Thursday, June 30, 2005


This is an example of trying to post 640x480 pixels out of one of my pictures without resizing.
Posted by Picasa
Update: This picture is a close-up look at a grass inflorescence. The pale, fuzzy filaments are, I think, pistils, which are out to grab on to the right kind of pollen should it happen by on the breeze.

Boy With Bug Vacuum


Jamey, with his new Bug Vacuum. He was awarded this for being brave at the emergency room while the doctor literally glued his wound together. The wound is visible on his forhead in this picture, and marks the point of impact between an irresistable force (Jamey) and an immovable object (tile floor). Posted by Picasa

Arthur with Jamey's new bug vacuum Posted by Picasa

Blogging in infancy

Robert Scoble's post today teases us with a hint at some new product that is supposed to make blogging easier and richer (more structured perhaps?). Also it is a reminder that blogging is still quite new.
What I wonder the most is this: are blogs doomed to become clutter, like spam and web porn? Is the blogosphere just unstructured data that will collapse under its own weight?
I love the idea of giving everyone an equal voice. It gives us all special power. But, is Syndrome correct, in "The Incredibles", when he says "...when everyone is special, no one will be"
Or, will this just be the most incredibly empowering technology since e-mail? Will like-minded people find each other faster, create groups that accomplish great things faster?
Also via Scoble, ArtRage looks like a promising app that could be the one, or type of app that finally makes me commit to a Tablet PC.
However, I do have to ask myself, what good is it to create paintings that can never be anything more than prints/posters?

Sunday, June 26, 2005


Shot this in my backyard yesterday. Posted by Hello

And this was inside a cardboard box I pulled from our storage unit. Anyone know what kind of bug this is? It is very small. I'm sure measured in millimeters. Posted by Hello
Update: Thanks Lief and Bop-Op for discovering this is a Pseudoscorpion. Harmless to humans. Whew!

Saturday, June 25, 2005


We had some fairly unusual lighting conditions on the 19th of June. This is the best of the bunch that I shot. No special effects were used in this photo! Posted by Hello

New China Hutch in Place

Heidi bought the hutch above at an auction. With her mother and brother, she moved it from the auctioneer to my parents' driveway. From there, my brother, father and myself moved it into my parents' dining room, where it stayed for two weeks. Then, my brother and father helped me move it into Heidi's mother's truck, which I had to borrow for the trip. Finally my neighbor Neil helped me get it in our house.
I guess it takes a village to buy a hutch. Thanks everyone!!

My neighbor Neil helped me get this very heavy piece of furniture into place. Thanks Neil! Posted by Hello

Bobcat in the Yard

See the picture below for evidence of a bobcat in our yard. Heidi said he took a leisurely stroll past our south-facing windows. So leisurely, that she was able to jump up, go into my office, turn on the camera and get 4 pictures before he rounded a bend out of sight.

Heidi caught this bobcat on 'film'! Posted by Hello

Saturday, June 18, 2005

The Great Thistle Massacre of Ought-Five

This morning, a mighty battle was waged between myself, armed with my trusty scythe, and a teeming horde of thistles.
I'd started out intent only on trimming some grass in my field, but became distracted, remembering the words of my wife "the kids need more room to play", and decided to mow down some tall grass nearer the house. That is when the first hint of trouble showed itself. I noticed a few small thistles had infiltrated the grass. They were trying to look tall and thin, to fit in, but much training has given me virtually infallible ability to spot these prickly devils.
Just as I felt I nearly quashed the insurgency, I crested the northern slope and set my eyes on what must have been a full battalion of large, angry, thistles.
Last summer a bulldozer had been here. Apparently, the thistle leader decided to use this clearing as the launchpad in some evil coup d'etat.
After a brief shockwave went through me, I sprang into action, toppling the first wave of them with the fluid agility of a natural warrior. On the second wave, disaster struck. My once trusty scythe blade snapped about 3/4ths of the way towards the beard-end!
We had fought a particularly troublesome campaign (a successful attempt to regain control of the south river) with some salmonberry bushes. One of them had managed to put a nick in his leading edge. Apparently, since then, that nick had festered, and run deeper than I knew. The final blow was but a tap, nothing close to the blows he'd survived before. And there it was, the greater part of his body, lying on the battlefield. Self-preservation nearly won me over as I prepared to concede the field. But then, a final look at my fallen comrade and a fierce glint from his remaining blade-edge caught my eye. He was telling me, in no uncertain terms, he was prepared to press on. I was nearly too astounded to believe the audacity, but his gleam could leave no doubt as to his intention.
One more tentative swipe at the enemy erased any concerns I had. Together, we pressed on and wiped out the enemy.
On the way back home, we encountered another sinister threat; Rubus himalaya, bent, no doubt, on drubbing us, humiliatingly. However, we erased that scourge, almost as an afterthought.
I already have recruited a new long blade for battles sure to come. But I think my old standby has proved he still has it in him to be, at least, a garden blade.

Friday, June 17, 2005


Our tile in Jamey's room. Still unglazed. Posted by Hello

The web as functions

Yubnub.org is an interesting portal that attempts to make the web into functions with it as the command-prompt. If nothing else, it's a compendium of useful resources.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005


Another perspective. Showing all the cool, wacky angles in our house. Posted by Hello

Our new Belgian tapestry. Thanks Aunt Mimi!! Posted by Hello

Anyone can comment

I just discovered how to set my blog to allow anonymous comments. Thanks to Bop-op for letting me know this was an issue.

Cool Tools

Wow, I'm home. Cool Tools blog is so on target with it's posts. The name of the blog is perhaps understated. Check out these things that were posted there today:
  • Flybar - Awesome pogo-stick. Adjustable to adult or kid weights
  • VR3 - Play MP3 in your car, on the cheap
  • Brother Sewing Machine - Basic sewing machine, on the cheap

The quality of information makes this a new must-subscribe blog for me.

Update: here is the cool tools url http://www.kk.org/cooltools/

Google Personalized?!

http://labs.google.com/personalized allows you to select from a number of categories that you 'like'. Then, when you search it allows you to modulate the 'personalization' of the search results.
In my first search, for 'Scything', and with the personalization turned to Max., it returned this poem at the top. If you keep the personalization slider at Min., the results are the same as the regular Google home page.
Interesting.

Saturday, June 04, 2005

JavaScript RegExp

Here's a page demonstrating JavaScript Regular Expressions.
This is really cool because pretty much every browser supports JavaScript, so that means pretty much every computer has the ability to use them. However, JavaScript doesn't do file I/O, so my question is, how do you make this useful wherever you are?
Anyone????

Friday, June 03, 2005

No heat needed

With the 90 degree heat-wave we had last weekend, I assumed we would no longer need to heat our strawbale-insulated home. In fact, we hadn't used the heat for at least a week prior to the heatwave, and we haven't used it since, which means we haven't used heat since mid-May. I don't know if that is amazing or not, but I suspect it is cool.
This past week has been fairly steady at 45-50 at night and 65 during the day, and that is the projection for the next 5 days as well. We'll see how it goes, and I'll report here.

Thursday, June 02, 2005


First day on new bikes! Posted by Hello

A fine tradition, carried on. Rhubarb, dipped in sugar, eaten raw. Posted by Hello