Geek news & the Large Hadron Collider

A dear friend recently directed me to youtube to entertain/educate myself about one of the newest scientific breakthroughs via the Large Hadron Rap.

Earths biggest atom smasher, located in Geneva Switzerland, began its work this week amid a wave of internet buzz driven by a Rap song popularized on Youtube. Entertaining and informative, the song created by Kate McAlpine, has increased public awareness of a cientific experiment which has been referred to by opponents as a doomsday device.

More information and interviews can be found here. Further articles on the LHC can be found at Popular Mechanics & The New Yorker.



A Wiki rundown of the LHC may be located at Wikipedia.

As so eloquently explained in the video - the LHC, or Large Hydron Collider is a multibillion-dollar machine which will collide two beams of protons in a head on collision while propelled at close to the speed of light.

This thought alone raised my curiosity as to whether protons have heads to crash into... and why not? More information needed - I continued my journey until l I stumbled upon the Higgs Boson at Particle Zoo. Any felt loving Geeks out there see Christmas gifts in their future???

Publish Post

Creators of Habit

I possess an ability to take random ideas, dissect them and alter their configurations into something completely different. I often felt that I was alone in this quirk but over time I have discovered that this is not the case. I have always reverse engineered my surroundings and recently I have become more successful at tracking down my fellow creatures of ingenuity.

Bronze casting is a rather good foot in the door for its ability to take found objects and to incorporate them into found art, molds and sculptural elements through various stages of the sculpting and casting process.

Stepping further outside that realm - these past weeks, these dog days of summer, have led to my developing a devout interest in sites provided by other Creators of habit. These are sites I return to time and again for nourishment when i need a challenge to daydream upon.

I am random, hear me roar. To steal from the maven of random creations, here follow - a few of my (current) favorite things.

Mmm. Fun creative cooking. Tastespotting is a visual feast of Food blogs which is ever changing and inspirational. An example of its delicious spontanaiety are these pancakes with recipe and easy to follow directions posted at makeandtakes.com. Pop Up Pancakes are an awesome idea. These are the perfect size to eat on the run! Mix in a little syrup with the batter and you are good to go!


I could cite 3 dozen recipes and link to a dozen more sites i found via tastespotting - but instead i refer you to investigate the visual feasts yourself.

Moving on... I am learning to weave. Or rather, i am learning to learn how to weave. I tend be very spontaneous with my pursuits.. my resume of handicrafts and hobbies is incredibly long. I want to know how to do EVERYTHING and luckily i seem to adapt well to taking on the roles of teacher and student in most cases.

My downfall seems to be textiles. I adore beadweaving, In the past I shown incredible patience while working with intricate detail work of jewelry making - but I cannot sew. Neither do i knit. My girls insist that they can show me and away we will go. Realistically - this is likely true, so i should clarify. I do not want to sew or knit.

They bore me to tears. the entire concept eludes me. So although i do not want weild a needle or two whichever the case may be... I do wish to achieve creation of clothlike materials for various projects. My solution for slightly quicker to instant gratification is to weave my material and evade needles to my best ability.

I have this daydream which imports value into my hobbies. They are a means to an end - if ever trapped on a deserted island with my sweetheart, doomed to spend the rest of our days alone in paradise, i intend to be well informed in enough skill sets that the world will still be our oyster. I know how to create a kiln, locate clays and sculpt pottery to eat off of. I possess knowledge enough in bronzecasting to make our own arrows, swords and shields to hunt with and protect ourselves. I am skilled enough at carpentry and physical labor to build a hut worthy of Sims Castaway fans acclaim. I can even garden and play a small amount of music to entertain us on an improvised piano made of half filled shells and a mallet - but this would all take place unclothed.
I need to fill in the gap in knowledge. I need fashionable clothing to complete my daydream.

I only appear random - I always start accumalating project knowledge through advance research and then begin the hands on portion of the learning process weeks later. When I became aware of the barbed nature of wool It was enlightening. Online weaving tutorials led to info on Needle felting (which allows for fabric to be meshed together with many needles sans thread), weaving wool together integrates with the felting oncept admirably. I can avoid "sewing" and still make a lot of the items i have had my sights on for so long. MAKE has an excellent information source on many maker projects involving LED's that need fabric to complete - until now i was sidelined by my unwillingness to sew.. but now there is hope. I am also accumulating a lot of knowledge from Instructables.com on how to felt and weave and solder circuits into clothing.

I talk too much... shhhh

Back to School

This has been a good week. a busy one, yet an effective one. I feel only mildly chaotic and stressed, better yet - I am very self aware of the cause of any stress and strain on my sanity. I know why i am feeling discomfort and by being knowledgeable about the source - i free myself from a lot of the angst and anxiety that would otherwise be forthcoming. So yes, it is the end of week one and i am a bit on the AHHHHH side. Thankfully I have a great team of supporting cast members to make it all good.

At the last minute I made some major changes to my class schedule. That in itself is a pretty big roll of the dice. the action of deleting a class to free up unit space to then beg for acceptance into another class which may or may not have room for your sorry ass is always a bit of a frightening one. Unfortunately, the Wednesday night course i was taking was not going to be a success by any measure and I felt that it was wise to acknowledge the fact before time took its toll on me. I was being optimistic in taking a class at a sister college only to determine that the quality of life offered was less than that which i was accustomed to. When i got home from the first nights meeting - I had to fight the urge to promptly throw out my bag as it had spent 3 hrs on the floor directly touching the most grotesquely unhealthy environment i have come across since my journeys aboard Amtrack traveling between San Jose, Utah and Vancouver Canada.

Run on sentences aside, i was dissapointed to discover that between the time of registration two weeks ago and that of my attendance at the actual class, this week, the course description had eroded from one which spoke of weekly guest speakers from various silicon valley companies in the realm of game design, graphic design and other tech sector industries to one which the instructor noted that all his guest speakers failed to show up last semester and our final project would be the completion of a business card.

Run. Run Run.

And i did. Health and sanity now remedied with a quick switch (successfully i may add) to a more relevant course load which is not redundant and a repeat of courses i have taken 3 times already. YAY ME!

I was really looking forward to industry leaders taking the time to speak with me, but que sera or whatever that saying may be. Time to move on.

My solution? A counseling course for careers in tech. Voila. Perfection. Definitely a skill set i am in need of. My eclectic interests make it difficult to quantify my skills within a box. I am a giant zig zag of passions. I could definitely find value in analysis of what makes me tick and a gentle push in the right direction via this class would be welcome.

I often feel too old. I hear others say it too often. but when i stop and THINK i realize that's not true. I am not too old for anything. I can begin any journey from this moment as my starting point. Every day is the beginning.

Geek Alert

When I was in High School, friends and I conceptualized a category of identification for ourselves, well aware that if we did not define ourselves with a label - others would be liable to do so for us. After much debate, we settled upon the title "Techno Hippie Individualists"Recently sorting through boxes of photographs and mementos I came across my own laminated membership card. A practical joke given to me by a friend and fellow member so many years ago. Years later, it still resonated with me.. Looking back on circumstances, I believe that I must have had the greater influence on the naming decision. Unlike K & J, S & others - I am the only one who grew into her geekiness. I stand alone.

I was inspired by my high school Film classes & work experience program which placed me at the warehouse of set supplier William F. White. Oddly enough K & J were more successful at following their hearts into the tech sector - taking classes in stage production and film makeup while my feet led me elsewhere on a wildgoose chase; but we all lacked equally in the follow through. Time and circumstance, family and lifestyle choices defined each of our destinies more than a tiny piece of cardboard pressed between shrinkwrapped plastic.

I somehow doubt my fellow members remember this at all - but for me - the basic memories last yet. I still rememeber the call sign for CRAT radio, our high school station which J coerced me into helping to DJ with her during school lunch hours. A cassette player and a PA system accessed from the front office of the school.

In hindsight it would be hard to deny that that experiment in geekiness obviously related to my becoming devoted in future years to KSIM radio - the online radio station created in Interhogan to complement the gaming world of THE SIMS ONLINE. KSIM Rocked my world and it, along with TSO, allowed the opportunity for me to create friendships and circumstances for me that allowed my life to evolve further than it might have if the Tech side of life had not been so available to me. Although later renamed WOKI and then SLAK Radio as time progressed and the evolution of community gaming evolved past TSO & Star Wars Galaxies - KSIM is where it all began.

Years later I still pour my heart into the tech side of things. I get giddy at the geekiest events, an example of which is the new STAR TREK ONLINE game being created by a local company to me. When i close my eyes and imagine myself transported to another universe, cryptic studios is well on its way to creating one of my ideal destinations. Mauii and Disney are great vacation spots but theres nothing like the geekfest of a well crafted mmo. I might not quite fit the definition of your mothers hippie experience but the Techno and the Individualist are still in full control.

Time Travel, Writing and the Persiedes Meteor Shower

When my sweetheart travels I often go with him, if not in fact then at least in action. When he is in another country and the clocks alter time I follow suite. My days get longer at first and then capsize in on themselves as I adapt to catnaps sprinkled in between long chats on the phone or via the computers. This occurs regardless of my best intentions to stay in the timezone where my feet are planted.

There are benefits to my sleepless nights; I am at my most creative late at night. Alone, my emotions run high and the shadows offer a discretion that is too easily voided out by the introspective light of day. In the dark I can write, but it is harder to peer at the page and reread the words laid out bare. Words fall from my fingertips with more honesty when given time to rest upon the page a while before being edited apart and dissected under bright lights. Nightfall allows time to pass before the fitful barrage of second guesses occur.

At this moment I am still at the brainstorming stage where ideas bombard me with such great impact that they threaten to remove prior thoughts and dislodge them from memory. I am still at the stage where I am frightened enough to keep pen always at hand, prepared to jot down my frenetic thoughts; to sketch them out a little later, once the tumult dies down somewhat and i can scavenge through the remnants of paper and text files to find the hidden gems.

My intention, to let the words fall, free of critique and restraint. Pleased enough with their existence in of itself.

It is a result of this recent time travel, the catnaps and what might be empty nights that in fact are not empty, that I will be readily available to sit outside and watch the Persiedes Meteor Shower this evening. While awake.

Details available on tonight's sky show that Perseus will rise in the northeast this evening, around nine pm, August 11th. It will not be until after 2 am that the moon sets and the sky becomes clear enough for the main show to present itself though. In a few minutes I am going to go dust off our telescope and ready my sky watching theatre in preparation. Then later, when I awake from another catnap I am going to curl up with a glass of wine in one hand and a pen in the other to watch the falling sky...


I will be looking for Perseid Earthgrazers--meteors that approach from the horizon and skim the atmosphere overhead like a stone skipping across the surface of a pond.

Earthsky offers a calendar of meteor and stargazing events for North America here. Astronomy.com offers excellent introductory to stargazing at their site. Space.com offers historical background and details on where and how to locate the best viewing experience.

Age of Conan - Wayfarer

I currently have a level 43 HoX and a 35ish Dark Templer in the world of Hyboria inside Age of Conan. Unlike Vanguard, LOTR and EQ2 - I am striving hard to not appear lost in game all the time. Luckily AoC has succeeded in being less complex than some of those "other" locales. To make things even easier, AoC Wayfarer has made its way into the world.

Unlike past map installations for EQ2 and Vanguard etc, this one installs so simply its hard to remember it is there. In fact i had to load aoc on another computer, take a look at my map in game and then return to the first PC to verify that I had done anything. The one downside for me though is that the auto launch feature after update does not work for me at this time. Instead i still launch Conan manually from the desktop.

With luck, this will be the tool that helps me raise my harvesting skills to a level where i can start donating the resources needed to complete our tier two Guild City.

Inspiration & emulations

Still on my path of introspective wanderings.. searching for more active online pursuits than awaiting my Scramble turn on Facebook... I came across the website of a Canadian band called Arcade Fire. Not only a well laid out and interactive website - but home of a rather awesome interactive music Video. Simple pleasures for simple minds. I am Amused.

Watch and Play with the music video for Neon Bible. Song is pretty decent too.

Release your inner Picasso and create your own Mr.Potato Head'ish creation at Mr.Picassohead.

Trippiness, Cuteness and other Oddities

The following diversions are predominantly denizens of this funky site called Neave.com

Plug in your microphone and prepare to be dazzled and bemused. Bounce is a fun diversion with limitless possibilities. Blow, whistle or sing to control the bouncing balls. Blast the stereo to really make them bounce. I sat at my piano keyboard and practiced playing "Beauty and the Beast", then went random and made a game of it by aiming to get the largest silver ball across the screen to the far right then back to the far left while banging away random notes. A perfect diversion for a totally random day.

Dig out your old 3D glasses and head on over to anaglyph Draw in 3D. this is rather fun even without having torn apart the house looking for old paper 3D glasses or hunting down any that might have made it home from IMAX. Rotate the page, scroll up or down, draw in all three planes. Neave.com is an interactive website created by designer Paul Neave.

Surf on over to Neaves' out of context television application and prepare to be bewildered. Giant mutated killer spiders and talking canines o'my.

This next link, Imagination, feels inspiring, most especially after having watched video for the Italian art installation, "The Cloud" so recently.


The Cloud - from mitmobileexperiencelab on Vimeo.

Exercise your imagination and become part of a fiber optic light show of your own making.

Make a wish on a dandelion.

Create a retro kaleidescope here and fiddle with a newer version here.


M.A.S.H. brings back memories of early childhood, my sister and her friends used to play it back when I was in grade two or three. Some days, when i was lucky she would draw out an extra layout on the corner of a lined page from her workbook and let me have a try at predicting her future.
Play Mash here.

Loss and diversions

Today, two close friends of ours lost their dog to the tragedy of time. As he was a stray when they first brought him into their family, his exact age has been undefined, but it was up there in the 15-17 yr range. Even 15 years is a lot of lifetime to have lived. It is with great sadness that they had to say goodbye to him today...

This leads me to the reasoning behind my sudden urge to resume updates of this blog. I was wandering less than aimlessly today, seeking out mild diversions and oddities that might divert my friends away from their great sadness and give them a moment of quiet or laughter or something of a mixture in between. Todays randomness is brought to you by our furry friends... those creatures great and small who make our worlds go round and whom have the power to make the world freeze in place at the moment of their loss.

Surfing the internet, riding the waves in search of new amusements... the following are some of the coolest links I have come across recently.

http://musicovery.com is an interesting and dynamic, interactive music tool. Beautiful and simple graphics allow you to experience listening to online radio differently. A free flowing and easily accessible interface allows for a truly interactive experience. We used to spend a lot more time listening to music. allowing it to be a destination rather than an addition to the background noise of other activity. Part of my free time of these two weeks has been invested in recreating a listening space again. Rearranging craft boxes and art supplies is now a priority.

And now for something completely different! Eddie Izzard is an actor who flew under my radar until recently. I only recognize him through the newish television drama "the Riches", where he portrays a "traveler" or conman impersonating a lawyer. Eddie Izzards voice sounds a lot like a Monty Python character, which of course is a great generalization... but his voice over for the death star clip posted previously had me momentarily confused as to whom the narrator was. Funny enough, his website does not make mention of the sole reason I am aware of Izzards' existence. The Riches is an okay show. Not a great show. I can understand why it is not on his (predominantly British) Biography. Especially true since he is also a co writer of the series. I try to watch new episodes still... but the operative word is "try". I "try not to watch any television that takes an effort to sit down and push play on the Tivo remote. My braincells deserve better. Which takes me further down the brainstorming chain of random where is she leading with this-ness...

Follow that weakened chain of thought - Imagine yourself as a Lego character! A few of my posts from earlier included personalized Lego Characters used as Business cards. Reasonably Clever allows for you to play around with that idea and create your own mini!

Anticipating Wall E

There is something inherently appealing about the upcoming movie WallE and I can't hardly wait.

http://gizmodo.com/5017269/lego+built-wall+e-it-was-only-a-matter-of-time

http://gizmodo.com/5018226/all-you-need-is-love-from-talking-romantic-handsome-men-piggy-bank

Random amusements for today

The telephone rings not.

If i look at my call display, the results are as follows.

80% of phone calls in the past 5 years have been from my sweetheart.
6% from my older sister.
6% from my younger sister who adopted me when we were 13.
my mother hasn't phoned in years.

my stepdaughters have phoned twice. yesterdays call was to verify what brand of cold medicine we had determined necessary to treat the ailments we brainstormed together over the weekend.. An alternative to ingesting childrens tylenol for headache and fever when her symptoms were no longer such. a very simple call, yet more meaningful than one might expect.

of the remaining 8% of phonecalls - 4% would have been made up by housing contractors all calling within a 2 month time period of renovations.
the last 4% of calls are a diverse bunch.

two friends waiting at a Greyhound Station in Sacramento for my bus, wondering when i was going to arrive finally.

a friend in new mexico wanting to thank me for the "get well soon" card i sent her when she was ill.

a dozen friends attempting to locate each others hotel rooms as we met up as planned in Las Vegas.

an elementary and highschool friend back home in canada that i reconnected with right before she got engaged and then married.. asking me to please attend... then thanking me for being there for her after it was all over....

a friend calling to find out if my train had arrived in Seattle yet.

friends wondering if we were getting close to the campground we were meeting at yet.

a friend in san diego, making plans to show me around Old Town while my sweetheart would be stuck in business meetings...

a friend asking me if i wanted to fly down and wander hollywood with him for the weekend then attend a roundtable discussion held with the cast and producers of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip at the University.


I dont have very many telephone conversations, but those that do take place tend to be of great importance. It seems that the limited contact makes the moment stand out more for me. Although a lot of my greatest friendships don't include regular face to face or telephonic interactions i think i spend more quality time with them than many people are blessed with.

Though i have to say - i do wish friends called me more often regardless of the time we spend together online.

Casting Completed

Bronze is heated and poured into the hollow molds suspended over a bed of sand. The sand helps prevent molten spills from running amok if a piece is cracked. The pieces are then cooled prior to removal of the shell from the bronze cast sculpture.

Burnt Out

After cleaning up any exterior casting that might contaminate the inner shell by scraping it with handtools and discarding it, the molds are ready for burnout. The furnace is heated up for about(15 minutes and then the sculptures are placed inside. Next, the shell and its interiors of wax (or other materials such as twigs, skewers or styrofoam) are heated beyond thier melting point to flow freely from the molds and fall into the large metal basin of water beneath the inferno. Done successfully this will leave behind intact hollow shells.

Flaming wax remnants are scooped out of the Metal basin so as to prevent buildup and possible flareups. The really cool outfit is an added bonus. Next burnout I will remember to get a picture of myself to add to the collection.

The near finished lost wax shell is removed from the furnace after it has baked for 30 or so minutes. Before moving, it is allowed to cool off so it is no longer red hot but instead resembles spent ash. The lost wax cast is placed in the cooling rack where it awaits vaccuming and final cleanup with an air hose. Compressed air will be shot up through the cavities and remove sediment that might affect the final appearance of the sculptures once the molten bronze is poured into them and then cooled.

Next week - casting on thursday. Pictures to follow.

Crafty templates for those with free time to spare.

Because i do not have enough to do right now I was thinking i would create an interesting winter themed christmas card slash notice of change of address to send out this week. I am pondering using an interesting template from a site like the following.

http://www.ruthannzaroff.com/mirkwooddesigns/