Interesting/Noteworthy Things of the Day

Hello Kitty makes Science News!
Man! I swear kids are far more advanced these days, then I was at their age, and heck!, possibly today too!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z2KdPx0zpI
*Be sure to watch the video at the bottom of the page, it's a doozie!

Just goes to show you that Hello Kitty is not the end result of the "Evil Empire", and that cuteness can be good motivators to advancing scientific knowledge!

p.s. if you haven't heard, Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation date of 2/28/13...

Last edited by Mr. Humphreys on Mon Feb 11, 2013 5:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It is a wonder how much knowledge kids have available to them these days, as much as I might be one for griping on about techmology.

A couple of teens from Toronto did something similar with a Lego man last year, and the video is pretty darn awesome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQwLmGR6bPA

That's pretty neato too!
I guess it won't be long now... kids will be launching things into space, and aliens will discover their planets littered with Kaiju, plush goodnes, and plastic toys! ...they might even start selling them for huge profits on alienBay.com

Sushi anyone?
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/10/15/18-foot-long-oarfish-found-off-california-coast/
Can you imagine stumbling onto one of those? Imagine what a 55 ft. specimen would look like!
Hide the cats!

Just in time for Halloween....
http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-this-is-why-our-pets-hate-halloween-20131014,0,5156723.photogallery

Sushi anyone?
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/10/15/18-foot-long-oarfish-found-off-california-coast/
Can you imagine stumbling onto one of those? Imagine what a 55 ft. specimen would look like!
Hide the cats!

I saw that in the news! Pretty rare fish.

It's been cold in the Bay Area--down to the high 20's and low 30's, very unusual for us weather wimpies

Just in case you wanted to know what the weather was like at Santa's Workshop, you can actually check on that!
http://www.weather.com/weather/hourbyho ... K0173:1:US

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Breaking news in Japan!

https://youtu.be/6nBs_yRqg4w
RABBITS adopt lost girl!
P.S. That sign sezs... be SURE to feed the rabbits!

Last edited by Mr. Humphreys on Fri Nov 27, 2015 4:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Toy related!
http://little-people.blogspot.com/
Lots of neat new posts recently...

Another passion of mine is ceramics. If you've ever thrown and glazed pots, you know it's quite a bit of work. You have to either wheel-form a piece, sculpt it, or construct it by hand--or any/all combination of those techniques. Then you allow the piece to dry slowly in a "green room" (humidity is controlled so that the pots don't dry to quickly and form cracks or warp). Then you take the "greenware" pot, and either trim it on the wheel (to clean up symmetry and create the foot of a cup, plate, bowl, etc...) and add finishing touches. Then you fire the pot in a kiln (bisque fire the greenware), allow to cool, then you apply a glaze, allow to dry, then fire the pot in a kiln again so that the glaze becomes permanent (depending on what sort of glaze you use, it's essentially liquified silica with oxidizes and minerals to add color. When you put a glazed pot in a kiln, it liquifies the silica glaze coat (essentially glass) at high temps and recrystallizes into the glassy/glossy/matte state, when the pot finally cools). You can get fancy and apply special stencils and appliques to the glaze (capable of withstanding high temps) - or use stencils to mask areas to apply paint or paint over the mask to create the pattern, and/or scratch fancy patterns in the glaze (sgraffito). BUT... what happens when you are working with ceramics and it crashes into zoetrope?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoGeydTSKas

some pretty amazing results!
P.S. there is always a risk that your pot will crack or explode or get destroyed by other breaking pots in the same kiln, during the bisque and glaze firings! Imagine all of your work, going poof!

Oh Grace, that really is cool! If Polyester Cowboy doesn't already know about this, I bet that he'd be interested.

I used to work in Hawaii and spent quite a lot of time there. The local arts and crafts always fascinated me. Kappa... amazing to think you could make such beautiful intricate cloth, from the bark of trees. The tools to create patterns were also very interesting. Found a great short video from a master, and she lives locally in Santa Cruz!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndx0sJyUOzc#t=215




More info here...
http://www.kqed.org/arts/visualarts/art ... sid=136248
http://www.wkstitt.com/index.shtml

Easter Peeps for peeps!
For the cooking inclined...
http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2014 ... is-easter/

Looks like fun! Possibilities for Kaiju peeps too!

mega sea shell collection

http://www.statesman.com/gallery/lifest ... p/#5076883

^^^I love seashells, thank you for sharing!


Andres Amador

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_tIG5mo1DM#t=109

Ephemeral artscapes = quite wonderful!
More info:
http://www.andresamadorarts.com/

Please ADOPT Us!
I have a soft spot for gray tabbies, and these two very large brothers (14 and 18 lbs.) are in League City, Texas, and need a home. They're gorgeous, and from their markings they must have some Bengal or Egyptian Mau in them. I just had to post this, because they seem so friendly and need a forever home.

Pretty puhlease!
Oscar


http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/23007832/
^^^*Be sure to see his adorable video, in the above link. If you watch in full screen mode, you can see those wonderful wild and wooly spots!

Felix


http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/23007823/
^^^*Also a very nice video!

The ultimate Tiger 7 pair

^^^I love seashells, thank you for sharing!


Andres Amador

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_tIG5mo1DM#t=109

Ephemeral artscapes = quite wonderful!
More info:
http://www.andresamadorarts.com/

Have to assume you're familiar with Andy Goldsworthy

^^^Makes you believe in forest sprites! Thank you for sharing that, I wasn't aware of his work!

I wasn't aware of his work!

You're still in the SF Bay Area, right? The artfully-cracked pavement and boulders at the entrance of the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park are Goldsworthy's work, a beautifully accomplished reminder of the fact that we live in a multi-fault zone. There are three installations at The Presidio ... the mud-caked room in one of the photos you've posted has limited visiting hours, but the other two can be accessed any time. My favorite there is his "Spire," which was made from trunks and branches of old growth in the park that needed to be cleared for new trees. You don't even need to know that to appreciate the beauty of the thing. Every time I've taken a hike out there, I've been the only person in the area, so it's there's a nice serenity to the setting. Photographs can't really do his earthworks justice ... to view them in situ is ideal.

Although a bit dated, the documentary "Rivers and Tides" re: Goldsworthy's work is well worth checking out.

^^^^^

What Dean said

Thank you Sirs! I've GOT to go see that mud caked room! What luck, that it's in SF! I wonder how the mud sticks and doesn't flake to the floor?
I will definitely make a trip out to the Presidio and the Museum to see his work!
http://www.presidio.gov/explore/Pages/a ... -line.aspx

http://blog.sfgate.com/artsandnot/2013/ ... 14616101=0

Found it!
Rivers and Tides
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQiHfgFnY_A

*near the end, at 1:22, he describes a mud installation in France (hair is the binding agent)-that time lapsed drying and crackling is really nifty!

I've GOT to go see that mud caked room! What luck, that it's in SF! I wonder how the mud sticks and doesn't flake to the floor?

It looks like I was wrong ... I thought that photo was of the one in the Presidio but apparently not, it's just sort of similar. Some general info here: http://www.for-site.org/project/goldswo ... -presidio/ "Tree Fall" is the newest of the four public works in SF.

I don't know the specific technique there, but I'm told there's a lot of trial and error involved in getting things like that right. I have a buddy who collects contemporary art who, when he bought a second home, was considering commissioning a "mud room" from Goldsworthy but decided that it was potentially too precarious and delicate for such an expensive investment. As I understand the reason for the restricted hours for "Tree Fall" have to do with atmospheric control. Too many people walking through and breathing in the room would shorten its lifespan. But that's part of the beauty of this art ... like anything in nature, it may either last for a monumentally long period of time or may disappear quickly at the whim of the elements.

Thank you for the clarfication Dean! Well, there is the Tree Falll flakey clay installation-almost as good as an entire room! Found some photos and a video, explaining how Tree Fall clay flakey thing was installed:

http://www.for-site.org/project/goldswo ... tree-fall/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfKnT-8uq0I


Looks like the installation is only here for 5 years (unless it all starts to break down and flake off, due to vibrations from movement of visitors, and changes in humidity (weather and people breathing), as you mentioned. I made a "clay flakey" diorama in elementary school, to depict the desert environment (with little people and animals too), and I remember just how delicate it was to construct that! Perhaps this is a BASK-worthy event to reassemble all of the lost souls?

P.S. That installation is a little worrying... what prevents clumps of it from falling on peoples' heads? Looks like it's just pressed and pounded into place. One good earthquake, and whammo!!!

P.P.S. Hum! Sounds like your friend would have quite an interesting house to look at! To be able to commission artwork for your own home is uber cool!

Sounds like your friend would have quite an interesting house to look at!

To say the least. The houses themselves are works of art. As a small taste, here's what his architect did with the back yard at the first house. When you're actually there, the optical illusion is almost disorienting.

^^^^^
Almost disorienting Dean?! How is it after a Scotch or two