Noisy horizon

I was trying to crack open a weird file format and the best I could extrapolate was a half-noisy image file. I rotated it 180 degrees and got what I thought looked like waves coming in on a beach. To help illustrate this point, I have coloured the "waves" with a blue gradient. I also added some low-resolution stars for some extra mood.

Wonky floor text...

... Is "wonky".

In the meantime, this:

I only noticed this recently, but it's been on YouTube for a couple of years. It's from a Japanese TV show called 'Ugo Ugo Ru-Ga'. Worthy.

The Importance of Being Updated

I got a text today telling me that the iPhone software update to 3.0 had arrived - a day early! There's some nice changes/updates/additions. Now I can (among other things) send and receive MMS messages, which is good, but I'll be watching for any additional charges for these. Interestingly enough, I updated my phone and it downloaded all my latest emails (quite a number of) without being asked. I'm pretty sure I've turned this function off now, but it's nowhere near as transparent as the previous version of the OS. This is an important consideration in the bandwidth-starved mobile hinterland of the antipodes.

Note that my first MMS (above) was not successfully sent at first attempt (thus the exclamation marks). It did eventually get there, assisting me in contributing yet another baby picture to the tiny particles of Wonkavision-esque static flying over our heads at any given moment. I doubt I will send many more, but who knows. I'd like to consider myself some kind of futurist, but I can remember when text messaging first came out thinking to myself: 'That's never going to catch on'. Here we are. :P LMAO, etc.

THEY'RE BACK

The $1 donuts [sic] have slunk back into The World. Be mindful and alert, as they may mean to do you harm. They have changed the colour of the speech balloon, but the shape remains as does the typeface - Helvetica Rounded. They've streamlined the aesthetic a bit, but probably used the same working files.


The image above reminds me of something that happened to me in the recent past. I was heading to a friends house and thought to buy some chips. The convenience store had a deal where you could buy two packets for $3.60, one pack cost $2. I picked up a pack and took it to the counter to pay. The clerk said to me: "You don't want to get another packet? Two packets are only $3.60." I said no thanks, and he asked me again, his tone escalating slightly, "Are you sure? It's a saving of 40¢." "Thanks, but I'll be fine with the one" I said politely. At that point, the point where he realised that I wasn't prepared to spend an extra $1.60 in order to save 40¢ and that I had sufficient chips, he gave me a funny look like I was some kind of lost cause. He may be right.

The word 'reminds' is not in my spell-checker.

Cultural artifact

At the second-hand market I bought myself of a copy of Mortal Kombat for the Sega Megadrive for two Australian dollars. I found this duo-toned flyer behind the paper sleeve insert.

It hearkens back to another age: the latter decades of the previous millennia. Searching for 'Mister Gees Video' came up with nothing. Chances are, all that is left of it today (apart from the odd flyer) are desiccated VHS remnants encased in the mire a few feet below the floor of what's now a Blockbuster Video store. Remember, people once looked like this. Vampires once looked like this. Typefaces once looked like this, and chances are they will again.

Your body is a factory

Here are some scans from a book I bought in Japan in the past. It's called 'Uncocoro for Natural Unco Life' by Bunpei Yorifuji and Koichiro Fujita. Its subject is intestinal health and focuses on giving the reader techniques and advice to help achieve healthy and regular poo. It's in Japanese with very clear illustrations presented beautifully using mostly brown and yellow spot-colours. Appropriate.

It seems that the term 'Unco' covers human and animal waste.


As well as general waste.


Your body and it's functions are part of a larger system.


Your diet and it's influence on your internal bacterium and flora.




When I was a kid, I had a picture book called 'How Your Body Works'. It used factories or castles under siege as analogies for bodily functions and helped me understand the mechanical nature of our bodies. I was obsessed with that book. 'Uncocoro for Natural Unco Life' has a similar approach, but is a bit more... specific.