You have to be careful what you do in the rollit bed. Anything too strenuous and the rollit could live up to its name and roll right down hill. Perhaps it should be like one of those hexagonal pencils.

I am convinced that until some type of horific event occurs here in the states that we will never get that one person to vote for that could enact any type of meaningful change. The powers that be ($$$$$$$) wouldn't allow for it. As I get older - I fear the only chance for real change to occur is if some entity (with the financial resources and the moral convictions to take on the big money corporations in their own arena) is able to come from outside the "inner circles" of our current political society and last long enough to make a difference. Unfortunately - anyone capable of meeting that criteria will likely have their own baggage (religion) that influences their objectives. Dean

@escapeartist said: ........Perhaps the second question may be more philosophical with regards to an architect's motivations, but if your client handed you a portfolio of North U.K. sod-roofed cottages as references would you present an earth-bermed Frank Lloyd Wright? Thanks for posting the pictures. As for the above question, I suppose it would depend on how hungry I am. If you are not a builder, I suggest that you go to one that has a turn key operation with Architects on staff. While you are the Client, the Architect is additionally responsible to the City and State to provide a viable, legal solution. Are your request doable in your location in terms of building codes, etc.? Will your request require R&D not covered by standard fees? If not are you willing to pay for the R&D? The typical architects is typically ill equipped to pursue R&D, and depend on their association with manufactures to advance the state of the art. I can't speak for others, but my work is more about art, within the parameters of what I know about build-ability. What Box says below is also correct. In addition each Architect has his own area of expertise, are you talking to ones that are knowledgeable about your notions?

@gaieus said: David: I only posted this as a joke or something... I'd never ban you (I'd think about Rich though...) Feel free to ban me anytime if it makes you happy. I was thinking of starting my own forum anyway. It'll be RichUcation - The smartass place for daily beasting needs. spammers are welcome also

Just a test pilou, nothing serious. My problem is the render engines though. These 'VG assets', low density meshes need the support of normal maps. Displacement won't work correctly because of this simple triangulated construction - it can't be subdivided correctly. Now, normal maps supposed to work with scanline render engines only. An unbiased or even biased, physically correct engine can't support them. It works with displacements and/or bumps only. Bumps look ugly though, great for hi frequency details only. I suppose, techniques like the above won't work for archi visualization, where Global Illumination is a must.

http://sketchup.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=158683

Got in just under the line: Happy Birthday. Sounds (and looks) like a great vacation.

I like how the second vid scrolls text that implying this is a relatively new phenomenon. I can hear the UFO or whatever conspiracy theorists gearing up to explain these, but they're called fallstreak or hole-punch clouds and they've been around as long as clouds have. Wikipedia has a nice entry if anyone's interested: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallstreak_hole

Well, I have a stock of 50 (now only 49) writeable DVD's. Since I began my freelancing small business, this was the first time the client wanted a "hard copy" of the product (a movie) and this was the only way to deliver. Sigh... What can I say? Eurocrats with their 50-year-old rules. Good they did not want it on film.

Very good.

Thanks for pointing that out-didnt notice it the first few times through! I think he should have labeled it...

yeah no surprise at all... and all the others mentioned... all drugs and booze to extremes. they couldn't handle success... morons. I really have no sympathy for those who have it all and throw it away.

Artists never died, paintings sculpture, architecture...are surviving!

If an Apple hardware is a knock off, then when they sign on a Apple site, won't Apple be able to check cyphered certificates, or are those successfully counterfeit too? Didn't something like that happen before with downloading apps., or music, on a fake phone?

@unknownuser said: At your demographic too Think we'll change our logo to 'The friendly place for all your needs' 'Now in 3D!'

@dave r said: I don't know know where he gets this stuff. Emo Philips. Some others: "I love to go down to the playground, and watch the kids running and jumping and screaming. They don't know I'm only shooting blanks." "Today I came home and someone had replaced all my possessions with identical copies". "My parents taught me how to swim the hard way, I thought I'd never get out of that sack." "Most kids get a rubber duck to play with in the bathtub, all I got was the toaster." When I was a child, my parents told me "Don't go near the cellar door you can play anywhere else you like but don't go near the cellar door. One day, when they were gone I went to the cellar door and I opened it and I saw things, things I'd never seen before....trees, and grass, and the sky...

Whishing that is not the new commercial politic of Blender's plugings!

He also has a longer 'TEDtalk' available here http://www.ted.com/talks/marcin_jakubowski.html

WIn 7 has a lot of cool start menu/bar tweaks and tricks. Check some out here: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-windows-7-tips-and-hacks-part-1/http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-windows-7-tips-and-hacks-part-1/

Watching those videos makes my palms sweat profusely.