This is my most recent addition to my nerd cave. It’s a Starship Enterprise lamp made of etched acrylic. I peeled off the protective plastic wrap from the acrylic pane and plugged it into the base. Light is sent through the acrylic and catches on the acrylic etching. I can choose the color for it to shine, or elect to have it cycle slowly through colors. This lamp is USB-powered, so I have it plugged into the back of my computer monitor. It’s not an officially-licensed item. It only cost just over 2,000 with free shipping from Yahoo Auctions Japan, so I couldn’t resist.
Today on Skype, I chatted with a scientist friend of mine. He’s actually worked with bacteria and viruses, and even worked on developing a polio vaccine (which ended up not used by the FDA). So, he is rather familiar with viruses. Lemme post his comments on the “COVID-19 vaccine” (which I’ve taken the liberty to clean up a bit):
This is not a real vaccine. The body needs to see the actual virus to have an immune response. The spike proteins are only the mechanism that the virus has to get inside a cell to infect it.
So this so-called “vaccine” is flooding the body with the shit that damages cells, hence the heart problems, blood clots, etc. No immune response, or rather not an adequate response. You need the actual virus. The body builds antibodies based on the virus. Kinda like a negative photograph. The antibodies bind to the virus and render it inactive. Not the stupid spike proteins.
The spike proteins are damaging cells and the body is probably responding to the damaged cells. When a cell gets damaged, the body will destroy the sick or dying cell. So you get a bunch of spike proteins. The target cells get damaged and the body is cleaning up the mess. I am sure there is some sort of immune response, but not adequate to protect against the actual supposed “COVID virus.” The immune system is trying to get rid of the spike proteins along with flushing out the damaged cells. Hence myocarditis, blood clots, etc.
The liver is a filter, so its trying to filter out that spike protein. The mRNA from the spike protein is recombining with liver cell DNA. And the liver cells, when they replicate will express these spike proteins on their cell walls. So, the body is replicating spike proteins via the liver cells, but not the virus itself. If the virus was there and active, the body would become a virus-replicating machine. A virus uses spike proteins to gain cell access, take over the cell replication mechanism used to read and replicate the cell DNA by inserting its own DNA or RNA into the mix, the cell then cranks out more virus particles. Then the cell collapses and the viruses go on to other cells and repeat. This stupid spike protein is only damaging the cells that they target. There is no actual virus contained in the “vaccine.” So cells get damaged, but not turned into a virus factory and the body does not have the virus to make antibodies. So you will still get sick if exposed to “COVID”. There are no antibodies to protect them.
The spike proteins are causing damage to the cardio pulmonary system. Then the liver is trying to filter that junk out and it ends up expressing the damn proteins on its cells walls.
This explains why the clot shots are useless against actual viral immunity, and why people are suffering from myocarditis. The reason why people feel like crap after receiving the injections is not that their bodies are building immunity to a virus, but rather their immune system is reacting to their livers and other organs being wrecked by the spike proteins.
This doesn’t even get into the mRNA function that reprograms one’s DNA to give them autoimmune deficiency syndrome, nor the mysterious objects found in the vials like crystalline structures, sharp metallic objects, or creepy squiggly objects moving about. Even ignoring all that scary crap, these injections are a fraud regardless. So at the very core we have a hoax injection that does not provide any legitimate immunity to a virus, and beyond that is the Trojan Horse, the ramifications of which have yet to be fully realized, and this is where we have crimes against humanity.
I have model kits of half of these ships: Vic Viper from Gradius, R-9A Arrowhead from R-Type, Raiden, Solvalou from Xevious, Ikaruga, and the Silverhawk from Darius. There is a model kit of Twinbee, but I haven’t picked it up yet. Since Starfox is the only one in the picture that isn’t a 2D shmup, if we were to replace its Arwing fighter with the R-Gray1 from Layer Section/Raystorm, my vote would probably be for that one. But since it’s not there, I’d probably vote for the Ikaruga. Even though I don’t care for the game as much as others, the design is just so simultaneously elegant and deadly. I have models of the Ikaruga and Ginkei from that game.
I’m on summer vacation this week. I finally did it. I haxxored my Mega Drive Mini. Mixed feelings. I had to install filthy Win10 onto a spare HD in order to run the Project Lunar software. It’s weird. My PC desktop is Linux, and these mini consoles are essentially small Linux boxes. Yet the software to interface with the Mini is Windows-only. WHY? Barf.
To hook the MD Mini to the PC, a USB cable capable of data transfers is necessary. Press and hold the reset button, connect the USB cable, then turn it on and wait for the power button to stop blinking. From there, the Project Lunar software lets you add games. Then at last you press the Synch button. Easy. The MD Mini’s internal HD has quite a lot of free space inside, so I was able to load several games.
I didn’t want to just dump a butt-ton of roms since I couldn’t care less about Rug Rats or Barbie or crap like that. I selected the games that I felt should have been on it, like Strider and the first Sonic (the MD Mini has Sonic 2 while the North American Genesis Mini came with the first Sonic).
Son, I am slightly disappoint. So get this. Project Lunar puts Retro Arch onto the console, yet there are compatibility issues. Sonic, Rolling Thunder 2 & 3, Thunder Force 4, Twinkle Tale, and several games I loaded onto it work just fine. HOWEVER… Devil Hunter Yohko gets to the title screen, but once the level begins, the screen goes black. Verytex and Tatsujin/Truxton are silent. Phelios causes the unit to crash and force a reboot. Panorama Cotton has a few glitch issues. There is a compatibility database, the “Mega Drive / Genesis Mini Compatibility List” located here: https://megadrive-compatibility.netlify.app/
I didn’t know this before installing. I just figured with Retro Arch taking care of it, there would be no problem. Is the architecture of this MD Mini considerably different than a Raspberry Pi? I did not expect any games to not work as I figured there would be no such compatibility issues. That said, I can go ahead and remove the malfunctioning games and just focus on the excellent games it already comes with, plus games I must first verify compatibility before installing.
Something else that’s weird: I deliberately put the English fan translated rom of Gleylancer, yet it only detects Japanese. Even when I switch the unit’s language to English, it’s still in Japanese. That’s… weird.
Is it worth hacking the MD Mini? Yeah, I think so. Battle Mania 1&2, Arrow Flash, Road Blasters, and Gaiares work, but I am a bit bummed that Burning Force, Hellfire, and the others I mentioned above do not work.
So, this MD Mini console is a lot of fun, but in the end it still cannot compare to a Raspberry Pi running Retropie and using a Saturn controller through a Mayflash Saturn to USB converter, as it’ll run Gen/MD, CD, and 32X games.
Side note: I frickin’ HATE Windows10. Bloaty McBloaterson. The install ISO wouldn’t even fit onto a regular DVD-R! I had to use a dual-layer DVD-R. Sheesh! With Linux, you can boot to the install disc and run the actual OS off of it!
I recently picked up Mighty Orbots: The Complete Series on DVD. It’s a 2-disc DVD set of all 13 episodes of this fantastic, short-lived anime show I loved as a kid. I was already a Voltron fan when this show aired, and I watched it every Saturday morning and then discussed the episode the next day with my friend in Sunday school at church. Then suddenly it was no longer being aired. Then another week went by, and I couldn’t believe that Orbots had been cancelled. It was animated in Japan for the American audience.
So now I’ve got the DVD, and I can watch these episodes that I have not seen since grade school. One cool thing I’ve noticed is the ship flown by Dia, a member of the Galactic Patrol. It’s almost like something between Macross and Lensman. Neat stuff.
Pretty badass-looking ship, I think. Check out it’s landing cycle:
That vertical stabilizer folds up and back out of the way as the landing gears extend. Pretty cool ship design.
Up for some science fiction movie viewing for summer? 1982 was the most prolific movie for science fiction films. I have set about collecting Japanese promotional flyers (chirashi) from Yahoo Auctions Japan. Here they are.
Blade Runner
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Tron
The Thing. In Japanese, the title is 遊星からの物体X (“Object X from Outer Space” is the best I can translate that as.)
The Dark Crystal
Fire Fox
Mega Force (this one I actually do not own. It’s a pretty silly movie, but I may get this later.)
E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (another one I do not personally own)
Space Adventure Cobra: The Movie
And although it isn’t a movie, it is worth noting that in 1982 Super Dimensional Fortress Macross aired on TV in Japan.
Yesterday in Japan was Unagi Day, July 23rd. Unagi is broiled freshwater eel with sweet kabayaki (BBQ) sauce and if that sounds gross to you, you don’t know what’s good. It doesn’t even really taste like fish, but it’s soft and delicous. It’s said that eating unagi gives you energy for summer or something.
Typically, stores sell it pre-cooked with it marinated in the kabayaki sauce. My father-in-law in Nagano Prefecture knows where to order the unagi fresh and uncooked. He barbecues it in his backyard himself and he mailed some to us and it arrived yesterday morning. My only gripe is that for some reason, despite the proper cooking method shown on TV constantly, he does not apply the kaybayaki sauce to it while cooking. So the stuff he makes is not so soft and definitely does not have that melt-in-your-mouth property to it. He also sent us some hybrid peppers he grows which are a cross between green pepper and hot pepper. I think originally it was accidentally cross-pollinated and since then he’s just raised them like this.
The high yesterday was only 29 degrees, so it was a nice day.
I picked up Infinos Gaiden via Steam’s summer sale. This is a fantastic game, reminiscent of Thunder Force and other 16-32 bit shmups. Via the Proton utility, this works perfectly on my Linux desktop. Not only does fullscreen mode work fine, but this game supports a 4:3 aspect ratio, which is perfect for my monitor and the overall retro feel. I breezed through the first level, then the difficulty picked up quite a bit.
These are scenes from the animated intro.
Here’s the first level. I cleared it without taking a hit on my first try. Pretty easy. The S powerup is for speed, the B is a barrier/shield similar to Gradius and Darius. The colored orbs provide you bits similar to the Craws from Thunder Force. They can also be used as shields.
I’ve seen a lot of newer shmups that just get repetitive, like Eschatos. It’s a fun game, but it’s just the same enemies charging at you over and over again. In the first level of Infinos Gaiden, you will see the city you are defending getting blasted by the invaders’ lasers in the background. As you can see here, there is quite a variety of enemies that come after you, and they aren’t even the final boss.
The second level takes you to a jungle, and you have to have to deal with this giant, walking mecha on your way into the enemy base!
Inside the base, the boss is this big tank. Neat!
Now you’re in a desert, and oh rats! It’s a sand storm.
This badass sandcrawler mecha is the boss of level 3.
Level 4 is so cool. You fly around this giant airship, and then fly into it.
Oh crap! I ran out of credits. So yeah, this game seems to work just fine on my Linux desktop. I just need to press Ctrl+Enter to get it to full-screen mode. What a neat game! With the 32-bit style pixel graphics and music, you’d swear you were playing a Saturn game. Actually, I saw a comment on Steam that the man responsible for this game’s music also did the music to Hyper Duel and Thunder Force V.
