Muss My Hair

Eagle Creek is a beautiful, waterfall-full, and really really steep creek (anywhere else this would be called a river) that starts near Mt Hood and ends up, thousands of feet and a dozen miles later, at the near-sea-level Columbia River. It makes it way down a dramatic winding canyon, moss and near-rain-forest thickness growth around it, and is followed by a somewhat-unbelievable trail that at times is blasted out of the cliffs (and at one point goes behind a waterfall by way of a man-made tunnel). Most people take the trail.

These brave folks decided to descend the creek itself–with rock climbing gear, wetsuits, helmets, and nerve.

* * *
And then there is the headcam video of one of the gentlemen who decided to kayak off Metlako Falls (the 90′+ falls on the right in the photo).

Kayaking Metlako Falls – Headcam from Dave Hoffman on Vimeo.

It’s crazy how far from the falls he is when he comes up again. Nice post about the experience here.

Even if you’ve been driving for years, if you want an Oregon drivers license you have to take a written test. Of course it’s mostly testing your knowledge of laws, not actual driving, and it has all the poor wording you might remember from the last time you had to take one of these tests. Passing grade is 80%.

An article after my own (cheap) heart.

R did not believe me when I told her about Cookie Puss. And then she doubted Cookie O’Puss! So here is the proof. Shield your eyes.

And this here ditty actually gets stuck in my head sometimes:

I love it when they say “freshhhhhh” near the end.

Gotta dig Wikipedia’s reasoned notes on Cookie Puss:

In his television commercials, Cookie Puss has the ability to fly, though he requires a saucer-shaped spacecraft for interplanetary travel.

“The higher a bubble, the greater the evidence for its effectiveness. But the supplements are only effective for the conditions listed inside the bubble.”

via skepchick.org

We caught this stop-motion movie at the Portland International Film Festival (PIFF!) on Sunday. It’s terrific, really kooky and quite funny, good for kids and adults.

They have a couple of clips up, but it looks like you have to go to the “official film site” to watch them (couldn’t find a direct link, look under Media/Clips).  The creators, Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar, are also responsible for these silly cartoon (and this), Pic Pic the Magic Pig.

The movie comes out of a bunch of shorts apparently this is shown on Nickelodeon sometimes. The dubbed shorts are on YouTube, but they’re not quite as good as the movie (the French voices are funnier, I think, and the animation is of course better for the film). The figurines remind me of the little lead farm figures that my mom had as a kid and that I got to later play with (and possibly poison myself with, come to think of it). The backgrounds are paper mache and cardboard, and there’s some coarsely-made clay objects filling in where necessary (phones, waffles). And the cars are excellent.

Horse’s Nephew Part 1

Horse’s Nephew Part 2

The Big Sleep Part 1

The Big Sleep Part 2 (I really like this one)

[the original French version]

Cake Part 1

Cake Part 2

Cowboy Goes Hunting Part 1

Cowboy Goes Hunting Part 2

Grand Day Out Part 1

Grand Day Out Part 2

Cowboy and Indian Go Camping Part 1

Cowboy and Indian Go Camping Part 2

There’s loads more on YouTube linked to from the sidebar on any of these pages or at Atom Films.

Philz on a mechanical bull, and a glass of mead.

If you don’t understand this read this.

via XKCD

I’ve read about these (and their propensity for being mistaken for UFOs) before, but here’s how to make them yourself. Careful where you fly them. There’s way to do the same thing with far-less romantic dry-cleaning bags.

Also, make your own fireproof paper or buy some here.

But mostly I can’t get over how pretty they are.

I recommend muting the sound on the videos for full hypnotic effect.

The Packwood Administrative Site is located in downtown Packwood, Washington on U.S. Highway 12. The property is approxiamtely 20.50 acres and contains 2 individual tax lots with 22 buildings.

No bids yet, but minimum is $250K, auction closes 3/3/2010.

link fixed.

A nice and allegedly-updated comics anthology website with work by John P., Jordan Crane, and many other talented folks. I like Sammy Harkham’s stuff–never seen him before or if i did I mistook him for Kevin Huizenga (whose comics I really dig).

The New York Times has a good interactive graph showing Obama’s proposed budget. It might take you a bit of time to find NASA… so why are we cutting them?

The Keong Mas is the only IMAX theater in Indonesia. It looks like a golden snail, after the famous Indonesian legend.

A short atmospheric game about exploring.

via JayIsGames.

I had a dream on Tuesday night in which someone explained to me that before records and wax cylinders, snakes were a choice recording medium. I don’t know how you’d use or play them back, maybe like a wire recorder? Anyhow I recall looking into a basket of snakes and each one was a different song. I think a label on the basket lid told you which was what.

It wasn’t this.

One mile west of Tillamook Head on the Oregon coast sits a lonely rock with an empty seagull-poo-splattered lighthouse. This is its story.

On October 21, 1879, four laborers were put on the rock. The rest of the crew followed five days later. Putting men on the rock entailed stringing a 4 ½” line from the U.S. Revenue Cutter, Thomas Corwin, to the rock. The men would then use a “breeches buoy” to cross the line. With the cutter rolling and pitching in the swells, the line was never taut, and the transported fellow was often drug [dragged?] through the icy water.

The first two weeks of construction found the crew totally exposed to the elements. Barren of caves, overhangs or ledges, the rock could not even provide minimal shelter. The workers chipped, chiseled, and blasted away. And then it hit.

January 2, 1880. A dying Nor’easter*. The seas crashed above the crest of the rock. Rocks flew as breakers tore off chunks of the rock and tossed them at will. The perilous storm pounded the rock. The storehouse was swept away taking most of their tools and provisions. Then the water tank, the traveler line and the roof of the blacksmith shop were ripped away. Clinging on for life, the men stayed in their shelter, the safest place on the rock. Hungry, soaked, and with no place to go.

The lighthouse is now a decertified columbarium (the site is broken, but has a great picture).

[The Oregon Mortuary and Cemetery Board] said the owners have not kept accurate records and, because urns sit on boards and concrete blocks and not in niches, the lighthouse does not even qualify as a columbarium.

* (squidocto points out that this couldn’t have been a nor’easter, as they are, well, in the northeast (USA). A little digging reveals that this was The Great Gale of 1880, which doesn’t sound so bad (“gale” just doesn’t sound so scary) until you read about the damage it did.)

because i have five minutes to kill, here is my cat.

Maybe these Squidocto was channelling these guys when he dreamt that song.

I dreamed a song this morning, and just as my eyes opened I realized it was They Might Be Giants playing the song. Their distinctive sound and voices were playing this refrain:

There’s a kaleidoscope on fire
It’s indefensible the way these lenses tend to burn

So my question is, is this a real song by TMBG, or did my brain make it up? It’s so loud, it feels so real… please make it stop….