Month: July 2006

Saturday Round-Up

Riya is a visual search engine that lets you upload, tag, and search your own photos or any other photos in their index. Pretty normal, right? The neat part is that it has some capacity for recognizing objects, including individual faces (with some margin of error). Once you've taught it to recognize your friends, it will automatically tag your photos that those friends are in with their names, making it easier to search for them later. Riya can also breakdown searches into related tags, letting you jump to similar interests or narrow down your search. The main downside right now is that all large images are automatically resized to 800×600 pixels. And let's face it, in today's digital photophile age, that's a pretty big downside. Adult pictures are removed, though it appears that they may rely on user-policing to mark "adult content", and I was able to find some without much effort. In the name of science, of course. All in all, it's a neat idea, definately in beta, but worth keeping an eye on.

The ButtKicker LFE Electromagnetic Transducer has a fancy name and a fancier purpose: to make sound move you. Without creating any additional audio, it can be placed below or attached to your couch or chair to make you feel the bass. At $200, I seriously need to get one of these.

Table of Malcontents is a daily read (when I have the opportunity), and has enough good stuff over the past few days that you should really just hop over there and check it out. But if you need my encouragement, I particularly enjoyed: Pirates and Treasure, Modern Living/Neurotica Series (though it's super-creepy), and 787 Cliparts.

game personal tech

Sit and spin: a laptop story

Post author By ahniwa
Post date July 28, 2006
1 Comment on Sit and spin: a laptop story

After about a month of almost painful deliberation, I finally screwed up my courage yesterday evening and bought myself a laptop. Talking to Abby about it, I told her that the more you know about computers the more difficult it becomes to choose one. I wanted dual-core, but I also wanted 64-bit, and I wanted at least a 5400-RPM hard drive, decent graphics, and at minimum 1GB of RAM. I preferred something smaller than the fairly standard 15.4" screen, which tend to weigh in starting at 6.5lb, and I wanted built-in wifi with bluetooth. Also, I didn't want to spend very much.

Easy, right?

I spent a lot of time on Dell's website, trying to finagle a deal with coupons and instant rebates. Even with the $750 rebate on certain Inspiron notebooks of $1999 or more (which technically meant I could get a $2000 laptop for $1250), I was unenthused about my specs. Poking about on Newegg.com, I noticed that the Turion 64 X2 notebooks were much cheaper than I had figured they might be, but that they didn't have one that really matched my every little desire.

Long story short, with the help of NoteBookReview.com and HPshopping, I decided on a very snazzy, classy, black Compaq V3000Z, tricked out to match my exacting standards. So what did I get? Check these babies out:

AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile TL-52 (1.60GHz/2x512KB L2 Cache)
14.1" WXGA BrightView Widescreen (1280 x 800)
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150
2.0GB DDR2 533 SDRAM (2x1024MB)
80 GB 5400 RPM Serial ATA Hard Drive
LightScribe Super Multi 8X DVD+/-RW w/Double Layer
802.11a/b/g WLAN and BlueTooth
12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
1-yr Standard Warranty
Dimensions: 13.15" (L) x 9.33" (W) x 1" (min H)/1.54" (max H)
Weight (6 cell): 5.5lb

Curious what a 1.6ghz processor might be in AMD-terms, I checked Newegg, and it appears that, were the processor single core, at least, it would be a 2800+. That sounds nice and snappy to me, though I'm sure your mileage varies. The only part I'm not completely tickled about is the integrated video, though evidently the Nvidia GeForce Go 6150 is the cream of integrated video cards for notebooks at the moment. A dedicated card it's not, but since there aren't any x2 notebooks available right now with dedicated graphics cards, I won't take that too personally. Besides, it could be detrimental to my health if the notebook were able to play games too well. Willpower and all, you understand.

Two features that have me particularly thrilled are the wifi switch on the keyboard, which allows you to easily disable your wireless capabilities, for security as well as battery-saving purposes, I would imagine. The other one is the HP-proprietary Quickplay, which is described in the review as:

Quickplay is possibly the only software pre-installed which is worth keeping. Quickplay or QP for short is HP's take on the media center and unlike the media center QP can run without booting into windows and play DVD's, video, pictures and movies located in the shared documents folder. It is a nice tool if you watch movies or just play music on the laptop. It has a dedicated button which can launch QP from within Windows and even when the laptop is turned off. The optional remote might be worth buying as it is capable of controlling the Quickplay controls and will be useful when watching a DVD.

Compaq V3000Z That sounds pretty damned neat, and I'm excited to try it out.

One of the main reasons I was so damned picky in choosing a notebook is that I wanted it to be (surprise) Windows Vista compatible. Fully compatible. Which means a 64-bit processor and the graphics power to handle Aero. This baby should, I think, do the trick. Now, about that Vista release date …

The only real pain about the entire situation is that it isn't estimated to be built until August 7th, and then it's being shipped 5-7 day ground. Who can be expected to be that patient after blowing that much cash on a laptop!? Do they think I'm some sort of saint? Cross your fingers for me that they finish it sooner, because I want to play around with it a bit before I start heading eastward. Also, if you like, feel free to suggest some names. And carrying cases. I'm in the market for both.

art

rachelEM illustration

Today's Blogger Blog of Note is a lovely sketchblog by an artist named Rachel E. Morris. Rachel is an illustration student at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, though she'll be graduating this December and, I imagine, will start making her way as an artist in the world. She describes her sketchblog as "where I will put things as I do them, before I get off my ass and stick them in the official webpage gallery." The rest of her website is annoying to navigate, but there's definately some nice art there, so I recommend gritting your teeth and checking it out, if you're into that kind of thing.

cinema poetic

Paul Giamatti and Walt Whitman

Post author By ahniwa
Post date July 22, 2006

I've had a great deal of respect for Paul Giamatti since Sideways, particularly, and thought he did a bang-up job as Screw-On Head. Today I ran across his reading of Walt Whitman's "A Noiseless Patient Spider", which is a beautiful poem and wonderfully read. (download from PoetryFoundation.org)

A noiseless patient spider,
I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

-Walt Whitman

love personal

Things that are happening, an update.

Post author By ahniwa
Post date July 22, 2006
3 Comments on Things that are happening, an update.

Quick updates on the life of the Wa (that's me).

All my ducks are in a row to go to McGill. I got my CAQ (documentation) and my funds (loans), and I put in my notice at the two places that need it (my apartment and my job). I've been telling people I'm leaving August 15th, which is indeed the plan. I'm scared to death.

Part of the reason I'm scared is that I've fallen in love. Really, really more in love than I was even a little bit prepared for, and now I have no idea what to do. I've got some big decisions to make, and some serious conversations ahead. And some tears to shed, I'm certain. Love has the very strangest timing.

Theo's been talking about revitalizing La Casa, which I guess I'll believe when it happens. He's still sitting on two scripts, and after that … well, honestly, I'd really love to get back to writing comics on a regular basis. I've had some good ideas while we've been on hiatus. If we do get back to it, I'd like to try a different format. The 2×2 panel at 600×800 now seems a little too cumbersome, and I wonder why we ever chose it. My super-secret goal is to be nominated for best new webcomic for next year's WCCA. We've also thrown around the idea of starting a webcomics-review site. We've been thinking about it for about a year now, and mostly because Eric doesn't update as often as he used to and Fleen is more-or-less completely uninteresting to us.

I've been playing softball over the summer, and our team has won one game out of about … ten. We can't even maintain a perfect losing record. We were on track to win a second game, but then the bastards came back in the bottom of the 7th and kicked our asses. It was hell of fun, though.

Yesterday it hit 101 degrees. That's not hell of fun at all. That's just hell.

libraries

Exlibrius subscribers

Post author By ahniwa
Post date July 22, 2006

I've been giving it some thought, and from here on out the "Dancing Librarian" exlibrius category will be a little more strict with its content. I'm going to try and narrow it down to be more pertinent, library-related information. One of the reasons I moved to ahniwa.com was so that I wouldn't feel guilty when I didn't post library-related news. Even so, I'd like to offer that more specific content, unadulterated, for those readers who might not be too interested in my other ramblings and much more frequent linkish posts.

That said, I'm also going to make more of an effort to keep up on my library-related reading (I'm 976 posts behind in my "library" bloglines right now), and in turn write more that directly concerns libraries and librarians as well.

art cinema love

Everyday

Post author By ahniwa
Post date July 22, 2006

Everyday is a sweet, romantic, predictable animation that simply made me smile, so I thought I'd share. I'm sure it helps that I've been in a wacky, romantic mood lately.

(via lore)

art humor webcomics

“Insolent Mountain”

Post author By ahniwa
Post date July 22, 2006

To mark its anniversary, the Secret Crocodile Adventure Club is going sequential! Or at least, as the Archcroc V admits, "sequential for as long as I can stand!" I've been a member since pretty early on, and enjoyed it immensely. Theo and I even competed in the first (and so far, only) guest-croc competition, in which we placed moderately well and which earned a lovely print that now hangs proudly on my wall. Even so, I'm really excited for Stig's promise of sequential crocodile stories, and a more story-telling, webcomicky feel.

If you enjoy it, I really recommend signing up for the weekly mailing. The rantings and ravings of the majestorial Archcroc V are just as if not more amusing than the illustrations themselves. For now, go check out Prince on the Mountain, page 1.

humor news

Hot makeouts vs corruption, live at 5.

Post author By ahniwa
Post date July 20, 2006
1 Comment on Hot makeouts vs corruption, live at 5.

Proof that Canada has cooler news than we do, and really hot lesbians.

Student Nicole Dawson, 22, made out with girlfriend Tau, 27, at the southeast corner of King and Bay yesterday to protest alleged corruption in the investment industry. Here's how it went:

11:58 a.m.: Ms. Dawson slips Tau the tongue, two minutes ahead of schedule.

12 p.m.: The protest gets under way proper. Six protesters hold up signs targeting the Ontario Securities Commission and its chairman: "Liberal OSC a Sham," "David Wilson Must Go," and "Stock Market Rotten."

12:02 p.m.: Two young men pace around the protest, wearing the stunned, elated look that men wear when they stumble on something like this.

12:08 p.m.: The women get to second base, caressing each other's rears and nuzzling each other's breasts with impressive focus.

(via ryan)

book poetic

Beautiful Evidence

Post author By ahniwa
Post date July 20, 2006

Edward Tufte's latest book, Beautiful Evidence, has gotten some mixed reviews, but whether good or bad they've certainly piqued my curiosity.

From 37signals:

“What struck me is how you almost never have to hold something in your head while turning the page…he usually finishes his thought within the two pages you can see…and when you flip, it’s something new…that’s an excellent self-imposed constraint…’whatever i need to say, i’ll do it here.’”

and from an Amazon.com reviewer:

This book is, of course, going to be widely read and highly praised. But I don't think it will it be read enough. It is frustrating to read something like this advocating ethical scholarship and standards for evidence when there are new books that flat out lie about science. And when you can lie about science — that part of human endeavor that Galileo transformed with his forever idea that it was all about evidence — you can lie about anything.

To do your bit to kill truthiness, you could do much worse than following the principles in Beautiful Evidence.

(via kottke)

libraries

Librarians: American Patriots

Post author By ahniwa
Post date July 20, 2006

My friend Jason sent me the link to a story on American Patriots, in which librarians receive a very pronounced mention. Well, we are pretty darned kick-ass, after all! From the Common Dreams NewsCenter:

But the librarians have not just been lobbying to change the Patriot Act, they've been on the front lines of exposing its abuses. When four Connecticut librarians challenged an attempt by the FBI to use a National Security Letter to obtain records of who was reading what in that state, the Justice Department slapped a gag order on them. But the 64,000-member ALA and its Freedom to Read Foundation stood up for the librarians, working with the American Civil Liberties Union, the Association of American Publishers and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression to make a federal case of the issue. In May, after the FBI dropped its defense of the gag order–and shortly before it withdrew its demand for the records–a federal appeals court declared that order moot, and the librarians were at last free to speak out. Peter Chase, director of the Plainville, Connecticut, public library, explained that he and his fellow librarians decided to fight because of their frustration at receiving the National Security Letter even as "the government was telling Congress that it didn't use the Patriot Act against libraries and that no one's rights had been violated. I felt that I just could not be part of this fraud being foisted on our nation.

humor libraries personal poetic

A library limerick

Post author By ahniwa
Post date July 20, 2006

There once was a librarian,
who referenced as well as one can.
While helping a student,
he said it would have been prudent,
if you'd shown up with some sort of plan.

(unfortunately based on numerous true stories)

art cinema humor

The Amazing Screw-On Head

Post author By ahniwa
Post date July 20, 2006

From the creator of Hellboy and starring Paul Giamatti, The Amazing Screw-On Head follows the anti-espionage adventures of President Abraham Lincoln's top spy, who just happens to be a robotic, metal head with some nifty attachable bodies. You can watch the entire pilot on scifi.com, and I really recommend it. It's freakin' hilarious. From the site:

In this hilarious send-up of Lovecraftian horror and steampunk adventure, President Abraham Lincoln's top spy is a bodyless head known only as Screw-On Head.

When arch-fiend Emperor Zombie steals an artifact that will enable him to threaten all life on Earth, the task of stopping him is assigned to Screw-on Head. Fortunately, Screw-On Head is not alone on this perilous quest. He is aided by his multitalented manservant, Mr. Groin, and by his talking canine cohort, Mr. Dog.

Can this unorthodox trio stop Emperor Zombie in time? Does Screw-On Head have a body awesome enough to stop the horrors that have been unleashed? Where can we get a talking dog?

All these questions (O.K., maybe not that last one) will be answered when you watch the thrilling tale of The Amazing Screw-On Head!

(via r.stevens)

news photo

Pictures for the Press

Post author By ahniwa
Post date July 20, 2006

Michele McNally, Assistant Managing Editor for Photography at the New York Times, has an enlightening Q&A involving equipment, use of photos in the news, and advice for young photographers (among other things). Even if you're not that in to photography, it's pretty interesting from the news standpoint.

(from Boudist)

libraries personal school

Demoting quiet scholarship

In a flash of intuition I decided to visit the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation website to see if they had proclaimed yet their awardees of the 2006-2007 fellowships. I hadn't heard anything, which the realistic side of me said was probably bad news, but I usually muzzle that side of me and throw it in a dark closet (where it is, I think, quite content). The optimist in me held out hope, as is its wont, and honestly didn't take it too poorly when it read, from the "press release" issued just today (hence a flash of intuition), that I was not awarded fantastic monies to ease my way through graduate school. Reading on, the Foundation provided brief bios of some of the "winners", and I let out an exasperated sigh. How was I, who had led a non-heroic life of quiet if passionate academia and subtle, local public service, how was I to compete with these "heroes" of service and scholarship?

The new Jack Kent Cooke Scholars include:

Bess Greenberg was a college basketball star who played professionally in Denmark and Israel. While traveling the world as an athlete, she honed her photographic skills. She'll be attending the International Center of Photography in New York.

Ted Ehnle was working in Guatemala as a Peace Corps volunteer when he found his "calling." It was there he began teaching music to village children. Ted will be attending Northwestern University.

Natacha Chough accomplished a lot in the years since she graduated from college. She's worked with NASA in preparation for the Mars Exploration program and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Turkmenistan. She hopes to become a NASA flight surgeon so she can enjoy her two loves – medicine and space exploration.

I mean, check out those buzzwords: "traveling the world", "college basketball star", "Peace Corps volunteer" (twice), "teaching music to village children", "NASA", "Mars Exploration Program", and "NASA flight surgeon".

I understand, certainly, that scholarships are meant to be given to outstanding scholars in their field. I guess that I am, nonetheless, a little off-put in feeling like the Foundation is awarding some sort of glamorous scholarship heroism rather than those of us in a more perhaps salt-of-the-earth type job, if one that still has incredible educational and social consequence. This leads me, in turn, to wonder if any of the awardees are going to graduate school to study library science. I'd love to know, but, ignorant, I'd be willing to wager that none are.

Maybe I'm just a little bitter that libraries and librarians are an undervalued commodity in our society's educational and community landscapes, despite their incredible worth and potential. That, and I was honestly pretty excited that they might just up and give me $30k a year, both years, to get my master's degree. Can't blame a guy for a little disappointment there. I always felt I could use a few more loans, anyway ….

I would, though, sincerely like to congratulate the seventy-seven recipients of the Fellowship. Way to be, and good luck with your space exploration medicinal music-teaching photography peace corps type stuff. Me, I'd rather be a librarian. Even a poor one.

book poetic

Poem of the day

Because some days, you need a poem.

Down by the Salley Gardens – WB Yeats

Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet;
She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;
But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree.

In a field by the river my love and I did stand,
And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand.
She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs;
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.

art book cinema

Tintin and I

Tintin From 1929 to 1982, Tintin entertained us with his adventures as he traveled across the world, traversing danger and mystery with aplomb. Tonight, PBS' P.O.V. premiers a documentary of Tintin and its creator, Hergé. It's not playing here until the 20th, sadly, but maybe I can catch the Oregon broadcast somehow. Click here to check your local showtimes.

Both character and creator were unambiguous. Tintin was literally and emblematically a Boy Scout who always lived up to the Boy Scout code, no matter how dire, dark, strange or adult the situation. Tintin was the ideal with which Hergé totally identified. But, as revealed in Anders Østergaard's "Tintin and I," it was the treacherous and uncertain world around Tintin into which Hergé poured the reality of his own life. Based on 14 hours of audio interviews recorded in 1971 — heard here for the first time — "Tintin and I" shows that Hergé, while trying in life to live up to the idealized Tintin, ended up creating in art a powerful graphic record of the 20th century's tortured history.

(via comixpedia)

wordpress

The Dancing Librarian has moved.

Post author By ahniwa
Post date July 11, 2006

Subscribers to my old "library" blog, The Dancing Librarian at exlibrius.org, may have noticed that I stopped posting to it, and that as of yesterday the feed title is now ahniwa.com. I started to feel like having multiple sites to post about multiple topics was simply unmanageable, so I've moved EVERYTHING (including all my old blog entries from my old blogspot blog) over to this site. One thing to maintain and tinker with, and it's got my name on it to boot.

You needn't change your feed subscription at all. I've taken care of it for you. Specifically, you'll receive feed of all the posts on ahniwa.com that would used to have been posted on The Dancing Librarian. This will probably amount to most of the posts I write, though it may exclude some posts that I don't feel are pertinent (i.e. more personal posts). If you'd like to subscribe to the whole shebang, point your aggregator over to http://feeds.feedburner.com/ahniwa and you'll be golden.

In either case, I'll continue to post stories and links to things I find interesting, mostly involving technology, webcomics, art & illustration, and other sundry and miscellaneous morsels. Enjoy, and for the feed-readers, feel free to stop in on the site anytime and say hi, leave me a comment, and let me know that you're out there. I'm maintaining this site for me, mostly, but it's always nice to know other people might enjoy it from time to time as well.

Cheers, Ahniwa

art

Three artists for a Saturday

Post author By ahniwa
Post date July 8, 2006
1 Comment on Three artists for a Saturday

Reading through PC Magazine today I paused over a full-page illustration for an article titled "Do You Know Where Your Kids Are Clicking?" The illustration (viewable here) is by artist Asaf Hanuka, who lives in Tel Aviv and who does a lot of amazing commercial work. His blog is particularly interesting because he illustrates (pardon the pun) the process of planning out sketches, which sketches are chosen, and the final polishing for commercial use. He also has some great illustrations up on his site, as well as a link to a comic he does called Bipolar.

With a little blog-hopping, I also came across Andrea Offerman and Tomislav Torjanac, who are both certainly worth a look if you have an extra minute. All three artists submitted illustrations for a Life of Pi competition, which makes for interesting comparisons in themes and styles (apparently it was Tomer and not Asaf who entered the competition).

humor

Look Around You

If you enjoy deadpan British humor, you owe it to yourself to check out Look Around You, a whimsical bit of mock-science that originally aired on the BBC. They're all great, but Look Around You: Maths might be my fave.

(via ryan)