The coldest winter I ever spent
Archive for April 2011
A friend of mine who works and lives in Berkeley injured her shoulder yesterday. She does not have health insurance. Can you recommend where she might go to have it looked at? And/or acupuncture…
Is a walk through the yellow pages the only reasonable way?
Beaner is selling her beautiful home in Monroe New Jersey and moving to sunny Florida! Darn, it’s right on a golf course, and she keeps the place impecably. The pictures in this little Flash video actually don’t do it justice. It really is a beautiful home, so you should live there!
Surprise! I went to Yosemite on Sunday with Binka’s relatives. It was pretty awesome.
We scrambled up to the base of El Capitan from the valley floor. It was maybe a 30 minute scramble over a mix of easy forest terrain, steep hills, and, giant steep boulders! It was pretty terrific.
Boulder Scramble, We're almost there!
Touching El Capitan
Looking up at El Capitan from the base
This has been sitting in a dark corner of my computer for years. I just came across it again and…. well, it’s completely immature but I love it. Without further adieu: The Top 10 sexy lines from Star Wars
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10) “Get in there you big furry oaf, I don’t care what you smell!”
9) “Luke, at that speed do you think you’ll be able to pull out in
time?”
8) “Put that thing away before you get us all killed.”
7) “You’ve got something jammed in here real good.”
6) “Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?”
5) “You came in that thing? You’re braver than I thought.”
4) “Sorry about the mess…”
3) “Look at the size of that thing!”
2) “Curse my metal body, I wasn’t fast enough!”
1) “She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts, kid.”
TOP 10 SEXY LINES FROM THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
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10) “I thought that hairy beast would be the end of me.”
9) “Size matters not. Judge me by my size, do you?”
8) “There’s an awful lot of moisture in here.”
7) “But now we must eat. Come, good food, come…”
6) “That’s okay, I’d like to keep it on manual control for a while.”
5) Hurry up, golden-rod…”
4) “I must’ve hit it pretty close to the mark to get her all riled up
like that, huh kid?”
3) “Possible he came in through the south entrance.”
2) “And I thought they smelled bad on the outside!”
1) “Control, control! You must learn control!”
TOP 10 SEXY LINES FROM RETURN OF THE JEDI
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10) “Hey, point that thing someplace else.”
9) “I look forward to completing your training. In time you will call
me master.”
8) “You’re a jittery little thing, aren’t you?”
7) “I never knew I had it in me.”
6) “Someone must’ve told them about my little maneuver at the battle of
Taanab.”
5) “There is good in him, I’ve felt it.”
4) “I assure you, Lord Vader, my men are working as fast as they can.”
“Perhaps I can find new ways to motivate them.”
3) “Grab me, Chewie. I’m slipping – hold on. Grab it, almost… you
almost got it. Gently now, all right, easy, easy, hold me, Chewie.
Chewie!”
2) “Hey, Luke, thanks for coming after me – now I owe you one.”
1) “Back door, huh? Good idea!”
Happy Cheese Weasel Day to one and all!
local version:
How do I tell if an Android program is stealing my data?
For example, here’s what I can find out about “Tank Hero”. It has been downloaded more than 250,000 times and gotten 28,000 ratings, mostly very good. The program gets “Full internet access” and “Modify or delete SD card contents”. So it has permission to look through the contents of most of my phone… and upload it to their server. The game maker has listed a website, Clapfoot Games with precious little information. The game is free. There are a lot of programs like this in the Android Marketplace.
When looking for bad things, you can often “follow the money”. If a deal seems too good to be true, it is. If an Android app is free, well, it’s not, you just don’t know it yet. It’s good that I see ads in the Tank Hero game, but that isn’t enough.
On a multitude of online forum posts, people keep saying “Oh don’t worry about it, I haven’t found malware yet.” The problem with that logic is that I see no mechanism for discovering and notifying the public about malware.
I looked at the antivirus programs that are out for the Android and they haven’t gotten good reviews yet.
So what am I to do? How do I tell if an Android program is stealing my data?
If you are interested in any of these upcoming (awesome) classes, give me a buzz, or just sign up!
Spring Kinetics classes are starting up at the Crucible in Oakland, starting April 9th. Most classes are 1 night a week 6-9pm for 5 weeks. One class is on Saturdays. Space is limited and classes are starting in just 2 weeks! If you’re into it, sign up this week.
* Introduction to Mechanical Sculpture
* Electromechanics for Everything
* Arduino Microcontrollers: Building Smart Art
* Flame Effect for Art
* Electronics for Artists
Read full class descriptions
See class schedules
Each teacher is an expert in their field. I’ll let the teachers tell you about their classes:
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Introduction to Mechanical Sculpture
taught by Ben Cowden (http://benjamincowden.com)
Next month a new group of students will be introduced to the wonderful world of mechanical sculpture. I hope you will join us as we learn about gears, cams, levers, and worm drives. If you want to integrate movement into your artwork, or just want to build some crazy contraptions, this is a great way to get started. There is no experience required, but feel free to bring project ideas and sketches for group problem-solving and brainstorm. Classes are Mondays 6-9pm starting April 11th. Check out the description here and sign up! (https://store.thecrucible.org/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=415_442_542)
Sincerely,
Ben Cowden
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Electromechanics for Everything
taught by Rich Humphrey, obselete and discarded technology expert
This class gives you the ability to make things move, controlling art using non-computer means. Mechanically or electrically, with cams and gears or motors and relays.
This class is perfect if you have an interesting problem to solve, want to know how modern machines work, you have art to make, or a contraption that needs to see the light of day.
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Arduino Microcontrollers: Building Smart Art
taught by Rich Humphrey (http://richhumphrey.net)
Learn how to interface between the software and physical world, have your machine be able to react to inputs from the real world. Make your art smart! If you have art or a gizmo that needs to come alive, start here.
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Flame Effect for Art
taught by Lee Sonko and Liam McNamara
Possibly the best part of this class is that you get to bring home your final project. Yes, you bring home a flame thrower*. Maybe it’s giant, maybe it’s tiny. Both are awesome. Learning how to work with flame effects safely will open up so many possibilities for art and exploration.
* Not technically a “flame thrower” by the rules and laws, but we’ll cover that.
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Electronics for Artists
taught by Steve Widmark (http://www.paleoneon.com)
My name is Steve Widmark and I teach a class at The Crucible in Oakland called “Electronics for Artists.” If you’ve ever wanted to know how to design and build electronic circuits to make a gadget or a piece of interactive art, then this is the class for you. You’ll learn electronics by making a small project (a cyber pet or a small kinetic sculpture) that uses a PICAXE microcontroller as its “brain.” Along the way you’ll be taught basic electronic theory, schematic reading, use of solderless breadboards for prototyping, circuit board fabrication and microcontroller programming. This is a beginning course designed for students with little or no experience with electronics. Class starts Saturday, April 9th. For more details, visit www.thecrucible.org
Come visit a sumptuous, strange, and beautiful world for six minutes and twenty seconds.
by Jason Mongue
local version:
Watch this twice, then share with a friend.