Posting here has been pretty light this semester. Next semester maybe I'll try to set up some service where I can blog from my phone. Don't hold your breath though. Until then I'll be putting up more and more pictures from my new digital camera [thanks mom and dad!]
I'm at work now so there's not much I can do.
The new addiction in my life: GEOsense, online geography quiz game with real opponents.
Population: 9, the former capital of the state, the only part of the state West of the Mississippi. - Wikipedia
I found this en route to my discovery of the term micronation. This represents a geographical/political anomaly that has become progressively less important with the growth of the Internet.
... This doesn't mean micronations have gone away. Sealand, for instance, is somewhat relevant to the UK.
"Sealand occupies a structure that was created when a purpose-built World War II-era Royal Navy barge was towed to a position above Rough Sands sandbar in the North Sea and had its hold intentionally flooded. It is sited six miles (10 km) off the coast of Suffolk, England at 51°53'40"N, 1°28'57"E, and has been occupied since 1967 by family members of Paddy Roy Bates and their associates."
... More on micronations and "forgotten" nations at Footnotes to History.
Keep an eye out for him: Hopkin Green Frog.
I spent way too much time reading this: Exit Mundi - ways the world could end. The astrological ones are insane. [note peak oil is mentioned]
Go ahead, try to read it "front to back" : Implementation, it's a novel written in stickers placed all around the US and Western Europe.
SimCity article with some honest analysis of the game, its evolution, its reflection on planning, and GIS.
"Cities are crucial to the U.S. economy. In 2002 metro economies were responsible for 85.6 percent of gross domestic product, almost $9.1 trillion in goods and services."
Why can't exurban/suburban America take off their eyemasks and realize this: Our cities are the cores of our nation. Revenue generated from all urban areas in the US goes to subsidize all rural areas. Period. Why don't we treat our cities better?
Do we let the military plan our towns? - Fire that one off at your next ZBA meeting. Use this as ammo. [Okay, the first part was a little over dramatic.]
- Truth that everybody knows but nobody speaks. (from the Kiriwina language, New Guinea).
Found this on a great MetaFilter thread. Mentioned in the thread was a book by Bill Bryson [Author of Out West], The Mother Tongue
Cool Stuff Dep't:
Interactive Wallpaper
Ultimate Coffee Mug
Boeing 737 Limo
I was wondering who said, "Make no small plans," then I realized it was actually,
"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die, but long after we are gone be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistence."
Somebody loves US. Icon talks about architecture's revival in America.
Recent time killer: Legion of Doom and Justice League of America. Notice the TWO gorilla/ape mutant villains. What's up with that? King Kong Knock Offs? Fear of strength that comes from the jungle? Black people? ... Note also Solomon Grundy the "Hillbilly Zombie."
Making me hungry this week: USA Today.
"The dump gradually grew into a range of hills that extended nearly a mile, burying the old historic wall underneath it. The decaying medieval fabric of the Darb al-Ahmar district is just beyond. To the west of the park is the City of the Dead, a sprawling quarter of ancient tombs and mausoleums that for centuries have been inhabited by the city's poor."
- NYTimes article about a new park in Cairo, Egypt. Also the source of the photo above.
Go Salman. Few have your authority to speak on the subject.
Autobot, Decepticon, or the latest wave in 'pimpin' your ride from Japan?
The toughest mazes I've seen assembled on a single website.
[I haven't read it but plan to soon.] The Future of Transit: 1968.
Over 67% I work one hour for every two I have already completed.
Over 75% I work one hour for every three I have already completed.
Over 80% I work one hour for every four I have already completed.
Time for a link dump.
It costs more to own/operate a car in Detroit than any other city in the nation. Another statistic to be proud of. B-side: appreciate art deco hood ornaments. http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
That's it, time for a dedicated electric scooter lane.
Lego Instruction Books. Lots of them.
A timeline of Duckburg.
Posters for Spaghetti Westerns.
Cool Photography: Edward Burtynsky - check out Three Gorges and Urban Mines.
Making me hungry [you can order Ya-Ya's Chicken for CarryOut/Online].
I got a visor from The Parlour. I need the visor to make milkshakes and sundaes. The visor helps me. [] I started today at The Parlour. The owner of the company came in for dinner. He is 28 years old. He is worth over 500 million dollars US. Smartmoney says he will cross the one Billion mark before he is 31 years old.
Watch out for Invaders from Space. They are all over the place. So far they haven't landed in the Midwest. [Invaders don't like rust, thus they're avoiding the rust belt. Rust makes Invaders sick.]
NYC rail system will turn 100 this year. Happy Birthday.
Furniture goes on Atkins Diet.
This robot eats flies for power. Guess how it attracts flies. [Hint: not Honey.]
Pictures
+ Circular Cities
+ Earth from Above
+ Crazy Korean Aerial Photos [some duplicates from above, large files]
That is the amount of community service I have accomplished today. That means four hours. I should have another 10% by Friday.
532 Abbott got the hook-up on Dave Chappelle Tickets for this Friday.
It's been a while since I've posted anything worth reading here.
Summer has been over for one week, 2 days. This is how Summer Reading List vol. II turned out.
The Thorn Birds, McCullough
Watchmen, Moore and Gibbons
The Last Don, Puzo
Sanctuary, Faulkner
Fight Club, Palahniuk
Kim, Kipling
Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky
Batman: Year One and The Dark Knight Returns, Miller
Alias Grace, Atwood
The Gangs of Chicago, Asbury
Deliverance, Dickey
I, Robot, Asimov
The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway
I will refrain from comment until I have something insightful.
At Haven House I saw a Cozy Coop. Its front right wheel was cracked and its metal rod pried away the plactic body. Otherwise it was in good shape.
[By the way: Haven House smells like asparagus.]
If Tony is reading this - I registered a Gmail account for TonysCustoms. Call me for the password. Or better yet: take one wild guess. [Click here for Gmail.]
WASTE YOUR TIME: NOW.
I'll make this short because I'm going to watch a new [that's right bitchaz, N-E-W, new] Reno911.
If you play Internet games and spend a fair amount of time escaping from locked rooms try your hand at this.
Some of the textbooks I bought.
Gimcrack.
Rio. I think this is Rio. I have no way of checking that. It's Rio.
Quite possibly the greatest single webpage for Transformers fans ever. [Seriously, you can print off folding action figures of all these robots in disguise.]
A great article from Morning News I should've posted a while back. There's no time like the present.
Space: Why Not.
For the impatient and easily amused: observe 'UFO Art' by Jim Nichols.
For the patient: 99 slides with illustrations 'Manned Spaceflight in the 1980s' is an amazing find. I just browsed it. The end is slightly more interesting than the start.
Architecture in authoritarian and Eastern regimes. The 105 Builiding in Pyongyang, North Korea is damn-near spooky. If it's not torn out of Orwell's 1984 then it's definately Blade Runner -esque. [link]. Second, Social Design Notes has an informative post about Rem Koolhaas and the Chinese TV project [link].
It's nice to see the Washington Post deal with zoning [link].
Saw a story about Found on Fox News at 10 [at ten it's news at eleven it's history]. Interesting enough to merit a [link].
"Labor and Materials is Iraq's answer to "Extreme Home Makeover" and the country's first reality TV show." Forget prisoner abuse, this is torture on a far larger scale. "On the way back to the station, the crew stops to look at a house whose roof was ripped off. As they film it, a blast rips through the air, and smoke billows from a nearby mosque. The next day, "Labor and Materials" shows footage of the blast, which killed a young boy, as well as of Kadhim's house." Oh, wait. No, I suppose the killing and such is still going on [link].
is about to become either synomous with a development catastrophe of world-scale proportions or coming a hairsbreadth away from said catastrophe. [link].
"Tackled by Face the Facts presenter John Waite, the general secretary for the Olympic Games, Spyros Capralos, admitted he had no idea how many workers have died constructing the games."
"The wetlands were drained as punishment after the Marsh Arabs gave sanctuary to rebels fighting the Saddam regime. About 250,000 Marsh Arabs now live in refugee camps and Iraqi cities. It is estimated that during the Saddam period, around 95% of the marshes dried out, largely due to the deliberate diversion of water."
"At least 46 children in Peru have died during one of the coldest spells in the Andes Mountains in 30 years."
"INDIA'S railways minister has absolved himself of blame for accidents plaguing the world's largest train network, saying the fate of its 13 million daily passengers rested with the Hindu god of machines, Vishwakarma."
Holy Cow [no pun intended], India has over 100,000 kilometers of rail lines [nearly 60,000 miles based on the rough 100km/h = 60 mph conversion I do in Canada]. They better get on their knees cause apparently it's all in Vish's hands now.
On the topic of leadership: What President Bush is Not. [You can google search any of these quotes and find where they came from.] Here are my picks, but you really have to read the whole list [link]. via Harpers.
"The President of the United States is not a fact-checker... I’m not a very good novelist... I’m not an emailer... I’m not an Iraqi citizen."
It doesn't get any easier than this. Censorship doesn't always come from the government: List of songs deemed inappropriate by Clear Channel following the September 11, 2001 attacks [link].
Quite possibly the most interesting single post I've read from Defective Yeti. The Pioneer 10 Plaque [link].
Fuel Cell Breakthrough in Houston [link]. 60+mph jet powered go-kart for sale [link].
Actually, scroll below you. Just use the damn wheel. Next to my obligitory I Power Blogger icon is a new link. It says ATOM Syndication. If you use a syndication reader or news-feed service odds are you can use this link [you all know who you are].
Beyond that mundane addition to Toponymy: some exciting news, Frank Ghery will be a guest voice on the Simpsons next season [link]. So will Warren Sapp, Yao Ming, LeBron James, Michelle Kwan, Ray Romano, Kim Catrall, James Caan, Joe Mantegna, 50 Cent, andThomas Pynchon.
I'm considering a side-blog. It would be a short term project highlighting photos of strange cities [not all necessarily real cities or current cities].
In case you haven't been keeping up on Chicago's new "Steel Bean" this is a good place to start [link]. Plus, Soldier Field will likely lose its National Historic Landmark status because of the recent rennovations [link].
The Shish Kebab [link].
It's an iPod. No, it's a walkman. No, it's ... RetroPod [link]. Only $100.00, or D-I-Y for approx. $20.00
My continuing collection of Chicago articles. Millennium Park is open [link] and it sounds excellent. Here is the full special secion from the Sun-Times with more articles than you can shake a blogger at [link].
Toronto. Bike vs. Auto vs. Subway. Who wins? [link]
"10 Stories the world needs to know more about." from the United Nations [link]. AIDS orphans and Indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation were the most interesting to me.
[Egon is running tests on Louis, who has been possessed by Gozer and is now the Keymaster]
Dr. Egon Spengler: Vinz, you said before you were waiting for a sign. What sign are you waiting for?
Louis Tully: Gozer the Traveler. He will come in one of the pre-chosen forms. During the rectification of the Vuldrini, the traveler came as a large and moving Torg! Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the McKetrick supplicants, they chose a new form for him: that of a giant Slor! Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!
I couldn't think of the names Louis mentions in his little speech. Well, now you know. [link]
I am a lightweight in the workplace rage department [link]. This link is not suitable for children. There are multiple descriptions of former employees killing their bosses and co-workers including one where a disgruntled man forces a crash landing killing himself, his boss and 41 others. "Many employers believe it can't happen to them."
Manditory Planning Stuff [lifted from planetizen]
Hey, fix your houses and your property values increase [link].
See ya Seoul. South Korea will move its capital city by 2030 [link]. " That appealed to the evaluation committee, which wanted to start from scratch to avoid the errors of urban planning made in Seoul."
I've noticed my summer posting is much less introspective than my school-year posting. I am finding more links and writing shorter descriptions. Ahh, who cares.
SRL vol. II update
[the recently finished]
+ Crime and Punishment
+ Batman: Year One
+ The Dark Knight Returns
[currenly reading]
+ Alias Grace
I don't like hamsters or operas. But I am fascinated by the artwork of Hamster Opera [link].
Also: Cool photographs of cities and buildings by Vincenzo Castella [link].
For lack of a description or witty quip I'll steal the first sentance of the article.
"MILWAUKEE -- A self-described minister was found guilty Friday of abusing an 8-year-old autistic boy who died in what prosecutors called an exorcism at a storefront church." [link].
I've been talking up Bloglines to anybody who will tolerate it for a few weeks now. But, if you read anything that is syndicated [it has the little XML or RSS button or says 'syndicated' then this it is] I really, really urge you to start using Bloglines [link]. Why, you ask. Well, they just made some huge improvements [so many I don't care to list them]. So get in on the ground floor. I'm going to investigate syndication of this site so then regular readers can check Toponymy, too.
What's the big deal if a site is syndicated? It means you can tell if something has been added without having to actually go there. The more blogs/news you read the bigger the advantage [my case].
She's the tall blonde Aussy actress on [CORRECTION] Without a Trace [link].
Scary Scary Scary [link]. I never want to visit Saudi Arabia. The article is from TMN, "If we happened to be at a Thai restaurant during a time for prayer, the waiters drew the curtains shut. We ate quietly in the dark as a mosque blared outside. During the fast of Ramadan, all the restaurants had to appear closed; they’d only let us in after making sure we weren’t Saudi policemen." It's actually comparing the author's childhood in that shithole to the story of a pair of run-away Hasidic girls.
Chicago: Numero Uno for bicycles [link]. "The mode of transportation once considered so lowly that only poor people used it now has its own valet service." Cool.
I like sushi. I like Twinkies. Why not make Twinkie Sushi. Before you check it out, guess what the wraping is.
[link]
I had some trouble with the interface [56K] and I'd like to see percentages as an option, BUT, the MLA Language Map is really interesting [link].
Are you a Demon Customer? Grab your halo next time you go into Best Buy while you quietly don't purchase items on sale [link].
Interesting article from NYTimes [link] about Grand Central Station's clock synchronization issues. Did I spell synchronization right?
I've been trolling Gmail Swap [link] for two days now. I haven't made any swaps [but I do have a few invites]. Anyway, I'll give them away to anybody who is interested. Just post a comment with an e-mail and I'll get back to you.
More from Saturn [link] moons' gravity carves out rings. "'It almost looks like straw. I don't know what this is. I literally don't have a clue,' says Porco, who is an expert on Saturn's rings. 'It may be brand new, something nobody's predicted before. There may be processes going on that make the particles clump.'" New stuff found.
This is why I read Davezilla [link].
Russian, CIS and Baltic Railway Map [link]. This is one of the most complex transportation systems [in terms of links and nodes] that I have ever seen. The Map Room [link].
I already mentioned the LasVegas Monorail. This has Monorail in the title but is really something entirely different [link]. "The system that he began dreaming up while working on his graduate degree at the University of California-Berkeley would send riders scooting over the elevated track in 300 small, three-passenger monorail cars at 30 mph. The driverless electric cars would avoid delays by passing by intermediate stations, not stopping until they reached their destination, Raney said." This was proposed for silicon valley" Interesting, yes. Feasable, well, uh ... we'll see. Planetizen [link].
On the other hand. The first known self propelled vehicle design [link]. It's a daVinci design that was [probably] never built. Gizmodo [link].
The perils of air travel [link].
Traffic simulator predicts jams one hour in advance [link]. Of course, it's from the autobahn. "As the model runs, it moves vehicles according to rules that embody realistic rates of acceleration and deceleration. No infinite decelerations are allowed, for instance. The result is a software model that combines realistic driver behaviour with realistic physics."
Risky Buildings. Cool preservation site [link].
Sharapova wins Wimbledon [link].
Ancient runis now being examined in Utah [link]. The ruins have not been examined by archaeologists because the former land owner refused to allow any research. [In planner terms, the invoked his right to exclusion with extreme prejudice.] Strangely, the site has survived looting, typical to many similar sites, because of its inaccessability.
I had been watching Wimbledon mornings on NBC. I saw Sharapova play, just not the match that would get her the headlines [link].
Monorail - Monorail - MONORAIL! LasVegas map and schedule [link].
I am going to start a campaign to see more one-sided cell phone conversations posted on weblogs [link].
Because I don't know to paraphrase it: "The signatures of Stewart and Chuck Norris were among 616,400 that were copied onto a DVD and placed aboard the Saturn probe Cassini by The Planetary Society, a group dedicated to advancing space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life." [link]
STA 110 - baffled response to Rob, "I like art that makes me think..." I don't know what to think about 'King of the Cage" [link]
It comes from UMich, but I've given it a pass. Stalking Detroit [link].
New base station needed in Antarctia [link].
Just in time for the Fourth: build your own flamethrower using stuff from HomeDepot [link]. I had almost forgotten about Something Awful.
This post has nothing to do with the BMW MiniCooper.
I've been hunting for architecture blogs. This is harder than you might think. I've added two to the blogroll.
First, Eyes on the Street [link] A nice blend of text and photos/maps for a personal blog.
I also added rodcorp. [link] By Rod McLaren, it's a little more eclectic.
There are two other sites which I have not added to the blogroll for various reasons. First is an Architecture Photoblog [link] which is interesting but really not informative. And then there's MoCoLoco [link] which is much more oriented to design in a broad sense. Plus it has tons of pictures of cool things I can't afford.
"'Lawsuits by individual women had no more effect than a pinprick. Now, however, the playing field has been levelled. Wal-Mart will face the combined power of 1.6 million women in court,' " [link]
"The CCA's strict code prohibited depictions of gore, sexuality, and excessive violence; it required that authority figures were never to be ridiculed or presented disrespectfully, and that good must always win; it prohibited any scenes with vampires, werewolves, ghouls or zombies. The code also prohibited advertisements of liquor, tobacco, knives, fireworks, nude pin-ups and postcards, and 'toiletry products of questionable nature'."
+ Summer Reading List Vol. II ++
Finished: Fight Club, Sanctuary
Current: Kim
Fresh off the Library Shelf: Crime and Punishment, Haroun and the Sea of Stories
Sitting Over There: I, Robot; Gangs of Chicago; Alias Grace
Completed hours of community service: 6/11.
The Onion, on TV Tonight [link]. My favorite entries, "Somebody marry someone!" and "Nuns a blazin'." - This is a good issue so I'll [link] to another article. "Yes, of course—if there is a tomorrow, indeed. The Thanatos device does make one nostalgic for the old days of mutually assured nuclear destruction and its attendant comfort of shelter beneath the mountains. Even the phrase, 'mutually assured nuclear destruction,' seems rather quaint now, doesn't it?"
Later in the Thanatos Device article Tachyons are mentioned, this got me thinking about Dr. Manhattan, so I went on wikipedia.
[Superhero] this brought me to supervillians and,
[Doomsday] and the city he leveled,
[Metropolis] cut: "The co-creator and original artist of Superman, Joe Shuster, modeled the Metropolis skyline after both Toronto, Ontario (where he was born), and Cleveland, Ohio (where he later lived and met co-creator Jerry Siegel in high school)." - My impression was that Metropolis was a New York metaphor. I would never expect its orgins to be Midwestern/Canadian.
Now using Bloglines [link]. If you check a bunch of blogs this is nice.
The big news today: private space flight [link].
I passed the 100 post mark for Toponymy.
Newt Gingrich, Amazon Top 500 Reviewer. [link]
Pistons will be on brand name orange cereal box famous for prominent display of top athletes. [link] And another good article, from the GR press, about the Pistons and their overwhelming domination of the Lakers. [link]
"When the zombies take over, how long till the electricity fails?" [link] Yes, I probably should check The Straight Dope more often.
Learn about something new: Santería. [link]
Two pieces about Moscow. One: suburban Muscovites are paying out the wazoo for land, and this is having some interesting impacts on the area's built environment. [link] Two: something I have seen before but probably not mentioned on Toponymy before - it's about the wholesale demolition of Moscow's historical sites. [link]
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Teleportation breakthrough made
[Insert Infamous Star Trek Line Here]
Susumu Tachi's next project: invisible walls.
the caption: "From Big Ben, the bell is tolling for Kobe and L.A." [Excellent]
Just thinking about a Pistons championship, and the possibility of winning at the Palace. Wow.
What else is happening in the enormous echo chamber [link] that is the Internet? - I'm certainly glad you asked.
This was at the top of blogdex. I think some people might find it useful/funny/poorly formatted. The two things for anything. [link] No planning reference, maybe I'll have to change that. Probably not.
gmail-is-too-creepy.com [link] I'm not convinced but it seems like these whack-jobs are multiplying.
Man beats horse [link] in a foot race.
I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today. Whimpy, the cartoon, the legend. [link]
Okay, I tried to connect Whimpy's famous line to the BBC article on password protection. Namely, password SELF-protection. "More than 70% of people would reveal their computer password in exchange for a bar of chocolate, a survey has found." [link]
I didn't believe Chris when he first said it, I thought there was some catch, that this was probably some hoax. But I found it. Biodiesel:
"After a few months of driving 10 miles to a biodiesel fueling station, Toal-Rossi went online to find a recipe and began making his own fuel. Because Toal-Rossi gets the primary ingredient -- used cooking oil -- from a nearby restaurant for free, he spends just 41 cents per gallon to make his 12-liter batches of biodiesel." [link]
The recepie is online, too. [link] The catch is that this is for Diesel engines. This, however, is inspiring. Maybe, oh, just maybe, we'll break our gasoline addiction. Someday. Read the Slashdot. [link]
Cincinnati almost had a subway. Now it has caves. [link] [more]
This spring I wrote a paper about destroyed cities. The destruction of a city is an apocalypse. I chose to discuss Pompeii, Troy, the fires of Chicago and London, Dresden, and Hiroshima. I left out Centralia, PA [city evacuated because of long-term underground coal mine fires] and Atlantis. Cetralia was a space decison, it didn't add to the paper. Atlantis was an intelectual decision, it would be devious to mention a "mythical" city in any detail as an example of post-catastrophe planning. But, I should have reconsidered. [link] Was Plato honest?
Finally, 50 Coolest Song Parts. [link]
addendum: two wikipedia links found during post. relegated to the dustbin of the bottom of this post. [apocalypse] [psychohistory]
"The memo, prepared for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, also said that any executive branch officials, including those in the military, could be immune from domestic and international prohibitions against torture for a variety of reasons."
"The report then offers a series of legal justifications for limiting or disregarding antitorture laws and proposed legal defenses that government officials could use if they were accused of torture."
The fury this will unleash.
After experiencing technical difficulties with Blogger the other day I resigned myself to using the photo of me, reading a Rolling Stone [off-camera] while sitting on a futon [also off-camera] in front of a MSU Block-S Flag. But, after some tweaking and waiting I have put up a new pic. I cropped off the left-half of my face because it's just too scary to read something while I'm looking at you. [Strangely, some part of me feels that only half-a-face is even more sinister. Hmm.] I've got some pics where I'm not looking directly into the camera that I am still considering as replacements.
SRL vol. II update:
~Finished~
+ The Last Don - Mario Puzo
+ Step Across This Line - Salman Rushdie [Okay, I didn't read all his essays, but I got the jist of it.]
+ Watchmen - Moore, Gibbons
+ The Thorn Birds - Colleen McCullough
~Working on~
+ Sanctuary - William Faulkner [as suggested by She Smelled Like Trees]
~Up Next~
+ Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
+ I, Robot - Isaac Asimov [In preparation for the CGI carnage]
+ The Gangs of Chicago - Asbury [Same idea/author as Gangs of New York, should probably bone-up on windy city underworld in preparation for Spring semester...]
Behold - Spiral Staircase and Slide. Very infrequently do dreams become a reality. Here, a man has bridged the ultimate gap between childish desire and gravity-defying utility. Beautiful.
"You may have defeated my Southern Hook Palm technique, but can you defeat the 1000 styles of Rumsfeld?" [link]
And, while we're on the topic of the military, you should definately read "The 213 Things Skippy is No Longer Allowed to Do in the U.S. Army". [link] I found this on the net a while ago but recently came across it again.
I already sent this to Jon and hopefully he submits something. I hope you, too, try your hand at the contest. [link]
HBO gets a dude out of a possible Death Penalty for a murder he most definately was falsely accused of. [link]
79 mph "Baby Bullet" to start running in the Bay Area. [link]
And, finally, to satisfy our growing list of concerns about the Iraq situation, Chalmers Johnson posits 12 questions to President Bush in hopes of improving the remainder of his speeches before 30 June. The most interesting, in my estimation, "2. Please tell us: If we plan to return Iraq to the Iraqis, why is the U.S. currently building fourteen permanent bases there?" [link - about halfway down]
Finished reading Mario Puzo's The Last Don. I picked it up at a Library Used Book Sale [a 4th of July tradition in these parts]. I hadn't read it but brought it to State in hopes of finishing it before exams. Patrick read it since I was too busy to ever get past the first chapter. He highly recommended it. I kept picturing The Godfather scenes, and some of the plotting is remarkably similar to that of the Godfather movies [sending family "hammers" - read assassins - to The Boot for a few years so they don't get arrested; harassment of Hollywood studio owners/producers; the undeniably wise Don] The departure is that here, Puzo spreads his wealth of knowledge slightly beyond the borders of New York's syndicates to the Family operations in Las Vegas and the Western U.S. I loved the conclusion, sweet revenge delivered masterfully. One criticism: way too much detail on minor characters, could be 50-90 pages shorter.
Shooting hoops today I tried to perfect my shot. The rim is low and tilted down but the driveway is level. I was trying to perfect one shot in particular: the spinner. A brief description, the bottom of the ball hits the rim level and spins around the rim at high speed. It is more difficult than I first assumed. The bottom of the ball must touch the rim at the peak of the shot. The ball must be spun just slightly to help the acceleration. The shot must hit the rim on a specific angle so the ball doesn't lose its forward momentum.
MoBA, the museum of bad art. "Lucy in the field with flowers" is the piece that inspired the collection. "It was a wonderfully accurate likeness of her grandmother's face in an oddly postured and formed body against a bizarre, surreal background."
Waterfalls. Iceland [I think].
Fameclaim lets you make your claim to fame.
I haven't looked at this but I want to. Going to watch Signs now.
Apparently there was this really cool demonstration of a camera that takes 7000 frames/second during the pre-race coverage. I missed most of it. I was working over here on this post and missed it. There is rain in Indianapolis and the race has been delayed. Wikipedia lists Indianapolis' Nicknames:
+ Circle City
+ Naptown
+ Railroad City
Naptown is interesting. The other two are pretty generic. For a ridiculious list of city nicknames, clicky clicky for the wiki. I don't know why I hadn't looked up Toponymy on Wikipedia yet. Too much there for me to look at. Mind boggling.
My work is using SPSS on the SOSS 33. Think AutoCAD for statistics, more features than you can ever possibly use and a dozen ways to execute each of them. If all works out I'll get my name on a final report about Internet use in Michigan.
Now for the useless crap links people seem to enjoy so much. The McGurk Effect is quite interesting. I fall into the .98 and not the .02 category. [Note, if you left because you saw a Quicktime movie loading, go back. This is a small QT movie, it should load fast, even on dial-ups, trust me.]
New zoning in Chitown.
Programming Language Inventor or Serial Killer [My score: 6/10]
Too much time, too many Cannon Copiers, rage, some programming/technical knowledge. These ingredients sum to this.
Something I'll keep my eyes on. Hivelogic's Cigar Project.
A VV article: No Such Thing as Paranoia - On the culture of conspiracism.
"Oh boy, I bet he's got some party-line idea for how to make those nasty Islamo-fascist terrorists all start to love the USA again. Well, isn't that just precious." - I can't blame you if those were your thoughts upon reading my headline. I would think the same thing. I think I might be onto something here, so bear with me.
The answer to Terrorism is Transportation.
We are NOT fighting a war. Any deployment of military efforts - unless with the most exacting intelligence and singularity of purpose - will NOT advance our cause in this "war on terror." We are suffering through a depression. A depression of our economic capacity, of our global responsibility, of our individual satisfaction. As Tyler Durden put it,
Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.
"You have taken the first step toward saving yourself! Cicadaville.com is the world's premier Cicada information source. Our mission is to reveal the deadly truth about Cicadas so you can arm yourself and your family against these vicious predators."
Some people just know how to write essays. Here is a small collection from students named Jeremy Lavine and Peter Nguyen. [For entertainment purposes only.]
I have long been interested in the final stages of decay for living dwellings. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, for instance, which causes people to collect meaningless, useless items for years. But, some people are just plain slobs.
"The smell was just plain evil, like serial killers had deposited their victims there many years ago. The brown stuff seems to be mud, their were feathers in there and some kinda of plant life. I pity the person that moves in next, I hope they remove the fridge."
I finished Watchmen today. Wow, what a ride. Dense and layered, amazing writing. Really great stuff. Would go into detali but you can find summaries everywhere. [Nostalgia is a perfume/cologne in the book].
Keep an eye on MATRIX. Could have they thought of a better acronym? But, really, keep an eye on it because it's in Michigan.
But, we've got a few feathers up our caps, too. Fred Meijer, Van Andel, Rupert Murdoch, DeVos, 49301, 90210,
My loyal readers will remember last summer's list where I intended to cover a wide swath of popular and influential American (and some foreign) novelists. I was mostly successful in finding these books and recorded my response on Helmers83. The archives still contain the my reviews on these works. I haven't gone forward with the same amount of planning (not urban). However I have started a small collection of books that I want to read. I already read Dr. Eckner's Dream Machine, a non-fiction about the rigid airship and its patron Saint, Hugo Eckner. Very good. Someday I'll write more about it.
+ The Thornbirds, Colleen Mcullough
+ Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk [my third book by C.P.]
+ The Last Don, Mario Puzo
+ Watchmen, Alan Moore illustrated by Dave Gibbons
+ The Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick
+ Step Across This Line, Salman Rushdie [non-fiction]
I'm already ~500 pages into The Thornbirds. So far so good.
If you have a suggestion please leave a comment or send me some e-mail or call me or stop me in the supermarket or break into my bedroom and tell me at gunpoint.
I found the work-around I needed to get my archives to publish correctly. The "History" panel on your left should display months instead of weeks. There were two problems with the old method: a 31 character limit on filenames in AFS space and a "forbidden" message when I tried to store the archive HTMLs in a folder. The filenames as Blogger creates them are the date and then a specified name (2003_12_03_toponymy_archive.html, for example). With "toponymy" this is 32 characters. I was over by one letter.
That said, blogger has changed everything about its interface and added some great features. I'm looking into another template change. But not right now. I just lit the coals, now I have to tend to the fire.
I can already feel things slacking off over here. I have some links I would like to share with you. Do you mind? - Well good then.
The train that exploded in North Korea - the imagery before and after.
Can you open your pills. I didn't think so.
Something I was very excited to see: a hall of fame for hackers. Some of them are familiar and some are total mysteries. [Too bad they couldn't make their website more 56K proof.]
Be very glad you didn't watch "10.5"
Also: read about
Pennies.
I mentioned the Basel-Mulhouse International Airport as a "geographical oddity" but I think that a recent article in the NY Times online is more interesting and culturally significant. "Germans and Czechs and the Little Bridge That Binds" is about a bridge between towns seperated by nationailty and a river. Beyond that they seem to interact quite nicely.
"A few front-porch-size flags hang limply at each end, with placards that remind travelers to have the proper identification. There isn't a border guard in sight; the locals stopped carrying passports years ago."
"I gotta say it did make me feel very pretty. So if it can make me feel pretty, it can make you feel pretty, especially on the most important day of your life, right? Anyway, I was told to say it has a train and a veil and all kinds of shiny beady things. I think it's funny that one picture makes it look like the chest plate off an Imperial Storm Trooper. Did I mention that all I want is a ball game and beer?"
[the $15,000 used-wedding dress]
Luckily I'm not alone. Here is a huge listing of "classic" American road maps. The pictures are amazing. Check out this spectacular route-map. Here is a sample cover that should arouse your interest.
Enjoy.
that we entered a nuclear winter this morning. I think it has something to do with the Chernobyl accident's anniversary. Did you buy the Chernobyl accident an anniversary gift? It was the big 1-8. To be fair, the Western anniversary of Chernobyl is today since it was now, eighteen years ago, that scandanavian nuclear scientists realized that radioactive materials had entered the atmosphere somewhere in the vicinity of current-day Ukraine. You really should get a card, or something. I hear they've been asking for a new scarcophagus? Don't you have one in your basement? Oh, I must be thinking of somebody else.
 I am Pacman.I am an aggressive sort of personality, out to get what I can, when I can. I prefer to avoid confrontation, but sometimes when it's called for, I can be a powerful character. I tend to be afflicted with munchies constantly. What Video Game Character Are You? |
Thanks to Nichols for sending me the link to another internet ad featuring Hunter's mom. She must be through with the tower-ads now and focusing on a smaller format.
There are still a few kinks in the conversion. The archives don't work yet but I'm working on it. I also have some issues with the formatting of the BlogRoll on the left panel. I might come around to changing the formatting again, but we'll see.
In other news: Jon has followed suit and created a weblog in much the same fashion as this. I love his background. Go visit We smoke while we shoot the bird.
SHUFFLE! SHUFFLE! SHUFFLE! I agree. Please shuffle me.
Toponymy is now being served from my MSU online space. This allows me to put pictures on my blog inline.
Click here for the new Toponymy. Change your bookmarks.
the amazing Gastropnir.
I've been impresed in recent weeks about the positive response to Toponymy by several of my peers. I will attempt to continue the tradition of courageous reporting in this update. Remember: the first rule of Toponymy is you do not talk about Toponymy. The second rule of Toponymy is you DO NOT TALK about Toponymy. [reverse psychology.]
Matthew Baldwin has a way with words. Read the transcript for Kerry.
My super-sensoral eyes didn't catch this. Luckily I can see the hyenas in Nigeria.
I don't know which cereal to eat.
[insert comment about how journalism school and clown college are interchangable] Then read this.
Street art that makes me laugh.
I love Harold Ramis. Here is an article about him that I haven't read. Please tell me if it's good. Please? Oh come on. You rotten ********er. WHY DON'T YOU EVER-
Finally, a cool concept I learned about in my UP 201 class, but not by name. Dr. Lim had us draw a map of the world with as many names of places [toponyms] as possible in ~10 minutes. The maps reveal something about how you view the world around you, where you place specific items, how you proportion and orient the map. It is called mappa mundi.
is a "geographical oddity."
Some problems are best solved by beating the living hell out of the egress window. Others require a old-style rotary phone and a limited access highway. But a very select few, the cream of the crop so to speak, demand something much more.
21 grams is a good movie. See it.
Headline: development. An interesting article about the decaying nature of indoor malls. [An oldie but a goodie: deadmalls.com]
Interesting survey of flag design around the world. It's arbitrary and not always consistent but the comments underneath the bad flags are quite funny. [I learned about a month ago that the Mozambique flag has a machine gun on it so you don't have to remind me.]
[High bandwidth warning.] Seinfeld and Superman ads for American Express.
Interstates of the blood. A great illustration that I would love to see up close.
DaveGate, YawnGate, NippleClamp, Sleepy-Kiddy-Scandal. Call it whatever you want. [I don't vouch for the comments, I haven't read them.]
May.
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Yeah dude, it's been four years...
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Urban Planning. -end quote-
This invisible one sided conversation made me laugh. I then contemplated about my purpose here. What am I doing, am I just being process like so much meat in Cleveland? Will I have this conversation and feel nothing?
Exciting times have prevented me from posting as much as I'd like. My Dean's Assistantship proposal is due Wednesday as is my second paper for 343 (Planning Theory: Ethics and Politics). Both have a suggested page limit of 10. They have consumed my weekend. But, on the flip side, I got the book Bowling Alone by Putnam. It is amazing, a totally comprehensive look at how social capital has dwindeld to its pathetic current state. The impacts of television watching are particularly interesting. Once I get my proposal done (it will include a good summary of the TV chapter) I will post it online.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force is the most disturbing cartoon I have ever witnessed.
Tropical Cyclone. [screen-shot] [satellite photos] [Joint Typhoon Warning Center]
Reactions:
(18:35:37)ketteringo:I was just kidding when I said hurricane helmholdt
(18:35:59)nhelm83:i just figured you had already seen this
(18:36:08)ketteringo:they put it in the indian ocean though, not in east lansing
(18:36:22)nhelm83:my powers are greater than you imagined
(18:37:41)wblowsnorth:why is it called that
(18:37:53)nhelm83:i dont know?
(18:38:28)wblowsnorth:you should feel honored
Moments ago: I step down the stairs looking at my beet-red hands. It is hard for me to look at their brightness.
The elevator fails again to stop on five. I have to go down the stairs to get to my floor.
I spot Jon Lang in the lobby after I lock up my bike.
I hum the theme to Zelda on my bike ride back from work. I am trying so hard not to think about the wind and cold. Temperature 28 degrees, wind chill 18. I get bonus hearts for passing the hot air vents on the south side of the library.
After pouring the unused coffee down a water fountain I lock up the office.
I discover Tony Senagore has a weblog. Welcome to the club, Tony.
I find out why the police and TV vans were around during lunch.
Random work events consume my time.
I buy a coffee at Beaners in the Union. Some Union workers congregate in front of a window pointing at a police car. I look up to realize that there are more police. I leave the Union and walk down the street. My lunch period was almost over so I walk back to work.
I eat the most delicious breakfast I have ever had at Michigan State University.
Before work I go to the cafeteria to get some breakfast. There are no hot dishes. I have to write (choose from a list) what I want cooked. I choose blueberry pancakes and bacon. While I wait for my food to come up I eat a banana.
I'll post this interesting article about high school sports in Alaska. It's on the New York Times.
I had the notion that perhaps government, on all levels, now exists only as a wing to protect and uphold corporate interests. I know that the idea of Corporate Welfare is nothing new but my thoughts were on a more holistic level. I need to work it out better to articulate it but I know I'm onto something larger. For instance, while all corporations pay in part to the government they all benefit from its existence as a way to contain dissent and inequity complaints and thus protect corporations. Public colleges train brilliant young minds to accept and conform to the corporate mindset and (on the other side of things) train people to work for a governmental institution that only assists market values and interests.
I love this song. Step into my office, Baby by Belle and Sebastian is really amazing. Download it now.
"Oestergaard said the problem of sowing the seeds in a potential land mine could be overcome by clearing strips through a field by conventional methods or by using crop planes." -- Using flowers to detect land mines. Cool. -- Language death, not cool.
This is why I still read Hivelogic, sometimes.
Original area codes in 1947. Current area codes (2003) and Caribbean area codes (apparently I can't call Cuba).
Toponymy is not suited to provide for fictional posts. I am going to begin a new blog where I will only post original fiction and links to online short stories and excerpts from books. Toponymy will continue to provide chronicles of interesting events in my life and links to outside sites. So, as soon as I'm ready I'll announce the release of the new site. Right now, I need a name for it. Submit any suggestions by clicking on "comment" below the text.
is a common place for evangelists of all sorts. Most of my encounters have been of two types: the-end-is-nigh flyer guy and the Jesus freak. Today I was walking past this religious advertisement zone. It was then I overheard a girl saying to her friend, "Are those God people?" referring to the four casually dressed guys and costume gorilla handing out little orange slips to passers-by. They were the MSU Freethinker Alliance promoting the anniversary of Darwin's birthday. [I'll just try not to think about the implications of calling curbside preachers "God People".] Now, one of these Freethinkers is in my Studio Drawing class. He is an "Art Fag" by even the strictest definition. I tried to avoid eye contact with this leech of a human as I passed the busy intersection.
Pizza Party, U.S.A. is a great idea. Turn leap day into a holiday where the entire country has a pizza party. Why not.
I've been looking more and more into graphic novels [which is a nice way of saying comics]. There are some interesting ones described here. Speaking of novels, this parrot could probably dictate one.
Funny state shapes. Funny Color Alert System. Interesting ramifications of the Super Bowl halftime incident.
Have you ever put your truck on cruise control, opened the driver side door, climbed onto the top of the cab, closed the door and, oh just watch the movie. [quicktime, 2+ min for dial-up.]
“Seven dollars and thirty one cents.” I grabbed the paper bag with the menu stapled to the outside. The delivery man took my money and tucked it into his leather jacket’s inside pocket. He wore a purple dress shirt and tie underneath. He kowtowed and left.
This egg roll is delicious. I dip it in hot mustard sauce for a little extra spice. Men can go to hell and back; you can even make it a day trip.
Rehab kept Carter alive long enough so he could get addicted to cigarettes. Carter was using his massive biceps as makeshift pillows last night. Some spoiled fish kept his stomach churning through the night.
At two-thirty a.m. I hear the television switch on.
Hermann-the-Machine has just dominated the League of Force tonight. Nothing can stop this tank-like rampage. What a tremendous display of, wait. Oh no, Oh my God! Kolossus has just stood up. – And after such a crippling blow to his...
The crowd winced and screamed.
Tracy looked over at me. She wants the TV off. She wants Carter gone. I put on my plastic sandals and go downstairs. That was when the glass started coming down.
We like to think our problems are resolvable, that a solution is achievable. Normal is just a few weeks away.
Carter’s hand was fully around one of my favorite glasses. Few things could withstand his grip. The heavy base fell to the tile floor and shattered.
“Carter!” There was a fury gushing from his mouth, his neck, his forehead. “Stop it for chrissakes.” I can’t talk with him, he doesn’t see me now. Hew was in a different place. Shit. The blood was pouring from his hand steadily now. Tiny shards of glass remained in his fingers.
Fried rice makes a fine compliment to any Styrofoam box of Chinese delivery. I pry open the soy sauce packet. Fried rice also has its price.
Now I’m trapped in my kitchen. My condo looks over a tiny creek, there is a good view from the window just above the sink. A thin line of reflected moonlight lit up Carter’s left arm. Sgt. Hurricane was his stage name. I always thought it was a terrible name. Carter thrived in spite of it.
I reached for the remote and shut off the television. Another ape-like scream pierced my skull. I know Tracy is hiding under her covers.
I put my hands out to Carter, palms up. He looks at me, finally. “Let’s go.”
The emergency room is the most uncomfortable place in the world. I was bent up like a broken ruler trying to rest on a misplaced wooden armrest. I hadn’t seen Carter in an hour now, four a.m. passed by. I tried to sleep pitifully.
I dig my plastic fork into the sweet and sour chicken. The red sauce drips from my lips.
The nurses are screaming. They flood out of the corridor in all directions. I jumped out of my seat. My back strained and my legs nearly tripped one another. I was running faster than I had in years. Only one nurse remained, she was talking to Carter in a soothing, relaxing tone. “No, you don’t understand!” I pleaded with her to run and let somebody else handle him. She never let her focus away from Carter.
The local anesthetic was already applied to his hand.
“Come this way, that’s right. Everything will be okay. Just keep breathing. In,” inhale, “out,” exhale. Carter closed his eyes and his shoulders fell slowly. Two orderlies sweep in to wrestle him down. Before the electric taser ignites Curtis swings at one of the men. The dark red blood from his mouth splashes down the wall, cutting across the teal trim.
I filed the paperwork for the hospital and the police. I said good bye to Carter and I greeted today with heavy eyes.
I am Beast.
I am taking an economics class and now I realize what is wrong with economists. They see the world through goggles that delete the human factor to our decisions. Their worldview disregards the personal side to any economic choice. For instance, (this is according to my class) an ordinary economist would always argue in favor of unrestricted free trade regardless of the short term consequences. The decision to lift tariffs or other barriers to trade is made by political figures inside of a government institution. However, while in theory free trade helps everybody in reality it is political suicide. The politicians responsible and the industries threatened by such a change are not faceless drones.
Similar decisions happen on smaller scales inside municipal governments. A majority (93%) of economists say Rent Control should be ended. Rent control, a simple way to provide some affordable housing options, does have problems. However, the current trend in providing affordable housing is to take the land of the speculative market and put it in the hands of the community (not the government). This unusual arrangement is known as a Community Land Trust and it is quickly gaining momentum as the only way to provide real, sustainable affordable housing. Economists are blind to the fact that humans make choices. Developers can never be given a serious incentive to build low-cost housing (that won't bankrupt the local government). So the solution to satisfying all needs in the housing market works entirely around the entrapments of our market system. Now, while rent control is flawed compared to this system, it is a temporary fix that has benefited some low-income folks. It's flaw is precisely what the Community Land Trust avoids: the speculative market. Low rent apartments have much higher demand and are more sought after. Land and housing are not merely goods or parcels. To treat either as a mere commodity to be traded neglects the fact that people and land are inseparable.
Okay enough ranting.
Paper Clips. Good images of wired paper clips through the years. My favorite is the Banjo Clip.
Stephen Hawking Interactive action figure provides hours of fun for your lunatic-fringe nephew who collects hard-to-find television related toys.
This is awesome. I haven't had a chance to look at all the pictures but so far it sounds like one of the greatest achievements in mapping history.
Defective Yeti reviews the bad reviews of The Perfect Score.
Although I've played some bad games on the computer and other platforms in my day I've never encountered anything as terrible as Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing. Warning: you are about to read one of the most scathing reviews in the history of criticism. Here is a sample:
"Rigs is a game so astoundingly bad that it manages to transcend nearly every boundary put forth by some of gaming's absolute worst of the worst and easily makes it into that dubiously extraordinary category of being one of the most atrocious games ever published."
Does life imitate art or vice versa? Well, in this case art imitates art. Law & Order: Artistic Intent is quite possibly the greatest and most interesting collection of art I have ever witnessed on my computer. Favories include: An Adventure to Color and Lennie Grabs a Dog.
My Department got a new webpage. Reload it to see all the professors. Gill Chin Lim, Ellen Bassett and Rex LaMore are all professors I've had over the last year. Herb Norman is my advisor.
Oh, and Red and Blue just won't do. Mapping American politics.
-- I really felt the need to write something. Don't dare to extract any meaning from it. --
I’ll finish it today, thought Casey Voorheis. Her straight brown hair was in a pony tail to prevent any potential snags. She thought about her project hourly when she was away. The sculpted lines of her latest creation even pleased her critical eye.
“You are talented, you just can’t see it for yourself! Casey! Quit apologizing so much. If I didn’t know better I’d think you were a Japanese schoolgirl who couldn’t keep up with me.”
He said the last part with a click of his tongue.
The whispers floated around the outside of the retrofitted hangar alongside a cool blue fog. The 1/8 th inch ventilation slits poured the colored light into the dusky atmosphere.
I know something is missing. It isn’t finished and the deadline is almost here. Incomplete meant a savage failure for Casey.
Martin was critical, too. He gazed from a nearby hilltop with military-grade binoculars. He had known Casey his entire life. Jealousy and admiration coupled with false compliments and unrealistic expectations. Martin lived in Casey’s wake of awe and support. Nothing would change the past; he could not join the crowd below. The polished, cold steel fit onto his eye’s orbits.
Although her instinct told her something was unfinished, Casey suddenly realized it could not be resolved. Not here. Two trees and three stumps carved out a fortress for children. Downhill from this natural enclave rested the skeleton of a tractor, rusted and shattered, its skin and function stripped for years.
In a different time Martin and Casey stumbled on the relic. “What do you think it is?” asked Martin, bewildered by the strangeness of its presence. He found himself admiring some quality of rebellion in the physics-defying balancing act of rusting steel.
The flock of impatient journalists and spectators was becoming irritated. Casey opened the doors to the hangar and realized the true magnitude of her crisis.
I can see them from my window. That means I'm in East Lansing.
I love this website. Not Fooling Anybody is a collection of fast-food chain remodels that went badly. All [with a few notable exceptions] are gems. I might go hunting for a few of these conversions myself. Master Donut is my favorite.
Apparently I can't photoshop an image anymore. Nor can I view photoshopped images or participate in photoshop contests. However, I still have Adobe® Photoshop® on my computer.
Contradicting Proverbs.
I have a class coming up so I won't have time to check the site out. This pretty much sums up my winter break from 11:00 AM to Noon on weekdays.
you guessed it, the first day of the spring semester. Five, count 'em five, new classes, one returning professor and on-campus job all this season on The Resident. Contestants compete for adequate housing and nourishment while avoiding the pitfalls of dormitory life. New challenges every Friday, Saturday and Monday. Tune in this week to see residents challenge the overpowering might of Spartan football's linebacker, Mike Labinjo in dodgeball.
Usually I despise Quizilla. Inept quizmakers molding stupid, unfunny quizzes sickens me. But, I thought the idea of a 7-deadly-sin quiz was quite creative. Bravo. I got Wrath. See all the results here.
"These 9 drawings were done by an artist under the influence of LSD -- part of a test conducted by the US government during it's dalliance with psychotomimetic drugs in the late 1950's. The artist was given a dose of LSD 25 and free access to an activity box full of crayons and pencils. His subject is the medico that jabbed him." -- See them all, here.
This is great. Seriously, "...the accompanying text: 234 pages of beautifully formed, yet completely unintelligible script." That is the Voynich manuscript. Simply spectacular.
Although the middle section is a bit obtuse you ought to read the first and last sections of this interesting article on psychosis. "Our idea of what psychosis consists of has been inherited from psychiatrists. Because of their role as medics for mental distress, they have traditionally suffered from a sample bias. A person is only likely to show up in front of a psychiatrist if they are either distressed or causing distress to others. A person who has wild and extensive hallucinations is unlikely to ever be a psychiatric patient if they are never troubled and can continue their lives successfully."
Limecat is not pleased.
