Shannon and I both found jobs, (with our ex-employers none the less). Until the new year we are living on the 3rd floor of my parent’s house. Soon, the old routines will be new again.

***

I recently watched the movie Primer. As described by Kottke, this movie is very indie, was made for around $7000 USD, and will (only?) appeal to nerds, engineers (aka nerds), and philosophers (aka nerds).

The movie deals with time-travel, and due to the branching time-lines explored, and the resultant paradoxes, it was a challenge to follow. Luckily the ‘net comes to the rescue:

• Primer timeline
• Another Primer timeline
• A visual Primer timeline - Yikes!
• An interview with Shane Carruth, writer/director/actor/etc of Primer.

***

The idea of building a time machine in your garage might seem far-fetched, but what about building a brainwave analyser? An EEG can be used to experiment with biofeedback, or potentially to control digital/electronic equipment with your mind.

• OpenEEG - OpenSource plans for a DIY EEG.
• Homemade EEG/EKG Schematics

***

With a 9-5 looming, I’ll have to follow Steve Pavlina time management advice if I wish to build an EEG in my spare time. His advice seems well tested: he graduated with two degrees in only three semesters, (holding a full-time job in the final semester).

***

During my brief job hunt I restructured my CV as a webpage using XHTML and CSS. I then attempted to replicate the design in Word for dead-tree printing. After ten minutes of Word-Wrestling, I returned to my XHTML version and created a printer friend stylesheet.

Related:

• Prince - CSS based design for print media
• Printing a Book with CSS using Prince.

***

An orange HB pencil lounges on the desk near my monitor. [5 minutes elapse as I contemplate the pencil and its relation to the keyboard beneath my fingers: similar in function, foreign in form.]

Related: Pencil Revolution.

***

Philosophical & Religious findings:

• Godlorica - Breaking News on God and Other Higher Beings in this World and the World to Come
• AskPhilosophers - You ask. Philosophers answer.
• Is God an Accident?
• Why I Am Not A Christian by Bertrand Russell
• God’s Debris - Free Ebook / Thought experiment from Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame).

***

Nearly three years ago, I linked to some images of fractals found in plants from the cabbage family. More recently, I stumbled across an essay on fractal food, Self-Similarity on the Supermarket Shelf.

The city is soaking us back into place.

Also:

• The West End Cultural Centre comes of age this Friday.
• Data is Nature
• NarniaConfidentialWiki - A comprehensive reference for fans of The Chronicles Of Narnia.
• L-System found on Deviant Art

In the late 90s I watched a “documentary” at the Pyramid —before a DJ Spooky show, I think— where some kids claimed to have found the ruins of an abandoned subway under Winnipeg. Since then I’ve heard many rumours about a past proposal for a ‘peg city metro.

From the truwinnipeg.org site:

In 1959, when renowned civil engineer Norman D. Wilson was asked to examine Winnipeg’s long-term transportation options, his report recommended building a subway.

Wilson admitted the expense would be gigantic —up to $500 Million 1959 dollars— but prophesied that if we failed to build, Winnipeg would suffer. Parking lots would become more valuable than buildings, giving land owners incentive to demolish. Cars would take over our downtown.

“In fact if a metropolitan city were to be wholly or even largely dependent on the private automobile for transportation, so much space would be taken up in roadways and so little left for business purposes, as to destroy the value of the district for the business uses that attracted the traffic in the first place.” —Norman D. Wilson

If the subway had been built, there would be a metro stop at the end of my block.

Last fall I visited the University of Manitoba armed with homemade wooden frames.

The result was framed wonder of the everyday.

The second country we visited was Spain. We flew from Paris to Barcelona, travelled down the East coast (mainly by bus), and then cut across the country towards Portugal. (October 2004)

-> Somewhere in Winnipeg, a decision is made.

I’ve started organizing our photos from the past 14 months. Here’s a collection from Paris, our first stop outside Canada. (Late September - Early October 2004)

Some of these were posted back on Oct 11th 2004.

We’re “home”, by the way; or are we?

…we all subscribe thoughtlessly to many beliefs, the truth of which does not strike home to us until experience gives them reality. Wisdom may be rented, so to speak, on the experience of other people, but we buy it at an inordinate price before we make it our own forever.

Robertson Davies

That said, we are now in Montreal.