tickled...

For my birthday, my mom has offered to get me a water buffalo.

dance!

At work, I've been listening to di.fm euro dance.

I just discovered one of their artists, DJ Doboy, gives away his remixes. I'm listening to Eurojams Volume 1, and I like it. It's good background music, and I think it'll make good gym tunes. He's got over 70 hour-long albums. Free download, ad-free, voluntary tip-jar.

I'm unclear on his licensing. On the one hand, there's no license text anywhere on the site, which suggests it's illegal. Plus, reading what boutell has said about legal licensing for the major distributors, DJ Doboy would need to receive a lot of tip-jar to make this self-supported.

On the other, it's one guy in texas who's been doing this for years, and I'm surprised he's not been shut out yet. Maybe most of the artists are self-distributed/cheap? Maybe it's grey-area snips of remixes of remixes? I'm curious. Anyhow, I like the music.

3d fabrication and robotic control

I thought this was cool, if pricey: a service to make your sketchup, 2nd life, or wii avatar in coloured plaster.

But this is probably cooler: Build a Candyfab 4000 to fabricate your objects from sugar. DIY, $500 parts. (Link via secretsoflife)

Indeed, it's based around a controller board kit which might even be useful for work. I'm tempted to inquire with a prof about using this board to assist with developing better servo-motor controls for one of the labs. *ponder ponder ponder*

Vines

I was going to plant morning glories for the front trellis, but every single person who knows plants has said, "watch out, they will take over."

This evening, I talked to a gardener who repeated the line about taking over. They're annual, but unless I'm strict about picking up the flowers all spring (summer?), the seeds will germinate everywhere they can reach, the following spring.

"Oh oh," says I. The trellis is just on the edge of our lot, and the flowers would be planted in our neighbour's grass, and she's a bit particular about her grass. I know this because she was worried when I asked her if she minded me planting morning glories just at the edge. I promised her I'd investigate further before planting.

Jeanette, this evening, recommended Clematis. It's perennial and has pretty blue flowers. And doesn't muscle out the grass or require daily flower/seed cleanup.

...The tulips finally sprouted, but they seem to be a week or so behind everybody else's. Either we have worse soil, late bloomers, or everyone else is more gourmet with their plants' feedings and waterings and little Plant Waldorf School. I wonder if we can send ours for tutoring.