Today I found out that Don Mitchell has a blog. While I’ve only briefly met Don a couple of times, I’ve been aware of his computer graphics work for quite some time, so it was good to see his writing on other interesting topics. I wish my blogroll had more crazy smart people writing about whatever they are interested and passionate about.
He’s on my daily blogroll now.
Not real bunnies. Just chocolate bunnies. Happy Easter.
Recently it may be hard to believe that I’ve read anything except for ham radio crap. I still read other stuff, I just haven’t been paying too much attention lately. While my random surfing today, I was reminded of Dan Piponi’s awesome blog and webpages about some of the really cool projects he’s done. Dan presented a really neat idea at this years Renderman User’s Group meeting during SIGGRAPH this year: namely compiling expressions into Renderman implicit surfaces. Don’t know what that is? Check out some of the other cool projects on his page. Robots. Detecting cosmic rays. Automatic differentiation. It’s enough to make bush league hackers like myself feel, well, bush league.
Great stuff.
Well, I am still on vacation, but took time out this morning to skim the problem description for the 2007 ICFP programming contest. It involves finding modifications to the DNA of a crashlanded alien named Endo, who will surely perish without our help. Wish I had brought my laptop: looks like fun, and I need a break from buffets. I will undoubtably play with it when I get back.
Keith Devens has a nice collection of Programming Fonts with links on his website. I must admit to liking the new Microsoft Consolas font, but I mostly use Bistream Vera Mono, since it’s free and widely available on the systems I use. Dina looks okay to me.  When I used Windows more, I used Andale Mono quite a bit. If you’d like to try a font which makes me clutch my eyes in pain, check out http://www.arcavia.com/Software/ProgFont/. Ouch!
[tags]Programming Fonts,Fonts[/tags]
This week I’m busy at work trying to complete dozens of SIGGRAPH sketch reviews, so it seems like an opportune time to present the usual link to online copies of the SIGGRAPH 2006 Papers that have been accepted. I haven’t had a chance to review these yet, but there is usually something good in this pile.
[tags]SIGGRAPH,Computer Graphics[/tags]
Check out the cool video of a pair of tufted titmouses who are building a nest in a birdhouse that has been equipped with a webcam. Courtesy of the Make blog.
[tags]Birdhouse,Webcam,Science Project[/tags]
Via archive.org, you can download a Divx copy of George Meiles Le voyage dans la lune. This classic 1902 silent film may qualify as he earliest science fiction movie.  The image to the right is probably the most famous from the film. Cool stuff!
[tags]Le Voyage Dans La Lune,Silent Movie,Archive.org[/tags]
When the Japanese aren’t trying to figure out if spun eggs bounce, they are productively employed in constructing all sorts of incredible Rube Goldberg machines.
[tags]Rube Goldberg[/tags]
Read the abstract of this patent carefully.
A toy gas-fired missile and launcher assembly whose missile is composed of a soft head and a tail extending therefrom formed by a piston. The piston is telescoped into the barrel of a launcher having a closed end on which is mounted an electrically-activated ignitor, the air space between the end of the piston and the closed end of the barrel defining a combustion chamber. Joined to the barrel and communicating with the chamber therein is a gas intake tube having a normally-closed inlet valve. To operate the assembly, the operator places the inlet tube with its valve open adjacent his anal region from which a colonic gas is discharged. The piston is then withdrawn to a degree producing a negative pressure to inhale the gas into the combustion chamber to intermix with the air therein to create a combustible mixture. The ignitor is then activated to explode the mixture in the chamber and fire the missile into space.
Ahem.
[tags]Patents[/tags]
[tags]YouTube,Game Violence,Video,Humor[/tags]
I must admit: I haven’t a clue as to how the whole Disney-acquires-Pixar thing is going to work out, but I do know one thing: it’s probably good that John Lasseter will be helping out on the whole theme park thing for Disney. The one thing that the Disney parks seem to have suffered from over the last couple of decades is story and imagination, and I can’t help but think that JL will bring a fresh (and desparately needed) perspective on the Disney theme parks.
Along that line, try checking out the Re-Imagineering blog. Their charter?
A forum for Pixar and Disney professionals passionate about the Disney Theme Parks to catalog past Imagineering missteps and offer up tenable practical solutions in hopes that a new wave of creative management at Imagineering can once again bring back the wonder and magic that’s been missing from the parks for decades. ‘
Amen brothers. I actually really like Disneyland and even like California Adventure, but they fall well short of the promise of Walt’s original vision, and the commentators on this blog have practical, thoughtful discussions of how the parks could retain their original charm and glory. I’m adding it to my daily read list.
[tags]Disney,Pixar,Imagineering,Disneyland,Disneyworld[/tags]
I’m sorry, but this is just wrong. Terribly wrong.
Courtesy of hack-a-day comes this awesome story of a student project to make a robotic rover whose purpose is to eradicate ticks.  It basically follows a buried underground wire along the perimeter of the property, all the while releasing carbon dioxide gas.  Ticks are apparently attracted to the CO2, anc collect along the course, and then the ticks are sprayed with Permethrin. Since the hill behind my house is literally teaming with ticks, I think it’s a darned cool idea, although I suspect their rover would find climing my hill to be rather challenging.
[tags]Science,Mad Science,Hack[/tags]
It’s a strange fact that any two words (or interests) that you might have will eventually find a webpage that illustrates them both. Of course, every geek in the universe likes Legos, and a couple of years back I made an aborted stab at learning something about Mayan hieroglyphics.  I didn’t think I’d find a webpage that harmonizes the two, but check out Dunechaser’s Blocklog for his Aztec Minifigs.
Addendum:Â Wikipedia on Mayan hieroglyphics, PDF of Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs by Kuttunet and Helmke, or How to Read Maya Hieroglyphs by John Montgomery.
[tags]Maya,Lego[/tags]