The new PHP-based site

The original flat-file site, circa-1997!

The latest model can be seen below (click to enlarge):

Additionally, we have installed MantisBT to help with development, you can view the Tracker here.

We have created a new file structure (we are no longer using the Fusebox framework) and have begun structuring our classes. For queries, SamTodo will be using an ORM called “Outlet” by Alvaro Carrasco.  Outlet will allow us to execute database operations with more efficiency and ease.

You can view the SVN to see our progress here:
http://samtodo.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/samtodo/branches/2.0/

I know that this version has been a long time coming, and I appreciate your patience. I will do my best to keep you updated with more frequent blog posts (RSS feed for SamTodo category). You may also follow my twitter account for updates as well. If you would like to make suggestions for this upcoming version, you may leave a comment on this post or in the forums.

Filmed by my brother, using Flip UltraHD

Filmed using Flip UltraHD

Some excerpts from the threads:

A few years ago I was out kayaking with a friend. We make it to a nice rapid and play around in it for a while. We pull off to the bank to rest and notice something up in the forest. There was a old, rusted camper trailer parked right on the bank of the river. We go to check it out and that is where things start getting creepy.

The first thing I notice is that the tag on the camper expired in 1983, so that camper hasn’t moved in about 22 years at the time. Other than everything in the camp site being rusted from the rain, it was still very orderly. Skillet on a little gas stove, vintage drinks in the fridge, cups and condiments out on the table, clothes hung up on a line, etc. It really looked like aliens just came down and abducted them right in the middle of breakfast.

We figure the camper(s) left camp to go play in the rapids and ended up drowning.

Here it is on the aerial maps, which is fairly recent.

I got a special wilderness permit to go into an area in the mountains in CA where they hadn’t allowed foot traffic in, in twenty years. There were no trails. It was myself and two other Marines and we did it in exchange for seeing if there was a rare kind of trout in the streams up there. I guess the forest service didn’t have anyone who wanted to do it. I’m not sure I was set up with this by a friend. Anyway we hiked for two days with no trails using just a map and compass and on the second day we walked around this huge cliff to find a full on cabin with a lawn and solar power and washer and dryer the whole nine yards all built into the rock face of the cliff. You couldn’t see it from above so it had gone unoticed for years. We talked to the guy that lived there and he said we were the first people he had seen hike in, in 14 years. He was a retired helicopter pilot and he had flown all the equipment in by helo. He was squatting on federal land and knew it but didn’t seem worried. He said he hikes out every two weeks for supplies by a different route then we came in and he showed it to us. We used that route to get back as he had a trail beaten down so the walking was easier. All in all it was pretty cool. The trout the forest service was looking for were in the creeks so it is still closed to foot travel and we never told the forest service about the old helicopter pilot so I would bet he is still out there.

I was hunting in the national forest, and found an old cemetery. I had noticed what I thought was a sink hole, and a marble like headstone of a soldier killed in 1863, with his rank and unit on the stone. The head stone was leaning against a tree, but the bottom was stained from being in the ground. I thought at first it had something to do with the tree…

I was bowhunting one day and encountered some guys with metal detectors in the woods. They were looking for an old river ford. They started asking me about any old home sites etc in the area. I mentioned the old cemetery. One of the guys said he had been to that cemetery years before, but wouldn’t be able to find it again. So I took them to it. The guy who had been there before took a shortcut through heavy brush straight to the cemetery, where I took the other guys through more open woods. They found some old spike nails and other things, but nothing spectacular.

When they were telling me about the things they have found over the years, and the value, the guy who said he had been to that cemetery told me about a complete set of Confederate buttons he had, and how rare a complete set in that condition is. I didn’t think much about it then, but later it popped in my mind, so I went back to that cemetery. I found that “sink hole” and then moved the leaves around and found the hole where the head stone used to be. I have no doubt that guy robbed that grave for those buttons.

For more- see:

• http://glocktalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1093336
• http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=148441
• http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f95/ever-find-anything-unusual-while-wheeling-211618/
• http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/thread/690924/strangest-scariest-thing-you-ve-seen-offroad (Requires a free account)

UPDATE 4/26: New, cooler PS3 Slim model might alleviate the noise:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-ps3slim-gets-45nm-rsx-blog-entry

UPDATE 4/20: Some have suggested loosening the screws under the rubber footies (the 3 that come off, one rubber footie does not) – I have done this without much success – the noise level is about the same.

ORIGINAL POST 4/15: Many PS3 Slim’s experience a popping/cracking/snapping noise. Listen to the video below of my PS3 slim (which I bought about 5 months ago),

The noise is actually a bit deeper than it sounds in the video, and VERY loud — like an acorn hitting a tin roof.

The sound is a result of the expansion and contraction of the PS3 Slim’s plastic due to changes in temperature.

All electronics generate heat that can cause plastic to make similar sounds, such as monitors and televisions – but the PS3 Slim noise is much louder and beyond the scope of other devices.

The noise usually occurs when the device has just been turned on, or has just been turned off. It can also be heard hours after the Slim has been turned off or even on a day when the PS3 has not been on at all (due to changes in ambient temperature, but the noise is usually very low at that point).

From what I’ve heard, the problem results from the proximity of the plastic to the internal components (generating a lot of heat), the particular plastic used to make the Slim, and the way in which the two plastic halves of the case are designed to “fold” together.

I and many others on forums do not know how widespread this problem is. Please vote in the polls below so we can get more information on the issue:

Forum posts discussing this topic:

• http://boards.ign.com/ps3_lobby/b8269/185095609/p1/
• http://boardsus.playstation.com/t5/PlayStation-3-General/My-PS3-Slim-makes-popping-sounds-every-now-and-then/m-p/45254793
• http://forums.gametrailers.com/thread/ps3-slim-cracking-sounds/1044726

Some of the features you will see in 1.2:

• Multiple-user system
• Cookie-remembered logins
• Installation script
• Language pack support, initially with French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish
• An in-application configuration page
• Tasks now have date selection with pop-up calendar

Development screenshots:

I don’t want to make any release date promises, but I am past half-way as far as my goals for this release.

I would like to also provide an upgrade script to be used on existing 1.1 databases, this will take me additional time.

Stay tuned for more information.