cardboard robot ninja pirate monkey

see me

ok, looking through my blog i realised how difficult it is to distinguish between what is my work and what is stuff i like that i have found elsewhere.
as this blog started as a way for me to easily keep a note of things i liked and i was doing, it never really mattered, but i dont want people to be under any confusion or think i am trying to take credit for things that arent mine - incase i dont credit things properly. i tend to lack explanation in my posts, because i dont really think that anyone reads them, so its like talking to myself, but if someone does, there is now a much more foolproof way of knowing what is my work/thoughts and what is stuff that i have collected off the internet for posterity.

have a look in the categories and i have renamed my 'personal' category to 'me'

over the next few days ill try and double check all my previous posts to make sure that they are categorised accordingly, so that you know, if it doesnt say 'me' at the bottom, then it aint mine.

what is web design?

Web design is the creation of digital environments that facilitate and encourage human activity; reflect or adapt to individual voices and content; and change gracefully over time while always retaining their identity. - JEFFREY ZELDMAN

link: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/understandingwebdesign

please dont get annoyed robot fans...

for all those people who are arriving at my site because they want to know how to make a cardboard robot, well, this URL wasnt bought just to piss people off.  there is a project of that very thing which i am in the middle of doing and should be completed in a couple of months, it just isnt here yet, due to me having lots of other work going on.

in the meantime, heres some great robot building sites and pictures ive found around and about:

 

http://www.artforrobots.com/_images/cartoon/PoseableHoff_Final.pdf  -  posable david hasslehoff!

http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/10/cardboard_robot.html   - halloween costume

http://www.mycraftbook.com/craftidea.asp?craftID=298   - bit basic, but has a rudimentary charm about it

http://www.sciencetoymaker.org/robotFinger/assembl.html   -   articulated robot hands!  although youll need a hefty imagination to be able to make the rest of the robot to go with them.

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/03/13/random-jpeg-of-cuten.html   - perfect example of ideal child robot outfit.  gaffa tape is a must.  ray gun is just an exquisite bonus.

http://www.amazon.com/Monkey-vs-Robot-James-Kochalka/dp/1891830155   - buy these books now if you like robots (and monkeys)

http://mugshot.org/visit?post=FW85CljcJxMcQr   -  many forms of inspiring robot costumes

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Robot-Suit/   - amazing.  "make a robot suit to scare your friends..."  yes please!

the robot that started it all for me  -  fully articulated cardboard robot.  1ft tall.  made by me.  a while ago.  KIT COMING SOON!!

now you cant say i didnt at least try and help.

reporters without borders

link: reporters sans frontières - bloggers, the new heralds of free expression.

why blog?

along with a million other shitty blogs (probably mine being one of them) produced a day, the real use and maybe lifesaving purpose of this personal form of expression is really coming to be seen. 

throughout the crisis happening in burma, in an exceedingly censored state, vital information is being finding its way out from the country via the extensive social networking and user generated content sites that now exist. link:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7012984.stm

what some treat as a reason to be able to talk about what they ate (and then later pooed out) for their lunch others are able to use as a way to bypass fierce military intervention - giving them a way to be able to tell the world about what is happening in their country, without putting themselves in immediate physical harm. 

i think for me, this is the real point of blogging.  aswell as the pointless tat, its important for people to be able to voice their opinion.  people dont have to read things they arent interested in, but at the same time, the more blogs i read, the more i realise how different peoples lives are.  its easy to get blinkered into thinking that the world is the same, even the news and media can make other worlds seem disproportionately far away.
and for another thing, when so much content on the internet is advertorial and prescripted, worded carefully to give a certain point of view or way of looking at things, i find it highly amusing that people actually have such voices.  the comments left on blogs have to be some of the funniest things to read, and really, can totally validate or break a persons arguement in just a few words.  they are so good sometimes that  you can actually make a blog just out of them...

maeda is my hero

the Math professor said to me quite proudly, "I'm going to do a special Freshman Seminar on Euler." I admit that I do not dwell much daily on the life of the great Euler with the same admiration, but do indeed enjoy the music of a similarly named person and said to the Math professor, "You should definitely add in a unit on Usher," and smiled as this was of course a little joke.

link:  http://weblogs.media.mit.edu/SIMPLICITY/archives/000454.html

data visualisation project group

it was time to start making pictures out of numbers.  properly.  but now ive got a little help from my friends...

http://cardboard-robot.typepad.com/dba

the worst generated widget code ive ever seen

powered by frazy.com

flickr messenger?

its fun to...

new little side project ive just started doing. this blog is just a constantly updated list of simple, fun things to do that generally don't cost much. Its primarily for use at work as im setting little competitions and prizes to give the creative department some fun stuff to think about that isnt necessarily related to computers, but while also using it in future as a bit of a forum for showing what collegues are doing in the spare time, like "its fun to... make pictures from numbers" will talk a bit about processing and coding and how to get into it, and then show some of the wonderful mr oli laruelles work, and another "its fun to... make creatures out of felt" will talk about and give links to different art and craft sites but also featuring the lovely little monsters that one of our designers - bert - makes in his spare time.

take a look and sometime in future, the competitions may be extended to everyone on the wibbly wobbly web.

its fun to... do something new.