Posted in Art on February 27, 2009| 3 Comments »
In the late 19th century, the painter Seurat pioneered a school of art called "pointillism," using dots of paint to make a larger picture. In Ohio, American artist Christian Faur has done the same thing with crayons — not making dots with crayons, but using the crayons themselves as the "points."
Go view the slideshow at the link above — it’s neat!
Posted in Books, tagged fascism, Florence, History, Italy, liberalism on February 11, 2009| 3 Comments »
Just finished Lauro Martines’ April Blood: Florence and the plot against the Medici, and I highly recommend it. That’s the second book of my pledge to read ten books before buying any more. Now I’ve started Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism, which also looks like a fascinating read and, sadly, perhaps timely.
Posted in Observations, tagged Apple, iPod Touch, review on February 7, 2009| 1 Comment »
So, I’ve had an Apple iPod Touch for about two weeks now, having decided to treat myself to something after Christmas. I bought the 8gb “2nd generation” model. With Apple Care warranty (mandatory, according to Apple-savvy friends) and tax, it came to just over $300.
So far, I’ve been very happy with it. The sound quality is very good, and the flip-through feature for album covers is handy. (I wasn’t too impressed with it on Mac notebooks and desktops, but on a small screen like the iPod’s, it’s a good feature.)
I haven’t investigated the other applications much, yet, though the ones I’ve tried seem to be mostly “fluff:” cute programs that serve little purpose. Access to Google Maps is handy — if one is near an open wireless network at the time. Likewise with email. The notepad app can be useful, though the small pop-up keyboard takes some getting used to. It’s much better than other portable-device keypads I’ve tried, however. The games and social networking apps don’t impress me.
I’ve only encountered one technical glitch, so far: a couple of days ago, I found the volume symbol active on the screen and stuck at zero. The device wouldn’t let me turn it back up, nor could I make the symbol go away. Finally, I turned the iPod off and let it sit for a while; the problem was gone after I restarted it. This happened after a software update, so I wonder if Apple introduced a small bug. (Oh, no! Heaven forfend! Apple is perfect! –obligatory Cult of Apple Snark(tm))
Overall, I’m quite pleased with my purchase and I’d recommend it to others. The only thing I need to get now is a case that clips onto my belt, since carrying it by hand or in a pocket is kind of clumsy.
Posted in Humor, Weirdness, tagged animal behavior, octopus on February 2, 2009| 1 Comment »
Otto the Octopus was bored, so can you blame him for getting a bit rowdy?
A Seat By The Fire 