Stuff from August, 2008
This is the archive of tumbledry happenings that occurred on August, 2008.
Mykala with Giraffe
It may look like Mykala was Photoshopped into this picture, but she was, in fact, not.
This is the archive of tumbledry happenings that occurred on August, 2008.
It may look like Mykala was Photoshopped into this picture, but she was, in fact, not.
These are in the rainforest area of the zoo.
Thank You for Choosing the Hyatt Regency Purgatory:
Pool—Open 24 hours. Though it’s unheated, some guests may find that immersion in the pool’s holy water sears their corrupt flesh.
Room Service—Room service is available 24 hours a day, though use of this service is considered slothful and may extend your stay.
From Robin Nixon of LiveScience, Exercise is physiologically good for your brain:
Because it burns calories so quickly, aerobic exercise is a threat to the body’s energy reserves. Heeding this danger, the body acts to protect one of its most precious, and energy-demanding, organs: the brain.
…
By acting as a mild stressor, exercise is an alternative way to spur many of the protective benefits associated with calorie restriction and the release of brain-building growth factors, said Carl Cotman, director of the Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia at the University of California in Irvine.
This was one of the most perfect days I’ve had. I called in sick to work, and then Mykala and I went to the zoo. We rode the merry-go-round and lay out in the sun. The weather was gorgeous, and as we looked up at the blue sky from our blanket on the grass, I realized that life does not get better. It isn’t the dark dull days at the office that indelibly print on your memory — no, it is the days in the sun. As the skies turned cloudy and threatened rain, we fell in love all over again.
Summer raspberries, farmer’s market fresh.
Farmers’ Market potatoes!
At the Saint Paul Farmers’ Market, they have fresh flowers.
I’ve been working on this version of tumbledry since January of this year — there were times I never thought it would be finished — and yet, we’re almost there now. During the next few days, there will be a short beta period in which I will add a few features and iron out any remaining kinks; leave comments here with your thoughts.
Even though this picture is not in focus, I had to include this because Mykala’s expression is fantastic.
At another fun day out, Mykala and I went to the beach at Lake Elmo State Park — it’s a nice man-made swimming hole with lovely sand all around. Great for a day out in the sun.
The Onion: 180 Trillion Leisure Hours Lost To Work Last Year:
“The majority of American adults find work cutting into the middle of their days—exactly when leisure is most effective,” said Adam Bernhardt, the Boston University sociology professor who headed the study. “The hours between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. are ideally suited to browsing stores, dozing in front of the television, and finishing the morning paper. Daytime hours are also the warmest and sunniest of the day, making them perfect for outdoor activities. Unfortunately, most Americans can’t enjoy leisure during this time, for the simple reason that they’re ‘at work.’”
Data-Driven Enhancement of Facial Attractiveness sounds a bit dull at first, but consider what that means: an automated software approach to actually making faces more attractive. I must provide a picture illustrating the results (originals on the top, computer-enhanced results on the bottom):
Last night, I finally finished writing a script to automatically resize images. That way, if I see a picture on the internet that I like, there are very few steps between viewing and putting it on tumbledry — this is nice because the hassle of processing random online images has kept me from posting many. As an example, take a look at this wonderful picture by David Iliff of Canary Wharf in London:
At Justin and Amber’s wedding, we’ve this lovely ceiling!
This is the “Pancake Savior”. (via Airbag.)
We set up this self-portrait with a timer.
I love the idea of the latest Improv Everywhere project. The idea is this: get a bunch of identical twins together, dress them the same, and put them on a subway train to form a human mirror. Surreptitiously film the reactions of innocent bystanders and then post the pictures and videos to the internet.
I danced with Justin because his new wife Amber was busy with other dollar dancers.
Axel Peemoeller designed the signs for a parking garage in Melbourne. What’s so special about that? Well, he won multiple international design awards. This was his solution:
These are unbelievably delicious… and organic.
These battered potatoes were delicious.
Here are some of the lyrics to Joshua Radin’s song “Everything’ll Be Alright (Will’s Lullaby).”
But I look at you
Warm in your dream
While your mobile dances above
And I think to myself
It’s a beautiful night
And I know everything is gonna be alright
Yes, now I know it’ll be alright
Today marks my first day of dental school classes, a day that I am sure will be indelibly imprinted on my memory for the rest of my life. I’ve been prepping for today for the past 5 years and suddenly, as if from nowhere… here I am. In anticipation of The First Day, I have worked on:
I’ve an image file on my computer that says “Life is beautiful.” I was going to print it out and hang it up until I realized this: I don’t think the word “beauty” is enough to capture this life. (“Life is many things, including beautiful” probably wouldn’t read well on the wall.) The shortcomings of this adjective make me think there’s one problem with intense, focused training: it reveals the world to the participant in one dimension, from one angle, in one color, from one perspective. Yet the glory of living pushes out from the uncountable, myriad aspects of reality.
I love this backlit sunset technique; I’ve got to use it more often!
Sigur Rós’s song “Festival” makes a pretty darn good soundtrack for a Friday afternoon. I’ve survived my first oral anatomy assessment and there’s nothing like listening to great music to unwind on this beautiful afternoon. If you listen to the (admittedly low-fi) link to the song, I think you’ll find the male falsetto to be nearly unearthly-beautiful.
