PlasmaFire.org

Here’s a formerly-abandoned article that I wrote at RELAy.PlasmaFire.org months ago, of which I decided to move here today. I’ll continue it again as a blog post series (instead of a page) soon; it’s not worth throwing off thoughts such as these anyway.

Ephesians 6:10-20 has always been one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Paul, locked in prison with Roman guards standing close by, vividly illustrates–of all things–the very clothing that his adversaries were wearing: combat armor. Even then, he doesn’t hesitate to bring the truth of the Gospel to light with an object lesson.

Being a video gamer for years, as well as a recent Anime addict as of this writing, I’ve found that one of the most awesome aspects of science fiction is the concept of physical protection from projectiles while often providing a range of mobility and performance unheard of for a normal human. What do I mean? Oh yes, the very dream of many an Anime otaku, FPS/RTS/(MMO)RPG gamer, sci-fi reader, or for that matter, defense researcher: mobile suits and mecha (giant robots!), powered body armor, human tanks, land walkers, cyborgs, and more. They’re often extremely fast. Incredibly dangerous. Very sleek and refined. Really good-looking (most of the time, and usually for the protagonists). And above all, they don’t exist in real life. How sad, isn’t it? Why, oh why can’t I have my own EVA Unit, Gundam, Arm Slave, or at least something smaller like Master Chief’s MJOLNIR exoskeleton armor to command? Why can’t I wield a gigantic beam rifle/sword while smiling to myself, knowing that this multi-story-high, super-fast robot contains un-gaugeable power? Why can’t I sprint faster than a jet around campus, certain that no one would dare threaten me, or at least be reassured that I won’t ever be late for class again?

WHY?

Because I already have armor. And it’s better than the GF13-017NJII God Gundam, to you MS fans. In fact, it’s better than anything in this world!

[to be continued]

It’s been a while since I’ve done anything related to tool-based/technical drawing and/or sci-fi weapon works. The last significant piece was the “Stationary Antiaircraft Railgun,” finished in 2005. I sure missed those days of eye-straining detailing…until now.

As of late, most of my drawing habits have been adapting to 3D sketching and mecha design (yes, anime has its major influences, especially the Full Metal Panic! and Mobile Suit Gundam series), but more recently I’ve been integrating experience derived from precision drawing into such new ideas. Even so, I’ve also been going “back to my roots,” in that I’m once again finding time to create 2-dimensional works of absurd mechanical devices. Sure, even one piece can take ages (days or “weeks”) to finish, but this is what God let me get better at; got to thank Him for it, indeed.

So, here’s a new piece that I’ve been working on over the past few days; for now, let’s call this an “Anti-Infantry Multiaxis Laser Turret.”

But wait, what ever happened to the “Large-Scale CO2 Light Cannon?” Eh, it might be a high-power laser as well, but consider it an abandoned piece; I realized that adding the long support arms and a geodesic output head caused the whole weapon to appear like a cross between a scorpion, china plate, and the Eye of Sauron - a combination which looked fairly unimposing. The arms also caused a large problem with integrating beam guides and amplifiers into the setup. On the other hand, the newer anti-infantry laser previously described “should” turn out much better, assuming everything on it stays tight and neat. At this time, the following image is the last iteration that I’ll put into the CO2 Light Cannon:

Here’s a new autoplayed recording of a more-recent StepMania 3.9 simfile created around an Animusic track. Actually, a redux: I’ve used Animusic 2’s 7/4-time Starship Groove in a pair of early, laggy experimental Couples charts, back when custom “stepping” was a new hobby for me. Since those turned out to be far too easy, even for dance pads, I’ve scrapped everything and built a brand new level; the redone 13-footer Challenge stepfile is difficult enough to warrant keyboard-ing it instead - just like the file based on Drum Machine. If one wished to dance to it, this would be like a four-minute sprint with incinerated feet!

As usual, I’ve posted the normal video capture along with a version that has Player 1’s assist tick enabled. This is so that the viewer can understand the stepchart’s overall rhythm better.

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Last night was our DDR organization’s turn to host an event for LateNight PennState, held at the HUB-Robeson student center. While the club, aptly named “Dance Dance Maniacs,” did their duty with panel dance video games for the common people, one of the guys (Joseph Sherman) in our club headed over to the nearby pool room to do some work on the In the Groove 2’s pads. I followed up later to check it out, and it was safe to say that the inside of the dance pads looked…really bad. Not so much that the sensors didn’t do their job of recognizing taps, but the dirt and grime that built up over the months couldn’t be removed by merely blowing and wiping on the internals. Interesting, considering a snug 1/4″-thick slab of Lexan (for each arrow) covered the box of electronics and sensors.

Since a picture would describe well, here’s one such box before any significant cleaning. Pardon the cell phone images:

We decided that one of the Lexan arrow panels would make a good photo prop. (in order: Joseph Sherman, myself, Jason Gilleece)

“I’m in your base, stealing your arrowz.”

Nevermind. The cleaning effort wasn’t really worth it then; we’re gonna need some heavier-duty equipment.

Only months ago, I never knew that the In the Groove series of panel dance games could be so much fun - more so than the DDR line, for that matter. I don’t know for sure if it’s due to the more diverse step patterns, the great music selection, or just because it’s not a Konami game (or, at least wasn’t); hey, it’s more than just a Dance Dance Revolution clone.

And so, I finally passed an Expert song several days ago on the HUB-Robeson student center’s ITG2 machine. “This is Rock and Roll,” 9-foot. On a side note, if a C+ were my grade for the most recent CSE 297A exam, I would’ve been extremely pleased; too bad ITG2 and computer science can’t trade places. :/

Hard to believe that only a year ago, I wouldn’t even touch an arcade dance machine, nevermind a soft pad. Next goals: get better than a C+ for this song, and pass “D-Code” on Expert (because it sounds great and has equally-good steps). The following screenshot isn’t worth posting on GrooveStats.com, anyway.