Archive for July, 2008

We Feel Fine

Friday, July 25th, 2008

We Feel Fine

Jonathan Harris has created this amazing web application that visually represents the feelings and thoughts of random bloggers at any given time.  It’s an interactive experience that I find fascinating.

Madness, the first movement, opens with a wildly swarming mass of around 1,500 particles, emanating from the center of the screen and then careening outwards, bouncing off walls and reacting to the behavior of the mouse. Each particle represents a single feeling, posted by a single individual. The color of each particle corresponds to the tone of the feeling inside – happy positive feelings are bright yellow, sad negative feelings are dark blue, angry feelings are bright red, calm feelings are pale green, and so on. The size of each particle represents the length of the sentence contained within. Circular particles are sentences. Rectangular particles contain pictures.

Any particle can be clicked at any time, revealing the sentence and/or photograph inside, along with any information about the sentence’s author. As the particles careen around the screen, they lose speed and eventually freeze as they approach the mouse cursor, allowing them to be captured and clicked. As the particles approach the We Feel Fine heart in the bottom left corner of the screen, they become attracted to the heart and swarm around it, drawing the eye. As the mouse passes over the heart, a menu appears, revealing access to the other five movements of We Feel Fine.

I found this through TED, which I’ve mentioned before.  Do yourself a favor, check out the talks on TED, I feel it’s the right thing to do.

Woot! 360 Northwest Coalition has Reached an Agreement with Chesapeake Energy

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

An agreement has been reached… finally!

On July 22, 360 Northwest Coalition reached an agreement with Chesapeake Energy on a comprehensive mineral lease, culminating five months of organization and negotiation efforts.  The lease was unanimously endorsed by the leaders of the twenty one subdivisions and neighborhood associations that comprise the 360 Northwest Coalition.

Chesapeake Energy agreed to the environmental protections, business terms and superior economics we sought.  Our lease improves substantially on the direct terms offered by either Chesapeake Energy and XTO Energy.

See  the 360 Northwest Coalition website for details.

My Side of the Mountain

Monday, July 14th, 2008

One of my favorite books as a kid was My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George.  In addition to loving the story, it has references to where I grew up in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York.

My wife wrote to the author of the book, and was delighted to hear back from Ms. George.  Below is the original email and the response (edited for privacy).

I just came across your website with your email link and so I just wanted to send you a quick note to tell how much I loved reading “My Side of the Mountain” when I was 8 or 9.  It just so happens that my husband is from … which has a … library.  After meeting my husband and our discussion of our mutual enjoyment of this book when we were both young, he told me about certain references to his town of … and of this library (his first girlfriend actually lived across the street from it).  Now we’ve introduced your books to our oldest daughter, who is 10.  She loves My Side of the Mountain as well.  She just got back from being a week in …, and was surprised when I mentioned the library being downtown.  Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for writing such a timeless classic that we can share with our kids and hopefully their kids, etc…

And Ms. George’s response:

Dear …,
The … Library at …! How splendid your daughter visited it. Did she see the collection of letters they have from kids and the Geological  Survey map they have posted of where Sam’s tree is supposed to have been? So many people come and ask about him that they posted it.
I’m glad to know your husband is from ….
Jean Craighead George

My daughter actually never got a chance to visit the library, but we will make a point of it next time we are there!

Osage Orange

Saturday, July 12th, 2008

I’ve had the tree behind my in-laws looked at by a tree service. My first question was the most obvious: what the hell kind of tree is that?

Well it turns out to be an Osage Orange, here is what Wikipedia has to say:

The Osage orange (sometimes hyphenated) or Osage apple or simply Osage (Maclura pomifera) is an ornamental plant in the mulberry family Moraceae. It is also locally known as mock orange, “wild orange”, hedge-apple, horse-apple, hedge ball, bois d’arc, bodark (mainly in Oklahoma and Texas), bodart (in northwest Louisiana), bodock (mainly in Tennessee and Alabama), and bow wood. “Osage” derives from the Native American people inhabiting the valley of the river of the same name in Missouri. Slang terms for its inedible fruit include monkey brain, monkey ball, monkey orange, and brain fruit, due to its brain-like appearance.

This tree is 100 – 120 years old, which changes its status from “how do we get rid of this damn mess” to “cool, let’s clean it up a bit and be proud of it”.  I’m surprised that it was not removed by either the people who built the sub-development or the people who ran the gas pipeline.  Sure makes me think about the history of this place, what that tree might have seen over the years.

Note the photinas on the side of the house.  I hacked those down to what you see, they were about to tip the house over.  Those shall be removed… someday.

B’s Trip

Thursday, July 10th, 2008

My friend B is on vacation in NC. I’m so jealous!

Replacement for 46 Click

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008

Here’s the replacement.  I so love Costco.

It’s 47″ with 120mHz refresh vs. the standard 60mHz. It has some sort of ambient lighting feature which I still need to mess with.

46 Inches of Click

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

Imagine it!  A sleek 46 inches of flat glorious screen, surrounded by a glossy black border hanging at the perfect height over components meant to bring your entertainment to life.  The wires are run, the boxes are talking to each other in beautiful harmony.

In your hand is the remote to bring the vision to life; a little red button with a funny little symbol will alter the serenity of the room and loosen those knots that have been forming all day.  Press it and… hmm, press it harder and… NOTHING.  Wait!  There’s something, hear it?  It’s a clicking sound, you know the one.  The click just before the screen lights up the room with its high definition glory.  Here we go!  Here we… Umm.  Wait!  There it is again! Click!  I heard it!  Here we…

DAMMIT. DAMMIT. DAMMIT.

Here is what Samsung’s website has to say:

If You Are Using Your TV Strictly As A TV

If you are using your Samsung LCD TV strictly as a TV, the Power Light will typically blink several times after you have pushed the On button, but the blinking should stop once the screen lights up and goes on.

If the power indicator light or timer light on your TV continues to blink and the TV won’t turn on or turns off a few minutes after you turn it on, the TV may be using its power management system.

To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

  1. Make sure that the power cord is firmly connected to the wall and the TV.
  2. Make sure that the cables connecting the TV to the various video sources (cable, set-top-box, DVD player, VCR, etc.) are all firmly connected.
  3. Make sure that the source you are trying to watch is turned on and/or providing a signal.
  4. Turn the TV off, and then on.
  5. Press the Source button on the remote, and cycle through the sources.

If this procedure does not resolve your problem, most likely the power supply in the TV is failing and you need to get the TV serviced. For service information, see the bottom of this page.

35 days out of the box and DAMMIT.  Tomorrow it goes back to Costco.  They are selling it for $300 cheaper now anyway.  Not that I will be getting the same model.  Samsung can take their LN46A540 and, well, keep it.

Where The Hell is Matt?

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

I so love this! Try and watch without smiling, I dare you.


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/