anamnesis

Saturday, Mew and I went over to help some friends (re)construct their tipi (pictured left.) After an afternoon of hefting lodge poles and lashing down canvas, we headed out for Nepalese buffet and a relaxing evening chatting. Olde friends are truly a blessing. Chatted a bit with ger-beans last night and he reminded me of some interesting things brothers learn from each other. He saw me doing surgery on my teddy bear(1) around 4 years of age or so and said he discovered for the first time that you can *alter* stuff, lol. And I remember one time, upon his claims that he could float on water ---which I witnessed for myself in the bathtub--- running to tell mom about this amazing phenomenon. She seemed to take it in stride and told me matter-fact that my brother could do some amazing things. That a person could simply float without moving was inconceivable. And I discovered from then on, not to ever think I know what all is possible for people to do. Especially those I think I know best...

Ever wonder what an "Executive Order" was? I did. Basically it means a president can just make a law without any input from congress or anyone. Here are some interesting executive orders that are currently in effect. Good thing we don't live in a police state, cause like, that would be bad eh? EO 10995 Allows the government to seize and control the communication media EO 10997 Allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals EO 10998 Allows the government to take over all food sources and farms EO 10999 Allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports EO 11000 Allows the government to mobalize civilians into work brigades under government supervision EO 11001 Allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare funtions EO 11002 Designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons EO 11003 Allows the government ...

In the land of polished MMORPGs and media studio game production vying for 3D experiences, lie some interesting backwaters. I'm not referring to the casual gamers, although that is a significant slice of population that aren't WoW'ed by the immersive environments, rpgs and simulations; nope, that's an artform unto itself. I'm talking about something else. Something that looks like it was made by scanning pre-schoolers' doodles in a place where the object is to beat up drunken goats and battle hippies. Something called: The Kingdom of Loathing It's free, relying only on donations. But here's the interesting thing about "scale" on the internet: just the donations were enough for its creator to quit his day job and hire 6 full-time employees. They even have a virtual currency. Current exchange rate is 480,000 hunks of meat for one US dollar on ebay.

Here's a pretty nifty service: PaperBackSwap . They have over 800,000 books listed. How it works is that you initially list at least 9 books you have that you want to trade to start and they give you 3 credits. Each credit is worth one book. When somebody orders one of your books, you send it directly to them and you get another credit (you pay the postage.) Whenever you want a book, you spend one of your credits to get any book in their listing (you don't pay postage.) Kinda cool this collaborative stuff. PBS also generates a mailer for you to slap on your book detailing the exact postage you need (it knows from the ISBN), so you just put on the stamps and put it in the mailbox. No trips to the post-office. So basically, for the price of media-mail (which is pretty dang cheap) you can upgrade any of your books to others that you like better. This really beats the used book stores which typically give you 25% of the value and then charge at least 50% for any book you want to bu...

1) It  takes  more  energy  to make  ethanol  than  the  fuel itself  produces. Reality: Not so. Critics like to cite a 2005 study that shows a negative energy balance for ethanol, but that study was coauthored by a former oil company employee. It is contradicted by five others showing that corn ethanol delivers 20 to 50 percent more energy output than it takes to produce, and cellulosic up to 600 percent more. The National Resources Defense Council calls corn ethanol "energy well spent." 2) Ethanol  is  expensive to  produce. Reality: Ethanol costs about $1 a gallon to produce at typical facilities, which explains why E85 was selling for $1.95 at pumps in South Dakota this summer. In 2004, it was selling for $1.40 a gallon wholesale. Prices spiked higher recently because oil companies mismanaged the switch to ethanol as a replacement for the environmentally disastrous additive MBTE. Once demand and supply reach equilibrium, it can profitably sell for $1.40 a gallon without s...

True story. Guy flies off a Pacific Coast Highway in his Ferrari Enzo doing 200 MPH, wraps around a power pole, totals the car. Cops arrive to find him walking around the wreckage with just a split lip. Says someone else was driving and they ran off. Another guy is there, said he stopped to help but his friend drove off. This other guy stopped another car (still with me?) to borrow a cell to call 911. Good samaritan that stopped to loan his cell calls cops a few days later to report the guy who asked to use the phone evidently had stuffed a .40 Glock automatic pistol beneath his front seat while making the call. But back up a little. While the police were trying to sort all this out, a black SUV and another car pulls up and two guys jump out flashing badges that say they are homeland security and need to talk to the guy that just crashed. The guy that crashed claims he's a member of the anti-terrorism task force. Actually he was a tech executive for Gizmondo, a competitor to ninten...

"Down On The Corner, out in the street, Willy and the Poorboys are playin'; Bring a nickel; tap your feet." Weekends I usually take a little time for exploring creative things and people on the Internet. This weekend's discovery looks like it will lead to hours of fun for me (and potential torture for my gentle readers.) Go over to SpliceMusic and you can create your own music. Check out this short tutorial to get you started. And here is the very first song composed by anamnesis production studios unlimited. It's short and raucous, but I kinda like it. (The play button here seems a little iffy sometimes, you may need to click on the Remix This Song Now button and then click play on the sequencer when it displays. If yer really curious.) Feel free to remix it or, better yet, start from scratch on your own creation. I expect some great things from this eclectic group; especially our next wavers, Sonic, Mew, Skrylar and Sam; but wouldn't count out their eccent...

Line Rider - beta by * fsk on deviant ART Reminds me of certain sledding adventures. Especially if they add trees.

I appreciate the effort Gerbean's took to provide an unadulterated picture from his window. However, I liked the original, which illustrated the type of objects he keeps on his dashboard, and doesn't at all detract from the view.

 

You may get the impression, from these limited postings in bloggerville, that all I'm up to is dreaming. Let me assure you that I have a bazillion other projects going on, but somehow dream related stuff just bubbles its way here in the margins. The last week or so, one of my projects has been refining a CD that I listen to before going to sleep each night. I'm on revision 13 now. Kept tweaking the frequencies and backgrounds and started to add suggestions to see if I could coax my mind into better recall of dreams. At first I started with a simple suggestion, "I will remember my dreams." Inserted it in a part of the CD where I'd be drifting off (around theta/delta frequences) some 11 minutes in. Then looped it a few times. Had a few issues with volume control in the first versions and it jolted me back awake. After getting that little glitch worked out, I realized there were some problems with the wording. The unconscious seems to be fairly literal. And lazy. And...

"We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far." -H.P. Lovecraft

When the Timpkinses married, eighteen years ago, Timpkins was three times as old as his wife, and today he is just twice as old as she; how old was Mrs. Timpkins on her wedding day? (Don't read the comments if you want to try your hand at this first!)