Coconut Monkey Cornerclub

[ZedClampet]

Kakapo IGN gives Invincible Season 3 Final Episode a 4/10. I have seen it, it is one of the best (if not best) episode in the whole series. On IMDB it is on 9.9/10, just to put it in perspective. I'm not even going to click or read such a kakapo post, it does not deserve my attention anymore than me just realizing such a kakapo post were made.

Reading reviews of something you've already enjoyed is dangerous. It can sow doubt and ruin the whole thing.

It's kind of irresistible, though. You want to see people heap the praise on it that it deserves.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Kakapo IGN gives Invincible Season 3 Final Episode a 4/10. I have seen it, it is one of the best (if not best) episode in the whole series. On IMDB it is on 9.9/10, just to put it in perspective. I'm not even going to click or read such a kakapo post, it does not deserve my attention anymore than me just realizing such a kakapo post were made.

They may as well call themselves Cacapoo I tell ya!

 

[ZedClampet]

A friend of mine I used to work with lives in Arkansas. He told me they had a storm last night that spawned 7 tornadoes. Said the closest one to his house was a couple of miles, so he didn't take any damage, but the city has a lot of cleaning and rebuilding to do.

Feels like the weather is getting more severe.

We people in east Tennessee still have to take the LONG way to go east after the hurricane took out a dam and wiped out the road through the Appalachian mountains last summer. They estimate it will take years to rebuild the interstate through there.

 

[ZedClampet]

My daughter just called. She got a summer job as a park ranger. She's very excited. She changed her degree from biology to environmental engineering, so that's right where she wants to be right now. She graduates next fall. She's applied for graduate school, but says if she gets offered a decent job that she'll just do that in the evenings.

 

[BeardyHat]

Finally got motivated to take a look at the FDM printer my friend gave me many months ago. Looks like it's pretty ancient, from 2018 and in order to actually update the firmware, you need a separate Arduino based programmer; after doing an hours worth of research, it looks like the best solution is to spend $40 to update the motherboard in it to something more recent.

I'm fairly content to do that, but just looking at the FDM side of the printing hobby (I use only Resin currently), it looks like another hobby entirely. I don't really need another one of those, but I'd like to be able to print stuff with plastic filament because it would be significantly more sturdy for my RC application.

Soooo, I gotta convince my wife that I need to spend $40 to update this board...

 

[Frindis]

Started feeding the local crows some hazelnuts. They were pretty shy and only flew down to start eating after I had walked away. Probably not used to the locals feeding them. I'll try to do it at least once a week around the same time/day and see how long it will take before they get more comfortable around me. Crows can remember faces for several years and can even teach their chicks about nice or bad people, so hopefully I did a good first impression.

 

[ZedClampet]

Started feeding the local crows some hazelnuts. They were pretty shy and only flew down to start eating after I had walked away. Probably not used to the locals feeding them. I'll try to do it at least once a week around the same time/day and see how long it will take before they get more comfortable around me. Crows can remember faces for several years and can even teach their chicks about nice or bad people, so hopefully I did a good first impression.

I'm assuming you've already seen this:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpg3VvoIVfA

 

[February's Ghost]

Started feeding the local crows some hazelnuts. They were pretty shy and only flew down to start eating after I had walked away. Probably not used to the locals feeding them. I'll try to do it at least once a week around the same time/day and see how long it will take before they get more comfortable around me. Crows can remember faces for several years and can even teach their chicks about nice or bad people, so hopefully I did a good first impression.

I've seen stories about crows that will follow people they like around town. One story claimed a girl lost a lens cap from her camera and it showed up on the family's windowsill the next day.

We don't get any crows in my part of the city, but I put up a bird feeder off my balcony. Really don't know what kind of birds are eating save for three: cardinals, pigeons, and a woodpecker. The woodpecker is almost as big as the feeder and hangs off it causing it to swing a whole lot. I am genuinely surprised it hasn't take the feeder down. The pigeons are gluttons. They'll sit at the feeder for 5 minutes at a time several times a day.

 

[Frindis]

@ZedClampet Not seen that one, but all the videos he refereed to. One smart crow!

My theory is that the crows are a bit more hesitant since the area if fed them in was an open park, so there are more people walking around. When I fed some crows in the forest, they were more bold, so I think it might be because it is more closed off, making it easier for them to conceal themselves or get away using branches and such.

I've seen stories about crows that will follow people they like around town. On story claimed a girl lost a lens cap from her camera and it showed up on the family's windowsill the next day.

We don't get any crows in my part of the city, but I put up a bird feeder off my balcony. Really don't know what kind of birds are eating save for three: cardinals, pigeons, and a woodpecker. The woodpecker is almost as big as the feeder and hangs off it causing it to swing a whole lot. I am genuinely surprised it hasn't take the feeder down. The pigeons are gluttons. They'll sit at the feeder for 5 minutes at a time several times a day.

I should start teaching the local crows to steal from the local jewelry shop and perhaps snacks from the local supermarket

Pigeons are smart, they know it is more energy efficient to be sitting close to the feeder. Every pigeon in the proximity probably know that you are the nicest person with the best food.

 

[ZedClampet]

Birds are amazing. I watched a pelican sneak behind a fisherman on a pier and grab a tasty fish out of the guy's cooler. The guy turned around, and the pelican started looking around as though he were trying to figure out what the fisherman was looking at because he, the pelican, was obviously just standing there innocently. The fisherman turned back to the water, so the pelican immediately helped himself to another fish. One interesting thing was that the pelican wasn't at all concerned that I was standing right there watching him, and rightfully so because I wasn't about to tell on him. On the attempt to nab a third fish, the fisherman turned around right as the pelican was grabbing the fish. The pelican knew he was caught and flew away, actually brushing against me as he went.

I did feel a little uncomfortable standing there watching the pelican eat the guy's fish, but apparently I wasn't the only person who did that or the pelican would have worried that I was watching him. Somehow he knew that he only had to worry about the human who was fishing.

 

[Frindis]

Those poor cats!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt-pB1R64mI

 

[February's Ghost]

@ZedClampet

Pigeons are smart, they know it is more energy efficient to be sitting close to the feeder. Every pigeon in the proximity probably know that you are the nicest person with the best food.

I am definitely not the nicest person, but I most definitely give the birds the best food. And I mean BEST.

 

[ZedClampet]

I am definitely not the nicest person, but I most definitely give the birds the best food. And I mean BEST.

In Atlantic City, you don't even need to feed them. Just buy some food and the seagulls will come take it out of your hands.

We have a tornado alert for the next 4 hours. My wife is sitting in the basement, but I figure if I have to die that having the wind fly me into a brick wall 2 miles away at 200 mph is at least as interesting as any other way to go.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Finally got motivated to take a look at the FDM printer my friend gave me many months ago. Looks like it's pretty ancient, from 2018 and in order to actually update the firmware, you need a separate Arduino based programmer; after doing an hours worth of research, it looks like the best solution is to spend $40 to update the motherboard in it to something more recent.

I'm fairly content to do that, but just looking at the FDM side of the printing hobby (I use only Resin currently), it looks like another hobby entirely. I don't really need another one of those, but I'd like to be able to print stuff with plastic filament because it would be significantly more sturdy for my RC application.

Soooo, I gotta convince my wife that I need to spend $40 to update this board...

Curious as to whether there's any downside to the convenience of merely placing filament in a machine, vs using resin, which I assume can be messier, and possibly have the tendency to thicken over time when stored for long periods, or gunk up the printing head. I'm guessing the filament is less of a mess even at the heated printer head?

I would think the filament would cost more though, but the sturdiness alone might be worth it as far as not having to reprint broken parts, AND not having to spend the time doing so.

My personal Monkey business for the day is fine tuning my new daily workout routine with more affordable nutrition. I've been using 11oz bottles of Atkins protein shakes thus far, which you can't get any cheaper than $2 per bottle. A friend of mine uses ON brand whey protein powder. He buys it in 74 serving 5 gal jugs for a bit over $70. I ordered a smaller 28 serving jug just to try it out. It's only got 24g protein per serving vs Atkins' 30g, but if I mix it with milk it should be about 32g.

The main reason I ordered a smaller jug is some say it's got a different formula now and lacks the digestive enzymes it used to have, which a small percentage of reviewers say can cause a bit of stomach discomfort. Basically 1100 spoke on the "Stomach Upset" rating category, and 2/3 of them said it digests fine, and 1/3 said they had issues with it. There are 241,000 reviews total though, averaging 4.5/5 stars.

I've been getting by with my 10mm thick heavy duty bungie cords for resistance band training, but the resistance band set I want that's still out of stock is sorely missed. The spin bike has been great though, it's plenty sturdy enough and very smooth and quiet, and also can give you a very good workout in as little as 15 min.

 

[February's Ghost]

In Atlantic City, you don't even need to feed them. Just buy some food and the seagulls will come take it out of your hands.

Yeah, that's a common coastal town problem.

We have a tornado alert for the next 4 hours. My wife is sitting in the basement, but I figure if I have to die that having the wind fly me into a brick wall 2 miles away at 200 mph is at least as interesting as any other way to go.

I had several severe weather alarms go off, but so far it's been only slightly windier than normal.

 

[ZedClampet]

Yeah, that's a common coastal town problem.



I had several severe weather alarms go off, but so far it's been only slightly windier than normal.

Whatever happened, if anything, I missed it. I fell asleep right after I posted.

 

[ZedClampet]

If you have lots of free time, read this about abstract art and give your own thoughts.

I've been talking to myself (on the forums) this morning about art games where you paint pictures and sell them (like Passpartout), and it reminded me of listening to a debate between my father, who's an actual genius, and an unknown patron at the National Art Gallery in Washington DC.

All three of us were standing together looking at a modernist abstract painting of a blue square on a white background when the other person said, "It's wonderful, isn't it?" to which my father replied something along the lines of "No, it's a blue square that we've all agreed to pretend is wonderful because we're afraid that saying the truth makes us look uncultured and unintelligent."

This was followed by a debate where my father explained the misuse of the word "abstract" and conveyed the traditional definition of art as an abstraction of some part of the human experience and said that the person who made the square was, instead of an artist, simply a painter who, if he showed any real aptitude, should get a job painting houses in a nearby subdivision. I don't remember much of what the other person said. I remember him saying something about the particular shade of blue used to make the square, but that's it.

To be honest, I kind of wanted to side with the other guy, otherwise the implications of us having filled a good part of the National Art Gallery with this stuff were a little too much for me.

My uneducated opinion now as an old guy is that these artists were actually rebelling against the human condition by rebelling against art. and the statement they were trying to make could be childishly summarized as "this whole thing sucks" even though they may not have understood this is what they were saying at the time. The uglier and more banal they were able to make their work, the stronger was their complaint about the human condition. After all, the 20th century was filled with strife and philosophical and religious disillusionment. Framed this way, it's possible that blue square really was wonderful.

But this is just a retrospective interpretation by someone who doesn't know what he's talking about.

 

[Pifanjr]

If you have lots of free time, read this about abstract art and give your own thoughts.

I've been talking to myself (on the forums) this morning about art games where you paint pictures and sell them (like Passpartout), and it reminded me of listening to a debate between my father, who's an actual genius, and an unknown patron at the National Art Gallery in Washington DC.

All three of us were standing together looking at a modernist abstract painting of a blue square on a white background when the other person said, "It's wonderful, isn't it?" to which my father replied something along the lines of "No, it's a blue square that we've all agreed to pretend is wonderful because we're afraid that saying the truth makes us look uncultured and unintelligent."

This was followed by a debate where my father explained the misuse of the word "abstract" and conveyed the traditional definition of art as an abstraction of some part of the human experience and said that the person who made the square was, instead of an artist, simply a painter who, if he showed any real aptitude, should get a job painting houses in a nearby subdivision. I don't remember much of what the other person said. I remember him saying something about the particular shade of blue used to make the square, but that's it.

To be honest, I kind of wanted to side with the other guy, otherwise the implications of us having filled a good part of the National Art Gallery with this stuff were a little too much for me.

My uneducated opinion now as an old guy is that these artists were actually rebelling against the human condition by rebelling against art. and the statement they were trying to make could be childishly summarized as "this whole thing sucks" even though they may not have understood this is what they were saying at the time. The uglier and more banal they were able to make their work, the stronger was their complaint about the human condition. After all, the 20th century was filled with strife and philosophical and religious disillusionment. Framed this way, it's possible that blue square really was wonderful.

But this is just a retrospective interpretation by someone who doesn't know what he's talking about.

From what I understand, there are two things to keep in mind.

First of all, even if a piece of art looks really simple, like a single line or square, there might be more effort behind it than you'd think. I know there's one big painting that's just one colour, which seems simple at first. However, despite being made entirely by hand, you cannot see any brush marks or variations in shade.

The second thing is that art does not necessarily have to be realistic, complex or even beautiful. As gamers, we know all too well that the most realistic, complex and beautiful graphics aren't necessarily the best.
And I don't just mean that stylised graphics can look better than realistic ones, I also mean that sometimes you want to mod Thomas the Tank Engine into your game even though it clashes with the art style of the rest of the game.

 

[ZedClampet]

From what I understand, there are two things to keep in mind.

First of all, even if a piece of art looks really simple, like a single line or square, there might be more effort behind it than you'd think. I know there's one big painting that's just one colour, which seems simple at first. However, despite being made entirely by hand, you cannot see any brush marks or variations in shade.

The second thing is that art does not necessarily have to be realistic, complex or even beautiful. As gamers, we know all too well that the most realistic, complex and beautiful graphics aren't necessarily the best.
And I don't just mean that stylised graphics can look better than realistic ones, I also mean that sometimes you want to mod Thomas the Tank Engine into your game even though it clashes with the art style of the rest of the game.

Yay. Thanks for responding.

We're making a distinction between painting, the act of crafting your work, and what it is to be an artist, the act of revealing something about human existence. To be an artist, you have to do the latter, otherwise you are just a painter, though you can be a very great painter.

Complexity doesn't have anything to do with the merit of art, so how complex or difficult something was to make doesn't make a difference, but it does make a difference in painting. Same thing can be said for the art style, be it realism, cubism or whatever. Unless the art style is saying something, the easiest example would be expressionism, then it's just an aesthetic. In this sense, realism could perhaps be seen as the worst style for art.

 

[Pifanjr]

Yay. Thanks for responding.

We're making a distinction between painting, the act of crafting your work, and what it is to be an artist, the act of revealing something about human existence. To be an artist, you have to do the latter, otherwise you are just a painter, though you can be a very great painter.

Complexity doesn't have anything to do with the merit of art, so how complex or difficult something was to make doesn't make a difference, but it does make a difference in painting. Same thing can be said for the art style, be it realism, cubism or whatever. Unless the art style is saying something, the easiest example would be expressionism, then it's just an aesthetic. In this sense, realism could perhaps be seen as the worst style for art.

I think art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. I don't think art is an act, but rather anything that reveals something about human existence to someone is art to that person.