back then there were no home computers and only larger companies used computers. These were gigantic mainframe computers used for data storage and manipulation. They were so large they literately took up an entire room. Computer programs weren’t typed into the first computers like they are with today’s computers. Programers would write the program out via longhand onto a coding sheet and afterwards they would be typed into a Keypunch Machine. The Keypunch Machines would print the program onto a small rectangular manila index card via punching a series of little square holes into the card. The cards would then be inserted into the mainframe computer, which would be able to read the cards and convert the information into a language it understood. From there the computers would perform the task as originally designed by the program. Since these computers only had 12,000 bytes of memory and no hard drive, data was stored on large tape drives. The tape drives looked like giant movie reels from the 1940’s. And to put the 12,000 bytes of memory they contained into perspective – 1 megabyte of data has 1,048,576 bytes. These gargantuan computers didn’t even have enough memory to store one decent sized jpeg image. Looking back I figure my fathers background with computers played a large part as to why we ended up having access to the internet at an early stage.

The first ISP we used was from a provider called GNN (Global Network Navigator). It was introduced shortly before AOL and had many similar features including the channels on the home area. We ran GNN on a 386 PC with a 14.4 modem. By today’s standards the modem and PC were as slow as dirt, but back then that wasn’t something of concern. Using even the slowest computer / modem combo for e-mail and research was much faster than driving to the Library or hand writing a letter. Prior to the PC we had a TI99 and a Commodore 64. Both of those computers were kept in our basement. Somehow I managed to talk my parents into letting me keep the PC in my room. I was ecstatic just to be able to experience the world wide web. However, once I discovered chat rooms shortly thereafter I had a new infatuation. I remember when I first came across the GNN chat rooms. I thought they were the greatest thing imaginable. The chat section(s) were basically one long chat room with hundreds of people from all over the world. They also moved very fast. I discovered them one night before I went to bed. The next morning I skipped school and talked online all day. I was infatuated with this whole new world and couldn’t pry myself away. I grew up in a small town and there were people from all over the world in these chat rooms. Plus, I was a somewhat quite kid so it seemed like a great way to meet girls. Even if at that age I would never have the opportunity to meet them in person.

Even though the infrastructure of the net is very much the same there are many differences between today’s internet and the one of days past. Altavista, mentioned in the video was the go to search engine at the time and my favorite. Altavista is now gone with the wind and has been for a while. AOL also mentioned has changed drastically. For me, its hard to believe. Both were extremely popular during the early 1990’s. Although, AOL would give me fits when the connection would drop. I remember playing 24 hour Slingo tournaments. Slingo was a slot-like game offered through AOL. It was very similar to the Facebook games of today. They would have 24 hour tournaments where players would compete against others online. Players would have to stay up for 24 hours playing contentiously to obtain the highest score. Apparently, there were others crazy enough and determined enough to play the game for 24 hours straight because I never won a tournament. As with GNN, AOL had chat rooms but they were a little different. AOL had hundreds of different rooms. There was one for just about everything. And they usually contained plenty of people chatting away. This was cool because you could find chat rooms that matched your interests or even your location. And as with GNN I spent hours upon hours trying to meet girls in the chat rooms via AOL. Though, this time a bit older, a teenager, a bit naive but determined that the gal for me was waiting in one of those rooms.

Now the internet is a way of life. A life where people couldn’t possibly imagine living without such a luxury. Sure, Altavista is gone, AOL is only a microcosm of its former self. Myspace users migrated to Facebook. All but the most diehard LiveJournal users switched to Blogger and WordPress. Netscape Navigator is caput. Free website hosts/builders like Geocities, Tripod, Angelfire and Fortunecity don’t really exist. Today you have Blogger, Tumblr and Facebook as the popular options. Users of Peer-to-peer sites like Napster and Limewire have moved on to Torrent clients like PirateBay, uTorrent and Bitcommet. Chat rooms I’m sure still exist, but are not nearly as popular as they were in the 1990’s. IRC and AOL chat rooms were the most popular at the time, but I’m not even sure if they’re still around. And really I wouldn’t even know where those users migrated, maybe Myspace along with other social media sites like Facebook, Hi5 or Twitter. I figure some even switched to texting platforms like WhatsApp. Furthermore, one of the nets biggest changes is with video. Due to faster connections videos, television and movies have become extremely popular.

With so much changed there are some websites that thrived or at least survived over the last 20 years of cyberspace. eBay has had many ups and downs, but is relatively the same and in no danger of changing or going anywhere soon. Yahoo! is always evolving, but its main feature is still data searches. However, I have to say I miss the Yahoo! magazine and auctions. Aint-It-Cool-News, a smaller website I first started visiting back in the 1990’s is still run by the same owner and with very much the same idea as when first launched. Plus, the very heart of the internet, the infrastructure, is almost identical from when it was first introduced. All web address still start with http:// (HyperText Transfer Protocol). Domains typically start with WWW (World Wide Web) and the combination of the three (http, www and domain name) is still the URL (Uniform Resource Locator). The World Wide Web is still accessed via web browser. Web browsers basically convert programing languages to the graphics / design you see on websites. HTML and PHP have evolved a bit from earlier days, but are currently widely used programing languages. Though, they are slowly loosing ground to newer languages such as Ruby and Python.

With technology always evolving one never knows what the future holds, especially with mobile platforms becoming increasing popular. But for now the main idea of the internet is relatively the same as when first introduced in the 1990’s. For many of us its hard to believe that was over 20 years ago.

IBM 029 Card Punch Data Recorder Keypunch Machine

This is an old IBM 029 Keypunch Machine with some punch cards. – Image by Joe Mabel via Wikimedia Commons.

* Additional Notes: The above video isn’t of the complete internet commercial. The original is about thirty minutes and can be found on Youtube.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! – Fallen Idol by The Greg Kihn Band

May 23rd, 2014 by DustyLoft No comments »


Fallen Idol by Greg Kihn Band (Lyrics)

they say its lonely at the top
they say the only thing you got
this isolation sure brings you down
no true friends still come around
its so cold here in the winds
the singer knows the song he sings
his washed out image about to take a fall
inside he doesn’t care at all

and the lights go out on the fallen idol
there will be no joy in the dressing room tonight
and the curtain falls on the fallen idol
in a black limousine he will leave here unseen, tonight

when he was young he was a fighter
he always knew which way to go
times changed him, rearranged him
and it seems like he’s the last to know

and the lights go out on the fallen idol
as he stares into the spotlight one more time
there’s no curtain call for the fallen idol
as the band looks away they don’t know what to play, tonight

he stands alone now on the edge of the stage
and I swear I could hear his heart pounding
his voice is just a whisper in the back shadows and echos of the great auditorium
and he looks out, looks out at the faces and he says
reach out and touch me or I might fade away
reach out, reach out and touch me
before I fade away

and the lights go out on the fallen idol
as he looks right down the barrel one last time
and its curtains now for the fallen idol
as he backs from the stage with his sole in a rage, tonight, tonight

reach out, for the fallen idol
reach out, reach out for the fallen idol
reach out

Gordo: The Worlds Greatest Street Drummer

May 17th, 2014 by DustyLoft No comments »

This kid deserves a record deal, but for now only those in Sydney, Australia get to witness his unbelievable talent in person via the streets. Though, I’m pretty sure street goers will be more than willing to help fill his buckets with coins based on his performances. This amazing street performer goes by the name of Gordo. He’s been playing drums since he was a child and buckets since high school. He has a YouTube page and Facebook page. Once you press play be prepared to be wowed!

Honeywell’s Kitchen Computer: The First Home Computer

May 14th, 2014 by DustyLoft No comments »

The Kitchen Computer is widely recognized as the very first home computer offered to consumers. This monstrosity weighted in at over 100lbs and was mostly used to store and display recipes. The Kitchen Computer was a luxury item as only the wealthiest of wealthy were able to afford this machine. It was offered for sale at Neiman Marcus stores for $10,000. That would be about 65K today. Imagine having to pony-up 65K for a computer! Forget that! Luckily, that’s not necessary. For under a hundred dollars a small tablet could be purchased and used to store virtually every recipe known to mankind.

One of the main reasons the Kitchen Computer wasn’t a success was because it wasn’t user friendly. Once purchased the new owner needed to take a two week programing class so they could learn how to enter and read recipes. To enter recipes a series of zeros and ones known as binary code would need to be programed into the computer. When a recipe was requested the computer would display a pattern of coded flashing lights. The user would then need to decipher the coded lights to understand the recipe. Yes, I know what you’re thinking! That sounds like a lot of extra work for a single meal. To make things worse, the Kitchen Computer was rather large and wouldn’t fit in many kitchens.

This futuristic looking machine was made by Honeywell. Technically it’s name was H316. Introduced in 1965 the H316 didn’t last long due to its many drawbacks and high price. Though, the computer did possess some cool features. It had the ability to suggest a meal based on a particular side dish. It came with a built in cutting/rolling board and the 1969 model came with pre-programed recipes. Plus, it looked very cool. Today there is only one Kitchen Computer known to be in existence. It can be seen at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.