Historic Tale Construction Kit

Made with the
Historical Tale Construction Kit


How I came across this wonderful site remains a mystery, but I'm glad that I did. The Historical Tale Construction Kit is a flash-based program that allows you to use images culled from the Bayeux, a middle-ages tapestry depicting a battle between Harold King of England and William the Conqueror. I love the anachronistic styling and the ability to create multiple panels for longer stories. I wish it were possible to rotate the images, but the images can only be reduced/enlarged and mirrored. Even so, there are so many things that can be done with this, from one-shots to a lengthy web comic, that I keep coming back to it every couple of weeks.

Enjoy!

Rope and Sound from SQUID Labs

SQUID Labs has created some amazing rope that is able to monitor its own condition, and yet I get excited about the fact that they've made music with it. The piece, "Sound and Rope" is a design that incorporates the rope into a structure that takes feedback from a plucked rope and transforms it into a signal that modulates music from a sythesizer. (I may have erred in that explaination, so check out the site yourself.) I am sure that the technological implications of this material may have a much broader range than mere ambient music, but I must admit that the sound is hauntingly beautiful. Also, I was more interested in the music than in the technology.

Ignorance? Possibly.
Bliss? Certainly.

Plague-infested Mice Escape from Lab

An interesting story at www.psyorg.com is telling us that a reasearch lab at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey has reportedly lost three mice carrying Yersinia pestis. Yersinia pestis was better known when it ran amok as the Bubonic Plague. Each of these three mice were in seperate containers and have been gone for longer than two weeks. Apparently this is not a big deal because, if treated quickly, modern antibiotics can deal with the plague. Isn't that the kicker? When was the last time you checked out a sore on your arm and said, "Crap, I got me some plague."? And did you catch that line? If treated quickly..." So, again, one: the average person does not know what the hell the plague would look like if it were to take up bodily residence, and two: how quick is quickly? Not only that, but some guy from some place who is a critic of some program says that "You have more security at a McDonald's than at some of these facilities." (Alright, so the guy was Richard Ebright, a microbiologist from Reutgers University, but he's kind of dropped into that news story out of freakin' nowhere...) Well, I'm off to go scrub with some soap and water; I think I remember hearing that a good bath was all one needed to fend of the Black Death.

Crazy Videos for your Enjoyment

I've stumbled upon some crazy videos that may or may not brighten your day, I suppose it all depends upon your attitude. Suck it up and laugh, creampuff.


Fabulous Adam of Eternia




Barrester Video



Those are it for now. Enjoy. It's mandatory.

More Great RenFestness...

Just in case you were jonesing for a fix of me and my wife in Renaissance garb, here I am to spread much merriment. She made both of these outfits (plus two more dresses and bodices) in under ten days. I also think she vowed never to work with textiles again, so that would be a downside.

Florida Community College of Jacksonville had a campus awareness day, and we wore these costumes to draw attention to the campus learning center and a new Shakespear class being offered next semester. I can say that we drew a lot of attention alright (she more than I).

Now we're itching for a renfest.
Or maybe that was just the fabric of my robe...

For Your Listening Pleasure...

Music Video Codes By VideoCodeZone.com



This is The Duhks. Purchasing of their album and listening to it repeatedly is purported to cause much happiness for folk who dig folk.

Utter Bullshit

Governor Schwarzenegger is vetoing the bill passed by both the California House and Senate that would legalize same-sex marriage. Governor Schwarzenegger claims that it is the will of the people that this not pass (according to a previous state proposition), and yet there is a fundamental flaw in this line of thought: The United States is a representative democracy, not a popular democracy. If the United States were a popular democracy, Bush would not have been able to have stolen the election as he did in 2000, since he lost the popular vote. The idea that the "majority rules" has never, EVER, been a cornerstone of American democracy. If it were, we'd still be an ass-backwards slave-holding nation that denied women the right to vote. Arnold has committed a grave mistake here by citing a popular-vote initiative as reason for his veto. This is politics at its worst, and a serious blow to a humane and just course of action. No true Christian or humanitarian would stand in the way of two adults in love choosing to commit one's life to each other.

Gott ist tot

"God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? That which was the holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet possessed has bled to death under our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us? With what water could we purify ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we need to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we not ourselves become gods simply to be worthy of it?"

- Nietzsche, Also sprach Zarathustra