Face Painting Fun

A few years back, we hired a face painter for my son's birthday party. It was a big hit, and not long after, my wife Barb began to dabble in face painting. Greta Gonzalez, the face painter at my son's party, was kind enough to take Barb under her wing, giving her tips on technique, introducing her to other face painters, and suggesting conferences that might benefit her.

Earlier this fall, Barb launched her face painting business, Let's Make a Face. She can provide face painting and temporary tattoos. She practices her designs regularly - granted, I'm biased, but I think she's pretty good. Yesterday, she spent six hours painting faces and applying temporary tattoos at St. Mary's School's Christmas Bazaar.

If you're looking for something special for a party or event in the Northern Virginia or Washington, DC, area, let Barb know - she'll make memories for your guests, one face at a time.

Image Search via Gazopa

TechCrunch reports this morning that Hitachi's Gazopa similar image search engine has entered open beta testing. It's a great concept,  but based on a few test searches I conducted, I think it could use a bit more tweaking.

Searched Image:

Results Returned Include:

Searched Image:

Results Returned Include:

The above search also returned a photo of two women kissing, with a similarity of 66%. If you consider that I am one-third of the searched photo, I suppose that's pretty accurate.

Searched Image:

Results returned include:

Disturbing Update

I just searched on my Twitter avatar - results include two blondes in leather micro-minis and Mel Gibson's mug shot. I'm not sure which is worse...

Support Scouting, Stave Off Shaming

Our six-year old recently became a Tiger Cub. One of his first scouting tasks is to sell popcorn, to help raise funds for his Cub Pack's activities. I placed the following marketing copy with the sign-up sheet that I took to my office. I share it here with the hope that it may result in some online popcorn sales for the little guy.  A tin (or three) of popcorn makes a great holiday gift!

A Cruel Fate Awaits Cub Scouts Who Don’t Sell Enough Popcorn

 

It’s called “butterflying.” A Cub is stripped of his uniform, and forced to wear butterfly wings. See how they made an example of my little brother? And he’s not even old enough to be a Cub Scout!

Help me avoid this humiliation by buying some tasty popcorn. Proceeds will support my Pack’s activities, such as camping trips and our Thanksgiving food drive. You can also purchase popcorn for the troops serving our nation.

If you’d like to help, please print your name, contact info, and order on the accompanying form. You can give the money for your purchase to my dad – checks may be made payable to Pack 301. Please support Scouting, support our troops, and save me from a cocoon of shame.

Thank you,

M. Scheeler

Two Tales of Redemption: Kennedy and Vick

Driving to work this morning, I heard a news story on the return of Michael Vick to the NFL after his release from federal prison on dogfighting charges. The broadcast included an audio clip of a man challenging protesters outside the Eagles' stadium, arguing that Vick had done his time, had lost millions of dollars, and should be given a second chance.

For the record, I'm not a fan of Michael Vick. If asked whether he should have been allowed back into the NFL, I probably would have answered no. Do I think he deserves to make $1.625 million this year? Definitely not. Still, I recognize that he can make this make this money because the public is willing to pay to attend his games, to watch them on TV, and to buy the merchandise that allows owners to pay these salaries.

Listening to a man arguing for Michael Vick to have a second chance caused me to reflect on one of the main stories of this past week, the death of Senator Edward Kennedy. Many of the tributes I have heard over the past few days alluded to the fact that Kennedy, like all of us, had made mistakes. I think most would agree that one of his most significant mistakes was the Chappaquiddick incident, which resulted in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne.

As reprehensible as I find dogfighting, I would argue that causing the death of another person is a more egregious offense. Granted, unlike Michael Vick, Kennedy's offense wasn't premeditated; like Vick, he plead guilty (to leaving the scene of an accident); but unlike Vick, he did not serve time (his sentence was suspended). In spite of Chappaquiddick, the people of Massachusetts opted to give Kennedy another chance. He continued a lifetime of public service, and served in the Senate for 30 more years.

Will Michael Vick prove himself worthy of redemption? I don't know. If sincere, his work with the Humane Society holds promise. Time, and Vick's actions, will tell. The larger questions for me are, what, if anything, makes one man more deserving of a second chance than another? And, what does it say about us if we are unwilling to give a man that chance?

Scenes from a Health Care Town Hall

Tonight, Barb attended a health care town hall meeting in Reston, Virginia, with Congressman Jim Moran and Howard Dean. The hall was filled with 2500, with more turned away. Below, in no particular order, are some images from the evening:

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign:

Hello? Ever heard of miracles? Jesus don't need no stinkin' insurance:

Your car's more grammatical, too:

The sign (and the hair) say it all, yo:

Sadly, Barb didn't get a photo of a similar sign that read, "Euthanize socialist whores." (Capitalist whores, apparently you're safe):

How do I redistribute my work ethic? Sounds like something the socialists would do:

Because a strong 2nd amendment is key to any health care reform:

Bleeding Obamacare:


Poor sign timing:

When in doubt, invoke a founding father:

That's not fair - I'm pretty sure Bush was sober when he was spending irresponsibly:

And I'm getting too tired to comment - make up your own:



Honorable mention to a sign Barb wasn't able to photograph: "Real Cripples for Health Care."

Underleash Your Inner Mifune at the Wii Sports Resort

Our copy of Wii Sports Resort arrived last night. It features twelve games, including frisbee, archery, and table tennis, and updates the bowling and golf featured in the original Wii Sports. The game that made me jump to preorder Wii Sports Resort is swordplay, which in initial reviews looked like virtual kendo.

The first game is Duel, for one or two players. The venue is a round platform thirty feet above a lagoon. Gameplay is a combination of kendo and sumo. You win a round by using sword strikes to drive your opponent off the edge of the platform and into the water. Rapid combinations of men (head) and do (abdomen) strikes do a good job of driving off opponents, in the early rounds at least. Best of three rounds wins.

After completing the Duel, Speed Slice is unlocked. Compete against the computer or an opponent to see who can be the fastest to slice bamboo shoots, cake slices, sushi rolls, and other objects tossed by a referee. In addition to speed, you are judged on whether you cut at the proper angle. Best of ten wins.

The third swordfighting game is Showdown. A single-player game, Showdown is Wii's answer to a Kurosawa movie. You enter a scene (say, a moonlit beach) where you are soon confronted by a horde of sword-wielding Miis, whom you battle until the ground is littered with Mii opponents, or until they land three blows on you.

Wii Sports Resort ships with one Wii MotionPlus, an extension of the Wii Remote that allows for more precise motion response. The length added by the MotionPlus allows for a two-handed grip as you duel. Still, it's not the most comfortable hilt - I wound up with a slight blister on the thumb after a few games. So, I'll grab a bandage and be back on the battlefield tonight - this time, challenging the five- and six-year olds.

Happy Birthday, Haiku Guy!

Garrison Keillor notes that today is the birthday of haiku master Kobayashi Issa. In tribute, here's my stab at the form:

Found stray dog last night
With puppy-dog eyes, Wife, kids
Begging to adopt.

Father's Day Gift Ideas for 40-Something Geek Dads

Two blog posts in a year - I'm on a roll! Today, a community service - in no particular order, ideas on what to get a guy that was somehow involved in procreation:

• A SudsBuddy Beer Cooler What dad doesn't like a cold beer? And with fewer bottles in cans coming into the house, you're really helping to save the environment by buying this.
• A Universal Remote To be honest, I know some moms that could benefit from one of these...
• Whisky Glass And if you want to be generous, a bottle of single-malt Scotch wouldn't be bad, either.
• Glow in the Dark Zombies and B-movie victims - sometimes you want to stage a George Romero movie on your desk.
• A BBQ Sword Because it's a sword. For barbecuing.
• A Battlestar Galactica Raptor Be the coolest geek in town with this in your driveway.

Have some Father's Day gift ideas? Feel free to share!