Chris Hunter

Inflatable robots

2008-10-27T16:22:50Z

Festo showed off some very interesting floating robots at PopTech recently. I love the way they've taken inspiration from sea life.

Talking to myself

2008-07-10T20:54:44Z

I saw some images and video of art projects recently that have been swirling around in my brain and mashed themselves up with the boys' interest in sea creatures (which means that I end up reading a lot of marine animal books). The idea is to make inflatable sculptures of marine animals (squid, octopus, sharks, etc...) out of cheap plastic. Inflation could be via wind, fan, hot air, helium, etc...

http://laughingsquid.com/inflatable-street-sculptures-by-joshua-allen-harris/

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/07/video_street_artist_joshua_all.html

http://filthyluker.deviantart.com/art/octo-pied-building-90953286

Saw Wall-E this weekend and it rocks

2008-07-07T21:25:48Z

We went with the kids and other relatives this weekend to see Wall-E, the new Pixar flick. I generally expect Pixar movies to be pretty great -- Wall-E demolished all my expectations. Great character development and acting, beautiful and interesting moral questions posed.

A particularly uplifting comment at MetaFilter illustrates the kind of game that the team at Pixar is bringing to movie making. Not cranking out movies for profit work but once-in-a-lifetime, yes-I-worked-on-that-movie pluck.

If you haven't yet, go see it.

Interesting article about Prozac and depression

2008-07-07T15:00:18Z

A very interesting article on how early theories about how Prozac treats depression are likely wrong. http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/07/06/head_fake/

Interesting article about how monozygotic (identical) twins can differ genetically

2008-06-24T14:20:36Z

Scientific American has an interesting article about how identical twins can actually differ to a very small degree in genes. Given the boys clear differences, it makes me wonder. Identical twins genes are not identical

Last day at Motive

2007-05-05T14:17:44Z

Yesterday was my last day of work at Motive.

When I started there, I had just turned 30.

We had no kids.

Had only lived in Austin for 2 and a half years.

Really it's very little like the company that I originally went to work for. There's almost no common code, no customers left from that time period and they're in a completely different market. They're now the company they last acquired, BroadJump, with the Motive name.

That said, I'm leaving a lot of great co-workers behind (and staying in touch with a number of them as well). Folks who were there for me when my kids were born, whose kids I saw born and with whom I shared too many dinners on occasion. We dressed up for many Bison Stampedes and shipped many products (and buried a few).

I moved more than 4 boxes of papers/books/CDs/etc out of my office yesterday. And backed up ~2Gb of email.

It was a good time.

And I'm glad to be moving on.

A question for my Austin readers

2007-04-17T20:00:44Z

A question for my Austin readers. Has anyone been a patient of (or know someone who has been) one of these doctors/practices?

Dr. Shannon Wong

Dr. Mitchell Wong

Eye Physicians of Austin

Dr. Steven Dell

I'm looking to move forward with Lasik sometime soon and I've talked to all of these offices which are reasonably comparable on experience, equipment and price. But if there's anybody out there that can recommend one (or conversely warn me away from one) practice, I'd appreciate it.

Small pieces loosely joined...

2007-03-16T18:14:30Z

I don't know where I saw the pointer but the website, Ficlets, is an intriguing concept. It limits (I think to good effect) writers to a short paragraph of text, which in turn can be expanded by other members. The result, a short story, but authored with minimal effort by any given writer.

I don't expect that any of the stories will be especially compelling but the efforts are still intriguing.

Inspiration from Will Wright Keynote

2007-03-13T21:50:01Z

While listening to the Will Wright keynote at SXSW, I had a number of ideas. I'm jotting them down here in large part for my own edification:

Courier - A cooperative game using devices (computers/phones) but coordinated via a web site, where the players take objects from one location to another via Bluetooth transfer. Teams able to move the "package" more quickly or with the fewest/most jumps would get more points. In addition, points might be awarded for meeting new people in order to facilitate package transfer.

Wondertwinpowers logo - I've always struggled with attaching a graphic identity to the site. I could reference the super heroes, it is after all where the concept came from, but it's hardly a clean graphic identity and is a questionable move from a copyright standpoint. My aha here was to break the words apart and compose them as a an equation, so WONDER times TWIN to the POWERS equals the contents of the web site.

Cooperatively remixed comics - A web app/social web site that allows members to create newspaper-style comics by composing provided graphics and typing words. Definitely inspired by the fun of using ComicLife to do some LJ posts here and the difficulty of moving that content into LJ consistently.

Will Wright Keynote at SXSW

2007-03-13T21:02:21Z

The Will Wright keynote at this year's SXSW was certainly thought-provoking. I've seen video of a couple of his speeches this year and while he always incorporates some review of Spore, he manages to cover so much other interesting material as well.

This talk began as a review of forms of storytelling, breaking down how story arcs work in various kinds of movies and correspondingly in games. There was a lot of emphasis on how moviegoers make a mental model of what's happened/happening/going to happen in a movie and how movies and games have much different emotional territories.

He then went on to detail how they leverage player content creation to take fairly simple creature, culture, planet creation to improve all other player's games. And while demoing the amazing in-game editors (really like the best 3D editor I've ever seen) he discussed how they use procedural textures, animation and model generation to raise the level of all content creation.

After demoing Spore (again some wonderful eye candy and a game with truly amazing scope) he wrapped up with a great call to arms to consider how games (really more specifically the process of creating simulations) can enhance learning and empathy and in turn improve the world.

There's a meager write-up that unfortunately missing the final point at CrunchGear.

SXSW: Reputation and Identity

2007-03-11T15:53:39Z

I'm at SXSW early for a panel on reputation and identity. It started out very slow, with the moderator, Christian Crumlish, rambling on without making many definitive statements.

The second panelist to speak, K. Hamlin, went briefly over OpenID both in concept and implementation.

Ted Nodeau went next, with an admitted preface that he was new to identity and reputation. While his talk was rambling, he threw out some interesting observations about existing reputation systems (eBay, LinkedIn, Slashdot, etc...) but generally noting the lack of widespread and open reputation systems. It definitely seems like there's an opportunity for something tied to OpenID and given the direction LoTV is headed, it's worth paying attention to this area.

Mary Hodder spoke next about the Attention Trust, starting with an example of how Google uses attention in the form of links and AdSense to power their businesses. She related that the Attention Trust founders actually had a much easier time than expected in getting large internet companies (Google, Microsoft, Amazon, etc...) to release this information to their users.

The last panelist, George Kelly, spoke about the interactive johari window which allows an individual to self-select attributes and then compare them to the attributes selected by others. The inverse, a nohari window, allows the selection of negative attributes with the same kind of comparison and filtering.

Of interest to parents and the differently-sensed (i.e. most of my friends list)

2007-02-21T21:00:33Z

I somehow stumbled on a great series of posts by Mark Woodman regarding his attempts to treat his son's sensory processing disorder on Wired's Bodyhack blog. The series starts with this post.

Following so closely on our visit to San Antonio to evaluate repair options for Griffin's atresia, I was very struck by the disparity that has existed between the treatments that may be available/pursued by an given individual. And while money is a factor; it seems that just being aware that a treatment is available and having the skills/determination to pursue it is a more significant one.

And if you do follow the link, be sure to browse the comments. There's a number of very interesting ones by folks in similar situations.

Wonder Twin Powers... Activate!

2007-01-16T04:47:35Z

It's fascinating to observe the interaction between the Griffin, Jesse and Cecelia. I guess that I would have expected the youngest to end up tagging along with the older kids and while that happens on occasion, she's actually much more independent than either of them.

Guess our little girl's not a sidekick.

A flurry of ... activity

2007-01-12T16:11:52Z

Since I really appreciate being able to get some insight into my friends lives via LiveJournal, I'm working to update my journal more often.

And it probably helps that my new MacBook comes with some bundled software, Comic Life that makes creating comics dirt-simple. So I'll be trying to make a bunch of posts in that style. If the images end up being disruptive to anyone's reading, let me know and I'll put them behind a cut.

And in the spirit of encouraging me to post, I'd love to hear from y'all in the comments. Especially if there's anything you'd like to see me write about.

Chris Returns

2007-01-10T16:04:34Z

StoryCorps Booth Coming to Austin

2006-02-15T23:30:41Z

Austin Public Library Lookup

2005-11-08T18:41:51Z

I just had to go find a web tool that has been very useful to me and so I thought that I'd post something here to let others know about it (and so that I don't have to re-find it again in the future).

It's a way to create a bookmark (or favorite in the windows world) that you can invoke when on an Amazon page for a book, which will launch a new window with the search results for that book's ISBN at the Austin public library. From there, I typically reserve the book online and pick it up from the library when it comes in a few weeks later.

I don't know that this will work for anything other than Safari on the Mac, although I'll give you some details to make your own for any library further down.

1. Create a new bookmark or favorite, give it a name like "Lookup at Austin Public Library"
2. Copy the following text into the link/url field:
javascript:var%20re=/([\/-]|is[bs]n=)(\d{7,9}[\dX])/i;if(re.test(location.href)==true){var%20isbn=RegExp.$2;void(win=window.open('https://library.ci.austin.tx.us'+'/web2/tramp2.exe/do_authority_search/guest?SETTING_KEY=English&location_group_filter=all&servers=1home&index=(&query='+isbn,'LibraryLookup','scrollbars=1,resizable=1,location=1,width=575,height=500'))}
3. Save
4. Go to any book page on amazon (something popular is probably safer here)
5. Click on the bookmark

A new window should appear with the search results for that book.

If that doesn't work or you use a different library, you can go to the Library Lookup site and use these parameters:

Base URL: https://library.ci.austin.tx.us
Vendor: Sirsi/DRA

for the Austin Public Library or change them for your own library.

Wonderful hidden door bookshelf

2005-10-19T14:27:26Z

A gentleman, who needed more bookshelf space (and who doesn't) but couldn't block off a door, built a great hidden/swinging bookshelf door as part of a larger unit.

Hidden bookshelf project

Cecelia and Cedar

2005-10-06T22:05:44Z

Cecelia and Cedar
Originally uploaded by ashertree.

It's funny, while visiting our friends in Portland, I didn't really get the impression that the kids were *so* different in size.

Interesting tool for visualizing zipcodes

2005-10-05T21:04:27Z

For instance, I never realized that 78750 was split into 2 distinct areas.

Zipcode Mapping Tools

Serenity Quote

2005-09-30T17:00:03Z

Having been tagged by noiseinmyhead, here's a serentiy quote (from the show, not the movie - which I probably won't see for weeks):

Zoe: "Proximity alert. Must be coming up on something."
Wash: (alarmed) "Oh my god. What can it be? We're all doomed! Who's flying this thing!?" (deadpan) "Oh right, that would be me. Back to work."

And on that note, back to work for me.

Life/Death...

2005-09-22T22:09:17Z

Couldn't resist re-posting part of an article in the New York Times about David Cronenberg. His attitude about life and how death/disease/aging are just a part of the natural process really struck a chord. Anyway, here's the excerpt:

"Not really," he says. "In actual aging, as opposed to anticipated aging, many interesting arabesques on the theme have revealed themselves. But the basic feeling is the same. The reality of it just comes closer. What's different is that between then and now a lot of people that I know have died. But loss is inevitable, especially when you're speaking about the loss of people. You've got to find a way to come to terms with it. Part of my project, consciously or not, has always been to alter my own sense of aesthetics so that the things that some people find horrible, I don't find horrible. I think they're beautiful."

Can such loss be made beautiful?

"Absolutely. It is the inevitable human experience, isn't it? If you live long enough, you'll lose everybody else, and if you don't, they'll lose you. There is sadness; there is separation; there is loss; there is physical decay. And if you want to say that you've embraced life fully, you have to embrace all of those things. A lot of natural processes are considered horrific or disgusting or repulsive, and I always found that really hard to understand, even though I might have experienced it myself. You do not turn away from these things."

And here's the link to the article:

David Cronenberg's Body Language

Book Meme...

2005-05-19T21:00:50Z

Having been tagged by noiseinmyhead, here's my response to the book meme.

1. Total number of books I've owned:

I'm sure it's past a thousand...something llike 30 boxes last move.... (relying on noiseinmyhead's estimate here)

2. Last book I bought:

I have no clue. I'm pretty sure that I purchased some books for others at Christmas but I've been trying to read more from the library. Last book I checked out was "Getting Things Done".

3. Last book I read:

Freakanomics

4. 5 books that mean a lot to me:

5. Tag 5 people and have them fill this out in their LJs:

oliana0
bquinlan
zainybrainy
friday
chardin

You find the funniest things on the web...

2005-04-14T02:39:58Z

So, engaged in the process of trying to find out how much a safety deposit box might cost at Wells Fargo, I search for "wells fargo safety deposit box" on google. The list of results seems lackluster but I notice one for epinions, a generally decent product recommendation site. Could be worth a try. Click through. Laugh hilariously.

Review of Wells Fargo

Excerpt:

I would, honestly and sincerely, like to see how you go about disposing of those air molecules, licit or otherwise. Short of employing some cyclotron to which Wells Fargo might be hiding up its corporate *ss, or a particle accelerator of some sort, or a supercollider, I think you might find that particular activity somewhat more challenging than getting me to pay for a box I don’t use or return a key I no longer have.

Gmail invites...

2004-11-04T18:57:16Z

I'm sure that most of the folks that I know have a Gmail account if they want it. But if you don't, I have 6 Gmail invites available.