i'm doing art today-well later today---well,i have sworn i that i will---i hope---i'm swearing for art, and often about art since i've actually managed to catch up on the most pressing immediate demands allowing me 'art time' later today. My creations seem to be a combination of cut out print art--surrounded by manga marker style coloring, shape accented by stick figures and predator like alphabet symbols---- it's art it does not require logic or sensibility. I'll photograph and post some of my finished projects one day here---otherwise it is unexplainable. As evidence that i am in no way right minded, i am studying french...the simple act of studying french does not in and of itself prove my alienhood--aligned with the following two factors does complete the weirdness equation: first--i live in new mexico and cannot speak Spanish! So the study of Spanish would have an immediate positive outcome--but no not for me--i am studying french which will have no advantage to my day to day life other than allowing me to curse beautifully! Second--i am studying french by cassette tape, purchased used off of amazon and playing them in my vehicle on my ebay purchased--used (but cool) marantz professional-portable cassette recorder/player. So i am studying a language i cannot immediately use on a system that is no longer in use by anyone---nothing beat the cassette tape's ability to rewind to a specific spot for a do over situation--as is often the case with my inability to repeat these bizarre phrases--i'll keep you posted on my progress.... a truly bizarre item to start with don't think about this too much it's disturbing---An airport bus driver claiming firing discrimination because of being a Shaolin priest, yes that is correct, a shaolin priest. Now it may be possible that he was playing the flute and fighting evil in the west, as he drove the earth seeking nirvana or the home temple is in financial difficulty requiring standard employment---who knows.I do wonder why this individual did not simply put some amazing Tao rap on their boss--and it that failed then open up a can of caine whoop ass on the oppressor.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_9010978 Here's a photographic collection of Pods--escape--sleeping--meditating--and well--pod people-ing---overall very, very cool and worth a trip to see.....

http://www.oobject.com/category/15-odd-pods/ I have been averaging in excess of 50 mpg for weeks now--it may be that the prius is now broken in and the greater mpg is a result of the vehicle settling into a pattern of behavior--or it could be simpler--that i am now familiar enough with my new commute that i am able to put hypermiling techniques into play---but i knew this would happen--with the price of gas going up hackers have learned how to beat the pump apparently as displayed by this news article from of course florida---http://www.local6.com/news/15964636/detail.html

Lego's is there anything that cannot be done with them??? This was lego bathroom weekend--our toilet seat had a nasty habit of falling forward while i was standing using the toilet causing much preventative leaping about and spraying in all directions combined with fear biting cursing...however a couple of lego technic pieces and toilet seat and lid securer(?) in yellow for visibility (and color coordination i suppose) followed by a technic beam used as a filler in patching a gap between the bathtub and the wall---fit perfectly--lego's amazing! Well i am continuing on with the usual---and unusual in my life trying to enjoy the world and the items within it that interest me...i hope you are as well....

Let's talk about these texas polygamists..

who have been in the news lately---This for sure to me displays the disconnect between religion and logic. Let's see...according to this most recent bunch of texan religious fanatics..the par for the course---usual "God told me how this works"---- crew of stupid hillbilly white guys--women can only get into heaven by screwing old men...following this concept to it's logical conclusion indicates that heaven is full of hookers. Cause for the most part---the only way that these kinda guys get alittle..... is from professionals. Now of course these same snake dancer dudes never seem to understand that nobody outside their little deluded gene pool believes them...for example--why would the great--super intelligent supreme being talk to these guys for christsakes? The most intelligent creator in the universe observing everyone muses " that one the guy sitting on the old impala back seat on the front porch next to all the ruined appliances---that's the one to deliver my message to the masses!!!" WTF kind of super being is that??? Now combine that concept with the idea the the supreme being also wants to insure that this same perfect example of humanity has alot of young wives! This is of couse of maximum importance (according to the hillbilly)...to the supreme being..Add in one additional factor--these morons always come from texas---never from new york city for example--in NYC it's tough to obtain two items: first finding and affording, on a texas hillbilly income---a large enough piece of real estate to handle housing 26 wives for one insane, toothless old dude----and second convincing a big haired NYC girl that God says the subway token to heaven involves screwing you!!! So the mental capability of the texan society is the only petrie dish that this kind of nonsense can grow within--take for example our Einstein of a president--oh yeah he's from texas remember---in New Jersey you'd get bitch slapped as soon as an old hillbilly would start this religious rap---on the east coast we have alot of people claiming to talk to god---but they have the decency to push shopping carts around so that they are easily identified and therefore properly, civilly ignored. We've got two choices as a society---first outlaw this bizarre stuff pretending to be religion--or let any toothless cult leader able to draw a following alone and let the chips fall where they may on the people stupid enough to believe in hillbilly Messiahs and creationism....the only way to prevent jonestowns, waco's and now this thing is to either stop it at the start or ignore it forever---stepping in afterward is displays our stupidity as a society...
Are you ready for the newest official reason why we invaded Iraq? The Audacity of the Bush administration has no end you know? Well since the first two lying reasons did not hold up that does not stop them---now the reasons behind the invasion is that we needed to control Iran-----here's the link with the new official spin control--they have no concept that it's too late for them and the rest of the republican party....

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Iran_the_new_motivation_for_US_war__04142008.html

I've been reading Robot Ghosts and wired dreams---a collection of essays on the history and sociological background of Japanese science fiction. I cannot recommend this book except to fellow otaku--if you are a normal human pass this by---it's interesting to me however to discover the beginnings of the background of godzilla--and the robot culture of Japan..as early as immediate pre-war. The book is divided into two sections film and anime and although i have not completed this book i am definitely enamored of it. The Nerd cave after alittle slow down is coming along nicely--my drawing table is set up and so useful...i'm working on a bizarre form of manga marker art combining print media and drawing...just my own type of stuff...painting the bathroom...and just ordered my first anime kit to build for display in the nerd cave. I still have a tremendous amount of computer work to complete which is just taking more time than i originally thought.

This is not a chronograph---but exceptionally cool nonetheless---a home made scientific calculatorr watch designed and made by hand by a single human person--from make blog--a most excellent site featuring projects made by hand at home by regular, but definitely smart, people----go here and take a look---do not be dismayed by the complexity of some of the projects--alot of these folks are MIT type people tinkering---just sit back and enjoy the end results and admire the intelligence involved.

http://blog.makezine.com/

I just saw AVPR on dvd thursday night--I thought it was excellent--- the best predator movie since the first one...I'd read a great deal of hoopla about this movie and all was false as far as i am concerned. It would seem that it was disturbing to many people that the humans in the film were staked out between the aliens and the predators like lures...that the human characters had "no depth" my answer is WHO CARES who watches like i watch an alien vs. predator movie for the human characters????...i enjoyed the hidden references to the other alien movies in terms of music and tiny pieces of dialog thrown out along the way in the film. Like "hold on to something" in the striker- I enjoy most the predator technology-the organic forms displayed and the apparent limitations the predators put on their tech to insure that there is a purpose to what they do...it is unfortunate that hollywood has to prevail but still all in all after watching AVPR twice in a row i was ready to watch it again--amazing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predator_technology

here a couple of random items prior to signing off--first a farmer who does tai-chi to calm down his cows http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=142597&in_page_id=34 this is a unique concept and i admire the guy for displaying that a little spiritualism is possible in any occupation... here's an article about a 101 year old marathoner who paused in route for a drink and a cigarette--read this and bite me--http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Marathon39s-no-sweat-if-you.3977250.jp here's an article proving a concept i have understood for awhile now---that as you age you get happier in all aspects of your life---it's called wisdom you know??

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/18/health/main4027635.shtml

Nasa takes another hit as a 13 year old german kid proves nasa's calculations on a near earth object pass are wrong---and we may actually get hit---let's see US government 0 nerd kid 1-----i revel in this circumstance like a dog rolling in something smelly----the father of Chaos theory died this week..Edward Lorenz the conceptualizer who proved that chaos can be mathematically displayed and predicted (somewhat) was a brilliant man who stepped outside of the world to be able to look at it as the complex system that it is..http://uk.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUKN1632944820080416?rpc=92

With these last little items i will close--take care--do good work and vote democratic....

I been less project active and have been more thinking orientated for the past 2 days. This gets somewhat problem resultant for me. When i get focused like this I have a tendency to think on lack of progress..I develop this overwhelming tendency to believe that like a hamster in a wheel i'm running hard but getting nowhere..knowing that time is running out as well. We've been working desperately hard at the smaller footprint life, but there seems to be no end in sight of the hauling, sorting, painting, modifying..to get our existence to where we want it to be...there's been about zero cooperation from the outside--no contractor's for kitchen,(although we may have found one, too early to tell yet?) the back yard fence or solar panel installation. It's been very difficult to find organizations willing to accept viable donations of personal excess.. no progress the segway concept..and the nerd cave needs alot of work, as does the main bathroom, which i'm starting on today. The back yard's a mess and i've been to the local bookstore once since i've moved in. Yet, the living room, dining room, bedroom and front porch are painted, decorated,and detailed. I planted flowers in beds out front and in decorative pots....The house's entire electrical system has been replaced. We have managed to sort through half the boxes of our previous,excessive lifestyle. We are living economically, saving and making money, paying cash. I'm averaging over 50 miles per gallon per day on my commute with the Prius. Above all else how can i be depressed when i see my dogs lying in the sun in the new living room. We are developing a zen like living space it just takes awhile. In reality it is my own brain attempting to screw up my perceptions of what is truly occurring. Time to personally evolve alittle bit.... I have been doing excellent overall with the Prius--50 or 51+ mpg as a daily average. The wind in new mexico is the greatest obstacle to high mileage. There are often times, like this week, where i average 51 mpg for 4 days and on the 5th day with an increase in headwind i lose everything to drop down to anywhere from 44 to 48 mpg. Amazing you know? Here's a bizarre news item. Our leadership cannot deal with improving any form of American produced transportation...

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/04/sure-hybrids-ar.html

but they turn their attention to insuring that hybrid cars make enough noise so that blind pedestrians can hear their approach..

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,348370,00.html

i sit and shake my head! My wife and i have been discussing buying a segway human transporter...but after several in-depth discussions we've decided that instead of a segway we will buy the first viable electric vehicle to hit the marketplace. By viable we mean--sits two people, has a 50 mile range, capable of 65 mph, and is an actual "real" car--4 wheels--metal body and real tires and brakes. The vehicle i have my hopes on is the Subaru R1e pictured at the left..The R1e is currently,reportedly, under real world testing in NYC. From what i have read on the net about this vehicle i would buy it in a second if they offered it right now. I'm planning on writing Subaru and trying to push them for production as soon as possible....Ah-well, the date of 2009-2010 for real electric cars seems to be the event horizon that everyone is hoping for.

I just finished an outstanding book--"Massive Change" assembled by Bruce Mau..I say assembled because this book is a tremendous construction of essays, photography, and graphing describing the effect that design can have now, or could have in the future to solve the problems effecting the human condition. Design is truly used as a real concept covering invention--human interfacing--and operation of any particular concept. This book is beautiful--i found i could not put it down some nights and wound up tired like a dog the next day at work...but it was worth it! If you are at all interested in design, or the end result of think tank production you should look into this book---it reads in the same manner as a beautiful website---i recommend. I have been working on my art in drawing and on my notebooks...writing and receiving emails from friends that make the world go round---lego's have become an ongoing process--working all the time---in anime i've been watching the APPLESEED movie alittle bit at a time and it is wondrous--simply wondrous...growing my hair--it's about down to my shoulders now and it's great being old & gray and not worrying about what people think----i have a ton of computing projects to catch up on and if i think about it--i'll go crazy but i'll get on it as soon as i can i suppose. That's it for now, i'm off to write Subaru get started on jobs around the place and do alittle art----take care--------- live smaller and smarter....

There has been a bit of process going on in my existence this week. There has been multiple small items come to a sort of focal point. I've obtained a variety of computer accessory equipment i have been considering purchasing. Items such as a mini usb keyboard, which i am currently patterning to type on as well as comfortably position & maneuver on the nerd desk, a wireless card for the NEC 750 (getting this working might be tough but...)--new art pens for decorating my moleskin notebooks, a new pair of very radical terra plana shoes are in---books, movies, lego's all multiple goals are in motion. (by the way, the picture at the left i had been admiring on flickr--a guy's mobile, coffee shop blogging set-up--this is where i want to be in the computer world when i grow up----)I have also been pondering what may come in the future... We are consistently working hard at refining our smaller footprint living process. The house is coming along in an excellent manner. Setting up this new lifestyle is a slow but sure process, designed to make our house a living example of our art, comfort, viewpoints and belief system. There are projects that i could immediately contract to begin, but we are stymied by a lack of individuals willing or capable of doing the work. A specific example would be solar panels--it appears as if i will have to contract a firm from 150 miles away to install any solar power system. I will however...do what i have to

I've never seen this movie before but it was great..if you enjoyed 'French Kiss' you have to see 'A Good Year'. I love French comedies and films centered on France with a skewed outlook..Ridley Scott directed this and Russell Crowe stars in it both gentlemen did an excellent job. Right up front i need to let you know that the only opinions on this movie are "great" or "sucks" I am definitely a member of the this is a great movie contingent. Wonderful dialoge, a tremendous visual, and excellent acting on Crowe's part combined with a Brit outlook on France make this a film to just sit back and enjoy for the sheer personality of the thing. My absolute favorite line from the movie is a resturant owner advising Crowe (when filling in as a waiter) to remember that: "In France the customer is always wrong!". Sticking with a French concept for just a while longer---i've been thinking that after we have our garage rebuilt--i may once again think about owning a classic car. We sold our 1976 restored land rover a few months ago--this time however i really do not want to have to actually restore the vehicle as i've done several times in the past...i just want to buy and enjoy...and stay in tune with the new small lifestyle concept..i'm thinking about looking for a citroen 2CV.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_2CV I've looked at these on ebay and they are reasonably priced and very,very cool. Now these little vehicles were the french version of the people's car and produced for 40 years. A very small two cylinder engine and top speed is about 45 mph i'm told...but with a huge sun roof, a ton of styling, and mileage for crusing just around town and to display at the odd local only car show this would be ultra coolio.
Just when you think the party in power cannot really be the way they actually are---their stupidity reinforces your personal belief system. The Bush administration in pursuit of their right wing conservative religious agenda has deleted any word, entry or information in the US Health information internet service on abortion.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/04/a-government-fu.html

Remember when we as children were told that communists were evil because they would not allow the free flow of information to the populace? Oh yeah, along with that particular rap we were also taught that only the bad guys tortured people..the only light at the end of the tunnel is the fact that 81% of the American public believe that this administration has taken the country in the wrong direction...so possibly the politicalization of 9/11 has been disapated. Perhaps it is not too late..if we actually changed our selection patterns this time...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080404/ap_on_re_us/poll_dissatisfied_americans

As an example of the almost insane process of this administration they are willing to not only block information to the public, along with stem cell research, but are willing to buy massively expensive drone aircraft to search for weed growers.

http://www.kxmb.com/News/225179.asp

Basically what we have overall is a government at war with it's own populace. A sense of government at war with it's own society. A society who now wishes to go in a direction, that old fat, powerful white guys do not want to go. You cannot stop the signal, you cannot fight the future. Believe me the only real problem is that we actually can do way better...and we will...we can be happy, productive, respectiveful of our own citizens, the environment and the rest of the world. We just need to spank these halliburton, enron republicans and put them and their support base back in the corner where they belong.. Ok enough of that...for now. I really do not want to sum up with that last rap, i'm actually more hopeful for the future right now than i have been for the past 7 years--really--so a non thinking item to end with--like this very cool, one cup, one small item microwave. What a very neat item for your desktop, work office or nerdcave....perfect for heating up a cup of coffee, a bowl of ramen noodles just geek food you know? Often little reductions of large items are much,much more interesting and actually more useful. this little microwave is from sharper image so be careful they have had economic difficulty as a company (according to a few entries on the net) http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/product/sku__IW400BLK

Ok so get to work doing good things, expanding your thinking and your personal evolvement as a human a small amount each day..."be cool honey bunny".