Friday, July 29, 2016

Brick Layer, Skydiver, Stairs, Octopii, Cats, Horses - Things That Move

I liked today's joke in my 365 Bad Jokes and Puns calendar:
Alexis, Bianca, and Caroline were on a camping trip when they got terribly lost. After wandering in the woods for several days, running low on food, and becoming desperate, they miraculously stumbled upon a magic lamp. When they rubbed it, a genie came out and offered to grant them three wishes. Ecstatic at their good fortune, Alexis said, “I wish to be back home!” and POOF, she was gone. Then Bianca said, “I wish to be back home with Alexis!” and POOF, she was gone, too.

Finally, it was Caroline's turn: “Gee, I sure am lonely now,” she said. “I wish Alexis and Bianca were back here with me!”

I saw this headline in Yahoo.







Sure, that headline made me have to go look at the accompanying video. And it is pretty cool. It is accurate with 5mm or something like that. However, one thing I did not see was the application of the mortar. It sprayed something on the edges, but no mortar. Is that because this demonstration was indoors? I had to watch a different video from the company where they said their robot can use either quick-setting mortar or the industry standard construction adhesive common for block constructions. Oh, it can also use multiple brick types. Now, we both learned something.














See the dude in the photo below? He is going to skydive into a net by jumping from a plane... with NO PARACHUTE. Crazy, right? And it will be broadcast live on Fox on Saturday, 7/30/2016. Will you watch? I might have to. You can read about their prep, and the specifics of the net he will be aiming for, in the article.


















I have not found an adequate replacement for bitstrips, the app I used to create Clarity of Vision comics. I have now gone the longest without creating a comic since I started the strip in 2009. It also means that I have not worried about documenting any ideas for the day when I restart it. Is it over? I don't know, but I kind of hope not.

We are on an electricity plan that rewards us for not using electricity during the hottest part of the day. For us, that means the rates are a little higher from 3pm-6pm in order to get rates a little lower the rest of each day. That is not so bad in the winter when we can bundle up if needed. It is REALLY BAD during the summer when we let the house reach over 86F in the afternoon. We do turn on some fans, just not the A/C. And it takes until 9pm or so to cool back down after that. Whew. Do you have anything like that at your place? How do you keep cool?

I found a new opportunity to make your photos look animated. It is called Plotagraph, and you can see some examples on their website. The software costs $300, so it is not cheap, but it is really cool. Below is a photo that they automate to look like the stairs are moving like an escalator. As you can see, when I copied the image, the animation is lost. I also saw some fine print on the site that purchasing the software includes a one-year subscription. So, it requires access to the company servers and software to show movement. Still, it does look cool. Check it out. And I learned about the software when I looked at this photo of fire that moves in the background.
























Something that would look cool animated is this inanimate coat hangar that looks like a drunk octopus. OK, maybe not.
























This photo is not of our cat, although I think ours might be silly enough to try this.
























This person only wanted to buy the manchego cheese for their dinner tonight. Now all this talk of an impending arrival made them lose their appetite.
























This photo made me smile... a lot.























I am down to one minute left before my self-imposed timeline of creating a blog post. It has been quite a week, people. Let's hope this settle into a normal routine next week. Until then, we all have a weekend to enjoy, so let's get through today. See you soon.

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