Tuesday, May 4

Robots Creepy & Cool

Robots are becoming a reality and soon they will replace us at work. There are many different kinds with varied functions. It's truly amazing how they work and the things they are doing with them. 

Let's take a fun look at some of the robots that are being manufactured, they are really cool although some of them are downright creepy. I'll let you decide for yourself as you watch these video's from YouTube as to how you feel about them.

 
Akiba Robot Festival-2006: Actroid Female Robot
 

 
 
A performance artist from Japan has built a weird crawling robot that looks like an elderly businessman.
 

 
 
Creepy Child Robot
 

 
 
Robot With A Mind Of Its Own
 

 
 
A Robot Housekeeper
 

 
 
 
QRIO (Sony Killed This Robot)
 
I love robots and although these aren’t very sophisticated Robots are getting more complicated and are doing more jobs every day. I can’t wait until I can have my own robot in my home.

Keep On Bloggin’!

Wednesday, April 21

Trouble In My Neighborhood


Usually, my neighborhood is quiet without much crime. Once they found a dead homeless guy across the street but he wasn't murdered just unlucky in life. I live on the bottom of Nob Hill, about 5 blocks away from the beginning of the Tender Loin which is a bad neighborhood full of live sex clubs, bars and other places you wouldn't want to walk through. The trouble usually stays down there so it hasn't been a worry. Until now.

Sunday night one of my building's tenants, a woman was outside across the street. She got her purse taken by gunpoint and if that wasn't shocking enough we had to have our front (security gate) retooled because they also got her keys. So yesterday I received my new key and was glad to have it done so quickly before someone tried to get in and rob us or worse. Again!

I have lived here since 1998 and in all of that time, only one crack head cat burglar broke in (we still don't know how) gaining entrance to our roof. Lucky for me I was home that day watching TV because I heard someone running around in the then empty apartment upstairs from me. Then I heard someone on the fire escape so I walked into my kitchen to the window and got a real shocker!

My window (which I only leave open on top) was open on the bottom and as I got up to the window a girl appeared on my windowsill. First I saw her hands were empty as she was grabbing the sides of the window to get in and she had a huge backpack on so I grabbed the straps and yanked her in. This made her fall to the floor. Not knowing she was on crack she jumped up right away and the fight started. My kitchen knives where right there but I didn't feel like killing someone that day so we fought, knocking things over in the kitchen as I asked her who she was and what was she doing on the fire escape.

Her eyes told the whole story, her pupils huge as she mumbled; "I gotta get out of here!" Over and over, in fact, it sounded like a chant. Since she had been in the apartment above me and it was the same as mine she was pulling me towards my door to get out. I couldn't hold her so I let her go and dialed 911.

Wouldn't you know it there had been a policeman across the street and he had seen her coming in my window so he was already on his way here. The front door was being guarded so I figured she was hiding in our huge basement somewhere. By then the manager came to take over and they told me to stay put and went off looking for her. They didn't find her anywhere but I figured she was still in the building in the basement. They got my report on it and left.

Not much later the manager went to his workroom in the basement to get something and she was hiding in there and she jumped out at him. He started yelling at her and she walked up and slapped him in the face! I wasn’t there so I don’t know how he kept her until the cops came back but they came and took her off.

They came back later and had me pick her picture out of a "line up" on a piece of paper (not at the police station like on TV) and although she had her eyes all scrunched up in her mug shot I picked her out easily. Thank God I was home or my apartment would have been trashed and everything would have been taken.

I found out she had been in jail for this before, not only that but she had another woman who was in jail at the time and they had both been cat burglars for crack money together in this neighborhood and the surrounding area for a while! I thought it would be cut and dried. She would be in jail for a while this time. The police said she would get drug treatment which they didn't make her do last time.

When I got to court the first thing the prosecutor asked me was why I didn't shove her out of my window! There's a huge hole in fire escapes and I'm on the 4th floor which is why I didn't do it when she broke in. So I told him; "Yeah, that way I'd be in jail for manslaughter if she died when she hit the cement!" What assholes! I told him; "You know it's true!" So the prosecution decided they didn't want me involved in the court case and instead had our building manager do it.

This girl didn't get anything! I went to her last hearing and sat in the front row to make sure she saw me and when our eyes met I gave her a look she sure did understand! (I'll just let you imagine that one!) Then I heard her sentence and couldn't believe it! She had been in jail for 2 weeks by then. She only got a month in jail (time served included) so she was getting out in two weeks! And she didn't get any drug treatment program either! She wasn't even put on probation! OMG, my friends no wonder people keep breaking the laws over and over. It's because the state doesn't want to pay for them to get the treatment they really deserve so they keep getting off. Makes me ill!

Thank god I didn't shove her out of my window or it would have been me in jail I just know it!

So my nice neighborhood is getting worse, we have rent control and the courts are letting them do whatever they want so it's about time for Bekkie to move out of here and take her Wonderland somewhere better. Especially now that criminals are coming this far down with guns to rob us or worse!

Good-bye San Francisco I'm getting out of this place and moving to San Mateo. I will not pay $1,200.00 for an efficiency apartment where they are getting away with screwing us out of our last pennies while the rental court helps! When I moved in here it was only $735 a month! I'm done with it, time to move.

Keep On Bloggin'!

Sunday, April 18

How's Your Brain Working, Or Is It?

♦ THIS IS A TEST ♦

Let me know how you do! If you can do ALL of them within 10 seconds you're doing great! Can you find ALL of them? No cheating now! (It should be easy!) The younger you are of course the better you should do. Wake up those brain cells and get cracking!

1- Find the C below...do not use any cursor help.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

2- If you already found the C, now find the 6 below.
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
69999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

3 - Now find the N below. It's a little more difficult.
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

This is NOT a joke. If you were able to pass these three tests, you can cancel your annual visit to your neurologist. Your brain is great and you're far from having a close relationship with Mr. Alzheimer. Congratulations my friends!

I got this in an email and had to share it here. I did really well on it so here's to good brain health! I think genes have a little to do with it too. The main purpose is to have fun with it.

♦ CAN YOU READ THIS ♦

Eonvrye who can raed tihs rsaie yuor hnad!
To my all my Network wonderful minded friends:
If you can raed the flolnig pagarprah, tehn geart mdins not olny tnhik aklie, tehy wrok akile.
Tihs is wried, but ieertntnisg.
If you can raed tihs, you hvae an ieertntnisg mnid too.
Can you raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. (Hrad to bleveie ins't it?)
I cuold not blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid aoccdrnig to the rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy syas it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer of ecah wrod is in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sltill raed it whotuit a pboerlm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Brain training is good for you it keeps the sludge in your brain at bay. For more about brain training check out Luminosity.

Keep On Bloggin’!

Saturday, March 27

Tenniel's Drawing Of Alice Was Not Correct

When Lewis Carroll had John Tenniel draw Alice for him he had a model and girl in mind. Alice Liddell was a neighbor girl who Carroll had photographed before. He was quite taken with her and based his heroine's name on her, starting his book with her name.

When he first saw the drawings that Tenniel had done he was mortified that it didn’t look at all like Liddell and he had drawn her body totally out of proportion. The artwork stayed in the book and became a part of history, even though Carroll proclaimed his dislike for it publicly.


Alice Pleasance Liddell was born May 4th, 1852 in Westminster, London.

Tenniel's pictures of Alice are not pictures of Alice Liddell, who had dark hair cut short with straight bangs across her forehead. Carroll sent Tenniel a photograph of Mary Hilton Badcock, another child-friend, recommending that he use her for a model, but whether Tenniel accepted this advice is a matter of dispute. That he did not is strongly suggested by these lines from a letter Carroll wrote some time after both Alice books had been published. The letter is quoted by Mrs. Lennon in her book on Carroll;

"Mr. Tenniel is the only artist who has drawn for me, who has resolutely refused to use a model, and declared he no more needed one than I should need a multiplication table to work a mathematical problem! I venture to think that he was mistaken and that for want of a model he drew several pictures of "Alice" entirely out of proportion-head decidedly too large and feet decidedly too small."

In "Alice On Stage," an article cited in the first note on the prefatory poem, Carroll gave the following description of his heroine's personality:

What art thou, dream-Alice, in thy foster-father's eye? How shall he picture thee? Loving, first, loving and gentle: loving as a dog (forgive the prosaic simile, but I know no earthly love so pure and perfect), and gentle as a fawn: then courteous-courteous to all high or low, grand or grotesque, King or Caterpillar, even as though she were herself a King's daughter and her clothing of wrought gold: then trustful, ready to accept the wildest impossibilities with all that utter trust that only dreamers know; and lastly, curious-wildly curious, and with the eager enjoyment of Life that comes only in the happy hours of childhood when all is new and fair, and when Sin and Sorrow are but names-empty words signifying nothing!

Hearing Carroll describes his creation, "Alice" in his own words is such a treat!

Although many people think Carroll a pedophile that couldn’t keep away from 7-year-old girls there is no proof that he ever took advantage of Liddell or any other young girl. He was a photographer, writer and a true artist that based his fiction on fact like many others before him and had a great interest in children and childhood.

Through the many years since his writings "Alice" has held the imaginations and fantasies of more people than even he could ever have imagined. Through fan art, movies, books and video games "Alice" has had many personalities and faces and will continue to be with us forever.

Lewis Carroll has taught me that everyone has their own Wonderland that resides in each and every one of us in our imaginations.

 Keep On Bloggin'!

Will The Real Alice Please Stand Up?


Lewis Carroll had many talents besides his famous books. He was a mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon, poem writer, a good artist and photographer. Lewis Carroll is the pseudonym of Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. 

Before Lewis Carroll wrote his books about Alice In Wonderland he already had a girl in mind for his character. She was actually a neighborhood girl he was infatuated with and her name was Alice Liddell.

Alice Liddell was not at all like the “Alice” we now are used to seeing with golden locks of hair brushed back from her blue eyed face. When Carroll thought of his Alice he pictured Alice Liddell. And his book was to start with her name.


Even thought Carroll was an artist and did his own drawings for the very first book that he presented to Alice Liddell, when he finished his book to be published he had John Tenniel do the artwork for it.

John Tenniel was a cartoonist and his work was satirical, often radical for doing a book like Carroll’s but he did the drawings for Carroll’s works nonetheless and Carroll was not happy with the results.

Tenniel's pictures of Alice were not pictures of Alice Liddell, who had dark hair cut short with straight bangs across her forehead. Carroll sent Tenniel a photograph of Mary Hilton Babcock, another child-friend, recommending that he use her for a model, but whether Tenniel accepted this advice is a matter of dispute. That he did not is strongly suggested by these lines from a letter Carroll wrote some time after both Alice books had been published. The letter is quoted by Mrs. Lennon in her book on Carroll;


"Mr. Tenniel is the only artist who has drawn for me, who has resolutely refused to use a model, and declared he no more needed one than I should need a multiplication table to work a mathematical problem! I venture to think that he was mistaken and that for want of a model he drew several pictures of "Alice" entirely out of proportion-head decidedly too large and feet decidedly too small."

From The Life Of Lewis Carroll by Florence Becker Lennon


The symbol at the lower right corner, which you see on all of Tenniel's drawings, is a monogram of his initials, J.T.

I must say that I can see what Carroll means about Tenniel’s drawings. It does look like a “caricature” of Alice although I rather liked the strange drawings from the books. When I first read Alice In Wonderland I had no idea that a “real” Alice existed nor that Carroll didn’t like the art in the book.

The comparison with the fictional Alice has been a very controversial one. There are at least three direct links to Liddell in the first two books. First, he set them on May 4th, (Liddell's birthday) and November 4th, (her "half-birthday") and in Through the Looking-Glass the fictional Alice declares that her age is "seven and a half exactly", the same as Liddell on that date. Second, he dedicated them "to Alice Pleasance Liddell". Third, there is an acrostic poem at the end of Through the Looking-Glass. Reading downward, taking the first letter of each line; spells out Liddell's full name. The poem has no title in Through the Looking-Glass, but is usually referred to by its first line, "A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky".

A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky

A boat beneath a sunny sky,
Lingering onward dreamily In an evening of July--
Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear--
Long has paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die.
Autumn frosts have slain July.
Still she haunts me, phantom wise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.
Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.
In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:
Ever drifting down the stream--
Lingering in the golden gleam--
Life, what is it but a dream?

In "Alice On Stage," an article cited in the first note on the prefatory poem, Carroll gave the following description of his heroine's personality:

What art thou, dream-Alice, in thy foster-father's eye? How shall he picture thee? Loving, first, loving and gentle: loving as a dog (forgive the prosaic simile, but I know no earthly love so pure and perfect), and gentle as a fawn: then courteous-courteous to all high or low, grand or grotesque, King or Caterpillar, even as though she were herself a King's daughter and her clothing of wrought gold: then trustful, ready to accept the wildest impossibilities with all that utter trust that only dreamers know; and lastly, curious-wildly curious, and with the eager enjoyment of Life that comes only in the happy hours of childhood when all is new and fair, and when Sin and Sorrow are but names-empty words signifying nothing!

Hearing Carroll describe his creation, "Alice" in his own words is such a treat! Through the many years since his writings have been out "Alice" has held the imaginations and fantasies of more people than even he could ever have imagined. Through fan art "Alice" has had many personalities and faces and will continue to be with us forever.

Keep On Bloggin'!