A head scratcher

I've been reading Astropixie off and on since before she was Dr. Astropixie, back when we were both just speedracers and Scientists United for the Global Advancement of Awesomeness (gimme some SUGAA!). Well, SUGAA has faded from view, and the speedracers are napping, but Astropixie is still going strong, frequently posting little bits of scientific awesomeness. A couple of weeks ago, she posted a painting by Nikola Bogdanov-Belsky (Counting in Their Heads, 1895, at right). It features a group of kids working through a math problem in their head.

Now I love doing mental calculations and estimations. I recall once mentally calculating with my roommate the number of silver dollars that would fit within the space occupied by the First Wisconsin Building (now the US Bank building, and soon to be the site of my fundraising climb to benefit the American Lung Association. Sponsor me here!) I don't remember the number we got, but I enjoyed the process... the mental calisthenics. So, when Astropixie challenged her readers to answer the chalkboard question themselves, I leapt at the challenge. Here's the calculation the kids are working:












I'm amazed to report that I actually got the correct answer - calculating in my head, and without taking notes! Given my poor memory, I never thought 'd make it. But the most amazing thing is the answer. I'll put it in the comments on the blog website. But give it a try first, see if you can do it.


The big question then: Is this an indicator of something? Or maybe of some other thing? I'm guessing not. Perhaps it's just a warning that not all beatufiul answers need be significant.

My latest purchase

The pic below is of a piece of original comic art I recently ordered. I have to say, I think it kicks ass! It's the page inked by Scott Wegner from the Atomic Robo comic. Color and speech balloons were added later. The robot is Atomic Robo, an nigh invulnerable AI robot designed by Nikola Tesla in the 20's. The guy is Carl Sagan. He's holding a lightning gun, also designed by Tesla. The monster was once H.P. Lovecraft, but he's been taked over by what might be called an eldritch horror, and is now referred to as "The Lovecraftian Horror". Can you see why I love this comic? And now I have a piece of it of my very own. It's sandwiched between glass in my bedroom, where Sagan and Robo can use Tesladyne technologies to defend me while I sleep. Have I mentioned that I have a very understanding wife?

Halloween Pumpkins - 2008

From left to right, TheFishmonger's, TheWife's, TheBoy's, TheGirl's.

TheWife picked out an excellent warty pumpkin to carve. Sadly, it turned out to be virtually uncarveable,with a super hard shell which claimed the lives of two knives before she gave up. Who knew?

Oh, and TheBoy didn't actually carve his own pumpkin, but he did tell me where to put each facial feature, and what shape it should be. So we can say he designed it.

Origami AD&D Monsters!

This is just geekarific. The guy has built a series of origami monsters, mostly based on critters from the AD&D Monster Manual. Joseph Wu is my new hero.

My favoritest ever D&D monster, the Beholder, is pictured at left, and many others (including a mind flayer and two or three dragons) can be found in Joseph Wu's Origami Gallery .

Thanks to boingboing.net for bringing this to my attention!

The London-New York Telectroscope

This is pure genius. Check out the website.

The artist explains that he has completed a trans-atlantic tunnel begun by his great-grandfather in the 1890's. The tunnel was being built to accomodate the Telectroscope, and optical contraption that would allow clear viewing of the other end of the tunnel. So, a person in NY could see what was happening in London, or vice versa.

It appears from the pictures that the tunneling equipment broke through in New York on Wednesday, and the Telectroscope was installed shortly thereafter. No word if the device is operational yet.

meat paintings

As the title suggests, Mike Geno has done a series of paintings of meat. Bacon, Spareribs, Lamb Leg Chops, and so forth. Buy the originals here ($600 for a 12"x12" oil painting on board), or buy prints for $20 from his etsy site. All very nice paintings offered in a very straight-forward way. Yes. Now just tell me, I'm curious. Who the hell would want a painting of meat (much less a print of a painting of meat) hanging on their wall? I mean besides 2tall (my gastronomical opposite), who is probably wondering if the things come in wallet size.

This Year's Pumpkins!

This year's pumpkins turned out rather well, I'd say. A lot of innovation. Working from the top to bottom:

TheBoy's pumpkin (OK, I carved it, but he thoroughly enjoyed playing in the pumpkin guts. Yet another difference between boys and girls. As a toddler, TheGirl cried when I touched her hand to pumpkin guts).

Next, TheGirl's pumpkin. A sad clown with a tear running down his cheek. I can almost sense the black velvet.

Below that, TheWife's mummy pumpkin. The photo doesn't do it justice. In low light, the glowing eyes show nicely through the swaddling gauze. Spooky!

And finally, TheFishmonger's own. Decided to use the stem as the nose of my pumpkin design this year. Not the most striking pumpkin of the batch, but I had lots of fun figuring out how to make it work.

All in all, a quite successful pumpkin year for all of us! Oh, there was more turnip carving, too! Check mine out:

Is it Art?

Among other things, Tara Donovan has constructed a four foot high cube of toothpicks. Is it art? Damn straight! Is it fine art? Beats the hell outta me. And I could care less. But when someone designs something with an eye toward its aesthetics then, to some degree, it has to qualify as art. This applies whether it's an office stapler, a painting in a museum, a child's drawing, a web page layout, or whatever!

Does this demean 'art'? Only in the eyes of the Gatekeepers. You know the Gatekeepers, right? They're the ones telling you that you aren't enjoying that glass of wine properly, that all books should be intellectually stimulating, and that pop music is always worse than classical. They don't want us to enjoy ourselves unless we follow the convoluted formulae they invented and, among other things, theywant to keep art out of the hands of the people.

They won't be able to, of course. We're all artists, and it will come out, one way or another. For some their art is expressed in sculpturing a block of marble. For others, it's in arranging their desk so that it is functional as well as attractive. Some are better at it than others, but we shouldn't let that stop us. Art is a basic human impulse. So go out today - doodle a flower in the margin of your notes, take a picture of a flower in your yard, paint a horse on your cave wall. And while you're at it, grab some velveeta and a box of wine and make a party of it!


(This post inspired, in part, by my evening last night. After grocery shopping, I settled down with a glass of Macallan 12 year old scotch (no smokiness, yum!), a stack of sour-cream and onion pringles and a LArry Niven sci-fi novel. Now that's living!)

More cutting edge options

More cutting edge options for your remains - these from Nadine Jarvis. My favorite? Using the carbon in your cremains (heh, love that word... it's so silly) to make pencil leads. Possibly the only way to keep me from chewing on a pencil. The gruesome bit is that she puts the name of the deceased on the pencils.

These are just art pieces, I don't think they'll be commercialized. They're even too weird for me!

Snowday art project

Portrait of TheBoy and TheGirl, drawn by TheGirl today.

TheGirl was doubly stuck at home today. First, since the sub-zero temperatures closed down the school district, and secondly because of a fever (high temperatures). She was getting bored and fidgetty. I suggested she draw me a picture of herself and her brother. I'll call that a day well used.

Ayrie's Masks

This flickr set has photos of some amazing carved wood masks. They're stunning - beautiful and powerful. Have a look, the thumbnail (assuming I can manage to load it) won't do it justice.