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hitormiss.org: TiVo to DVD (or VCD) via Mac OSX

Because I’m relatively new to the Mac world, I had a lot of trouble finding both instructions and (free) software to extract video from my Series 1 TiVo and burn it to DVD or VCD/SCVD. The following is a write-up of the steps I’ve worked out.

Pimp My Safari A great site with lots of tweaks and plug ins for Safari.

Mac OS X Apps for Power Users and Unix Switchers - Home

This site is aimed at the power user, *nix switcher, and those that want to tweak OSX to work better for them.

TIME Magazine Archive Article — Derby Does Dallas–and Austin and Seattle, Too — Mar. 28, 2005 Turns out our favorite Roller Derby gal is famous! Got back from SXSW to find this article in the Time Magazine that came while I was away. And in other bizzare news - apparently I wasn’t the only one who tackled a Cartoon Network character (or maybe they’re taking a little editorial license as well). If you TiVo’d Venture Brothers on March 20th, check out the bumper text at the beginning. There’s a bit about who went to SXSW and who didnt and that a “gang of ruffians attempted to topple Grandmaster Shake”.

Although I didn’t blog it, on the way out, while waiting for my flight at OAK, I was enjoying a pint at the airport bar and heard a crash. In the deli line across the aisle, a woman had apparently passed out, but it was more than just a faint - after a few minutes, the place was crawling with EMTs, cops, and pilots (pilots?? They linked into the 911 system there??). I thought it was a less-than-fortuitous start to my journey. At the end of the trip, as I was de-planing back in OAK, another woman passed out in the jetway. I guess it provided a little closure to the trip.

This to That (Glue Advice) As seen on Make - this is a pretty good reference for what to use and how to use it to adhere two materials (for instance, styrofoam to metal) depending on your needs (speed, strength, etc…)

migas recipe | breakfast recipes | casserole recipes

Migas

4 eggs 1 tablespoon water 1 tablespoon salsa 1 tablespoon bacon drippings or vegetable oil 1/4 cup chopped green or red bell pepper 1/4 cup chopped onion 1/2 to 1 fresh jalapeno, minced 12 to 16 tostada chips, broken 1/2 cup grated Cheddar or Monterey jack cheese 2 teaspoons minced cilantro (optional)

Beat eggs lightly with water and salsa. Set aside.

In a cast iron skillet warm bacon drippings over medium heat. Add bell pepper, onion and jalapeno, sauteing them until limp. Pour in eggs and stir them up from the bottom of the skillet as they cook. About a minute before the eggs are done, add the chips, stirring them in well. Remove the eggs from the heat, and stir in the cheese, reserving a little to scatter over the top. Sprinkle the cilantro over the eggs, if you like.

Serve the migas immediately with warm flour tortillas and more salsa or picante sauce.

Migas may also be cooked by scrambling eggs, then warming the eggs and chips in warm ranchero sauce. Every Mexican restaurant and tqueria we stopped at in Austin had some sort of Migas dish - they were might good. I’m sort of amazed I’d not heard of it before and I’ve never seen them on a menu here in California. What’s up with that??

Toy Lab

At Happen’s Toy Lab, YOU can Build Your Own Toy!! Join the zany Professor Yot and his assistants for a creative experience the whole family will enjoy.

Happen’s Toy Lab is a unique outreach of Happen, Inc. that allows children (ages 6 and up) to create their own toys from our massive selection of ‘recycled’ toy parts. Choose any seven pieces, then fit and attach the parts with the help of our specially-trained assemblers. In less than an hour you will have invented your very own, one-of-a-kind-in-the-whole-wide-world toy! Be sure to check out the Toy Zoo!

ROLLER DERBY! Being the subservient bitches that we were, after getting yoinked in the schnozz and kicked in the newts, we HAD to actually attend the roller derby. My God, what a wonderful thing. Instead of 5 for fighting, the offending women get… a spanking! No confirmation on the oral sex, although there was much scrapping. Suddenly, I felt a lot less guilty about my “so do you feel you’re being exploited” comments to the roller girl on Day 3. And then, the Pussy… Nashville Pussy, to be exact. They rocked as hard as any band could rock a roller derby game. With two scary freaky hot grrrl guitarists and Lemmy’s brother on lead vocals, it was a mosh-fest. Until 4pm, when diving into their last song, the arena killed the vocal PA’s (they were supposed to stop at 4pm on the nose, apparently).

This did not go over well.

The lead singer threw his mic stand into the back and started screaming at the mixing board guys offstange. The bassist pretty much gave up, put down her rig and left. The lead guitarst was bound and determined to squeeze the last bit of rock-lovin-frothy-juice from the crowd and launched into a blistering solo punctuated with frustrated outbursts and many many rude gesurtures towards the sound board. In a final act of frustration, she threw her axe at a few of the amps and begain ripping strings from it. Then, in sort of an odd, yet very hot moment, one of the roller girls ran out on stage and tackled her in a fit of lustful somethingorother.

It was all a very beautiful and surrealistic moment. And all before 5pm.

There’s a lot after that, but it’ll take a while to sober up and straighten out.

Band list for day 4: Nashville Pussy @ Austin Music Hall Peter Speedrock @ Austin Music Hall Bill Kirchen @ Continental Roy Head @ Continental Doodads @ Maria’s Taco Express Harold Ray Live In Concert @ Jackalope Dash Rip Rock w/Jello Biafra @ Jackalope ???? @ Jackalope Original Dirty Rapper @ Jackalope

SXSW Journal Day.. 3? Mayhem was kicked to the curb tonight. Our day started with BBQ from the Salt Lick. Best…food…ever… From God’s ass to our mouths. No hangover could dull the euphoria from that lunch. This evening, our focus was Japanese music. Caught a female trio speed metal group that were tiny and rocked so hard I just wanted to stuff them in my mouth and take them home. They declined. Their mastery of English was stunning… “We love you! You love us! We love Austin! We love McDonalds!” Next on the platter, Japanese Jazz - it didn’t suck nearly as bad as it should have. Throw in a few miscellaneous bands as we bar-hopped and close it out with a Japanese power metal band and an awesome midnight feast from Best Brat (our new choice for post-consumption dining - the hotel maid service has already filed a complaint regarding our “maliforous odor” on Brat mornings).

Also, saw an extremely attractive female wearing an “I (heart) IRC” T-Shirt. Not right.

On the agenda for tomorrow, a meetup with the Roller Girls, Mojo Nixon, and Nashville Pussy. I hope I can stay sober enough to avoid jail.

List of bands seen so far: Dr dog Walt wilkins Hostile - awesome slap bassist who was reportedly grounded for swearing on stage. Jackie - red pants, Easy Rider photo shoot. Woot! www.worldofjackie.com Stage of existence - small metal band in a small bar rocking hard. Hitch - One of our favorite bands so far. Belgian pop just how I like it. Dr pepper family - Another Belgian pop band - not quite as good as Hitch. the Skullening and either Video Screams or Mico De Noche. This was a bit of a blur.

Day2 The Travellers Cheerleadr Fingerthing - DJ with freaky visuals and a live bass. Some Action The Priests - Could be a Green Day clone Flametrick subs w/satans cheerleaders - Possibly Best In Show - The lead singer channeled Country Joe Montana and the Cheerleaders rocked their little asses off.

Day 3 Titan Go Kings - Speed metal Japanese female trio - rocked the house. Wreckless Eric - An angry Brit with not enough volume to tell what he was ranting about. New Model Army The Silos Noodle - More Japanese power metal grrrrls. The Pillows - a hard rockin Japanese metal GUY group. They knew how to work the stage.

Although it’s technically illegal, all you’ll get for trying to bribe an officer to taser you for $5 is a dirty look. The Texas capitol security guards are also unhappy with the travel distance to the nearest Krispy Kreme, but agree that the local proximity to Hooters makes up for it. Was molestered by Satan’s Cheerleaders. Is this what heaven feels like?

SXSW journal day 1: Ronbo got kicked in the nuts by a roller-derby chick, I got the nose yoink treatment. Got chased by an angry mob for tackling someone in a Frylock costume. Barfed on myself.

SXSW journal day 2:Owwwwwwwwwwwwww

Chuck Lorre Productions - Text Do you remember watching Dharma and Greg (admit it, you did, even if only to check out Jenna Elfman) and at the very end of the episode, a screen of text would flash up quickly, so you’d try and pause the TiVo to read it? This is a complete list of all of the vanity cards at the end of D&G and also Two and a Half Men episodes. Enjoy

Force Dynamics

The Force Dynamics 301 is a high performance, commercial quality motion system. It is one of a tiny handful of motion simulators designed from the ground up for racing simulation, and its performance far exceeds that of systems costing many times more.

Flash / Posting And You… I’m bummed this is Steam-specific, it applies to just a few too many forums.

Just testing a post from Ecto… the hope is to be able to post from SXSW without needing a bunch of crazy uhm… posting stuff….

Just when I thought the whole retro “cassette-adapater” thing had run it’s technological course, I see something like this.

Danger inadvertantly cuts off Sidekick data - Engadget - www.engadget.com Sidekick 4 month report: Awesome Device. Horrible Service. Not clear if it’s T-Mobile or Danger’s fault, but I’m already eying other smartphones. Too bad too, the Sidekick is such a joy to use.

Infra Red Webcam

How to make a webcam work in infra red

apples powerbook (4 March 2005, Interconnected) It had to happen sooner or later - now that the secret to reading the feedback from the motion sensor in Apple’s new Powerbooks has been exposed, people are using it for all kinds of cool tricks.

SXSW SXSW (South By Southwest) is an Interactive Media/Music/Film festival going on in Austin, TX. The music portion includes some 1200 bands playing at 60 venues over a 4 day period. As an attendee, managing a list of who you want to see and when and where they’re playing can be daunting.

SXSW has provided one of the better tools for this I’ve seen. You search for a band your interested in (alas, only by name, you have to do some clicking to get a list of acts by genre or hometown). Once found, you’re taken to the band’s page where they have a small summary of genre, schedule and venue, hometown, and a small writeup (clicking on the genre or hometown will bring up a list of other acts with the same genre/hometown). Most bands also have musical samples via streaming Quicktime or mp3 download. The coolest thing is that on each page is an “add to calendar” link. Clicking this link will allow you to build an iCal calendar for the whole festival - you can then subscribe to that calender using iCal onj the Mac or any other iCal compliant calendaring application (such as Mozilla Sunbird).

Since the festival is expected to get rather busy, it’s nice to know if the shows your planning on going to are going to be packed or not. Hilighting a particular gig in iCal will display the number of other people who are subscribed to that particular gig.