Stuff from March, 2007
This is the archive of tumbledry happenings that occurred on March, 2007.
Avalanche
This is the archive of tumbledry happenings that occurred on March, 2007.
Saleen Parnelli Jones Mustang - Sweet, sweeet 2007 Saleen Mustang in highway orange (well, they call it something else, but it’s clearly that color). About the transmisson, from the article:
The stereotypical derisive criticism of a blog is that it is a place where the author simply posts pictures of their cat and rambles about meaningless things. Given my propensity to do the latter, combined with the fact that I do not own an animal, I still think I could pay homage to this stereotype by posting a picture of Mykala’s (possibly hypnotized) cat, and Mykala herself.
He had tumbled over.
Alternative to screen printing - With this awesome tutorial, you can use freezer paper cut out in a stencil shaped as you wish, iron the paper to a t-shirt or garment of choice, and then paint the open areas with fabric paint.
The final results are awesome.
Fix a Canon flash shoe - Useful if I ever get a flash and then break the notoriously finicky/fragile off-shoe mount of hot shoe.
Which will probably happen.
Today, while walking by the bathroom near the post office on campus, my nostrils were assaulted by a most pungent odor. It smelled like somebody had forgotten to flush. Or died. Or forgotten to flush and then died. Or died, and as a result of being no longer among the living, failed to flush.
Photographer education - What a fantastic collection of tutorials on flash photography techniques. Really really great stuff.
I’m already excited to try the “flash overpowering daylight” technique. Though … I don’t think I have a flash that supports the method.
Hong Kong fitness club partially powered by its members - Well, this is nifty, a fitness club that harnesses its members athletic exertions to help supply electrical needs.
I can see this concept being really helpful in a place like Texas where air conditioning in health clubs is essential. The more work you did and therefore heat you produced, the more you would contribute towards air conditioning the place. Interesting.
Espresso art - Intricate pictures in the foam atop the popular coffee drink.
Pizza Cake - Yellow frosting, slivers of white chocolate for the cheese — I bet it’s delicious.
Stunning glass and chrome clock - A glass sandwich joined by the chrome mechanism of the clockwork joins a front etched panel to a mirror on the back.
“Near Future of Music” - The Arcade Fire, Fountains of Wayne, Rufus Wainwright … all artists who have forthcoming albums. Some other interesting ones here, too.
Diamond Geezers: The Inside Story of the Crime of the Millennium - From the summary of the book:
In November 2000, the most audacious crime ever attempted in Britain took place: the broad-daylight theft of a diamond collection worth £350 million from the infamous Millennium Dome, by a gang armed only with smoke bombs, stink bombs, a JCB, a speedboat and, bizarrely, a Catherine Wheel firework. The Diamond Geezers, a motley crew of petty criminals from south-east London, were desperate for cash and had nothing to lose, and the gems were in a poorly-guarded tent by the river - how hard could it be? But the police were on to them: the capture of the Diamond Geezers would save the Flying Squad’s tattered reputation. On both sides, there was everything at stake. This is the unbelievable story of the Crime of the Millennium.
Great card trick - Lengthy explanation, but perhaps I’ll try to figure out how to do it.
Watch the sun move over the earth on your desktop - The great thing about this is how much information it conveys without any explanatory text. Everyone understands what’s going on, intuitively. Plus, it provides support for weather patterns. Gorgeous. I’m sure I’ll get this when I finally get a Mac.
Hilarious picture of Conan - Captures the essence of the late night talk show host perfectly.
Cribcandy - Some of it’s unpleasantly ultra modern, but you can’t beat gems like the siamese light bulb.
Dart Coat Hooks - Coat hooks that look like giant darts somebody threw into the wall are super, in my estimation.
Gription: water bottle accessory - Adds a giant handle and modified seal to your Nalgene bottle. I use my Nalgene all day, every day, so I’m certainly considering on of these.
Over 2 million views can’t be wrong - This is called “Tony vs. Paul” and it’s stop motion with people. This technique allows amazing $0 budget effects: these guys fought in what appears to be mid-air, simply by jumping from many different locations. So, the camera could freeze them in the same position every time they jumped. If you watch it, it’ll make sense.
Pictures on your bike tires - Using the phenomenon of persistence of vision, these guys sell a kit that makes images on your bike spokes when the wheels turn.
I find the Pac-Man demonstration particularly fun.
Price control in the dairy industry - It isn’t hard to imagine that the dairy industry is price controlled — so few industries remain so effectively localized in the US.
Via kottke.
Peters Bowers on Flickr - This guy in Toronto, Canada takes unbelievable photographs. He’s got the natural beauty combined with obvious experience with filters, allowing him to produce some stunning images.
An iPod speaker that looks like an iron - A pink iron, no less.
Is AppleCare worth it if you have a pet geek? - This Metafilter thread seems to point to the value of AppleCare, especially for laptops. From everything I’ve read in Consumer Reports, AppleCare is second to none for customer service. For that reason, if I could afford it (and when I purchase a Mac), I will spring for AppleCare, if only for the peace of mind for my laptop monitor.
Mighty Girl on “The Holiday” - I reproduce Mighty Girl’s key point here, not to dilute her words, but to inspire you to click on to her excellent blog (which, incidentally, has the best tagline I’ve ever read).
Henri Cartier-Bresson (Aperture Masters of Photography Series) - I’d really like to purchase this book, if only because the stunningly great picture of a girl running in a courtyard can not be found in poster form anywhere.
Myers-Briggs Personality Test - Not exhaustive or complete, but still good. Tailored to programmers, it is still useful for the general population.
On campus today, I saw a kid with a sweatshirt that said “Holy Angels Football.” I thought it would be funny if they renamed the school “Holy Angles,” just for the comedic effect for the football team name. “Holy Angles Football” sounds funny … like they have the perfect angles … or something. Though, the name would work best for a pool league. “The Holy Angles Pool Players League Of Awesomeness”.
These won’t be going anywhere for a while. Let’s hope they still work in the spring!
Come In, Go Away Mat - Well now how about that. As you walk in, the mat looks like it says “Come In.” However, as you walk out, it reads “Go away.”
It’s called an ambigram.
Beer/Soda Can Earrings - I particularly like the Sunkist ones, though I am unsure if Mykala will feel the same.
The previous logo on tumbledry meant absolutely nothing (just like the ones before it). I still liked the way it looked but … as a recognizable widget, it really accomplished nothing. Additionally, I had been using the first take on my color scheme since about July of last year. As a side note: indeed, taking a design from the drawing board to live takes about 6 months. Well, it takes me sixth months because I have all these other hairbrained ideas on the journey. That said, I noticed some serious problems with the color scheme. The ratios of green to red to blue were completely wrong. Half the time things looked like a bad version of Christmas with some blue tossed in. So, a concerted (minor) graphic refresh was undertaken.
Ahh, The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, this is a page from that wonderful treasury. A nice treat: it has all the watercolor art that Waterson did throughout all the treasuries.
Make your Mac know when you return and leave - Here’s a nifty thing for those Mac users out there to try (not me, darnit). Anyway, using this nifty little hack, you can make your Mac pause your iTunes, set your iChat away status, turn on the screensaver, etc. when you walk away. This is done by detecting when your Bluetooth enabled phone is out of range.
As we all know, I am a Biochemistry senior. I mention this because this fact necessitates me being an amateur graphic designer. By amateur, I mean that I have no formal training. Therefore, the what I know has been gleaned from what I could find out about topics like vertical rhythm, grid systems, CSS, and improving my Photoshop skills. But I digress. “Design” is a side hobby, meant to present in the best possible light my extensive project in writing my own website from scratch using Apache, PHP, and mySQL.
Music typography - I have got to find some time to sit down and read this article. Particularly fascinating are the pictures of actual real metal typesetting of music. An amazing art that typesetting, I wonder how close it is to being lost.
It’s been almost a year since the last round of “Five Questions,” that gloriously awkward game where tumbledryers get to ask me any five questions they want. So, I thought I’d bring it back for another round. What do you want to know? What would you like to ask me? Burning questions? Burning sensations? Bring on the former, and go to a doctor for the latter!
Mykala’s new Volkswagen Jetta.
Someday I’ll really capture a sunset in a photograph of some type. Perhaps when virtual reality comes around.
I’d have you guess what this is, but the picture tag gives it away.
Didn’t make it to this one—this is the view from our hotel room.
I’m back from the American Chemical Society National Meeting in Chicago. There were 15,000 chemists there, with endless events, awards (our Chem Club (well, Student Affiliate Chapter) earned “Commendable” (place 2 out of 3)), and a whole pile of food. Plus, Chicago is a pretty neat place. McCormick Place is huge (how does 2.2 million square feet of space strike you?).
Great moments in sports - The best one is the bat—but the soccer ones are pretty amazing, too.
The Chicago Water Tower looks pretty amazing, its baroque style set in the midst of a bustling, modern city.
Framed by skyscrapers.
Audrey Kawasaki - Very unique artistic style. From her info:
Her work is both innocent and erotic. Each subject is attractive yet disturbing. Audrey’s precise technical style is at once influenced by both manga comics and Art Nouveau.
Rachel, Nate, and Josh did a great job with the chemistry in the 1960s poster.
The building slopes inwards as it rises, so when you take a picture like this, it looks even taller than it actually is.
It’s still pretty dang tall.