Hippo, birdie, two ewes...

... to zencuppa and grendies!!!!

The ultimate pre-fab housing?

Innovative architects turn used shipping containers into homes

In this era of scouring the earth for the magic bullet in home building, few ideas can compete with the weird, pragmatic beauty of the used shipping container. Cheap, strong and easily transportable by boat, truck or train, these big steel structures now litter the ports of America as mementos of our Asian-trade imbalance. (Many more full containers arrive on our shores than depart, so ports either ship them back empty -- to the tune of about $900 per -- or sell them.)

Hurricane proof, flood proof, fire proof, these metal Lego blocks are tough enough to be stacked 12-high empty -- and thus can be used in smaller multistory buildings. Used containers (which can be picked up for $1,500 to $2,000) often have teak floors and sometimes are insulated. The bright orange, blue and rust corrugated boxes may not appeal to everyone. But contemporary hipsters find them not just the ultimate in postmodern appropriation but aesthetically pleasing as well.

(From Make:blog, which has a few other links as well.)

A milestone of sorts

It's worth noting, I think, that this LJ post is the first time humor has found its way into any of my August 4th memorial posts. Interesting.

August 6th, 1945

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On the morning of August 6, 1945 the United States Army Air Forces dropped the nuclear weapon "Little Boy" on the city of Hiroshima, followed three days later by the detonation of the "Fat Man" bomb over Nagasaki, Japan

Better late than...

I actually got a couple of things done today (surprise, surprise). First, I finished mounting all the pieces of my new recording system. You'll notice I didn't say "packaging" -- said pieces are all mounted "open-face" on a plastic clipboard, using 4-40 screws, standoffs, threaded rod, and a little bit of wishful thinking. However, the new motherboard booted up with the old hard drive, which is now the only moving part in the whole system. It's quiet, which is a Good Thing in a recording system. If the sound of the disk drive gets noticable, I'll go to a CF card. It really needs a re-install based on Etch.

The other thing I did was put up web pages for the two future albums: Amethyst Rose and Hackers' Heaven. Mainly because I promised myself and the Net that I would have them up by now. Two days late, and lacking even preliminary songlists, but better late than nothing.