Off to Hawai’i
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Thursday morning at dark o’clock, I’ll be on my way to the PDX airport. We’re headed halfway to China, to Hawai’i specifically, for two weeks on a much-needed adventure. We’ll be visiting O’ahu and Big Island. I even bought a waterproof/underwater camera housing for the occasion. See you in September (not applicable in the event of consumption by sharks or ritual sacrifice in Kīlauea Volcano).
I’ll leave you with a Ralph Steadman illustration from the end of Hunter S. Thompson’s oversized hardback The Curse of Lono (pages 178-179).
Aloha and mahalo.
Posted on August 26, 2008
| Length: 93 words
Filed under: art, books, oregon, travel
Email me: spiralnotepad
iancavalier
com |
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Four-eared cat, China’s Olympic facade, tainted drugs
Friday, August 22, 2008
Yoda the four-eared cat is an Internet sensation. Everyone wants to see the little horned devil. I think I like him better than that poor six-legged deer. Though I like Lily, our 25-clawed demon cat best.
This article was amusing, if you care about the grand, elaborate façade China has put up for the Olympics: “Life of Reilly: The Chinese government did everything but put up a fake blue sky.”
Besides total domination by the likes of Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, and a handful of others, the shadiness of the Olympic proceedings in China seems most predictable of all.
I know I say this every Olympics, but in contrast to popular sentiment, I dislike watching most of the judged events, such as gymnastics and synchronized whatever. They often seem rigged, or at least easily manipulated. I enjoy the track & field and swimming events the most . . . the races against time or feats of distance. Seems much more objective. The rivalries between the U.S. vs. Australia in the swimming events and the U.S. vs. Jamaica in the sprint events are fun. Except when those teams drop their batons and get disqualified off the podium.
Lastly, did you see this story on Thursday about people in Washington supposedly going insane after taking tainted drugs? Well, here you go: “Tainted drugs causing odd behavior in Spokane.” The information is slight, but it’s a bizarre story for sure.
Posted on August 22, 2008
| Length: 242 words
Filed under: animals, pets, sports, web, world
Email me: spiralnotepadiancavaliercom |
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Free energy, HHO gas fuel and Michael Phelps
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Screw hybrid cars and biofuels! I’m going to learn how to run my vehicle entirely on fuel that the vehicle itself creates! I’m making a pollution-free, perpetual motion machine! I’m defying the laws of physics! I can’t stop using exclamation points! Whee!
Have you seen online ads that say: Tired of high gas prices? Want to run your car on tap water? Learn more now!
But before you “learn more” below, here’s a Wikipedia quote for all you conspiracy theorists afraid of Big Oil and lamenting the marginalization of alternative energy options: “Free energy suppression is a conspiracy theory that claims that advanced technology that would reshape current electrical generation methods is being suppressed by special interest groups. These groups are usually related to the oil industry, to whom current energy generation technology is profitable.”
Though I am fascinated by Nikola Tesla (and other allegedly suppressed inventors), at the moment I am more interested in Stanley Meyer’s water fuel cell and water-fueled alternative energy possibilities. Stan Meyer produced nine U.S. patents in the 1980s relating to his water-powered car. However, Meyer’s “water fuel cell” is reportedly a perpetual motion machine and thus could not have existed quite the way it was portrayed in the media. Such machines violate the known laws of physics.
But, say, what if you only wanted to improve your car’s efficiency with a hydrogen fuel system, not power your entire car? Well then, perhaps you’d like to convert your gas-guzzling beast into a water/gas hybrid vehicle using a hydrogen booster!
Posted on August 17, 2008
| Length: 257 words
Filed under: politics, science, sports, technology, video, web
Email me: spiralnotepadiancavaliercom |
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WordPress 2.6.1 upgrade (and Paul McCarthy)
Friday, August 15, 2008
Today spiral::notepad was upgraded to WordPress 2.6.1 (released yesterday). Everything basically looks the same, but now I’m current again with bug fixes, security patches and enhancements. Except I had to disable post revision in Wordpress 2.6 (and disable/delay autosave), because all of that version tracking-related database clutter/bloat drives me crazy. Of course I still haven’t added most of my old pre-WordPress blog entries, from June 2002 to February 2007.
Here’s an amusing headline from a couple of days ago: “Giant dog turd wreaks havoc at Swiss museum.” The Guardian newspaper reports: “A giant inflatable dog turd created by the American artist Paul McCarthy was blown from its moorings at a Swiss museum, bringing down a power line and breaking a window before landing in the grounds of a children’s home.” The Zentrum Paul Klee also describes the work: “Paul McCarthy will be subverting the otherwise harmonious landscape sculpture of the Zentrum Paul Klee with his installation Complex Shit – a giant pile of dog faeces.”
My man, Paul McCarthy. He’s one of several contemporary artists I especially enjoyed studying in art history classes. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about American artists Jeff Koons, Mike Kelley, and Paul McCarthy, Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, and Canadian Aboriginal artist Brian Jungen . . . specifically, how they use/subvert mass-produced commodities and represent the “cute” commodification of animals, cultures, and objects in their works. Their art often features anthropomorphized playthings and the appropriation of objects from popular culture.
Posted on August 15, 2008
| Length: 243 words
Filed under: art, blog, cartoons, comedy, programming, quotes, software, web
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Invisibility cloak, 400 freestyle relay, Homestar Ruiner
Monday, August 11, 2008
Invisibility cloaks are becoming reality, or at least progress is still being made. Scientists have created new metamaterials that can bend light the wrong way. CNN reports: “Researchers have demonstrated for the first time they were able to cloak three-dimensional objects using artificially engineered materials that redirect light around the objects.” Here are two articles: “Scientists say they’re closer to invisibility material” (CNN) and “Invisibility cloak one step closer, scientists say” (Scientific American). Reminds me of optical-camouflage technology.
If you didn’t see it, be sure to check out the Americans’ amazing gold-medal comeback performance in the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay: “Lezak runs down French to win relay gold for U.S.” This means that Michael Phelps’ quest for eight gold medals at one Olympics is still alive. ESPN has provided some classic sports achievements to compare to the 400 relay: “Dramatic relay latest among fantastic Olympic, sports finishes.”
The first episode of Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People is out. It’s titled “Homestar Ruiner.”
So, if celebrity deaths come in threes . . . (OK, wait, put your critical thinking abilities on hold and let’s pretend we aren’t forming patterns from random data) . . . did Estelle Getty from “Golden Girls” begin the trilogy of deaths that Bernie Mac and Isaac “Chef” Hayes just finished? Or was Estelle part of an earlier series, maybe the one that included TV journalist Tim Russert? Should we be waiting for a third? And does this game require all recently deceased individuals in the series to have something in common, such as profession or ethnicity or geographic location, in order to complete the series? Can I get a ruling?
Speaking of rulings, The Onion reports: “Supreme Court Rules Death Penalty Is ‘Totally Badass’” and will continue to rule on the basis of awesomeness rather than constitutionality.
In music-related news: The Year Zero Case Study is a great overview of the alternate reality game based on the Nine Inch Nails concept album of the same name. Radiohead and aniBoom have chosen four grand winners in the In Rainbows Animated Music Video Contest. And people keep making cool stuff with the “House of Cards” 3D animation data that Radiohead released last month, such as a time-lapse LEGO bricks interpretation of the song.
Posted on August 11, 2008
| Length: 371 words
Filed under: celebrity, games, music, science, sports, technology, video, web
Email me: spiralnotepadiancavaliercom |
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Corporate Graphic Design Guide
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
This morning I want to share one of the greatest GraphJam flow charts ever, especially if you’re a (cynical) graphic designer or commercial artist.
See, it’s not just your soul that’s being crushed. It’s everyone’s! The joys of design by committee are limitless. One early GraphJam comment says: “And if the committee fails to destroy the creativity, enlarge the committee!”
For more graph humor and song chart memes, visit GraphJam. Be sure to enjoy your cubicle today!
Posted on August 6, 2008
| Length: 77 words
Filed under: art, comedy, design, web
Email me: spiralnotepadiancavaliercom |
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