Throw your heart over the fence and the rest will follow.Norman Vincent Peale
We've certainly had fun with our Guitar Hero game. Here's the website for the new game due out during the summer. It comes with a drum kit, including cymbals. Very Cool!
This book looks interesting. Who doesn't want to move to New Mexico and drive a car running on vegetable oil? Cool!
We are on a campaign to notice the good things that happen everyday. Even the small, subtle, "unspeakable" things that bring a smile. This quote reminded me of some of the great relationships I am lucky enough to have.
What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are
joined... to strengthen each other... to be one with each other in silent
unspeakable memories.
George Eliot
Interesting instructions to create a homemade speaker from a cereal box, an old set of head phones, and an old music greeting card. Seems like a quick and interesting project.
What a great weekend, with lots of laughter.
Man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of
laughter
Joseph Addison
Interesting architecture drawing program from Google. Makes 3D drawings, and they have a free version.
After listening to an NPR report this morning, I realized how little I understood about the Chinese province which sustained an Earthquake yesterday.
This wikipedia page counts the population at over 87 million. Also, given the location of the province between the Himalaya and Qinling mountain ranges, it is not surpising the US Geological Society's seismic hazzard map shows the area prone to tectonic activity.
We had an incredible weekend with lots of dancing to a local band called Gorilla Dance Band. They had an awesome horn section (well just a saxophone and trumpet), and the music seemed to be mesmerizing.
I love to see my wife dancing a salsa! If love is madness, as Nietzsche suggests, we were plain crazy this weekend.
There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason
in madness.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Here's a primer on using a breadboard, and a more advanced follow-up. This seems to be a precursor to a circuit board, and helps visualizing the electronic flow and sequence in a circuit.
Isaac created a habitat for a Platypus for one of his research projects earlier this year. While doing the research, he also taught us the word monotreme. These are mammals who lay eggs.
Yesterday a story came out about a group of scientist who have mapped the platypus genome. As the monotreme designation indicates, it turns out the DNA of the animal also includes an amalgam of mammalian and reptile characteristics.
Surprisingly, humans and the platypus shared a similar genetic make-up until 165 million years ago. At that point, the platypus branched off, and still retains evidence of snake and lizard DNA today.
Just found this website of the Cl0ud Appreciation Society. Here's their manifesto (interesting they have a manefesto).
WE BELIEVE that clouds are unjustly malignedand that life would be immeasurably
poorer without them.
We think that they are Nature’s poetry,
and the most egalitarian of her
displays, since everyone can have a fantastic view of them.
We pledge to fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ wherever we find it. Life would be dull
if we had to look up at
cloudless monotony day after day.
We seek to remind people that clouds are expressions of the atmosphere’s moods,
and can be read like those of a person’s countenance.
Clouds are so commonplace that their beauty is often overlooked. They are for
dreamers and their contemplation benefits the soul. Indeed, all who consider the
shapes they see in them will save on psychoanalysis bills.
And so we say to all who’ll listen:Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty,
and live life with your head in the clouds!
Coolspotters is a new website that reports on celebrity fashions. While it is certainly not unique, SeenOn, it is the first to let the public do most of the work. Apparently, it uses a wiki-like data interface to let users report on celebrity fashions.
Very interesting combination of music and do-it-yourself building.
As a side note, I had an interesting conversation this weekend with a mechanical engineer. He told me every technologically creative person he knows also has an artistic hobby (music, art, or poetry). As we've suspected, perhaps there's a correlation.
I know someone who could use one of these, especially after prowling the dark streets of New Orleans looking for a hotel.
Interesting tag line on this recommended web site, "Three degrees of separation, Khakis, blue jeans, and dungarees ..."
I'm finding that posting here, and subscribing in the news reader is much more effective and interactive than bookmarking.
An interesting project in an attempt to build a flying machine which operates by flapping its wings.
We had great conversations with Michael and Nancy last night, and this new mashup reminded me of some points.
It is a mashup of the Rolling Stones Street Fighting Man/Gimme Shelter/ drums from 'Slave', and The Temptations Ball Of Confusion.
While the Ball Of Confusion basically complains about everything, the lyrics that stand out to me are these...
Well, the only person talking about love thy brother is
the...(preacher.)
And it seems nobody's interested in learning but the...(teacher.)
...
And the band played on
