Sculpin

“Some of them are full of black water. Others have become graveyards for old lawn furniture and rodent carcasses. They are shaped like jelly beans and manufactured by companies named Sunny Side and Champagne. Once upon a time, Fresno was the California Dream. Own a car. Own a house. Own a pool. Everyone wanted it and the wonderful world of credit made it all possible. But now, with the foreclosure monster running wild, the dream is dry. Thousands of pools are festering in the hot Central Valley sun. For most people this is tragic. But for some, it’s an opportunity.”

Cannonball from California is a place. on Vimeo.

ETA: a bit of synchronicity at Cute Overload:

From the category of “is this hypnotic or is that my fever?”: nine and a half minutes of dreamy skateboarding in Madrid at the magic hour. Via Doobybrain.

MADRID LONGBOARD from Juan Rayos on Vimeo.

Trundle trundle trundle:

Om nom nom:

“My dear Burge, life is a disease; and the only difference between one man and another is the stage of the disease at which he lives. You are always at the crisis; I am always in the convalescent stage. I enjoy convalescence. It is the part that makes the illness worth while.”
– George Bernard Shaw, Back to Methuselah

This morning I’m able to whisper a little. “I’m doing great!” I thought, and then I realized that I was having yet another Hyperbole And A Half moment. I have a lot of those. Like this, which is just about exactly how I looked when I had both the Norwalk virus and an untreated disc herniation. Or this. Or this.

You know, if I were sure it was responsible, I might think this bug has been worth it for the vivid dreams I’ve been having lately. Last night I visited Jessica C. in her magnificent underground mad-science lair complete with two dozen artificially intelligent origami crabs and a player piano that played “Rockin’ Pneumonia” a la Professor Longhair. Good job, subconscious.

At my gig the other day, one of the students showed me how to make a stick bomb out of tongue depressors. How I ever missed that one as a kid, I don’t know, but I’m grateful to have that hole in my education filled. Here’s a very large array of stick bombs from xyloexplosivist Tim Fort:

Which is more fabulous? The orderliness of the progression or the chaos it creates? I like the orderliness, but I can feel the power of the kerplowie factor.

Then:

And now:

I think the Eameses would have liked this:

(Via A Near Life Experience, previously known as Spy’s Spice. Why that blog isn’t mega-famous I have no idea, because it is great.)

(I had almost entirely forgotten about this before Kathea posted it on Facebook. Thanks, Kathea!)

Some valentine!

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Hearts are meat
And so are you.

In some way that I cannot explain, this sums up my ancient history in the tech industry.