Monday, March 31, 2008

The minute you turn on CERN is the minute you return to pangea.

blah blah blah how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

what about the slightly larger angels that can carry pins in their beaks?

and guardian angels.

and angels that wrap their wings around you.

and what if there were an angel big enough to wrap its wings around the whole earth.

well, that would be god, you would say.

maybe you should get out of my way I would reply.


Sunday, March 30, 2008

The average bobcat has seen more of the world than I have.

We need to REALLY get on geocoding photos and videos, along with photosynth.

I think there's probably a good amount of money to be made.

p.s. this was a rushed post so sorry for not giving better links. let's get out there.


Saturday, March 29, 2008

Arr.

I want one of these kinda.


Thursday, March 27, 2008

Deprecation.

Old.

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
GE d+(?) s--:+ a- C++++ UL P-- L++ E- W++ N++ o K w--- O---- M++ V- PS+ t 5 X? R !tv b++ DI++ D G-- e++ h+ r- y z++**
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New.












PLEASE MAKE SOMETHING BETTER!!


To do in no particular order.

Ok so you know those Dove chocolates with the little messages written inside the foil wrapper.

Do something spontaneous.
I blink twice--at this point I'm tasting this delish chocolate. And grab another out of the bag.
Hold hands firmly, hearts gently. At this point I'm thinking, scarf a bunch more of these down, no more looking at wrappers. Just chomp nom nom nom.
Be a little mysterious. About halfway through tearing open the foil on the next one I think what about if I open the foils reeeeaaallly slowly and delicately. You know, really go all soft on it. Girls would like that. So be mysterious, okay whatever; it's still got my attention barely.
Watch the sun come up. As always. Day, night, it's pretty much all the same to me. Not much time for sleeping these days.
That's when I paused to write those four. And grab this one: Share a sunset.
Then I thought hey I share every sunrise and sunset with my right hand firmly, there's not a whole lot of mystery or spontaneity to that.
Laugh until your heart overflows. Whatever. At this point I'm quitting the post. Last one nom nom.
Make someone melt today. And I IMMEDIATELY thought of how they make hockey pucks.


Friday, March 21, 2008

Sort of interesting to see what will happen next.

Since the conversation's already been planned out for you.


Thursday, March 20, 2008

What you learn from someone who consumes 9 apples in 9 minutes.

You know when you get an apple, you should "shine" it on your shirt before you eat it to get off the wax and pesticides? And you know how you could shine one on a tuxedo and barely be able to see any residue, let alone cause harm to the suit? Apple shining isn't a destructive process. Also, you know how you can see your wallet corners worn into the pocket on your favorite pair of denim jeans?

I had a chance to meet someone who, get this ... eats so many apples that: not only is one specific part of every shirt he owns worn to denim-like obviousness, they're what you call threadbare.

He tells me every few months his wife has to him seriously stop eating apples for five damned minutes to go to the store and buy a few new shirts. It's not that he's poor or he's lazy--not at all, it's just that all he really does is eat apples. Constantly, in the strictest sense. I don't think he notices the faded patches, I think he just thinks that's the way it goes.

Whatcha doin'? Eatin' apple. Whatcha doin'? Eatin' apple. You can count on it.

So you're thinking it's impossible to eat apples every waking hour, all waking hours. Right, of course. I'd agree with you. Normally. But I cannot stress how much of a science he has it down to: both from a metabolic standpoint and an art form. For example, he never drips a drop of apple juice, even on the really juicy bites. I figure you sit down to eat ten apples in a row and you'd probably figure out how to control the mess too. I could tell he joked it a million times before, "I did drip once, when I met my wife!"

And the sheer quantity of apples! Pack the car up with big bundles-worth in the morning, head to work. Chomp away at them all day. Lay out different flavors throughout the afternoon, organize them in groups, meals, desserts. If he runs out on the ride home, maybe grab 6 or 7 at the market to tide him over... and continue on in to all sorts of apple eating till bedtime, basically.

From what I gather he's also quite the apple connoisseur. Not to mention on the board of some national-agriculture-producers-type--organization--fruit-division. He orders pallets-worths of specialty, expertly cultivated apples and has them shipped in from all over the globe. Rants about great deals too. (In my time on a nine minute tour with him he had to sign for two waybills on fruity-fresh-deco stationary).

His home now has 3 additions, with vast top-calibur specialty apple storage cellars. Think, the most expensive/elaborate wine cellar you'd have if you were a world-renowned wine critic or something (not to mention gushing through bottle after bottle, that would be no good). Parts are even refrigerated and humidified in custom controlled compartments. It's all top-of-the line; he says he can stock about two shipping containers-worth at a time. "If, I'm having a party," he winked.

In the micro-tour he gave me, he was babbling constantly on with horticultural-, specie-, flavor-, nuance-jargon--all not losing a drip. Sort of this constant split-attention to you and the fruit-at-hand, and this always sucking-in when his mouth was open. He was grabbing at all manner of breeds and varieties to show me from bins and storage installations unknown.

He'd take a small bite like a trained professional taster, slow and deliberate. His teeth are bleach-white and anatomically perfect, by the way, which after thinking about it probably makes some sense. Then after the first taste bite he'd take a huge chomp, like a third of the apple plus core, and pass it on to me while describing all sorts of aromas and flavors together in rhythm between chews. He tossed me one after another, "Oh try one of these, oh you'll definitely love this...," he mentioned the name, it was aboriginal or something. Pretty soon I had an armful of foreign, colorful, some half-eaten apples. "You'll probably never see another one of those ever again," pointing at three withering in a plexi-door cold-chamber.

Then it was time to leave, having started just a moment ago. I'm positive I got the abridged version of the tour. Probably everybody leaves there with a peck or two of fruit. So I thanked him, shook his free hand, and said goodbye. But it's great because he's poured all this money and love into his apples but, his shirts are still basically all worn out.


Thursday, March 13, 2008

A Crash Course in the Interesting.

For the next few weeks I will be assisting a team competing in the 2008 Lunar Regolith Excavation Challenge. The goal is to mine the moon and win $750,000. I will be in a research and development role.


Monday, March 10, 2008

The Design Process.

1 - Identify a need
2 - Research the background
3 - State the goal
4 - Develop function task specifications
5 - Experimentation and iteration
6 - Modeling and analysis
7 - Select the best solution
8 - Detailed design
9 - Prototype and test
10 - Production


Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Drop your crosses and blot your eyes.

I DONT BELIEVE SOMETHING UNTIL I'VE USED ALL FIVE SENSES ON IT.

We're really good at doing things from the neck up. Depending on what you think proof is, maybe we can only prove things to ourselves. Eat more proof-ful pudding.

ENERGY, MATTER, AND MONEY PLEASE SAVE US.


Monday, March 3, 2008

Point your crossbow into the South wind. Have skeleton dust for dinner.

Look at a spot eleven feet away from you. No, that's eight feet my friend. You're not a very good estimator, huh? Get out a tape measure if you have to. That's an albatross wing span.

A heavy creature to have 'round your neck.


All kidding aside.

I got one of these today. Really, though. The immediate future should be interesting.


Hilariously endowed sherpa meets abysmally bankrupt photographer.

Sigma's APO 200-500mm F2.8/400-1000mm F5.6 EX DG Lens is not appropriate for anything. If you had this, you would be compensating for something. I mean it.


Leap year festivities.

During the invisible day I jacked off once an hour for twenty-four hours.

Then at midnight the year started back up again so I returned to reality.