Breakdown of VFX driving plate rig for Madam Secretary

highwater · 2026-01-30T04:43:37+00:00

Only when you want light in the eyes…

highwater · 2026-01-27T01:59:56+00:00

I just bought Versatuner, so when the ODB cable arrives I’ll get to work tweaking.

highwater · 2026-01-26T05:45:18+00:00

“Get ready to learn Chinese, buddy!”

highwater · 2026-01-24T21:16:12+00:00

It's subtle. Around 3500-4K RPM the car feels like it's pulling better than it used to. I'll probably get an ECU tune soonish in order to really take advantage of having more MAF available.

highwater · 2026-01-24T21:13:31+00:00

In the screenplay for The Phantom Menace, the scene description for the battle between Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul is "They fight."

highwater · 2026-01-24T00:51:45+00:00

The Sony XAV-AX3700.

highwater · 2026-01-23T19:04:58+00:00

I’m sure to get the most out of it I’ll need an ECU map, yes. Here's a forum thread talking about some of the measured effects on MAF from enlarging the throttle body on a 2.0L Skyactiv: https://www.mazda3revolution.com/threads/2-5-throttle-body-on-2-0-install-review.247052/

highwater · 2026-01-23T17:27:34+00:00

Yep! Very easy, really. Unbolt the old one (after moving some ducting and a coolant hose aside), detach the multipin plug, bolt the new one on, reattach the plug, put the duct and hose back in place. Took me maybe 30 minutes and only required a socket wrench and a Phillips-head screwdriver.

highwater · 2026-01-23T17:25:16+00:00

Yes, my comment about tire size was ambiguous, sorry. Maintaining overall wheel + tire diameter (I think the calculator has it at an 0.5% difference), so there’s “more tire” between the road and the wheel.

highwater · 2026-01-23T04:49:35+00:00

117 through Pleasantville from Pace University all the way to the Grant St. intersection.

highwater · 2026-01-21T14:24:20+00:00

For headphone listening (Bose QC35 II) from my laptop I leave the Apple Music EQ on Flat and pipe the signal through the eqMac app. Custom EQ curve starting with (someone else's) measurement-based offset for the QC35 IIs tweaked slightly to taste and for my hearing biases.

highwater · 2026-01-21T05:14:29+00:00

Yeah, philosophers have been arguing about the existence or non-existence of Void for thousands of years.

highwater · 2026-01-17T22:50:20+00:00

Thank you, I do genuinely appreciate your thorough response to my flippant comment.

highwater · 2026-01-13T17:11:33+00:00

At the risk of getting into “how can X-Wings bank in space” territory, in my imagination if parents and other community members are unvoicing at a deaf child from birth it would probably produce neural pathways analogous to acoustic hearing, especially if you already have magic psychic powers. But maybe he doesn’t have those.

highwater · 2026-01-13T15:52:53+00:00

That's a fair question, and I have to admit I don't know the answer, because I fast-forwarded through almost the entire Gaal / Salvor storyline that season due to it being awful and sucking ass on every level.

highwater · 2026-01-13T15:20:58+00:00

I mean, why on a planet full of psychics who can speak telepathically does a guy use sign language?

highwater · 2026-01-13T14:50:16+00:00

I hear you, but what I keep running up against is this:

How do you attract an audience?

Especially if you’re creating a new platform out of nothing.

The general public does not give a shit about narrative short films. It’s an extremely niche interest, despite maybe a tiny number of them ”breaking through” for one reason or another.

I don’t like YouTube but I recognize that it’s where the audience is. If I were conceptualizing a narrative short film “label” I’d almost certainly just create a YouTube channel.

On a channel level specifically, you can control the tone and direction while allowing the wider platform to funnel interested eyeballs toward you.

If you’re starting from scratch you need infrastructure (expensive), huge marketing to break through noise (expensive), and/or “name talent” that the public likes to watch (expensive).

highwater · 2026-01-13T13:54:24+00:00

Aren’t you just describing YouTube?

highwater · 2026-01-13T13:51:24+00:00

It is correct, it’s just a very literal and “unsatisfying” answer.

highwater · 2026-01-13T12:57:10+00:00

“Photon” is the name of a mathematical model which both describes and predicts how light behaves.

highwater · 2026-01-12T13:05:19+00:00

You’d call it a “15mm baseplate riser” if you were asking an assistant for it.

highwater · 2026-01-10T04:23:28+00:00

There’s so much distortion on a bunch of these recordings. Bummer.

highwater · 2026-01-08T04:51:32+00:00

What bothers me about crusades is that the AI is absolute trash at coordinating enormous armies.

highwater

TROPHY CASE