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Gay marriage: another perspective
Dec. 6th, 2012 10:20 pmLike all good satire, they make some good points.
After a convention committee meeting Sunday I stopped at the Bagdad on the way home and saw the movie Brave. It's a good parable about why the song is Scotland the Brave. Not Scotland the Wise, Scotland the Smart, Scotland the Reasonable, or Scotland the 'I Planned Ahead.' Brave.
OryCon's old home burns!
Sep. 2nd, 2012 12:02 pmThe old Red Lion hotel on Jantzen Beach caught fire about 3AM Sunday morning, and quickly turned into a larger problem than the fire department could handle. Luckily, no nearby buildings were engulfed (I'm sure the large parking lots helped), although Interstate 5 is reported as "affected" by the huge fire right next to it. The local KGW TV station has footage here, and a fuller article.
I'm still getting irregular reports from KumoriCon, the anime convention currently being held across the river, on account of not being there myself. (See the river view in the video? The building at the right holds KumoriCon.) As several people have commented already, at least the fire burned the con hotel without any fans in it.
I'm still getting irregular reports from KumoriCon, the anime convention currently being held across the river, on account of not being there myself. (See the river view in the video? The building at the right holds KumoriCon.) As several people have commented already, at least the fire burned the con hotel without any fans in it.
Calvin & Hobbes fan trailer
Dec. 31st, 2011 08:02 pmFound here, I really can't find anything bad to say about this. The participants are clearly well read on the source material, the scripting seems decent, and the effects are as good as can be expected from the production budget (of nothing). Some directors would have arranged the piece differently, but then some movies are made by people who have reached puberty. I'd like to see Hollywood show this much interest; we've already seen movies made with technical skill but no love for the story or the craft.
Wait, that's everyone I know. I got pointed to The Secret Life of Cats, a National Geographic documentary viewable online to anyone willing to put up with the site's slightly quirky video player.
The film examines the predatory behaviour of cats rather more than their other 'secrets' but there's only so much cat life you can cover in an hour. The piles of small dead things are impressive, but it doesn't address how many Mighty Hunters are in the cat population compared to the well known Ambulatory Pillow and Feline Drama Queen types.
It's not to be confused with this study which involved putting tracking systems onto cats, but that report makes a fun read - and the fate of the Stephens Island wren is a memorable factoid.
The film examines the predatory behaviour of cats rather more than their other 'secrets' but there's only so much cat life you can cover in an hour. The piles of small dead things are impressive, but it doesn't address how many Mighty Hunters are in the cat population compared to the well known Ambulatory Pillow and Feline Drama Queen types.
It's not to be confused with this study which involved putting tracking systems onto cats, but that report makes a fun read - and the fate of the Stephens Island wren is a memorable factoid.
(Related only by reader interest, it seems that Los Alamos has a large wildfire.)
Nuclear weaponry video
May. 15th, 2011 09:57 pmSomehow I've managed to miss this until now. It's a video by Isao Hashimoto illustrating all 2053 nuclear explosions from 1945 until 1988.
Several things come to mind watching this, like the odd musical track made by the 'ping' sound effect when a nuke goes off. Testing tended to run in clusters, so you get interesting emergent music - like birdsong, only with radioactivity. Also, the US has maintained its head start in nuking things pretty well; about half of all mushroom clouds were ours.
The most important point is of course that 2051 nukes were popped off essentially to see what would happen. After the second and third units, nobody anywhere ever actually used any of them on somebody else. Good for you, humanity.
Several things come to mind watching this, like the odd musical track made by the 'ping' sound effect when a nuke goes off. Testing tended to run in clusters, so you get interesting emergent music - like birdsong, only with radioactivity. Also, the US has maintained its head start in nuking things pretty well; about half of all mushroom clouds were ours.
The most important point is of course that 2051 nukes were popped off essentially to see what would happen. After the second and third units, nobody anywhere ever actually used any of them on somebody else. Good for you, humanity.
An Engineer's Guide to Cats
Apr. 19th, 2011 04:13 pmYouTube has more than a few videos featuring cats; indeed, delivering Amusing Cat Pictures seems to be one of the core functions of the internet. This one has engineers explaining cats.
Their disclaimer: None of the cats, humans, or engineers were mistreated in the making of this film. They were however, slightly annoyed.
Their disclaimer: None of the cats, humans, or engineers were mistreated in the making of this film. They were however, slightly annoyed.
