This post at a sampler of things reminded me of this great picture I took last summer of my dear friend Floratina, and her cherished Freckle Face Strawberry Funny Face cup. We were at a beach burn down in San Pedro, and the light from the fire was so romantic… I was happy to be able to capture this love between a woman and her cup.
I don’t think I ever had Funny Face drink mixes — Dad was a Kool-Aid man, all the way. Dad always had two flavors going in the fridge at once: one jug of Mountain Berry Punch, and the other jug on rotation through the other flavors. My brother and I used to make quadruple-strength Kool-Aid (two packets, twice the sugar, half the water) and nuke it in the microwave. Yum!
I grew up without religion — the subject just never really came up. Which left me pretty confused when I was sent to a heavily Christian daycare, but that’s another story for another day (the short version: I just couldn’t figure out why every day they told us the same fairy tale, and it wasn’t even a very good one). Over time I was exposed here & there to bits & pieces of the Bible, but it was all a muddled mystery to me, and sitting down to try to read it one day got me nowhere — I think I got lost in a sea of “begat”s. My interest in the Bible wasn’t religious — I was just tired of getting stuck on Biblical crossword puzzle hints.
Then, one day a few years ago, Hanford pointed me to a new version of the Bible: The Brick Testament.
The Brick Testament, by the Rev. Brendan Powell Smith
The Reverend Brendan Powell Smith (who is a reverend like my imaginary cat is the pope) is creating the whole Bible by using only Legos. This speaks to me on several levels: 1) It’s Legos. So I’m in. 2) It’s a pretty straightforward telling of the stories, and tries to be as true to the Bible as one can be when using little plastic yellow robot-men. 3) It’s not trying to sell me a way of life, it’s just trying to translate a book. Amen.
It was a Rosetta stone for me — finally, I was able to learn the backstories that went with the characters I was only vaguely able to identify before. Kind of like getting a CliffsNotes version of the Marvel universe. Only more socially relevant, I guess. It was much appreciated.
The funny thing is, right during that time when I was using the Brick Testament to get up to speed with the Bible, Hanford & I were at a local drugstore, and we saw a young couple checking out children’s illustrated Bible story books. Hanford thought that one of them was the Right Reverend Smith — we found out later that it was. Hanford still kicks himself for not going up to chat with him.
Unless you’re playing Half-Life 2 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, your computer has times when it’s sitting partially or totally unused. That’s a shame, because there are some really worthwhile projects that could use some extra computing power. For years, there have been distributed computing projects that let you donate your unused computer time to various causes: SETI@Home was the real pioneer, and I ran that for some time, but in recent years, I’ve run software for protein folding.
Protein folding on the PS3
Now comes another really cool advance in distributed computing: the use of video game consoles! The latest generation of video game consoles couple some pretty impressive computing power with an internet connection… that makes it a perfect resource to tap into. Stanford’s Folding@Home project has announced a client for the new Sony PlayStation 3. Since the PS3 has such great graphics capabilities, that means you can also watch Folding@Home in action in real time, and can see the 3D dimensions of the protein being folded. [via Kotaku]
After the jump, I’ll offer up my grossly oversimplified explanation of why protein folding is so important. Read on, if you’d like to know more…
No celebration of cheesy Irishness is complete without Lucky the Leprechaun:
The first Lucky Charms commercial
This is the very first commercial for Lucky Charms. This was done by Bill Melendez — before he started his own studio to produce the Peanuts specials, he did a lot of work on animated commercials. This commercial is from about 1964.
Kites are fun!
I love this one because it reminds me of Kites Are Fun, by the Free Design:
The Leprechauns’ Christmas Gold is — and I say this as a massive Rankin/Bass fan — a disappointment. First off, why on earth didn’t Rankin/Bass make this as a St. Patrick’s Day special? Heck, even Groundhog Day got a Rankin/Bass special, but instead they chose to further glut their already overloaded Christmas special catalog with this. Leprechauns belong to St. Patrick’s Day, period. Rankin/Bass had a bad history of cross-polluting their holidays (see: Rudolph & Frosty’s Christmas in July, Rudolph’s Shiny New Year). But this is just a straight out omission. Okay, okay, it’s got the song “Christmas in Kilarney,” which nearly sells me on the concept… but really it’s a stretch.
Despite that, with all its over-the-top stereotypical Irish-like goodness, it’s Rankin/Bass’ sort-of St. Patrick’s Day special. If you squint. And turn the volume down. [and drink! -Hanford] It stars Art Carney as the leprechaun Blarney Kilakilarney, whose clan lives on a remote, fog-cloaked island uninhabited by humans. They share the island with a competing leprechaun clan, including his ex-wife. Along comes a boy looking for a Christmas tree, he takes the one on the island, which was really a trap for the banshee, who’s now on the loose, and wants the leprechauns’ gold, blah blah blah, she’s after me pot o’ gold!, blah blah blah, the end. Unless you’re a Rankin/Bass diehard, go watch Darby O’Gill and the Little People instead.
But, all this talk of “you’re just after me pot o’ gold!” gives me an excuse to post a link to this. Which only makes sense if you have your speakers on. And even then, not really. It just makes me giggle.
A leprechaun bit us in the butt today, and we’ve got the Saint Patrick’s Day fever but good.
Mmm… Irishy!
We found these in a little grocery store in Downieville, California. Downieville is so small that even the people who live there have never heard of it. Anyway, we spied these sitting in the deli case, and did a spit-take. Because nothing says “Irish” like a cartoon shamrock, a liberal use of “o’”, and “a wee bit o’ garlic!”
Speaking of liberal uses of “o’”, meet Uncle O’Grimacey:
If that doesn’t make you want a Shamrock Shake… you’re in good company.
We’re cooking up our St. Paddy’s plans — Hanford’s 100% Irish, and I’m 0%, so he’s in charge. I’ll just be happy if I can get some corned beef & soda bread. And maybe a Shamrock Shake.
A thoughtful treatise from Hiroyuki Nishigaki. From the Book Description on Amazon:
I think constricting anus 100 times and denting navel 100 times in succession everyday is effective to good-bye depression and take back youth. You can do so at a boring meeting or in a subway. I have known 70-year-old man who has practiced it for 20 years. As a result, he has good complexion and has grown 20 years younger. His eyes sparkle. He is full of vigor, happiness and joy. He has neither complained nor born a grudge under any circumstance. Furthermore, he can make love three times in succession without drawing out.
In addition, he also can have burned a strong beautiful fire within his abdomen. It can burn out the dirty stickiness of his body, release his immaterial fiber or third attention which has been confined to his stickiness. Then, he can shoot out his immaterial fiber or third attention to an object, concentrate on it and attain happy lucky feeling through the success of concentration.
If you don’t know concentration which gives you peculiar pleasure, your life looks like a hell.
The Brick Testament: The Story of Christmas
The Brick Testament: Stories from the Book of Genesis
The Brick Testament: The Ten Commandments
The Leprechauns’ Christmas Gold
How to Good-Bye Depression: If You Constrict Anus 100 Times Everyday. Malarkey? or Effective Way?