When Oil was $40 a barrel, I was buying gas for $0.96 a gallon, filling up my 15.4 gallon tank for under $15.00. Zoom forward ten years to 1996. Now the same 15.4 gallon tank at $3.10 a gallon takes 45 bucks but oil is at $70 a barrel. Now the math here is simple to me, a 75% increase in their raw material costs equates to a 222% increase in end product. HEY! WTF?   more »

Mentos is announcing a new video contest to see who can come up with the coolest geyser footage... and if you need any inspiration, all you need to do is watch this:

Delarge commented and let me know about this years Brighton Graffiti Jam that just took place and the images have been posted to the site already... lots and lots of images, over 200! It would be so cool if they did this every year. Thanks for the update guys!

Related Links:

Graphotism
Brighton Hip Hop Festival

Here's a fun cryptogram game for those of you that like word games. The coolest part about it is you can make your own. For example, here's one I made, just for kicks. Can you decipher it? I'll give you a hint, it is a quote by Benoit Mandelbrot.

"Fractal theory provided the basis for a unique software platform program that has been developed for use in conjunction with MRI, and is showing great promise in the early diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Using this unique method, a study has shown that in over 30 percent of patients there were additional tumors in the same breast, and in almost 10 percent of the patients there were tumors in the opposite breast. These tumors were not previously found using mammography or ultrasound." - Newswise

WOW!

Step into the world of artist, Richard Marchand and you're going to be thrilled by surrealistic imagery that incorporates the human form into very beautiful futuristic scenes. Recently, Richard has been using Apophysis fractals to enhance the beauty of of his artwork.   more »

This is part of the Tucows Content division, Greg Weir, Matt Bleicher, myself and Bob Gibson, waiting for the doors to open at the Shareware Industry Awards that were held Saturday night, July 15th. Ironically, this was the awards 15th year. When it was started, there were only 13 voters. Now people from 85 countries, all 50 states and every province in Canada participate in nominating and voting.

BTW, it's not every day your co-worker receives a standing ovation. Thanks, Doc, for all the hard work you've put into the SIC, SIA, SIAF and well... the SI et all! It's a pleasure working with you! (Oh yeah, and the awards dinner was delicious!!)

It was also a pleasure to meet all of the developers who stopped by our hospitality suite to chat for a bit. I have a long list of great software I look forward to reviewing both for the blog and for future Tucows editorials. If by some chance you didn't get a chance to say hello in Denver, you can always email me and send me information about your software. I'd be happy to take a look at it!

Now that I'm home (though tired and worn from travelling), I'll be posting again. In fact, there's some cool artwork and software I want you to see, so hang tight! We'll be back to our regularly scheduled program in a flash!

Hi everyone!

I'm here in Denver, representing Tucows at the Shareware Industry Conference. I'll be here for a few more days, so I won't have time to update the blog, sorry. So far, I've met a lot of cool people and have had the opportunity to talk with some interesting software developers. I've been enjoying my stay; this hotel is beautiful. Michael Callahan, aka Dr.File Finder is on the board and hooked me up with an incredible room! Thanks Doc!

If you'd like to know more about what we are actually doing here in the Tucows Hospitality Suite, you might like to read this blog post by my co-worker, Andy Bourland.

I'll post again if I get a free moment, but most likely, you'll hear from me again next Monday! Enjoy your weekend! I know I will!

Singer, songwriter, guitarist and artist, Syd Barrett, died peacefully just a few days ago on July 7th (link). He was one of the founding members of the band Pink Floyd, and will forever be memorialized by the song Shine On You Crazy Diamond written by Roger Waters.    more »

It's called Camera Toss, and the object is to toss your (inexpensive) camera while it's set on the slowest shutter speed to capture unique patterns that occur with light during the revolutions. Though they are not fractal images, they tend to look a lot like Apophysis fractal designs because the same basic principles are applied: A structure of light exists and is then captured as it is rotated, each iteration causing the light to appear at different x,y coordinates. Camera Tossing has become popular thanks in part to Flickr, where there is a group of 1,812 members that belong to the Camera Toss Group Photo Pool. There's also a blog that explains more in depth how you too can capture amazing patterns of light using a cheapo camera.

Some of my favs:

Link, Link, Link, Link, Link

Beautiful!

Delarge has an interesting gallery of live hip hop photos, graffiti, street art and photography that will knock your socks off. Of particular interest is the gallery exhibiting images from the Brighton Hip Hop Festival & Graphotism Graffiti Jam that took place last July. Over 100 graffiti artists from all over the UK participated. They've included shots of the work in process as well as close-up shots and photos of the entire walls, all of which are pretty impressive. I wonder, will there be a similar festival this year?

This amazing video explains how Warner Bros. recreated and animated the face of deceased actor, Marlon Brando for the movie Superman Returns using 3D modeling.

This little easy-to-make paper sculpture can be turned inside-out over and over while you watch it change colors. You can find free detailed instructions on how to fold this printout at Simon Quellon Field's site called Science Toys You Can Make With Your Kids. It was designed years ago by a bored mathematics student. The toy is called a Kaleidocycle, or Flexahedron. It goes together quickly, and can keep you happily fidgeting with it for hours! While you're there, check out some of the other cool toys you can make with things you've probably got laying around the house!

Artist Brian Springer spent a year scouring the airwaves with a satellite dish grabbing back channel news feeds not intended for public consumption. The result of his research is SPIN, an insightful film about the ways in which television is used as a tool of social control to distort and limit the American public's perception of reality.

Take the time to watch it from beginning to end and you'll never look at TV reporting the same again. But wait, there's more! See more footage you weren't supposed to see on topics such as the Iraq war, attacks on civil liberties, 9-11, medical fraud and the list goes on.

Recently, I've been musing over the idea that children of this generation, in the age of such huge technological advances, are becoming less and less adept at handling the normal every day tasks and routines that require them to use basic, fundamental tools. As an example, I present the case of the "old school" tube of toothpaste. My children have become accustomed to the wonderful containers they make for toothpaste that stand upright and automatically push your toothpaste to the top of it's reservoir when you squeeze it. Heaven forbid you should give them an actual tube of toothpaste and expect them to know how to utilize it. That's why for today's blog, I'd like to focus on the lost art of "tube rolling" (see example on right).

For those of you that might have forgotten this procedure from the days of yore, I have put together some helpful tips. I've added a few especially aimed toward my kids. OK... they are all aimed towards my kids.
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