Eccentric Uzbekistan
In this final entry to ‘off the map’ experiences (for now), I travel to the world’s largest double land-locked country of Uzbekistan (the only other nation being the miniscule Liechtenstein in Europe).
Da Vinci's unrealized instrument made real
The Viola Organista is an instrument envisioned and designed over 500 years ago by the notorious hardware hacker Leonardo Da Vinci. It combines aspects of the piano, the viola and the harpsichord. History suggests that the Da Vinci's design never actually made its way out of his notebooks and onto the workshop floor.
Circuit Scribe: draw your own circuits
Circuit Scribe would be an interesting companion to the Bunny Huang Chibitronics sticker set I posted about last week. There are 27 days left to go on this Kickstarter for a $20 ballpoint pen that allows you to create working circuits out of a simple piece of paper. Like Huang, these folks have far exceeded their goal with almost $450,000 raised on an initial $85,000 request.
Fuzzy answers about how US Customs gained access to confidential Canadian medical records
The Toronto Star reports that Ellen Richardson, a Canadian citizen was recently prevented from flying to NYC. The reason cited by U.S. Customs and Border Protection: Richardson was hospitalized for mental health issues last year and therefore required special clearance to cross the border. No word yet from the U.S. folk as to how or why they might have access to Richardson's confidential medical history.
The Pointe: Condoms
So there's weird things that happen sometimes in the Pointe.
Like this morning, when I got up, someone had put another condom through my mail slot.
I've only just started to notice them and as I recall, it's been 5-6 now, since the fall.
Hyperdontia FTW
I recently saw this list of photos of cases of hyperdontia which is when you end up with more teeth than you might have bargained for otherwise. This strikes a chord because I had this. As a child, I underwent a series of at least two (that I can recall) operations to have an extra 5-6 teeth removed. And though the first, epicly distrubing photo of a tooth-filled palate is apparently photoshoped (according to this dentist who provides some context to the whole thing), this is nevertheless something that does happen.
Bunny Huang's chibitronics
Hardware hacker Bunny Huang and his collaborator Jie Qi have started a crowdsupply campaign to raise funds for a peel-and-stick circuit building tool set. Seems like a great no-mess way for anyone to learn about and begin to build circuitry. The good news--their crowdfunding goal was a $1 which they've already exceeded by 2,615,700% with $26175 raised to date. Pitch in yourself and get some sticker packs delivered to your door.
The House of Belonging
I just came across this incredibly lovely poem by British poet David Whyte. It's not often that poetry as a written form manages to so perfectly represent how I feel about an aspect of my life. This is one of those times - which has had me reflecting on what my relationship to my home and the times when I rely on it for comfort and healing and also the times when I want to fill it with folks I love.
Night in a Sanitorium
In the last few weeks I’ve been feeling that spontaneous emergence of warm glow that sometimes happens when you live in close proximity to people in a place far from what you know to be home. It’s not just the family you stay with but the whole community starts recognizing you as part of the “street”. They see you everyday…at first thinking you were odd or crazy or weird and then making very slow strides to smiling at you when they see you. From the smile comes the emergence of simple conversation.
Cops target black cyclist during Batkid festivities
San Francisco police decided to arrest a cyclist coming home from the Batkid festivities during which young Miles Scott's dream of becoming a superhero were being made to come true thanks to the Make a Wish Foundation.
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