Costa's Brain Dump

Corona Clipper...a good company

2010-04-02T22:06:00.000-04:00

I bought the "Corona Clipper HS 3950 10-Inch Hedge Shear with Steel Telescoping Handles and Non-Slip Grips" at Lowe's for about 40 bucks. They were on the higher end of the offerings at the store, but you should never skimp on real tools. The tool has a great look, and the blades were rippin' sharp.

The tool is a joy to use, very satisfying, and it simply annihilates whatever you throw at it. In fact, I turn to these rather than my electric Black and Decker long handled hedge trimmer (which I love), because they're easy, and tearing up the vegetation manually is pretty badassoldskool.

One day, though, I was cutting some very minor shoots around the base of a tree, and I gave a nice chop to a branch, probably not more than a 1/2 inch thick, and the handle simply snapped, ironically right next to the "Forged for Strength" sticker. So it sat on my shed workbench all winter (I'm lazy), until I was finally motivated to look up the Corona website and complain. I'd had the tool for maybe a year and half, no receipt, registration, nada.

I got an email response from the Corona sales office within a day, and they took my address. In about a week, I got a replacement via FedEx, no questions asked. Nice. I'm happy, because I still love the utility of the tool, and chalk up the failure to a defect in the metal.

So I give the product 4 stars, because it was a 5 star until it broke (which should have put it down to 2 stars), but you gotta love good customer service.

But if it breaks again......

PodCastSuperStar

2010-03-30T08:07:00.002-04:00

Tara Branstad of CMU's Tech Transfer office (now called "CTTEC")
interviewed me for their regular podcast. I managed to be somewhat
coherent!
http://bit.ly/b1IDGQ

varus vs. valgus

2010-03-23T10:21:00.002-04:00

The way to remember the distinction between varus vs. valgus in knee deformity evaluation:

VARUS (sounds like "v-AIR-us"), means bow-legged, or more "air" between your legs.

VALGUS is the opposite.

This is known as the LaBarca Rule. Coined first by Rich LaBarca way back in the day (circa 2000 or so).

Now you've forever know the difference between varus and valgus.

Randy's back!

2010-02-17T09:03:00.001-05:00

Apparently the Facebook page helped the situation. So I guess it's useful afterall....:P

Welcome back Randy...The improvement in the morning show is obvious now that you're back.

--
________________________________________________________________

Costa Nikou
Director of Software Development
Blue Belt Technlogies, Inc.
412 683 6442
costa@bluebelttech.com

This email is CONFIDENTIAL, and its contents are only
intended for the original addressee(s).
_________________________________________________________________

Bring back Randy

2010-02-09T10:56:00.001-05:00

finally! A legitimate use for Facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=294536306186

Randy is gone, and so is the funny from WDVE

2010-02-04T12:55:00.000-05:00

Sorry Krenn fans, but matter how much you love Bobby Subgum and Ralph the Cat, the simple truth is that Randy was the more talented of the two, and now that he's gone, it's a bit painful to listen to.

Viva la Randy

Blue Belt in the News!http://www.orthosupersite.com/view.asp?rID=60604

2010-02-04T10:00:00.001-05:00

Straight Talk from AMD3 on the next wave of orthopedic robotics.

http://www.orthosupersite.com/view.asp?rID=60604

Manip Video Embed 2: Electric Boogaloo

2010-01-29T14:14:00.001-05:00

Manipulation Lab Video

2010-01-29T14:13:00.001-05:00

It's been a while, but I googled myself (yet again), and noticed that
Stable Pushing was the second link. So although the code and the demo
are gone, the legacy is preserved in the cool Maniuplation lab video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiGScq8WWFE

I hope it embedded...otherwise, I guess you'll have to <gasp> click the
link.

Test da new blogger!

2010-01-29T14:12:00.001-05:00

Oh yeah!

Blog spam

2006-12-10T10:56:00.000-05:00

God damn spammers.

Now I have spam in the comments to my Blog. It's only a matter of time, I guess.

Now only members can comment. There aren't any members, so it'll just be me. Whatever.

Symphony of Embarassment

2006-08-08T22:49:00.000-04:00

Well, I did my occasional Google search for "costa nikou", just to see what came up, and again, there were multiple hits to the ANCIENT post that I made my sophomore year for the tab to Symphony of Destruction by Megadeth.

Now this was only a year or so into my guitar playing career, and I hadn't heard the song since the days in the back of the high school band bus on the way to and from the football games. (We were WPIAL champs, baby, and that song helped us win, I swear.)

I requested the song before I'd even known how easy it was. I was reminded by the very helpful internet guitar folks telling me how it was the simplest song they ever did, blah blah blah. Yes, I'm a big douchebag. I didn't know any better. Sorry.

But forever, I will be connected with that song. But I can play it now just fine thanks.

Did I remember my posting email address okay?

2006-06-05T14:04:00.000-04:00

Yes, I did.

Jam On It Lyrics

2006-02-17T08:59:00.000-05:00

Jam On It, by Newcleus, is a damn fine breakdancing song.

Way back, when I got my "Electric Breakdance" cassette, I listened to this
song almost exclusively (that and "Rockit"). I got in trouble with my mom
because she caught me pointing out to my friends the swearword in the
lyric:

"I don't need no fans to cool my ass, I just use my Superbreath"

Which is attributed to Superman, who came to town, to see who he could
rock. He blew away every crew (each day?) until he reached the block of
the Jam On Production Crew (i.e. Newcleus et al.)

This is just wrong. If you listen to the rest of the lyrics about the
Superman battle, it's obvious that it's:

"I don't need no fans to cool my AMPS, I just use my Superbreath".

They're talking about Superman's gear, his three-stories-high speakers and
woofers made of steel. To drive such speakers, he'd need some kick ass
amps, which would overheat if not using big fans, or the preferred
alternative, "Superbreath".

So I felt obligated to propogate my discovery/theory/unquestionable
knowledge..unless Cozmo D wants to correct me.

-c

Kitchen Island

2006-02-14T21:00:00.000-05:00

We ordered a white rolling kitchen island/cart from KitchenSource.com.
http://www.kitchensource.com/kitchen-islands/hs-5016-95.htm

and I gotta say it's great, and was a great price (and free shipping). The cart came in a big sturdy box, and was packed really well.

Unfortunately, the flip out stand that holds the leaf extension up was warped and one of the joints cracked. So I called the company (who guaranteed the quality of the item). I left my name, number, and the part number of the faulty piece. About a week or two later...Surprise! The replacement just shows up at my door! I didn't even have to get a call back from the company.

Though the broken piece was a minor inconvenience (I was able to assemble the rest without it), the quick service that lived up to the guarantee makes me highly recommend a purchase from KitchenSource.com.

Nice.

screenshots of realvideo

2005-05-10T14:43:00.000-04:00

to get screenshots of realvideo (using the Print Screen->Paste trick), or any other video player in windows, you have to be sure to turn off hardware acceleration, or else your video will not get included in the screenshot.

Costa's First Dump

2005-04-20T12:12:00.000-04:00

Hi all.

I just made this in my well-intentioned attempt at putting useful tidbits of info that I discover for public consumption. I've found a lot of useful info on the internet, and I'm just trying to pay it back, man.