Tis the season to be whacko
December 31, 2008
Fa la la la LA. La la la laaaaaaa.
Must be something in the air. Or maybe the water. Whatever it is, the criminal class in glassland appears to have slid a notch farther off the rocker this week:
- Guy tries to rob a downtown Portland carwash. He pulls out his gun, drops it, and the gun comes apart on the carwash floor. Carwash employee now remembers that he’s holding a pressure washer, so sprays the gunman full force in the face. Gunman grabs up the pieces of gun and flees, empty-handed.
- 88-year old woman is puttering around in her kitchen when a naked stranger steps through the sliding glass door that she left open for the dog. He backs her into the living room, things are looking grim, then she grabs his testicles and “gives them a good squeeze,” according to the police report. eeeeeeeeeek. He backs off immediately, limps into his car and is arrested.
- PDX bomber discovers that it’s a lot cheaper to call in the bomb threat without actually making the bomb (and besides, fewer people get hurt). Local terrorist task force is less than impressed with his frugal ways so they arrest him anyway. This is the same fellow who accused Clinton of authorizing mind control experiments, the Pentagon of killing his brother with radio waves and Bush of genocide in Portland. (gee, he’d have gotten at least one out of three if he’d just left off a prepositional phrase)
Portland’s always been a tad whacko when it comes to crime. Not that crime in Portland can’t be just as awful and nasty and horrific as anywhere else–it can. But it can also be about a million miles out in space. A colleague contends that this is because Oregon lost federal funding for mental health facilities a few years back, so had to send all the inmates home. “Now,” she says, “they’re all living under the Burnside Bridge.”
I would have sneered at the notion except for an incident a couple of years ago while taking a night class down in the Pearl. A bike-riding classmate showed up late, bikeless, and with a limp. She’d started across the Burnside Bridge, she said, when a “half-naked crazy man” ran up screaming, grabbed her bike and threw it over the bridge and into the river. Then he thanked her and walked off.
“Are you OK? Did he hurt you? Did he get your wallet? Did you call the cops?”
She’d turned her ankle as she fell off the bike but was otherwise fine and no, he hadn’t made a grab for her wallet so she didn’t call for help. “He just didn’t want my bike on his bridge, I guess.”
I guess.
New kiln on the block
December 31, 2008
Whew. My kiln problems–I’ve been essentially kilnless since July–are about to be resolved. FINALLY.
I won’t go into the full saga–it’s a sad and pitiful tale that hasn’t completely ended even yet–but yesterday I ordered a new kiln. It won’t be the intelligent kiln of my dreams, not at first, but the door’s open for expansion in that direction. And it’s a bit radical, as least as far as glass casting is concerned, so I’ll still have plenty to experiment with.
Semiliterati
December 29, 2008
Illiteracy on the Web simply drives me nuts. Dig this headline:
Caroline’s Pad Put’s Hillary’s to Shame
Wince.
I happily concede that knowing how to write (or spell) isn’t a prerequisite for posting content on the Web. If it were, the total number of blogs would be closer to 184, not the 184 million that agency McCann claims.
Unfortunately, however, that little gem of a headline is posted on MSNBC, i.e., major media, a place that pays people to know how to write. Even more unfortunately, there’s plenty more where that came from.
For example, check out this LA Times “story” of the most overrated vacation spots on earth. The criteria for getting on this list of shame seems to be that someone, somewhere, once wrote to the travel editor and complained. For example, Lima is hell on earth because its art museum was closed, Monterey Bay is a ripoff because the weather was overcast, Athens is terrible because the disco played Greek pop tunes and Reykjavik sucks because the guy’s silk underwear slid all over the horse and chafed him terribly.
Wow. Those are certainly the criteria I’d use. Not.
You gotta wonder if anybody from the editor’s desk actually reads this stuff. Doubtful, given the editorial budget-cutting that’s going on. The Kennedy story is most likely coming from a newsfeed that automatically barfs content into its proper positions, untouched by human hands. The LAT idiocy probably stemmed from unfilled space, an eager intern with some pretty travel shots and no time for oversight.
In the overall scheme of things, a few typos, or a really dumb (and rather unjust) story or three aren’t going to break the bank. But has anyone considered the corollary? If major media can’t spend the money to make sure things are spelled accurately, what does that say about the accuracy of their facts?
Scary.
Mobile marketing on steroids
December 24, 2008
Anybody out there tried SnapTell for the iPhone? It’s, variously, a powerful, scary or just plain freakin’ cool new tool, available free on iTunes.
SnapTell helps you find the best price for a book, CD or DVD you’re interested in buying. You use the iPhone camera to snap the cover, then SnapTell identifies the title from its database. It will deliver reviews and a rundown on prices, new and used, from the nearest local stores, Google, Barnes & Noble, eBay and Yahoo. It lets you comparison shop while you’re actually standing in the store, and–assuming it can get to the data, which is a BIG assumption–could be a boon to students trying to save money on textbooks, for example.
I tried out the SnapTell app on a few books and DVDs. As long as I was snaptelling stuff with a valid ISBN/ASIN number it seemed to work reasonably well.
It can’t do the impossible. A snaptell of corporate distributions, such as Bullseye Glass’ Connections video, generally returns a “No match found” error message or it picks the closest match in its database, which can be fun. 
One of Philippe Faraut’s excellent sculpting tutorials, The Art of Sculpting: Children (left), came back listed as Budapest at Night, a CD of Hungarian music by Sandor Lakatos and his Gypsy Band (right).
I can see the probable landmarks that SnapTell established between the two (the square photo, arch of the sculpture’s head, the bangs and the left temple, the neckline, etc). Corning’s latest DVD, Glass Masters at Work: Lino Tagliapietra, a documentary by Robin Lehman, shows up in SnapTell as a $400 textbook, Linear Motion Electromagnetic Devices for similar reasons. Still, those are mile-wide misses that demonstrate the problems inherent in relying on image matching alone.
If I need to compare prices on, say, the English version of Princess Mononoke, it could really come in handy. And it will also save time; I can snaptell an entry to a friend looking for a particular book much faster than I can type in how/why buy info on Gigi-the-iPhone’s lousy screenboard.
Of course, behind the noble purpose–saving money–lies clever marketeering. SnapTell comes from SnapTell, a SilliValley mobile marketing firm that’s using image matching and mobile phone cameras to drive marketing campaigns. Mobile cameraphone users snap photos of ads and products to learn more about them, and participating companies deliver the info along with messaging and branding reinforcement.
For companies, it’s a potentially very effective way to reach the mobile demographics, especially since anyone going to the trouble to take a picture of an ad is already at least partially sold. For users, it’s a fast way to get more information, coupons, freebies, etc., without touching a desktop PC. And since it’s inherently opt-in, it’s far more welcome (presumably) than mobile spam.
The downside for users, however, is the usual: Signing up is forever, and once a company has you in its database as interested, it’s up to THEM to stop. And there’s another con: Since SnapTell isn’t in the game for philanthropy, presumably whoever shows up on the SnapTell bookstore list is either a free resource or has paid to be there. No pay, no show.
That’s probably why the two most obvious book resources I use, Amazon.com and the local Powell’s, were nowhere to be found. Since I’ve no intention of downloading an app for every establishment I buy might something from, and since my consumer info is a valuable marketing currency, SnapTell is either gonna have to sell everybody or figure out how to provide comprehensive info and still make money. Google did it–let’s see what SnapTell comes up with.
Snowgrower/shrinker
December 24, 2008
Looks like the snow may be on its way out–rain, sleet and snow mix today and tomorrow, but on Friday it warms up and begins to rain in earnest. Much as I like the snow, it’s about time.
The snow-on-the-chair indicator will soon be no more:
Sigh. Didn’t quite cover the chair seat. Oh well. One weatherman here says we may get another 4-6 inches in the next 36 hours, and that would vanish the seat quite nicely. Maybe I should keep my fingers crossed. Or not.
Update Christmas Day: Wet but warmish yesterday so what’s left of the snow is rain-dimpled and dripping. Supposedly we’re getting snow again today but I think the weatherguys are back to their usual accuracy levels and the snow will keep melting. Certainly it’s leaving my poor chair.
And now I’ll settle in for a snowbound Christmas celebration (we’re postponing the family celebration until the roads don’t look like a skating rink) with Christmas carols, sculpting tools and hot cocoa. And watch one of my favorite Christmas movies, Bad Santa, the classical, heartwarming tale of how Santa brought the spirit of Christmas to a small boy.
(not)
Winterland II
December 22, 2008
Snowing again today and the forecast is for it to keep it up until Friday. White Christmas indeed. And I’m getting a kick out of documenting the progress of the snow levels on my back deck. Here’s on day 1:
And here’s yesterday’s:
And here’s this morning’s…with a furry addition who’s not in the least bit interested in the weather:
Either the snow is getting taller or the chair is getting shorter, and the great pyramid is building on the deck table.
And now I’ll head out and shovel some walks and drives, see how they fill back up over the next three days. But I’ll leave the chair as-is. Maybe the snow will reach the chair arms. 
Addendum: Winds finally stopped enough to get some pics about 4:00, so I crunched outside with my camera (which did NOT thank me).
In the dying light the exposures took up to 20 seconds; my neighbor Larry trudged up to chat just as I was clicking the shutter open. I moved away from the tripod and talked about four wheel drive…then the shutter clicked again to close.
Larry’s jaw dropped. “Whoa,” he said in awe, “The camera takes pictures WITHOUT you! That must be some smart camera and YOU must be a professional photographer. Tripod and everything…”
I smiled modestly. Anyway, here are the fruits of my very smart camera tonight:
(look at that fringing…sigh)
Not the best in the world (I’m cold, camera colder) but it was fun.
Hmmm. Gotta work out the blown light. May try this again with HDR and see if I can get a real-unreal scene out of it.
Rant: iPhone, AT&T and UNusability
December 21, 2008
Every once in awhile I stumble upon a masterpiece of unusability that I just can’t resist ranting about. In this case, it’s AT&T’s implementation of text message pics. Truly, you gotta see this to believe it.
The whole entire rest of the texting world takes a pic with the phone camera and blips it to a buddy in about 10 secs. Buddy gets pic, saves it or does whatever to it, world is good, little thought required.
Now here’s how you do it if the recipient has an iPhone:
Glassland becomes winterland
December 21, 2008
Taken at about 7:30 AM this morning. 7 inches of snow with a yummy topping of ice, and it’s supposed to keep sleeting on and off through the day. More snow coming daily until Friday.
Kinda makes me want to get out there and shoot some photos–the ice coating the tree branches is gorgeous–except the wind’s blowing hard enough to make it tough.
Whole thing makes me wonder if this is Portland or I’ve somehow been magically transported back east.
Testing colors and kilns
December 20, 2008
Drat. Stuck relays on the Skutt, with a warning from the Skutt folks that dedicated casters should count on replacing mechanical relays every year or so. Just about right in my case, I guess, and Skutt’s asked me to get the kiln controller down to them so we can try something new. In the meantime, and now that my original new kiln plans were, uhm, involuntarily modified, I’m going in a slightly different (and rather weird) direction for a casting kiln but one I’m really excited about. (more on that later)
Habibi Cafe (Lebanese)
December 18, 2008
- Restaurant website
- Location: Downtown/Pioneer Place area
- Price to lunch two: About $23
Habibi means “dear one” in Arabic, or words to that effect, and while I’m not gonna swoon over the food at the PDX restaurant known as Habibi (I’ll reserve that for Nicholas until something better comes along), I could grow pretty fond of it.
Habibi’s tucked into one of those downtown blocks that are just chock full of interesting little shops and restaurants near the Pioneer Place cinema. It’s tiny, with small tables crowded into the main floor and a few additional tables in the loft above. The walls (above) are crowded with bottles, and the whole thing looks more Portland Victorian than Middle Eastern. The kitchen’s pretty much on view to the downstairs tables, which was nice.
My friend Barbara and I met there for chow and chat last Saturday; it was crowded when I arrived and got more crowded as we stayed. The staff was gracious and friendly throughout, even though worked off their feet, which was one reason I liked it.
Barbara ordered the kebabs; I got the lamb shawarma. Both came with salads and I got a kick out of the brass leaf platter that housed my meal. (above) Barbara liked hers; mine was mostly pretty good except a few pieces of lamb were sadly overcooked and chewy.
Strangely, that didn’t bother me; I liked the cozy feel of this place on a cold winter day. I wouldn’t go there if the food were my primary object but for the ambiance? Sure.