Champion Cat-Stacking

Hello... I know I haven't posted in a while but I did some intense cat-stacking today, plus some artsy photos I took at floor level.  Here are a couple of photos.  I got nearly twenty random pieces of junk that were lying around my room stacked on top of the cat.  Curious as to what they are?  From left to right: A cat toy, a duct tape ear leftover from my duct tape Batman mask, a photo stand, pieces of my ceramic Loch Ness Monster, a crumpled up piece of paper the cat likes to play with, a pen, a Swiss army knife, another cat toy (this one is a mouse), yet another cat toy (spiky ball), an assortment of clips and key rings I put on my lanyards, a squeezy brain, a lead container, a flashlight, and another pen.  The thing on her head is, obviously, a bow such as one would put on a present.  Since it's the day before Christmas eve, I also implore you to check out the Google homepage today. And, while you’re on Google, try typing in “Let It Snow” for some festive fun.  For even more pointless entertainment, also try “Do a Barrel Roll” and “Tilt.”  Yay Google Easter eggs!

I also like what YouTube has done with the little snowflakes on the play thing.  Merry Christmas!  Go ahead and treat yourself to the Futurama Christmas special or a new gadget!

Also:  Has anyone seen Tin-Tin yet?  Is it any good?  I love the comics but suspect the movie is not going to be anywhere near as good.
Random thought for the day: I want to recommend Nerd News, another blog, only with current nerd news updates, most of which I'm too lazy to post.  If you want to keep up-to-date, it's the blog for you. I also have found a nerdy Christmas wish list survey, including every gadget you might want...  If you feel like it, please head on over to Nerd News  (a different Nerd News... Weird, I know) and go to the bottom right under "What Do You Think?" OR post a comment with a list of the nerdy stuff you want this year.  It may be tech junk, a new T-shirt, or some gimmicky toy... Me?  Kindle Fire all the way.

Happy Monkey Day!

Hello everyone, and happy monkey day! Today I have some more Nike ID shoes, although I'm sure you're getting rather sick of them by now.  Nevertheless, here are the links:
Red and blue skate shoe
Maroon, yellow and orange skate shoe
Purple, green, and orange street shoe
And here, as always, are the little pictures in case you can't load the interactive one.  The picture below is what it looks like when you scan my iPod.  Interesting.

Speaking of things interactive, I've discovered a black hole simulator (in my ongoing quest to know everything I possible can about black holes.)  It's really entertaining; you can navigate a black hole, orbit a black hole, and drop things into a black hole too. Check it out!  (Note: the link takes you to the Hubblesite black hole page.  To play with the sims click on "up close and personal" at the top of the page, then "questions and experiments" on the bottom right.  This will take you to a page with a list of activities.  All the fun ones are on the right under "Experiments."  Have fun!)

SCAVENGER HUNT!!!

Hello... Today I have a special challenge for you.  It's a scavenger hunt!  I want you to go to Google (Bing will NOT work) images and type in the keywords Nerdy Babble Today.  If that does not work, try different variations, such as putting it in quotes, adding blog to the end, or capitalizing each word.  You might even try searching for specific pictures from the blog.   Then find all of the pictures from my blog that you can (you might have to refer to it once or twice to check) and post the number that you found as a comment.  PLEASE let me know if it doesn't work.  Off you go!

Random thought for the day: I found a website where you can make your own crossword puzzle.  I'll begin working on one today and will post it here as soon as I finish.  If you want to make your own crossword, please share it with me!  This is the link.

Lots of Stuff I'm Going to Blather About

I have a lot to say today (at this point, you're probably saying to yourself, "oh no, that's never good...")  Anyway, I have a couple of books to recommend, a great opening line, a splendid book title, and some most excellent names.

The books are: The Secret Life of Cows by Glen Wexler.  This is not a book with a lot of written content, with the exception of a couple of witty saying about cows, so I have scanned in a couple of pictures from the book.  They are pretty intense.  They are Superhero Cows, Secret Agent Cows, and the Beefles (hah). One of my favorite sayings from the book was, "The cow is of the bovine ilk; One end is moo, the other, milk," ~Ogden Nash.  The second book I'd like to recommend is She's Such a Geek!-Women write about science, technology, and other nerdy stuff.  The perfect book for me, right!  This book has the stories of many women who dared to break free from gender stereotypes and became female nerds!  I'd recommend it very highly. 
My opening line is very good, but I don't quite know what I'd use it for... "The night was dark, chilly, and relatively cloudless.  The moon hung like an abandoned fingernail clipping in the sky. "  I also think a great title for a book would be Poire Noire, but I also don't know how to incorporate that.
In case you don't know what to name your children, this handy-dandy list should help you right out!  (Note: Don't actually name your children these names.  That would be cruel.)  These are mostly for the purposes of characters in a book, but they are MY NAMES that I came up with, so if I find a book using these names I will be very, very angry.  Now, for the names: Gerund P. Fizzleworth...Pilar Mackintosh...Gerry Gloppenheim...Chester Flax...and Bartleby Murdstone (Mr. Murdstone is actually a Dickens character; I didn't come up with that one).

More Nike ID Shoes... And what is a label?

Today I have some more Nike ID shoes.  They're not the greatest, but maybe they'll catch on.  Anyway, the links are: 

Green and yellow Nike Air

Green, red, and yellow Nike Dunk

Green, blue, and red Nike LunarGlide

I have the little images in case you can't load the full-sized ones. And, while you're at it, design your own!  I would love to see your designs, so if you come up with any, post the link in a comment!

I also found a few neat websites, and with the gift-giving holidays coming up, they’re perfect for the geek or nerd on your list.  Take it from me.  Here are the links: 

Thinkgeek.com

Snorg Tees

NeatoShop Gifts for Geeks

Today was the first time I tried putting a label on my post.  I have no idea what that does, but it should say “Blathered by Grace at 7:04 AM”.  If it looks cool, I’m going to start putting that at the bottom of all my posts.

Renee French

Today (or this evening, rather) I'd like to recommend an amazing artist, Renee French, who I discovered not too long ago because I found her book Micrographica at the library.  If you've ever read this book, you'll know why I felt like i HAD TO GET IT and also why I fell in love with it (and it's author) immediately.  If you've never seen it, click here.  In case you can't tell from the Google Books preview, it's about 5 and a half inches tall, was drawn on pieces of paper that were about a centimeter large, and is an epic story about some mice and a ball of crap (far more riveting than it sounds.)  To learn more about Renee French, as well as seeing some of her work and her blog, click here.  Speaking of blogs, I have discovered an awesome blog with a lot of really cool art, music, and links.  Please visit "Call Me A Lyre..."

R.I.P Borders

I hate to say it, but we live in an age where an excellent bookstore can be driven out of business by a hunk of plastic with a screen.  Ironic, I know, for me to be saying this, because I was discussing a few posts ago about how I'm getting a Kindle Fire, but that's more for the purposes of the environmental crises rather than because I enjoy reading off a screen.  I don't.  It's more that the world's trees could do without magazines people will just throw away after reading once and cheapo paperback romance novels that will live on a shelf all their lives before being donated to some book sale or another, where they will then live on another shelf even longer until they are eventually thrown away because no one wanted them.  It's funny because up until recently I was completely opposed to the idea of e Readers, but I guess they've grown on me a bit.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE books, I love the way the pages and cover feel, and how certain books smell certain ways (my favorites are very old book smell and brand-new book smell; they're both very distinctive and very excellent).  I love the library and I love bookstores and I love reading.  And I loved Borders, before they were driven out of business by the Kindle.  And that's why I'm here to tell you today to keep your independent bookstores open (Page One is one of the last ones in town).  So please: think of the books.  On a similar note, something else that is in trouble is the post office.  I can't even begin to say how sad I am about that.  I love writing (and receiving) letters, and the sad fact of the matter is that there really isn't anything of a future in the post office, and that's because of one word: email.  So the next time someone's birthday is coming up, maybe mail them a card instead of sending an e-card.  If you feel like talking to your friend who moved away, write them a letter instead of sending an email.  Send postcards when you go on a trip.  Write letters just for the fun of it.  Mail boxes through the post office, not UPS or FedEx or other companies like that.  Stand up to the electronic revolution.

Wordle

 



I don't know if you know what a Wordle is, but it's sort of a word art thing where you take a huge chunk of text and this program reads it and finds the most frequently used words, which are largest, and least frequently used words, which are smallest, and then arranges them artistically in sort of a "word cloud".  Something else the program does is get rid of words like "the" and "I" and "it", etc, to make the Wordle more interesting.  Anyway, I made one using every single post on my blog.  Sadly, I have no way to put the image on here, and the only way I could get it on here was to print it out and then scan that, so hopefully it's readable and looks ok.  I'm sorry about that.
Random thought for the day:  Today I finally made that dulce de leche.  I would NOT advise it!  It took me hours (okay, it would have taken less time if I'd read the directions more carefully and used whole milk instead of 1%, but still.)  Anyway, my arm feels about ready to fall off after all that stirring, and I ended up having to add starch to it to get it thick enough.  It also took a really long time to get it the right color.  But now that it's done and delicious, the big question is: Was it really worth it??

Another random thought:  Remember the post where I was listing all these holidays in December, and one of them was Monkey Day?  I had no clue what that was until today, when I finally decided to look it up.  According to Wikipedia, it's celebrated on December 14, and originated in 2000.  It's celebrated in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom.  So what is it?  Apparently, it's celebrated by costume parties, and a lot of other monkey-related activities, including contests to see who can act like a monkey the longest, speed knitting of monkey dolls, sharing monkey stories, shopping sprees on Paul Frank merchandise, eating Chunky Monkey ice cream, spending the day at the zoo, and chimp art auctions.  Sounds like fun, and it's for a good cause too, because the sole purpose of monkey day is to encourage us to give some thought to our simian friends, directing our attention to issues like Evolution, medical research, and animal rights.

Snow day!

Okay, so today I have a snow day, which means I have a lot of time to dibble away on the internet.  Already I've watched four Futurama episodes and have designed yet another pair of Nike ID shoes.  Click here to see them.  In case your internet is as slow as mine is, I have small pictures of each shoe that I'll post.  Meanwhile, the weather here is dreadful.  It is freezing and windy, with little bits of snow coming down, and it is super unpleasant to be in.  This morning I went for a walk and saw a poor kitty out in the cold on my street, but I just saw it from a distance, and when I went back to look for it (I did this multiple times) I could never find it.  :(  But eventually it got too cold to stay out any longer, so I had to come back in, thaw my frozen hands, and promise myself I'd go out to look for it later.

Another Nike ID design

Guess what!  I made another Nike ID shoe.  This one is a runner and really snazzy.  Click here to see it.
If the link doesn't work, let me know so I can try to post a picture or something else.  :D  This is my second design on Nike ID, and I  hope it isn't painstakingly slow to load.
Note:  On the quiz, one question refers to my Nike ID shoes.  The shoes in question are the basketball ones that were my first design.  I apologize for the confusion.

Black Hole Quiz

I have found a Black Hole quiz online.  If you read my past post about black holes or have done a little research yourself, you should do pretty well.  I scored 7 out of 8 ; post a comment with your own scores!
CHECK IT OUT!

Coupler?

I think I might've found a way to connect two USBs together for my Kindle Fire and keyboard... It's called an audio/video coupler or adapter.  I don't quite understand the subtleties of USB; would this work?  It looks like it would, because all I need to do is connect them.  They also have the same thing on Amazon, but I don't know much about electronics.  Is $15.67 a fair price for this sort of thing?  One concern is that they might not work together because they would be trying to draw power from one another.  And OH YEAH, what's a USB 2.0 (micro-B connector)?  That's what the Kindle Fire is, but I can't tell if that is a regular-sized USB port or something that would require a cable with a standard USB connector on one end and a smaller connector on the other or something of that nature (you know, like a phone charger cable or something).   This is SO CONFUSING... someone help me please!

Also, I found a picture on my computer of the Batman family tree, which I'm posting above.  Random, I know, but pretty intense, especially because it was drawn by Bob Kane.  BOB KANE!!!  The big daddy of Batman!!
Another random thought:  Do any of you followers watch ASDF movie?  I have been watching them a lot lately (and, needless to say, annoying the heck out of my family by constantly quoting it at them.)  Which one is your favorite?
Yet ANOTHER random thought:  I discovered a new, awesome website known as the Discovernator, crazy amazing facts, that has quite a lot of random info.  It's pretty awesome.

Bembo Book Regular

Sorry folks, actually the font I thought it looked like was Bembo Book Regular, a bit closer.  SORRY the picture is so big, I couldn't post a link...  Anyway, it's nearly Christmas, so MERRY CHRISTMAS! :D
And, if you don't celebrate Christmas,
~Happy Hannukkah!
~Happy Kwanzaa!
~Happy boxing day!
~Happy St. Stephen's Day!
~Happy Proclamation Day!
~Happy Nichelle Nichols's birthday! (Uhura)
~Happy Union Day of Romania!
~Happy National Day of United Arab Emirates!
~Happy Sinterklaas in the Netherlands!
~Happy Father's Day (king's birthday) in Thailand!
~Happy Independence Day in Finland!
~Happy Constitution Day in Spain!
~Happy Saint Nicholas Day in Greece!
~Happy Monkey day! (?)
~Happy Bill of Rights Day!
~Happy Victory Day in Bangladesh!
~Happy Day of Reconciliation in South Africa!
~Happy solstice!
~Happy emperor's birthday in Japan!
~Happy Festivus!
~Happy Day of Goodwill!
~Happy Independence Day in Slovenia!
~Happy Proclamation Day in South Australia!
~Happy Rizal Day in the Philippines!
~Happy New Year's!

Still not enough?  Click here!

The Deep Freeze of Bartholomew Tullock, among other things

Okay, faithful followers, I have a mission for you.  Two missions, actually.
~Mission number 1:  I have just finished a rather good book called The Deep Freeze of Bartholomew Tullock, by Alex Williams.  It was set in a typeface I have seen many times before, but I never could figure out what it was called.  That's where you come in.  I have scoured the internet, and the closest thing I could find was Bembo, so close but not exact.  I need YOU (yes, you) to find out what font this book is set in!  (and no, it doesn't say in the book.  I checked, ok?)  The title of the book is a link to the Google Books page, where you can see what the font looks like and maybe read a bit of it (it's pretty good.)  BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!
~Mission number 2:  Today I found a flexible keyboard at Big Lots.  It doesn't work very well, but I figured it's portable, gimmicky, and I could plug it into the Kindle Fire I'm getting so it would be easier to type on it.  The problem?  Well, for one, the Kindle Fire doesn't have a USB port, and  so I have no way to plug it in.  That's why your second mission is to find a way to connect a Kindle Fire and a flexible keyboard.  I thought maybe a hub would work, but then realized they wouldn't be connected so they would work together that way.  HELP!!