Against all odds.
Fabulous photo, Steve.
2000-05-13 — 2014-05-13
//Category: Media
Parent category for video, audio, etc
//Very short story: “The Magic of Jenkins’s Farm”
//Mago wrote this, and permits me to publish it here for your enjoyment.
I couldn’t resist proposing some additions (by simply making a copy of the document and writing them), and he enjoyed the additions, and decided to keep them.
We hope to record it as a very short audiobook to sell.
You may download it freely, at this link here: home.ussins.org/dist/The_Magic_of_Jenkins_Farm.pdf
Photos from Oct. 2011
//Overdue for posting.
Final NASA shuttle flight ~4 AM MST 2011-06-03
//Last Friday we woke the kids up early and drove to a view down the street to watch the final space shuttle flight, which we learned would be visible over the west-northwest horizon. It was, and I videotaped it. This video features this and the kids, as well as repeated misuse of the term “rocket” where “shuttle” was meant. The video player isn’t displaying high-definition popups at full resolution (a longstanding problem I’ve found no solution for, and no acceptable alternative player either), so downloading and playing it from the link will have to do. Sorry, no medium-resolution version of this.
Trampoline Static (voice recording with Mago)
//I think I recorded this last summer.
Jumping on the trampoline, we discovered that if you have a static charge and slowly approach another’s nose with your finger (provided you’re in a dry climate like Utah?), that you’ll hear invisible static bursts jumping rapidly from you to the other person while your finger is still relatively far away – the bursts rapidly increasing until you get close enough to discharge all the static electricity.
The crummy little 16 Mhz recorder I was using doesn’t capture the whole range of the audio, but if you listen closely in this you can hear these increasing static micro-bursts at the lower sound wavelengths it could capture.
[audio:http://home.ussins.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/002_B_001_RAH_SP.wav-Mago-trampoline-static.mp3]Download MP3 (1.4MB, 1.5 min.) – 002_B_001_RAH_SP.wav-Mago-trampoline-static
For Example
//
Tia’s work. Originals recovered (re previous post).
Rocket 8A3 (SketchUp model)
//I’ve been playing with Google Sketchup. I suggested to Mago he could draw a rocket and I could model it. He drew out a complete kind of Art Deco design in 20 seconds flat (the entire concept apparently arrived for him in an instant, and watching him describe it with his hands, it seems like he could sculpt the thing with sufficient materials and help). I tweaked and added to the design in 3D with his approvals along the way (though it came to a point where I understood his design in ways I hadn’t before, and I’m going to redo a version closer to his design). The below links to an animation of various angles of it:
http://www.youtube.com/user/narfnarfsillywilly#p/a/u/0/H1vJPMs45Sw
As you may have noticed, this is replete with a ridiculously insecure steel tube chair and jumbo Atari 2600 controller to steer the rocket. The chair, controller and afterburner fire are all taken from models in the Google 3D Warehouse.
You can download the SketchUp file here to have a closer look. To see the different angles in SketchUp, click the tabs with scene names above the display area.
One Time a Princess Cried
//Sometime this past winter, Tia shot this footage in which you see me holding Nem-nem (who is 3 years old at this writing).
(The high-definition version won’t seem to play in a new window at full size for me; if that happens for you it will probably play better if you download and play it.)
Bear Lake Trip May 2010
//[svgallery name=”2010_bear lake”]
Easter 2010
//[svgallery name=”2010_easter”]
Our first vacation in three years
//[svgallery name=”2010_disneyland and beach”]
Our Backyard in spring
//[svgallery name=”2010_backyard”]
Drawings etc. by Mago, May 2010
//Here’s some artwork Mago did using a painting program on our computer. He’s also described and named these, which you’ll see in the captions. The captions also link to full size images.
[svgallery name=”2010-05-Mago-art”]
Also, here is something he created at pbskids.org.
I know I had several other creations of his lying around in files somewhere, but can’t seem to find them at the moment. I’ll post them if I do.
A technical digression.. [spoiler]New rule: don’t upgrade unless you know you need to. I’m in a habit of automatically upgrading WordPress plugins when prompted to via the dashboard. The new upgrade to the SimpleViewer Gallery plugin (sv-gallery) stopped displaying galleries, and stripped down adjustable settings (how to designers decide it is better not only to automate everything, but to completely prevent users from manually setting anything? Are not the science fiction stories about evil robots taking over the world warning enough?). It took me a few hours of frustration before this dawned on me (both that it was an upgrade and a broken one). Fortunately I had an old copy of the plugin (this and so many other experiences with data gone bad (or missing!) – this is why I back up everything). I deactivated and deleted the plugin, uploaded the old one, put the settings back to what I want – and blammo! Everything back to normal. So: Do. Not. Upgrade. Unless you have good reason to believe that not upgrading may be the cause of problems. But keep backups – whether you upgrade or not.[/spoiler]