Kite String Intestine

Boo! Facebook (again)

2011-11-22T08:46:00.001-06:00

Starting today, Facebook is no longer allowing the connection of the Facebook notes section to blogs to automatically push new blog posts to Facebook. So much for being social and playing nice, huh?

Bad Facebook, bad - I would swat you with a newspaper if I could.

Tom Lehrer on the Electric Company

2011-10-24T20:29:00.002-05:00

Adverbs

Silent E

Snore, Sniff, and Sneeze

New Blogger Templates Offer Something a Little Different

2011-10-06T18:44:00.000-05:00

Blogger has released what they call Dynamic Views. It allows the viewer of the website to switch between views and experience the blog in different ways.

Live examples:

Undopaste.com (current) (mosaic)
Fathades.com (current) (flipcard) (snapshot)

The only real drag is that you have to change your basic template to one of the set.If you have done serious HTML and CSS design edits to your Blogger site you're going to lose them. However, they mention that they will "be adding more ways to customize Dynamic Views int he coming weeks."

The current option list is:

Classic (Gmail): A modern twist on a traditional template, with infinite scrolling and images that load as you go
Flipcard (M loves M) - Your photos are tiled across the page and flip to reveal the post title
Magazine (Advanced Style) - A clean, elegant editorial style layout
Mosaic (Crosby’s Kitchen) - A mosaic mix of different sized images and text
Sidebar (Blogger Buzz Blog) - An email inbox-like view with a reading page for quick scrolling and browsing
Snapshot (Canelle et Vanille) - An interactive pinboard of your posts
Timeslide (The Bleary-Eyed Father) - A horizontal view of your posts by time period

Read all about it on Blogger Buzz: Dynamic Views: seven new ways to share your blog with the world

Google's Ngram Viewer

2011-09-21T12:31:00.000-05:00

Recently watched the following TED talk: "What we learned from 5 million books"

Neat!
So I did a few searches, and these are my results:

fact vs. fiction: fact occurs much more often, but has taken a decidedly sharp down turn since the early 1970s. Also, fiction is on the rise.
happy vs. sad: happy is on a serious decline. It bottomed out in the mid-late 1980s (a little cold war scare anyone?), but does seem to be on the rise again. Sad rose to a height in the late 1860s, but has been on the decline, except for a small rise in the late 1920s, ever since.
ain't vs. isn't: these two words have an interesting relationship. there was a time just before 1900 that ain't was more prevalent. Then rightfully so isn't was used more often. Then just after 1940 they both enjoyed a wild spike in usage and both shared a huge dip in usage in the early 1960s. Also ain't remains in print, isn't has spiked beyond its 1940 era boom - thankfully.
yes vs. no: is a most interesting graph. It seems that yes has never had much ground, and no was very famous. However no has been steadly decreasing since a peak around 1840.
pencil vs. pen: it looks that the pen has had the upper hand for two hundred years, but both are in a steady decline.
disco vs. funk: beginning in 1970 funk began in the lead and then there was a crutial tipping point in 1976 and disco soared while funk stagnated. However, funk enjoyed a resurgance in the 1990s, but by the time 1999 rolled around it was on the down beat again.

And contentious for grammarians is it email or e-mail ?? From 1980 - 2000 there has been a steady increase in the use of email!! yea, I win!

The homepage is http://books.google.com/ngrams/ - go explore.

Claymation Humor

2011-08-10T18:36:00.001-05:00

These were posted by YouTube member scuzzbopper. Visit that channel for lots more. I love the rabbit in the second one.

Etymology of Mausoleum

2011-06-18T08:39:00.042-05:00

In ancient times there was a little kingdom called Caria in the Persian Empire on the edge of the growing Greek influence.

Mausolus ruled Caria with his wife Artemisia from 377-353 BC. Mausolus became the official ruler (at the time called a satrap) when his father Tissaphernes died in approximately 395 BC. Mausolus was a fan of Hellenic culture. He moved the capital of Caria to Halicarnassus and began building it in a grand Greek fashion. (Mausolus, n.d.) He built up a fleet of warriors and and conquered several of the surrounding kingdoms. He exacted heavy taxes from his subjects in order to pay for his grand building scheme.

He died in 353 BC. After the ceremony, his widow Artemisia began the construction of a massive tomb for his body in Halicarnassus, the capital coastal city (Google map of the location) now known as Bodrum, Turkey.

Artemisia died two years after her brother-husband. Did I mention that they were siblings? It wasn't uncommon in those times for elite siblings to marry in order to keep wealth and power in the family. During those two years of loneliness, she became renowned for two things: cunningly crushing a rebellion by the previously conquered the Greek island city-state of Rhodes thereby returning them to Caria rule, and her immense grief over the death of Mausolus.

She was so stricken with grief that she was rumored to have mixed some of his ashes with her wine. Also she paid celebrated orators to give speeches in his honor (King, 1901).

When Artemisia died it was said that grief was the cause; she was entombed with her brother-husband.

The tomb was made entirely of white marble and combined Egyptian, Greek, and Persian styles. It was completed in 350 BC (three years after his death and one year after hers). According to authors Woods and Woods, it was truly massive. “It measured 120 by 100 feet at its base and rose to a height of 140 feet. It contained a polished stone burial chamber topped by statues and a pyramid-shaped roof. At the very top of the roof…were statues of King Mausolus and his queen, riding in a chariot pulled by four horses.” (2000)

In the Wikipeda article there is a reference to Pliny the Elder, the historian, who wrote that even though the patron of the tomb (Artemisia, I'm assuming) died before it was completed, the artisans stayed and completed the work. They believed that it was a display of their artistic skills as well as a king's tomb.

There are some arguments as to if it was possible to complete and decorate the tomb in three years. According to the fifth reference (Attributed to Howard Colvin) to the Wikipedia article, some think that it was begun before Mausolus' death (Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, n.d.).

This is a scale model:

The mausoleum at Halicarnassus stood for approximately 1800 years as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world until it was likely destroyed by an earthquake sometime in the 14th century AD.

If you Google search for Mausolus you will often come across an image of the statue in the British Museum.

However, according to the British Museum (page The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus/Statue), “The statue represents a heroised member of the Hekatomnid dynasty. There is no reason to identify him specifically with Maussollos.”

Also, Maussollos seems to be an alternate spelling of Mausolus - as well as, Halikarnassos for Halicarnassus.

Two bits of knowledge to take away from this:

If you construct a 'Wonder of the World' it gets associated with your name. And I guess having your name be synonymous with a giant ornate tomb is better than nothing...
There is nothing quite like the love between a brother-husband and sister-wife...

A nice synopsis read by Pierce Brosnan. The video and audio get a little out of sync, but worth watching. But it's better than the no-videos that the History Channel has available online for this subject. And while we're on the subject of the History Channel (please keep their name in mind) the only real information that I found on the mausoleum at Halicarnassus was two paragraphs (attributed to Britannica.com) and no videos or photos. No really, look for yourself http://www.history.com/topics/mausoleum-of-halicarnassus. On the other hand the History Channel does have plenty of content on Ice Road Truckers and Swamp Loggers!! Disappointing, very disappointing. Just as wrong as wrestling on the SyFy Channel.

Any way, watch the video, learn something, and enjoy real history.

References:

British Museum - The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus/Statue - Retrieved from: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=460572&partid=1&searchText=mausolus&fromADBC=ad&toADBC=ad&numpages=10&orig=%2fresearch%2fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx&currentPage=2

King, W. C., (1901) Woman: Her Position, Influence, and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Her Biography. Her History. The King-Richardson Co., San Jose. Chicago. Indianapolis. Retrieved from: http://www.archive.org/stream/womanherpositio00kinggoog/womanherpositio00kinggoog_djvu.txt

Wikipedia (n.d.) Mausolus. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausolus

Wikipedia (n.d.) Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_of_Halicarnassus

Woods, M. & Woods, M. B., (2000) Ancient Construction: From Tents to Towers. p. 31. Retrieved from Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=Z0dNB0ijOGwC&pg=PA31&sig=65mldoc6-7dxB7rv0dU6aNcW7fI&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false

Additional Resources:

A detailed description of what is known about the appearance and construction of the tomb by bill Thayer:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Turkey/_Periods/Greek/_Texts/LETGKB/Mausoleum*.html

A collection of photos of the known remnants of the tomb (although the British Museum contests that there is no proof that the next to the last photo and the one before it are truly Mausolus): http://www.livius.org/ha-hd/halicarnassus/halicarnassus_mausoleum.html

Not News: Students misrepresent thier use and IM-ing in class is bad

2011-06-03T16:04:00.001-05:00

Not a lot of news here, but it's nice when research backs up your intuition. When asked if they used an instant messaging app in class, 40% of those who had texted in class lied about it. Also IM-ing in class is more disruptive to learning than just surfing off-topic pages.
Read the whole article here:
What They Are Really Typing
May 18, 2011
by Steve Kolowich

Man walks away from lightning strike! TWICE! -- NOT!

2011-05-26T16:14:00.000-05:00

Watch this video:

Pretty convincing huh?
Now look at these screen captures of the two strikes. They are in order.

1st strike problems:
The man is near the front of the van and yet the shadow of the van cast by the bolt goes many feet in front of the van-all of the way to the next van. For a light source to cast a long shadow like that it must be behind the van. Clearly not the bolt.
Also, look at the trees just beyond the second van on the left, they are barely illuminated at all, in relation to the others. Wouldn't they also be brightly lit if a bolt of lightning struck so closely?
Click on image for larger version.

2nd strike problems:
The illumination cast by the second strike is almost identical to the first, despite it occurring in a different location. How's that happen? The first van is casting a shadow toward the light source; that simply can't happen. The trees closest to the camera on the right side would have more shadow because of the location of the light source, and the trees in front of and on the left of the second van would certainly be lit up by the second bolt.
Click on image for larger version.

Nice try, but nay.

Generational Gap Identification

2011-05-11T09:35:00.000-05:00

Soon we'll need new calipers to measure the generational gaps...

I am of an age where I still remember what I thought when I was young even though I myself am no longer young. I now have the experience to know that some of what my elders told me was true, and some was just there way of misrepresenting the facts to shape my thoughts in a way that they wanted me to think.
The age before TCI (thought connected Internet).

I remember when I first really felt like an adult. I had just started my first job with insurance and health care. I felt comfortable cursing in front of my parents, as long as it was appropriate. I was married, and my life was starting a new chapter.
The age before Blu-ray.

I remember when it was not that I didn't trust anyone over 30, it was just that they had no relevance to my life - they didn't like what I liked, they didn't do what I did, they didn't go where I went. I thought I knew what was the best in music, movies, activities, beverages, et cetera.
The age before DVDs.

I remember when I had no responsibilities other than avoiding mud, when it was possible. I didn't have a job, buy groceries, or clean my own room. My permanent teeth had almost all arrived, and I could read books that weren't written for children.
The age before CDs.

Will the process reverse?

Will I not trust anyone under fifty because they haven't been around long enough to know how the world really works?

Will I constantly deride contemporary entertainment in favor of the old stuff, the classics: Galaga, Mario Bros., World of Warcraft, Angry Birds...

Will I move into a house owned by someone else? Not buy my own groceries? Worry about teeth and not being able to read the thoughts projected inside my head...

Reflections on "How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet" by Douglas Adams

Adultery Does Not Mean What You Think by Scott Horlbeck

2011-04-13T09:09:00.000-05:00

An interesting exaimination of the meaning of adultry using some bibilical references. I haven't watched all of his videos yet. But I can across this one and found it to be particularly insightful in how he juxtaposes some of the colloquial Christian belief about sex and what the text of the bible says.

Scott Horlbeck's YouTube channel.

If someone helps you, say thanks

2011-04-11T12:11:00.001-05:00

I arrived early at the mechanic this morning to drop off my car, and the door was locked. While standing outside I noticed a car stopped in the turn lane of the intersection. It emergency flashers were on a woman flagged me over. As I was crossing the street, another man saw what was going on and stopped to help.
It was obvious that we should push it into the parking lot of the mechanic's business. We had to wait for the light to change before we went.
He and I started pushing, her daughter was inside steering. The other man was on my right, and I was positioned in the middle of the trunk to give her room to help. That apparently wasn't necessary-as she judged it-because she was talking on her cell while walking next to me. Because she was otherwise engaged, she did not help direct traffic around us either, as we had to cross two lanes of traffic to get to a parking lot. The other man and I managed to do that as well after someone zoomed by us seemingly unaware of what we were doing.
After we arrived in the parking lot, she hung up the phone and began to tell me what she had recently gotten fixed on the car, and began complaining about what's wrong now.
She did not thank us for helping. The other man and I walked away. He was in a hurry to resume his day; I thanked the other man for helping me.
And lady, you're welcome.

Hans Rosling and the Magic Washing Machine

2011-03-21T16:38:00.000-05:00

On the surface, by the title, I wondered why this was on TED. But as usual, Mr. Rosling brings a unique POV to the topic and evokes deep thought.
There are four major devisions in the world's population of 7 billion. The people of fire, bulb, wash, and air. And their energy requirements will only increase as they shift up the scale.

There are some environmentalists that proudly do not drive cars, but how many of them do not use a washing machine?

What's the real gift of the washing machine? The time to read books.

Full Moon 14% Bigger on March 19th

2011-03-18T13:13:00.001-05:00

The moon, like the planets and other moons, orbits in an ellipse. When it is close to the earth in that ellipse it is called perigee. When the perigee and a full moon coincide, the moon will be 14% larger than it normally appears. This interesting occurrence happens about every 18 years.

The perigee in March 1993 was four hours off of the full moon, pretty close. However, this year's will be only one hour from perfection. So get your best cameras ready!

Even though NASA chose the title of "Super Full Moon", I didn't like the connotation.
Their write up is here: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16mar_supermoon/

NASA ScienceCast video

Partly Cloudy - A Pixar Short Animation

2011-03-05T18:04:00.000-06:00

So that's where I came from...

A Monkey Wears a Woman Mask in Resturant

2011-02-08T08:37:00.000-06:00

This doesn't quite trigger my automatonophobia, but it's really creepy!

Utopia vs. Dystopia

2011-02-05T16:32:00.002-06:00

"Utopias are where we want to live; dystopias are what we want to read about."
-me

Brain Anatomy and Functions Simply Explained

2011-01-18T10:01:00.000-06:00

Brainstem by Pinky and The Brain

And a Tongue Twister to help you use that big beautiful brain!

Bass vs. Banjo

2010-12-13T16:35:00.000-06:00

Compare and contrast!

Edgar Allan Poe "A Dream Within A Dream" Poem animation

2010-12-09T09:57:00.000-06:00

Animation by Jim Clark

Hans Rosling makes Statistics Interesting

2010-11-30T15:08:00.000-06:00

This is an excerpt from "The Joy of Stats" on BBC channel Four
Hans Rosling takes 200 Countries through 200 Years in 4 Minutes by animating data points - neat!
He might be the world's most optimistic person!

At the end he shows that he can break out individual provinces of China. I'd like to see him take us through individual countries and break it down into wealth vs. percentage of population vs. lifespan. I know he was using averages from each country, but still and all. Does that mean that one rich 80yr-old balances against four poor 20yr-olds? I didn't do very well in stats class...

Denis Dutton discusses his Theory of Darwinian Beauty

2010-11-29T12:55:00.000-06:00

Denis Dutton proposes some compelling ideas about how and why we define beauty as we (modern Humans) do. He's looking for a definition that explains the frequently universal appreciation of certain forms of beauty that trancend cultures, countries, and time. He attempts to do so using a Darwinian approach.

"Beauty is an adaptive effect which we extend and intensify in the creation and enjoyment of works of art and entertainment." - Dutton

Evolution has two general arms: natural selection (environmental) and sexual selection (reproductive preference).

Most of Dutton's Darwinian Beauty argument stems from the sexual selection side. He mentions the proof of reproductive fitness argument for the reason Peacocks have such large and colorful rear-end plumage. I think everyone can buy that, in the bird world, as you know, the male must attract and woo the female. There are several ways of accomplishing this, building ornate nests, complicated dances, collecting blue items, and of course singing, but the most common is dazzling the ladies with colorful plumage.
The drawback is that this makes the male much more obvious to predators and lowers his overall chances for reproducing - and raises his chances of being a pretty garnish for lunch.
"Waiter, there are feathers in my soup!"

I appreciate his goal - he wants to get near a definition of the human experience of beauty. Why one thing is and the other isn't, even though he doesn't really address what isn't. He also is looking at the question from a place that is beyond Plato and Aristotle. That is refreshing and a little uneasy for me - I am most comfortable with the old Greek mindset. But philosophical comfort is boring and too close to religion, so watch the embedded video and below it let's consider a couple of points from the lecture.

Watch the video on the TED.com site

One of his more provocative statements, "The experience of beauty is one of the ways that evolution has of arousing and sustaining interest or fascination, even obsession in order to encourage us toward making the most adapted decision for survival and reproduction." He then sums up this statement a bit more succently by saying, "Beauty is Nature's way of acting at a distance." (I'm assuming the capital "N" there.)

I'm not comfortable with the idea that evolution is a driving force unto itself. I prefer to think of it as a survival tool of DNA, chromosomes, and genes. Evolution is a way for our reproduction to continually adapt to the changing environment. There is no ultimate, perfect creature that evolution is driving us forward to; there is no ideal form at the end of the evolutionary tunnel. Living things change from generation to generation sometimes randomly (usually doesn't work out), but more often in a reactionary, adaptive way to the environment in which they live. The environment changes, living things change in order to continue to live in the new environment; it's really kinda simple.
Life begins and ends with reproduction, right? It's the reason for life and the result of life. I'm willing to examine misstatements about the motives of evolution further, but not in this post.

On the idea of representative beauty. Dutton brings up the idea that there is a universal beauty to a certain style of landscape (at 6:57min into video) because it is the vista that all of our ancient ancestors saw when they were first becoming Humans in Africa. It is a open grassy area, with hills, a few trees, water, and a path that goes into the distance.

I think that the perfect landscape is a result of artistic sensibilities related to interesting focal points and subject matter. Artists seem to have an innate sense of beauty, but consider that they study their craft closely (well, if they're any good they do). Imagine that you want to paint a landscape. You could start with a straight line, but hills are more interesting. Then a few trees and maybe a water feature. They are just adding in as many different elements as they can, so long as they make sense. Some mountains in the distance and maybe a path that let the view place themselves in the scene. An ancient collective memory of our first 'happy place' seems difficult to believe. Humans have lived in every environmental situation on the planet for thousands of years - desert, savanna, forest, mountains. Maybe it's because the scene contains at least one element from most environments, and that is the familiar thing that everyone reacts to.

Beauty has a close relation to visually perceived symmetry. Consider the human face; we think we like a certain color of hair or eyes, or a particularly shaped nose, but what we are really reacting to is the symmetry of the face. The closer the face is to perfect vertical symmetry [Rhodes, G] and the one-third ratio rule (of eyebrows to chin -[Reynolds, R] I will try to find a better reference for this) the more beautiful it is perceived to be. This could be related to our assessment of reproductive fitness, as long as health is related to symmetry.

Back to the idea of reproductive fitness and beauty. Dutton mentions (at 9:40min into the video) finely carved (actually chipped using the break and flake method) leaf-shaped Acheulean handaxes (an image of one) that were produced millions of years ago (some have been dated as old as 3 millions years ago). He thinks that some (thousands) were only made as examples - as objects of art. The quality of these handaxes were to show the hunting prowess of the creator and therefore demonstrating a personal fitness and a superior ability to provide food and care.
He gives four reasons:

because they show "no sign of wear on their delicate blade edges"
that so many [thousands] have been found unused
some found were simple too heavy and large to be useful
that visually the symmetry, quality of workmanship, and shape of a tear-drop leaf are unlike any other tools of the same period

I'm not convinced that these reasons denote that these axe heads were purely objet d'art. If we are literally considering objects 2.5million years old,

has anyone found cut or gouge marks on fossilized bones of that time period that correspond to similar tools?
maybe the unused ones were 'backups'. Consider the situation, you would want to keep several backups on hand because siliceous rocks are brittle and would break frequently and depending on the break could be instantly useless. So you'd want to have more than one at all times.
the large and heavy ones could have been for taking the meat to, or even for cutting extra large kills. The weight of the handaxe could aid in the cutting force.
perhaps the visual appearance was a result of experience - what works best (a pointy end for stabbing and a rounded end for skinning - I'm just guessing here) or what fits in the hand the best.

My point is that there are explanations for his points that don't necessarily back up his theory. So maybe we should just call it a hypothesis.

References:
Reynolds, R., How to Sketch a Human Face
Rhodes, G., Facial symmetry and the perception of beauty

Flickr Slideshow

2010-11-23T16:56:00.000-06:00

This is not new, but I like it, and I thought I'd show it off.
So here's a slideshow of my public Flickr images.
You can grab the code by going to your photostream and clicking on the Slideshow link just under the search box. Once in your slideshow, click on on Share in the top right and grab the code. Easy-peasy.

Would you like to see this in a window by itself? Click on Slideshow in New Window then why don't you?

Blackboard 9.1 Designs

2010-11-12T13:47:00.000-06:00

I can make Blackboard do this...
This is a module page with custom backgrounds and a transparent menu -

This is a container with a custom background and five folders each with a custom icons -

This is an item where the words on the bag, "Home, Poetry, Blog, About Me, Fiction, Art 4 Sale, and Free Wallpapers" are all hyperlinks to other sites and pages, and the page has a custom background color.

Suck on that Blackboard.

Nuggets of Insight from a Microsoft Insider on the Way Out

2010-10-18T23:03:00.001-05:00

Philip Su leaves Microsoft after 12 years and dishes up some sweet nuggets of insight from the email sent out to his fellow Microsoft employees. Full post here: http://worldofsu.com/philipsu/?page_id=193
The nuggets I pulled:

"Use Occam’s Razor in interpersonal relations: look for the simplest, most straightforward explanation that assumes the best of everybody. Stay away from people who always have a conspiracy theory involving twisted office politics, unfulfilled Machiavellian ambitions, and unspoken agendas."

"Listen to understand. Speak to be understood."

"Good ideas are a dime a dozen. Great ideas are usually laughed at. Neither sees the light of day without you taking action. Do the work to prove your idea, or stop talking about it."

"In a company as large as Microsoft, I guarantee you’ll find someone higher level than you who you think is worse than you. Don’t get stuck in this mental trap – it won’t motivate you to be your best. Look instead towards the person you admire most at your level. What can you learn from them? What unique strengths might you have which they don’t have?"

"A person is either passionate or they’re not. People who expect their manager to make their jobs fun and interesting won’t get far."

"Do you practice specific skills with repetition and intent? Athletes do drills. Musicians hone difficult passages. What do you do?"

"Follow great people. Work for great people."

"One day, a sign appeared on a soda fridge in RedWest saying something to the effect of, 'Did you know that drinks cost Microsoft millions of dollars a year? Sodas are your perk at work. Don’t bring them home.' This depressed me on too many levels to enumerate, but I’ll toss out a few:

Someone had enough time to get these signs professionally printed and affixed to our fridges.
It was someone’s salaried, 40-hour-a-week job to do things like this.
Someone thought soda smuggling was a big enough 'problem' at Microsoft to draw attention to it.

How much soda can a person steal? How much does that same person cost the company per hour in salary and benefits? Our most interesting profits will come from capitalizing on huge opportunities, not from micromanaging costs. I’m sure some finance person will lambast me for this, which would only further depress me. Believe in our upside. Focus on our upside."

"Individuals are the sole cause of anything that’s ever happened."

--------

He says some good stuff there (I don't really agree with that last one - unless "cause" equals "impetus").
I particularly like, "Listen to understand. Speak to be understood."

My dad said, "You can't learn when you're talking."

His quote about the soda stealing hits home. That was a small decision that can really take the wind out of the sails of the people who actually do the work. Note to all managers: you should actually cater to the ones who do the work instead of those who manage them. Never forget the power of good moral.

So basically, don't let the bastards get you down; only compare yourself to your best work, and you haven't done your best work yet.

Blue Oyster Cult - And Then Came the Last Days of May

2010-10-18T11:46:00.000-05:00

More BOC awesomeness!

Blue Oyster Cult - Veteran of the Psychic Wars (live)

2010-10-14T12:07:00.001-05:00

One of my all time favorite bands! Don't Fear the Reaper - yes. Godzilla - yes. But they also made more and better music that never gets played!

"...all the stars are on the inside."

Things I have learned about people from managing rent houses

2010-09-23T15:21:00.002-05:00

For the past several years I have managed a couple of rent houses for a family member. For most of the year it's an easy task-collect the rent and deposit it.

However, when people leave without notice:

You see how people treat things that aren't theirs - badly - no matter what is stipulated in the lease. How hard is it to change an air filter for the blower that sucks in air for the heating/air conditioning units? Super easy. It takes on the order of less than a minute to remove the cover, pull out the old one and put it in the trash, put in a new one, and replace the cover. How often do tenants change the air filters, even when they are supplied? Never.
Midsummer, I was called about the air conditioner not working well. I specifically asked if the filter had been changed recently. The tenant said yes - he lied. When I arrived to let in the repairman, we discovered the filter was so clogged that the system had sucked a hole through it. The stress of that plus the non-filtered air had ruined the unit. $700 to replace.

People really will convert an inch into a mile. We let a couple with five kids and a dog move into a three bedroom house. First two months were uneventful, but by the third month they were late on rent. They had stopped mowing the lawn. I accepted the first sob story.
I should have known better in the first place not to rent to a couple where the husband was an unemployed graduate student in Philosophy (this was before the economic troubles of 2009-2010, there was plenty of work available if you were willing). Second, third, fourth sob stories got us into nearly three months late on rent. I told them they had to leave and that we were getting a lawyer.
Still they did not leave - our state has insane renters' rights laws, but the property owner can do very little. I'm sure they knew this; it felt like they'd done this before.
It took their electricity getting shut off in mid July before they left - and oh the mess they left.
Every square inch was dotted with fly shit. I had to take down every light fixture and soak them in soapy water to be able to scrub the dried fly shit dots - same with every door knob. Just nasty - I hope they are proud of the example they set for their children.

Suddenly, it is okay to be filthy bastards and let the dogs pee on the carpet. Forget shampooing the carpets; that's a waste of time. Before you spend the money to replace the carpet, you'll need to rip it out all and the padding down to bare concrete. Then you'll need to get a chemical spray tank and spray every inch of the concrete with a 5-10% bleach+water solution. You may have to do that twice to get the pee smell out of the concrete. That was a fun day. I've had to do that in two different houses so far...

Just leave what you don't want, someone else will clean it up. Here's an incomplete list of messes that I have cleaned up:

A quarter inch of dried blood on fridge floor
A quart of mint chocolate chip ice cream that melted in the freezer when the electricity was shut off and ran down the back of the inside of the refrigerator
A rotten bag of potatoes that turned to liquid and filled the bottom of the cabinets attracting a swarm of fruit flies
Fly shit everywhere. We painted the walls and ceiling and had to scrub everything else...everything
A bag of garbage that sat in a hot garage for at least two weeks. There was a slurry of white goo that ate through the bag and had to be swept, mopped, and bleached up
A microwave that looked like a can of spaghetti-ohs exploded, then grew green and blue hair
I've pitchforked at least 6 square bales of rotten hay out of a backyard that was there for no apparent reason - they didn't have a lama
I've not even mentioned the bathrooms...

People can be filthy, nasty liars that have no respect for themselves or anyone else. What's it like in the head of a person like that?

Do they really not feel bad?

More Flea Market Photos

2010-09-18T13:43:00.000-05:00

Not your normal rabbit holding a carrot. My precious.

World's crappiest tourist trap souvenir. Poorly spray painted star fish exoskeleton, glued down plastic flamingo and palm tree, and shellacked sea shells all embedded in some color swirled sandy resin base. Really, who bought this the first time?

Does it remind you of the beach or some dust collecting crap where spiders live?

Five dollar freaking scary doll. Hair plugs and Jack Nicholson eyebrows; all she's missing is an axe and the reek of booze.

Lloyd: What will you be drinking, sir?

Jack Torrance: Hair of the dog that bit me, Lloyd.

Puzzle Games - Part 2

2010-09-18T13:14:00.001-05:00

More Addicting Puzzle Games:

Fantastic Contraption:
build machines out of supplies to move an object to a goal -
http://www.fantasticcontraption.com/

Colliderix:
manipulate the balls to touch and cancel out each other without leaving or losing one -
http://www.addictinggames.com/colliderix-game.html

On The Edge:
similar in looks to Bloxorz (see June 6, 2008 post)
http://armorgames.com/play/4458/on-the-edge

Power Up:
Link together machine parts to connect the circuit and power up -
http://armorgames.com/play/5973/power-up

Approaching Storm

2010-06-07T11:33:00.001-05:00

Approaching Storm, originally uploaded by Fat Hades.

Shot with iPhone video, U of A parking deck as storm approached.

Sequencing the Neandertal Genome

2010-05-07T11:14:00.001-05:00

I didn't know that our heavily browed relative, the Neandertal, was named so because the first partial skull was found in a cave in Neander Tal (Neander Valley - Tal is German for Valley) in western Germany, east of Dusseldorf. I just imagined the name had some Latin significance. - silly me.

A new article published on Sciencemag.org, the web counterpart to Science Magazine, shows that a long list of scientists have had a hand in the building a draft (unfinished) sequence of the Neandertal genome - neat let's grow one in a big jar. The cure for male pattern baldness is only a petri dish away...

Also, noted in an article by Carl Zimmer, Skull Caps and Genomes, and one of the most interesting facts brought to light so far is that "Today, the people of Europe and Asia have genomes that are 1 to 4 percent Neanderthal." Signs of likely interbreeding (gene flow) less than 100,000 years ago - blagh.

In the Sciencemag article, population divergence, the point in time when modern humans and Neandertals diverged as separate species, is discussed. It is currently accepted to have happened between 270,000 and 440,000 years ago.

Imagine a bar full of different species of human relatives. A pretty, nearly modern, human woman sits sipping her third wild berry martini all alone, when a Neandertal male, previously split from her group over a quarter million years ago, approaches and compliments her on her small, smooth forehead and excellent posture. She giggles and thinks, why not?

However, the post-divergence interbreeding is not the only possible answer - thankfully. In the Sciencemag article, four possible scenarios have been identified to account for the 1 to 4 percent of Neandertal genetic content of Europeans and Asians. Of the four choices:

Gene flow into Neandertals from other pre-existing hominins - they refer to the collection as Homo erectus
Gene flow (possibly back and forth) from late Neandertals to early modern humans, Homo sapien
Neandertal gene flow between the ancestors of all non-Africans (meaning Europeans, Asians, etc.) that happened after they left Africa
Neandertals co-existed with the ancestors of the European, Asian, and others and the gene flow happened before they left Africa

Methods 3 & 4 seem to fit the data, but the group seems to think that scenario 3 is the most likely. So it does seem that after the group of beings destined to populate most of Europe and Asia arrived, they had a little Neandertal slipped into their gene pool. Where was the lifeguard on duty that day?

For the most part, I feel okay about it. Although it could explain why I furrow my brows and make grunting noises when I'm frustrated, and my predilection for games where the object is to hit something with a stick.

And, I still think Captain Cavemen and the Teen Angels was one of the best Hanna Barbara cartoons ever made. Hey, that's the perfect analogy for Neandertal gene flow into modern humans. A cave man traveling around with three attractive, obviously Homo sapien, women in a van. We all know that vans are love machines on wheels...

No one ever said that being human wasn't gross. After all of the approximately 100 trillion human cells that comprise the body of the average person, we are host to 10 to 20 times that amount of others. The others are bacteria, fungus, and other creepy crawlies - but that a topic for another post.

_____________
A note about the spelling of Neandertal vs. Neanderthal. Zimmer used Neanderthal throughout his article and the Sciencemag article used Neandertal. It seems that most sciencey people use Neandertal now - a return to the original German spelling and pronunciation. Two good discussions of the nomenclature at Talk Origins and at John Hawks blog who also has a great post on the new Neandertal Genome news. However, in Neandertal Germany there is a Neanderthal Museum - go figure...
_____________

Flea Market Photos - Salt and Pepper Bovines

2010-04-12T19:41:00.000-05:00

Well, after that last heavy, preachy post, I thought you might like some humorous salt and pepper bovines. In the last pic you can tell that the green shirt one is the cow and the black vest is the bull. Like all great cartoon character and humorously anthropomorphized animals before them, they wear tops but no bottoms. I don't really know why I find this so funny; my wife thinks I need therapy.

Michael Specter: The Danger of Science Denial

2010-04-12T11:01:00.029-05:00

If you had access to a time machine, would you go forward or backward in time? Forward absolutely - gimme the good stuff. A lot of people would like to go back - see some dinosaurs, Cleopatra, crap like that. I too have some times and places I'd like to experience - ancient Greece and learn from Aristotle, even more ancient China and talk with the Buddha, experience a Jimmi Hendrix concert live at his peak - you know the greats!

Right now, even though we are at an all time high of technology and knowledge, it seems we are at the precipice of a great back slide - a new intellectual dark age where people no longer believe that science is factual. Where ancient homeopathic cures are more trusted than modern medicine because they are deemed 'natural' therefore better and because the ancients knew something that we don't today. Yes, it is true that aspirin is derived from the bark of a willow tree. But, it took chemists to distill out the curative chemicals and concentrate them so we can take two small pills and don't have to boil down large quantities of bark to make a bitter liquid (of an uncontrolled and unknown concentration) to drink.

Here's the problem, an easily grasped belief seems more true and real to a lot of people than real science, that is very difficult to understand. I don't pretend to understand all of the science I believe in. To a large degree I am taking the word of the scientists that they are conducting their experiments correctly and are reporting the results correctly. However, what I do have over a concocted belief is the all mighty Scientific Method. Test your beliefs against the scientific method and see if they hold up - then I will believe.

Genetically Modified foods create mutant monsters?! Tested false. There are some concerns, but let's not dismiss them without knowing the facts. GM foods on my plate? Yes, a second helping please. Do you realize that without GM foods we'd never be able to feed the billions on this planet? Plant disease resistance, drought tolerance, vitamin enrichment are not bad qualities. So GM foods or vast famine; don't trust me, do your own research. Or just go eat a petroleum-based cream filled, yellow dye colored artificial sponge cake and be quiet.

Vaccines will give children autism and a host of other nasty diseases? What you believed was wrong. Tested false. Vaccines against disease? Yes, please. If I never get the flu again, I buying my doctor a gold-plated putter for his short game. Vaccines have been proven over and over to not cause autism, however they DO prevent or polio, rubella, and other crippling and debilitating diseases; once again don't trust me, look it ups on your own. And don't trust an entertainment celebrity as an authority, go to the people who do research and have professional degrees and careers established on science. Or you could dig out the leg braces that your great grandfather wore because of his brush with polio and oil the hinges because your child might need them.

Because, let me tell you people, prayer and placebos did not make your vitamin enriched breakfast cereal, your pasteurized milk and your smart phone - science did.

Placebos are fine until belief replaces science, then people die. And it is a slippery slope once your beliefs start to replace fact. Did bleeding ever cure anyone? Can acupuncture cure cancer?

And now a short video...

For some unrelated amusement on this topic listen to Brian Dunning of the podcast Skeptoid sing "Buy It!"

A Long Day in a Short Life

2010-03-25T10:55:00.003-05:00

Have you ever felt like work was just one big train of lemmings and 'yes' men? And when someone with vision and intestinal fortitude finally comes along - they're given a long walk on a short pier? The best person for the job just performed an assisted belly-flop in the empty pool of life. There is something to be said for standing in the back of the line. Keep your head down and play more Tetris.

Here's a couple of shorties that illustrate my point...

These are from The New Yorker Animated Cartoon series - I found them on Hulu

The Movie Title

2010-03-15T10:37:00.000-05:00

Finally here's a movie that run the gamut of human emotion! The dialog is direct and revealing. The acting is heroic and cleansing. The popcorn was crunchy and salty. The soda was cold and overpriced. The ending was everything I expected, but not more.
Hurray for the screenwriter who finally shows us the true heart and soul of American film making - the formulaic margin notes!

Mitchell Joachim of Terreform, on sustainable architecture

2010-02-12T16:59:00.000-06:00

Ficus - the home of the future! Let's all move to the tropics!

Google Liquid Galaxy live demo at TED

2010-02-12T15:21:00.004-06:00

It's running on 7 Linux machines. At the very end of the video you can hear "School's Out" by Alice Cooper in the background. See, nerds are cool.

Or go and watch it in highdef @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atV2foTBbyE

Modular Robotics - Self Assembly Included

2010-02-02T10:57:00.000-06:00

Self assembling robot pieces...

The Modular Robotics Laboratory (ModLab) at the University of Pennsylvania

Emily Levine's - Theory of Everything (not physics)

2010-02-01T12:57:00.000-06:00

The tricksters' view of the world is open...

Japanese Death Poems

2010-01-21T13:51:00.004-06:00

Japanese death poems were written by a person as close to the moment of death as possible. Ideally, as they finished and put down the ink brush, they would exhale their last breath and die before the ink was dry.

Seems that most were written by monks, priests, noblemen, and other well educated members of Japan's history. They reflect on what it means to live and die, and their philosophy on both.
Some are beautiful and reflective, such as Koraku's

The joy of dewdrops
In the grass as they
Turn back to vapor.

Others display a wonderful humor about the inevitable, such as Morikawa Kyoriku's (1656 - 1715)

Till now I thought
that death befell
the untalented alone.
If those with talent, too,
must die
surely they make
a better manure?

My favorite so far is from Moriya Sen'an:

Bury me when I die
beneath a wine barrel
in a tavern.
With luck
the cask will leak.

To read these and others go to the
Google Book search for Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death
By Yoel Hoffmann
Or better yet, support the guy and buy the book like I did!
Here's an easy link to Hoffmann's book on Amazon - ya cheap schmuck!

The God Equation

2009-12-06T20:26:00.001-06:00

I came across this on PZ Myers' blog "pharyngula". Read more on PZ's take on this The God Equation?
So now we have the God equation (again).

This one is

Hl is the radio frequency of the hydrogen fine transition in space
π (pi) we all know from high school math is the relationship between the circumference and diameter of a circle
Ω is the number 0.0123456789; it represents all the characters of the base 10 number system
C is the speed of light in a vacuum - approximately 300,000 km/sec

In addition to the points that Mr. Myers brings up, I would like to know what are we solving for? An equation has a variable for which we are to solve. If everything is defined, where is God? Is He the culmination of light speed, a decimal carried out to 10 places, the frequency of an element in space, and pi?
That's silly.

Additional possible equations:

From the The Church of Yahweh the sufficient condition for the self existent being to be able to generate a universe I + WILL = EXISTENCE.
X is God according to ( a + bn )/n = x There is a story that has made the rounds in mathematical history books about the well-known mathematician Euler embarrassing the philosopher Diderot. This quote is from http://scidiv.bellevuecollege.edu/Math/Euler.html which was Condensed from Men of Mathematics by E.T. Bell (1937, Simon and Schuster), and An Introduction to the History of Mathematics , 4th ed., by Howard Eves (1976, Holt, Rinehart and Winston):
Diderot had been invited to the court by Catherine the Great, but then annoyed her by trying to convert everyone to atheism. Catherine asked Euler for help, and he informed Diderot, who was ignorant of mathematics, that he would present in court an algebraic proof of the existence of God, if Diderot wanted to hear it. Diderot was interested, and, according to De Morgan, Euler advanced toward Diderot, and said gravely, and in a tone of perfect conviction: "Sir, ( a + bn )/n = x , hence God exists; reply! " Diderot had no reply, and the court broke into laughter. Diderot immediately returned to France.
However, this is apparently a fabrication. Read of the debunking on http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~shallit/euler.html explained by Dirk J. Struik, from his book A Concise History of Mathematics, Third Revised Edition, Dover, 1967, p. 129:
This is a good example of a bad historical anecdote, since the value of an anecdote about an historical person lies in its faculty to illustrate certain aspects of his character; this particular anecdote serves to obscure both the character of Diderot and of Euler, Diderot knew his mathematics and had written on involutes and probability, and no reason exists to think that the thoughtful Euler would have behaved in the asinine way indicated. The story seems to have been made up by the English mathematician De Morgan (1806-1871). See L. G. Krakeur and R. L. Krueger, Isis, Vol. 31 (1940), pp. 431-32; also Vol. 33 (1941), pp. 219-31.

Too bad that story was a hoax; I liked it. Stupid philosophers, they should get some comeuppance!
Anyway, let's wrap all of this up with an enlightened quote from a Nobel Prize winning Physicist Steven Weinberg, "With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."

So be good for goodness sake!

Jack-O-Beaker Muppet Labs Experiment 2Q975: Carve-O-Matic

2009-12-03T21:09:00.001-06:00

Jack-O-Beaker!
Okay, even above Animal, Beaker is my favorite Muppet. He's the ultimate nerdy anti-hero lab assistant.
I already miss Halloween...

Oxygen

2009-12-03T16:42:00.000-06:00

Oxygen
nascentparadigm's senior thesis from the Ringling College of Art + Design

This Side Up - A Short Animation by Liron Topaz

2009-12-03T16:26:00.001-06:00

This Side Up - A Short Animation by Liron Topaz

If Only...

Ode to Joy by Beaker

2009-12-02T16:56:00.006-06:00

Ode to Joy
classical music by a classy puppet...er, um Muppet.

Remember When MTV was Cool?

2009-11-12T21:08:00.003-06:00

Liquid Television was an experimental short animation show on MTV - back when it was cool. Example One:
Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions - written and directed by Henry Selick

More Galaxies than People

2009-09-06T22:00:00.006-05:00

Feeling big today? Think about this:
"There are far more galaxies than people." -Carl Sagan

But, by the same token, don't feel bad; think of the uniqueness of you in the face of the rest of the cosmos. Only once ever has a configuration of atoms come together to have your thoughts and experiences.

Now, finish your beer, get another, and go watch SportsCenter...

Philosophy of Death

2009-08-25T14:35:00.002-05:00

Philosophy of Death
By Shelly Kagan from Yale U.

There are 26 lectures. The first one can be skipped; it mostly lines out what the course will cover - not science, not religion, but the philosophy of death. Also the first lecture covers some classroom expectations and grading scale (boring).

So skip the first one and jump into the second one - Dualism vs. Physicalism

http://academicearth.org/courses/death

Academic Earth is a Web site that offers full video lectures from many great universities.

The Galaxy Zoo

2009-08-25T08:46:00.005-05:00

You can help classify the heavenly bodies - sweet!
The following is quoted from their Web site:
"The Galaxy Zoo files contain almost a quarter of a million galaxies which have been imaged with a camera attached to a robotic telescope the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, no less). In order to understand how these galaxies — and our own — formed, we need your help to classify them according to their shapes — a task at which your brain is better than even the fastest computer."

So go now and help; it'll be the coolest nerdy thing you've done since selling your Everquest character for $200 and a case of Mountain Dew!

http://www.galaxyzoo.org/

Free Games to Waste a Day or Ten Minutes

2009-08-25T08:37:00.003-05:00

A calming puzzle game, Loops of Zen:
http://www.quickflashgames.com/games/loops-of-zen/

However, if you want to throw knives at politicians and celebrities:

Knife Throw 2
http://www.quickflashgames.com/games/knifethrow2/

Fish Itch Also

2009-08-10T11:18:00.000-05:00

Preliminary research on mice indicates that there are nerve cells that pass along an itch signal to the brain that appear to be seperate from the pathway for pain.

NPR - Scientists Identify 'Itchy' Neurons In Mice
by Jon Hamilton

Hold your breath for micro-sculpture

2009-08-03T18:31:00.002-05:00

Willard Wigan: Hold your breath for micro-sculpture from Ted Talks. You might think that you've seen small sculpture before, but no. No you haven't.

Icky (living?) Thing in a Sewer

2009-07-27T15:04:00.006-05:00

Dateline...
A Sewer pipe, Cameron Village, Raleigh, North Carolina

Apparently, it's just a cluster of invertebrates called bryozoan, which are commonly found in both the sea and fresh water environments, says Thomas Kwak a biology professor at North Carolina State University's Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.
Research:

PZ Myers a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, writes about it in Server blobs of North Carolina

WRAL (local news site to area of filming) -Mysterious 'sewer creature' sparks curiosity - by Dan Bowens

Does it live?

Enjoy Some Flea Market Photos - VIII

2009-07-05T12:20:00.007-05:00

I really can't stand Ann Geddes' so called art, babies with flower petal hoodies and other babies as seemingly random vegetable matter. This one is a baby kitten doll in her style; isn't that cute...ralph.
So it's a baby wearing a donkey outfit next to a teddy bear wearing a camper's outfit sitting on a plate in a picnic basket. I'm not hungry anymore...

I know this one may not initially look all that odd or offensive. Two sculpted faces (in the style of the 80s) looking hopefully to the future. However, consider that the sculpture is made of leather. That's right; not one leather face but two. It's even creepier to touch; believe me.

This one is not so weird, but in a previous post, I pointed out wastes of resin castings. It is missing Beethoven in the mix.

Yips Meet a Telephone

2009-06-25T10:58:00.000-05:00

Poetry Contest part 4 - The Saga has Sputtered Out

2009-06-23T21:21:00.002-05:00

This post references a few previous posts; the last one was
Poetry Contest part 3 - The Saga Continues

What a disappointing ending. I was trying to get an interesting story out of the scammers at Poetry.com and they just stopped contacting me. Evidently, my poem wasn't good enough for their anthology. It might have something to do with me not paying for their fine leather bound books...
It's been more than six months and nothing, but wait let's go visit them again and read some of the past winners. That's always good for a chuckle.

Hmm...the website looks different. Let's take a look at the "Welcome" link. Well, this says it all, "*Lulu.com, an award winning Internet company, recently purchased the URL 'www.poetry.com' from the previous failed business that owned it."

Stay tuned; I'll be submitting there soon. Maybe I'll get that story after all...

Physical Optical Illusion

2009-06-22T12:43:00.001-05:00

I picked this up from Richard Wiseman's blog.

I'm a Fan

2009-06-22T09:37:00.000-05:00

It's Crop Circle Season Again

2009-06-16T10:31:00.003-05:00

Well, summer is approaching, the grains have reached the perfect height, and it's crop circle season again...
No, it's not UFOs, but it is awesome rural graffiti!
Check out the jelly fish!

Jonny Lee and Wii

2009-06-11T12:38:00.002-05:00

Let's all go to RadioShack! Watch Johnny Lee's Ted Talk presentation and you'll know why.

Enjoy Some Flea Market Photos - VII

2009-06-06T23:38:00.005-05:00

Since when do clowns belong in baseball? Rodeos sure, but not baseball. I hate clowns. Although Bobcat Goldthwait did make a funny clown movie once (Shakes the Clown), but that hardly makes up for the fact that clowns suck. They're never funny or cute or wanted at parties.

Brass monkeys those funky monkeys...

Help me robot angel! Do robot angels dream of collecting little kids gold teeth?
Brass angel? Why not gold or silver? Brass is for monkeys and saxophones.

Enjoy Some Flea Market Photos - VI

2009-06-05T22:14:00.004-05:00

Okay, at first I was "Ohh weird, pain killer cookbook" then I was, "Eww, creepy, that child is too happy about something," then I was, "Aww, that's sad. Why is he happy and hungry?"
That a whole lot of emotion for one cookbook. Then I thought, if you are poor enough that you need recipes to ease hunger pangs, then perhaps you should not be spending money on a cookbook. Instead, spend that money on some more food. I wonder how many copies it sold?

I have joked for years with my wife that I was going to start collecting salt and pepper shakers; I may start with these...

One More Disembodied Foot Found in Canada

2009-05-28T19:55:00.004-05:00

Well, here we are again, it's random, severed foot time. Place your bets! I've got ten bucks on left foot and male.
Everyone get your tarps and hacksaws.
I'll admit for the first few feet, I thought, 'No big deal. Feet fall off all the time; the world is an imperfect place.'
(See Breakfast Club quote)

Canada 7
USA 1

But now the count is up to seven (for Canada and only one for the US - sounds like the winter Olympics gold medal count). Normally, some consider that a lucky number, but in this case...nah.

Quebec farmer finds winter boot containing severed foot
Published: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 | 5:56 PM ET
Canadian Press Andy Blatchford, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Dang, it's a right foot. Double or nothing on it being male, that hasn't been determined yet.

For a catalog of the previous six visit the Wikipeda article Discoveries of human feet on British Columbia beaches, 2007–2008 (yes, can you believe that there is a Wikipeda article on the number of severed feet that wash up on Canada's shores - tis a weird, weird world we have here)

And if you read the Wikipeda article, and I did, you'll see that four of the eight feet match two people, one man and one woman who was wearing New Balance running shoes. Also, there was a hoax foot - not funny.

The CBC is maintaining an interactive map of the locations of the found feet. They have pictures of some of the shoes. "What!" you say, "Yes, they do!" I say. Go look. Of course, they took the feet out, you sicko.

So the count is as follows:
New Balance (woman) 2
Nike (man) 2
Reebok (man) 1
Low-cut Hiking boot (man) (unidentified brand) 1
Unidentified shoe (man) 1
Unisex boot (sex as yet undetermined) 1

In addition to the source that brought this to my attention (credited below) I did some independent Google searching for more facts. Normally, no big deal but when I did there were some 'Sponsored Links' shown that I hope were auto-generated, because if someone planned them, EWWW! Gross! This is not Photoshopped; this is a genuine screen capture!

"Cut Feet Online" and "Low prices on severed foot." Someone needs to review their keyword auto-gen system. Please! You do a Google News search for "severed foot" and see what you get; I'd be interested to see yours.

Oh and to give total source credit, because a good English major hates plagierism and always quotes the sources; I got the articles from a tweet by Rachel Maddow. A news woman interested in severed feet - swoon...

Amazing 3-D Appearing Murals

2009-05-26T15:13:00.001-05:00

Just go look:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1187338/Off-wall-The-astonishing-3D-murals-painted-sides-buildings-trompe-loeil-artist.html

Enjoy Some Flea Market Photos - V

2009-05-24T16:05:00.004-05:00

Dolphin or Whale and Butterflies

Okay, they're whales. Really, they don't look anything like dolphins. Anything.
"Hey, I calls 'em like I sees 'em! I'm a whale biologist."
And if you don't get that quote, you should watch more Futurama!
Butterfly Ball. Do they do this in nature?

Okay,... Ball Cluster. That's all I'm saying. Ball Cluster. Do people really buy ball clusters of butterflies? What a waste of resin. We could have used a few more thousand resin frogs, or birds, or clowns, or little girls with umbrellas, or wolves, or Beethovens.

Agave Plants Cultivated Since 800 AD

2009-05-20T11:36:00.005-05:00

Tequila goes way back - we all know that it's agave squeezings that make that mythical passout booze tequila. It looks like the native cultures of the US southwest raised agave as a food crop.

Visit the web site here http://www.sciencefriday.com/videos/watch/10219/
Images by Annette Heist/Science Friday, Wendy Hodgson and Melissa Kruse-Peeples. Filmed and produced by Flora Lichtman.

Enjoy Some Flea Market Photos - IV

2009-05-16T18:29:00.005-05:00

This one deserves a post unto itself. I did not stage this; I innocently walked around the corner and there it was. Either someone has the same sick sense of humor that I do, other booth owner thought that might be a good way to keep dust out of the doll head's hair.

Typically a cloche (bell jar), covers garden plants planted in early spring from cold weather and surprise frosts. The first use of bell jars (in the West) is attributed to the French; ironically enough they are also well-known as doll makers.

Also the title of Sylvia Plath's only novel, the bell jar is the metaphor she uses to describe her mental illness. She is trapped in a bell jar and can't breath. Ironically, depriving herself of breathable air is how she finally committed suicide. She sealed up the kitchen with wet towels under the doors and gassed herself in the open oven.

I shall name this doll head, Sylvia Lackabottom. Say hello, Sylvia.
"Mmph, emphy bodmphy...."

Photos from the Vault - July 4th 2008

2009-05-14T20:01:00.008-05:00

With the 4th of July quickly approaching, I felt the need to post these photos. These are the feeling that are supposed to be encouraged by our (the USA's) desire and pleasure at what some black powder and fire can produce. I'm only making a little fun; I seriously love fireworks. And you don't need a lot of money to create awesome havoc: the basic firecracker, bottle rockets, and Roman candles are enough to make an amazing catastrophe.
Honestly, who hasn't blown their fingers numb or set themselves on fire at least once as a kid; and if they're like me continue to do so.
Light my punk, and let's go!

Ahh, the Ultimate Encore. Sounds good, doesn't it? Just when you thought the show was done, you don't just get the encore you've been waiting for, but you get Freebird and Stairway to Heaven and a BJ all rolled into the Ultimate Encore! Mmmm...

That's either a BFG or a boombox on her shoulder, either way...Fire Goddess Walk with Me!

This one, well...someone has be watching the old pirate movies, you know, Errol Flynn and crap like that. That's no Keith Richards shitty-pig drunk on rum with six eyes kind of pirate. Hide your booty and your bum.

Did vikings have fireworks? Who cares! There is something about a buxom blond with a horned helmet holding a sword with dripping blood that gets your pressure up and makes your pants tight. Super-buxom means that each breast is the size of her head - get a ruler and measure them; I dare you. I haven't even mentioned that she's got 24 shots; I don't even know what that means out of a woman with a sword, but it's still hot! I almost bought this one.

Small Festival Balls. Not really a lot to say here, other than, WARNING Shoots Flaming Balls! Okay, it was a ball joke, but really, you were thinking it; I just typed it.

Power and Pride. What else is there to the holiday? The Statue of Liberty on one side, a bald eagle on the other, with the old stars and stripes behind - nothing is more American. Did you happen to notice the "String o' Pearls" sitting next to the box?

This is America. We blow shit up for fun while drinking beer. Don't mess with us, we're crazy.

Sixth Sense Device

2009-05-12T10:23:00.004-05:00

"This demo -- from Pattie Maes' lab at MIT, spearheaded by Pranav Mistry -- was the buzz of TED. It's a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment." -TED

The URL http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html

Enjoy Some Flea Market Photos - III

2009-05-08T18:29:00.005-05:00

Here are some more great (blech) finds. If you didn't believe that fact is worse than fiction take a gander at these. Happy misshapen head clown - he's not really happy, it's just that he likes kids - a little too much...

and black velvet clown not as kitschy as Elvis or dogs playing poker and somewhat evil looking like Sideshow Bob (from the Simpsons). I must say the execution of the painting was surprising good, but the subject matter is straight from a sub-par cranked-out (not the drug - something quickly done to capitalize on your fame to make money before your fame dies and not concentrating on the originality or the quality of the story line), Stephen King novel. Ta-da...

Michael Shermer: Why people believe strange things

2009-05-06T14:19:00.003-05:00

Micheal Shermer from Ted Talks. Enjoy. The last bit about the auditory patterns is great!

Enjoy Some Flea Market Photos - II

2009-05-03T21:59:00.005-05:00

More pic of things that will never sell. A different day, a different Flea market... more weird stuff. A copper can, with mirrors and a cow skull hot glued on it. And I don't even know what that blue crap is...
Does this one remind you of a song? Perhaps, a song by the untalented girlfriend of a dead talented grung rock star? Maybe a song by a drug thinned, bleached blond that only became famous after screwing the aforementioned grung rock star? Not coming to you? I bet she doesn't smell like teen spirit...

Enjoy Some Flea Market Photos

2009-04-24T18:10:00.005-05:00

Okay, so there we were walking along looking at crap and there was this baby doll on a shelf (I don't think I need to mention what is wrong with it). And then I saw this rug on the floor, and I just couldn't take it...

I hope you are as freaked out as I was; art is objective.

Adam Savage, Dodo Skeletons, and the Maltese Falcon

2009-04-22T11:12:00.004-05:00

How do all of those things relate? Two are obsessions of one, and two are unaware of the other two...
No really. Adam Savage (of Mythbusters) gives a high-speed talk about his personal artistic obsession.

Ted Talks, I love this site. Okay, so now I want to make my own Dodo skeleton with the skull of a monkey...

Patterns Made by Sound

2009-04-20T14:54:00.003-05:00

Okay, you artsy people get on this one. I'll expect something like an animated short made by sand and sound soon. [God, I love alliteration]

I found this on NPR Science Friday hosted by Ira Flatow.
The video was made by Wake Forest University Department of Physics,
http://www.wfu.edu/physics
Sam Eisenberg and Peter Scherpelz/HMC 08,
Hendrik Orem/HMC 09,
Hyung Joo Park/HMC 08,
Patricia Sparks/ HMC Physics,
Jon Jacobsen/HMC Math,
NPR story produced by Flora Lichtman.

Dreaming About Twitter - the Game

2009-04-09T18:01:00.004-05:00

I can't believe it finally happened. Last night, I dreamed about using Twitter.
What has happened to me?

And what was even cooler (depending on how you view dreaming about Twitter - good v. bad) was that I was using it in a city-wide game of Marco Polo.

You need two things:

a city
an mobile device with Internet access plus camera

Scratch that, three things; you need a Twitter account.

Crap. Scratch that, four things; you also need a friend...with a Twitter account.

How to play:
You travel to somewhere in the city and get comfortable - I suggest a Pub, but that may be too easy to find. Maybe pack a lunch and a book. When your friend is ready they tweet you "Marco". You take a pic of something around you (not too obvious like a street sign) and tweet back "Polo" with a tinyurl to the pic.
They try and figure out where you are and tweet back. If they don't get it in three guesses, they have to go to a new place (verified by pic and tweet) and "Marco" again. And you send them a new pic and "Polo".
And so on...

Hey at least it was fun in the dream...

Intellagirl, I blame you.

Flickr is cool, but what about space?

2009-04-04T17:41:00.003-05:00

No, I'm not talking about storage space for your files; I'm talking about space proper. The great, great out of doors - the night sky of stars, planets, clouds of Ort, and jazz of that sort. Well, Flickr has some eye candy for you space lovers too!
Check out this blog post called "Stargazing" by Fiona Miller; you'll get your fix. And if your camera is high tech enough or you are Wile E. Coyote ^{(TM Warner Bros.)} genius enough and built your own space pic taken camera you can enter the Astronomy Photographer of the Year project.

Radiology Art by Satre Stuelke

2009-03-26T08:41:00.002-05:00

Who knew that using a CT scanner to look into everyday objects would turn into art? But take a look!

http://www.radiologyart.com/

My favorite is the movie of the Barbie doll. It makes me think of the pre-production stage of the making of the animatronic girl friend of the future. The freeze frame of the hair looks like the product of the first night of testing the horizontal features...

Teenagers' Class Project Takes Pics at the Cusp of Space

2009-03-17T13:18:00.002-05:00

A group of Spanish teenagers pulled together a camera, a balloon, and some parts to send it all 20 miles up to take some snapshots.
Kids today, I swear. They've got nothing better to do than to make my childhood seem ridiculous. No wonder I didn't win at the high school science fair.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1162659/Students-tie-56-camera-balloon-send-edge-space-capture-stunning-images-Earth.html

Opinion Paper: Instant Messaging in Education and its Usage

2009-03-09T14:48:00.003-05:00

Abstract

Instant messaging (IM) is a common way for technology savvy young people to stay in constant communication with their friends. The question as to whether or not instant messaging could be used as a tool for education is still being debated. Some want to ban it outright from the schools, saying that it is an enormous distraction when students are allowed to use it. Others however, see opportunities for learning situations in which instant messaging can benefit the exchange of knowledge and, they are exploring its uses. This is not a black and white situation. Instant messaging can be a bane and a boon for instructors.

Instant Messaging in Education and its Usage

Instant Messaging (IM) has become a ubiquitous tool for communication via the Internet. The key points that distinguish it from other forms of communication are that it is text-based and in real-time. Email is text-based, but you must wait for a reply. Phones are real-time, but people around you can eavesdrop on your conversation.

The IM programs used today seem to vary quite a bit from laptop to cell phones, but there are several commonalities in which they all seem to participate. You have a username that may or may not be your real name. You maintain a list of other people with whom you chat, and you can see when they are available for chatting. You can set your availability status to show that you are 'in' when you want to chat, or 'out' or 'busy' when you do not want to be disturbed. Text is the primary element of communication, not pictures, video, or audio, although some or all of those extra elements can be combined with the text message.

While considering the usefulness of IM, there is an obvious division that should be established. In regards to education, IM can be used inside and outside of the classroom. On the surface this may seem like a trivial distinction, but it does impact the usefulness and the purpose of IM in schools.

In the classroom, the established rule is that anything interrupting the attention of the students from the front of the room is a disruption and should be stopped by the teacher. Passing notes and whispering in class have never been permitted, and now some schools and instructors hold IM in the same regard. Since IM became widely available to students via computers, laptops, and cell phones, it has become a major method of communication for them. "Studies show that some 75 percent of teenagers use instant messaging, making it one of students' primary modes of written communication" (Martineau, 2007, ¶ 2).

However, some advocates for its removal from schools say it can be used as a way to share answers and cheat. In 2007, the Toronto Canada District School Board banned the use of cell phones and other electronic devices in the school citing the easy ability to cheat as one of the factors. One unidentified 9th grade student admitted to cheating and said, "You take notes by text message and save them, then you pop [the cellphone] out. It's quiet and nobody sees. It's not like paper. It doesn't crinkle" ("Toronto Students Banned," 2007).

In addition to cheating, there is the distraction factor. Many in education subscribe to the idea that students must be in a focused environment to learn, and any allowed deviation from that focus invites laziness or daydreaming. After some discussion at the Smoky Valley High School in Lindsborg, Kansas, the school's technology committee decided to allow the students to use IM, via the Apple chat client iChat, during class as they took notes and worked on their laptops. Sharon Texley, a member of the committee, said:

As time went by, the folly of that decision became apparent. Students did use iChat to communicate, but not the way we idealists had envisioned. The constant 'iChatter,' instead, included who's going out with whom, who went to the party last weekend, who's bored in class, and so on. In addition, many of them shared answers on tests and other work meant to be done individually. (Texley and DeGennaro, 2005, p. 2)

IM does make chatting and cheating easy. Anyone with experience in front of a class full of children would agree that students can create enough distractions on their own without one extra being given to them. In classes where individual work is important, maybe allowing IM is a bad idea, but what about situations where group work is appropriate?

Many say that since students already know how to use IM (most use it with a high proficiency) why not make educational use of it (Martineau, 2007, ¶ 4). There can be learning situations where communication and shared work is suitable. Elena Nehrebecki is an English language instructor at Hudson County Community College in Jersey City, NJ. One way in which she uses IM in the classroom is to ask students to translate some of their instant messages into grammatically correct sentences. She feels that she connecting with the students by using something already know, and it shows them the difference between casual and proper language (Martineau, 2007, ¶ 7).

IM holds a special place in Distance Education class. Since the classroom is already conducted virtually, IM becomes the fast way to communicate. Even though audio chat usage is on the rise, many people still do not have the bandwidth necessary to make that a viable communication tool. Many universities that have a Distance Education program use a Course Management System (CMS) to manage the classes and give the instructors a secure place to post a syllabus, assignment list, receive assignments electronically, and etcetera. Many CMSs have an IM feature built into their courseware. This benefits the student in several ways. The instructor can have office hours in a chat room that is only open to the class. Since the IM client is integrated in the CMS there is no additional account to sign up for and manage. If the instructor is not online the student can leave a message that the instructor will see the next time they log in.

Another use for IM in the classroom comes from classes with a large number of students present at once. When teaching large classes, instructors often have little time for taking questions. If the students could submit questions via IM then during a pause, the instructor could quickly review the submitted questions to see how well the students understand the lecture. In some large classes the instructor has an assistant, and that person could answer questions in the chat room while the instructor proceeds with the lecture (Kinzie, Whitaker, & Hofer, 2005, p. 158).

Outside of classroom, IM has a much more developed and accepted educational support role. For instance, it is a useful supplement to a second language class. When learning a second language, classroom work is important, but that is only a few hours per week. To learn a language well it must be practiced daily. IM can help the student by giving that instant communication to clarify a problem or just extra practice with the instructor or the instructor's aid outside of the classroom. One of the most helpful methods of learning another language is the understanding of short messages. Eventually reading long passages from a book will be natural, but understanding short communications helps to foster the ability to think in the other language. Even though IM cannot help with pronunciation problems, is very helpful for fostering understanding of the written text (Sotillo, 2006).

IM's educational assistance can be as simple as to help people in different locations communicate. "IM was viewed as a better tool for communicating with the instructor than e-mail or the telephone" (Jeong, 2007, p. 32). Many instructors make themselves available for contact via IM instead of holding regular office hours. The local student population (not Distance Education enrollees) who use IM as much or more than email communication, almost unanimously approved of this practice. Also some students are shy and reluctant to ask a question in front of a classroom of twenty, thirty, or more students. But, IM expands the comfort zone of the student and they are able to ask those questions (Jeong, 2007, p. 32 - 33).

On the whole, students like the ability to use IM to communicate with their instructors outside of the classroom; it is an improvement over past methods and at least equal to email in the ease of use. Before such technologies, if a student needed to contact an instructor they had to wait for designated office hours and either physically visit the office or telephone; both were a hit or miss approach. With email and IM, office hours can become whenever the instructor is willing.

There seems to be very little reason not to use IM outside of the classroom. Of the students that preferred to not use IM as a contact method for their instructor, they either had usability issues or would have rather used other methods of communication. The students that did not use IM still appreciated the option, as long as it was not required for the class. As for the students that were able to get along fine without it, they were indifferent about its use (Jeong, 2007, p. 33 - 36). For the students that needed the extra method of contact, it was helpful, and for the students that did not need it, it did not interferer with their learning. That sounds like an ideal tool.

It is agreed that as a communication tool, IM is useful and omnipresent. However, on the topic of whether or not to use it as an educational tool, the answer is affirmative, but with limitations. The highest value of IM seems to lie outside of the classroom as a method for contacting instructors. Although, inside the classroom there are also uses to be explored for language class, group work, asking questions, and others. The value that IM adds to in-class work should be weighed against the potential for lost student focus.

Consider the phrase, "If you give them an inch they will take a mile." I am not sure whom that that phrase originally referred to, but it applies students. If IM is freely allowed in the classroom, the virtual notes will be flying even while the instructor is facing the class; no longer would students need to wait for teachers to turn their backs. It has been shown that outside of the classroom the value of IM can be great. And it has also been shown that IM can be used in the classroom to benefit the learning situation, but it must be controlled or limited in some fashion.

Resources

Martineau, P. (September 2007). Tapping Instant Messaging: Once frowned upon, IM is now used in schools for language lessons. Education Week's Digital Directions. Retrieved February 14, 2009, from http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2007/09/12/02im.h01.html

Toronto Students Banned From Using Cellphones in Schools, (April 19, 2007). CBS News Canada. Retrieved February 15, 2009, from http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2007/04/19/toronto-cellphones.html

Texley, S., and DeGennaro, D. (2005). Should We Ban Instant Messaging in Schools? Learning & Leading with Technology 32 (7). Retrieved February 14, 2009, from http://eric.ed.gov:80/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/2a/19/6c.pdf

Kinzie, M. B., Whitaker, S. D., & Hofer, M. J. (2005). Instructional Uses of Instant Messaging (IM) During Classroom Lectures. Educational Technology & Society, 8 (2), 150-160. Retrieved February 15, 2009, from http://www.ifets.info/journals/8_2/14.pdf

Sotillo, S. (2006). Using instant messaging for collaborative learning: A case study. Innovate 2 (3). Retrieved February 15, 2009, from http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=170

Jeong, W. (2007). Instant Messaging in On-Site and Online Classes in Higher Education. Educause Quarterly (No. 1) Retrieved February 14, 2009, from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM0714.pdf

Coprophagy

2009-02-07T20:37:00.004-06:00

Coprophagy [kŏ-prŏf'ə-jē]
-noun
eating of dung, or feces, considered abnormal among human beings but apparently instinctive among certain members of the order Lagomorpha (rabbits and hares) and in at least one leaf-eating primate (genus Lepilemur). It is thought that these animals obtain needed vitamins in this way. The diets of certain insect species, among them the dung beetles and dung flies, are primarily or exclusively coprophagous.
cop⋅roph⋅a⋅gous [kuh-prof-uh-guhs]
–adjective
feeding on dung, as certain beetles.
Origin: 1820–30; copro- + -phagous
Definitions retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/coprophagy

While researching for a post on the topic of rabbits and hares (Lagomorpha) I came across this interesting bit of disgusting trivia. Apparently, rabbits (and hares) eat their first shit so that they can digest it in a unique part of their stomach and recover all of the nutrients from it before they shit it out a second time and are done with it.

"Lagomorphs produce two kinds of feces. The first kind is basically a first-cut, digestively speaking, from which some but not all nutrients have been extracted. This gooey black feces is eaten as soon as it is excreted, and then re-digested in a special part of the stomach. This second round of food processing extracts more nutrients, and the final-cut feces is in the form of small, hard pellets." (Lumpkin, 2000, paragraph 14)

Lumpkin, Susan. (2000) A Rabbits Tale Retrieved from http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/ZooGoer/2000/4/arabbittale.cfm

My Apploigies to All Thomas Grangers Everywhere

2009-02-07T20:26:00.002-06:00

Thomas Granger was the first person (and the first teenager) hanged (to death) in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. What's more unique, I suppose, is that he was hanged for the crime of bestiality. He had a mare, a cow, two goats, five sheep, two calves, and a turkey under his belt. [pardon the pun].

I'd rather die anonymously than be in the record books for that...
Another icky thought...

Core77 Design Magazine Greener Gadget Contest

2009-02-02T09:10:00.002-06:00

Vote Now For Your Favorite Greener Gadget!

Help us pick the top 10 gadgets for the live judging at this year's Greener Gadgets Conference in New York City on February 27th, 2009. Voting ends February 20th. Click, get inspired, and vote below!

http://www.core77.com/greenergadgets/

Faster than Light Speed Travel?

2009-01-21T11:24:00.007-06:00

Okay. Really?
"It's the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs!"
(Never mind that parsecs are units of distance and not time - oh well, George still made a great movie.)

I know we all want it to be possible. The 'real' theory (not talking Star Trek/Wars here!) is based on an idea by Michael Alcubierre. The propulsion system doesn't really propel the space ship; it would expand space behind the ship and shrink space in front of the ship. The ship would then 'surf' the bubble as it zips through space. It was coined as the "Alcubierre drive."

This idea has been reworked a little (add a sprinkling of dark energy to control the manipulation of spacetime) by Baylor University physicists Gerald Cleaver and graduate student Richard Obousy.

It's an interesting thought experiment. It does seem to escape the problem of Einstein's theory of relativity. The ship is not actually 'moving through space,' but riding the bubble of stationary space. So then no infinite speed requiring an infinite amount of fuel mass.

I'm curious about time. Assuming that this will come to pass as real technology at some point. How will a bubble of space affect the passage of time in and around it?

The idea that space can move faster than light comes from data generated by the WMAP that space expanded faster than the speed of light for a short time after the Big Bang.

Sadly, we won't be able to enjoy the fruits of this theory, unless someone cracks the problem of the human life span. That's a story for another day.

Whole story at Discover.com
Warp Drive Engine Would Travel Faster Than Light
by Eric Bland

Story with more detail about how dark energy fits into the picture at SPACE.com
Spaceship Could Fly Faster Than Light
by Jeremy Hsu

How to Use the Three Seashells

2009-01-06T12:10:00.003-06:00

Let me preface this by saying I like a lot of movies that others seem to consider bad. Particularly I like Sci Fi, and I like dystopias. I sometimes try to justify my opinion, this time I won't.
I like Demolition Man. I don't like most of Stallone's or Snipes' movies, but this one gets me. I like the dystopia future of San Angles, and the writing is good and humorous.

One of the dialogue jokes in the movie is the mysterious replacement of toilet paper in the bathroom by the use of 3 seashells. The answer is never revealed in the movie. i-Mockery.com seems to have found the missing instruction poster.
How to use the Three Seashells!

Poetry Contests - in general

2009-01-05T14:10:00.006-06:00

I'm still getting comments to a post about a suspicious poetry contest I saw in our local paper. Read all posts on this topic.
This is what I replied to the latest:
"In my experience, the only legitimate contests you'll find are through journals and publications that focus on writing. The contests that are putting together 'The World's Best Poetry Book' are scams wanting you to basically pay for publication.
That is different than a readers fee. Ones that employ a readers fee are looking for compensation for their time, money to pool together for the prize, and perhaps a little extra to pay employees at the press. That's not to say that some of those aren't scams either.
I recommend that you always investigate the publication before submitting, just so you know you are getting back thoughtful comments and criticisms. Case in point, go read some of the poems online at poetry.com; most are awful, but no one told the authors that because they are spending money on the hack books cranked out."

If you do submit to these suspicious contests, please leave me some comments or email me and let me know how it resolved. I'm very interested!

Jill Price has an amazing memory

2008-12-16T14:13:00.005-06:00

Imagine being able to remember every event, conversation, spelling test, kiss, from the time you were a small child, and be able to recall it at a moments notice. You're thinking, awesome! My spouse wouldn't have a chance, right? Now relive every pain, death, red light, and stubbed toe with the same emotions as if you were living it again. Not so great huh? For Jill Price time doesn't heal any wounds - at least her feelings about them.
Nice article:
An Infinite Loop in the Brain
on Spiegel Online written by Samiha Shafy

Reading it reminded me (ironic, I know) that I heard about Jill Price last spring on NPR. She also has a book out.
NPR story (read or listen) Blessed and Cursed by an Extraordinary Memory

The name of Jill Price's book is The Woman Who Can't Forget.

I was going to link to Amazon but their web site has become ridiculous, and you can find and buy the book anywhere you want to; it's none of my business. It's not like I'm getting a kick back from Amazon or anything like that. Enjoy!

Phoenix was Twittering

2008-12-16T13:27:00.005-06:00

Dang! I missed it.
"When NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory News Services manager Veronica McGregor was tasked with delivering word of the agency's first-ever robotic landing on Mars during a holiday weekend, she turned to the social-networking Web site."
Read the Discovery story: Phoenix Twittered from Mars!

Carbonated (Fizzy) Fruit

2008-12-15T13:22:00.004-06:00

Patrick Buckley, co-author of "The Hungry Scientist Handbook" makes fizzy fruit with dry ice. I wonder if the process would increase the life of the fruit in the fridge?

Sugar in Space

2008-12-09T09:51:00.004-06:00

Awesome. A simple sugar compound has been found to exist out in space.
"What's interesting about glycolaldehyde is how easily it combines with a three-carbon sugar to produce ribose, the building blocks of DNA and RNA, which carry genetic information for living things. "
Yum.
Read more at Discovery.com

Poetry Contest part 3 - The Saga Continues

2008-11-17T22:13:00.003-06:00

This is a follow up to Poetry Contest part 2
A couple of weeks ago I received mail from The International Library of Poetry (poetry.com) giving me access to an exclusive offer.

I knew it was a mistake giving them my mailing address…

Apparently my poem has made it into the semi-finals in their “International Open Poetry Contest.” Yay, I’m not surprised, and it’s not because I’m confident in my ability (I’ve haven’t won a single contest entered). They want some of my scratch.

They sent a proof for me to look over and correct. There is one small typo on a quotation mark that wasn’t in the text I submitted; I know because I looked at it closely before I submitted it online. Besides, the quotation mark was there on the website when they tried to get me to buy a friggin’ plaque (See the screen capture from my post, Poetry Contest part 2). Also, I use the word “Hell”, and they changed it to “H***”. Really? I thought this was poetry for adults, not a children’s book.

Their saving grace (that speaks to a false sense of genuineness) is a disclaimer statement that says I have no obligation to send any money; my poem is still in the running. However, the typos seem to urge me to contact them. Hmm, what to do?

Let me bring to light the offers involved. First they offer me the opportunity to preorder the compilation ($49.95 plus $9.00 s&h) in which I would be printed, should I win, “Immortal Verses” - barf - that is an awful title. Previous compilation titles include, “The Promise of Dawn”, “A Symphony of Verse”, and “Tranquil Rains of Summer”. Does it get any worse than the tranquil rains of summer? It was a dark and stormy night…

But there are more offers to offer. Because I’m new to the International Society of Poetry I can order a “Limited Edition Protective Slipcover” embossed with gold leaf, with or without my name engraved on it. That’s $19.95 each, plus $5.00 s&h or with my name $25.95 plus $5.00 s&h.

Also along with the corrected proof, I have the additional opportunity to add an “Artist’s Profile”, basically a bio. However, in the final printed book, since the poem is set to take up one page, the bio must be printed on an opposing page at a nominal fee (at an undisclosed cost).

I suppose that I will return the corrected proof and see what happens. What else could they offer me? Engrave my poem onto a gold plate and shoot it into space? I might like that. I’ll post here the results…stay tuned.

CAPTCHA options

2008-11-14T14:48:00.004-06:00

I've been looking at CAPTCHA option for a variety of reasons recently. For example:

What's CAPTCHA, you ask? You're not a webmaster are you? Okay, here's the wikipedia article on CAPTCHA. If you're also wondering what C-A-P-T-C-H-A stands for, it's in the article. BTW, I'll write a post on Alan Turing someday; he was truly a man thinking into the future.

I wasn't really intending to educate you about them. But, basically it's that wavy, blurry word thing that you have to type in to prove you're not a crappy spam bot.

So back to my original point, I've been testing a few of these do-dads and got the follow two words to type. No faking, this is a screen capture:

So what does that look like to you?

Icky thought of the day

2008-11-14T08:25:00.004-06:00

In my facebook account, minding my own business, I see an advertisement for "Tired of Shaving?", I think yeah, I am. However, they're not talking about a guy's face. Icky + Shallow. Besides, do you see how blonde that guy is? I bet he doesn't even have to shave his face much less his pecks. Now think of Robin Williams; I bet he's tired of shaving. There's your icky thought of the day with my compliments. Enjoy. Screen shot:

Intellagirl talks about Social Media Implications

2008-10-30T08:44:00.003-05:00

Featured Speaker : Social Media and Education: The Conflict Between Technology and Institutional Education, and the Future
You can learn a lot from Social Media and it has a big roll in learning, but would you want your doctor or bridge engineer to get their knowledge from Wikipedia? Higher Ed. still has an important roll in the future!
Watch and listen to what Sarah has to say...

Speaking of Mashups...

2008-10-29T16:51:00.003-05:00

The Educause web site has a blog, flickr & twitter aggregater pulling Educause tagged content from the web. Neat!
Even neater, it found my post! That page will pass away after a while, but my screen capture will last forever. Warm fuzzies...

Educause 2008 - day 2 - Star Trek Camelot Mashup

2008-10-29T13:35:00.003-05:00

Mash it up - awesome!

Educause 2008 Ramachandran talk URL

2008-10-29T10:08:00.004-05:00

http://hosted.mediasite.com/hosted5/Viewer/?peid=d45a2cd8e48346daaba953453f3b1c56#

I was having a little trouble viewing the video, but that could be the million and one geeks on the wireless network here ;)

Educause 2008 - day 1

2008-10-28T23:58:00.005-05:00

I attended a seminar at Educause 2008 today: "Millennials and Web 2.0: 'Prosumer' Education in Practice" long title but great presenters, AJ Kelton and Sarah Robbins-Bell (intellagirl)
I've been to a few web 2.0 presentations over the last few years and intella-g knows her stuff. I've borrowed a few of her ideas and recommendations for web2 at my Uni.
Hey, she actually gave me a good reason for this anti-social, (actually I profess as my religion to be a 'radical individualist') to use Twitter...
If that's not a good speaker, then I haven't heard one.

Vilayanur Ramachandran talking at Educause 2008

2008-10-21T19:40:00.008-05:00

Vilayanur Ramachandran is giving a talk similar to this TED Talk, on Wednesday morning at Educause this year in Orlando, Fl. I get to go, and I'm so excited; this doc is an awesome presenter and studies fantastic anomalies of the human brain.

Sweet! I'll try to post after the talk...so I can gloat about how amazing it was.

Poetry Contest part 2

2008-10-21T08:58:00.009-05:00

As a follow up to a post "Poetry Contest" on Oct 5, I receive a comment from BEANS and CORN with a link to a poetry contest on Poetry.com. I feel like I'm doing a disservice to any reader by actually posting the link, but since it is so easy to find, there you go anyway. (Search for "poetry contest" on Google and it's the first sponsored link and the second regular link that shows.)

So, I'm a bit cynical about poetry contest, especially online and mail order, so I decided to explore this one a bit further. So I picked an old poem and submitted it. They wanted my name, address, email, etc.; assuming that I won something, they would need my address to mail it to me right? That's not so unusual; besides I read through their privacy statement and they plan on sharing my address with others that want to send me offers. Typical. I'm sure I'll be getting Viagra offers by mail soon.

Before I go on, let me tell you about the dead-ringer, this is a load crap, scam indicator. On the submit page, the page linked above, there is a "Need Help Rhyming?" button link. No shit, for real. That tells you right there that only real poets come here to submit their fine work. (that was sarcasm) Do you think for one second that if you need help rhyming that you should be submitting poetry here? Don't be gullible! That's how these jerk-wads make easy money.

Also they seen to have a weird copyright clause that states "...I understand that it will be published on the Internet as my original work and under my own copyright by The International Library of Poetry (Poetry.com). The community of poets who use this forum for self-expression will also be able to view and share my poem, always as my original work and under my own copyright in the various ways described on this website."

That's why I sent them an old poem that I'd given up on getting published. Anyway so once I agreed that the poem was my original work and is own by me, etc., I clicked submit. This is where the hook-in-the-mouth happens. The next screen tells that my poem has been "selected to receive the honor" of being glued to a plaque for only $39.00. AH-HA, boing! This is the scam part. In addition to the plaque-crap they also would like "to extend to you some very special reward benefits created just for you." Barf, gag, speew!

People, please don't fall for this crap. It doesn't matter how good or bad your poetry is, they will sell you shit on a shingle as long as you are buying. Only submit your work to reputable publications. Do some research before you waste so much as a stamp. Go to your local book store and look for publications printed at universities or well known journals like The Atlantic.

Here is a screen shot of the "congrats you just submitted a poem page" from Poetry.com. The red outlined boxes I added over my name. They pull your name from the form on the previous page and personalize this page. So as to be fair and let you make up your own mind (I mean who am I, right? I'm not so great; I've only had 2 poems published in twelve years of trying and they weren't even in The Atlantic, they were in Poesia, and I didn't get any money for them.) I say take a writing class at your local community college and see how you do. Or put up your own poetry blog and see what kind of attention you get. People online are fiercely truthful; they won't lie to you and try to sell you a plaque. What...do you think that you've written the next Footprints? You deserve to be on a plaque, and posters, and keychains, and air freshiners? If you want the truth about your writing skills be sure you are ready to take it. Grow your skin thick. You're no Footprints.

Otherwise, buy a frigging plaque and give it to your grandmother and make her smile, because that's all the praise you'll ever get.