Today’s space news and too long spent playing with blog design* this weekend made this cosmic blog‘toon seem rather relevant.
From the excellent xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe
* Only some of which made it to the published blogs
Quote of the holiday from a Hanoi shopkeeper:
“It’s Nine Dollar US, if you pay in Dong (local currency) I do cheaper ‘cause US Dollar not so strong”
(About 16,000 Dong = US$1)
Its older than computer aided drafting. So what does Cad really mean?
Weird Words: Cad ~ World Wide Words
Its history is as weird as one might like…
If you’re accused of being a geek, might as well find out how much of a geek you are. Click on the 
badge to get your rating
Although I don’t use SolidWorks I do read SolidSmack – a SolidWorks focused blog. The “how to" posts aren’t much use to me but there is a wealth of other content on product design, technology and other cool stuff that keeps me reading.
I suspect Josh has been touched by the Flying Spaghetti Monster's noodly appendages. His “5 minute model” combined with his site logo (below) resembles a cubist FSM.
SolidSmack.com - www.solidsmack.com
I created the below model in just over 5 minutes. Fun stuff.
It’s already appeared in AutoCAD, DWF/Freewheel (thanks to Robert Grandmaison), MindManager and Second Life. Will the Flying Spaghetti Monster spontaneously appear in Revit, ArchiCAD, Inventor and other design applications? Is it a sign?
Is this a statement, of the obvious?
Indexed is math based humour and social comment drawn on an index card. A favourite blog which is about to become a book.
INDEXED - by Jessica Hagy - indexed.blogspot.com
This site is a little project that lets me make fun of some things and sense of others. I use it to think a little more relationally without resorting to doing actual math.
Who did Matt spot at SolidWorks World?
Matt Writes » Spotted at SolidWorks World
This blur is actually #### #####….
I like cycling but finding the time is tough. Maybe this MIT project is the solution…
Bike Powered Notebook Computer (TreeHugger)
As the bike's instructions note, if you have trouble "squeezing in that daily exercise," you can now "multitask with no problem--[you can] bike while you work!"
This is brilliant!
CompliCAD v1.0.0.0.0 - Cadalyst AEC
The ultimate BIM software will provide you with a challenge -- and an intense headache…
Robert Grandmaison made rather stunning model of the Flying Spaghetti Monster in AutoCAD and shared as a DWF. With his permission I’m hosting it and if you have a free DWF Viewer you can "Right click >Save target as" to download FSM-RG.dwf (226.3K)
If not try the not try the “no install” Freewheel viewer version below. You can zoom, orbit (spin in 3D) to view the FSM from any direction. If “he” orbits off screen use “Pan” to move back or “Fit” to return to the original view.
Using DWF + Freewheel to view a deity from any perspective…
Autodesk Freewheel is an Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) based web service/application built to provide CAD model viewing, printing and collaboration, through the dynamic rendering of DWF file data and graphics information. You can think of Freewheel as a set of componentized Web Services and JavaScript frameworks. Together these components make up the Interactive Ajax DWF Viewer.
All rights for FSM, Freewheel and the DWF itself remain with their respective authors. Combined use of their content or technology does not imply any endorsement of one by the other.
Stephen Fry, yes that Stephen Fry, has just started a personal blog. So why isn’t this post on my personal blog? Because he’s a gadget freak and his first post is a long, eloquent, discourse on the joys and pain of owning an Apple iPhone in England. Subscribed!
A recent visit to my CAD dealer and reading the brilliant XKCD Blog resulted in a rather remarkable coincidence.
Rich Sales (yes, that’s really his name) was showing me his new company vehicle, a Segway. Rich chose it as lives reasonably close to work, travels a route soon to be cluttered with bus/pedestrian only transit roads, it’s fun way to save gas and save the planet. I think it’s rather appropriate transport for the ultimate CAD/BIM geek. I was at Salesoft for training but had time for a little test drive around the office. For someone used to balancing on bicycles I found the “relax I’ll balance for you” Segway a strange, but cool, way to move.
That night I got home to find XKCD Blog featured a cartoon vision of the future, drawn in 1900. The caption says “In the new century no one will walk – all will have wheels” and the label on the device reads ‘footomobile’. I asked Rich for a photo of his new toy for my blog but didn’t tell him about the ‘toon. I grinned when this image arrived today with eerily similar composition.
Rich may say he commutes by Segway, but for me it will forever be:
1900 (A vision of 2000) 2007 (A Vision!)
Click the images for full-size versions
Footomobiles - xkcd » Blog Archive
I was recently reading through newspapers from around 1898 to 1901. In a collection of articles from midwestern papers predicting what life would be like in the year 2000, I found this cartoon. The label on the device reads ‘footomobile’. Words fail me
Cartoon from Brown County Democrat, December 28, 1900.
Click for the answer to life, the universe and everything…
;-)
Lisp Cycles - xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language
Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).
I think Scott may have started a Cad Blogger Simpsons Avatar meme.
While his is rather generic scrolling down to see Shaan’s appear while drinking a coffee was not a good idea – wipes coffee spray off monitor – and was glad it’s Saturday so this happened at home not work.
I did one before someone else does…
Simpson’ise yourself, or someone else, at http://www.simpsonsmovie.com
UPDATE: Awesome twin guitar sound-track for this post, via Welsh View
Oops, I posted this on the wrong blog, if you’re still curious have a look here
* No it’s not the iPhone
What a compliment for Shaan Hurley, being described as the "the masculine Lynn Allen"!
Not so sure Lynn Allen would as pleased to be "the feminine Shaan Hurley" 
Lynn Allen Shaan Hurley
Between the Lines: Thank You Chicago!
A few feedback comment forms standout in my mind and one actually mentioned I was the "masculine Lynn Allen". This was of course due to the session originally set to be one from Lynn Allen but she needed rest before taking off on her Asia shopping trip.
Thought it was funny these two messages appeared at the same time in the Discussion Group feeds…
It’s strange what you find on a CAD Discussion Group. It started with a question about the AutoCAD Architecture Tool & Catalog system, a serious answer mentioned “XML Schema”, then a comment about it being “developed by monkeys” led to this amusing site:
Credit to “the Other Frank”. Thanks for making my day!
Thanks to Melanie for reminding me it’s “Towel Day”.
Disclosure: Although I’m a DNA fan I didn’t remember to carry a towel all day. However, I did inadvertently photograph the Vogon Constructor Fleet over Auckland City today. A friend has just started work at the SkyCity Casino & Tower seen at the end of the rainbow. I sent him this snapshot & asked if he’d found a pot of gold yet…
On the way home from Autodesk University 2004 I sat next to a comedy writer for who was heading to NZ to script a pilot show for “Flight Of the Conchords”. They are a Kiwi Folk (as in music) Parody duo who had been spotted at the Montreal Comedy Festival. The concept for the show sounded great and we had a long conversation about NZ comedy, culture and how a Kiwi reacts to arriving in the US.
It seems that deal, with NBC, didn’t work out but just discovered their new series debuts on HBO next month. If you like quirky comedy with a Kiwi accent check them out!
New Zealand’s 4th most popular Folk Parody Comedy group
Premiere on HBO June 17!
It’s only one of a four part series but as I work in an office where we’ve had a few fire alarms due to toast I just love Mesmerised…
View the others at It’s a new day. It’s a new Microsoft video - I Started Something
Today I visited the DWF website to download Autodesk Design Review 2008 (free!) only to see a promo running. Having just returned from a cycle tour, which included a relentless 900m hill-climb, I thought…
Kiwi ingenuity + Wok = Bargain satellite dish?
$10 wok keeps TV station on air - 22 Feb 2007 - National News - New Zealand Herald
Why pay $20,000 for a commercial link to run your television station when a $10 kitchen wok from the Warehouse is just as effective?Thanks to Phil at Autodesk for the lead…
Kiwis are renowned for their ingenuity. I heard someone in Eketahuna purchased an Etch-A-Sketch from a nearby Warehouse and is developing it into a BIM platform. Expect more details soon on:
I discovered Enrico’s Blog a year ago and borrowed his idea of using your own photos as a blog header. It probably wasn’t his idea but the header at the time I visited was memorable for someone who likes little Fiats. I thought of it on the flight to AU while watching the movie “Cars” for the first time. Enrico works for Pixar & my favourite character, the yellow cinquecento Luigi “follow only the Ferrari”, reminded me of that image:
I was on the way to The Venetian but Enrico is chronicling travel to the real Venice. If only I had the imagination and talent to create a brilliant travelogue like this…
Enrico’s blog » The Venice Chronicles
Enrico Casarosa is a storyboard artist living in San Francisco, working in Animation by day, publishing artbooks and comics by night. Forever stuck between the gravitational pulls of Italy (his home country) and Japan (a cultural passion).
Joel posted these for the intended audience, comic book artists, but I think many of the techniques for composition/lighting apply to both PowerPoint and rendering.
Joel Johnson: Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work: Unlimited Edition
Ask any working comic book artist who has been in the business for more than ten years about "Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work", and they know of it like it was the bible.Once shrouded in secrecy, Wally Wood would selectively give assistants and those close to him three 8×10 photocopies of comic panels that bore the absolute essence of drawing comic book panels. 22 images in total, they held the secret to a comic book illustrator’s success, and those who learned from them benefited from the master’s wisdom.
via drawn
This has nothing to do with CAD but it’s just so cool.
Treehugger: Take the Park With You
Click thru for the full image.
Microsoft Office 2007 has been delayed. There are a couple of possible reasons:
Click through to the full ‘toon, is it you too?
Doug Savage does a chicken toon every day: http://www.savagechickens.com/
The danger of searching for content based on acronyms like ADT:
They are talking about “Attention Deficit Trait” not Architectural Desktop
What is ADT?
“It’s a condition induced by modern life, in which you’ve become so busy attending to so many inputs and outputs that you become increasingly distracted, irritable, impulsive, restless and, over the long term, underachieving. In other words, it costs you efficiency because you’re doing so much or trying to do so much, it’s as if you’re juggling one more ball than you possibly can.”
From robhyndman.com » Blog Archive » Still More on the Myth of Multitasking
You probably see him every day, now he speaks out in this exclusive interview.
The International Symbol for Man Tells All : Design Observer
“My wife, Popsicle Stick Lady, doesn’t see me as being “iconic”
I didn’t think this blog would be the correct forum to recommend one Architect over another but this one is definitely worth a look.
Architects Associates
Welcome to Architects Associates. If you are looking for the premiere architectural design firm, you need look no further...
Via & thanks to SO @ Cad Manager Discussion Group
Trabant based, um, double decker bus?
Da Trabant a... Bus inglese - www.autoblog.it
(14–03–06 I’ve fixed the link)
Rod Drury discovers, according to “The Register”, New Zealand features in Google’s plans for world domination 
Savage Chickens: GPS
Doug Savage does a chicken toon every day
Follow Mr S. Claus on his delivery trip around the world…
Official Google Blog: This just in....
I love Google Earth and have been planning a big trip with it…
S. Claus
Remember, Life is an adventure!
HBO: Flight of the Conchords
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