Pizza Research

Make Blog had a link to this guy's page on cloning a famous NY pizzeria's pies. The page is crazy—the guy did all this research on dough, preparation, baking, and all that. It rocks!! I'd like to get Sachie to try the recipe. Maybe after we move back to the U.S. I like pizza enough and am unstable enough to spend money on special pizza-only hardware as necessary. Za!!!!

Riddle & Brazil

Interesting site with information about converting business entities to LPs in Texas. I was looking for information on asset protection using a LP with a C-corporation as the general partner, which I found. There was also an interesting essay on why Congress sucks. Then there's a bit on landlord-tenant legal issues: Looks like a landlord can't claim damages from the deposit in a lot of cases, so this needs to be researched. 'Twas intriguing.

iPSP

Interesting PSP sync software for OS X.

"Power Supply Design Blog"

Pretty cool. Hasn't been updated in a while, but it looks like it has some useful information. Just what I was looking for.

These days it's hard to find a power supply that wasn't made in China, meaning most power supplies are shit. Chinese companies are notorious for using substandard components for their electronics, so it irritates me that I can't find a American or Japanese PS. I'd easily pay double or triple the price—if I could only find one. So I might have to design and build my own.

Xbox 360 Laptop

This one dude hacked a Xbox 360 into laptop form factor. That's really fucked up. I might have to buy his book.

Coroutines in C

While browsing for something, I can't recall what, I found a page on coroutines in C by a guy named Simon Tatham. The implementation uses funky macros and gotos to get things working. Ouch, that could really be offensive to some people.

Then there's the infamous "Duff's Device", which was mentioned in Bjarne Stroustrup's The C++ Programming Language book. The reason it came up in relation to coroutines is that it does indeed use the switch structure as a screwy means of goto.

Well, everyone should just give up and use state machines.

Airsoft Law

U.S. Code and Code of Federal Regulations: Online versions of the U.S.C./C.F.R. USC Title 15, Chapter 76, Section 5001 contains the text of the law regarding "imitation firearms". CFR Title 15, Part 1150 details the requirements for markings on such imitation firearms (search for 15CFR1150). The law is very specific about the color: it must be "blaze orange", as per GSA Federal Standard 595a, February, 1987, color number 12199. How about that for bureaucracy!!

MFIAP: Importers of firearms and airsoft guns. They have a highly informative FAQ on airsoft. Interestingly enough, according to this, almost all shops selling airsoft that I've seen so far are doing so illegally. It's not just about the blaze orange tip (which actually has to be of a specific color, according to U.S. Code), but also trademarks ("H&K", "Glock", etc.) and other IP related to the design of the mechanisms. Sounds like a trickier business than I thought. This is going to need a lot more research in order to do. MFI has franchising, but for ridiculous prices. I'd rather research it and do it on my own. They also list a site on the main page, Shimo Kobo, that sells pottery and such.

However, the MFI website does not seem to be entirely accurate regarding the nature of trademark violation. They state:

Possession of a counterfeit product could (according to the letter of the law) provide prosecution of felony possession for every mark on the product.

Whereas a site from the Customs and Border Protection says:

Articles bearing marks that are counterfeit or inappropriately using a federally registered trademark are subject to seizure and forfeiture.The importation of articles intended for sale or public distribution bearing counterfeit marks may subject an individual to a civil fine if the registered trademark has also been recorded with CBP. Articles bearing marks that are confusingly similar to a CBP recorded registered trademark , and restricted gray market articles (goods bearing genuine marks not intended for U.S. importation for which CBP granted gray market protection) are subject to detention and seizure.

However, travelers arriving in the United States may be permitted an exemption and allowed to import one article of each type, which must accompany the person, bearing a counterfeit, confusingly similar or restricted gray market trademark, provided that the article is for personal use and is not for sale.

Granted, this is for items physically carried back to the U.S. from overseas, but it certainly qualifies as possession, and mentions nothing of felony prosecution. If one intends to sell, the matter is different, since that is trafficking. The importer is expected to do their homework (which I'm doing). I'm not sure if this is just a scare tactic or what. Obviously personal possession of copyright or trademark violations is not a crime malum in se, and the fact that the CBP allows some counterfeits to pass is supporting evidence that MFI's information is not correct. I'm still searching the laws, however. Regarding trafficking, there are these references: USC Title 18, Part I, Chapter 113, Section 2320 and a DOJ site (also 1 and 2) on intellectual property crimes. I'd like to know about the role of intent in these matters, i.e. is it "Ignorance of the law is not an excuse"—despite that no one lawyer knows all the Federal laws, much less State laws!

Incidentally, the CBP import page appears to be extremely useful. (Perhaps I've linked to it here before, but...well...I forget.)

U.S. Toy Safety Standards: Might be useful someday.

How To Do Stuff

Amusing, like stuff out of the Anarchist's Cookbook.... How to:
Make a hollow book
Make thermite
Throw a playing card

Airsoft Games

Was recently browsing for information on airsoft games and turned up the following.

Airsoft on Wikipedia: Encyclopedic general information. Also see the article on legal issues.

AirsoftGunHelp: General info on airsoft and related gaming issues.

Airsoft Games Club: Airsoft forum...for players in the Philippines (?!).

One article talks about why airsoft is better than paintball. He's got an interesting take on things. Paintball has become a 'sanitized' sport, after all. When one has to call a gun a 'marker', then it's time to find a better crew to play with or upgrade to airsoft!

A dated CNN article regarding legislation against toy guns. Therein is this salient point:

"We don't think that the government has any business regulating toys, especially guns," said Angel Shamaya, executive director of the guns rights organization Keep and Bear Arms. "Banning toy guns is just another feel-good anti-gun maneuver, and we oppose it."

But for supporters of the ban, that's partly the point. Beyond preventing crimes committed using gun replicas, the councilmen simply want to keep guns of any sort out of the hands of youngsters. Said Vann, "If they use toy guns there's a greater chance they'll graduate to the real thing when they grow up."

The extreme-liberal lawmakers are the ones attempting to using legislation as a means of socio-cultural mind control. Such insidious self-righteous pseudo-intellectuals hate guns because they know that "right-wing crazies" want to subject them to the laws of Darwin for the evil stuff they do. I'm a 'gunner', so you know where I stand. Incidentally, that article has an error: it says "Desert Eagle .45-caliber handgun", but there is no .45 version, only .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, and .50 AE. Further, the caliber should be written ".45" or "45-caliber"—as written in the article it's redundant. At any rate, this was the information I was looking for:

In October 1992, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued regulations governing the "Marking of Toy Look-Alike and Imitation Firearms." Under the new specifications, toy guns were required to bear a solid, "blaze-orange" plug at the tip of their barrel, or be colored entirely white, bright red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink or purple.

Akiba Links

Some links I accumulated whilst in Akiba last Sunday. Ironically, I scrawled them down on an old-fashioned piece of paper. With a pencil (although a mechanical one).

武器屋: I saw an ad in the station for this place. Didn't go there, because I had to hit Eichigoya. Guns over blades. Anyway, that's apparently the bricks 'n' mortar shop for ヴァイスブラウレジデンツ, the online shop.

Targa: At Asobit City I found this tank model that I wanted. They wouldn't sell individual boxes, and later I found out why: there are seven boxes to build one model, and there are two color variations in the carton of 14. Well...it's a little spendy for a plastic tank.

BrightonNET: Checking out iPod accessories, BrightonNET's stuff seems to be some of the best, such as this aluminum jacket for the Shuffle and Japanese-style cloth (wa-gara) cases.

Abee: At some computer store in Akiba I was checking out cases. Most of them sucked, but Abee's were somewhat interesting. Not as cool as Soldam's, but given Soldam's recent financial issues, I have to be checking out alternatives. There's an English version of the site as well.