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: