Odds and Ends...

First of all, some administrative stuff.

When you write posts you can stop in the middle, save them, and then finish them another day. I had assumed that the date on the entry would be the date that you actually finish and post it; however, like so many things I assume about the internet, that was wrong. SO, I started an entry back near the end of August that I never finished and then just ran across and figured, "Oh, those pictures are kind of interesting." So I threw in some text and published it, and then I COULDN'T FIND IT. Turns out it's listed under August 25. So in case you missed it, there's a new post in the August section in the left-hand sidebar.

Also, for the technological newbies: sometimes when I load pictures I use the smallest setting in order to save space. But however big or small the pictures are, you can always simply click on them to see the full-size version. So don't despair if you were desperately trying to locate Dan in those postage-stamp sized pics--no need for Where's Waldo here.

Now onto the fun stuff! Just a couple of interesting things I've run across/created in the last couple of weeks.

Starfruit of David

Dan's military-issue dental floss. Most of his army-issue stuff is ugly green, heavy-duty, and practical (like most such stuff I'm assuming), but for some reason they have the most adorable packet of dental floss I've ever seen. Come on, "Teeth of the SAF" (Singapore Armed Forces) with the little different-colored berets on the little cartoon teeth? Priceless.

Okay, so while I was at work I came across and watched a short lecture by a guy who is a professional puzzle-make on fora.tv, which is an awesome website for all sorts of interesting and education talks about pretty much anything. (And this is when I wasn't slacking off. What a great job.) Anyway, he's apparently an ambigram specialist--ambigrams are designs that read the same whether right-side up or upside-down. They were a major plot point in the Dan Brown novel Angels and Demons, which lead readers to believe that these things were incredibly complex and difficult to design, hence finding all sorts of clues written in this way was somehow important to the mystery. (I forget the details...) Anyway, seeing this guy who designed these things made me think, "Huh. Could I make one?" So I tried my hand at it, starting with the obvious word choice. After about 20 minutes, here's what I got:

Can you tell what it says? I think it's relatively clear, but of course I did it, so I'm not exactly an impartial judge.

I'll give you a clue: it's kind of a "meta-ambigram".

I'll give you another clue: I've already written the word three times in this entry...

I know you can't turn your computer screen upside down, and of course you don't want to just take my word for it that it works, so here are two pictures of the ambigram turned sideways in the two different directions. You can just tilt your head either side to read it each way!


So yeah. Definitely not the most elegant thing ever, and not super clear to read, but not bad for a first attempt of 20 minutes if I do say so myself. And definitely not as mystical or complex as Dan Brown would have you believe.

I encourage you to try it yourself! It's pretty fun. If you'd like me to try your name or any specific word for you, let me know! I might not end up doing it, but I might, so you've got nothing to lose, right?...

:)