white noise

The champion sleep-hound of all times sleeps forever this day. I light a candle in his honor and grieve his passing, knowing without doubt he is worthy of a thousand tears.

I am at once awed and spooked by Boston Dynamics’ quadruped robot, BigDog. If one looks past the fact that it sounds like a thousand steroid-popping hornets and walks — for the most part — like two drunken college students, one sees the unlimited possibilities of technology such as this. I find BigDog’s ability to compensate, both on ice and when shoved, eerie in depth and magnitude as I find myself thinking, That is a MACHINE. As far as animals go, it’s a mess; the anatomy is just so wrong. The front legs are backwards, giving it a deer/flea hybrid sort of appearance, which in itself is creepy. Nor does it help that the thing is headless. Still, the technology amazes me.

For those of you interested in handmade jewelry (and other accessories), I’m posting the following information:

The YMCA at Virginia Tech is sponsoring a one day jewelry and accessory show on Saturday, April 26 at University Mall in Blacksburg, Virginia. The event will be called “Bling in the Spring” and will feature jewelry and accessories for the home. The hours for the show will be 10am-6pm …

…Plans for the show include at least 40 booths selling all types of jewelry including both handcrafted and commercial jewelry. In addition, hair accessories, small accessories such as purses, knitted items, belts, and hats and home accessories such as candles, soaps, and small decorative items will be featured. Admission to the event is free and there is plenty of parking at the mall in the free parking garage.

Also, there’s still opportunity to become a vendor, so if this interests you, visit the VT YMCA Bling in the Spring site here to get your vendor application. Admission to the event is free if you’re just interested in poking around for the day.

Tags: Arts & Crafts, Events

Rock on! The House passed the FISA reform bill EXCLUDING retroactive immunity. My heart sank when the Senate vote upheld immunity for phone companies like AT&T, but it seems now all the emails and phone calls have been worth the effort. For the life of me, I still don’t know why we’re battling corporations through government channels instead of putting them out of business directly, but this is definitely a step in the right direction.

I found these cupboard/armoires via a great steampunk link from Susan and I’ve been gawking at them daily ever since. They are just too cool. I can imagine one in the kitchen, the living room, maybe even the bedroom and laundry room.

Tags: Arts & Crafts, Assemblage Art