End of a blog.

I'm sorry to say that with the updates to the operating system of Blogger.com my work browser is no longer supported. I can't get our IT guys to update it, so I am unable to post to my blog from work (which is 3/4 of the time I am able to get onto the computer).

I will therefore be migrating my personal blog to a new home within the pages of Missing Link Cycling Club's web site.  If you follow this blog, please look for future updates at www.missinglinkcycling.weebly.com .

I hope you have enjoyed what I have written here, and hope to see you on my new site.

Thanx,
Papa Bear

The Museum of Non-visible Art

I kid you not. This is apparently real!  How stupid of an idea is this? I mean, how incredibly idiotic must a person be to pay for nothing??? 

Read on...

Museum of Non-Visible Art Opens Its Doors

This is a conceptual art project by Praxis, curated by Vallejo Gantner, artistic director of PS122 in Manhattan. Praxis is the collaborative art team of Brainard and Delia Carey, and in this project, James Franco has collaborated with them. Praxis has been in the Whitney Museum Biennial and James Franco has exhibited his art work internationally.

The Non-Visible Museum is an extravaganza of imagination, a museum that reminds us that we live in two worlds: the physical world of sight and the non-visible world of thought. Composed entirely of ideas, the Non-Visible Museum redefines the concept of what is real. Although the artworks themselves are not visible, the descriptions open our eyes to a parallel world built of images and words. This world is not visible, but it is real, perhaps more real, in many ways, than the world of matter, and it is also for sale.

Important Note: When you contribute to this Kickstarter project, you are not buying a visible piece of art! You will not receive a painting or a film or a photograph in your mailbox. What you will receive is something even more fascinating: The opportunity to collaborate in an act of artistic creation. You will receive a title card with a description of a piece of art, as well as a letter of authentication. You may mount this card on a blank wall in your home or gallery. What comes next is up to you! The artwork comes to life—and takes on full personal meaning—in your imagining and describing of it, both to yourself and to your visitors. You may also choose to sell the non-visible artwork to another collector, to exhibit it elsewhere, or to lend it back to Praxis when we take the Non-Visible Museum on tour.

As these non-visible works of art are bought, exchanged, and resold, they open our eyes to the unseen universe that exists at every moment, and we can share that universe. It is like finding the code beneath. We exchange ideas and dreams as currency in the New Economy.

In the near future we will invite more artists, writers, and others to contribute works to the Non-Visible Museum so that it can keep expanding. You can sign up on our website to be on the mailing list. http://www.nonvisiblemuseum.com

For now, we want to tour this museum in the U.S. and Europe. For each exhibition, we will give a tour of the Non-Visible Museum, describing to all those in attendance what they are looking at and imagining. As this tour grows, we will continue to collaborate and add new works. 
Thank you for reading this far and dreaming with us.

Scorpion

Spence bought a really cool scorpion made of wire at the farmer's market last weekend.  Now, I'm a pretty crafty guy myself, so I figured I could copy it.

I spent about a half-hour studying the weave of wires, then I went to work.

First, I bundled 8 wires together to form the core, then began weaving the other eight wires into a body and legs.



Body and legs from the side

Body and legs from the top

Bottom view



Wrapping the tail





Completed!



Pretty cool, huh? 

-Papa Bear

Swept Away

I now have photographic evidence that a teenager will sometimes, without being asked, work!  I know, right? Should I call the Guiness Book of World Records?

I'm just kidding you Spence!  I have good kids. I'm really quite lucky!

-PB

My Saturday

I needed to change the thermostat in my van. A simple, 10 minute job in an older car, right?!?
Here is the engine before I started (with MAJOR help from my brother-in-law -- as in he did almost all the work, being a mechanic and all)

Here's the gaping hole where Jeff had to remove basically half the blasted engine to get to the thermostat.

I want to find the engineer who designed this, and punch him in the mouth!

-PB
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Building a planter box

I am in the process of building a planter box in front of our house for my wife. It is about 8 feet long by 2 feet wide. It will have a gravel base for both looks and drainage.

Here are the steps I took today...

First, of course I started with the area where the rose bushes used to be. 

They were more dead than alive, so we ripped them out. This mess is what was left...

Next, came a lot of work with pick and shovel. 

This cleared out the weeds, grass and roots. I went down about 6 inches.

I then put down a base layer of weed stopping fabric and several hundred pounds of red gravel.

I actually need a couple more bags of gravel before it will be to the level I want.

Then I will start construction on the box itself.

This is the view looking toward my front walk and door. 

Not looking too shabby, huh?

As soon as I have the money for the redwood, I will build the planter box itself, and then we will have a nice place to put flowers in front of the house.

-PB

Luftguitar

Okay, someone in Germany put an ad on eBay selling a "luftguitar"  (air guitar)   EP LTD EX-401 BLACK LUFTGUITAR
Artikelzustand: Condition:	Gebraucht Used
Restzeit: Time:	15 Std. 55 Min. 0 Sek. (09. Okt. 2010 15:34:08 MESZ) 15 hrs 55 min 0 sec (09 October 2010 15:34:08 GMT)
Gebotsübersicht: Bid History:	0 Gebote [ Übersicht der Geboteaktualisieren ] 0 bids [ bid: Chart ]
Startpreis: Starting bid:	EUR 1,00 EUR 1.00
Ihr Maximalgebot: Your maximum bid:	EUR EUR	Bieten Offer  Bieten Offer
	(Geben Sie mindestens EUR 1,00 ein.) (Enter EUR 1.00 or.)
		Auf die Beobachtungsliste On the Watch List d On the Watch List Für weitere Listen einloggen Please login to other lists Ende des Eingabefelds End of the input field Beginn des Layers Beginning of the Layers Auf eine neue Liste On a new list Bitte geben Sie einen gültigen Namen ein Please enter a valid name (Trennen Sie unterschiedliche Listennamen durch Kommas.) (Separate different list of names with commas.) Abbrechen Cancel Anklicken, um zu schließen Click to close to Ende des Layers End of the Layers
Versand: Shipping:

  I hope someone bought it, and paid in Monopoly money!

-PB