Spiders from Mars... I mean Malaysia!

Whoa whoa whoa whoa.... what a second. Something great has happened, and I want to be sure as many people as possible are aware of it. 

Peter Jäger has named a spider after David Bowie . 

This is pretty much the greatest news ever.

May I present to you, Heteropoda Davidbowie.

(cute little fella, eh?)

but that's not all... I'm pretty sure after 11 months of brainstorming for a halloween costume, I have found my inspiration.  I don't want to give too much away, but I have come up with this rough equation for, what I hope, will be my costume success.

 ((Heteropoda Davidbowie + Ziggy Stardust) + Paper-mâché )  =  me + total costume domination

I have high hopes...  this could be a pretty spectacular costume, perhaps even defeating my two previous favorites, the robot and Dr. Who.

(if anyone has any suggestions of how to meld a jumpsuit and paper-mâché, please let me know.)

Thanks, Peter. For giving Mr Bowie the ultimate (...?...) tribute.

also exciting news:  I just discovered itunes new feature, itunesU, which provides heaps of lectures and lessons and other various ways of gettin' smart... for FREE!

Check out: Library of Congress - music & the brain webcast

science is super

my latest time sucking site that i can't seem to get enough of is ted.com.  i was reading about WiTricity today and am again overwhelmed with how awesome science is. to think that all electrical cords could one day be a thing of the past, along with the vcr and cell phones bigger than your face, is pretty exciting. 

also exciting:

i'm thinking about trying to hire her just to play theme music for me as i go through my mundane activities.  it would make even cleaning the bathroom seem slightly thrilling.

you can't fix stupid.... except with maybe a little education.

ah... health care. as much enjoyment as i get out of political discussions, i think i am very near being exhausted on the topic.  even if i don't agree with the protesters, i'm glad that people are getting off their couches and doing something for what they believe. however, i do wish instead of just a "no" (& a better leader than glen beck, but that's an entirely different can of worms) that perhaps they could come up with a better idea. i cannot deny seeing there needs to be a change. i would be alright without socialized health care if we could put in place some sort of system that could offer checks & balances that could eliminate the problems within a for-profit health care system. this picture of the tea party protest made me cringe.  i highly doubt (all the while understanding i could be completely wrong, i'm only going on what i know of those typically involved with conservative agenda) that the woman holding a sign of "hands off my body" is pro-choice. I would be willing to wager she would never in a million years vote to legalize abortion.  if one is fighting for freedom and is against government control, i fail to understand how that same person would try and take away the freedom to choose. (or see a need for public education. or libraries. or firefighters. or maintained roads.) lady, i agree with you. no one should be in charge of your body but you.  isn't that what health care reform is aiming for though? the right to allow american citizens to be able to take care of their bodies?  the current system, and only option, for health care is corrupt and failing us.  i hope we as a nation are able to find some sort of solution.

but if we don't....

it doesn't really matter, because according to dan gilbert*, a psychology professor at harvard, synthetic happiness is just as good as natural happiness.  so when the time comes for my uninsured body to completely fall apart, all i've got to do is synthesize some happiness and i'll be set to go.

*this is a fairly long video, but well worth the time of watching it. the study he speaks about @ 10 minutes is especially interesting to me, and further proof of how fascinating our brains really are.

musicophilia

i've always loved music, and as my mother can attest to, this love has at times been borderline obsessive. during my adolescent years i would rarely give my eardrums a break, wearing headphones or blasting music from my stereo nonstop for days at a time. unrelenting music & too many concerts without earplugs have left me with tinnitus, but hasn't slowed my affection towards music. lacking basic skills required to create my own music (mainly the attention span & determination to stick with and stay focused on practicing something long enough....) my musical outlet is mostly in the form of being a music appreciator. i am often overwhelmed by the infinite onslaught of good music (and equal, if not more, amounts of bad) that is being created. i have this constant hunger for new music that i can never seem to satisfy. the more i learn about the psychology behind music the more i love it even more. (if you haven't read oliver sack's musicophilia i highly recommend it... or anything sacks does for that matter. he's a guy i'd like to have for a neighbor that occasionally invites me over for tea in his garden as he blows my mind with casual conversation.)  with the recent findings that 14 different species of parrots  have the ability to dance, it only makes sense that someone would now be on the quest to create music for animals. cellist david teie has set out to find why music affects us on such a primal level, and what better place to start than making monkey music. in the article, teie says "The paradox is that I distinctly remember thinking once that when they figure out why Puccini makes me cry, I hope I die the day before the news gets out. But the great news about this exploration into music is it's actually more magical and wonderful once you realize how it works."  i, for one, hope he is successful on his musical crusade.

kid stuff

despite what b.alexander's face may seem to be telling you in this photo, he is quite good with youngsters. especially when it comes to his adorable nephews and niece. His brother & his wife were in town for a wedding this week, so we had the chance to spend some time with them.

jamie & evan are doing something, probably many things, right as they have the most intelligent children i have ever met. jarom (5 as of this week) kicked my butt at monopoly-- he knew the rules better than i did and was a very accurate banker. he and 3 year old pacen know their times tables up to 12, and can do all sorts of complicated (by my standards) math problems-- even when you try & trick them up with order of operations. little miss tatum is probably the cutest little girl to ever be & it took all i had to not eat her up. tuesday we ventured off to the oregon zoo, my first visit, and had entirely too much fun taking pictures of the kids.

my favorite part of the zoo was not the animals, but the fantastic people watching. so i'll leave you with this young gent with his back to school fashion tips. (please note: homemade pokemon puff paint pants. hot.stuff.)

the robots are coming

the age of machines ruling the world is upon us! meet cybraphon, a robot band that plays its own music. this on its own is amazing, but there's more. cybraphon has moods, and it is these moods that stimulate the creation of its music. cybraphon is hooked up to a laptop that pays attention to how many friends it has on various social networking sites, and the comments it may receive. the more positive feedback it receives, the more upbeat the music is, and vice versa. pretty much amazing in every way.

and although this video is not so much robot involved, it's in the same category of cool.

quest for irrelevance

portland is a great city to be in when you're trying to save your pennies. there seems to always be some sort of free event or another going on. one of my favorites is first thursday, an event every month in the pearl district. art gallerys open their doors for a (free) look at what the artists of portland have to offer. it's one of the few places i don't mind being in a huge crowd as the streets fill with people & music. caitlyn joi & randall met up with b.alexander and i, and after we'd had our fill of first thursday, headed to caitlyn joi's to pursue some good ol trivia. hilarity ensued.

a board game lacking a die is no obstacle for the likes of caitlyn joi!

curls-o-love

in the end i came in 4th place with only two pieces of cheese

randall came in 3rd, caitlyn joi 2nd

b.alexander conquered all trivia, winning by a landslide.


even though i lost, i walked away with knowledge galore! my favorite facts:

a group of bears is called a sleuth
tycho brahe had a gold nose (just don't ask me who tycho brahe was)
the japanese call japan "nippon"
the letter K in scrabble is worth 5 points
noah used gopher wood for his ark


so there you have it.