Pondscape

Multimedia Server

2012-04-13T12:24:00.000-05:00

I've been spending a lot of time in the basement lately. Have quite literally, set up camp down here. No bon fire though :D

Been dedicating a lot of time to getting a lot done and soon this is going to include a Pondscape Multimedia Server. The first thing I obviously did was run the Internet connection down here, as I am down here at the moment jacked into it.

The Multimedia Server is going to serve the following purposes:

- Archive all Pondscape Videos
- Research Workstation
- Dedicated system for creating new Pondscape Videos (and perhaps PSEC as well)
- Pondscape Educational Database (will have a Google Powered Search engine, also)
- Backup File Server (RAID6, Linux - Software created & managed Array)

That last one may confuse the technologically challenged, so I'll put this in more simple terms:

This means, I take a whole shit ton of smaller drives and link them together into one huge ungoldly drive from hell. Its faster, automatically backs itself up and 2 drives can go snap-crackle-pop without suffering data loss nor downing the array.

So, its pretty slick. Already have one setup on my TV Upstairs. Yes, I did say TV. :D Linux FTW.

Pondscape 2012 - New Beginnings

2012-01-15T14:04:00.000-06:00

Things have been going great! The lake liner is in. The micro-leak sealed and the in-door pond loaded up the ass with Gold Fish and Guppies.

Most appropriately, the first fish delivery for 2012 was to none other than Ocean Design Aquarium and we've got some awesome video to show for it -- which also includes a quick look at the in door pond as well as some quick scenes from the construction of it.

We'll be working on a full length documentary as to how to build an in door pond, using the massive clusterfuck of video we've taken from the construction of it. That will be awhile, but we'll get it done.

This video also features content from: Snowflake, Julia Nunes, Lauren O'Connel and Desiree Van Heel.

BTL Liner Installed

2011-10-25T11:53:00.000-05:00

We received the liner and have installed it into the In-Door pond with one extremely minor dilemma. There seems to be a pin-hole leak in the liner. The good news is that it seems to be so amazingly small that it would likely be an over-estimation to say that it is leaking out 1 drop of water per minute.

When we have leaks this small in tanks, the solution which usually works is adding in a safe-level of sea salt into the tank. Not enough to harm the fish (sea salt can actually be used to help kill virus' and bacteria, though the pitfall is that too much can kill aquatic plants, so you need to be very careful when doing this) but enough so that as the water drips out of the leak, the salt crystallizes around the hole until it ultimately seals it.

When we get pin hole leaks in our out door pond which can happen from time to time, they quickly seal themselves as fish crap, algae and other particles clog it up, much similar to the effect of hair in a bathroom sink.

I feel confident that our solution will be a combination of sea salt and "dirty fish water" that we would normally dump out after cleaning other tanks. Between the salt and the fish crap, this should be more than sufficient to seal any leak. Once sealed, we can line the bottom of the pond with natural aquarium gravel to ensure that the seal does not become undone.

In-Door Pond Soon To Resume Construction

2011-10-19T13:20:00.000-05:00

Well, the BTL Lake Liner for the In-Door Pond is well on its way! Thats all we've been needing to get that sucker rolling so we're almost there! We've got plenty of video of the construction of the Fish Room and the In-Door Pond itself which will be made available after we get all of this done.

On an unrelated side note, I discovered a free unlimited web host which actually doesn't suck so far. Go figure. Very advanced cPanel and all they require for the hosting, is that you login to the forums at least once a month -- you don't even have to post, only login.

So you might be wondering "alright, whats the catch?" ... well, there is a method to their madness, but I really wouldn't call it a "catch" per say. It is actually quite ingenious.

They use a service called Solve Media. It is a replacement for that annoying CAPTCHA bull-crap and you can make money with it, just by your users signing in!

I could rant about how it works, but I'll let them explain it themselves.

Solve Media from Solve Media on Vimeo.

In my opinion, this is pretty slick for several reasons.

01) The spammer bots have absolutely no way around this to get in and clutter up your forums. NONE. They can't withstand security measures of that magnitude, Captain Ackbar!

02) The "phrase" you need to type is simple "human language". Its not like CyNBf$54F-fUcKtH1S.

03) Short of being drunk, stoned or just too tired so you shouldn't even be on the computer anyways: there is no way to screw this up to get the inevitable "you entered it in wrong!" as you pound your fist into the keyboard, damn near breaking it -- as you struggle to read those CAPTCHA Hieroglyphs and the "can't read it? hear it in audio!" thing is so garbled that a dog couldn't make it out.

Needless to say, I'm impressed -- and I'm not an easy one to impress! :)

2011 Has Been An Interesting Year

2011-10-06T18:52:00.000-05:00

Well, after awhile of not being entirely sure how I was going to re-setup this domain, I've finally decided on a Blog. Seeing as Blogging Interfaces are pretty multimedia-oriented now, this seems like fun to experiment with and see where it can be taken and to what extent, as I am rather curious.

Needless to say, Pondscape has been doing pretty good this year. We've just pulled the Tropical Fish into the house for sorting and all of that good stuff. The Gold Fish are still outside for awhile yet, of course. The In-Door Pond is almost completed and my little experiment in terror with a Hydroponic Filtration System that is 100% Recyclable (ie: nature does all the work, no need to "clean the filter" etc) has been succeeding with flying colors thus far, with my mini-prototype of it.

Seeing as we're not a "whole sale outlet" because we are super-specialized in custom services, we aren't a "store front" or anything of that nature; and we ARE a Free Online Educational Resource which uses specialized for-profit methods in order to up-keep and maintain our otherwise free public services -- it has come time to look into registering as an NPO (Non-for Profit Organization).

We've got all the paperwork. We're just needing to take the time to write up the Articles of Incorporation and then pending approval, we will need to file for "Tax-Exempt Status".

So its been quite an exciting adventure and things have been going very well! We've got WAY MORE video that we've taken than we actually have time to upload. From 2011 going all the way back to 2007 even! Crazy how the time just seems to fly!

Well, check back for more updates and to see how this site evolves as we screw with the configuration a bit more over time :)