Halloween: A list
Disappointments:
-The end of Stylus. It was a good run. I haven't been reading it as much as of late (I only discovered that the Stypod was gone a few weeks ago), but Stylus helped keep me in the loop. Cheers.
Onto the more hilarious occurrences:
-Saw a guy dressed as Mario (of Nintendo fame). This would usually just be alright, but he was riding his bike and loudly singing the Mario Brothers Theme song.
-Two fellows dressed up as JT and the other guy from the SNL "Dick in a Box" skit.
-Watching a random passing guy look extremely freaked out as a friend discussed the dilemmas of a wedgie.
I'm sure I'll have more by the end of the day.
Sweet nectar
Here's a joke that I was just told:
Q: What did one photon say to the other photon?
A: I'm sick and tired of your interference.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Enjoy your turkey! or tofurkey.
Also, enjoy the disgusting summer weather?
Jewelry for the scientist in you
Alex pointed me to these. Awesome.
I crack myself up.
I'm reading up on the primary visual cortex (aka Striate cortex)...and I thought of a joke:
What's a Striate cortex neuron's favourite pickup line?
"What's your preferred stimulus orientation?"
I'm actually dying of laugher right now. I am such a nerd.
I might explain it later, but I'm laughing too hard right now.
CAFKA
I had the privilege of checking out CAFKA (Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener & Area) this weekend as it wrapped up. It's a biennial event, where various forms of art are situated around the Kitchener-Waterloo area at different establishments. This year's theme was CAFKA.07: Haptic.
I checked out the art at Kitchener City Hall, mostly because I had read an article about Stelarc, who is, well, very convinced that the body is obsolete. His piece is called the Prosthetic Head, and is essentially his head, projected 3D onto a screen, that will have a conversation with you as you type your words into a keyboard. It's run on a number of algorithms he's written for it. It also has voice recognition, but currently only for the artist Stelarc (as opposed to the head). It was spookily realistic most of the time, got confused a few times...it asked another person if they could help get a boyfriend at one point, and claimed "he" was a female...then backtracked. I talked to it about robots and physics. It was fun.
(if you navigate through the CAFKA site, you can read about it; can't get a direct link)
Anyways, there were a ton of neat exhibits, including an automated bubble-wrap popper, a "Personal Living Unit", and a huge braille billboard reading "READ ME" (the point of which being that the people it's targeted for can't actually read it, as it's on a billboard).
This is the kind of art I love. Truly.
Top Spins
...of the past little while:
Take Me to the Riot - Stars
Two Step - Dave Matthews Band
Everlong - Foo Fighters
True Patriot Love - Joel Plaskett Emergency
*When Your Mind's Made Up - Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová & The Frames
*Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy - Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová & The Frames
We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives - Los Campesinos!
plus various tunes by The Arrogants, Joel Plaskett, Stars, Knock Knock Ginger, and Two Hours Traffic
*from the soundtrack to the film "Once".
