This is Chris dot com.

Here are some interesting things I’ve found around teh intarwebs in the past few weeks that never made it into my blog here… until now (I’m pretty sure most of ‘em made it onto Facebook or Twitter, though).

OCTOCAM

If you ever, ever want to know what an octopus is doing right this very second, Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center has installed a camera in the tank of their resident 40-pound Pacific octopus, Deriq.

It is for some reason very enjoyable and relaxing to watch Deriq meander around in his tank.

ALT/1977: WE ARE NOT TIME-TRAVELERS

Artist Alex Varanese has imagined what it would look like if someone from today went back in time and re-created today’s modern electronics—cell phone, laptop, hand-held video game system, mp3 player—using the design aesthetics of 1977.

The results are absolutely fan-frikkin’-tastic.

I was born in 1977, so I completely remember this style of design. Y’all have no idea how much I miss high technology that had a faux-woodgrain finish. Glorious.

EDWARD CULLEN TAMPON CASE

Etsy crafter and all-around awexome human being Taisha McGee made the one piece of merchandise that no Twilight fan should be without.

The product description speaks for itself:

Bella’s most useful accessory. Case is 5.5″ by 2″ and holds two average sized tampons. Edward’s face is sparkly. Tampons not included.

RIVER TAM AND THE FIREFLIES

Holy eff but that is so freakin’ adorable. This is an actual album sleeve that artist Joebot made for a gallery show (happens on July 9th).

But the really cool thing is that you can purchase a print of this picture at his Etsy shop as a gift to send to me! Joebot has some other really cool prints as well, like ones of the Nintendo princesses (and Samus).

AT-AT DAY AFTERNOON

An absolutely adorable short film with seamless special effects animation. Very well done.

THE WORLD’S ONLY NEWSPAPER

This is a fascinating collection of still frames and clips of people reading newspapers in dozens of films and television shows. The exact same newspaper each time. Going back decades. It looks like this:

It’s actually kind of astonishing how wide-spread this newspaper really is.

AQUATIC VIDEOS

Here are a couple of videos of aquatic awesomeness:

WATERMELON TURTLE

This extravagantly cute melon bowl is from my link-of-the month, Host-It Notes.

There are all sorts of other darling little foodstuffs at Host-It Notes, like sheep cupcakes, mushroom radishes, and frosting bees!

That’s about it for now.

I like twitter for interactions like these. You see, Wil Wheaton’s basically-fully-grown son Ryan has an amusing habit of sneaking his own tweets into Wil’s account when Wil isn’t paying attention. As Wil explains:

We play this game where he tries to hijack my Twitter account when he comes home … which he is currently winning by a VERY wide margin. ¹

So a few weeks ago during a rather regular day of tweeting from Wil, we suddenly get this:

Hey Ryan is the best!
6:29 PM May 31st via Twitter for Android²

Me: DAMMIT!
Ryan (slowly, is if to a child): What did we learn?
Me: rassum frassum rassa…
6:38 PM May 31st via Twitter for Android³

And then, a few minutes later…

Seriously Wil…. Ryan is amazing.
6:52 PM May 31st via Twitter for iPhone⁴

SON OF A!
6:57 PM May 31st via Twitter for Android⁵

And then again just last week:

Ryan sure is awesome. Yes he is.
Sun Jun 13 2010 19:06:16 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web⁶

@wilw DAMMIT RYAN! I’m out at the barbecue, making *YOUR* dinner! rassum frassum sassum …
Sun Jun 13 2010 19:15:56 (Pacific Daylight Time) via web⁷

I always look forward to these Ryan hijackings. And besides which, Wil Wheaton is one of the more entertaining celebrity tweeters out there, so follow him if’n ye ain’t already (though ye probably already are).

(sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 )

Yesterday (Tuesday) I was running around so busy all day that I didn’t even have time to check my e-mail!

What with going to North End Pet Hospital, Garden Sphere, Chase, Fred Meyer’s, then mowing the lawn and re-potting tomatoes and basil, then 6th Ave Farmers’ Market, then dinner, then work in the evening, I just couldn’t squeeze it in.

Who knows what hidden dangers now lurk in my inbox, menacing me from beyond cyberspace? Yikes!

A really cool thing happened in Tacoma recently. It seems there’s a new urban street artist at work. But instead of tagging things with paint or stickers, both of which can be difficult to remove, this artist is wrapping various poles and signposts around town with crocheted yarn! It’s yarn tagging, or “yagging” as I’ve decided to call it.

I saw this yag at southeast corner of 6th Ave & Alder (at the former location of the ABC Chinese restaurant). “Imagine the infinite possibilities that each day holds.”

The artist was thoughtful enough to sign the back of the yag:

So her name is “LaLa.” I think that this is a spectacularly awexome form of street art because

1. Pretty!
2. Unobtrusive: if you didn’t know it was there you might just miss it.
3. Easily removable: if someone really doesn’t like it, all they need is a pair of scissors or a knife and they can cut that sucka down (or if someone wants to own an original LaLa piece).
4. Pretty!

The Feed Tacoma blog also found a yag! I’m not sure where this one is, but it looks like it’s on a stop sign:

I say, “Good job, LaLa! Keep it up, and add some prettiness to Tacoma!”