Home Cookin': The Electric CD Acid Test

XenonOfArcticus writes "In the spirit if the Blair Witch Project: In 1993, Chris (Hanson), Dave (Kessner), Bob (Maple), Eric Schultz, Chris Hurtt, Earl Miles, and a few other malcontents found themselves in the possession of a microwave oven, a video camera, some worthless CD-ROMs, and a (then state-of-the-art) Video Toaster editing system. This recently-discovered footage is the actual result. " The mind boggles - the video is in QuickTime 4 format. Update: chrisd writes "I have mirrored the Home Cooking movie here." Update: 10/22 11:02 by H :Us e the mirror above, as, the Slashdot effect totally slaughtered the poor guy's ISP in the original story.

Whatever happened to quickies, anyway?

Did CmdrTaco just run out of cool titles for quickie stories? He doesn't seem to make quickie collections anymore. I miss quickie-dumps. You get more silly content per day that way. :)
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"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.

some cool experiments

I realize that this is slightly whacky, and the person who's page this is will probably growl at me, but, one of the slashdotters (can't remember his name/nick) has a page, here [erau.edu] (or linked to from here, I believe) that should prove interesting.. in the field of microwaves an other such pyro-manageable items. and to whoever's site this is, many thanks and kudos!!

View in Linux

Off topic yet highly relevent point:

How do I view this thing in Linux?
Not to harass the matter, but I am quite curious as to the state of Quicktime support for Linux . . .

Re:View in Linux

Considering that such a high percentage of us (relative to most web sites anyway) run Linux, I think the management should avoid posting links to videos using the new (Sorensen?) Quicktime 4.0 codec.

Perhaps a boycott is in order?

Microwaving CDs just looks soooo cool!

You can actually see concentric rings of electricity and sparks dancing across the CD; sometimes in regular manner; sometimes rippling round and round. And different colored CDRs produce slightly different effects.

Note: the show's over after 1-2 seconds. After that the plastic will start to burn and smoke (toxic!) so microwave for no more than 2 seconds. Also, I set the cd on top of a small glass so the CD is no where near any of the walls inside the oven. All this, of course, is at your own risk if you choose to do this. No problems have resulted for me, though.

Mirror List

http://athena.student.umd.edu/HomeCook in.mov [umd.edu]

ftp://128.253.254.56/homecookin.mov [128.253.254.56]

http://dibona.com/slashmir [dibona.com]

SlashMirror: Where to put files for fellow /.'ers

Sorenson Codec

Perhaps it is time to unleash the mighty power of the /. effect upon Apple: Why doesn't everybody who has bitched about not having Sorenson support under Xanim e-mail Apple, and ask them nicely to allow Sorenson to allow Mr. Podlipec to make a codec plug-in for Xanim. Since Apple is claiming to support Open Source, lets give them a chance to walk the walk, and not just talk the talk.

Xanim and Sorenson Codec

I emailed Apple [mailto] and Sorenson [mailto] about working with Mark Podlipec (Xanim's creator) and below is the email I got back.

If we all email them maybe they will get a clue.
For reference, Xanim's home page (and mirrors)
http://xanim.va.pubnix.com/home.html [pubnix.com]
http://smurfland.cit.buffalo.edu/xanim/home.html [buffalo.edu]
http://xanim.resnet.gatech.edu/home.html [gatech.edu]


Hello,

You're receiving this note because you asked for QuickTime for Linux, QuickTime for UNIX, or QuickTime for Amiga.

QuickTime is available for Mac OS http://www.apple.com/macos [apple.com], Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT 4. The next platform to be supported will be Mac OS X http://www.apple.com/macosx [apple.com] (including Mac OS X Server), which is Mach/BSD-based.

If you're interested in QuickTime for platforms other than Mac or Windows, contact your platform vendor and let them know that you would like them to license QuickTime from Apple.

If you're interested in QuickTime as it relates to servers, be sure to check out the standards-based Darwin streaming server project http://publicsource.apple.com [apple.com] (which works with any standards-based streaming media client).

Thank you,

--
Charles Wiltgen [mailto]
QuickTime Technology Manager
Worldwide Developer Relations Apple Computer, Inc. "Don't compromise. Use QuickTime."
http://www.apple.com/quicktime [apple.com]
http://www.QuickTimeFAQ.org [quicktimefaq.org]

QuickTime 4: The first standards-based architecture for networked media.
Recognized as the industry standard for Macintosh and Windows since 1991.

MPEG version

Ok - I have permission to mirror and convert it.

You can get the original quick time version, as well as mpeg versions at varying bit rates from http://house.ofdoom.com/~hungerf 3/video/index.rxml [ofdoom.com]

I'm sitting here with a stopwatch, and a fire extinguisher to see how long this server stands up.
(pentium 120, 96 megs of ram, FreeBSD, Roxen, on a tci-met cable modem)

I mirrored it for everyone.

I figured it'll be slashdotted anyhow, so I stuck it up on my website Here [dibona.com]

Chris DiBona
--
Grant Chair, Linux Int.
VP, SVLUG

CD Testing

Well, I don't know about you guys but I have been using this method to test the duribility of CD's for quite a while. in my experience there are 2 really good tests that can be used to determine the quality of a brand of CD's without burning them. First is the Light test, where you hold up to a light sorce and see how much light filters through. second is the Nuke test where you put the CD (it's best to wait until you do a bad burn because this is destructive) in the microwave for 10 sec. when you are done watching the pretty lights take it out and see how much of the CD is flacked. if the a lot of metal layer is flaking off then it is a poor quality CD. if not then it is a good CD.

Travis

Re:View in Linux

If Linux is not adequate for your needs, then you should consider another (or additional) operating system. This is a web site for "News for Nerds," and people can post what they thing is appropriate for this forum.

This attitude that "Linux rules! I can't do X on Linux, so X sucks" is completely rediculous. If Linux is not adequate for your needs, then that is your issue not ours.

Every operating system has it's advantages and disadvantages. Quicktime is a pretty open standard, available on the vast majority of computer systems. If yours is not one of them, then that is your limitation.

Alternatively, do what those of us that want to run *nix apps that are available for Linux and Windows apps do, run NT and Linux. Either run Linux in VMWare, or set up a second box. There are a plethora of Xservers for NT, some commercial, some freeware. That way, you can run all applications.

You could run a VMWare session with Win95/98/NT, which would give your more application options. However, please don't extrapolate that because you use Linux and that many others use Linux that everyone here can only use Linux.

An operating system is a tool, it runs applications. If your operating system lacks applications that you want to run, it is time to come up with an alternative plan of action.

I'm certain that one day, Linux will have loads of applications, be as easy to use as Windows, and reliably, and the applications will run as reliably as Win32 apps (meaning, not very well), in the mean time, realize the Unix has been used for 30 years, and X for 15 years, but neither was designed as a desktop system. It's great that we have one, but it lacks full desktop support. Accept the limitations, don't force other to conform.

Linux (at least on my School's AFS system) has lots of great commercial engineering tools, because it is Unix-like enough to run them. I can't get them for NT. However, for streaming video, mainstream environments are where it is at.

If you want to do everything, get multiple systems. If you wish to do everything easily, pipe them into the same machine. If not, keep your issues to yourself, and don't demand that amusing links not be shown here because you choose to limit your options.

Alex

Re:View in Linux

Since the majority of us do not use Linux to read Slashdot (according to the logs of /.'s webserver), I don't see the problem. Those of us who don't run Linux don't get upset when we can't run some new software program that Slashdot announces, so those of you who use Linux can show us the same courtesy by not objecting to things others may wish to see.

If there's another, better, format available, then sure. But if there's no other format, posting the Quicktime 4 link is better than posting no link at all, just as posting info about a Linux-only program is worse than posting a link to a highly ported program, but is better than posting no link at all.

Re:View in Linux

Although I agree with you in general, I have issue with your statement that Quicktime is widely available on many platforms. QT4 is only available, AFAIK, on Windows and MacOS. Yes, a variety of the older QT Codecs are available on quite a few systems (including Linux), but so far I've seen no intention from Apple to support anything but MacOS and Windows on this. Hopefully they'll change their mind, but in the meantime, our only choices are Wine (dunno if QT4 can be supported by this, though) and, as you pointed out, VMWare. However, the problem with VMWare is that you still need a copy of Windows. Part of what many Linux geeks (such as myself) are trying to do, for better or worse, is not have to have a copy of any OS that we don't want just for a few things we don't need. It's a personal choice. I don't try to inflict it on others, though of course others don't have exactly the same views as me...

But yeah, I agree, just because something isn't in Linux doesn't mean it sucks. However, to claim that QT4 is available on the vast majority of systems... well, on installed personal computers, maybe, but two OSes each on one platform certainly does NOT constitute the majority of the several hundred OSes and platforms out there. What if you don't even have an x86 box? What if you have a BeBox or an Alpha, or something StrongARM based, or an RS/6000, or a SPARC? Not everyone has a Mac or a Windows-capable box, after all.
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"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.

Safety Precaution

No, I'm not going to caution everyone about the dangers of microwaving metal objects. Instead, I wish to talk about the much greater risk of Microsoft CDs (insert scary music as needed). You must take heed of my message and make haste to surround your CDs with protective deletium [userfriendly.org] lest these infernal products jump out and smite thee on thy noggin, causing you to lose control of yourseff and install Microsoft Windows 2000 Beta, Microsoft Office 2000, and Internet Explorer 5 (overwriting your Linux partition in the process). The resulting quantum explosion caused by having these three rip^H^H^Hproducts on the same machine at the same time may cause a quantum explosion that will take out much more than your microwave. Beware!