blivet 2.0

one pixel per meter #

One pixel per meter is just a great!

A “[b]eautifully rendered site comparing the size of different large objects (Eiffel Tower, King Kong, Star Trek starship, etc.) on a scale of one pixel per meter.” [Boing Boing]

Clay forgot to mention the space slug.

Something I didn’t get around to posting earlier #

Well, u– um, can we come up and have a look?

Whew #

Got the final draft of Audrey’s Master’s thesis done up today, ready to be FedEx’ed to her committee back in Kansas tomorrow. Thirty-plus 600 dpi full page-sized figures, most of them in color, and a whole bunch of geological terminology that I just have to take her word on. Copy checking is hard when you have no idea if those are even words…

"mostly poorly sorted, poorly stratified, coarse fanglomerate, moderately lithified except near some faults where strongly lithified. Well exposed in drainages near Willow Beach where coarse poorly bedded angular pebble- to boulderconglomerates near adjacent Precambrian bedrock intertongue with and grade into weakly lithified thinbedded sandstone, silty sandstone, and siltstone to the east; fine-grained sedimentary rocks predominate …"

I love it when she talks that way…

She’s already in bed and I’m headed there as well. We have a couple of years before it will be dissertation time.

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Lest I Fail to Note… #

That little boy we are so blessed to have around our house is a year and a half old today. He will be a professional photographer’s subject tomorrow night. I need to get that video snippet made into a quicktime and posted one of these days.

On the main burner, Audrey is almost done with her final thesis chapter. You will be there soon my sweet, very soon.

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Las Vegas Highland Games and Celtic Gathering #

We had a great time today at the Las Vegas Highland Games and Celtic Gathering. Ian had a great time with the ducks (we kept him away from the geese) at the pond and seemed to be quite fascinated with the pipes.

Apparently, I could wear the Clan Forbes Tartan (through my Mother’s side of the family) if I had a mind to. I always swore I’d never wear a kilt as I didn’t think I had a ‘right’ to. But, there Grandpa’s name was, in the books. Hmmm. I remember him saying many times that he was Scotch-Irish. [caveats about “assuming anything about one’s genealogy strictly from a surname” duly noted.]

Late update and small lament #

Wow, later than I thought. I have been putting Audrey’s thesis into PageMaker.

I hate to see that picture of Ian rotate off the page. I know, I know, I should post more of them if that is the case…

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More bad ‘Dad’ songs #

Some time ago I mentioned that we would sing the phrase ‘chicky-bird diaper’ to the tune of Paperback Writer when that particular design presented itself during a changing session with Ian. Today I discovered that ‘no fun daddy’ works with the chorus of Good Day Sunshine when I separated Ian from his Easter basket prior to buckling him into the car to come home from day care. He complained mightily, much worse than usual. There was a little stuffed bunny rabbit in the basket that I thought was the object of his desire, so I offered it to him as appeasement. It didn’t work.

I managed to lighten his mood by distracting him with what amounts with a silly walk which usually makes him laugh. That ’song’ arose from somewhere and served as the soundtrack during the whole thing. The woman who runs the day care was watching and commented, “He’s not going to be like other kids.” No, I’m not sure the little guy ever had a chance.

Maybe you had to be there. Maybe I should get out more.

Wes nails it #

"CNet: The paradox of privacy. “People are terrified about the ability of corporations to track their lives, but the world economy has come to depend upon all-seeing computer systems.” At one time much of the world economy depended on slavery, but that didn’t stop people from abolishing it." [Hack the Planet]

Exactly.

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Hey #

I am remiss in not posting a note concerning my return. Taxes (ouch!), fatigue and general distraction is my excuse. I suppose blogsloth creeps in a bit as well.

The conference was good, I had a great time and our presentation went well. Walking around outside in the very maw of what passes for spring in Wisconsin reminded my of why I visit winter, but don’t live in it.

A few of you folks were extra busy while I was away. Brent and Sheila came to town and Doug hung out his new shingle.

I don’t even want to think about the Museum thefts, except to note that the bulk of it was not looters (duh!) and we will never know the truth. I’m sure finding out is right there in the queue after the 9-11 commission, getting to the bottom of Enron and prosecuting Key Lay.

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Thanks Hal. Things are very exciting right now…if nothing else, I’m having fun!

I’m outta here #

OK. I’m running behind, but this is a quick note to say that blivet will be dark until at least Monday. The presentation for the SAA meeting (yes, on the pithouse) is kinda ready to go. The transparencies are done and I will grind out the paper before Friday at 11:45 am.

The thing is, it is really easy to present on something that has substance. I’m not saying this research would be compelling to the general public, but it going to to make a heck of an addition to both our exhibit at the Preserve and, if another promising area is what we think it is, could make a fantastic thesis topic for Jake. He also happens to be a co-author of the paper and hopefully will want to continue with this particular research thread.

I wanted to say thanks for the emails about Ian, I haven’t had time to check blogs, but if you’ve posted, I’ll see it when I return. Hmm, I was going to be brief. Off to Milwaukee! Be well.

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He speaks! Once, anyway. #

After we went to some promising IgMetPet research locations in Death Valley yesterday, the group went to Dante’s View overlook to see the big picture. [And important stuff like Pleistocene Lake Manly beach lines.] Ian had been a very good traveler all day, he enjoyed playing with rocks and had really fussed very little. Audrey was holding him (it is a looong drop from there) and he was using lots of words and phrases from his private toddler language while wiggling and squirming.

At one point he stopped wiggling and looked at me filming him. His brow furrowed for a couple of seconds as he looked at me. I mentally guessed what his expression was about. Then his brow smoothed and he very clearly said, “Hi Dad!” Then he laughed one of those hearty ‘aren’t I cute’ laughs.

You can imagine our reactions and, of course, we couldn’t get him to repeat his performance. The best part, however, is that we caught it on the DV for his Grandparents. It reminded me so much of that scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey when the Australopithecene contemplates the Tapir bone after the monolith encounter.

[Local News] ONCE around the BLOG #

The local weblogger story I mentioned previously is up at the R-J’s website. Matthew also interviewed D. C. Thornton, James Hudnall, Rebecca Blood and Jim McGee. My interview is near the middle of the article. If you are arriving here for the first time via the R-J, welcome. Thanks to D. C. for posting the link.

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New url, new/old title, same blog for Matt Rossi #
Matt Rossi has moved back to Once I noticed I was on fire, I decided to relax and enjoy the fall. He also has a site featuring fiction experiments. I will certainly be stopping by there.

Both Mom and Dad Are Geeks #
I am getting prepared for a research presentation at next week’s Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in Milwaukee. Last week I sent the presentation to the service bureau to be made into 35mm slides, so of course my talk is changing as I work with the data. I suspect I won’t be the only one with both slides and overhead transparencies.

I need to make progress tonight as we are going to Death Valley tomorrow to look at prospective study areas with Dr. Rodney Metcalf, who will be Audrey’s dissertation advisor.

Hi Daddy! #

It has become traditional for Audrey and Ian to play peek-a-boo with me after his bath. He looks like such a big boy, he got his second haircut today.

Upcoming local press #

As fellow Las Vegan D. C. Thornton noted on the 26th, the main local newspaper will be running a story on local bloggers this coming Monday.

I’m not too sure how much we talked about (I was interviewed over the phone) will make it into the article. I suspect that my observations on how this all started and why I do this (just why do I do this anyway?) is somewhat off the arc of why weblogging is being covered by the press. But hey, it is darn nice to be included, I could have easily been passed over. I’ll post the url when the article hits the web.

Remind me to pick up a copy at the store, I subscribe to the other paper, the afternoon one that is infamously more liberal. Not only am I unable to comprehend written language in the morning before work when my IQ is somewhere around absolute zero, they have Dilbert, Mutts and Get Fuzzy in the afternoon comics section. One has to have one’s priorities sorted out. I just go ahead and read Helen, Doonesbury, Foxtrot and various editorial cartoons on the web.

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