February 2012
34 posts
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Teller Reveals (Some of) His Secrets →
Teller (of Pen & Teller) worte an article in the Smithsonian about magic (and its links to Neuro science). I highly suggest it. It’s a good read, and it tells you how to do a fun card trick.
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Comic Links: Girl Genius, Johnny Wander, Super...
Girl Genius: Volume 12, Page 30: 2012-01-13
Because everybody respects a big hat, not just jaguerkin.
Johnny Wander: #344: 2012-01-10
I’m pretty sure Zoe knows her own name… pretty sure. She also knows “no!”.
Johnny Wander: #345: 2012-01-12
How fun would that be to see outside of a convention?
Super Stupor: 2012-01-27: Poser
Oh I just about died laughing at in panel...
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Weird Word: Renege
Renege
Verb
To break a promise or commitment; to go back on one’s word.
In a card game, to break one’s commitment to follow suit when capable.
(archaic) To deny; to renounce
Used in a sentence:
To renege like this was to spit in Terra’s face which is what Tommy did in, showing his intention of not following through with the plan.
Source: Wiktionary
Commentary:
This word...
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Comic: Dreamless
I have a comic for you. It is actually a completed graphic novel that you can read from beginning to end. It was written by Bobby Crosby, author of Marry Me, +EV, and Last Blood (comics I’ve never read but will give them a try now), and illustrated by Sarah Ellerton, author of The Phoenix Requiem and Inverloch (both comics I like).
Dreamless is about two people sharing their lives in...
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ESA, E3, Extra Credits, and SOPA/PIPA
So amid all the protesting of SOPA and PIPA over the internet and the calls for US Citizens to talk to their lawmakers, a small group of people are trying a different tactic. Going after the pockets of the corporations that are pushing for such a huge change.
You might remember a TEDTalk I posted during the SOPA/PIPA blackout day that discussed the origins of SOPA and PIPA and how it was really...
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Ceiling Cat manifested!
One of the most awesome stories about cat ever:
Girls With Slingshots: Well This Happened
I don’t ever want that to happen to my kitty but wow would it be an awesome story to tell.
Original Article
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Publishers using court systems to bully license...
I just came across this article about how Harper Collins is suing Open Road claiming copyright infringement. Open Road is publishing as an eBook Jean Craighead George’s storyJulie of the Wolves. Harper Collins already published this as a book back in the 1970s.
Random House did this back in 2001 but was shot down in two court cases that ruled that eBooks were not the same as books, and therefore...
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Weird Word: Salient
Salient
Adjective
Worthy of note; pertinent or relevant.
Prominent.
(heraldry, usually of a quadruped) Depicted in a leaping posture.
(often military) Projecting outwards, pointing outwards.
Used in a sentence:
The flag was the salient part of the structure for it both drew the attention of the looker and identified who owned the fort.
Source: Wiktionary
Commentary:
Perhaps not a weird...
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Video: Adding objects to images
The following is a presentation from SIGGRAH 2011, a conference on computer animation and visualization. This is a demo and has some technical jargon but I think you’ll find the images interesting.
Rendering Synthetic Objects into Legacy Photographs from Kevin Karsch on Vimeo.
Original Article
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Humor: Surprising Array of Shocked Facial...
The Bloggess can be rather hysterically funny at times. This is one of those times.
Conversation with my elderly neighbor at our mailboxes:
Neighbor: Is your arthritis bothering you again? You look sort of limpy.
me: No, I’m just sore. I started doing adult hula hooping.
Neighbor: …Oh.
me: I mean, not “adult” like “naked hula hoop porn”. It’s just hula hooping for grown-ups. With...
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Crowfund: Erf World Motion Comic
So Erf World is an awesome comic set in a fantastical world of puns and gaming references that is, itself, a game. The first book is excellently written with a story that has much detail and emotional impact. Making it into a motion video would quiet likely expand it’s audience significantly.
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Comic: A Wrinkle in Time (As interpreted by Faith... →
I’m a big fan of Faith Erin Hicks. She is currently running two online comics: Friends with Boys and The Adventures of Superhero Girl.
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Video: Lovely Owl
http://youtu.be/3G1PFLuTrgM
Source
Just a video of some cute owls. And one rather grumpy looking one.
Original Article
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Trailer: Moonrise Kingdom
http://youtu.be/eP0QJ_Ba1Bs
Source
I really don’t know what to make of this trailer other than I do want to see this film. It looks funny but in that “Am I supposed to find this funny?” kind of good way. I want to see it.
Original Article
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Nanotubes still killing cancer! →
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Kickstarting the records
What is Kickstarter
So some amazing stuff has been happening over at Kickstarter. For those of you unaware, Kickstarter is what is called a crowd funding site. It’s a place where content creators can post up a project they need funding for and a target money goal. People pledge money, usually for rewards of some kind, and if the target goal is met within thirty days, the money is collected....
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Weird Word: Precocious
Precocious
Adjective
Characterized by exceptionally early development or maturity.
Exhibiting advanced skills at an abnormally early age.
Used in a sentence:
It was a precocious maneuver, trying to barrel roll the skiff on the first day of flight school, but only if it succeeded.
Source: Wiktionary
Commentary:
Although fans of the movie Mary Poppins will already know this word since it is...
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Comic: 1000 Words
I stumbled onto this comic wandering through Deviant Art and got permission to host it on my blog:
Source
I know in the past I’ve ranted about the adage “A picture is worth one thousand words” and how it has been used to demean the worth of the written word but here I can see nothing but homage to both image and word both in its medium (comic) and in the story’s telling...
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Video: Painting Goldfish
I am still being boggled by the physics of this and I wish I could see it in person but it really looks like he has figured out how to use light refraction to make this fish look like it has volume. Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=21bFpgEfDFM#t=66s
Source
I’ve watched it several times and it is still boggling me. I wish I could view one with my...
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Video: Slut Shaming and Why it's Wrong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=SXH2K7OC37s#t=44s
Source
Extremely well explained points from a thirteen year old girl regarding some of the sexism women still receive today. Watching this video reminded me of a sitcom I was watching last night where the “walk of shame” was used as a comedic bit. As it happened in this show, the gender roles were reversed...
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Weird Word: Auscultation
Auscultation
Noun
Diagnosis of disorders by listening to the sounds of the internal organs, usually using a stethoscope.
Used in a sentence:
This auscultation was failing but still she pressed the stethoscope to yet another portion of his chest, this time the left side, only to find yet more unidentifiable crunching sounds.
Source: Wiktionary
Commentary:
This is technically medical jargon...
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Writing Time: Everlasting #38
Writing Sessions
Word Count: 1,743
Writing sessions have been going well. I’ve been meeting a one thousand word count pretty regularly. Today I really knocked out my word count which was awesome. Most of that was done in an hour or so. Last session I was joined by Daniel and we discussed how to do some editing, since he has begun editing his NaNoWriMo novel from two years ago.
So...
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Comic: What were you raised by wolves?
What were you raised by wolves? by Vera Brosgol
An interesting mini-comic. A bit of commentary about humanity. To be fair animals aren’t all that great either. I like this comic both because of how it presents the story with no text and communicates it very well.
Original Article
January 2012
35 posts
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Book Watch: Changeless
Changeless by Gail Carriger
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
While I liked this book better than the first I’m still not sure how I feel about the series overall. I’m not an avid romance reader but I’ve read series like this before and it strikes me as the type of series that likes to hopscotch between the romance genre and, in this case, the steampunk genre. Because it its constant...
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Trust Me. I'm the Doctor.
Source
I do love wordplay. Every phrase on here is iconic to the last few seasons of Doctor Who. Does anybody know if there is a particular term for this? Using words inside an image for artistic purposes?
Original Article
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Video: TEDTalk: Storytelling
This one is only four minutes long and it is well worth watching.
I do wish he had manage to work in comics but there are plenty of other storytelling formats he glossed over so I can’t claim discrimination. I can point out that when he uses the word book here, he is talking about the physical medium, a set of bound pages, and not necessarily a novel, or story. What I love is the...
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Writing Time: Everlasting #38
Writing Sessions
Word Count: 2,000+
I went to my two writing sessions this week. I didn’t write-up a writing time for either of them because the internet at the establishment I’ve been writing at sucks. I’ve been thinking of changing venues since nobody else is meeting me there anymore. With only one and occasionally two people, coffee shops become far easier to do, and have...
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Weird Words: Cadre
Cadre
Noun
A frame or framework.
The framework or skeleton upon which a regiment is to be formed; the officers of a regiment forming the staff.
The core of a managing group, or a member of such a group.
Used in a sentence:
The cadre of the weapon system depended upon people regularly providing both maintenance and bananas.
Source: Wiktionary
Commentary:
So I never really new the meaning...
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Video: Lantern Season
Lantern Season visuals by Aaron Diaz (Dresden Codak), song by Versa (Versa Music)
http://youtu.be/c_ODXzeatrU
Source
I like mixed media. Music has always been hit or miss with me. For example Dark Side of the Moon put to Wizard of Oz just wasn’t that enjoyable for me as an experience. This video however does pretty good and I imagine audiophiles will like it even better. It is neat that...
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Book Watch: Ready Player One
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
An amazing combination of adventure and intrigue slathered heavily with 80s pop culture and video game references, Ready Player one is a must read book for fans of video games of any age, as well as the movies and music of the 1980s.
Ready Player One is set is a dystopian future where most of humanity has retreated into a virtual reality...
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UN Hearing On AI Rights
The following is a fictional accounting of a presentation being given at the United Nations in the world of Questionable Content, a comic where AI is a normal accepted part of society (but that this fact has very little baring on the plot of the comic). I had to share it because it is so awesome.
You can see it excerpted here in the comic and a particular AI’s response or read the entire...
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Video: Felicia Day's Holiday Trip to BELIZE!
“Because placenta is not a place, it’s an organ.”
http://youtu.be/eRRm28Q0cx8
Source
What I love about the above video is first, Felicia’s smile at the beginning. There is something but cute and utterly creepy about it. The second is her joy at basically sharing photos (or in this case her videos) of her vacation complete with commentary. I’m getting flashbacks to...
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Trailer: Magic the Gathering: Dark Ascension
The trailer for the newest expansion to Magic the Gathering. Dark Ascension is the 2nd set in the “Innistrad” block, three different cards sets that take place on the same world called Innistrad. It is a horror themed set full of vampires and werewolves and spirits and such. Watch the trailer, if you would.
http://youtu.be/sn-mZusg9tA
Source
So the first set introduced the idea that...
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Weird Words: Ichnogram
Ichnogram
Noun
An imprint of the soles of the feet, taken standing; footprint.
Used in a sentence:
Her ichnogram showed that she preferred stiletto heels for the right foot while wedge heels for the left.
Source: Wiktionary
Commentary:
Want to sound all knowledgy and stuff? Nothing like using a greek compound word for an everyday common word like footprint.
Original Article
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Writing Time: Everlasting #37
Writing Sessions
Word Count: 1,054
Today’s writing session was significantly less productive. It only took me an hour to write a thousand words but the writing kinda dragged. It took me a little while to get into it. So when I got to my word count I stopped. Why try and force it if I’ve gotten my word count? Speaking of which, I don’t want to spoil it here so read down...
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Pred-Alien motorcycle
Someone made a motorcycle styled after a Xenomorph from the alien movies and it looks awesome! Check it out:
Source
Original Article
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Trailer: Red tails
http://youtu.be/BpA6TC0T_Lw
Source
Anti-racism and non-modern aerial combat. Sounds like an awesome movie.
It’s produced by George Lucas, who did an interview on the Daily Show about the movie. It has some very interesting and blunt views of Hollywood institutional racism.
The Daily Show
Summary: It has taken George Lucas 23 years to make this film. One of the primary reasons was...