Cookie Monster's away on God's Business

I am having a very difficult time reminding myself that this is really Tom Waits and not Cookie Monster. I mean, I've always had the highest regard for Cookie Monster's brutal honesty in all things, but I'm not used him to being this cool.

Thanks be to Ted M. and Andrew O. for sharing this with me.

Symphony of Science

If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.
-- Carl Sagan

Being a geek myself, I do love the beauty of science. There is definitely room for artistic vision in cold, hard science and mathematics. People knee-deep in the stuff, with all their training and knowledge, can see the art of science easily, even being moved to tears at times.

But for the rest of us, the beauty of science might need to be dressed up a bit so that our souls can take it all in.

The folks over at Symphony of Science have done just that. They've taken the lectures of prominent science and wrapped and stretched them over a mystical electronic score that is pure beauty.

Actually, what it has achieved is mythic in its nature. The music and the lyrics are the surface, but the meaning being transmitted sinks into your consciousness with your brain being blissfully unaware that scientific philosophy is invading its thought-process. Classic myth at work.

This video is the first Symphony of Science piece I saw, but you can download the entire album at the MelodySheep website. You can download it for free, or make a donation of any amount (but I would think $10 would be a reasonable minimum).

Clients say the darndest things

In real life (ie: when I'm not updating this blog of silliness), I'm a freelance technical writer. This means I've had to deal with clients and their bizarre demands. Most of the time, the clients are reasonable human beings with reasonable requests.

But every once in a while, when the moon is the colour of sackcloth and dogs and cats are living together, a client will make the most UNreasonable of requests, which makes me think they really need to take a walk and clear their head. For an hour. Or 10.


This is why Clients From Hell amuses me so much because I KNOW that these are actual, real statements made by clients every single day. There's something about being the guy who signs the check that makes you go a little crazy.

A few years ago, I told a client I was about to go on a one week camping trip in Ontario and she responded with "You can't leave! Our deadline is this coming week and it's an  i! I need you to stay and finish your work!" So I canceled part of my trip to finish my work and the "immovable" deadline got pushed back by a month anyways. So now, when I'm going on my annual 1 week camping trip, I tell my clients I'm going to Spain. Somehow, they never argue with Spain.

3D Printing of Real-World objects

So I gotta say this is pretty awesome. This is more than just a printer that prints 3D letters or words with foam (as pretty and awesome as that is): this printer scans an object and replicates it as a real, usable object, moving parts and all. You can even colorize the moving parts!



Thanks be to Erik F. for providing the original link.

False Advertising and Guide Dogs

Ottawa storyteller Kim Kilpatrick tells a charming story about her experiences in getting her first guide dog. She told it during Ottawa's Once Upon a Slam series in 2011.