When purchasing the meat, make sure you’re getting a cut that isn’t already old. If it’s graying, it’s already been sitting out under the butcher flourescents for a while so get a cut that hasn’t grayed at all, and look for tight even marbling. The best bet is to find a good butcher.

There’s a few things I’ve altered to make it even better. First let the steaks sit out on butcher paper in your fridge for 2 days. 1 day for each side. We want to use the fridge since it is a dry environment. After the 2 days the steak should look much brighter red and the gristle/fat should take on a more transparent look with dry spots making it look a little splotchy. It’s going to look a little ugly. Remove from the fridge 4 hours or more in order to let them come to room temperature before cooking.

Here is where we start following Alton’s recipe.

Place 10 to 12-inch cast iron skillet in oven and heat oven to 500 degrees. Bring steak(s) to room temperature.

When oven reaches temperature, remove pan and place on range over high heat. Coat steak lightly with oil and season both sides with a generous pinch of salt. Grind on black pepper to taste.

Please note that you can also use light olive oil, (not virgin or extra virgin as their burn points are very very low). For our specific steaks we used salt, something called Garlic Garni, and cracked pepper. My mother uses onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and tarragon, for her rib-eyes.

Now back to the recipe.

Immediately place steak in the middle of hot, dry pan. Cook 30 seconds without moving. Turn with tongs and cook another 30 seconds, then put the pan straight into the oven for 2 minutes. Flip steak and cook for another 2 minutes. (This time is for medium rare steaks. If you prefer medium, add a minute to both of the oven turns.)

Remove steak from pan, cover loosely with foil, and rest for 2 minutes. Serve whole or slice thin and fan onto plate.

Just a note. At these temperatures, we’ll be past the burn point for light Olive Oil and Canola oil. Not to mention the meat itself. I preferred an even crust on both sides so I actually did side 1 for about 40-50 seconds, before flipping then doing the other side for 30 seconds then immediately putting it in the pre-heated oven at 500 degrees. Just a note. When you go in to flip the steak over after 2 minutes (medium rare really is how you want to have steak), the smoke from your oven will probably set off your smoke alarm. Seriously. This is how you want it. If it’s not setting off your smoke alarm you probably need to test them.

There you have it. Have fun. Oh and the drying process that is mentioned prior to Alton’s recipe helps the steak take on a nicer crust, it also gives the steak a more potent flavor as some of the surface water has dried off. Try it. The drying/ageing in the fridge comes from a segment I heard on NPR here in the Dallas area where they were interviewing a chef, it really does make a difference.

The first area where the covenant drop ship extends over the small pond. If you go towards the cliff drop off to your right there will be a rock outcropping that is completely bare except for the skull.

Sierra 117 - Gold skull - At the very last area when you’re at the base that the covenant have overrun there’s a long hallway type section over the dam. With the water basin from the damn to your right jump onto the higher area to the right at the edge of the damn. Then continue running across the damn on this higher access point. Jump up onto the concrete abutment and then up to the side of where the large glass ceiling where the jackal sniper were shooting from when you dropped into this area. Walk all the way down this ledge and follow it around the larger concrete structure until you get to the end of the ledge. if you look down and to your right in the corner you’ll find the skull.

Crow’s Nest - Gold Skull

Right when you start you’ll see a large pipe above your head. Jump onto the pipe and run back towards the large video monitor… the skull is on top of the pipe at the end. You can use the railing by the stairs to jump onto the framework around the pipe, then onto the pipe.

Crow’s Nest - Silver - Grunt birthday party.

You’ll get to a section where there are drone’s flying in between pipes, when you’re in some sort of ventilation system. Normally to exit this area you drop down the opposite end where you can in from. What you want to do is creep up to the edge of the drop off. Look straight down and you’ll see a green arrow pointing back. What you want to do is barely fall off the ledge then pull back. You’ll go into a pipe where you’ll find the skull.

Tsavo Highway - Gold skull

There are two methods to get to this skull. I believe after exiting the first large tunnel that had been blocked by the energy shield you had to destroy you’ll see a large pipe to your left and some pumping equipment or something. There’s also a break in the bridge in front of you. Jump fron the equipment bos thing to the pipe, then run along the pipe and jump over the yellow grill/gate. Right after jumping over look to your left and down, you’ll see a large piece of the metal supports for the bridge. Jump onto that. It’s a far enough drop that it’ll take some life from you. Walk all the way to to almost the end of the support then look left, you’ll see a pretty long jump to an outcropping in the cliff face. Jump to it and grab the skull. The other method is just climbing down from the break in the road to the same support beam.

The Storm - Gold Skull

You’ll arrive in an area where you have to take out an anti air wraith. You need to get the skull before both wraiths are taken out, which means you’ll probably have to use the first wraith to jump up, or grenade jump with a regular grenade to get to it. It’s on top of the water/fuel silo looking cylinder right next to where the anti- air wraith was firing from. If you take out both wraiths it will not be there so you need to do this while one is still alive.

Floodgate - Gold Skull

This is right near the beginning of the level. Just proceed as if you’re starting the level. Right after the first checkpoint there will be a flood who jumps from the building on your right to the building on the left. He’s holding the skull. You can’t get on the buildings so you either have to headshot him in mid-air… or the easiest way, throw a grenade right before he appears and because of the explosion the grenade should land on the ground instead of just falling down on one of the roofs. After trying to shoot him 10 times or so you’ll have the timing down on when to toss the grenade behind him. After unsuccessfully timing my headshots a dozen or so times, I got the grenade first time.

The Ark - Gold Skull

While fighting along you’ll come to a large basin with an ark structure on one entire side of the basin. Fight your way through the basin, then next section will take you under the ledge of the ark structure where you’ll get to another ark ledge above your head. Continue around until you get to some rocks that will allow you to get onto the ledge of the second ark structure. Jump onto the ledge and follow it back to the last buttress. This one is a little tricky. as the skull is on the horizontal surface of the buttress. You’ll need to grenade jump out to the horizontal portion of the buttress. The skull is at the end of the buttress.

The Ark - Cowbell - Silver Skull
Note: Credit to Dodgeboy from OT for confirming the location.

Play through The Ark until you get to the Scarab. Kill it, then go into the building with ramps on it to the left of where the scarab came in. There should be a brute chopper in there and maybe some other stuff. Find one of the gravity lifts in there (there are several), and then continue with the mission. From where you killed the scarab, go up the series of ramps with enemies. Get into the building and continue for a few rooms til you get to a long, thin hall with a downward slope. After this room, continue until you meet resistance. Kill em, then continue. The very next room will be a series of downward ramps with a purple hue, unless your tv is messed up. Look at the floor and count the blue dots on the right hand side. Drop the gravity lift on the right hand side of the hall a little to the left of the 4th dot. You’ll see some platforms at the end of this hall on the left hand side that you’d have to walk under if you were normally playing the mission. Run and jump over the gravity lift and try to make it to the top platform. The skull is up on that top platform. It may take you a few shots so make sure you have grenades so you can become an hero and kill yourself to get back to the checkpoint, which is the door you just crossed.

The Covenant - Gold Skull

Play until you get to the Pelican section where you have to fly a pelican around. Fly the pelican around the cliff face to the right, and you’ll see a large forerunner structure. It has a large sloping exterior abutment over a stairway and terrace. the skull is on the terrace area under the sloping abutment.

The Covenant - IWHBYD - Silver Skull

Note: this one is yoinked direct from http://www.halo3planet.com.

Skull Effect: Unlocks hidden dialogue throughout Halo 3’s campaign.

The IWHBYD Skull has been found! After countless hours from the Halo3Planet Community, we finally present you with the location of the final skull, the IWHBYD Skull!

The Skull is located in the level, “The Covenant”. After defeating the Scarabs, and going inside, get to the location with all 7 Ring Holograms. You must jump through the rings in a specific order. That order is as follows (1 is at the entrance, 7 is at the end):

4 5 6 5 7 6 5 4 1 2 3 2 7 2 1 3 4 6 7 5 4 6 5 4 5 3 4

These rings also produce the notes:

E F# G F# A G F# E B C# D C# A C# B D E G A F# E G F# E F# D E

After jumping through them in this sequence, you will be awarded the “I Would Have Been Your Daddy Skull”. It will be right next to the bridge that brings you over to the Prophet of Truth.

Cortana - Gold Skull

Fight through the tunnels until you get to the first area that has a circular purple forerunner structure in it. It’s leaning a bit but that’s okay. As you approach the area for the first time, on your left there will be a slight drop down and a small vertical looking purple thing you can jump on. Jump to the very top of the small vertical piece of the structure. While facing the two large doorway like ends look up and to your left, you’ll see some shale looking outcroppings. You need to jump onto this one. It looks high, but you should make it. Next move to the very outside of the outcropping and turn around and look up, there should be another one. this one is harder to jump to because part of the forerunner structure is directly above you so you have to move to the very edge of this outcropping until you’re sure you don’t hit is while jumping to the next one. Next jump onto the organic looking pipe/tube and walk onto the top of the purple surface. There’ you’ll see organic goo and a skeleton, oh and the gold skull.

Halo - Gold Skull

When starting out, just hug the right cliff face. Keep moving forward until you go into a little cave that curves back around in on itself. The skull is at the end of the little cave. It’s right near the beginning.

This tutorial uses the BitTorrent client uTorrent, and the web scraper RSS site tvrss.net. Please note that you can use almost any torrent feed imaginable to supply yourself with television shows. My purchase of an HDTV and Home Theater PC has moved a lot of my feed downloads to a tracker that specializes in high definition content.

First download the uTorrent installer at utorrent.com.

Go ahead and install the program. Open uTorrent. It will default to a screen which will check to see if your ports have been forwarded correctly. Select your type of connection in the drop down box. It will make some default settings compatible with your connection; obviously, you can alter this further. Once this is set, click on “Test if port is forwarded correctly.” If the test succeeds you’re good to go. If not then you’ll need to manually set a port and forward it on your router to the machine running uTorrent.

Go back to the main uTorrent screen and select Options>RSS downloader.

This screen pops up.

Click Add.

Type what you see into the text field. Let me pause and explain what we’re doing here. The site tvrss.net uses an html/web scraper that creates an RSS feed to automatically link to Television shows posted on EZTV, VTV, mininova … etc. To see a list of shows that are being organized and syndicated in the feed go to tvrss.net/shows/. This will have a list of all the shows that have been put through the feed in the past. You can also search tvrss to create your own search based feeds, or check out the different types of standard feeds that are created there.

OK, now, like I said, type “http://tvrss.net/feed/unique/” into the text box, without the quotations. You can name the feed by typing “@@@@@|http://tvrss.net/feed/unique/” where @@@@@ is whatever you want to name the feed, and the | separates name and the URL (We’re using this feed because it will automatically only present the first version of whatever torrent is created for that particular episode).

Click on OK. Now, to see what you’ve done, click on the releases tab.

These are all the shows in the feed. This feed is only for currently airing shows, so it will only have files that are current and less than a day old. If you want to grab old shows I suggest creating a specific search based feed for this via tvrss.net/search.

To get things moving, go to the Favorites tab. You shouldn’t have any favorites. Here’s an example of what you would type in so uTorrent can parse the RSS feed and grab the download you want.

Following the example above, click add. Type the filter characteristics in. The wildcard characters are * ? and |. Here’s some quick examples of what these do: *Colbert Report* will find anything that has the exact phrase “Colbert Report” anywhere in the filename. Colbert Report* would find Colbert Report if it was at the beginning of the filename only, and *Colbert Report would only look for Colbert Report at the end of a filename. *Colbert?Report* will find any files with Colbert Report, Colbert_Report, Colbert.Report, etc … in the filename (? will include any single character). (Most files are named like this so it’s a good idea to use this format. | is an ‘or’ statement; meaning you can separate a list of conditional searches with |. For example: *Colbert?Report*|*Daily?Show* would look for either Colbert Report or Daily Show in order to start the download.

The Not: field will specifically exclude that phrase. For example:

Filter: *CSI*|*Crime?Scene?Investigation*
Not: *Miami*|*New?York*

This would download the original CSI, and specifically exclude CSI: Miami, and CSI: New York.

Next, select the directory you want it to download to, then select the feed you created (”Mainline Unique” in my case).

Click Close and you’re done. There are some other options on there. They exist to further refine what will be downloaded. This comes in handy if you are using a more specialized RSS feed that contains and parses episode and quality information, for the tvrss unique feed, we don’t need these options.

Now just wait, and your shows will start downloading after they’ve aired and had a torrent created for them.

Here’s a little example of what mine is set up to download.

Have fun.

Oh if you’ve followed my other tutorial and modded your xbox, you can watch everything you’re downloading on your xbox. If you share the folder you’re downloading your TV shows into, you can use xbox media center to watch ‘em over the network on your TV rather than your monitor.

Oh yeah, the easiest way to delete the shows, once you’ve watched them, is to highlight what you want to delete on the main uTorrent screen, right click and select Remove and >Delete .torrent + Data.

Modifying your Xbox to run unsigned code without installing a modchip, can be accomplished in various ways. You can run unsigned code by using a hacked save file on an exploitable game. You can run unsigned code via bugs in the MS Dashboard (the green screen with the orb that your Xbox boots into if you start it without a game in the tray). We are going to use a combination of both, in order to modify your Xbox, so it will run unsigned code by default. It’s actually very easy to do, so hit the jump for the full tutorial.

First, don’t worry about horror stories you’ve heard. Those were in the beginning of Xbox modding. They’ve made a ton of progress, and you have nothing to fear about modifying your Xbox via this tutorial. This will work for all Xboxes as far as I’m aware.

The first thing you need to do is turn on your Xbox and remove the game from it, if there is one. This green screen is the MS Dashboard. Your MS Dashboard should have 4 tabs on it: Memory, Music, Xbox Live, Settings. If your dashboard does not have the Xbox Live Tab (you only have 3 tabs) you should put in a recent Xbox game and update the dashboard. This is usually in the extras or Xbox Live section of the game. If you don’t have a game then don’t worry we can still get you up and running.

Next it’s time to go shopping.

Exploitable Games

• MechAssault: First run games only. This means that the platinum edition will NOT work.
• Splinter Cell (original): ALL editions including the platinum edition should work. This is probably your safest bet.
• 007: Agent Under Fire: First run and some platinum editions should work.

You could rent one of the above games, but I suggest going to your local game store and buying a copy. If something happens to your soft-mod in the future, you’ll need the game to fix your Xbox. Buying is actually cheaper than renting in this case, as these are all old games. I bought a copy of MechAssault and Splinter Cell for $3 each at EB Games. Your best bet is to find a copy of Splinter Cell (not Pandora Tomorrow or Chaos Theory, but the original Splinter Cell game).

Getting the Modified Saves to Your Xbox

• Get a friend with a modified Xbox to transfer the hacked saves to a memory card for you.
• Buy a PC connectable Xbox Memory Card like the Action Replay, or Mega X-Key.
• Splice a USB cable end into the controller wire of your Xbox. (not covered here, check google if you want to give it a shot)
• Remove the Xbox Hard Drive and use some custom PC Tools to patch the hard drive with the exploit (not covered here and is a little more involved than what I will cover. However if you want a larger hard drive in you Xbox and don’t want to solder in a Modchip I would suggest looking it up, as you will eventually have to go through this process if you want a larger hard drive.)

The easiest to find solution is probably the Action Replay memory card. If you have the patience to order one online I’d suggest a Mega X-key. If you’re impatient, buy an Action Replay; they’re about 30 bucks. I know you might complain about this, but you also have to remember that the Xbox DVD adapter also costs 30 bucks. Soft-Modding your Xbox will allow you to play DVDs, so just suck it up and take the plunge.

Next you need to get the correct save file. If you know me then you probably already know where you can get the files. If you can’t remember the password, just e-mail me. You’ll also need to know the following method as well, in order to get other Xbox Homebrew Software, so keep paying attention.

If you don’t know me, then you will need to use the Xbins FTP site to download the correct file. Go to #Xbins IRC channel on EFnet. Hint: download mIRC, download an FTP client like Filezilla. Install both. Open mIRC, select a nickname, select random EFNet Server. Click connect. Follow instructions in channel. Open FTP client, go to the correct site, then download the appropriate file.

You want to download “Krayzie_***_Ndure_Installer_v1.1.rar, where *** corresponds to the game you are going to use. MA = MechAssault, 007 = 007: Agent Under Fire, SC-NTSC = North American version of Splinter Cell (original Splinter Cell NOT Pandora Tomorrow or Chaos Theory), SC-PAL = Euro version of Splinter Cell.

Unpack the .rar file to a new directory. Take note of the UDATA.zip file in the save/save 1/2 folder (Splinter Cell has two seperate saves you’ll need to transfer). If you are using an Action Replay keep the UDATA.zip zipped. If you are using another method go ahead and Unzip the UDATA Folder. Use the Action Replay Software to transfer the files to the Memory Card, if not using Action Replay then just get the save files on the Memory Card. If using another method you probably already know how to get the files where you need them. Please note that there is a possibility that the save file will be corrupt as the Action Replay has some trouble with large save files, but it doesn’t happen often.

Plug in the Memory Card/Action Replay to the Xbox you want to soft-mod. Turn it on. Go to the memory tab and select the memory card. Select the individual save file/s you just transferred to the memory card, and copy them to the Hard Drive.

Remove the Memory Card and reboot the Xbox. Put in your exploitable game. Go to Start Game/Campaign. It will take you to Load profile/Load Game. Select the profile/game that says Linux/Run Linux. (For 007, enter in normal level, back to menu, load save game .)

Now on this new screen you’ll want to back-up your eeprom first. It will load a program that will allow you to backup the eeprom. Then select return to main menu.

Once the eeprom is backed up you can save it to your Memory Card if you want. Now remember at the beginning when I asked that you update your Dashboard so you had an Xbox live tab? If you were able to do this or already had the Xbox Live tab then select Basic Install.

Follow the onscreen prompts. It will ask which Dash to install, I prefer UnleashX as it’s more compatible with Filezilla and other file transfer methods on the Xbox.

If for some reason this fails (maybe due to not having an updated MS Dashboard) then we go to our next step.

If you did NOT have the Xbox Live Tab or the soft-mod install failed, then select minimal install. Again my personal suggestion is to use UnleashX as the Dashboard. Follow the onscreen prompts. The last step will prompt you to hit OK and it will turn off your Xbox.

Once the Xbox is off go ahead and remove the game. This will turn the machine back on and it will then do one last step. It sets up a shadow C:\ image.

When it’s over … Congratulations, you have a modified xbox.

Reboot the xbox when the modification process is done. (Connect your Xbox to your network) It will open up to UnleashX or the Evolution X dashboard (depending on which one you chose). Open up your FTP client. If you don’t have an FTP client I suggest FileZilla. FTP into your Xbox (Note: Use the IP address listed on the dashboard page of the Xbox, default password and login are User: xbox Pass:xbox). Remember when you unpacked the Ndure Installer? Well Transfer the EXTRAS directory that you unpacked on your PC to E:\Apps\ on the Xbox. If E:\Apps doesn’t exist then create it. Go to Applications on your Xbox and you should see Krayzie tools (or something along those lines). Open it and you will be taken to another screen where you can further modify your Xbox. (Note there is a password of keystrokes on the controller, the password is “AYBX“.

You will need to remember this as this is the control panel you will be using to make further adjustments to your Xbox. Use this to Load new dashboards on your Xbox (the prompts will explain how to do this), or alter the boot options on the Xbox. If you had to use Minimal Install you will have fewer options (there won’t be any multi-boot options).

Now that you can FTP to your Xbox you can install any of the homebrew applications available for the Xbox. Again, you can find most of them at the Xbins FTP site I mentioned earlier. To install just unpack whatever you downloaded and transfer to the appropriate directory on your Xbox (usually E:\Apps, E:\Emulators, E:\Games, … etc). I highly suggest installing Xbox Media Center. If you know me you already know where to get it.

What NOT to do

So you have a modded Xbox. DO NOT run a harddrive unlocking utility on your xbox (configmagic, Evo X unlocker, … etc). Don’t format or rebuild your hard drive. Don’t touch the C:\ drive on the Xbox. Don’t delete random stuff on the E:\ drive. It is possible to upgrade to a larger hard drive but I will write a tutorial on it later. If you want to do it now, you’re on your own. As always, if you have issues or want to know more about Xbox Modding go to Xbox-Scene.

DO keep the hacked save file on your Xbox. DO have fun. What you should probably do next is burn a variety of CD-Rs, CD-RWs, DVD-Rs, and DVD+Rs with Xbox programs or games on them. You’ll want to figure out which media works best.