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Archive for the ‘Off the Wall’ Category

For It Is Wednesday and I Must Scream Now

Wednesday, December 19th, 2007

Behold… My creation…

Weird Object Cropped

Maybe he’s some odd piece of pottery, or an alien wailing to evolve further. Almost feels like this should be made into a business card or something.

And, he’s not a flying monkey, so Jon should be okay with it. Joanne may lose her appetite and Pete might fill him up with Christmas lights. Doesn’t look like Nina, so he’s definitely not The Alien Next Door. Two doors down maybe.

Poor fellow. Even his teeth are fleshy.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Winter Snow

Saturday, December 8th, 2007

Inspired by Jon’s winter and ice photos and Pete’s cold day photo, I thought I would post one of my own.

Falling Elf

I don’t know whether it was the little snow mounds on the steps of the brick, or the snow-capped branches on the holly bush, or the free-falling elf, but I just thought this was an interesting photo.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Like Bonsai? Like Cars?

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

Hey, look at that! My first car post. Maybe all those spammers were precognizant. (Most of my spam comments continue to be car-related. Go figure.)

Anyway, if you like bonsai and you like cars, artist John Rooney has the mix for you: CrashBonsai!

Makes a great gift, no doubt, for your favorite insurance agent.

Source: Snarfd

Popularity: 6% [?]

Smunpfu Piy Yjrtr?

Monday, November 19th, 2007

Kidy drromh og O jsbr smu trsfrtd argy domvr mp pmr jsd vpzzrmyrf om s ejoar rcvrqy gpt yjr dqszzrtd, yjpihj Kpm eoaa qtpnsnau nr yjr pmau pmr ejp vsm trsf yjod, rcvrqy gpt Kpsmmr niy djr’d mpy spimf fir yp Yjsmldhobomh bsvsyopm.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Happy Halloween

Wednesday, October 31st, 2007

Halloween 2007

I never did get a chance to carve the pumpkin this year, as Erina did. Nor did I have the time to put together the kind of Halloween displays that scares people and makes national news. So, I have cheated by using a scary clown illustration by Matthew Laznicka and overlaying it on the pumpkin. ;-)

Popularity: 5% [?]

Fun Friday

Friday, October 26th, 2007

Can you tell I’ve been busy this week? In case the links, photos and lack of substantive posts isn’t a big enough clue, yes, I’ve been busy.

Anyway, here are some fun links for Fun Friday.

Weird Inventions
I kind of like the invisible house. The political hot air collector would be useful too.

Chuck Norris
Apparently, the creator of this page would like to get it to the number 1 spot in a Google search so that when you click “I’m feeling lucky” you’ll get this page.

How to Break the Internet
If you must try it, check the other two first. Okay?

For an exercise in recursion, go to Google, search for “Google” and click “I’m feeling lucky.”

Popularity: 6% [?]

Esoteric Ramblings on Time and 2012

Friday, October 12th, 2007

So, the end of the world is coming in 2012. A number of different prophecies suggest that. But, it has been suggested that the end of time may mean that 2012 might not be the year the world ends, but the year we discover time travel. At that point, the concept of linear time would be forever changed if not brought to an abrupt end. It would be the end of time as we know it.

And, as we march closer and closer to 2012, it seems new theories on time emerge more frequently. The latest being that time may be in two dimensions instead of one.

Let me grab some handy dandy charts so you can follow along as I brainstorm outloud.

Timelines

Figure A is pretty much time as we know it. Things begin on the left and end on the right. Yes, arrows would illustrate this better, but that’s why you read the text and not just look at the pretty pictures. Anyway, back to the point, which is that things begin on the left and end on the right with varying lengths in between. So, if you’re a fruit fly, your line is very short. If you’re a Redwood, it’s very long. So, that’s time as we know it. We can only go from left to right, so if you missed something, oops. Try again next time.

Figure B shows two parallel timelines. You remember Back to the Future, right? If you go back in time and mess something up, you create a parallel timeline. So, as you continue along the timeline, even if you skip ahead in a time machine, you’re still stuck in that parallel timeline. Now, parallel universes may be created all the time. Every time there is a choice to be made, boom!, the universe splits. In one universe, you turned right. In another, you turned left. Then, there are other possibilities, such as going straight, turning back, not going at all, turning right but leaving your left blinker on, etc. So, the universe is splitting all the time, and it’s all your fault you indecisive… But I digress…

But, what if time has two dimensions, as indicated in the article linked above? Well, that may bring us to Figure C. The red line is the timeline where you weren’t born. The green line is the timeline where you were born. Those two divergent timelines create a plane in which varying timelines of things happen all because you were or were not born. These all radiate outword from the moment of your birth (or non-birth). Figure D shows the radiance, kind of.

However, you might have been born (or not) at 8:00 a.m. Maybe you dragged things out and waited until 8:15 a.m. Maybe you were a real pain and waited until 6:00 p.m. to show your face to the world. (Alternatively, I could have began with varying times of conception, but as I try to be relatively family-friendly here, it’s best not to go that route.) Point is, your existence could have began (or not) at varying times, which leads to staggering planes, right?

Granted, the universe does not revolve around you. (Sorry!) You’re just a point in the universe’s timeplane. So, your varying planes are just varying points on the universe’s timeplane.

But, then we go back to where you’re making a turn. In traditional, linear time, you can only go straight. You can’t back up, you can’t turn left, and you can’t turn right. Straight is your only option. We can theorize that we could go backwards, but we can’t figure out how yet. But. left and right don’t even enter our minds. It’s forward or backward, but really only forward.

The universe isn’t that simple, right?

Thus, we have two dimensional time, as mentioned in the aforementioned article linked way, way above. So, now you can go left or right. Or straight. Still can’t go backwards, but maybe you just need to have your car looked at.

Still, a bit simplistic right? Because, not only can you go left or right or straight or backwards if you get a better car, you can also go now or later, or sometime in between.

Thus, Figure E. Three-dimensional time.

You see, you could have turned left. You could have turned right. Or you could have gone straight. You can map that on a two-dimensional grid. But, you could go now or later, or not gone at all. How can you graph all of those possibilities on a plane?

If space has three dimensions (that we experience), doesn’t it make sense that time would also have three dimensions? I mean, what if you were in a plane? Left, right, up, down, now, later…

Anyway, so now I pass the deep thoughts on to you…

Popularity: 4% [?]

Saturday Videos

Saturday, September 29th, 2007

Slow Saturday afternoon? Here are some short videos for your entertainment:

Be careful who you let edit your wedding video.

This one’s interesting, with one story with two perspectives running backwards and forwards.

Watch as Shifty’s clever escape goes awry.

Finally, there is Mac vs. PC: South Park Style.

Popularity: 5% [?]

What Would You Like to See?

Tuesday, September 25th, 2007

Before I get to that, I see that I just hit a Technorati Authority rank of 103. Appears as though I totally skipped 102 and went from 101 to 103. Just need to go a little bit further to break 50k.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand, which you’ll notice is in the “Off the Wall” category. With that in mind, what would you like to see? Notice I said “see” and not “read.” So, what is it then? Keep it clean, please!

What would you like to see? I have some nifty software tools, and a lack of ideas. Well, I have ideas, but they’re complex ideas, and I need something simpler to start.

Oh, yes, it would make things easier if I told you all about those nifty software tools, and what they do, and you’d have an easier time coming up with a suggestion, no? Where’s the fun in that? Just tell me what you’d like to see. If suggestions are too crazy, maybe I’ll give a bit more information…

At any rate, tell me what you would like to see. I’ll pick an idea (maybe!) and make it happen. Perhaps you could mention this in your blog too, so I can get a larger selection of commentators than usual. Incentive? Well, none other than you might get to see some wacky idea of yours.

No, I’m not going to give any sample suggestions either. Just give me what you got!

What would you like to see?

Popularity: 4% [?]

Mmmm

Sunday, September 23rd, 2007

Doug wants a recipe. Well, he’s not going to get one. But, mmmm, regardless, because today’s post is brought to you by the letter M, which is the first letter of macaroni, for which you shouldn’t need a recipe–just add boiling water, wait, then drain. Add cheese if you so desire. Maybe top it off with some ketchup. Then, masticate heartily! But, that will be the extent of magirics today.

Methinks some dating advice may be in order. If you are a man and are a milquetoast, you can still get a date with an attractive midinette–you just have to assert yourself and ask her out. Be clear and direct; don’t mussitate. But it would be moria to be minacious, as you may scare her off and perhaps even instill a bit of misandry within her. At best, it may put her in a mulligrubs. And your only hope for offspring may be monogony.

I wonder if morphallaxis was coined especially for Doctor Who?

Before I mabble this post, I’d like to say “Hey!” to all the macrobian macrocephalous mammothrepts out there in the macrocosm, especially those that are manganiferous or suffer from melomania. If you’re mephitic, perhaps you ought to become vegetarian or carnivorous rather than merdivorous. It will especially improve your breath. Even being microphagous or myrmecophagous would be an improvement.

Until next time, be mabsoot and don’t make mountains out of monticles! Believe. Act. Achieve!

Popularity: 3% [?]