Posted by fabricpile Fri, 07 Jul 2006 14:27:00 GMT
Our oldest son has informed us that he would prefer everyone now use his legal name, “Mark.” Long ago we told him that he was free to use whatever form of his name he would like. He’s willing to accept being known as “Ma, er, Mark” during the transition.
In other news, Kira has informed us that henceforth she would like to be known by her alter ego’s name: “Super Ultra-Hyper Save-the-World Girl.”
Posted by joek Sat, 29 Apr 2006 20:28:00 GMT
Our Nikon Coolpix 990 digital camera has served us well for several years. Up until a few days ago, that is. The camera has one serious design flaw: the mechanism to secure the battery compartment door is awful, and the springs that hold the batteries in place are over-tensioned, compounding the problem with the door.
Earlier in the week, the inevitable happened: the plastic tabs securing the door finally broke completely off the frame. After a few moments of agony, Max and I set about trying to fix it. There were several accounts of broken Coolpix battery doors on the net, and we eventually found the part we’d need to replace. But much disassembly was required… It wasn’t difficult, but it was traumatic not knowing whether we’d be able to get all the pieces back together. And we were kept in suspense waiting for the part to ship.
We’d been interested in using the Nikon for some macro photography when it failed. Rather than wait and worry, we decided to see what we could accomplish with Max’s Vivicam 3750 and a little added cleverness. We certainly surprised ourselves. Here are two shots taken with our home-made macro lens:
Our technique? Position a Bausch & Lomb 10x Hastings Triplet, the magnifying lens prized by field geologists, in front of the Vivicam’s objective lens:
We’re happy to report that this picture of the Vivicam/Triplet was taken with our now resurrected Coolpix.
Posted by fabricpile Sun, 02 Apr 2006 17:15:00 GMT
Let’s hope this one doesn’t catch on.
Maize is quite stylish, though, don’t you think?
Posted by Max Sat, 21 Jan 2006 00:10:00 GMT
The Simpsons is arguably the most popular TV show in this household. Here’s a list of neologisms from the show. Some of my favorites include craptacular, dickety (Quoting Grandpa Simpson, “Now, my story begins in nineteen-dickety-two. We had to say ‘dickety’ ‘cause the Kaiser had stolen our word ‘twenty’. I chased that rascal to get it back, but gave up after dickety-six miles…”), Feast of Maximum Occupancy (June 5), Focusyn (a parody of the drug Ritalin), and my all-time-favorite Jebus. I just crack up whenever I think of Homer yelling, “Help me, Jebus!”
Add your own favorites in a comment!
Posted by Max Wed, 14 Dec 2005 21:19:00 GMT
I can’t quite explain why, but wordplay simply pleases me to no end.
Here’s something that’ll exhaust your mind: The world’s longest palindrome.
and some puns to give you a chuckle.
