This Piano Catapult = Poor Range, But Grand Psychological Menace
December 12, 2011
Wake Up And Smell The Espresso
Wake Up And Smell The Espresso (Education) in [Market-Ticker]: “This is why bankruptcy was written into the Constitution and why it’s so important. The threat of the borrower declaring bankruptcy and avoiding the debt taken on is the only market check and balance that works to restrain predatory and abusive behavior by lenders. With it no lender intentionally makes a foolish loan because while the borrower has their credit rating ruined the lender loses their actual investment.”
Dear 16 Year Old Me
My mom was diagnosed with stage 3 (bordering on stage 4) melanoma over a decade ago. After a long course of extensive chemo and radiation she beat it. A few years later the breast cancer hit. She beat that too. Thanks to her incredible doctors she conquered some astronomical odds and is healthy today.
This video talks about the risk factors for melanoma (early sunburns, family history, moles, etc). I have just about every risk factor except red hair (who knew?). I also go to the dermatologist once a year and have had at least a dozen moles removed since mom’s diagnosis. I share this because keeping up with this has become easy, routine, and something that we budget for in our annual medical expenses. $250/year isn’t much to pay to make sure I don’t die from melanoma. It’s not fun or painless, but it just may be the difference in the future.
This is for you, mom…
December 10, 2011
December 8, 2011
Matt Makes Good
(not that Matt)
Friend Matt Trevino appears as Sarastro in the current production of Mozart’s Magic Flute in Dublin. Check out this video.
Matt is the Black-Adder look-alike at :12. Good on you P.O.F.!
But it was Texan bass Matthew Treviño who truly galvanised attention: his Sarastro was magnetically sung and acted, an eerily hermetic presence with an insinuatingly malevolent agenda (he manhandles Pamina creepily during one aria). Sarastro’s part goes very low musically, but Treviño’s bottom Fs were unpinched and beautifully supported, his sonorous, burnished tone and clear enunciation a source of constant pleasure.
I always thought of Matt as being “eerily hermetic”. Whatever that means.
Quoth
“We live in a world of snark and irony… but if there’s one word to describe Tim Tebow it would be “earnest”. Who uses that word anymore? Irony and sarcasm and cynicism is really just cowardice. And a person of genuine conviction is threatening to that worldview.”
December 5, 2011
Mobile Man
Sean has a post over at his blog about his impending job move from Magnolia to Mutual Mobile, an up-and-coming company in downtown Austin. I know it’s been a tough decision for him and he’s considered a lot of factors, but I really am happy that he’s making this move. Maybe I’m just selfish, though. This means more lunches since we won’t be facing an 80 mile round trip to spend time together. Hooray!
Seriously, though, it’s good to see a friend making conscious moves to do what they love, and it’s something that I wish on all of my friends. Way to go, amigo!
December 3, 2011
In a Hole in the Ground there Lived a Tolkien Fan
h/t Giles for the link
December 2, 2011
Quoth
“The skilled tradesman brings his intelligence and his discipline to his work. His job is to take ownership of a project. He creates something that wasn’t there before—something new, something better, something more valuable. And in that, the skilled tradesman is the kindred spirit of every entrepreneur.”
Dealing with the frustrations that come when someone sees you as a skilled tradesman, hires you for your experience and knowledge, and then proceeds to disregard your advice. If the pattern runs true to form, this will end when the client is disappointed with the end result and that disappointment is then directed toward the craftsman for the quality of the work. Why couldn’t you take my bad decisions and make something great out of it? I thought you were good at your job.
*Sigh*
December 1, 2011
Maker-Bot
3d printers just keep getting better and better.
Normally you can see the successive print layers that the extruder head lays down (an artifact of the “top-down” technique that current 3d printers use). Much work has gone into making the layering as accurate and smooth as possible. I think they’ve done a rather nice job of it:
That’s a closeup of a 3d printed shot glass with a human hair in the foreground. Not a bad finish on the “glass”, no?
Just passed the $800 mark on the MakerBot ING account. Christmas marks the halfway point (wow, time flies when you’re saving for tech). Next Christmas is the ETA for Timberline Custom Woodworking (my sole prop WW business) to buy that MakerBot. Fifty dollars at a time and you can buy anything. 
Do It Yourself
Do It Yourself | Excellence in Philanthropy | The Philanthropy Roundtable: “The skilled tradesman brings his intelligence and his discipline to his work. His job is to take ownership of a project. He creates something that wasn’t there before—something new, something better, something more valuable. And in that, the skilled tradesman is the kindred spirit of every entrepreneur.”