Wednesday, June 30, 2010

My 2nd Munny Munth Entry is UP! Please vote at http://thepete.com/a/munnymunth look for my babyface in the corner!

Or check out pics right here!  But really you should go vote for any Munny Munth entry with my baby face logo in the corner: http://thepete.com/a/munnymunth

Yep, you know me--I can't do just one thing at a time--while working on "Inside Voice" (the custom Munny design I entered in KidRobot's MunnyMunth contest), I was simultaneously creating the below pictured piece entitled "Gulfy."  I hope it's obvious what Gulfy is all about:

When you find Gulfy on the KidRobot entry page, click on the image and you'll get a bigger version of the above pic. Then click on the double arrows in the lower right hand corner of the pop-up image to see the below image:

As with Inside Voice, I've got plenty of progress shots to come!  Keep an eye on toys.thepete.com for those, but go vote for Gulfy and Inside Voice now at http://thepete.com/a/munnymunth !  THANKS!!

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On Facebook? Go vote for my Custom Toy Design! It's cool and bloody! http://thepete.com/a/munnymunth

Just go here: http://thepete.com/a/munnymunth and look for the below pic (it's easy--just look for the baby head!):

Then just click the Facebook-branded "Like" button in the blue rectangle underneath the toy info!

And here's the pic you see if you click on my entry and then click the arrows in the lower right corner:

I've got more pics on the way, including a load of progress shots.

 

Please go vote!  Thanks!

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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

I just submitted to the Munny Munth contest--do me a favor & go like it for me will ya?

I just got the below email but I'm out and about (with no data plan on my phone) so go "like" my Munny design for me. THANKS!

http://sites.kidrobot.com/munnymunth/entries.php

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FBI arrests a bunch of people for being spies. One of them is cute as hell! Let's raid her Facebook and call it "news"!!

Seriously, this woman is supposed to be a spy.

Oh, she's good! She's got us all thinking she's that adorable, ambiguously youngish, woman who dresses a little bit teasy in her Facebook pics, who seems to want an awful lot of attention for being the confident, competent woman she clearly wants us to believe she is. BUT NO! SHE IS ACTUALLY A SPY FOR THE RUSSIANS!!

OMG!!

Yes, it's the perfect cover! And well done CBS for posting the hottest faux-toes you could find of her, including the one above! (She totally wants me! --or anyone else looking at this pic.)

Say, what the heck to do we have to hide from the Russians these days, anyway?

I mean, what the heck are they going to do with any intel about us? They have no money! They can barely keep their own citizens clenched in their iron fist, what could they possibly do to harm us?

Naw, this is really just a sign that terrorism is getting old in the eyes of the American people. No longer can the arrest of losers with delusions of grandeur dressed up/trumped up like Al Qeada scare the pants off of We The People. No, now they're thinking about a sequel to the Cold War and when that doesn't work to scare the pants off of us, they'll trump up... ALIENS!!

Of course, they won't be real aliens, they'll be genetically engineered aliens (we can create artificial life now, in case you hadn't heard) and they will be hyped as the next big threat, because of which, we'll need to watch CNN, vote for strong government and hate hate hate anyone who may be an alien (I hear they can make themselves look just like any one of us!!!)

Are we bored of the BP Oil Disaster already??

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Monday, June 28, 2010

Holy crap--this stuff looks awesome: Sugru Moldable Silicone Is Perfect for DIY Ideas and Repairs via: lifehacker.com

It's like Play-Doh, only it hardens into a durable form that won't fall apart on you. I so want this stuff!! Perfect for custom toy making or just stuff around the home!

Check out this video:

Check out Sugru.com to buy some.

Soooo cool!!

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WANT: iPlunge stand for iPhone via - @ninoo's posterous http://ninoo.posterous.com

Seriously, I'll take five of these!

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Friday, June 25, 2010

Wednesday Walk with @Siskita--50 blocks up the west coast of Manhattan! (addendum pic)

One last pic from our mega-walk earlier this week--across the Hudson, in New Jersey, it looks like an oil refinery owned by Hess.

That's what that is, right? A refinery?

All I know is that if Gamera ever visited NYC, he land there, first.

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Wednesday Walk with @Siskita--50 blocks up the west coast of Manhattan! (pics) pt7

Here are 5 more photos from our massive 50 block walk...

Photo 1: that's the face I make when I break wind. Sierra is displaying the face she makes when I break wind.

(No wind was broken during the taking of the above photograph...)

Photo 2: all along the shore we saw sculptures made of driftwood and other random bits. We decided this one looked like a scarecrow, but since it was facing the water, we decided it was a scarefish.

Photo 3: closer shot on the scarefish.

Photo 4: Siskita took this pic of me against the Hudson. Pretty cool shot, huh?

Photo 5: OLIVES! We picked these up at the Fairway Market (it was on the way!) so we could replenish our bodily resources. (Yes there are a couple of artichoke hearts in there, too--YUMMMM!)

Don't know why I tend to crave olives after long walks.

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Wednesday Walk with @Siskita--50 blocks up the west coast of Manhattan! (silly Siskita pics) pt6

On our 50+ block walk along the Hudson the other day I took quite a few pics of Siskita. These are just some of my faves:

Photo 1: Siskita mugging for the cam with Riverside Drive as a backdrop.

Photo 2: this is almost the look Sierra gives me when I tell her how beautiful she is.

Photo 3: this is *exactly* the look she gives me! ;)

Photo 4: Where'd she go???

Photo 5: WHEW! There she is!

Aw, she's pretty!

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Wednesday Walk with @Siskita--50 blocks up the west coast of Manhattan! (pics) pt5

More pics from our big-ass Wednesday Walk!

Photo 1: the sun is juuust starting to meet the horizon.

Photo 2: or a nuclear bomb just blew up in New Jersey. O_O

Photo 3: Here's a fellow pedestrian ruining my shot :(

Photo 4: here is a cyclist whose head exploded on camera.

Photo 5: finally, the perfect shot!

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Wednesday Walk with @Siskita--50 blocks up the west coast of Manhattan! (mushy pics) pt4

Mushy pics of our 50 block walk up the left-hand side of Manhattan!

Photo 1: the two of us in the orange light of the setting sun. Awwwww!

Photo 2: Awww, a kiss from @siskita for @thepete!

Photo 3: @thepete enjoying the kiss a bit too much!

Photo 4: @thepete and @siskita share a look.

Photo 5: @siskita isn't impressed...

But @thepete is!

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Wednesday Walk with @Siskita--50 blocks up the west coast of Manhattan! (pics) pt3

More pics from our 50 block walk up the lefth-and side of Manhattan Island!

Photo 1: we saw this building and were convinced an alien spaceship had landed on top of it. (OK, not really, but after the Doctor Who episode from a couple weeks back, you can't blame us for thinking it!)

Photo 2: a closer shot--can you see the black ship up there?

Photo 3: before too long we got much closer to the building with the spaceship landing pad on its roof:

Photo 4: sadly, upon closer viewing it's obviously no spaceship :(

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Wednesday Walk with @Siskita--50 blocks up the west coast of Manhattan! (pics) pt2

Here are a few different shots of one of the views we had.

Photo 1: the sun slowly descending over New Jersey...

Photo 2: the sky was like a painter's canvas that night so I took a wide shot.

Photo 3: here is a closer shot of the wide angle.

Photo 4: here's as close as I could get to the clouds--is it me or does that cloud look a liitle bit like a Tim Burton drawing?

Photo 5: a wide shot, north, up the Hudson--that's the GWB behind the trees on the right, BTW.

More pics coming!

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Wednesday Walk with @Siskita--50 blocks up the west coast of Manhattan! (pics) pt1

So on a whim (but in the interest of having some stress-lite time together) we decided to take a walk along the water for a bit. It started innocently enough around 72nd st, but a ways past 103rd, we realized we'd have to keep going to 125th in order to get to a subway since Riverside Drive doesn't have any crosswalks.

As a result, we walked 53 blocks!

The good news is that it was a great walk. It reminded me of how much I love the water. It also reminded me of those Instructibles on how to get your own free boat :)

Photo 1: siskita and I with the Hudson and the setting sun in the background.

Photo 2: saw this beautiful building from the walkway along the water.

Photo 3: a closer shot of the memorial--we think it is a Sailors and Soldiers Memorial.

Photo 5: me and the Hudson. It's so easy to forget we live on an island in NYC.

Stay tuned for more pics soon!

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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

15 Things You Should Know About Caffeine via http://pdviz.com (all of these are buried in my brains firmware)

Sometimes I look deeply into the eyes of caffeine and speak the following from my heart:

"Caffeine... I CAN'T QUIT YOU!"

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print journalism is dead (fun) - via http://blogdrop.posterous.com @blogdrop (too many folks forget to proofread!

Just so long as you don't try to actually click there and wonder (even for a moment) why you're not going to a new, um, page.

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15 Things You Should Know About Caffeine via http://pdviz.com (all of these are buried in my brains firmware)

Sometimes I look deeply into the eyes of caffeine and speak the following from my heart:

"Caffeine... I CAN'T QUIT YOU!"

Posted via email from thepete's posterous

print journalism is dead (fun) - via http://blogdrop.posterous.com @blogdrop (too many folks forget to proofread!

Just so long as you don't try to actually click there and wonder (even for a moment) why you're not going to a new, um, page.

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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Which is more important? Your money or your life? I wonder how those 11 guys on BP's rig would have answered.

...because I know how BP would answer that question--assuming the money was theirs and the lives were their workers' lives.


A couple days back on UnderpaidGenius.com I saw an interesting account of how Ken Salazar should never have trusted BP to "self regulate" themselves. But that wasn't what disturbed me, since, let's face it, the government will turn a blind eye to corporations so long as the "campaign contributions" keep coming. What disturbed me was the blatant prioritizing of money before human lives that BP displayed and the lack of public or media outcry. Check out the part of the UnderpaidGenius post that tweaked me below:


Underpaid Genius — Obama Must Fire Salazar, At The Least

Terrifying account of the Deepwater disaster, and the culpability of Obama’s administration, particularly Ken Salazar.

Tim Dickerson, The Spill, The Scandal and the President

...

BP has also cut corners at the expense of its own workers. In 2005, 15 workers were killed and 170 injured after a tower filled with gasoline exploded at a BP refinery in Texas. Investigators found that the company had flouted its own safety procedures and illegally shut off a warning system before the blast. An internal cost-benefit analysis conducted by BP – explicitly based on the children’s tale The Three Little Pigs – revealed that the oil giant had considered making buildings at the refinery blast-resistant to protect its workers (the pigs) from an explosion (the wolf). BP knew lives were on the line: “If the wolf blows down the house, the piggy is gobbled.” But the company determined it would be cheaper to simply pay off the families of dead pigs.

There's much more to be offended by, so you should check out the rest of the post, but that's what pissed me off the most.

In short, they decided it would be more cost effective to let employees die rather than pay to keep them alive.

It's hard to make any other conclusion than this one: corporations are psychopaths.

I'm not sure what else there is to say, really. Once you see that a corporation cares more for money than for human life and that our government doesn't seem to have a problem with that corporation's priorities, it's hard to have any hope for, or faith in, our future.

Science, art, innovation--none of it means anything because the only thing our government and the big corporations care about is money.

Does humanity have a "control+alt delete" key combo we can use? Because I'm getting some serious moral leaks and ethical lock-ups every time I try to look our species' behavior in the eye.

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Big Ideas podcast: a fascinating look inside India's culture and class system (you thought the US was bad?)

ORIGINALLY AIRED: May 29 05:00 PM

Robert Adams - The White Tiger

Robert Adams video button
Teacher, writer and critic, Robert Adams, reviews Aravind Adiga's Booker prize-winning novel, The White Tiger. Corruption, murder, and a series of letters composed by a former chauffeur allow the novel to explore India's caste system and how it's been affected by the country's economic miracle.

One thing I love about the 'net is how it connects me with ideas and information I'd never be exposed to inside the confines of my own life. The Big Ideas lecture series podcast does a great job of this. In the May 29, 2010 episode, we are treated to a talk bout a novel that follows an uneducated but not stupid Indian man--through his eyes we see an amazing and depressing India. It's incredibly fascinating and clocks in at around 90 minutes--PERFECT for listening to during that boring office job you've got that leaves the good half of your brain doing nothing all day. :)


I *love* the Big Ideas podcast. I've been listening to it on and off for years. I try to listen to every single lecture whether I'm familiar with the topic, care about it, or not, because I almost always learn something. So, if you're looking for something to listen to or watch that will make you think and probably teach you something, hit the Big Ideas main page at www.TVO.org. Or just subscribe to the audio or video podcast.

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Monday, June 21, 2010

My Old, Dead Mac, and What It Meant to Me When It was Alive and a Request....

So, a few weeks ago, my MacBook died.  A few months before that, it started to crash at seemingly random moments.  After it went from one or two crashes a week to one or two crashes a day I was able to work out that the hard drive was in constant need of repairs (despite me having replaced it in November) and that almost every time I'd tax the processor the laptop would crash.  Before too long even browsers would tax the processor--one time I caused a crash by scrolling through a blog in Chrome.

And by "crash" I mean that the power cuts out--not a fun thing to deal with when you're intensely focused on a project you are in the middle of.

So, what does it mean to me now that it's dead?  Well, not only does it mean no more puppet videos, but it also means my videography work is done.  If that wasn't enough, the various publishing projects I've been developing will be seriously delayed or dumped entirely (I had planned to self-publish a 6 novel series I wrote--the 1st one's here, a Ballpoint Adventures compilation, and a magazine-version of my website via MagCloud.com). 

On top of that, it means I'm using my netbook for everything--it's not meant for that.  It's supposed to be a portable typewriter that allows me to do light surfing and emailing, but now I'm making it do blogging and mulitmedia stuff--no HD editing, obviously, and even the multimedia stuff doesn't happen too often.  My eee 4g is too slow to run any recent version of Photoshop (and the screen is 7 inches, so what's the point?) and the sound drivers often don't load propery so most of the time I can't even watch a choppily played YouTube video.

I don't mean to make this sound like a "Woe as me" kind of thing.  I just want to make it clear to folks that have helped or are considering helping me raise money for a new MacBook Pro, that all of this work and almost all of my future plans are at a standstill thanks to that 3 year-old computer dying.

FYI, my Macintosh PowerBook ran just fine until this spring--that means it was nearly 6 years-old (I got it in June 2004) when it died.

So, if you can help me raise the $1200+tax to get a new MacBook Pro, I'd greatly appreciate it.  This isn't me begging, or me demanding, or me trying to take advantage.  This is me just asking for a hand.  So far, friends and family have contributed just short of half the money.  These are folks who like what I do on the web, enjoy my comics, laugh at my work with Jay ThePal and Kay ThePal, or just otherwise want to help.

So, if you don't want to help, by all means, don't.  If you want to see that my various works continue and have a few bucks to spare, I'd appreciate it if you could toss 'em my way. 

To help, check out the page my lovely wife put up (http://sierrarein.com/a/petesake) or just send something via Paypal to thepetecom*AT*gmail.com (replace the *AT* with a "@").

Thanks!!

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DEVO - No place Like Home Lyrics

We are creating a brand new world around us

We are creating a brand new world without us

Maybe it really is ok

Although, we're digging our own graves

At this moment

If we should all just disappear

The skies and waters will clear in a world without us

 

via sweetslyrics.com from the lyrics of the new Devo song"No Place Like Home" off of their new album "Something for Everyone."

Some good lyrics on that new album and if you generally like yourself some Devo, I think you'll dig the music, too.

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Politics, how do I hate thee? Mainly it's this focus on the need for politicians to keep the jobs they're not doing.

Screencap source: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/06/obama-republican...

"Election time is fast approaching, and President Obama and the Republicans will soon be focused full-time on pivotal congressional races to be decided Nov. 2"

That's funny because I thought government's "full-time" job was serving the American people, not making sure they stay in office.

Psst! Hey politicians! Here's a free tip for ya! Do your job well and you'll get reelected! I know--crazy, right?

...

read more on website666.com

I'm going to be changing focus a bit in my lifestream. I keep mixing in stuff like the above, when I have a much better venue for it in the form of Website666.com. In fact, Mitch McConnell probably deserves an EFFYOU from EFFYOU.org for the attitude he displays in the above linked article.

Sure, this kind of commentary is still very much part of my life and so I'll still post about these topics here, but I plan on, more often, linking to posts of mine on other sites that I run.

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