Go see Serenity, in theaters now. Just go, don't ask me why. You'll either hate it fiercely or love it forever, and my duty to those that will love it outweighs my duty to those that will hate it (stupid statist purple-bellies, anyway!)

I went with some people associated with FAU fencing to Disney MGM Studios in Orlando for the 2005 Star Wars Weekend, a nice event for Star Wars geeks, although not everybody was quite as hardcore as we are. When one of the “crowd control” stormtroopers cracked “He hasn't been the same since he hit his head on that bulkhead” the entire audience was silent except for the five of us, laughing and cheering maniacally. Regardless, a good time was had by all; pictures follow.

A mob at the Star Tours attraction.

Meeting the characters is a cool feature of Star Wars Weekend; Vader was by far the most popular.

Emily, wearing the coolest Star Wars T-shirt EVER, tells Greedo what's what.

I finally finished my doorbell color changer, a modification to a hardware store lighted doorbell using a single RGB LED and an AVR microcontroller. I'll have to write an article about this project later. For now, take a look at the pictures. The night shots really don't do it justice; maybe I'll take some better video as soon as I can track down a tripod.

The shifting hues promise further weirdness inside—ring the bell if you dare!

I competed recently in my university club's own divisional tournament. If you are ignorant of the noble science of fencing, thrill to the dramatic photos below! If you do know something of this sport, don't bother—I've already heard all about my lousy form from my coach...

I have added a new section to this site, intended to be a place to publish the results of all my smaller-scale one-day experiments, mostly involving explosions, destruction, and low comedy. These never really merited a entire page by themselves, so I'll be putting them all together onto this new page, named Bad Ideas as a not-so-subtle warning to the reader.

UPDATE: Not anymore! I should probably fold them into the main line of the blog.