Farewell

( Click the image to enlarge ) Alas, it is true. After many years of trying to do himself in using a motorcycle or surplus rocket, Evel Knievel passed away November 30 due to diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis. He was 69. Contrary to those who would like to make him a legend, the daredevil did not have a perfect record. His career was marred by a couple jumps where he was unable to deliver a spectacular crash.

Six More Ladybugs

(Click the image to enlarge)
August has been teaching us all about ladybugs. Apparently they "are always hungry and eat aphids".

Patches the Digital Puppet

For Halloween this year I dressed up as a 5' tall talking jack-o-lantern. I've just posted a video about the project and some of the interactions people had with Patches on Halloween night.

Check it out in the Audio & Video section of my site.

Young Einstein

"Young Einstein"

Drawing from 2005. Joke by my high school friend John Haack, circa 1988.

Picture = 1000 Characters

A little diversion to start your week. ASCII Art has been around a long time.

Sometimes taken to extremes, this noble art form can be fun for the whole family. There are a lot of generators (like the one I used for the image above) that produce fun results with none of the "what are you doing with your life" issues.

Try:
Upload an image and convert it to ASCII Art
Generate ASCII Art versions of your favorite font (truly silly application when you think about it)

New Family Comic

My children have made me a better person. In the Fall of 2004 August helped me with my Perspective.

Old Doodle

I was cleaning the office the other day and found this autobiographical doodle from sometime in 1997. I like the drawing. And I am happy to report that after years of hard work I am now able to demand food and coffee.

Sandscrit, Hieroglyphics, and Lingo

The future belongs to Flash. Macromedia Director and it's scripting language, Lingo, are going the way of HyperTalk, SuperTalk and the Blink HTML tag.

After doing much of the programming on various CD-Rom titles (see the Boring Stuff section of my site). I had developed the ability to create just about any hunk of Lingo I needed without using a reference. I've avoided diving into ActionScript for fear of confusing myself with a similar, yet very different, scripting syntax. But, the time has come. It is looking like the Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) will grow into being the vehicle for delivering desktop applications created in Flash and that Director will not be advanced by Adobe. I may not have written my last line of Lingo, but I have to move on and embrace ActionScript and FlashCS3.

Energy Efficient?

Sure, the new bulbs we're phasing in around the house will save electricity and, we are told, the future of the human race.

However, this is now what a light bulb looks like. The familiar, simple, iconic incandescent light bulb we have known for 100 years is going the way of records, film strips, rotary phones and rabbit ears on top of the tv.

I asked the kids what this was a drawing of. They both responded "A light bulb". *sigh*.

It is going to take a lot more energy for cartoonists to draw a contemporary idea hanging over someones head.

October Chores

The Garbageman Cometh

I hide from my garbage men.

Each Monday morning I glance back over my shoulder even before I am done waving at the departing school bus. I listen carefully, trying to reassure myself that there is no trace of a second, more sinister diesel engine already approaching from around the curve.

I choose to believe that my brisk gait lends me the appearance of a man eager to begin doing the many important tasks awaiting him at home.

I usually make it to the front walk before I hear the distant release of air brakes - to my ear a poorly bugled signal to attack.

Several long strides bring me to the front door and quickly inside. I slip out of my shoes and take up position on the landing halfway down the stairs to the basement. I look out the ground-level window. Safely in my trench, I steel my nerve, preparing to observe the inevitable hostilities.

My gaze lingers for a moment on my fearless gray infantry. My three heavy-duty 50 gallon Home Depot wheeled and lidded trash bins hold their position even as an enemy leaps at them from his still moving war machine.

The first bin is rolled in a tight arc and violently slammed into the back of the truck. The attacker bends and strains to heave it entirely into the back of the vehicle. Throwing the bin from side to side, the waste management menace backs away from the truck, pulling the hollow remains of my gutted soldier back into the daylight. The bin is given one final thrust and it rolls to the curb and topples, defeated, onto the lawn.

Now joined at the back of the truck by his accomplice, the two men stop and glare at our house. They know I'm here. Somewhere. Watching.

With much grunting and cursing the remaining two bins are heaved, slammed, rammed, scraped, spun, and vaulted.

They pause again and level a purposeful glare at the house. At me.

And then they are gone. But not for good. I know they will be back.

I know...because I pay them.

- ### -

Free advice: If you spend $170.00 to buy three heavy and awkward bins in an effort to deter ravenous raccoons and avoid the monthly fee for the hydraulically-liftable bins offered by your trash service, do not one day wander down your driveway and ask your garbage men if there is anything you can do to make collecting your trash easier. I certainly wont do that. Again.

CTV-DETOX

We are all slowly becoming accustomed to a relatively TV-free existence.

In the absence of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, I am now depending solely on the BBC international to lull me to sleep.

Dana reports feeling generally more productive.

The kids have accepted that we are not punishing them. Our DVD collection is helping ease their pain. Chloe really misses Hanna Montana.

On the whole we have more music, more singing, more dancing, and more playing together.

We may still decide to plug back in to cable in the future, but perhaps we can develop some new habits in the mean-time.

The Grim RepairMan

We decided to try an experiment this Summer. We cancelled our cable TV at the end of April.

Summer was upon us. We would be playing outside, swimming, creating art and playing games. It would be good for the kids to have to invent some entertainment instead of defaulting to the television.

After four months of free cable the Comcast dude finally got around to disconnecting our service. So, uh, I guess we're going to try an experiment this Fall.

Sketch Comic

Welcome Mr. Sneakers

Mr. Sneakers is a "Snow" variety of Corn Snake. Masterfully named by the kids, he is 13 inches of solid entertainment. I'm told he can grow to be 4 feet in length, but will remain a harmless pet. Corn Snakes are excellent escape artists, so we are all learning to remain vigilant. I'm not sure how Evie the cat would react to a free range snake, but I have my suspicions.

Touch the Network

Apple rolls out the new iPod. Watch the guided tour.

One feature / partnership jumped out at me. Apple has partnered with Starbucks and will begin piloting a system that includes the ability to preview and purchase the last 10 songs played at the Starbucks you are sitting in. This is just the start of the kind of wireless interaction we will be having with our physical environments.

GPS technology, combined with your camera phone, will allow you to take a picture of the bar code on a product and find the lowest price on the item in a 5 mile radius.

Your future wireless device will always be on (like your cell phone today) so the network will reach out to you. Retailers will send coupons to your cell phone as you pass their store front. News sources and other services will send video, text and audio filtered using your preferences - some preferences that you declare, others that software agents in the network have learned about you. And the network will know if you are home or away, sending the media to your computer, your television, or to your mobile wireless unit.

I'm optimistic, and excited to use and create some of these services. However, in the interest of equal time, I point you to the ACLU who created a really cool simulation to caution us about a possible dark future of ubiquitous connectivity.

Finally, back on the topic of touching your technology, check out this series of very inpiring touch interface experiments.

The New Site

Well, the new comics site is sewn together enough to loose it on the countryside.

The site is a bit of an experiment. I was curious to see if a variety of free web services could be stuck together to create a cohesive, consistently branded user experience. I believe the answer is "mostly-ish".

This blog is created and maintained using Blogger and an RSS Feed to pull it into this site. The "Emporium" is a free Cafe Press shop (that allows little to no customization of the look and feel). There is video hosted by YouTube and I'm running Google AdSense advertisements.

After evaluating a number of options for publishing comics, I chose to hack together my own system. I wanted more flexibility than any existing free service seemed able to provide. In fairness, if I had taken the time to set it up and learn, ComicPress, an add on to WordPress, may have been an excellent tool, but would still require a lot of custom coding.

I believe the new site publishing tools will allow me to spend much less time managing the site and much more creating content. I hope you enjoy the comics and stuff offered to you by this clumsy brute of loosely assembled technologies.

Tim

Creepy Creepy

I once stopped in at a flea market.

The sign said all the neighbors had donated items to be sold to help fund a community well.

I was strolling from table to table when I was stopped in my tracks by a pair of prostetic legs. They were standing guard over the small appliances. I was really creeped out.

Who's had they been? Why weren't they needed anymore? What warped individual thought they would be a hot item for a fund raiser?

I shrugged off a shiver and left the market. I left them standing there. The legs with nobody in them.

No More Ground Beef

We took a tour of the hydroponic green houses at Disney World. The "Behind the Seeds" tour takes us through the green houses with a knowledgeable guide.

The phrase "hydroponic farming" must have been circling my brain until it ran into a cow.