Think you can get 100% on the first try?
This is pretty neat! See how you do with the colors! Have fun!
It takes an average of 5 tries to get to 100%. Follow the directions!
It’s harder than it seems, as it should be!
A brain waker-upper for today!
http://www.humorsphere.com/fun/8787/colortest.swf
Thanks Anne-Marie!
Published: Thursday, October 05, 2006
Architect Andrew Dewberry built a tree fort for his two young sons in a big cedar tree in the front yard of his Kerrisdale home.
Now the city wants him to take it down.
According to a letter a city inspector sent Dewberry and his wife Jayne Seagrave at the end of September, the boat-shaped structure is an “accessory building” that violates the zoning and development bylaw.
To six-year-old Sam and seven-year-old Jack, the tree fort is a pirate ship on the high seas.
“I like to play in it and stuff,” Sam said. “Some day, I’d like to sleep in it.”
Boaters can find freedom on the high seas, but local governments have rules about what can be built on city-sized lots.
Dewberry says he talked to a city official by phone on Aug. 31 to ask about tree forts, before he bought $2,000 worth of wood and other building supplies. According to Dewberry, he was told there were no guidelines for tree forts and no mention of them in a bylaw.
“He told me the department was ‘complaint driven,’ ” Dewberry said, “so I asked him the obvious question: ‘If there was a complaint, what would you do?’ ” Dewberry said the official replied: “Nothing.”
But something did happen. Although the fort isn’t very visible from the street or Dewberry’s front yard, it is more visible from a neighbour’s front yard and one side of the fort is close to the property line.
The city’s Sept. 29 letter notes the tree fort is on the south side of the front yard, and that it was build without a permit. The letter asks the parents of Sam and Jack to come to city hall, submit building plans for the tree fort, sign a development application and pay a fee. That paper work is to be done within 30 days or the parents have to “remove” the tree fort to avoid “further action” that is not spelled out.
McLellan said the city allows people to build tree forts in back yards — as opposed to front yards — because small tree forts in back yards usually don’t affect a neighbour’s privacy.
“Avoid an impact on your neighbour,” he advised. “Some people complain because [a neighbour’s tree fort] compromises their privacy. There are often ways to screen it, to deal with those issues.
“The only reason we’re out there is that we’re acting on a complaint,” he said. “Most people try to work things out with their neighbours, without involving city hall.”
gbohn@png.canwest.com
HOW TO BUILD SO INSPECTORS WON’T COME
You don’t need a building permit to erect a tree fort in Vancouver, however, here are some things to keep in mind:
- Build it in the back yard, not the front yard.
- Don’t put up a structure that’s more than 100 square feet in size.
- Keep it away from property lines and legal setbacks.
- Talk to your neighbours before building, to ensure the tree fort doesn’t look down on their back yards and affect a neighbour’s privacy.
Source: David McLellan, City of Vancouver
Thanks N!
We’re accustomed to seeing the exact same size and shape UPC barcodes on retail packaging, but who knew that these parameters could be played with yet still serve their intended function?
Somebody in Japan finally figured out that as long as optical character readers (OCRs) can recognize the encoded information, nothing else really matters. The next step was to work hand-in-hand with manufacturers to liven up their barcodes and by doing so, create an innovative new way to attract consumers’ attention.
In Japan nowadays, artistic barcodes grace everything from soup to nuts. The theme typically matches the actual product inside but just as often it doesn’t. No matter, the theme is secondary to the thoughts of the artists who, though limited by the need to retain the barcode’s original purpose, still have enough leeway to surprise and delight.
Leading the pack when it comes to artistic UPC barcodes is a Japanese design firm named D-barcode. With a name like that, it would seem they have enough commissions designing creative UPC codes to keep the company in the black. Thanks to D-barcode and other design firms, artistically rendered barcodes have attracted quite a following in Japan - so much so that there’s a book featuring them (which appears to be sold out).
Will we be seeing these kinds of creative, artistically designed barcodes on American packaging anytime soon? It’s likely we will - competition being what it is, companies need to grab our attention any way they can. Now that the “bar” has been raised in Japan, it’s certain our corporations will come in from the “code”.
Steve Levenstein
J A P A N O R A M A
InventorSpot.com
The creation of the next hot toy or snack is often a long one, involving lots of time and market research. But did you know that the ever-popular Silly Putty, the Slinky and the Popsicle were all invented accidentally?
Silly Putty
The invention of Silly Putty started out scientifically. During World War II, the United States government was in dire need of a substitute for rubber to use on such things as boots and airplane tires. They asked their engineers to experiment with silicone to find this synthetic rubber. In 1944, a General Electric engineer named James Wright added boric acid to silicone oil and ended up inventing what became Silly Putty. However, before it was Silly Putty, it was nothing. Though it was elastic and bounced, it wasn’t sufficient as a rubber substitute and was put aside. It wasn’t until 1949 that Silly Putty realized its true potential. It had attracted the attention of a toy store owner named Ruth Fallgatter. She teamed up with a marketing consultant named Peter Hodgson to find a creative use for the putty. It was first marketed to adults and then became a toy for children. The rest is history. Despite the rationing of silicone brought on by the Korean War, Silly Putty persevered and is now one of the world’s most populat toys.
The familiar Slinky
Slinky
The Slinky was also invented by a engineer during World War II. Richard James was a naval engineer with the US Navy. One day in 1943, he was working with torsion springs when one tumbled to the floor. To James’ surprise, the spring kept moving end-over-end across the floor. This fascinated James, and, upon returning home, he and his wife Betty decided to market this invention as a toy. They developed a similar spring, coiling a steel ribbon into a spiral, named it “Slinky”, and began production of this newly-invented toy in 1945. Like Silly Putty, the Slinky isn’t complicated or hard to use - a secret to its success. More than two million toys have been sold since its invention, and the original design has only changed once.
The Popsicle
A cherry Popsicle
Unlike the Slinky and Silly Putty, the Popsicle wasn’t invented by an engineer as a byproduct of research. The Popsicle, one of history’s favourite frozen snacks, was accidentally invented by an 11-year-old boy. At the turn of the 20th century, soda water powder mixed with water was a common drink. Young Frank Epperson began to mix this drink for himself one day in 1905, but instead of drinking it, left it on his back porch overnight. Though he lived in California, temperatures reached a record low that night and, the next day, Epperson found his drink, frozen, with the stirring stick still inside. This was interesting enough to a child, but it wasn’t until 1923 that Epperson thought he could sell his accidental invention as a snack. He began selling his invention, then called “Epsicles”, in seven flavours. The name was changed to the now-familiar “Popsicle”, and an estimated three million are sold each year, in more than 30 flavours. Pretty good for a forgetful kid!
Sources:
Charlotte Foltz Jones. Mistakes That Worked. New York: Doubleday, 1991. Wikipedia Image: stock.xchng
Thanks Nefer!