At the downtown gallery of the Des Moines Art Center, there is a show going on currently called "Hug" featuring the works of Australian artist Patricia Piccinini.  Many of her works are based on the concept of engineered creatures developed to protect an endangered species.

"The Bodyguard"

Talking to an employee of the art center, I learned that Piccinini is a conceptual artist, designing and drawing the creatures, then having prop artists (for the models), photographers (for photgraphs of the creatures in the wild and encroaching suburbia), and CGI designers (for videos that were shown) create the animals.

"The Embrace" - a "self-portrait" of the artist

All in all, it was an interesting, albeit odd, show.  I found the concept of "genetically engineered animals designed to serve a purpose but eventually running into population issues with encroaching suburban habitats" very interesting.

I built my last computer almost three years ago.  Ever since I have had sporadic problems, including random reboots (often rebooting itself overnight for no reason), crashes, etc.  At first I thought it was the video card, and I had it replaced by the manufacturer.  The problem seemed to be fixed...until a couple months later when it started crashing again.  I switched to another model of video card altogether, and again it appeared to work...until it started acting up again.

New hardware didn't work.  Reinstalling Windows didn't work.  Upgrading to Vista didn't work.

Finally, last week I was doing some work before bed when suddenly the system shut off again.  With that, I had reached the limit.  I switched over to my backup server, and from it I ordered all the parts to build a new PC from Newegg.

For those interested, I built the following:

• EVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard
• Intel Core2 Duo 2.4GHz processor (it was the best price/speed point, and as the motherboard is capable up to a Quad Core, I figure I can upgrade later).
• 4GB SLI 800MHz RAM
• 2x400GB SATAII drives in a striped RAID array (I have one more drive, and once I get one final 400GB drive, I plan to make it a striped/mirror array for full redundancy).
• 650 watt Antec Trio power supply
• 2 XFX nVidia GeForce 7950 GT 512MB video cards running together in SLI mode
• Windows Vista Ultimate
• An Antec case

Originally, I had planned on buying a Dell for my next system rather than building, but one of my requirements was SLI for my video cards.  Unfortunately, the only Dell systems with SLI are their high-end XPS series which come at a premium price.  As I already had one of the two video cards, the two hard drives, and a DVD-R, I was able to build a system for about $1500 less than an equivalent Dell.

At long last, the new system is up and running, so hopefully I will be able to blog more with the new system.

Happy New Year to all!  Those who have played the Rayman game for the Wii will surely understand the following.  :)

[From VGCats]

We had some friends over last night for some holiday and Wii fun.  While the Wii really lived up to its potential as "the game system for everyone", an unfortunate incident resulting in the tragic demise of some Christmas ornaments led me to think the following page needs to be added to the Wii Safety manual:

For those who don't know, I managed to pick up both a PS3 (two actually, one of which I sold on Ebay for a tidy markup) and a Wii on their release days a couple weeks back.

I've barely played the PS3, as the Wii has me firmly in the grasp of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.  We've also been playing Wii Sports with friends and family.

The Wii controller looks a lot like a little remote control, and whenever you start the system, it reminds you to put on your wrist strap.  Apparently there have been a number of cases online of the Wiimote being accidentally flung across the room into television sets, so the reminder is probably a good idea.

While we in the US are reminded to strap the Wiimote on, players in Japan are apparently given a much broader range of safety instructions.  What follows are some excerpts from the Japanese Wii Safety manual (the interpreting, which is wholly nonfactual, was done by me).  You can view more at the original story on Kotaku.

Avoid hitting people in the face with the Wiimote.

Do not give your Wii soft drinks.

Wiis are addicted to cigarettes.

Four leaf clovers do not increase your luck while playing the Wii.

Avoid accidentally throwing your Wii away.

It begins...

I got the stitches in my thumb removed today.  It went fairly well, except the doctor used a medical student for the removal who needs a bit more practice.

They had me put my hand on this table, and the student would grab one end of the stitch with tweezers and would snip the intersection with clippers, which is fine, in theory.  What was aggravating though was that when the student needed a better angle, instead of asking me to move my hand, he would try pulling it into position USING THE STITCH HE WAS HOLDING WITH THE TWEEZERS.  Essentially pulling on my wound to move my hand.

Luckily there were only three stitches.

This campaign video for a guy running for School Board is hilariously terrible...

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for people who feel they can make a difference running for office, but somehow I don't think this commercial was a key to winning...

9 day in and my thumb is doing much better (though it still looks kind of nasty).  Friday I get my stitches out.  It no longer causes stinging pain to touch anything with it, however the end "feels" different than before - hopefully this is due to the sutures/healing and not some sort of damage.

Just in time, too!  Gears of War arrives today for the Xbox 360, and the Wii and PS3 come out next week.  Thumb - get ready!

My Master Replicas Kermit the Frog photo puppet arrived today.  I ordered him back in April, so it was a long order cycle.

It's a replica made from the plans and materials of the original Kermit puppet, so it's as close as they come to the real thing short of an original.  Photo puppets are different from the typical puppet in that they are built with wire frames to pose for still photos rather than being held by a puppeteer.

Sarah Kargol has completed my commissioned computer-themed monster painting for my office!

Monsterboard by Sarah Kargol

Normally at Halloween I post photos of the pumpkins Kim and I have carved, and this year I had intended to do the same.  We got a couple great pumpkins (not to be confused with The Great Pumpkin) at Howell's Tree Farm the weekend before last, and upon our return from Orlando yesterday afternoon (about which there will be another post), I had an Autobot symbol sketched into my pumpkin ready for carving.

Unfortunately I ended up carving my thumb instead.

I was using our Cutco meat carver, when I did a crossways cut that slipped.  The Cutcos are REALLY sharp, so when it slipped it sliced across the pumpkin and right into the side of my thumb, right up to the base of the thumbnail.  I immediately dropped the pumpkin and dashed for the sink, holding it under water.  Kim called my mom's boyfriend Tom - a former police officer - who came over and drove me to the clinic.  A few stitches later and I was feeling better.

So no pumpkins this year, which is too bad.  I was really looking forward to my Autobot pumpkin, but at least I still have my thumb.

Misty had her baby yesterday!  Ethan Frederick Soldwisch has left the womb and entered the world.

Ethan was born 8 pounds, 14 ounces and 21" long (tall?).

Asked for a quote, Ethan replied "Waaaah!"

Kim and I stopped by the Octagon Arts Festival in Ames last weekend and picked up another Sarah Kargol monster painting for our home.

Swinger

I think Sarah's monsters are great.  She's well on her way to making a unique art "brand" which could lead to great success.  I've commissioned her to make a computer-themed monster painting for my office.

Kim and I went to go get dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant last night after not having visited in some time to find something shocking...  Yee-Ho Garden had closed.

Yee-Ho was the type of place we liked but really visited in waves - there were periods we would go weekly and then other times there would be months between visits.  The staff was always very nice - Betty: the owner who took the place over from her "stupid older brother" as she put it; her father who I think was the cook; the occasional relative working as wait staff.

Most recently we had stopped visiting as often because Betty had started hanging out at our table for a while, talking to us while we were eating.  I like friendly restaurant folk, but I feel like I'm being rude eating while someone is talking to me, so that made me uncomfortable. 

They were never terribly busy, and I was honestly surprised they stayed open year after year given that usually there were only 2-3 tables in use when we'd go there, but all the same we were sorry to see it go.

Good luck to you Betty, wherever you may be!

I FINALLY got my desk cleaned off!  It had been six months since the last major cleaning, so it's nice to have some desk space again.

I have a photo prior to the cleaning-up on my Flickr site.

So let's say you make a voting machine that is readily hackable given access to a memory card...  wouldn't you think that the lock to said memory card should at least be secure?

Apparently Diebold doesn't.

It turns out that the voting machines use standard filing cabinet locks - so someone wanting to put corrupt code on a voting machine could do so with keys easily purchased from the Internet or in the homes/offices of many people.

So, do people still think a paper trail is unnecessary?

Princeton University has published a research paper (with accompanying demonstration video) on the Diebold AccuVote-TS voting machine.  What they found is pretty scary.

There's a video on their site at http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/ that goes through the process.  It may be the most scary boring video I have ever seen.

We started using Diebold voting machines here in Indianola this past election.  Yay?

At last, a release date for the Nintendo Wii - Nintendo's new motion sensitive console - has been announced.

November 19.  $249.  Includes the Wii Sports game (which has tennis, baseball, golf, bowling and boxing included).

I am so there.  Actually, I'll likely pre-order one with next-day shipping like I did for the 360, as that beats waiting in a line the night before.

For a cool video of Wii games in action, visit http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/topics/wii_preview/movie/lineup.html

Made with South Park Studio 2.

Made with The Simpsonmaker.

Mario - we've all seen his exploits in the Mushroom Kingdom, safely veiled by a comforting screen of cartooniness.  But have you ever stopped to wonder what Mario would be like were you to see a realistic version of what's going on?

This painting by Handre De Jager shows us what might be.

Click to view larger version

More of his so-grotesque-yet-I-can't-stop-looking art is up at AwfulMart.

Kim and I bought a painting at the State Fair this year from an exhibitor in the fine arts building.

Click picture to view larger version

The painting is titled "Warhol's Monster" and was done by Sarah Kargol.  Sarah actually does a whole series of monster paintings, which you can see at http://www.kargolart.com/.

Conan O'Brien has a Walker Lever, which when he pulls it plays a clip from Walker Texas Ranger.  Click here to see a funny sampling of them.

Our friend Megan used to have a roommate that LOVED Walker Texas Ranger...  we thought her quite mad.

To give those readers who care about such things another update on the horrible designs in the upcoming Transformers movie by Michael "Pearl Harbor" Bay, I give you the leader of them all:  Optimus Prime.

Yikes!  Once again we have the skeletal-alien-robot look, comeplete with little spikes sticking out making it a done-deal that no toy will ever look like this as it would likely kill the child playing with it.  And check out the flames on his chest.  Nascar Prime!

CNN has reported that Steve Irwin, known to most as "The Crocodile Hunter", was killed this morning by a stingray barb going through his chest.  Though he was filming a documentary called "Ocean's Deadliest", he apparently was killed during a day off when he went to film features for a new childrens show he was developing.  According to reports, he came over the top of a stingray buried in the sand without realizing it, causing the creature to be accidentally boxed in and attack him, killing him instantly.

I have fond memories of watching his show with friends a few years back, with people cringing every time he'd grab some deadly animal.  The emotional part of your mind couldn't help but wonder if maybe THIS time was his LAST time, even though the logical part told you that of course he would be ok as they were showing it on TV.

It's ironic that he died in an animal-related accident rather than an attempt at something dangerous, but at least he died doing something he loved.  I find this quote from his longtime friend and producer John Stainton poignantly funny:

I happened to look over into the cage of my recently-deceased praying mantis the other night, when I noticed this stark white cricket.  It had molted just moments before, and by the next morning it was the normal cricket color.

Remember Bumblebee?

He was that little yellow Transformer designed to give the kids watching the show someone to relate to.  He was small but brave and befriended the human characters.

Tell me:  does THIS look like a character any person would discover and befriend?

If my car turned into the Bumblebee above - the one from the upcoming Transformers movie - I would probably scream and run away.

Ok, now remember Starscream?

He was the scheming second-in-command to Megatron, always looking for his chance to take over the Decepticons.  Want to see what Starscream in the upcoming movie looks like? (Trust me, you don't).

Yup, it's like a giant bug.

And then there's Megatron.  Remember Megatron, leader of the Decepticons?

He turned into a handgun, somehow shrinking in size, but it was a cartoon and we forgave them.  In later incarnations, he often turned into a tank, as a tank is, I suppose, like a vehicular gun.

Of course, next is a photo of Megatron from the upcoming movie:

Yikes!

And what's with turning into an "Alien Jet"?  Doesn't that defeat the purpose of Transforming to disguise their identities?

Look, I understand that things need updated when turning a cartoon from the 80s into a modern movie - but come on!  Who will this appeal to?  Anyone over 20 who sees this movie will only do so because they remember the cartoon from their childhood - and anyone over 20 who doesn't remember the cartoon will likely not see it anyway!

I imagine a memo went around like below early in the design process:

A funny video from South Park where the core beliefs of Scientology are explained.  It's made even funnier by the fact that it really IS what is at the core of Scientology. 

This persian cat named Sebastian had a problem - he had a severe underbite, causing two large bottom teeth to stick out of his mouth, making them susceptible to damage.

His owners solution - protective gold crowns!

Kitty's got bling, yo!

From >Yahoo! News via Boing Boing