138 - Missed Karate

Ahhhh I missed karate today! Whilst there was a possible change that I might have been able to get the very tail end of it I was so wrecked and tired that there was no chance really.

137 - Sunday

136 - 18/01/2034

18 January 2034 is 20 years from now... I was at a dinner with friends today and we got talking asking about what the world would be like in twenty years. Some of the questions were:

• What will we be eating?
• Do we still use fossil fuel?
• Does the Irish language still exist?
• Have we hit the singularity yet? I have already talked about the singularity before - click here to understand more about it. 
• Have we cloned a dinosaur yet?
• What will the population be?
• How will the internet be?

Basically lots of questions that you will read and give your opinion on a certain number of them. You might give your opinion on all of the questions or you might just read them. Either way it is interesting. 

What will the world be like in 20 years?

135 - 3D print your house....

Go to the following website -

http://www.contourcrafting.org/

What you can see here is amazing I think. I am friends with people who have build as a hobby a 3D printer. So a thin little ribbon of plastic get fed out through a nozzle and creates and plastic representation, layer upon layer of whatever 3D image it was told to do from the computer that controls it. Of course this technology has been around for years now and everything from lampshades to artificial hips are make using this technique.

Upscale this - alot and it lies to reason that you can print anything I guess. Check out the website to see a house being build effectively by a 3D printer.

Wow. Coming from a family of builders I find the whole thing quite interesting.

134 - Russian Mother inspires me to rant

I have a few friends that take photos. I know a girl who lives in Italy, Rome to be more specific and I look at the photos that she takes. She is a beautiful girl so for a start when she takes a photo with her in it, as long as it is in focus she is in a winner. As a backdrop she can shoot the Colosseum. She can shoot village towns with brown tiles roofs and  baby blue plastered walls.

In Ireland I have friends that can take amazing photos of the bogs and beaches and of the old buildings in the area and come up with some magical pictures.

I wonder about myself. Often I see a scene and I know, I know - that it is a great image. But I often find myself without a camera. So then I go out and I take my camera but then it almost does not feel right. Am I faking it?

Of course I am not faking it. Do not be a fool man. If I do see a good pictures now I have my camera I am prepared. There is nothing fake about that. In fact what I should do is go out more often with my camera with my camera and look for images. This girl that I know in Italy and the guy I know here - they go out on photo shoots all the time. So yes, that is the idea really, kind of totally obvious. You want to take a good picture, get out there. Of course what you see around the house might be your muse. Fine, shoot. Unless you are going to take pictures of scenery on the National Geographic Society your going to have to get off you ass. The beauty is there... but some times you have to look for it.

The above image is taken from the following website:
http://www.boredpanda.com/animal-children-photography-elena-shumilova/

133 - 30,000+ views...

My first blog was sent on April 8th 2008... it was entitled "Metro Sexual Confusion". Since then I have blogged 536 times. So right now as I speak I have 30,215 pageviews.

So I just want to thank all the people who have come back again and again and took the time to view my blog. I hope you like it. I love doing it, I know there are better blogs and there are worse ones but then there is MY one... and that is what I like. My own voice in the storm of voices that is the internet.

132 - Nice letter I saw on Huffington Post website.

Dear "Daddy,"

I don't know your name, but Kate called you "daddy" for the entire flight last week and you kindly never corrected her. In fact, you didn't even flinch as you could probably tell that she was not confusing you with her own "daddy," but instead making a judgment regarding your level of "safety" for her. If she calls you "daddy" then you better believe she thinks you are alright.

I sat Kate, my 3-year-old who has autism, in the middle seat knowing full well that there would be a stranger sitting next to her for the duration of this flight. I had to make a quick decision and based on her obsession with opening and closing the window shade, I figured she might be less of a distraction if she sat in the middle. I watched the entire Temple basketball team board the plane, and wondered if one of these giants might sit by Kate. They all moved toward the back. She would have liked that, she would have made some observations that I would have had to deal with, but she would have liked those players. I watched many Grandmotherly women board and hoped for one to take the seat but they walked on by. For a fleeting moment I thought we might have a free seat beside us, and then you walked up and sat down with your briefcase and your important documents and I had a vision of Kate pouring her water all over your multi-million dollar contracts, or house deeds, or whatever it was you held. The moment you sat down, Kate started to rub your arm. Your jacket was soft and she liked the feel of it. You smiled at her and she said: "Hi, Daddy, that's my mom." Then she had you.

You could have shifted uncomfortably in your seat. You could have ignored her. You could have given me that "smile" that I despise because it means; "manage your child please." You did none of that. You engaged Kate in conversation and you asked her questions about her turtles. She could never really answer your questions but she was so enamored with you that she kept eye contact and joint attention on the items you were asking her about. I watched and smiled. I made a few polite offers to distract her, but you would have none of it.

Kate: (Upon noticing you had an iPad) Is dis Daddy's puduter?

You: This is my iPad. Would you like to see it?

Kate: To me?????? (I know she thought you were offering it to her to keep)

Me: Look with your eyes, Kate. That is not yours.

Kate: Dat's nice!

You: (Upon noticing that Kate had an iPad) I like your computer, too. It has a nice purple case.

Kate: Daddy wanna be a bad guy? (She offered shredder to you and that, my friend, is high praise)

You: Cool.

The interaction went on and on and you never once seemed annoyed. She gave you some moments of peace while she played with her Anna and Elsa dolls. Kind of her to save you from playing Barbies, but I bet you wouldn't have minded a bit. I bet you have little girls, too.

Not long before we landed Kate had reached her limit. She screamed to have her seatbelt off, she screamed for me to open the plane door and she cried repeating, "Plane is cwosed (closed)" over and over. You tried to redirect her attention to her toys. She was already too far gone at this point, but the fact that you tried to help your new little friend made me emotional.

In case you are wondering, she was fine the moment we stepped off the plane. Thank you for letting us go ahead of you. She was feeling overwhelmed and escaping the plane and a big, long hug was all she needed.

So, thank you. Thank you for not making me repeat those awful apologetic sentences that I so often say in public. Thank you for entertaining Kate so much that she had her most successful plane ride, yet. And, thank you for putting your papers away and playing turtles with our girl.