a dinosaur's daydreams

Embarrassing alien grade school portrait

2010-02-04T22:29:00.005-06:00

Poor little guy.

From the webcomic ParaAbnormal. Thanks to Frankenstein's Fun House for pointing me to this comic. Fun stuff!

How to help

2010-01-27T09:19:00.000-06:00

2009-11-13T21:54:00.002-06:00

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB)is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year.
From their site:

To help mark the occasion, we’ve opened our vaults and put over 700 full-length films, trailers and clips online, free for personal use and on a subscription basis for schools and institutions.

Our collection includes animation, documentaries, experimental films and alternative dramas. We showcase films that take a stand on issues of global importance that matter to Canadians – stories about the environment, human rights, international conflict, the arts and more. Works that push the boundaries, give a voice to the underrepresented, and build bridges between cultures.

I was very happy to find this gem amongst the films that are being generously offered for free personal use -- Shira Avni's 2004 short, John and Michael, a wonderful and deeply moving piece of art. The animation, painstakingly created with clay on glass plates, is truly magical. Take the time to watch this one.

link

Please Drive Quietly

2009-11-11T11:43:00.002-06:00

drive-quietly, originally uploaded by philosaurus.

My favorite road sign in all of Milwaukee County.
Shh!

At the doorstep

2009-11-11T00:08:00.004-06:00

From Angola, blogger Nate Miller tells the story of surviving a 2007 plane crash in his own front yard.

Links:

Lost

Back in M'banza

Deaf People Aren't Psychic, Are They?

Retreat back into fantasy

2009-11-10T22:00:00.003-06:00

From a meditation on the monster of dispassion lurking in the Fort Hood tweets right back into imaginary monsters. Much less scary, I suppose.

From the Flickr set "1,000 Beasts" by Aeron Alfrey:

Twitter Culture and Humanity: After Fort Hood

2009-11-10T21:26:00.003-06:00

For those who missed it, Paul Carr had a provocative piece at TechCrunch a few days ago discussing the actions of a Twitter user present at the shooting at Fort Hood:

In the actions of Tearah Moore at Fort Hood, we have the perfect example of both kinds of selfishness.

There surely can’t be a human being left in the civilised world who doesn’t know that cellphones must be switched off in hospitals, and yet not only did Moore leave hers on but she actually used it to photograph patients, and broadcast the images to the world. Just think about that for a second. Rather than offering to help the wounded, or getting the hell out of the way of those trying to do their jobs, Moore actually pointed a cell-phone at a wounded soldier, uploaded it to twitpic and added a caption saying that the victim “got shot in the balls”.

Read the article and, don't miss the amazing video from This American Life.

Technologies of communication always change us, because we exist in, through, and because of communication. So we'd best be careful of what we are slouching toward.

Halloween is here!

2009-10-31T22:00:00.010-05:00

Great collection of desktops at Monster Kid Online Magazine's Desktop Invasion

Behold! Dark Rides, Hell Houses, Devil Domains, Haunted Manors, Monster Mazes and Ghost Rides! From Monster Brains.

Beautiful stuff...

Zombie Defense Kits

HPL Online:
Electronic Texts of
H.P. Lovecraft’s Works at The H. P. Lovecraft Archive

Contest:

Greatest/Most shameful Halloween moments

Found at Topless Robot

Happy Halloween!

It's all about content

2009-10-30T21:28:00.005-05:00

Great collection of vintage TV dinner box art at the Miami New Times' Food Blog, found via the BooBerry Alarmclock.

Can't help but think that the "nutritional content" of the dinner AND the TV were both lacking something. And still are.

Toy from Hell

2009-10-30T14:18:00.004-05:00

You may now attend a Halloween party, haunted house, or horror movie marathon, safe in the knowledge that you have already been deeply frightened.

link

Found at Weirdo Toys.

2009-10-29T22:04:00.004-05:00

link

Found at LPCover Lover

True horror

2009-10-09T07:17:00.002-05:00

The TRUTH!

2009-09-29T14:31:00.006-05:00

Recently xkcd's Randall Munroe decided to let the world in on a secret that us IT professionals had closely guarded. We've decided to let it go as long as he keeps making pithy comics about physics, raptors, and Ubuntu that we can email to each other as we lick our wounds.

This was doubly funny for me since only a few days before the comic was published, and old friend stopped into my office and immediately pointed at my computer screen: "Oh boy!" he said, "Google? THAT doesn't look work related!"
To which I responded, of course, "couldn't do my job without Google - are you kidding?"

It was only later I wondered just what he uses Google for, anyway, that makes him instantly think of recreation when he sees it.

I won't speculate....

RiffTrax: Plan 9 From Outer Space ENCORE

2009-09-27T00:14:00.001-05:00

RiffTrax LIVE: Plan 9 From Outer Space

Tales of Terror: two favorites

2008-10-31T12:01:00.005-05:00

Ah, Hallowe'en, by far my favorite time of year. Autumn leaves and wind, fresh crisp air, and on top of that, the best holiday America has to offer.
To get in the mood, I recommend a good horror story. Dim the lights, settle down in front of your computer, and get ready to be frightened.

I've been reading horror stories for about thirty-four years now, and was pleased to find out via recent googling that two of the stories that stand out from the hundreds I've read are available online. Enjoy, and for more, check out the final link to the Horror Masters online library.

The Troll - by T.H. White

The Upper Berth - by F. Marion Crawford

Horror Masters

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

2008-10-28T12:08:00.003-05:00

This past Sunday, on a very blustery day, my wife Anna found some time for an errand that had been put off too long - picking up our Obama yard sign. She was excited to finally get it (so was I - we've never had a sign for a candidate in our yard, not in sixteen years of living together), and plunked it down in the yard the second she got home. Just in time for trick or treat, she thought to herself, then got into the shower to prepare for work, no doubt with a deserved sense of self-satisfaction. Ten minutes later she went to the bedroom window to look down on the lawn and admire the sign.
It was gone.
The wind had taken it (we can only assume it wasn't theft or vandalism - our neighbor's signs were untouched), leaving only the skeletal wire frame. Moments later I came home and was immediately dispatched to search the neighborhood for it, downwind of course.
Nothing. Not a trace of it.
I've checked: at the time we had a prevailing westerly wind, gusting to 36 mph. Besides the few blocks east of us, there's nothing else there but Lake Michigan. So please, if our sign blew onto the deck of your tugboat or freighter, or perhaps wafted high above the lake for hours before appearing in your yard in Michigan or Indiana, we'd like it back. It's blue.
Until then, the answer is blowin' in the wind.

Homer Street

2008-10-19T11:32:00.006-05:00

homer_street_sign_close, originally uploaded by philosaurus.

A modified sign for East Homer Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Bay View neighborhood. This is about two blocks from our old flat. A friend contacted me and recommended I go to this corner as soon as possible -- this is what was waiting for me. A resident raking leaves under the sign told me "some kids put it up in the middle of the night, with a ladder. They did a really good job, actually."
Sorry for the bad quality pic - blame my temperamental Smartphone camera and the sunny day.

By the way, Google's Street View cameras haven't been to this corner yet. Maybe this sign will make it onto Google Maps.

Thanks to throbbingeye for the tip!

2008-10-10T21:15:00.002-05:00

I'll always remember this week as the week the country was teetering on the brink of full-goose bozo, all-out screaming insanity.

I am counting the hours until Election Day...

They Call Me Fa-Breeze

2008-09-13T15:21:00.006-05:00

My wife and I have been parents for almost a year, and as we plan a birthday party, I'd like to stop to propose that a new word be added to the English language, first in casual usage, of course, but with luck, to be eventually included in the O.E.D.

That word is SMELLUSION.*

Usage: Though they had barely cleaned the house, the scented carpet spray produced an effective, if temporary, smellusion of cleanliness.

Definition: smellusion (smĕl-lōō-zhən) n. An olfactory impression produced by an air-freshening device or scented spray that cloaks rank and offensive odors. [Deriv. from smell + illusion]

Smell ya later!

*I've checked Google and found three hits. I'd say that's pretty low by web-search standards. And none of the three individuals using it seem to be claiming responsibility for coining it, so I am at least claiming the right to define and promote it.

Update: Five results now. Those robots are busy these days!

Mutato Muzika: Diamonds in the Basement

2008-07-01T21:56:00.002-05:00

Posted on YouTube by gearwire
"We take a walk through the basement of Mutato Muzika with John Enroth, who shows us vintage synths and other various equipment that Mark Mothersbaugh has picked up over the years. Among other gems, we check out an Electronium with a "Doo Wah" button."

Glorious. Obsession + genius = one hell of a lot of interesting sounds.

Back in the day: Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's decal collection

2008-06-30T21:13:00.008-05:00

harley made in milwaukee, originally uploaded by COOP666.

Milwaukee. That's my town. Was born there, lived there a bit, lived in about eleven other places, then back in Milwaukee for awhile, and am now coming up on three years since moving out of the city again. Can't say I feel like it's my home town - but I've never felt I had one of those. It's a natural consequence of moving several times in the first six years of my life, especially since it was between two countries (England and the U.S.).

Now Ed Roth -- in 1975 his influence had spread everywhere - we all had stickers, posters, tshirts, and the water-applied decals like the one pictured. Just Google "Rat Fink" if you're still an outsider on this one. The image above definitely speaks of that style and feel from the 60s and 70s - loud guitars, loud machines, airbrushing, surfing, drugs, gang fights... Well, OK, I was pretty young. Mostly I remember the style of art. And I remember those Harleys from the streets and highways around Milwaukee. Those old, tough, fix-it-yerself-or-walk cycles, almost always ridden by outlaw bikers (in the case of Milwaukee, Outlaws with a capital O, in many cases). Now, of course, Milwaukee and pretty much everywhere else is bike crazy all over again. Then or now, this sticker is one cool and down-dirty chunk of Americana, especially with that great skull logo.

Image: From a gigantic collection of decal art from Roth's collection, posted on flickr by fellow lowbrow artist Coop. Found via the BooBerry Alarmclock. Thanks Billoney!
Warning: um, yeah. It's Roth, and especially, Coop. Look for long enough and you will find something with 'adult' content. Or offensive. You've been warned.

Note: edited post -- misidentified the decal. Roth DID draw this one. I mistakenly thought some of the material at Flickr was simply part of his collection (i.e, of other Kar Kulture folks). All of the decals at the above link are Roth creations.

Food for Thought

2008-04-16T07:19:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, cleaning the always-daunting pile of 'current/misc' stuff in my den surfaced a little pamphlet I'd almost forgotten about. A few years ago a good friend of mine printed up a stack of a little folded pamphlet he made called "Food for Thought" that contains quotes about life, the mind, the world, and the sacred. You know: minor topics. Then he carried them around with him for a while, leaving them here and there with no intention other than attempting to set off (or to fan) a little spark in whoever picked them up. There are seven wonderful quotes in this little booklet; here are my two favorites:

The world is like a ride in an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly colored and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while.
Some people have been on the ride a long time and they begin to question, is this real or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, 'Hey don't worry. Don't be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride."

-- Bill Hicks

What you are, the world is, and without your transformation, there can be no transformation of the world.

-- Jiddu Krishnamurti

Enjoy a bit of wisdom (and fun) from these two divergent, very different, yet both revolutionary and transformative thinkers.

Long live the new flesh

2008-04-15T20:20:00.008-05:00

It turns out that dread Cthulhu won't be eating anyone after all, even his devoted cultists. Our baby daughter ate him this week, starting with his tentacles. Poor thing.

For those who don't know who Cthulhu is - you can play catch-up online.

All the Marbles

2008-03-29T10:05:00.002-05:00

Rev. Will Bowen's anti-complaining campaign strikes me as admirable in its earnestness, and a nice whiff of fresh air. I wouldn't take things as far as he does (No sarcasm? Life without Monty Python or Family Guy? Not to mention that creative griping is some folks’ bread and butter?). ....A friend of mine expressed hope that the good father doesn't think we should never complain about the government. I hope so too - certainly it seems that there is such a thing as useful criticism and complaint.

The other kind of complaining, though - whining and moaning about things you can't or won't change – that’s what Rev. Bowen sees (quite rightly, I suspect) as a vice. And if so, this may be added to my list of vices.

So, I kept reading. And I checked out the website where the reverend sells books, stickers, shirts, and even classroom curricula. And the bracelets. The most basic part of the program is a “Complaint Free World” bracelet that you simply move from one wrist to the other when you catch yourself doing one of the habits you are trying to break.

Not a bad idea. Bad habits are often a union of “mental" and "physical" habits - so why not use this to reinforce the learning and break the habits?

As I said, it's one of my vices. It's one of my indulgences, to borrow a term from Castenada. And since my lack of commitment to the full idea would make it hypocritical to actually join the Complaint Free World campaign, I won't, but I am borrowing the idea for my own life (I think copyright law will allow that). Nope, no bracelet for me. It's been many years since I've worn a bracelet of any type, anyway, since the late 80s and 90s when a steady progression of hand-woven 'friendship bracelets' were added to and fell off of my arms. My arms and wrists are bare these days (I don't normally wear a watch, for a specific reason - more on that another 'time' perhaps). But I like the idea. Combine the mental with the physical reminder in a simple way. Left to right. Back. Repeating the movement because you've caught yourself repeating the bad habit. Right to left. Almost like going backward -- to remind you that the habit is moving you backward, away from your goal.

I like this. And I'd like to complain less about things I can't change. I'd like to complain less when my complaining is using time and energy that could be applied to fixing whatever it is that the lazy and self-indulgent part of my brain would rather be whining about.

So I have a marble. Just one, and not because I lost all my others years ago (some of my friends may disagree here). I have one that I picked out from a few I keep around. (I like marbles, by the way). This past Wednesday the morning I put it in my right pants pocket. When I caught myself complaining in a less than constructive way, I moved it from right to left. Or back again.

I wish I would have counted exactly how many times I moved it the first day. Let's say twenty to be sure (my best guess would be seventeen). OK, my job is busy right now, and our beautiful and energetic little baby has me a bit tired out, but this was bad. I was now convinced that the experiment was worth sticking out to some sort of conclusion. I'm writing this past midnight on day three: Friday, March 28th, 2008. Here's the scoreboard:

Day one, Wednesday (estimated): 20 (17 probable)

Day two, Thursday: 6

Day three, today: 3

I detect improvement!

But time will tell, so I'll update at some point in the future on how this little trick has been working. If I can find the time - I'm so busy, and I hurt my back shoveling snow last week, and...

Whoops.

Left to right.

Supercalimixxalicious

2008-03-27T20:33:00.000-05:00

The admins at Mixx have graciously granted me Supermixxer status. Whee! Now I can really mess things up!

In all seriousness, though, I am honored. I've been a Digger for almost a year and a half, and joined reddit not long after that, but Mixx is very quickly replacing both sites for me. They may still be a small site by social news standards yet they've managed to solve several flaws and problems that have hamstrung reddit and especially Digg. Time will tell if this will survive Mixx's almost inevitable upcoming growth spurt - here's hoping that it just gets better!

But I won't prattle on about things that others have already discussed in eloquent detail. This is just to say: thanks Mixx! You rock!

Hello world

2008-03-21T20:45:00.000-05:00