Robot Claw

Masters Of Magnetism

February 22nd, 2018

That’s our fridge, or rather a portion of it. Every available inch (and more! is covered in magnets. Eventually we ran out of space and am now covering the insides of our metal front doors. Is there no end to this magnet-buying madness? Not in sight, surely…

This post is a somewhat random showcase of some of this sprawling collection. Sometimes they have a story, sometimes not. But it shows the variety amidst the madness 🙂

This weird alien magnet was one of the very first we got. It was purchased about 25 years ago from an unusual discount store in Utica, where we lived at the time. This guy has therefore graced five fridges in his life, and still has pride-of-place.

Incidentally this type of magnet – rectangular plastic printed front with magnetic back – is very common now and ubiquitous in stores everywhere. But back when I got him the shape and size was novel, and coupled with the art one of the reasons he caught my eye.

Two of the many examples of (often free) advertising magnets. The first was given to me at a bookstore in mid 2000, and the second we probably got when we bought subs at the now defunct restaurant. In addition to these, we have everything from rental car agencies to lawyers offices to pet grooming services to even meat sellers magnets on our fridge!

A lovely magnetic memento crafted for us on the spot at a work event my wife’s work put on a few years back. A star of our collection 🙂

This is an example of a ‘kept gift’. I bought this for someone whose name rhymes with ‘Learned’ and never gave it. If he finds out he’ll curse me forever until he remembers the bird magnet I just gave him for his birthday, which he will then tweet a picture of along with the message: “Best gift I’ve ever been given!”

Tacky 3D tourist magnets are rarely bad and often – as in these examples – fantastic. There’s quite an assortment of these on display, each as garish as the next. This is a category that grows with every trip!

Speaking of trips, this is a cross-stitched Stonehenge magnet KLS made from a little kit purchased right at the Stonehenge visitors center! It’s a lovely thing, only about an inch square, and another prized magnet.

This is a weird one. I purchased this in NM when I visited Florence years back and it’s to date the only magnet I have featuring Satan. Although I do have a Cthulhu… ?

Last but not least one of my very own creations, an invader made of Perler beads. I made several of these and gave some away. In fact I’ve been thinking of making more. Want one?

That’s it for now, but there’s many others, including in categories not shown here (such as lenticular, otaku, ‘naughty’ and wrestling). Want to see more? Let me know!

Posted in Collecting, Crafts, Home, Miscellaneous | Comments Closed

Lovin’ It Long Time

February 15th, 2018

The Big Mac turned 50 last week, and I felt it my duty to enjoy another one of the delicious hamburgers that I’d been tasting for close to 40 years.

After two failed attempts, I managed to ~~con~~ persuade L, J and Y to go with me to the nearest Golden Arches, where we were promptly served like so many billions before.

When I was a wee lad, my standard order at Maccas was always the reliable Happy Meal, which in those days in Oz came with a ‘junior burger’ (the plain hamburger). Big Macs were just for adults, and specifically my dad. I was happy with my Happy Meal.

But then I went to Maccas one time with someone else – a schoolmate or our cousins – and saw someone my age order a Big Mac. I was probably about 10 at the time, but from that point I realized Big Macs weren’t just for adults and never looked back.

There’s my order on Monday. The standard Big Mac meal, which in this instance came with a very underwhelming serve of fries (I hadn’t eaten any)!

I’ve ordered the above countless times in my life. In fact for about a decade in my teen years I almost exclusively ate at Mickey D’s and always, always just got the Big Mac meal. Except when I used to get two… but let’s forget those poor decisions!

You all know I’m a fussy eater. One thing I don’t like is sauce on my food. Every other burger I ever get anywhere has no sauce – no ketchup, mayo and certainly no secret sauce. But I make an exception for the Big Mac, because I always have.

I infrequently get McDonalds in the USA, and the rare times I do it’s usually just a Happy Meal (in an airport). I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a Big Mac over here.

Of course everywhere else in the world it’s another matter! I’ve eaten Big Macs in Japan, Germany, France, England, Ireland, Scotland and Puerto Rico. I bought something at Maccas every day during my recent Australia trip, and a lot of times those purchases were Big Macs.

So how was it? Well I have to be honest and say delicious! Yes it wasn’t (half!) as good as McDonalds is in other countries, but the basic taste was the same I’ve enjoyed for much of my life. I loved it, I guess you could say.

Of course – of course – I got sick afterwards and wallowed in regret. But that’s part of the McDonalds experience isn’t it?

And what of my lunch mates…?

None of them ordered Big Macs 🙁

In fact if it wasn’t for me reading about it last week I wouldn’t have known just by going into the restaurant: there were no signs or banners or celebration of any kind. Just another day in the 50 year life of the worlds favorite hamburger I suppose?

Posted in Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »

The Tiny Arcade

February 11th, 2018

Bernard gave me this for Christmas:

It’s a tiny arcade machine. Better yet it’s a kit that needs to be assembled! Here’s what it looked like out of the box:

The critical components are indeed tiny, and fit easily into the palm of my hand:

Here’s the screen being tested:

Assembly of the case was tricky but not difficult, and I actually had more trouble affixing the super-adhesive ‘cabinet art’. Once finished, it’s tiny (about 8 cm tall) and very impressive:

The back is open to access the electronics, which include on/off switches, a plug to charge the battery and a micro SD card port:

The unit runs off an arduino-derived chip (I believe), and supports a tiny OLED screen that is very sharp and bright. There’s several basic games included but to be honest most are little more than tech demos. Amongst clones of Flappy Bird, Tetris, Space Invaders and even R-Type there is however a charming little roguelike by a Japanese dev: