Category: General

I call this one “blue gremlin” for no better reason than it needed a name. I was thinking of the supernatural being, not the car.

UPDATE: this sucks. The parts are out of sync with each other. I don’t know how that happened, but it’s disappointing.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Department of Media Relations tells us that previously unexplained Egyptian hieroglyphics can be read phonetically as a transcription of the Canaanite words “Mother Snake, Mother Snake says mucus-mucus.” Apparently this makes more sense than you might think, since the hieroglyphic texts near it speak of a mother snake in Egyptian (not Canaanite)! And the whole collection is understood to be a set of anti-snake defensive charms.

This is by far the earliest text we have from the branch of Semitic which came to include Hebrew, and it’s also proof that the Canaanite/Hebrew branch of the Semitic language family existed independently (and apparently was important enough to make its way into Egyptian spells) very, very early.

And besides all that, it says “Mother Snake, Mother Snake says mucus-mucus.” How cool is that??

Bonus points to anyone who can research out exactly what that phrase is in early Canaanite. That would be cool to know.

Make your own imitation Floam | Beyond Satire

It works.  I actually grated my own styrofoam particles out of foam cups, which is the part I would not willingly repeat.  I first tried using our food processor to shred them, but it didn’t make fine enough particles.  Then I put them through a cheese grater by hand, which did the job but left a lot of big chunks of cup in the mix.  It’s possible it would have been easier with a grittier source of styrofoam, like the big chunks which protect electronic devices in a retail box, but I don’t want to find out.  Incredible mess.  I think I’ll see if someplace local carries the particles pre-ground.
Other than the styrofoam grating, it was a total piece of cake; easy and quick and straightforward to make, and I ended up with a very serviceable (if chunky) wad of floamy substance.

I’ll update tomorrow on how it dries.  I made a smiley face out of a small chunk of it and left it out to dry.

I’m pretty sure I don’t have it in me to do National Novel Writing Month, but I’m gonna give “February Album Writing Month” a shot.

FAWM.ORG :: Fawmers

Wikkid is what kept me up late tonight — it’s a song I put together absolutely from scratch, using the techniques explained on this page.  Seq24 was the sequencer, and what it sequenced was four synth instruments from ZynAddSubFX.

I like it a lot.  I’m proud of it because everything in it is DIY, from the drumbeat to each of the loops.  Haven’t done anything like that in a while.