It would be really cool to have a cake that has the map of the world on it. When you cut up the cake, it's like you took over the world, and now you are dividing the spoils amoung everyone.

If the world was a cake, what slice would you want?
I'd like Antarctica. I bet Antarctica tastes really good.

(This post was inspired by Cartophilia's post on Russian Cake Art Maps. Leave it to those Russians to putting maps on their cakes.)

View the video of me talking about the Smiley Face Stonehenge.

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Recap from chapter 2: In the sad empty lot a happy town of rock buildings are created by the residents. But the evil owner comes and kicks them all down.
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Chapter 3: The Return of Fun

The carnage of stones lay scattered across the 2206 West Lawrence lot for months. The season turns to winter. Cold winter winds blow across the unloved rocks.

Then on November 20th, 2008, there is 20 minutes left on my 33rd birthday. I wish to extend the celebration of my birth onto this forsaken lot and give it a new life. A new creation is in order. One that will unify the rocks into one solid message.

I pick up each rock with care and reposition them on the linoleum ground. The rocks are bitterly cold, but they soon shall have the gleam of happiness and warmth.

A giant smiley face appears the round circle of the face evokes a feeling of Stonehenge. A smiley face Stonehenge, complete with a top hat, collared shirt and tie. A message of delight returns to the abandoned lot, re-instilling the community with a feeling of care, creativity, and fun. (Check out the video on Youtube.)

We don't know what will happen to the Smiley Face Stonehenge, but so far it continues to sit and smile to this day. As developments happen, we will add new chapters to this story known as "What Chicago residents do with empty lots."




Chapter 1: Buildings of Hope
Chapter 2: The Owner Strikes Back
Chapter 3: The Return of Fun

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Recap from Chapter 1: Happy laundromat torn down results in sad empty lot. Neighbors use left-behind rocks to build delightful towers to create happy lot.
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Chapter 2: The Owner Strikes Back

These towers entertain people walking by. Curiosity abounds. What is the meaning behind these towers? Is there is a microcosm community of little rock people that live in this lot? Do these towers have religious significance? What we do know is the residents of Chicago took control of an icky situation (sad empty lot) and created something wonderful (happy lot).

But the neglectful owners of the lot didn't see it that way. These owners can't even build a decent fence that can stand for more than one day. The villains come to their lot and can't stand to see all the happiness that is created. Turning into a monster much like the Incredible Hulk, the owners shout, "We no have this! What is this happiness!? WE DESTROY HAPPINESS! RAWR!!!" Stomping their mean feet through the lot, they kick over the statues of joy. They stomp on the buildings of delight. The town is annihilated.

No building is left standing.

Just as the happy laundromat was once destroyed, the towers of delight are now kicked over. The stones sit scattered and the lot becomes sad again.

What joy ever return to the lot in Chicago known as 2206 West Lawrence? Stay tuned for Chapter 3 (The Return of Fun).

Chapter 1: Buildings of Hope
Chapter 2: The Owner Strikes Back
Chapter 3: The Return of Fun

Once upon a time, there was a laundromat named D&L Coin Laundry next to my apartment building in Chicago. All was happy in this grand land of clean clothes. The laundromat even had my favorite arcade game, Crusin' USA.

Then one day in the Spring of 2008, the laundromat was torn down. Men came and carried away all the bricks. The once happy laundromat is now gone. In its place is now an empty lot. Well not exactly empty.

A chunks of concrete are left behind, scattered about. Sad sad lot. The lot sits for months with nothing getting built. My creative neighbors decide, "if they aren't going to build anything on this lot, WE WILL!" In July 2008, my constructive neighbors stack all the lonely concrete blocks creating little statues.

A rock community is built upon this empty lot. Skyscrapers of rock towers over the gleaming linoleum-tile foundation. Eclectic delight is spread throughout the land of 2206 West Lawrence as each building had its own unique design. Some squat, some tall; each creatively built with care.

But will these delightful buildings stand the test of time? Check out Chapter 2 (The Owner Strikes Back)



Chapter 1: Buildings of Hope
Chapter 2: The Owner Strikes Back
Chapter 3: The Return of Fun

The following question is from Girl:

"If understanding was a color what color would it be?"

I would say gray for its ability to take on a multitude of colors around it. Gray can take on other ideas surrounding it, and make them into its own. Hence, gray is understanding.

How would you answer this question?

Take a look at the results for musicians tagged Estonian on last.fm and you'll get quite an interesting combo for the first two results. Girl band Vanilla Ninja appears right next to sacred minimialist Arvo Pärt. Even the very photos of both are so contrasting.

I'd love to see these two get together and make some music. Long live Estonia!

Who wants to go to croquet school with me sometime next year in West Palm Beach, Florida?

Summary
America's favorite croquet pros, headed by Bob Kroeger, teach this three day intensive course covering all aspects of our wonderful game. Held at the National Croquet Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, this popular course is organized around giving the best possible individual attention in small groups.

Cost
USCA Members: $450.00
Non USCA Members: $500.00 (includes membership)
($25.00 discount for 30 day advance reservations)
Groups of six or more participants: $375.00
Non-members: $425.00 (includes membership)

Dates
January 8-10, 2009
February 5-7, 2009
March 12-14, 2009
March 15-17, 2009
April 2-4, 2009

More information available at: www.croquetamerica.com/calendar/schools/.

My thoughts
I am very serious about going. I'm asking if anyone would like to go, because I'd like to go with someone. Anybody interested? I'm thinking about asking all the extreme croquet clubs across the country about going. It would be fun to get a bunch of croquet-lovin goofballs together and get the early bird and group discount for $350.

It's like Illinois is one big sponge. Illinois: the sponge state.

photo courtesy cathibeth, thanks cathie!

I was looking for a creative question, and Cathibeth sent me the following:

If the trees in Maine reach to the sky and grab ahold... what are they grabbing ahold of?

Here's a few of my attempts:

• The trees of Maine would be grabbing a hold of the clouds that came over from the midwest.
• The trees of Maine would grab a hold of the view down below.
• The trees of Maine would reach and grow, expanding their branches like a conversation, talking to the sky.

How would you answer this question?

Unlikelymoose's blog post about "magnet shoes" inspired the following thought:

What if the ground of downtown Chicago was made of positively charged magnets, and you wore positively charged magnet shoes? You'd be bouncing all over the place!

Ok, so that won't happen where all the ground in downtown has that. But it would be cool if they took a 20-foot by 20-foot area in Pioneer Court (outside Tribune Tower) and made that into a polarity magnet. It would be like a jungle gym downtown! But i guess if anyone walks over this area, you'd have your cell phone screwed, laptop toasted, and credit cards scorched. It would be the SQUARE OF DESTRUCTION! or the WIPEOUT SQUARE.

And if they made the magnets in this square like, REALLY strong, then it could attract loose metal and stuff, like in the movies. What if it was so strong, that people couldn't help but be sucked in by it as they walked by? The window by my desk at work looks down on Pioneer Court, and I would find this endlessly amusing. It would be even more amusing if I had the power to turn the square on and off.

Often the cords on surge protectors are too short to reach the wall outlet. We bend the cord around the corner of a shelf creating a tight turn and causing a hazard. You might think, "Oh, it's only a slight bend." Yeah, that's what I thought when I put my cord behind my file cabinet, and then the cabinet ended up on top of the cord! Here's what to consider when you want to extend the cord of your surge protector.

1) Don't use a weak little extension cord
Common sense. A big momma surge protector with a big momma cord can't be hooked into the wall using a tiny cord.

2) Don't use an outdoor extension cord
Not only are they insanely long, they also tend to be 10 amps. A good surge protector will be 15 amps.

3) Buy a Major Appliance Cord.
Major appliance cords have at least 15 amps--the same amp level as your surge protector. This one in particular has 15 feet of cord to give you the flexibilty to put your surge protector wherever you want without bending the cord.

This is part of a series covering surge protector safety for National Check your Surge Protector Day.

1) Warranty
Every good surge protector should have a limited lifetime warranty. There are some surge protectors that only have a one-year warranty. What? Like who changes their surge protectors every year?! Check them once a year, yes. But buy a new one every year. Lame. Buy one with a lifetime warranty.

2) Spend at least $25
There are power strips out there under $25, but they tend to be too weak. You want your house to burn down? Spend the extra ten bucks, cheapwad.

3) Right-angle plug
These plug into your wall and leave a nice flat space instead of sticking out.

4) 3,000 Joule protection
Any decent surge protector will have at least 3,000 Joules of protection.

5) 10-foot cord
There are some surge protectors out there that have only one foot or three feet of cord. What?! Get one with at least 10 feet. You'll have a lot more flexibility, and you won't be bending the cord to make it fit behind the shelf. The majority out there have eight feet of cords, but trust me, the extra two feet in a 10-foot cord is worth it.

6) Get a 12-outlet protector
There are plenty of 8-outlet ones out there. And then you end up plugging another cheap extension cord to extend the number of outlets. Not safe. Just get a 12-outlet protector and be safe.

RECOMMENDATION:
I was going to recommend the Belkin 12-Outlet Home/Office Surge Protector. It has all six points listed above, and it sells for $25 versus the $40 at places like MicroCenter, ACE Hardware, and Office Depot. But I got the surge protectors from amazon, and it was just two surge protectors sitting inside the shipping box. No warranty information. No idea if these are used or new. And they feel really cheap and plasticy. That kind of plastic that toys from the dollar store are made of. Yeah. A dollar-store-feelin surge protector--not the thing you want.

I'm shopping for surge protectors again, and I will be using the information in this post! Stay tuned, as I'll update this post with my new recommendation.

This is part of a series covering surge protector safety for National Check your Surge Protector Day.

You find that your power cord got caught under a shelf, what do you do?

Option 1: Throw the power cord away.
Once an electrical cord has been pinched or bent, it won't repair itself, the electricity will always have problems flowing through the compromised cord.

Option 2: Reuse the power cord.
Cut the cord and use it as a handle for a bag or a cool bracelet.

Option 3: Continue using the power cord by keeping it plugged in.
And have your house burn down.

This is part of a series covering surge protector safety for National Check your Surge Protector Day.

Image courtesy Dark Roasted Blend

I hereby declare every November 11 to be National Check your Surge Protectors Day. While organizing my computer cords, BOTH of my surge protectors' cords were pinched underneath my file cabinet! I'm very glad to find these pinched cords before they caused a fire. I was considering making November 10 to be the day, because that's when I discovered my pinched cords, but 11/11 has all those ones in it, they kinda look like surge protectors. So 11/11 is the official day!

This week spudart.org will feature posts covering:

• What to do if your power cords have been pinched or bent.


• What to look for when buying a new surge protector.


• How to buy an extension cord for your surge protector.

Electrical problems are the cause of more than 40,000 home fires in the United States each year. Stay tuned to spudart.org for tips and be safe!

If it's too hard to look behind your shelves to see how the cords from your Surge Protector are doing, send in a monkey, like the one pictured above. Monkeys love wires.

Image courtesy hto2008 via creative commons license

Can you believe a 32-ounce gold bar costs about $24,000?! I'm gonna put my money into the cubic foot of pennies.


Image courtesy MegaPenny Project

For only $491.12, you can get a cube of pennies 12 inches high, 12 inches wide, 12 inches deep. That's 307 pounds of pennies. Compare that against a mere 32 ounces. Pennies rule.

The energy! Hundreds of thousands of happy people. It is just so amazing to see so many people coming together for our country. Barack Obama won the 2008 election and will be the next President of the United States! Happiness is abounding everywhere. Chicago has been home to many celebrations.

Chicago has seen happy people celebrate sports championships.
Chicago has seen happy people enjoy mega-large music concerts.
Chicago has seen a million happy observe the July 3rd fireworks every year.

The happiness on November 4, 2008 from Barack Obama winning the Presidential election is completely different. It is a happiness that is significant. It's happiness about that things WILL change. Lives WILL be impacted. And the people of Chicago in Grant Park know that.

Here's some selected photos I took this night. (Videos coming soon).

It's fun to spell sugar as "suga" or "shuga." But which way to go? Honestly, the only way to find out is to say it out loud with gusto.

Let's try it now. Ready? One, two, three:
SHUGA SHUGA SHUGA!

Nice job! Now let's say it the other way:
SUGA! SUGA! SUGA!

Analysis:
SHUGA SHUGA SHUGA has a sort of college rooting feel.
SUGA SUGA SUGA forces you to say it deeper, sounding like a tribal man.
I opt for the tribal man pronunciation. Which do you prefer?

Stamps. Stickers.

It's just meant to be that these two files sit next to each other alphabetically. Whenever I mail my bills, I pull out the stamps file AND the stickers file. Stickers are so much fun. The world could use more stickers. Thankfully the stickers file sits right next to stamps. The two go hand in hand.