Random Thoughts for the Day:

[Spinland]

Bit of a return to normalcy here at Spinland thank goodness. Had a nice dinner at the local Greek restaurant, did a little book shopping (I resisted the urge to buy up a couple of Wordpress books. I already have the blog set up well, and can Google anything I need to figure out--I just love getting books). Now all three cats are hanging out with us in the family room while Anne reads her business law textbook and I provide tech support for web newbies on the Xara forum.

Where's Norman Rockwell?

[Gare]

You might have liked Norman Rockwell more than you'd think, Spinny.
Yes, his work is iconic Americana, but that was more due to what the Saturday Evening Post would buy on commission than was in his heart and soul.

He had a fine artist's training, but was a commercial artist, pure and simple. One remarkable event in his career was a painting he did and submitted to the S.E.P. in the 1960s, something along the lines of "When Johnny Comes Wheeling Home Again"; it was a Vietnam vet in uniform, with one of his sleeves pinned up.

Did The Post run with it? Not on your life. Rockwell, in his later years, was disenchanted and disenfranchised with the fable of The American Dream.

I dunno. Your Saturday Night around the homestead sounds charming, Spinner. Barbara and I are reading a book aloud, and cats are doing their things. First thing that struck me, was the scene's like a Hallmark card.

Now those guys never change, except perhaps that now they offer one or two gay wedding cards.

-g-

[Spinland]

More good stuff from my mom.

Kids Are Quick
____________________________________

TEACHER: Maria, go to the map and find North America ..
MARIA: Here it is.
TEACHER: Correct. Now class, who discovered America ?
CLASS: Maria.
____________________________________

TEACHER: John, why are you doing your maths multiplication on the floor?
JOHN: You told me to do it without using tables.
__________________________________________

TEACHER: Glenn, how do you spell 'crocodile?'
GLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L'
TEACHER: No, that's wrong
GLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.

(I Love this kid)
____________________________________________

TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?
DONALD: H I J K L M N O.
TEACHER: What are you talking about?
DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O.
__________________________________

TEACHER: Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn't have ten years ago.
WINNIE: Me!
__________________________________________

TEACHER: Glen, why do you always get so dirty?
GLEN: Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are.
_______________________________________

TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with " I "
MILLIE: I is..
TEACHER: No, Millie..... Always say, 'I am.'
MILLIE: All right ... "I am the ninth letter of the alphabet."
________________________________

TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but also admitted it.

Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn't punish him?

LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand....
______________________________________

TEACHER: Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?
SIMON: No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook.
______________________________

TEACHER: Clyde , your composition on 'My Dog' is exactly the same as your brother's ... Did you copy his?
CLYDE : No, sir. It's the same dog.
___________________________________

TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?
HAROLD: A teacher
__________________________________

[Welles]

This artist gives entirely new (or is it an old...) meaning to 3D models...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24796741@N ... 346008881/

Whoa!

[Gare]

That is an amazing presentation, Welles, thanks for sharing!



I particularly like the "Big Head" as Michael Smith notates, rising into one of the scenes.

Not sure, but I think he used 3D Studio Max to sculpt the head; the rest of the scene is fairly easy to model and render with stock autos from Content Paradise.

BigHead.jpg

I'm kidding. What devotion and passion, for sure! Concept and execution is fairly awesome, too.

-g-

[Spinland]

The little touches, like lens flare highlights on some of the chrome, just make the reality level of those shots pop off the scale.

[Gare]

In another life, when I art directed TV commercials, we used to have a mantra, "God is our Gaffer."

There's just no substitute for intense, single source lighting like our sun. That's why so many of the advanced rendering engines use Global Illumination and Ambient Occlusion, along with diffusion and ambient material properties to simulate the look. Your typical ray tracing engine from 20 years ago could suggest depth and volume in a scene, but that was it.

George Lucas, partially for practicality's sake, built about 40 yards of Death Star outdoors on a studio lot, and zoomed a camera down the gutter to film the sequence in Star Wars where Luke gets 2 points for dunking the photon torpedo into the Death Star's sweet spot. Think about it: a huge space ship would be primarily illuminated from a single light source—so it worked.

-g-

[Gare]

I love this one, posted today, with a rebuttal from The White House:

Former US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has been criticised for writing crib notes on her hands for her Tea Party speech on Saturday. Mrs Palin was shown reading from her hand and displaying the scribbled notes after she had made the address. She had spoken in the speech of a "charismatic guy with a teleprompter", apparently meaning President Obama.
Mrs Palin received a standing ovation for the speech as she called for a "return to conservative principles".
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Such as writing on your hand instead of an index card, thus saving trees?
I don't know: if you saw the video clip, Our Girl Sarah might have appeared less awkward than usual if she used a teleprompter!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
But a photo... showed her left hand with the words "energy", "budget cuts", "tax" and "lift Americans' spirits". The word "budget" had been crossed out.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It probably wouldn't have fit on her palm, and then she'd have to continue the list on the other side...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Feb 9, 2010
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has his grocery list written on his hand at the daily press briefing. Gibbs was mocking Sarah Palin for her "crib notes" at Saturday's National Tea Party Convention.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
See photos below. Not sure, but I think Robert's list is:
Hamburger
Soup
Dishwashing detergent
Diet Dr. Pepper

....and the word "Tea" had been crossed out.

Hands up.jpg

-g-

[Spinland]

Stranger than fiction?

vehicle.jpg

coin.jpg

wtf.jpg

[Gare]

Oh, that was the one that Nissan recalled yesterday.

Or was that Toyota?

Or was that Mattel?

[Spinland]

Heh. My Prius is one of the floor mat ones, but my mat fits perfectly with no sign of causing issue with my accelerator so color me unworried. Or blue. Either one.

[Gare]

Heard a funny one about camouflage: seems after years and years of deer hunting, and Billy Bobs going out in traditional camo gear, someone started thinking outside the box—outside our species actually—and offered, "Hey, what if deer don't see the way humans do, and this camouflage pattern and colors we've been using might actually alert the deer???"

So after some research, they came up with a camouflage pattern that looks very obvious to the human eye, but is totally transparent when seen by deer. Deer will actually come right up to a hunter wearing the new pattern, and then Sayonara, Bambi.

The problem is that "real" hunters are reluctant to adopt the new camouflage: they're afraid that if they show up at the local watering hole after hunting, people will think they're amateurs, wearing some trendy gear they mistakenly believe is deer-hunting camouflage.

I'm largely against privately owned guns, and feel that "recreational hunting" is just another phrase for senseless killing, but this story tickled my funny bone. Imagine the embarrassment of a guy who's totally insensitive about everything else, demurring from scientifically-proven, "designer camouflage" because he'll look bad at The Tip A Few Restaurant and Tavern!

The only guffaws you hear are from the 10-pointers in the woods...

-g-

[Gare]

x

The New Sheep's Meadow Mossima.jpg

[Gare]

Walter Frederick Morrison, who invented one of the world's most popular toys, The Frisbee, died at his home in Utah aged 90. Conceived and developed in the 1950s—the hovering plate, not Fred— got the idea from playing with a metal cake pan on the beach in California; hundreds of millions have been sold worldwide since.

Fred.jpg

The platter's novel aerodynamic shape allowed it to hover briefly or travel surprisingly long distances, kept aloft by its rotation. In 1957 Mr. Morrison sold the rights to the California firm Wham-O, which discovered that youngsters were calling the toy a "frisbie" after the name of a well-known pie. The company changed the spelling to avoid trademark infringement and the Frisbee was born. On the official Frisbee website, Wham-O paid tribute to Mr Morrison, who was known as Fred. "As Frisbee discs keep flying though the air, bringing smiles to faces, Fred's spirit lives on. Smooth flights, Fred," it read.

What an epitaph. I wonder what shape the tombstone will be.

Seriously, I never know the history of a toy, of which I still have a huge collection, mostly from promotions. Some are not authentic, though, I confess. "The Humphrey Flyer" is a knock-off, and the ones I own shaped like a Dr. Pepper bottle cap, and one of a Life Saver, just don't have the lift a genuine Frisbee exhibits.

-g-

[Welles]

Why I love You Tube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZAA1zkr ... r_embedded