Thglimited - Heavy Industries

Posted by Grapho Fullstop

The Natural Things series is based on wallpapers which our human made years ago, this one here being the one utilized for version 2, which has a total of 6 skins for each sex, not even including the PG versions for the ladies, since I took the precaution of creating “tagged” as well as “non-tagged” versions of the different skins. Not everyone shares our tribal love of typographic elements it seems. alas…

The name “Natural Things”, is of course highly ironic and quite intentionally so: The natural creatures which are present in all 4 wallpapers are attached to some really horrible machinery, in fact, if anything, seem to be depending on these mechanical components for their life’s sustenance. And then natural as well as mechanical things are mostly bolted into place with even more “unnatural” things -  metal plates hold potentially straying elements and bind them to one another. I took the whole idea even further and used these metal plates and bolt systems to not only bind the components to another but also to “bind” the lot onto the skin of the avatar. So, despite the light coloring of these outfits, this is actually quite a dark, almost ominous avatar.

I have tried to take the androgynous element which we like to work with to quite an extreme with this outfit. Both men and women get the exactly identical apparel, which I am really hoping sits exactly somewhere between the sexes, billowing torus skirt notwithstanding!

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Natural Things v.2 is available for 250L$ here at alpha.tribe at Klein.

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Leisure in my life mostly consists of television and entertainment. While I have early memories of playing outside and letting my imagination run wild with neighborhood friends, sometime after I no longer cared for the same recreational play. I had a swing set and slide I cherished playing with, especially the rope swing with a bright green seat that hung solely from the largest tree in the front yard, the same tree I’d gather leaves from and make my dog “salads” he wouldn’t eat, I could never fool him. But one day I suppose we installed cable TV and the days of watching cartoons only on Saturday were gone.

Perhaps moving to a new region of Texas and losing the companions I once had when I played outside, took a bigger part in my transition from outdoors to inside and on the couch. On the other hand I was an impressionable 7-year-old with two older brothers addicted to video games that were all the rage. From then on out, technology and the media had it’s hooks on me and even my desire to gain Accelerated Reader (AR) points had diminished and I was addicted to the array of channels that never seemed to spew a dull moment.

An organic lifestyle seemed to be far from where I was and I had yet to reach middle school at that point. My natural instincts no longer seemed to strive for the play that should allow me to maximize my urge for survival. I suppose I grasped the sense of a material lifestyle with greater ease than any early primitive people would ever anticipate. It stuns me now to know that at such an early age I gave myself up to live vicariously through what I saw on television or in life. But on the other hand I always did wonder why I felt such strong emotional connections with characters that often left me teary-eyed.

Perhaps an entertainment fast could save me from the material way of life, if I’m not too far-gone to ever regain the natural instinct of play and organic lifestyle. Making a firm decision to take a step back from entertainment and the laziness that comes attached, and forcing myself to go outside and enjoy physical activity like I did when I was a kid.

Sometimes this leisure time of mine pulls me back from the things I should be more on top of. If it is the same for me as it is in society, perhaps the biggest challenge is letting go watching people do things and doing them myself, in the physical/fitness sense, but on some level I’m sure my work is transcribed the same way. If I allow myself to watch people play sports, live lives and do things then what stops me from watching them do the work I should do myself. Could this be the problem with too much leisure time in the modern world, especially with young people who grew up in the media storm and technology boom? I’m not sure if this is the peak of our leisure time being material based; bring us right back down the continuum into that organic/natural state.

U.S. Patent No. 7,665,928, issued on February 23, 2010 to Crank Brothers, Inc. of Laguna Beach, CA, discloses a quick-release camming mechanism for bicycles.

According to the ‘928 patent, quick release camming mechanisms for mounting the wheel and/or the seat of a bicycle to the frame can be difficult to close and open, especially for people with less hand strength.  The patent discloses a two-lever configuration which, according to the patent, is substantially easier to open and close, making it easier to fix a flat tire or to adjust the seat height.

According to the company’s website, Crank Brothers is a small company based in a Laguna Beach studio.  Besides the ‘928 patent, the USPTO database lists three other U.S. patents owned by Crank Brothers, directed to a bicycle wheel, a bicycle pedal and crank apparatus, and to a bicycle tire air pump. 

The one concept of Cyberpunk that I’ve always enjoyed is bionic limbs. In that near future universe, people could have cybernetic limbs. For years, this concept was relegated to science-fiction. However, there has been progress to make these sort of replacement limbs a reality.

Read more @ Technabob

For another installment of Scientific Things, our attention is turned again to the Olympics, in which all that glitters is approximately 7.5 percent gold.

Each of the 1,014 podium athletes in Vancouver (615 Olympic, 399 Paralympic) receives a completely individual medal. No two are exactly alike. The 2010 medals are undulating, wavy disks with laser-etched designs of Aboriginal art unique to each medal. In a nod to eco-friendliness, a small percentage of the gold, silver, and copper used in the medals were recovered from discarded electronic circuit boards.

Back to that 7.5 percent gold content: the gold medals awarded at the Games are actually mostly silver, with six grams of gold plating. Silver medals are made from sterling silver, which is composed of 7.5 percent copper and 92.5 percent silver. As for the bronze medals, they are mostly copper. (I wasn’t able to confirm the copper content, but there is usually tin included in the bronze alloy.)

Click on the poster for a high resolution image:

The Collier Classification System For Very Small Objects

http://www.verysmallobjects.com/ 

“Once noticed, these Very Small Objects seem to exist in every niche and corner in staggering numbers and varieties. We encounter these objects every day hidden in plain sight. They fill our pockets, cabinets, and corners. They populate our environments and make our machines work. They come from our plants, our pets, and even from our own bodies.”

Remodeling projects seem to have some common high and low points for many owners.  If you are a seasoned remodeling veteran, you may already know what to expect and may not need to read this article.  If you have not lived through a remodeling project before; however, you are probably approaching your project with some degree of both anxiety and excitement.  The purpose of this article is not to cast a shadow of doubt on your project before it starts, but rather to simply point out some of these high and low points that naturally occur in the course of most remodeling projects.  This way, you will have a realistic idea of what to expect.

First, every remodeling job creates some degree of disorder, dust, uncertainty, and inconvenience.  People will be tearing apart your house and putting it back together again – many of these people you have never met.  We understand that this can be an unsettling experience, and, accordingly, we expect our crews and subcontractors to respect the fact that this is your home they are working in and not a vacant warehouse.  We want to know immediately if you have any problems in this area so that we can take immediate steps to correct them.

Second, remodeling proceeds in stages.  One of the most difficult stages is working through the plan and permit process.  Hopefully, by the time you receive this article, you are finished with this process and are well into the stage of having your ideas turned into working construction drawings.

Another difficult early stage is the demolition phase.  You will see new faces in and around your home on a regular basis.  The insides of your house will be exposed.  Electrical, heating, or plumbing services may be intermittently interrupted during this time.  Dust, dirt, debris piles, and dumpsters will be visible in and around the work area.  All of this can be rather stressful.

However, don’t worry – the demolition phase goes quickly, and will be cleaned up just as rapidly.  Once the framing nears completion, people usually feel very optimistic and start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

After the framing is completed and the plumbing, electrical, and mechanical work are under way, the project can appear to slow down because the progress is not as dramatic and visible as in the framing process.  However, a lot of detail work is done at this time.  For instance, there are many required inspections by building officials.  It’s critical that the work be done thoroughly at this point prior to insulating and closing the walls with drywall.

Next comes the drywall stage which most people are excited about.  When the walls are covered with drywall, suddenly the rooms take on their true proportions and people start to imagine what it will be like to move back in.

Unfortunately, the final phase of all the work, after the drywall, can seem to take a long time.  The finishing work – grading and exterior concrete flat work; interior and exterior painting; installation of all interior doors and finishing the woodwork; installation of cabinets, tile, and floor coverings; installation of plumbing and electrical fixtures; installation of shelving, closet poles, mirrors, glass shower doors, hardware, appliances, etc. – requires a fair amount of time and the efforts of many subcontractors.

Nevertheless, thanks to a well-planned and coordinated scheduling effort during this phase, the day arrives when your project is completed.  Finally, your house is once again your private residence, free of the constant construction activity that has transformed your ideas and plans into the new spaces that we hope you will enjoy.

Please let us know if you have any questions about this process or any suggestions about how we can minimize the disruption of your daily routine.  Thank you.

Attention to Detail Home Remodeling

www.atdremodel.com

770-649-7743