Unikum

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

In Dad We Trust! (sequel)

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 14:48:00 +0000

We are proud to announce that our "In Dad We Trust" gift-series were recommended on TV and chosen as a Top Pick for Dads and Grads by the Gift Expert at TheGiftInsider.com!

You can also see more gift ideas for your parents and friends in our on-line Unikum store!

SEE ALSO:

♠ Activities for Teens

♠ Unikum stuff for Kids

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

Don't fear...

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 10:06:00 +0000

Well, gentlemen web designers, web programmers and pro-bloggers, get ready! Judgment Day is coming!

Soon many of you (myself included) will step of the road named Web... And the reason for this is a small project, whose organizers have set themselves a very simple goal: to teach every housewife and others humanitarians =) with subtleties of web design and programming.

The project has intriguing for the elderly and children name which is "Don't Fear the Internet", and it’s creators Jessica Hische and Russ Maschmeyer promise to teach the tricks of HTML, CSS and even PHP to all people, distant from the site-building (that means teach those who have been paying us a salary all this time)! By the way, the project team has a normal sense of humor, their videos are full of very funny inserts and interesting allegories. For example, the structure of the HTML-code they compare with a hamburger, and interpret this abbreviation as a "Hamburger Text Markup Language".

At this moment they made seven episodes of the project, in which Jessica and Russ in a few minutes put on the right shelves all the basics of HTML and CSS, with attention to the main tags and selectors, as well as considering IDs and classes. And I am afraid to imagine how quickly they can learn this social stratum to make PHP scripts. Especially with their ability to reduce the amount of the material, leaving only the most commonly used definitions.

In any case, I'm waiting for the next series with great interest (Russ promised new videos in the near future in his twitter). Perhaps you will see our blog changed and unique too in near future, thanks to tips of "Don't Fear the Internet".

SEE ALSO:

♠ How To Create Digital Art With Processing

♠ FLOSS Manuals

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

RoboCup-2012

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 10:01:00 +0000

While the whole football world prepares for the "Euro 2012" in Ukraine and Poland, the scientific world prepares for the "World Cup" among robots, which will take place in Mexico in June. It will be the 17th tournament in which robots of 40 countries traditionally participate.

This spring open tournaments were held in Germany and Japan, and these tournaments are step in preparation for the "RoboMundial 2012".

Hole interest is in Standard Platform League, it is when teams consist of identical robots NAO (they replaced the AIBO dog-robots in 2007). In accordance with the rules robots play football autonomously, without human control, so the show is not for nervous people. Robots move slowly on the robo-football field, fall without any reason, clash with each other without the ball and so on. But when the goalkeeper makes a save on the fly, you understand that time is well spent watching this match! Also encouraging is how robots deftly get up after frequent falls!

The organizers have set the goal to hold football competition between robots and humans in 2050. They have a chance to succeed, because in the clashes between man and robot, the robot has an advantage, human body is a soft material =))) And given the fact that Toyota has introduced a robot, running at a speed of 7 kilometers per hour (at the same time he also pulls his feet off the ground), chance to beat machines is running out! We are waiting for the "World 2050", let’s buy up scarves and vuvuzelas...

SEE ALSO:

♠ 8-bit Computers

♠ Pacquiao vs. Marquez III

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

Speccy!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 08:48:00 +0000

Years pass imperceptible, and it comes to the day when ZX Spectrum celebrates its 30th anniversary!

The idea was really good, and reminds me of a modern research towards the creation of a home multimedia center based on PC. A small console is using your TV as a monitor and home cassette player as a boot device. Price of ZX Spectrum was also affordable in comparison with competitors. Naturally, the conservative "TV people" (and my Mom was among them) immediately began to spread rumors, that these consoles (including gaming) "spoil" TVs. But now I know that our games simply prevented them from watching news and soap operas =)))

"Specky" was so popular that it spawned a huge number of clones around the world. And now the passion for this console is not over: for example in Russia you can buy a kit to build the Spectrum-compatible ZX Evolution, demo-parties are also paying attention to this category of programmers and coders. Well, and of course there were dozens of emulators of the platform released, because the fans of "Load Runner" are still there. Aesthetes might still be happy with a great graphics palette of 15 colors and unforgettable sound of the 8-bit games!

By the way, the founder of ZX Spectrum Clive Sinclair was awarded the Knight Dignity, and "Sir" title. Great movie "Micro Men" will help you to feel the atmosphere of scientific research of the time, it shows opposition of Sir Sinclair with his former colleague Chris Curry, who later became an ideologue "Acorn Computers".

SEE ALSO:

♠ 8-bit Computers

♠ Some Thoughts About Computer History

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

Preacher says words of wisdom

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Thu, 03 May 2012 08:50:00 +0000

Give and you'll be gifted!

SEE ALSO:

♠ Activities for Teens

♠ Unikum Stuff for Kids

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

Golden Days

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:20:00 +0000

"Golden days" have come for the young dads! Now you don't need to spend a lot of money for the purchase of children's books, and you can easily spend saved money for a more interesting pastime: trips with a child to the zoo, visits of various attractions and Pixar's cartoons!

So, if you have a computer and you're an active user of the network (if you're reading this blog, you should be), then type in Google search phrase "books for kids free download" and you run into a bunch of sites, many of those are actually with a hidden charge, while others have an interface that just does not interest the child... By necessity (i say it again: my friend has a 2-year-old daughter) I have searched through all these before you, and now I am ready to offer you an exemplary project: RubbishBooks.

Simple, funny and instructive stories about Patrick and his friends Kevin and Arty will not leave your kids indifferent. Kids can get answers to the questions: what to give to a friend's birthday (we all know that it is the last iPhone, but let the children believe that it is something made with their own hands)? In which case it is better to consult a doctor? And so on... All books you can read with your child right in your browser, without downloading files to your computer.

If you turn the imagination then you and the child can invent and draw similar characters and stories with them! For example: Johnny and Shmonny decided to go to a nightclub, and that's what happened there with them (intriguing storyline for 2-year-olds, isn't it?)... Or, Belka and Strelka returned from outer space to save earthmen from the impending alien invasion... Stories are around us in the air, you just need to tune it for kids.

Well, the most advanced dads can go much further. Armed with the world best software tools named MS Paint and Notepad, and remembering the minimum knowledge of HTML, they can create own website with their heroes and tell other children about their adventures through the network!

If you still want to hold something tangible in your hands like a book or a coloring book, refer to the project free kids books. All the books there are available for download in PDF-format. Print them, and over the next several months your child will be fascinated by adventures of Super-Cow or a trio of Burley, Grum and Max...

SEE ALSO:

♠ Activities for Kids

♠ Unikum stuff for Kids

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

Let's Write!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:30:00 +0000

If you live above the line of equator, then you probably know the strange, but very pleasant feeling of spring. The feeling that compels girls to get naked almost utterly, and the guys to straighten their shoulders and to play with their biceps...

During this period, you always want to escape from the strong embrace of dusty office and routine affairs and hang on the street all the time. Meet with friends, go to outdoor concerts, walk till the morning... And in this period really want to write, to describe what is happening and emotions associated with this happening. But to describe not like stupid ass sitting in front of computer, but as a poet of the "Silver Age" looking for a rhyme among fresh leaves of the city park... I think that younger guys have these feelings and desires much more acute because their brains have not packed the problems of the adult world yet...

Reader may ask me what's the point? I just wanted to tell you that it would be nice to put all your thoughts, poems and sketches about the spring in the pad created by Unikum.

If you already consider yourself a very "adult" to write, then present the pad to your young friends! Let them write, draw, wrest spoiled pages of "Peggy", and then meet her with new friends: Charlie, Bob and Emma... Of course it is not enough for the new "Harry Potter", but for the set of own FUUU-comics it will be just fine!

SEE ALSO:

♠ Activities for Teens

♠ Greetings for New Year

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

One iPad For Two Users

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:09:00 +0000

A serious problem occurred with my friend while his daughter is growing up (the girl is older than 2 years!)... And it sounds like: one iPad for two users...

It seems to be simple: if you want to captivate your daughter and get a time to lay on the sofa in front of the TV watching football then let her play with the iPad. But after the match ended, you can not take it away from her. And in fact during this time the child had never visited your page in facebook, and didn't put any "likes", mail is not checked, no pictures are posted on flikr, heard nothing on mixcloud, in other words, her time was killed completely and totally ineptly, poking a little finger in a "speaking cat"... You can certainly reassure yourself with the thought about join a child to the modern technologies and so on, but it bears little resemblance to the truth. A child learns in the game (also breaking the toys), and when she plays with the device which costs 600 bucks and has a fragile surface, it creates some stress for the parents.

But recently I accidentally discovered in the network a complete analog of iPad gadget for replacement on a more useful device for the child: anaPad, a children's drawing tablet by Twigcreative.

The answer to all problems is found! Here you have magnetic "icons" that can be differently placed on the desktop (it's a matter of attaching to the modern technologies), and the ability to draw with a washable marker (the development of the child's sense of beauty and fine motor skills). The next stage of development it is а dive of the child into the cult of "likes", "ticks", "hearts" and other relevant bullshit. And this problem is also solved without the need to give into your child's hands your favorite tablet or laptop with important information: creative shelves by Jongho Park will always remind your child about the correctness of filling of "checkboxes" ;) Now I'm going to look, what to give the girl on the third birthday, so that she could learn how to properly use file storage and set up a home network...

SEE ALSO:

♠ Activities for Teens

♠ Greetings for New Year

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

Attack on Ableton!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 21:00:00 +0000

While owners of Ableton rest on their laurels with their multi-multi-multi creative DAW (digital audio workstation), which turns even the housewife into a DJ, musician and producer with a worldwide reputation, some of the sacked personnel has taken a source code and is trying to make money on this and win back a piece of the music market.

In January this year, some company named Bitwig announced imminent release to the market with products which are clearly not far away from its predecessor, both the visuals and functionality. It is almost complete reproduction of all Ableton-team's developments! For the "dust in the eyes" search engine was moved to the right and form of the "virtual" knobs was slightly altered...

So what's the catch which sly fellows from Bitwig use to attract potential buyers? First, they declared launch of Linux version (Ableton is not represented in this market). Second, in a future version they promise the appearance of their own modular system (add-on Max for Live (M4L) priced 249$ performs this function for Ableton nowadays). Third...

The third point for me is still open - the price issue. Theoretically, if the product will exist in the Linux-version, the price for it should not be high (because the active Linux-users are not used to paying for anything at all;)). On the other hand, the program is currently completely equipped, and fall in the price lower than other DAW does not make sense. At the moment the cost of Ableton Live 8 is £400, Cubase 6 is £508 (but do not forget that Ableton allows computer DJ-ing, but Cubase does not), Cakewalk Sonar X1 is £379, Motu Digital Performer 7 is £449, and only the last bastion of tracker-style-lovers Renoise 2 is worth €49 (all prices are taken from MusicRadar.com).

So we are waiting for the official release, and then maybe I'll take the final decision: whether to upgrade to 8 series of Ableton (they exhaust me with their promotional letters), or it will be cheaper to buy a new product and then get bogged down in experiments!

And another enemy of Ableton (Renoise) does not sleep!

SEE ALSO:

♠ Impulse Tracker Clone

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

Two Magic Kung Fu Warriors (Shaolin Never Dies)

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 07:30:00 +0000

I watched "Ip Man" recently... It's not that... I don't like... I don't believe...

As a child I believed! Believed in "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" and in "Dancing with the Drunken Mantis"... And now, when I reviewed "Mars Villa" with the feeling of nostalgia I felt a childlike sense of belief in the magic of kung fu (and also a good irony over that same belief), "diamond" shirt and so on... One old friend of mine who said once that I have "children's psychological "kung fu" trauma" ;)

So we decided with the same "kung-fu-traumatized" Solyankin to release all this accumulated pain and belief from us, as they say to make a "kung-fu-repentance": make true kung fu video, which people can believe! New Solyankin's home was chosen as a place of action, time chosen was celebration of the New Year. The scenario of repentance... hmmmm... The scenario was written during filming.

Fortunately, the camera that day fell into the hands of a professional Alexei Oshin (he stated my "trauma"). He used his skills to smooth all flaws of our scenario and kung fu technique. But! In any case, we've got a great action movie showing the many facets of kung fu art: here you can see the fight with weapons, wing-chun, and usage of everyday items, acrobatics and more.

Skeptics might argue: "Guys, evil wins in your film!" (looking at the exterior of Solyankin, he is clearly an evil genius in the video). But we bravely fend off: "Yes, evil wins ... But how! Have you ever seen the death from vinyl release in kung fu movies?" And if also consider that it is vinyl released by Solyankin and Co, desire to revise the story again and rejoice at the victory of evil only increases...

SEE ALSO:

♠ The Old Kung-Fu Movie

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

In Dad We Trust!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

How to cadge money from your father for another computer game to be placed among thousands of other games which already filled up whole room? How to explain to him that it’s very important for you to purchase any gadget or a trip to a GOA party with your friends? The correct answer is "nohow"... Senselessly, because on all your words he will have reasoned objections and finally - rejection.

Have you tried to approach this problem from the other side? Their significance and self-esteem are important for adults, and if you choose correct "key" then cash flow will be redirected to YOUR pocket, and YOU gonna decide how to spend money, instead of returning to the phrase: "Dad, will you give me some money, please?".

Our series of teenage stuff "In Dad We Trust" is aimed to solve this problem! Items with this design will always remind your daddy that he is a true master “big noise” of the house. And he (pleased) in return will always remember that the true master and family man have to take care of his kiddies and give them pocket cash every way!

Full collection of gifts for dads

SEE ALSO:

♠ Greetings for New Year

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

I Grew Up!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:36:00 +0000

It happened that on my 30th year of life I suddenly became an i-Guy. And last Sunday during next sync with iTunes I asked myself "How did it happen?"

All that time (ahaha, not really because I got my first PC when I was 6) I considered myself as an advanced PC user. Not geek, not a programmer. But things listed below were easy for me:
- assemblage of PC (incl. BIOS setup and some hardware adjustments);
- installation of MS DOS and Windows (all versions except Millennium and servers);
- installation of lots of desktop software of different kinds and lots of external devices with all those drivers and ports;
- network setup and administration (10 PCs in 1 net with router, DHCP, server and other network stuff);
- mobile devices usage (Windows Mobile, Symbian and so on).
Overall I used to be co-owner of small internet café, so I was advanced)

But it’s all gone! And now I have 3 Apple devices (Macbook Pro, iPhone, iPad) and I even don’t know what is inside them. What processor or how cool is video card? I do not know and if I knew it in the first day I completely forgot it.

Now I will try to define the roots of my magic transition (promise to be objective about Apple):

Life becomes too complicated. A lot of information and a lot of actions to do. There is no more room for PC geek in my life; all free space is filled with family and work. I try to save time, simplify my life and Apple does it perfectly. Everything is easy and simple for me. You can just press 3 buttons on your phone to invert it into wireless internet router. Really 3 buttons!!!

No professional need. Everybody uses computers in their work, but there are only few that engage computers as their profession tool, not just for texts, email, and spreadsheets. As I heard (can’t be sure) that it’s sometimes impossible or to expensive to make appropriate Mac OS work solutions in spheres of video editing, programming, music making, networking and so on. As I understand there are 2 reasons: 1) Lack of professional software. 2) Strict limitations for self-configuration of hardware. I am an office clerk so I do not need to worry about above things.
PS for that bullet: we all know about MS emulation on Mac but this article is not about this kind of stuff. It is about my personal motivation.

I do not steel software (anymore... joke). PC soft is a pirate’s paradise...

Hedonism. It is a pleasure to touch, to click, to slide, to watch, to hold and to carry. Don’t know why but it is important for me right now...

Overall all my words could be shortened to one phrase: I grew up!

SEE ALSO:

♠ Gender Roles

♠ Some Thoughts About Computer History

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

8-bit Nostalgia

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:30:00 +0000

Technology companies do not stop to amaze us with new products in the IT sector. And not always, these new items carry a some kind of the benefits, or an interesting solution. In any case, all these things are some short term toys and live to the next exit of "another killer of iPhone"... There is no magic in them. That magic, which is a subject of nostalgia for generation of 30-40 years old people, trying to find some calm in listening to vinyl records and tapes, 8-bit games and retro video clips.

But it is possible to go much further in this nostalgia, and try to recreate that magic manually.

Recently I found through the Internet some interesting DIY projects based on assembling personal computers, including such stages as soldering, programming in a language such as BASIC (pull out your old textbooks). There are models for building computers such as ZX and other various boards, but most interesting for me is project called Maximite (possibly due to the fact that there is a special case for it and I love finished projects).

Judging by the descriptions of bloggers, if you buy such constructor and know how to use a soldering-iron, you can build yourself a microcomputer within 2 hours! And fans are already being righting software for it(can be downloaded at the developer's site). I even saw the screenshots of "Space Invaders"!

As a result, your computer will be ready to connect peripheral devices based on the SD/FAT, USB, VGA, PS/2 (note that only the PS/2 keyboard connects to this port, a USB keyboard doesn’t suite), timers, RS232, I2C, SPI, PWM, ADC/DAC.

I'll still sit a little bit with the "virtual" soldering device called PD, but if in future it will be kit, which will be accompanied by a soldering-iron, rosin (and skillful hands))), I will definitely buy such a gadget!

SEE ALSO:

♠ Some Thoughts About Computer History

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

Anticipation of the Year

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

If you do not mind to spend evening in front of the monitor screen, which broadcasts a good boxing match, then you, like me, probably wait for "the third episode" of "Pacquiao-Marquez" epic. I was also very curious. There more that many have bet on the total defeat of Marquez, but his last fights did not bode anything. Except for the hopeless defeat against Mayweather, where Marquez tried to jump above his head and climb up clearly not in his weight, in all other fights after meeting "Pacquiao-Marquez 2" Juan-Manuel defeated all his opponents, and someone even very brutally... I admire the talent of Pacquiao, but if you ever come to the gym, and were brutally beaten, but had the courage to go back there again, then deep in your heart you will always be impressed by such men as Marquez - people with mediocre natural instincts, but with an iron will and perseverance.

That's why I believe in Marquez despite all the predictions... But it's lyrics. What also gave us the battle itself, which many predicted to become "Fight of the Year"? Personally, this fight reminded me of a confrontation between two semi-mythical masters of kung-fu, unlike the first two fights, where in the first place was an uncompromising multi-striking mash. The actions of both opponents were so verified; they knew and foreseen each other, that most of the match was reduced to a positional struggle, because no one of the fighters did not give to another chance to make any conclusive action. Let's try to look at this fight round by round (but with no claim to expert analysis)))...

Round 1: Despite of the fact that opponents have already met each other twice, the battle still begins with exploration. There is an active work with single jabs, opponents fence with their "front" hands, sometimes use a "strong" hand. During the round, Pacquiao throws around 3 powerful attacks, but Marquez does not recede, meets them standing up and arranges an exchange of hard blows.

Round 2: Pacquiao begins to work his feet more actively, trying to "destabilize" Marquez, and JMM is really starting to be late. But there are no clean hits by Pacquiao. Manny himself missed a few surprising attacks by Marquez.

Round 3: After each active action Marquez moves to the left over Manny’s right shoulder (a classic tactic in combat with a "lefty"). During the round opponents make a few targeted punches, but the ending is clearly for Pacquiao.

Round 4: Manny hits more accurately in the head, Marquez "snarls" with hard uppercuts and hooks to the body. In the end of the round Manny unexpectedly missed a good attack of Marquez.

Round 5: In first 2 minutes of the round there is an impression that the opponents have decided to take a breath, but it is deceptive - there is a feet work going on, rivals "undermining" the defense of each other and try not to make mistakes. At the last minute both fighters go into action and carry out several effective attacks.

Round 6: Overall, Pacquiao is much more successful in this round.An interesting method of Pacquiao: long straight left side attack to the head and movement over Marquez's front shoulder so that JMM could not use his favorite counterattack.

Round 7: In beginning of the round Marquez surprisingly lands a sweeping right hook in the Pacquiao's head. Manny is not ready. After that during a round Pacquiao still can’t adjust the "aim" - all strikes are passing casually.

Round 8: Surprise: it turns out there is a referee in the ring! The fight is so clear in the technical sense that he simply can’t intervene. And in this round happens, as it seems to me, the first clinch, so the referee had to separate the fighters. Marquez works much more accurately, in spite of constant pressure of Manny.

Round 9: Manny is constantly trying to invent something, but Marquez is so concentrated, that does not lend himself to any feints. The second half of the round is just superb! Both athletes exacerbate pressure in the style of the first two matches. It seems to me that these "exchanges" Marquez operates more accurately.

Round 10: Fatigue affects and attacks of the athletes are becoming more swinging. At some point, Manny presses Marquez on and he sits down on one knee. After that begins a mutual exchange of blows, and the heads of athletes make a frontal crash several times.

Round 11: You can’t call this round a "champion" round. Both athletes slow down and do not escalate. Manny damaged right eyebrow. Marquez starts his attacks from the right (also known tactic in combat with the "lefty"), and his favorite combination of cross-uppercut-cross brings success.

Round 12: Manny loses mouthpiece in the beginning of round! The audience definitely is not satisfied. And I do not recall if Manny ever threw such a trick... The feeling is that the last round again starts with the exploration, as though there are still several rounds to go. In the closing seconds of the fight Manny takes a risk and begins to punch with powerful long courses, but tired Marquez demonstrates the wonders of protection sloping from almost every shot. The final bell... According to the results of referee cards referee raises the arm of Manny Pacquiao.

Did Manny win? He was active, tried to think of something, landed many blows, did a lot of moving... But his punches were not as accurate as in previous battles... Did Marquez lose? He deviated, he worked as "second number", but his counterattacks were unexpected, serial and precise... Modern boxing is also business. I think victory was given to Pacquiao because he can still be monetized, but Marquez leaves, he is too old for light weight. But what I can definitely say is that Marquez team won! They so accurately "calculated" all Manny’s actions in the ring, sometimes just the fact there was nowhere to beat! It is a pity that such men as Marquez leave the ring, I'm afraid that with him has gone the staginess of this sport... Yes, there are strong fighters with good technique, but men with such a character, men falling into a knockdown, and then getting up and continuing to fight, fighters that do not close their eyes and do not hide behind the block in a cruel exchange of attacks, those men are showing fewer and fewer.

SEE ALSO:

♠ The Old Kung-Fu Movie

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

MPC or Laptop?

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Recently I got some interesting music gadget: MPC-500 by Akai Pro. It is small sampler-sequencer with 12 pads, running on batteries and as well as from AC. I sat above it couple of evenings, experimented with built-in samples, recorded guitar through the entrance, made a house-pattern... But the more I turned the wheel of choice and pressed navigation arrows, the greater was feeling that it's a good old DOS-tracker, but for some reason in a separate box and at value of $500. I did not believe in the fact that somebody can completely finish project in this box, without any help of computer. May be I could not quite figure out all the features, but I didn’t feel intuitive understanding, at least as it was with Korg EMX-1 (although that is an awkward device too).

So looking at the 2-line blue display for some reason I wanted to open my laptop and go back to my favorite trackers, which easily turn my PC into a sampler-groovebox with help of their settings. I have already wrote a little post about one of the mobile trackers "Nanoloop". But work with the MPC-500 didn’t remind me about it, but recalled other tracker which was once popular among "home" computer musicians of 90th. Its name is Impulse Tracker. It allowed to create a track from samples and loops stored on your computer with a use of standard keyboard. I myself at that time had never worked in it, but when I saw friends "programmed" sound in this tracker, I thought it was some computer "magic". I recently wanted to hear some rare sound of 90th, and these same friends have shown me that the network is full of "modules" (projects saved in tracker format, which can be heard, for example, in Winamp). So I found Schism Tracker - a clone of that very Impulse Tracker.

Everything will be clear in the program, if you will press F1 in each tab. Then you will see a full list of available key combinations, which are different from traditional computer key combinations. But after a little practice comes the understanding of easy and intuitive usage. The tabs are opened by pressing F2 (pattern window), F3 (a list of samples and work with them), F4 (configuration of instruments that can be assembled from the same samples). F5 launches the finished project, F6 is looping your pattern, F7 plays project with a point at which you are now and F8 stops composition. Shift+F9 mutes and Shift+F10 solos tracks. F11 opens the tab in which you specify the order of patterns playing and set pan of each channel. Pressing it again will open volume settings for each channel. F12 and ESC will help you to fine-tune the program and save your work as a ready WAV-file. In the Web you can find more detailed manuals to help you directly create a composition using a computer keyboard (suitable for both: Schism Tracker and Impulse Tracker). Some materials on trackers have been in the "Linux Format" magazine.

The program has an interesting "dirty" resonant filter and a vibrato effect. Only one obvious bug that grates on the ear: when playing a sample on the midtones appears the "ringing", but you can drown it out by filter.

If you are interested in working with trackers, I suggest you also to experiment in the most advanced of modern trackers - Renoise. If this article has not persuaded you to touch the musical "hardware", then you should not waste your money on machines such as MPC-500. Save up money for more advanced models of the same Akai or Electron and Roland.

SEE ALSO:

♠ Some Thoughts About Computer History

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

HNY and Merry Xmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 10:50:00 +0000

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas are going to knock at the house of everyone, but to be sure that they gonna knock into the right door (or window), you must prepare for it... And the "Unikum" team is ready to help you with this!
Especially for the blog readers, we have created several Happy New Year an Merry Xmas designs that will give a festive mood for you and your loved ones and will have practical value. But let's look at these gifts more closely so each of you could choose the gift by yourself.

Let's start with Christmas gift socks. If you are 30 years old, like me and Solyankin, then to find candies in these socks in the morning can cause tears of nostalgia at best case. If you have used alcohol at the banquet table, candy may start to associate with food and cause sick, or even worse - vomiting. All this can be avoided if you will hang on this precious rope Christmas Stocking by Unikum. These socks do not accept any double interpretation and designed one for "cache" and one for checks, credit cards, gift certificates and more. In order to avoid confusions is better to get both: (for example, your family prepared for you some cash and friends have only credit cards. So some of them may be confused and couldn't find the "right" sock)...

There are two options for using the second gift (it's iPhone-case "Dear Santa, on next Xmas please give me iPhone 4"):

- you buy it for yourself in advance and always put your iPhone in a visible place to let your friends and family understand what you particularly like in this celebration;

- you give such case to your friend-lame (3rd iPhone owner) at Xmas eve and clearly let him know that he will get 4th iPhone only next year at best case!

And so that you looked really festive at that night, we have created a designer thong and T-shirts for you. "Santa Claus is watching you!" - let everybody know that Santa is not sleeping and watching little and old boys and girls every minute in order to make a list of naughty and nice. And only the best (and this, of course, will be you) will find the money and checks in his socks in the morning! Well, greeting shirt "Merry Christmas" with a cheerful Christmas tree will not leave any of your guests indifferent!

Hurry up! It remains quite a bit before Marry Christmas will pass!

SEE ALSO:

♠ Activities for Teens

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

Gender Relations

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

In my posts I somehow appeal to the theme of gender relations... Despite the fact that I am already inveterate bachelor, my girlfriend plays a big role in my life, and she even became a muse for doing this blog! I could now write you a post about all "++" relationships with women, love, romantic evenings and all this rubbish... But my post will be much shorter, because it is devoted to "--" the same relations.

One of the hardest topics: the constant attempt to get into your plate, in order to try something, to bite off, to drink, etc. I'm not greedy, and if I have, for example, 2 sandwich, I will gladly give up one... BUT ONE, LAST, NOT SUBDIVIDED INTO SEVERAL PIECES! And she can not understand it... Male brains are different: it's the brain of the hunter, which visually estimated the prey, process the information and sent a signal to the stomach, that now there will come a specific amount of food... And if the stomach was less in the end, the body fails: frustration, hunger, and irritability.

Imagine another scenario: you are with your girlfriend at the premiere of a tough shooter! You did not read the announcement, did not follow the remarks of critics, etc. You just went to the movies. And note: you came for the first time, which means that both the individual female and individual male came to film the first time, and this is very important... But from the beginning of the movie, something goes wrong... What are you so angry? Why you can not concentrate on watching? Why are you over and over again concede the key points or knockout blows of the hero?

The answer is correct - because of the constant questions and comments your girlfriend about all that is happening: "what is this guy? and where did he get the gun? and they know each other? and what he told her, but I have not heard? and interestingly, is it silicone? and why he had not saved her?..." Damn, so I would not have saved her, too! And all this rubbish is not the end... BUT YOU ALSO DID NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE! But somehow in the course of everything that happens on the screen.

Or this: you are going to the same action movie after reading a bunch of interesting announcements, critical acclaim, and even saw an exciting trailer on YouTube! Due the evening traffic jams to get to the session time is less, you are standing at the exit is fully dressed, cigarette is ready for, car keys in your hands... And then suddenly comes out of the room: "Johnny, I have nothing to wear!" The first few seconds you stand a loss, knowing that you are not robbed the other day, and fire didn't burn your home... But where had gone all her clothes??? No, everything hangs quietly on hangers, filling to capacity her cabinet, but to go JUST ON THIS FILM AND TODAY, at a time when you are late, she really has nothing to wear... Call quickly to Hollywood - let remove the picture from rolling, you have the naked girlfriend here!

SEE ALSO:

♠ How To Create Digital Art With Processing

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

Math

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

School gives us a huge store of knowledge. But when you go out there all that you can apply working for example a simple sales-manager, is knowledge of AutoSum in EXCEL. And your unclaimed skills gather dust lying on the cerebral cortex. And certainly some of them already lying around somewhere in the vicinity of the pituitary gland, and you hardly ever get them from there because of the absolute uselessness.

But there were many interesting and developing cognitions. Take the math: open any handbook, and you will find many paradoxes and puzzles that sales-manager's brain is unlikely to be able to explain to you properly.

That is an interesting point for example: take a square of side a = b = 1 (intrigued?))). Then, according to the Pythagorean theorem, its squared hypotenuse с must be
c² = a² + b².
To find the hypotenuse you should take the square root of this number. But if sides of the square are equal to 1 then the square of the diagonal is 2, and hence a diagonal equal to the square root of 2. But we can not take the square root of 2! This is an infinite fraction! Can you imagine an infinite number?

It would not been so important, if my wild imagination didn’t imagine: you draw on paper a square with sides equal to 1 (mm, cm, m, inches - does not matter), take a ruler and measure the hypotenuse, seeing its end point. And it turns out that you can not write that number!! End point constantly "escapes" from you to infinity with every decimal place (maybe into the paper?). And this number never reaches 2!

But the math guys are not sales managers, and they took full responsibility from themselves for such "inconsistencies", calling these numbers "irrational" thus equating them to the magic of voodoo and infectiousness of the mummies of Egyptian pyramids...

That's just where the sales-manager can shine such knowledge?

SEE ALSO:

♠ How To Create Digital Art With Processing

♠ FLOSS Manuals

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

Thundering Mantis

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:45:00 +0000

I revisited my collection of kung-fu films and found one obviously out of the general concept. Not the plot, the plot as always very simple (villains kick ass of the protagonist, and then he learns kung-fu super-style and kicks everyone's ass in return), but the ending... Well, in the end almost all have been killed (this is despite all the jokes that accompany us throughout the film)!

Let's be consistent. The film is known as "Thundering Mantis" (nothing special). Name calls us to drop everything and to learn mantis-style, and also to protect weak and the disadvantaged people.

Intro to the film is the scene of fighting in the red room (similar to the "The Invincible Kung-Fu Legs"), when the main characters in the film demonstrate their technique beating dozens of minor villains.

Next, the film's hero Chi (Leung Kar-yan) meets 12-year-old thief with a plastic of professional gymnast, and grandfather of this thief (the young guy with no wrinkles and with gray wig) of course is a master of kung-fu. In the normal course of business as a small fishmonger, Chi faces a gang of criminals terrorizing the city (according to all these films police is completely passive). Chi can deal with all of them, but as usual, the main villain comes and beats a guy with such blows that forced Chi to retire and seek help from a young grandfather-master.

After it goes a learning process and periodic fights in Chinese taverns, and a 12-year-old boy also strikes the villains left and right. But in the end the main scumbag (Eddie Ko) and his gang took control of the situation and brutally killed grandpa (that's a corpse, and nothing seems didn't foreshadow the tragedy), at the same time cut the owner of fish store, in which Chi traded, catch Chi and 12-year-old gymnast. Our heroes are tied, they are being tortured (hitting with logs and burning with a hot iron), and the boy dies (which surprised me in very bad way).

Seeing the death of a friend, Chi flows into an epileptic fit, breaks the ropes, and despite the received log blows, begins to extinguish the enemies. Epilepsy gradually transformed into a complete madness, Chi twists the legs and hands of opponents in knots, kills the main villain and begins to devour his organs...

At this moment this wonderful picture ends, and I'm sitting shocked with half-eaten sandwich in my hand...

SEE ALSO:

♠ Some Thoughts About Computer History

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

Android Based Sequencers

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:30:00 +0000

Today I try to overview music programs for the "Android" platform. A lot of them has been written, and now I review only a few to leave the topic open for further discussion and elaboration.

"Back to the old-school!" - my attention was immediately attracted by a simple but quite interesting groovebox RD3 from Microsonic. Minimum and at the same time, a complete set of tools for anyone caught by "acid" wave in the 90s: a drum machine + TB-303. What else do we need to pump the dance-floor?! BTW, now many house-techno-musicians are looking for new inspiration in the "acid" sound...

Let's look more closely to sequencer: it is understandable in control, as well as most of the "hard" machines of that time. We turn to the "beats" tab and begin to "program" on drums. Immediately strikes a serious lack of the groovebox - there is no pan. Thereafter, we can not call this machine of full value. But never mind, we can create up to 4 patterns from 6 drums (choice of patterns is in the "mixer" tab), and then either run them in order, or use the algorithm of random choice of patterns. 8 sets of instruments of the cult drum-machines are available to us (Roland TR-808, -909, -606 and CR-78, LinnDrum, KR55, RZ1 and DMX).

Drums are programmed, and we go on to the "bassline" tab, to meet face to face with the king of old-school - Roland TB-303 Bass Synthesizer. Surprisingly the "king" did not disappoint my hopes and sounded so cheerfully and lively, that I ruffled nerves of all my friends on the first day of my acquaintance with the program. Options called "accent" and "slide" give very "truthful" sound, also there is a traditional resonant filter and modulation envelope. You should experiment with the wave form (available in "saw" and "pulse" mode) and you step into a world of good old "acid"-vinyl! Here we can also program up to 4 bass-patterns. Let’s go back in the "mixer", set the tempo, add a little of "overload", mix volume of the signals, and either manage our song in "live" mode, or give ourselves to the will of the case (at this moment: randomizer). Consider that your first live-performance was held!

It seems the producers are so inspired by the sales, that recently released a version of this groovebox marked HD: here we get the whole 2 TB-303, number of drums extended to 8, also there are effects (distortion, phaser and delay). Very impressive!))) But again I just did not find a panorama... :(

Also basing on the principle of vintage drum-machines has been built another music app: "Electrum" by Niko Twenty. There are more advanced functions of a sampler, the work with loops (up to more accurately fitting of overall tempo of the track), the ability to make a song of 32 different patterns. In result there will be 8 instruments available for you, but your own collection of samples and loops will expand the limits of the drum-machine. The more Niko has prepared for you a lot of sample packs for any taste. But again I HAVE NOT FOUND PAN FUNCTION! And this is exactly the reason why I did not stay with this program...

For snacks I left my favorite product to create music on the "Android". It is called "Nanoloop". The creator of Nanoloop was originally making this product for "Game Boy" and "Game Boy Advance" platforms.

Here, in addition to traditional sequencer, we have a sampler (be prepared for surprise: program will cut all your favorite 16 bit WAV samples down to 0.5 seconds, so get back BACK TO 90s :) You will need to convert your library into 8-bit samples))).

There's also a very interesting synthesizer that allows you to comprehend the foundations of sound design. The presence of a "white" noise generator makes it possible to create even percussion sounds (snares and hi-hats). In the "channel view" mode you can program a pattern, and then you can switch to a sampler (with the recording through a tablet microphone!) or synthesizer. All in all there are 6 channels available. In the "song view" mode vertical tracker is waiting for you, and you can program a very long song! I will not take bread from the author of the program and paint all its charms in this review: because Oliver Wittchow made an excellent and very competent manual for this program and it is available directly from the program (press "help" in menu mode), and on the official site.

My Nanoloop techno-minimal beat (synths only!):

Of course the program is not without flaws and different bugs, but I fear that for the owners of feeble "Androids" this is the only way: a simple program interface doesn’t overload the system unlike in RD3. When you work with RD3 the sound or image often hang up, but "Nanoloop" works out rather stable. Well, plus an amazing opportunity to touch the history of music trackers: the first release of the program was made in 1998, and for the original cartridges with "Nanoloop" for "Game Boy" you still have to run!

And finally the bad news... THERE IS ALSO NO PAN FUNCTION!

SEE ALSO:

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

Android Comics

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 21:20:00 +0000

It is strange of course, but people have a habit to give knowledge about the World through toys and pictures... Instead of to show you a serious science movie on the "Discovery" or at least a plausible photo, you slip a picture with handwritten image of some cheerful bear and say, "Look, this is a Teddy bear!". Your children's little eyes look at this picture and you draw a clear analogy with disheveled teddy bear lying around in the corner. And you do not realize that behind this image hides one of the most aggressive animals whose clutches killed more than one hapless hunter.

Finally it comes out that in your life you have to face with some things or cases which you have seen before only on children's pictures or in cartoons. And you have to re-experience them in real life by yourself. Although of course it is more logical to gain "adult" knowledge initially, because it is always harder to learn again. Definitely all those dead hunters lost their lives by reason of some ridiculous confusion happened with them when they met with a real bear. Probably some of them were confused by bright childhood memories even cried out: "Look! This is just a Teddy bear!" and tried to touch bear's wet button-nose. But "adult" fate was inevitable and took away childhood dreams together with life.

Anyway, love for drawn and puppet heroes sits in us for the rest of our lives. Only this can explain enormous popularity of all those "shreks," "kung-fu pandas", etc. As well as it explains for me constant interest in comic books and artworks of that kind. I do not collect them by thousands but I can't pass through them neither in book stores nor in internet...

Comics became especially interesting for me after I bought my "Android" tablet. During various trips I am not inclined to any serious reading, and often I want to abstract (just as in childhood) from the environment in the subway or bus. Fortunately at Android-market there was small but selection of comics, some of which were free, and the remaining cost me trifle.

But I just don't want to read about good fun teddy bear or nimble mouse. Childhood is a childhood but in adulthood for some reason you want stupid and bloodthirsty comics. A simple example: "Jesus hates zombies". That's Right! Well, Jesus hates zombies, and that is all! And of course he descends from the heavens, in order to save the surviving human, and begins to destroy those skunks by baseball bat or machete, or to shoot from a shotgun if necessary. Isn't that a perfect plot for a ride on the subway for a couple of stations!

When you finished with all the villains, it is time to gain good moods for upcoming business meeting or for chat with friends from "Basic Instructions". There are prepared qualitative "HOW TO..." solutions for many life situations.

I would definetly prefer to have more comics for adults, and not only bloody, but with an erotic context. I also hope fore the reanimation of lots of comics created in early and mid 20th century. I feel very sorry, that sir Pichard did not live up to our days, he for sure would have intensified his work, maybe even added soundtracks to adventures of his cuties...

But I think filling of Android-market with quality content is a matter of time. Till that time piles of paper comics which are resting in the toilet do not bother...

SEE ALSO:

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

Space Invaders

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 08:45:00 +0000

I'm not a gamer... But sometimes, of course, I play "Solitaire" in the office, until there is no bosses, or I can play "SweepMiner". But it is not systematic.

But only when I see those games that I played 20 years ago on console "Dendy", my soul overflows with children's delight! So when I was presented with tablet based on "Android" and visited the "Android Market", I saw a huge number of games written for this platform, I decided to try my luck and typed in the search engine: "8-bit games"...

The choice was not rich, but most "trump" of all vintage game platforms still was there. "Droid Invaders" - shooting game for Android, a clone of that same "Space Invaders", whose sound permanently "stuck" in my ears and did not allow to fall asleep at night.

I wondered: what is the power of such simple games? Why do people again and again interested in such silly scenes performed trivial 2D graphics? Perhaps, to me it was because the appearance of these consoles were in the most sensitive teenage years. Maybe those games are comparable to Yoga meditation, when a simple horizontal movement of guns across the screen display you can completely ignore the reality surrounding you. Or they really have magic of sound and color, the magic, turned the computer game into a cult.

About magic, I probably had too much, but the fact remains that a couple of weeks ago at the store I saw a portable version of "Dendy" "charged" the basic classic games of the 90s. I bought it, of course ... And my girlfriend "lost" me)))

Note, "Space Invaders" is there (as well as its more advanced version "Galaxy"). So now all move on public transport I run into battles with the aliens, monsters, or just in fights with the masters of "8-bit style" kung-fu.

SEE ALSO:

♠ Some Thoughts About Computer History

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

FLOSS Manuals

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny Justify) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 07:55:00 +0000

Most of my hobbies are somehow related to the computer, so I'm constantly in the search stage of software to meet my needs. But the more professional is software, the more the price of all these developments. But I'm not a professional! So why should I spend big money on the purchase of certain products, if I did not earn a penny from them in the long term?

Use of limited "home" versions or "light" packages is also not an option, because they usually cut a very interesting and useful functions... So I concentrated on testing the "open source" analogues of the various programs, fortunately enthusiasts willing to share their experience are enough in the world (for what they have honor, praise and respect). But here there is one problem: the developers of professional products are focused on "loyalty" of its user, so running in parallel with the development of the product they supply it usually with serious and informative guides. But in the case of "open source" it is not always possible. It could be argued that the "good" software is clear and intuitive for the user at any level, but personal experience suggests that to read manuals is still very, very useful exercise. Because every program has its own quirks, to understand that empirically is not so simple. And manuals speed up the process at times (unless of course, they are not stretched more than a 500 pages, but in any case there is a glossary or table of contents))).

So, in search of regular manuals to music program I dug up a project called FLOSS Manuals. List of manuals decently surprised me: besides the well expected VLC-player or a sound editor Audacity, I found a manuals for such interesting projects as Csound (audio programming) and Ardour (digital audio workstation (DAW)). Well, a manual for Pure Data (a program for creating interactive audio-visual applications) I think one of the most convenient, complete and easy to understand for a standard user!

BTW, the commercial counterpart of this program (Max/Msp) is distributed at a cost of $ 400 (are you ready to pay so much for an evening hobby?))))))))).

"Non-musicians" will find there descriptions of interesting projects such as working with Firefox browser by Mozilla, and higher-level users HTML-editor NvU or even an introduction to work with Linux command line.

But thing for that I really admire Hyde and company, is their active interest and support of the project "One Laptop per Child" (OLPC). There are a lot of people in the world with income level below average, and consequently the production of low-cost learning and gaming notebooks for the children, I think a very noble thing. If some of you would like to, you can also to be a coauthor of a project, or start a new one. I give you a hint: I want a good manual on the basics of HTML, so edit bugs always pop up in the process of this blog))).

SEE ALSO:

♠ Math For Dummies

♠ How To Create Digital Art With Processing

♠ Unikum Main Page Favorite stuff of 30 year old guys: gifts, apps, thoughts, hobbies, music, art, nostalgia

30 Years of IBM PC (Some Thoughts about Computer History)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:31:00 +0000

Well, it turned out that I am almost 30 years old. Usually they say that it s a half of a distance. And you feel that you need to look back and try to remember significant things happened in your life and around it. Unless you are Tom Hanks, most noticeable things happen to be in some other people’s life and you watch them through the window of your routine.

Anyway check out interesting coincidence that came across me recently. Anniversary of first IBM PC!! And guess what? 30 years as well! It means that I am first and original PC generation representative. This is my destiny! )

New age will come but nobody is going to be that pure original first man who have seen and tried to work in MS-DOS , who tuned up monochrome monitor, hardly understood principles of Windows file system and was stunned when tried PC with 20mb hard drive and 640 kb of memory. And all those games!!! It was awesome!!! How good were you in "Pong" and "Arkanoid"? But it’s a separate huge topic and we will look through it in some future posts.

The main point is that we were growing together like an old neighborhood bodies. He was teaching me how to write a school articles and print them, how to calculate simple math tasks, to record voice and to watch digital video, how to draw funny pictures for VHS tape stickers, how to wide my range of knowledge in any aspects of life (remember first MS Encarta? :-). But unfortunately I couldn’t teach PC anything, even to smoke cigarettes).

We were also developing physically. I was growing- PC was decreasing his shape. I became stronger - He became faster. I started to love abstractions, creation and fantasies – He received artificial intelligence….

And of course Internet! PC era should be divided on pre-internet and internet. It changed everything in PC, but it is also theme for another post.

And nowadays we are living in the word of amazing complexed multimegafunctional lightweight devices and gadgets, which should thank IBM PC. May be I have reached the same level of self development as PC as well? ) Considering that we are the same age?)

Anyway I feel happy to live side to side with my body PC and hope to feel the same in future when engineers will replace every part of my body with microchips. Does this mean that in that case we will become brothers? )

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