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December 13, 2007

Community-Based Grocery Shopping 2.0

I think that New Seasons should get a little more web 2.0 and integrate some of the social networking aspects of sites like Netflix. So, for example, I could see what's on my friends shopping lists.

Then I could recommend things like the maple-rosemary trout (it sounds gross but it was incredibly tasty) -- and while they're at it, they could make it so you could rate food and have a machine recommend foods for you. I think what's happening is, with all the choices in the world, we need technical help to develop and keep track of our own tastes. At least, I do. Too many choices means creating technologies to help us sort them all out.

Posted by mary at 4:31 PM | Comments (1)

December 11, 2007

Rainskirts!

Yeah yeah yeah -- rain pants. BORING. I don't own any pants (other than shameful sweat pants that I try not to wear in public). Does that mean I should get soaking wet while walking the dog? No, no it does not.

This is one of many cases where I had an idea (last winter) failed to act on it (I was hoping to make one before I blogged) only to discover that the world has already acted by the time I got to blogging. So, hurrah! I don't have time to make them, anyway.

But you know, I'm not really that sporty. What I had in mind was a velcro-fastened wrap-around made out of colorful oilcloth. But after some clicking reading, what a sad thing it is to realize that oilcloth is no longer on the market and that what we now call oil cloth is PVC based. Ugh. No more cute tablecloths for me.

So now I want someone to manufacture real oil cloth, and then make rain skirts out of them.

In the meantime, when 2008 comes around, I'll order one of these rainskirts, assuming they come in sizes to fit the short and round.

Posted by mary at 11:26 AM | Comments (2)

December 8, 2007

The World Needs More (good) Blogs

Shawn Records has one.

Posted by mary at 7:25 PM | Comments (0)

December 7, 2007

The World Needs More Interesting Cuckoo Clocks! (gift idea ... hint hint)

I think someone should make modern (or even post-modern) cuckoo clocks with a lot of fancy animatronics. It looks easy, right?

It looks like you can get the internal parts on eBay. The first idea suggested the other day was to make one that looked like Nat coming out of a dark office with a glowing computer on the hour and saying, "get back to work!" not that he has a tendency to say things like that ... it's funny, but I can't really think of any Nat catch phrases. Maybe, "That's. Pretty. Awesome!" ? That would be encouraging -- to have someone say that to you every hour, right?

Maybe someone has made Personal Affirmations Cuckoo Clocks? They could say things like, "You're doing a great job!" or, "Keep up the good work!" or "You look fantastic!" or whatever every hour or even half hour, if you were especially insecure.

You can get some cuckoo clocks with other animals. Some modern-looking ones. But I'm not seeing cuckoo clocks with, like, a modern business man running for a bus or whatever cursing as he goes along.

But you know, right now, after all this clicking around, I don't want a postmodern cuckoo clock, I want a good old-fashioned one. Like a 22in Moving Wood Sawyers & Turning Waterwheel German Black Forest Cuckoo Clock 1 Day Musical -- doesn't somebody love me enough to get me a $700 cuckoo clock for Christmas? Or a 22in Moving Cute Girl & Deers, German Black Forest Cuckoo Clock 8 Day Musical Chalet (including hummel-esque figure). Or what about this one, the most beautiful cuckoo clock 2004?

Anyone? Anyone?

I wish I could go buy one in a shop.

Now that I think about it, what about a clock that looked like a slice of log? I'd like one of those, too.

I was thinking about animatronics because Chris Higgins made me watch this episode of the The Secret Life of Machines the other night, and I was intrigued by the discussion of irregular cogs (or whatever it was) used to make machine movements look more life-like. This guy Tim Hunkin seems to be some kind of genious.

Posted by mary at 10:41 PM | Comments (1)

December 6, 2007

Slow Flow Drains / Water Saving Gift Idea

People should put in slow flow drains as a water saving device. They would compliment low-flow faucets.

It really does cut down on water consumption when you are ankle deep in water or when you have to look at your toothpaste spit for a minute or two. And believe me, slow flow drains are incredibly easy to install.

Speaking of water saving devices! You know what my mom just put in? a Controllable Flush!!! I'm going to order two for myself and the upstairs unit. You know how much I love these things. I think this would make a terrific gift idea for anyone on your list who does not already have a schmancy toilet.

Oh and wait -- I should not forget to mention two flush also! But unlike Controllable Flush, they are not made in Oregon that I can tell.

Posted by mary at 9:55 AM | Comments (1)

December 5, 2007

Bathroom Sound Sculpture Appliance

I'm still not really sure what I think about sound sculpture, but I'm getting more interested. I recently followed a boingboing link to these ... uh, field recordings? or whatever they are. I've been noticing and wanting to record the sound at the Superfund site for a long time - the water, trains, birds, dogs, etc. -- so maybe I'll submit something.

Anyway, I remain convinced that if you're going to have noise-based art of some kind (that isn't music -- or even if it is, I guess), the bathroom is the best place to put it, and refining that idea, on a more practical level what I'd like is an appliance that is a built-in bathroom fan, light and radio. Maybe a heater, too. You know how hotels have the bathroom fan/heater/light combos? Sometimes they have a timer? It would be like that, only plus a radio. So that when you turn the light on, the radio comes on automatically. I'll bet someone is selling that, but I can't find it.

(BTW, one reason why I've been less inspired to blog lately is my scanner broke, so it's harder to create appropriate illustrations.)

Posted by mary at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)

December 4, 2007

A Yeti in the City

T'chaka has made a film about both. Yeti in the City. Goodness gracious.

Posted by mary at 8:28 PM | Comments (0)

December 3, 2007

Interesting Blog: Digital History Hacks

I thought I'd share a link to this site, Digital History Hacks.

From his "About" (sort of buried in the "archive"):

My premise is that the web constitutes the largest, most easily-accessible archive that people have ever created, and also the most radically unfamiliar. Material is being added to the web at an exponential rate, but it is of low average quality; it usually has an uncertain provenance and uncertain lifespan. Much of it is created by machines and meant to be ‘understood’ by other machines.

Historians and other humanists and social scientists need a new set of computational tools for dealing with the web. About half of the posts in Digital History Hacks are devoted to making the argument for a new historical discipline that is analogous to bioinformatics, and draws on machine learning, computational linguistics, information retrieval and other fields. The rest of the posts are about hacks, short programs that demonstrate the potential of digital history, and are designed to be shared, extended or modified (i.e., hacked) by others.

He received something called a "Cliopatria" award, which I'd never heard of, so I checked it out. The past awardees include some interesting clicking.

Posted by mary at 11:41 AM | Comments (0)

December 1, 2007

Visibility is the New Black!

Someone should use this slogan for a public safety campaign -- it's available. You know, like, "we all like to hate on hipsters and make fun of the Goth, but no one actually wants to kill one with their car. Visibility: it's the New Black!"

I've been stewing about the need for more visiblity for awhile (2003 -- OMG!! have I mentioned that my 500th entry is coming up??) -- anyway, with the recent publicity around how the switch off of Daylight Savings Time to leads to more pedestian deaths, I've been thinking about it a lot again.

I personally take ridiculous -- that is, easily ridiculed -- lengths to ensure my visibility while walking (not that it works -- I was almost run over today by a driver making a left-hand turn across the pedestrian walk -- grrr). I have a rechargable flashlight, Pica has a reflective collar, and I'm wearing either a reflective vest or my most recent purchase, a reflective yellow rain slicker. And that's during the daylight hours!! LOL! I can't get enough reflective stuff!

But that's me. Not the guy on skate board wearing a black hoodie, black jeans, in the traffic lane on a rainy night. Who I saw. And didn't hit. Thank Goodness.

Someone commenting here says that "The UK tried year-round DST from 1968-1971; apparently accidental deaths dropped by 2,500 over two years." So that's an interesting thought. But in the meantime ...

I'm considering putting some orange safety vests in the can where I put my deposit bottles out because I really worry about the bottle collectors who cruise around on their invisible bikes. And maybe I'll get some for the car so I can pull over and hand them out after I've almost killed one.

But just because of my personal issues, I'm a lot more likely to be able to handle a conversation with a bottle collector, who can't afford a safety jacket or lights, than a hipster, who should be able to invest the $20 or so to live another day, but may not because they are limited by their fashion sensibilities. So, I'll stick to visibility for the homeless and gift my slogan to the world, because it's needed:

Visibility: It's the New Black!!

Also -- visibility products are a great gift idea! Like a fire extinguisher, it shows you care enough to give the gift of life!

Posted by mary at 8:55 PM | Comments (1)