Goodness, how the time does fly! The treetops in the neighborhood are nearly in full leaf so the views out the windows are a nice shade of green, none of the bleak grayness that I've been dealing with. And it's nearly a year since I signed the lease on the new digs even if I didn't get fully moved out of the old place until early September. The process of winnowing crap is ongoing but I don't mind; there's no rush. The place is functional enough so that I can get a little work done and still enjoy the new experience.
-----
I'm still impressed by the lack of noise around here. Cars and trucks are audible but not intrusive and the sounds of people talking and children playing are also audible but you can't hear what they're saying. Mostly it's silent, except for the birds chirping. Uncle Ken's aerie is twenty stories up, I think, and I wonder if there are any ambient sounds that are always in the background. With all the buildings I expect that the echoing sounds of sirens and loud vehicles would be entertaining, sitting on the balcony with your eyes closed and visualizing where the traffic is going.
From what I can tell from Google Earth it looks like Beaglesonia enjoys a lot of peace and quiet except for traffic going to the recycling center. But it can be deceiving, sound can carry a lot further than people think. Oh, did Mr. Beagles get a good view of the Blood Eclipse the other night? I couldn't see diddly because of the cloud cover; my efforts with protractors to determine elevation and direction were for naught. Tripod and camera were ready, too. I'll refine my gizmos in time for the next lunar eclipse which I think will be this coming November 8th.
-----
I'm not keeping up with the Cheboygan news as much as I'd like but I read about the forest fire at the south end of the county. I'm surprised at how many trees are still standing despite the fire. The program to monitor the spawning sturgeon in the local rivers looks like a good chance for local community involvement. It's almost surreal to think of folks gathering outside, 24/7, to make sure the sturgeon can get along with their lives without being disturbed. The local Fish Police are on the job! When I read about the temporary vacancy in the Cheboygan city council I immediately thought of Mr. Beagles and what an asset he would be, the voice of reasonable experience, don'cha know. But I'm not sure if he would meet the residency requirement; he may have mentioned that Beaglesonia is just outside the city limits. And maybe his old pal Clarence would throw a monkey wrench into the works, who knows?
-----
There's an artsy-fartsy lifestyle publication that comes out of Traverse City, The Northern Express, and I'm not sure if Mr. Beagles is aware of it. It looks good to me, they had a fine article on the timber industry and the economy of northern Michigan so when the shit hits the fan I think Beaglesonia will be safe and secure. Also, a recent issue mentions the return of BlissFest this summer, something I know Mr. Beagles was involved with years ago.
-----
I generally try to keep images of my goofball endeavors to a minimum lest I add more noise and nonsense to the Institute's proceedings but I need to make an exception today. Remember Mr. Lemon, the googly-eyed citrus fellow, and how he got blinded in his transition to a tetrahedron? He was the initial step in my project of making Platonic solids out of citrus peels. I learned two things: it's possible, and a lemon is not the shape you need to start with but something more spherical will do nicely. So I switched to oranges for the first three solids, and grapefruit for the final two. I'm almost there; holding off on the icosahedron until I figure out a good approach. These were all eye-balled, more or less, and not a lot of precision is evident. It takes a couple of weeks for them to dry out and harden completely and the encased seeds and beans make a nice, maracas-like rattle.
The only reason I'm posting these is that when I went to Google to see if anybody else has played with this kind of thing I got zilch. Nada. Searching by image and key words gave me nothing; citrus, platonic solid, peel, rind, orange, grapefruit...nothing came up. The closest I got was some images of nasty mandarin orange peels and a book on decorative Japanese food carving.
Now I'm thinking, these can't possibly be original, not in this day and age. It never occurred to anyone else to glue orange peels back together? This is not art and can't possibly be original; it's an amusing trifle at best but kind of cool, I think. The textures and edges feel weird in the hand, and depending on the insides, they all make different sounds. Too bad the Gorilla Glue is not food safe, otherwise it could be a nice toy for a toddler.
So, I'm posting these images just to establish proof of prior art, just in case this becomes the next big thing or object of ridicule. I make no claims for originality, only for first posted images. Copycats are welcome and I encourage one and all to steal these ideas. An added bonus is that if you scratch them you can still smell the citrus.
CUBE
OCTAHEDRON
DODECAHEDRON
No comments:
Post a Comment