Penguin masks and earth hour

Posted by hil

penguin masks

These penguin masks, being worn outside the UN Framework of Climate Change Conference in Bali last November, interested me because I liked the way the coarse gauze was so effective, while not hiding the faces. The photo is taken from our newspaper at the time, via Associated Press.

I’ve always thought a cool way of making a penguin character would be to have a head mask, but then wear a tuxedo as the rest of the costume, letting people make the penguin suit connection themselves. However no-one has ever taken me up on the suggestion!

We turned our lights off for Earth Hour tonight. It was a beautiful clear starry night.

Mesh circuit boards?

Posted by hil

Reading about stretchy circuit board development, it says that stretchiness is needed as well as thinness. I wonder if anyone has thought along the lines of a fibre mesh? (I’d guess so!) For instance, with paper mache, if you want to wrap around very smoothly, you use very small pieces of paper, and you expect the fibres on the torn edge to mesh with the layer underneath to make the curved surface smooth. Likewise with wool felting, the scales and crimps in the wool fibres engage through friction to make a mesh, which gives felt the ability to be stretched and molded. Maybe circuit board components could be made in a fibre form which would mesh in a similar way?

Big Dog

Posted by hil

I had been ingnoring all the posts about Boston Dynamics developing state-of-the-art robotic quadruped, Big Dog, because I just get otherwise like that sometimes, but having just relented, it really is amazing. I hate to see such big defense involvement in it though, and to read it described as an army mule.

Update: Funny

Twitter: turning things upside-down

Posted by hil

I started out in the social web in the mid 90’s at bulletin boards and discussion forums. When my focus shifted to blogs, the comments in blogging generally seemed a poor substitute, more like guest books. There were exceptions of course, but they were still gardens in the conversation marketplace.

I had an idea today that Twitter is turning the relationship of blogging and commenting upside-down. Twitter is now a first stop central conversation marketplace, where the talk about blogs or the events of the day happens. Looked at socially, blogs, with their conversations followed clunkily in comments from blog to blog, or through aggregators, are not the main game anymore. Rather, they become more like important background material for what is talked about, and a form of identity.

Perhaps the essential drive to find real connection is serendipitously re-purposing micro blogging into the something closer to a satisfactory and more freewheeling conversation hub than other more calculated avenues have achieved so far. Perhaps FriendFeed and others will take it further.

Updating

Posted by hil

Over Easter I finally got to do some updating of my whole site. There is still some fiddling around the edges to do, but I’m happy that my work portfolio is now up to date and will be easier to manage in future, and that all the old bad links have been stripped out of the other static pages.

I did somehow stuff up my Monkey See Monkey Do blog, and had to start up a new installation of WP for it, so I guess I’ve lost what little google juice it had. So if you are searching for things like how to slice a banana inside its skin, make tea towel chooks and jumping handkerchief mice, or whistle through your hands, it’s here, or you can use the nifty new navigation tabs at the top of the page.

UNIMA World Puppetry Festival is close!

Posted by hil

The UNIMA Congress and World Puppetry Festival in Perth is drawing close; tt runs from April 2 -12! Check UNIMA 2008 for information and the latest updates; the most recent is here. You can also keep an eye on Unima Australia’s news and events page for updates. The Puppet Caravan, comprising several parties of puppeteers travelling from the eastern states by road and performing as they go, is already on its way. Puppets are rolling in to the Million Puppets Project; be sure to post yours by March 21st ( PO Box 832 Fremantle, WA 6959). There are lots of exciting professional development events, talks, shows and workshops and exhibitions; and freebies available to those who feel inclined to volunteer to help with the festival. The third Australian National Puppetry Summit is running in conjunction with the festival and congress.

Purse frame bags

Posted by hil

Purse frame bags

These two bags are theatre props I made yesterday. They still need some handles and some special things happening inside them, but I am pleased with how they are coming on. There is some relief, too, as I had intended to buy a couple of bags and modify them, but couldn’t find any that were right. I also had trouble finding the purse frames here in Canberra. I resent the fact that most craft shops here now just have scrapbooking supplies.

I hadn’t made bags like this before, but looked up patterns online, and I am indebted to u-handbag for her purse frame demystified tutorial. Isn’t the web great?

Obama

Posted by hil

My friend Amy has made a couple of widgets for Obama supporters. If you are a supporter, why not add them to your sidebar or FaceBook page. (Details for embedding are here:Countdown; Pwned)