Ploafmaster General

Holy sweet mercy it's about time :-)

One of my favorite radio programs (via its podcast), Radio Lab, has started its new season. Do check it out - it's more fascinating than I can describe.

Yeesh...I've been nutsoid-busy at work and painting some of the house like a fiend. That's almost done, and then I can resume my regularly scheduled blogging.

And I'm working on something special, too...

I just took delivery of these tripod legs today:



And this tripod head as well:



Now if only I could find my 300mm lens...it'll be nice to finally have a stable shooting platform for that puppy.

But I think I'd still like to build my own gasoline powered soda bottle rocket launcher.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBJwiwfqg70&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&fs=1&w=580&h=470]
(via Coudal)

Tonight Valerie and I watched, for the first time, Stuff Happens. Here we have a show hosted by Bill Nye (the Science Guy!) that explores the environmental impact of our everyday lives in an industrialized nation, and the two half-hour episodes we caught investigated the common kitchen and breakfast foods (an apt pairing, I'd say). There a plenty of statistics, demonstrations, illustrations, and so forth, all presented in that down-to-earth and quirky Bill Nye fashion.

I know the distribution of the Science Channel or Planet Green isn't too widespread, but if you have either one, check it out. Entertaining and informative.

There are pop culture critics, and there's The Hater. Today Amelie Gillette tears down what sounded like a good idea on paper...

This is an absolutely brilliant design for a ladle whether it's used for punch or a pot of chicken soup:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiPAyU-2wOY&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&fs=1&w=580&h=470]

(via Gems Sty)

John Gruber tipped me off to Flickr's iPhone-specific version of the website (clicking from a non-iPhone mobile or computer shows you the generic mobile site) just one day before I acquired an iPhone of my own. I've had a similar reaction to Gruber - the iPhone-optimized Flickr site is fantastic and useful. It's so good that I've had no reason to use Exposure (the App Store program for easy Flickr navigation), and in fact, I've discovered a feature that I wish the regular Flickr website included.

If I'm looking at photos from my contacts, I see something like this:



If I click on that first image from The 10 cent designer I see something like this in the sidebar:



I'm taken to the page for the specific photo as if I was viewing the user's photostream and I see a visual next/previous navigation element above the "This photo also belongs to:" section. If I want to look at the photos from my other contacts I have to go back to my contacts page and click on another user's photo or username. This, in my opinion, breaks convention with most other contexts in which you click on a photo on Flickr's site. If I click on a picture in a group pool, I get a next/previous navigation for the pool. The same is true for a set and, of course, the photostream itself.

On the iPhone-optimized Flickr site, however, we have the behavior I've wanted for a few years. In the next two screenshots I've highlighted an image in light green so you can see the behavior. First, we have the "photos from contacts" list:



The third image from the top is the one to watch here, from Jean-François Juteau. When I tap the image directly above, from a different user, I see this:



You can see that the next image is the green-highlighted picture. I wonder what it would take to add this same functionality to the standard web version of the website? I'd hope the feature is programmed portably, but we'll see. Perhaps I'll write the good folks at Flickr to determine whether I'm only the four-thousandth person to bring this to their attention :-)

In a manner of speaking:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70dKZjP4NOo&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&fs=1&w=580&h=470]
(via, etc.)

Man, do I ever need a new tripod. But sometimes what I have works just fine...

Valerie and I arrived at our polling place (the Richmond Police Academy) this morning around 6:30 AM and cast our ballots an hour-and-a-half later. I voted in every open race except school board and congressman, since those two positions in my district are unopposed.

Now I'm going to enjoy my day off (and my birthday).

This past weekend Valerie and I finally stopped by 1601 Overbrook Road at what seems to be a clearing house for estate sales. What you see above is what I bought; a (likely) late-40's Gillette Super Speed razor. I haggled the price down to $3 and we went on our merry way.

Behold the nickel-plated glory.

I purchased a pack of razor blades (also pictured above) and decided to see whether the old-school man tool was barbaric compared to modern shaving implements. After some house work and a good hot shower my face was ready for a clean, smooth, and fresh feeling, so I lathered up my jaw and put blade to skin (don't worry, I sterilized the entire shaver razor by steaming for 5 minutes). I guessed at the proper angle for holding the razor and dragged the head down my left cheek. Other than the light pressure against my face I barely felt anything, so I did a double-take in the mirror wondering whether I'd merely succeeded in wiping shaving cream from my face and little else. Closer inspection, however, revealed a close and even shave where I'd traced, so I finished up.

Shaving my entire face took no longer than a Gillette Fusion or Shick Tracer or what-have-you, and it was certainly more comfortable - and I have very sensitive skin (that is, I can't shave every day without shredding my face, usually). I'm convinced at this point that Gillette switched to cartridge-based systems to increase profit margins.

The whole device is a glorious piece of design, too. You twist the slightly-thicker base of the handle to open the head which opens with a sort of butterfly motion, and lock the blade inside by twisting in the opposite direction. The weight and balance are just right, and the smooth polished surface glides pleasantly across the face. I think my next step is to procure a good shaving brush and some old school shaving cream :-)

Oh, and how could I not share the sweet little artifact that is the instruction manual? The directions are clear, short, and helpful, all in a two inch wide strip of two-color printing (I scanned both sides - there was only one piece of paper):

While it's not nearly as extensive as the Library of Congress' account, the Library of Virginia has it's own presence on Flickr. It's only 200 images as of this posting and the range is limited, but there's plenty of info for each where available. CHECK IT OUT.

I caught "Sleepyhead" by Passion Pit on WRIR this morning (though I know I heard it already - I just can't remember where...), and it's my jam-of-the-day:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bfseWNmlds&hl=en&fs=1&w=580&h=470]

I find the video to be extremely clever, and the song is just short enough that the idea isn't worn out on me. It was directed by The Wilderness, a collaboration between Juliet Rios and Gabe Imlay, whose work seems generally to rock my socks off. Be sure to check out some other videos on their site.

Sweet mother of sweet mothers! BEHOLD!!!



This Mystery Science Theater 3000 box set is something new for the ol' Christmas list :-)

Those crazy-awesome crazies at The A.V. Club made and tasted bacon-infused vodka.

My only problem with the whole enterprise is that they couldn't figure out a simple way to get all the fat out. All you have to do is pour the whole thing into a parallel-sided container and pop it in the freezer. The fat solidifies and floats to the top and the vodka would clarify quite a bit. THEN you could strain it to make it even more clear if needed.

Also, I'm in favor of adding maple flavor (unless it's already maple bacon...) and some vanilla to the infusion. Shake with some butterscotch schnapps and cream, and you have buttered pancakes with syrup and bacon in a glass. Maybe :-)

Things could be slow this week, folks...

Between a crazy busy work week and crap-loads of work around the house, my mind isn't all there lately.

But I did get something nifty, recently :-)

I don't know how long it'll be until it's little more than crappy reality TV shows, but MTV has returned to music...online.

MTV Music is a joy to my music-loving heart. The interface is - so far - fairly uncluttered. The search engine is quick to dig through the 22,000+ videos. In addition to a simple but fast-loading player you have sparse but useful information such as the director (linking to other videos by the same person!). As a fitting test, here's the video to one of my favorite songs by the sadly-no-more Big Wreck:

http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:uma:video:mtvmusic.com:46306

And as a bonus here's Stars by Hum:

http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:uma:video:mtvmusic.com:55357

The Virginia Center for Architecture is hosting an exhibit on Eero Saarinen's furniture through January 25th of '09. While the VCA has a tragically small exhibition space, the furniture selections are decent and the detailed time line in the main hallway is thoroughly informative.

The exhibit is free, so if you want some culture on the cheap (though anything but cheap culture), check it out.

I don't see how you could get any weirder/funnier than Robocop on a Unicorn.

(via Andrew Sullivan)

Okay, you know I'm a fan of the digital galleries curated by folks at The Morning News.

Well this week's offering is simultaneously nerdy, surreal, and beautiful. Rosecrans Baldwin interviews Cornelia Hesse-Honegger about her strangely pretty watercolors of insects affected by low-level radiation.

This morning my RSS reader had an exciting entry. The Fan District Hub pointed me to Melissa Ruggieri's review of a nascent bagel joint smack in the heart of VCU's Monroe Park campus. This was awesome - something closer than Cupertino's but serving their bagels. Even if the Bagel Czar didn't make their own (unfortunate, but not the end of the world) at least they sourced them wisely.

Now I care far less than Ruggieri about the decor of my bagel purveyors. I'm not sure what background (and I don't mean to doubt it) makes her a "bagel snob" and I don't want to sound contrarian, but nearly every worthy bagel shop I've entered from Delaware to Manhattan is a little on the plain and utilitarian side. Sometimes even hole-in-the-wall. What matters is the bagels, and here's where things started to disappoint.

Having tasted Cupertino's wares a number of times, I'm doubtful these bagels were their work. While the West End deli and bagel shop isn't quite like the Tri-State area, they at least have that slightly crispy skin on the outside with a slightly chewy interior. The Bagel Czar, on the other hand, was a bit too chewy for my taste the whole way through. It's not simply the subjective evidence that makes me question the origin of these bagels, though. Their own website has the following message in the title bar of the browser: "Bagel Czar: serving authentic NY H&H bagels to the greater Richmond community." So I asked the gent behind the bar this morning where they procured their dough and he told me that it's not even H&H anymore. The bagels were apparently too small and - surprise - couldn't stay fresh that long coming all the way from NYC. So they switched to some distributor whose name he couldn't quite recall for sure; either "Walther" or "Walter" or some such place, and he didn't know where they were located.

Is it possible that at 7:30 AM the wage employee didn't really know who dropped off the food? Sure. Is it possible Cupertino's owns a truck with some other name on the side? Sure. But if these are indeed their bagels, then I have greater cause for disappointment since it would mean the quality is slipping.

Granted, the bagel I had wasn't terrible. I like to test a new place by trying a plain bagel with butter (or an egg bagel if they make them - sadly, not at the Bagel Czar, but available at Cupertino's), and this was decent. Look, if you're a student who can't hoof it out to Cox Road for a worthwhile bagel, this place beats the crap out of whatever Kroger has to offer. But if you can and are willing to drive a little, the Bagel Czar isn't worth your time.

UPDATE: The proprietor of Cupertino's told me that the Bagel Czar does, indeed, carry his bagels. I dunno if perhaps they don't always have fresh stock (and I haven't exactly returned), but unless I'm desperate for time, I'd rather make the trek to the Far West End and get them from the man himself.

What should I take a picture of?

It could be anything...conventional, strange, pastoral or portrait. I want suggestions in the comments, and they can be as simple as "dogs" or something complex with specific direction (like angles, time of day, et cetera). I'll pick something by Friday afternoon. I'll shoot the crap out of that subject/theme (hopefully this weekend) and post the results as soon as the film can be developed/scanned.

Ever since I was at VCU I always noticed the Red Bull vehicles driving around campus, or their less fortunate employees hoofing it around the student commons with cases of the energy drink. It was a free can from one such over-enthusiastic Red Buller that introduced me to what I consider a putrid beverage. I think I've had one more can since as a test to see whether the first was a fluke. It wasn't - it tastes as if somebody crushed up a bottle of Flintstones vitamins in some Kool-Aid and threw in a splash of club soda for carbonation.

I don't know why, then, I paused in the 7-11 this afternoon when I saw a can of Red Bull Cola.



I suppose it was curiosity to see whether they made some "energy cola" to supplement their product line. Seeing the "natural" tag on several parts of the can made me chuckle considering the somewhat engineered flavor of their flagship beverage, so I had to glance at the ingredients. Here I was surprised to find real sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup (like nearly every other cola in the USA) and a lack of high-wattage extracts. What, not an energy drink? So I decided it was at least worth trying a new cola.

Cracking open the can I could already smell the difference - this was definitely a cola, but not your average Pepsi or Coke product. There was a real fragrance that smelled like something mixed up fresh. Tasting the drink confirmed what my nose suspected - there were hints of citrus, licorice, and some spices on which I couldn't put my finger - so I had to take a closer look at the ingredients. Sure enough, there were extracts of lime, licorice, vanilla, lemon juice concentrate, ginger, cinnamon, cacao, and a host of others. Heck, they even get the caffeine from coffee beans!

I don't think I ever expected a can of cola with this complex a flavor...now I want more.