My favorite valentine’s day “news” story comes from the LA Times!
I need to go to bed and re-read this when I have more active brain cells, but I really love the idea of C-level executives noting their extra-marital affairs in corporate documents. This, dear friends, is why I’m getting my MBA!
So it turns out there’s a website where you can paint a stick figure (or other object, you can really muck about with the canvas) and then it animates it dancing. Brilliant!
Me in scooter gear, dancing better than perhaps I do in real life:
On second thought, it definitely dances better than I do. There are lots of other creations on the website including lots of doodles, a ninja, skeleton and lots of male genitalia. Just so you’re warned.
Consider yourself spared from one of my long rants on the fear-mongering that has helped our society decide that permanently branding sex offenders and banishing them to remote rural areas is a good idea. When I was most of the way through it, I accidentally closed the tab. Anyhow, the Atlanta Magazine online has a post, “Why Is Genarlow Wilson in Prison?” that is horrifying, recommended reading. A teenager in Georgia had consensual oral sex with a 15 year old (he was 17 at the time) and as a result is in prison for 10 years and will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life. The jurors convicted him of “aggravated child molestation” since that’s technically what happened, although they had no idea about the repercussions of it, including a mandatory 10 year sentence. The kid who was convicted did well in school, was voted homecoming king and had no criminal record. The girl he had oral sex did not want to press any charges (it was consensual). His life is now drastically altered, and no matter what he does he is publicly branded and a social pariah forever. The laws need to change, there is no justice here.
it is difficult to study when all one really wants to do is sleep or play Winterbells.
update the next day – while I stand by the above statement, and am fully convinced that this semester is exactly two weeks too long, even if you’re not completely zoned out, Winterbells is a really neat game. Orisinal is a pretty site, and hosts a lot of small, simple games with beautiful graphics in soft, pastel colors. Most of the games don’t do a lot for me, but I love that they’re taking video games in a different direction, and all the games show the results of being lovingly crafted with wonderful attention to quality. Winterbells is the first game I find really entrancing. Guiding the bunny as he hops from bell to bell can feel a bit like flying at times, as the snow flakes turn to stars and the music continues to drift in the background. I am reminded of a friend of mine describing how she sometimes had lucid dreams where she would be able to guide herself as she flew through whatever dream city or scape she encountered that evening. I love that image.
Anyhow, a game is fairly quick, with a decently long one running less than two minutes. Give it a try, I think you’ll like it. If you’re the competitive type, my high score is 33,283,440 (because what experience can’t be codified by numbers these days?).
Cool Science Facts: Metal in Space
Is this true? Because I was one of those kids who always wanted to be an astronaut until I got glasses in like the 5th grade and all such dreams slid away. I went to Space Camp and did my 6th grade research project on rocketry and never heard about this. Not to mention all the science fiction I read. These are all top research activities, so I am dubious.
If it’s true, it’s the coolest thing ever. Which means it’s probably crap, but I’m leaving it here until I can find some evidence one way or the other. Alas, it was a neat image.
Update – Looks like it’s theoretically possible, but that the surfaces would have to be super clean and smooth. There are some details on Wikipedia.
Photos You Like Better: You Are What You Like
An interesting sight that puts up pairs of photos and prompts you to choose the one you prefer. After a few iterations, it guesses some things about you. So far they seem kind of general, but it’s been right 3/4 times. At this point I’m a tad curious if there’s some actual educated guessing going on, or if it always posts the same guesses no matter what you pick. It’s still a fun site, though.
Joe Sorren – The Dance of All Hallows’ Eve
Ok, so I’m a terrible person for not having any Halloween postings this year. I had a 40 minute presentation the next day (scary!) so all I did was work and eat candy that would have gone to the trick-or-treaters had any stopped by. Here’s a work by Joe Sorren, maker of many fine things.
The Inanimate Tragedy
One of my favorite videos that Emily made, and there are a few great ones lurking about, was an adaption of Edward Gorey’s “The Inanimate Tragedy.” She’s posted it for halloween.
