Man decorates basement in Sharpie

Ususally I'm wary when I hear about projects done in sharpie or duct tape. There are a lot of people doing really cool things with both materials, but there are also a lot of people making complete crap out of both materials.

This guy, I must say, has done a real classy job with black sharpie.

"When Charlie Kratzer started on the basement art project in his south Lexington home, he was surrounded by walls painted a classic cream. Ten dollars of Magic Marker and Sharpie later, the place was black and cream and drawn all over. . .

Says Kratzer, 53, the associate general counsel for Lexmark: "People are amazed that with something as simple and inexpensive as a Sharpie, you can decorate a whole basement."

How did this Sharpie world start? With a single swipe of the marker.

Kratzer started mid-wall, with the Salon by Picasso. Then he thought, well, taking a design out to the edge of the wall wouldn't be overwhelming.

Then the rest of the basement flared off that first wall."

Check out the rest of the really cool article, and the cool rotating photograph showing all 360 degrees of his sharpie-done basement.

http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/532854.html

Animated Optical Illusion

Animated Optical Illusion! - video powered by Metacafe

Gray or Grey?

So, just how do you spell it?
GrAy?
or
GrEy?

The answer : either one. The spelling with an "e"is the original (or British, if you will) spelling of it, although the "American"spelling usually uses the "a."

Information from
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/235359.html

Barcodes can be art too!

Barcodes. Those simple series of little black and white lines that let you scan things in at a cash register.

These things. Not very exciting, right?







Wrong. How about this instead?

The barcode is the (aptly-named) row of black and white bars that run along in a row and get scanned in by the computer at the cash register. A japanese company realized that as long as the barcode is readable by the computer, nothing else matters. The running dude in the barcode above doesn't even register to the computer scanner.

"In Japan nowadays, artistic barcode labels grace everything from soup to nuts. The theme typically matches the actual product inside but just as often it doesn't. No matter, the theme is secondary to the thoughts of the artists who, though limited by the need to retain the barcode label's original purpose, still have enough leeway to surprise and delight."


Quote, information, screencaps (and more cool barcode art) here :
http://inventorspot.com/articles/barcode_art_from_japan_black_white_can_get_along_12735

Steam at Night

View full-size image here
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=198946

Photo by AndrewBlaszczyk

"Part II of my "K4's from Above" series. While the others chose to set up their tripods on the ground, the photographer took the opportunity of being inside the gates to climb up PRR 6755, the M1b 'Mountain' locomotive. With very few flat surfaces on the top of the locomotive, a shirt and a hoodie would be used to sturdy the camera."