For my Birthday I decided to go to Build A Bear, I had to chose between Doing a Plush of my fursona or Rainbow Dash. I been wanting to do a plush of my fursona but I kept putting it off. Acton won in the end.
Giant leap for Pi-powered teddy bear
A soft toy controlled by a Raspberry Pi computer has recreated Felix Baumgartner's record-breaking skydive.
Mr Baumgartner made the furthest freefall in October 2012, from a balloon almost 39km (24 miles) high.
A bear called Babbage has now leapt from a similar height after ascending beneath a hydrogen-filled balloon.
The Raspberry Pi low-cost micro-computer inside Babbage transmitted his position and shot stills and video throughout the flight and descent…….
Read the rest of the story here
Video of the jump
I been following Dave for a while because I think of doing my own High Altitude Balloon mission one day using the Raspberry Pi.
I often lurk around Yahoo Answers and often read and answer a similar question, ether a teen or twenty something or older anguishing that their mother has thrown out their children’s prize stuffed toy collection, the mother want to throw out their stuffed, or an adult wanting to know how to get over their anguish wanting to get rid of their stuffed animals collection but unable to. I have a simple message to the adults and Mothers:
Put the bag down step slowly away from the stuffed animals collection and leave the Plushies be.
I confess I am a furry and a stuffed toy collector, Mosley Hello Kitty or Sanrio but I do have others. I am one of the 35% men who travel with a stuffed animal according to an UK survey. I sleep with 10 of them yet in all my “immaturity” I am still a well adjusted 50ish year old adult.
I poured over many parental advice sites wanting to know who to get rid of their kids stuffed animals, in all post are from mothers and women and not a peep from the men. In all I cannot find, except moving or loss of interest, any logical reason why to dump their kids stuffed animals collection. Most answers are in a form of logical fallacies of appeal to tradition: this we always raised children that way, Bandwagons fallacy or others might think, or generalizations have stuff toys make one immature. I do not see any logical region to dispose one kid’s cherish plushies or prohibit on nagging a child from carrying one interest in stuffed animals will into adult years . It may be time for parents and adults to grow up and leave stuffed animals be.
Signed
Me a 52 year old stuffed animal fan who says you can only give away my collection of my stuffed toys that cannot fit into my coffin next to my cold dead body.
Part of my collection
I just got back from Gear Con, The Steampunk convention in Portland Oregon. I was very curious about the Steampunk community but I missed last year’s Gear Con because I got the dates wrong. For the uninitiated, Steam Punk is both a genre of retro speculative /alterative historical literature, art and a community of creative persons. The main premise is what if Victorian industrial technology was much more sophisticated; think indusial revolution and 19th century science on steroids.
My epiphany is the strong similarity between furry and steam punk communities: we both highly creative and fans of our own creation. Because we are fans of our own creation both fandoms are more open and freer for self expression. Both furries and Steampunk fans are free to explore our own characters and aesthetics without the fear of violating the cannon. Both furries and Steampunk differ to Anime and Science Fiction fans in that both anime and Science Fiction fans what other created.
I think Steampunk can teach furries a few things like being open generationally; this one area I am very critical of furry fandom the lack of openness and family friendliness. Part is a problem with the 20-30 year old generation; their lack of ability to work with those outside their peer group.
I can see me crossing both furry and Steampunk communities
The Media or should I say sex, lies and digital shooting
As it reported (see comments) the entertainment had pulled the plug on the Portland Furlandia shoot, but search around it seem there still keeping the project going on I noting the on Twitter they still asking for furries for True Life episode.
I had talked to those who ran the convention and look around at other post; there are two reasons I heard why the shoot was pulled. First the media company did not like the restriction the Furlandia placed on the media company and second we were boring. There were plenty of good positive footage on furries but it was not the hook they wanted: the wild and craze yfiff in fursuits angle of CSI, Sex 2k ….. Nuka of Taboo episode chimed in with similar comments how the Produces of National Geographic Taboo could not get the excitement they were looking for after four days of shooting.
So what do I get from all of this. As I said before, the media are not there to tell your story, the media is there to find somebody to fit theirs. Second being boring and showing the furry fandom is nothing like how the internet and CSI portrays us as a defense against media bias, but the media will just move on down the food chain to they get their person. Finally to the media, if you really want to know is join us attend out meets you realize we are neither like the internet nor what the creators of CSI makes us out to be. Do you home work first and if you insist on bias then I will be watching and will call you to the mat.
Update: hold the presses, they really did not mean they pulled the plug on project they only pulled the plug on the Furlandia shoot. Even after claiming they pulled the plug, the producer Alex Shaw was on twitter still looking for furries.
@fauxpawstudios Casting furries for True Life. Tasteful, informative and fun. Documentary.We’d love to focus on a wedding! alex@alexshaw.com
— Alex Shaw (@alexshawtv) June 3, 2013
So what does say about her claim on Flayrah wanting “I ALWAYS look to tell a good, balanced story”, If that’s was true then why drop the Furlandia shoot? Why the vague deceptions and appeal to definitions. I believe the produce is trying slip down the furry food chain to find the person that fists the shows preconceptions of the fandom. The media company want to tell our story they should have used the Furlandia shoot and show we just a bit mundane and perhaps a bit boring. I have a lot doubts of MTV and producer’s honesty and I have history on my side; how many times we furs heard some reporter or producer wanting to tell our story and end up having the shoot used against and damaging the image of the fandom.