A Special Type of Dog

A sizeable explosion this morning at Soufriere Hills, with lots of large, impressive pyroclastic flows. They're talking of possibly evacuating the island. That whole Antilles arc is one of my favourite sets of volcanoes, primarily for the big rolling pyroclastic clouds that they shoot out. It's so impressive to see one of those glide smoothly over something, and leave it looking like it's been dead and abandoned for a thousand years.

I always feel vaguely guilty about enjoying volcanic eruptions. On the other hoof, it's not like I can actually do anything to influence whether the volcano will erupt or not.

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So, the Gators have handed OSU a colossal drubbing. I suppose this means that undefeated Boise State will be the champions.

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I spent my weekend productively. Some of you may recall that Fox puppet I started on a few years back, then tossed into the parts pile. Now that Morphicon doesn't eat all of my time, I started on him again, and he's looking pretty good. In a few days I'll have pictures to post :)

The fursuit head I was working on back before Christmas went to Findra. I gave her the raw foam form. She's going to cover it, and try to get a suit done for FC.

I'm hoping to do more fursuiting in the coming year. The last thing I built was that Otter, who turned out sort of lacklustre.

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What to do when the Martian War Machines are coming.

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Good news for Saddam: They've dropped the charges! >:D

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Faraday Waves in a Cornstarch Solution. Dry title, but an amazing video.

Some years ago at the Field Museum, they had a travelling exhibition of Chinese stuff, one item of which was this enormous bronze bowl filled with water. You rubbed your palms rhythmically on the two handles, and if you did it right, you could make the bowl ring like a bell in several timbres. Most of the people who tried it couldn't make it do anything, largely (I think) because they didn't rub hard enough. I got it to sing, and also managed to set up a series of Faraday waves that resulted in water splashing up from the centre of the bowl.

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When I scratch Flaster under the chin, he wrinkles up his nose. This results in his nosepad sort of pulling into his face, so it looks mashed in.

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Elmo on fire. I find this more than slightly disturbing.

The last I heard, the Goof was in the process of acquiring an Elmo...

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Iwao Takamoto, who was one of Hanna/Barbera's head honchos, has died.

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Genetically engineered hollow celery. I don't like Bloody Marys, but this is clever anyway. It would be fun to fill these with spray cheese.