The fictional material handwavium (similar to unobtainium) is sometimes referred to in situations where the solution requires access to a substance that is probably possible to create, but only by means which would require a great deal of research, development, time, effort, and/or money, none of which the speaker intends to explain at the moment. *
Beausage - probably pronounced byoosij, but I like the sound of bÅ-sahzh…
…it’s a synthetic combination of the words beauty and usage, and describes the beauty that comes with using something.
How, you may ask, is beausage any different than patina? Well, it’s certainly related, but different. Patina is really more about surface level changes happening at a chemical level: oxidation, chemical stripping, and so on. Beausage describes changes that happen in 3D where atoms get torn and stripped away, as occurs with scratches, tears, chips, and wear marks. *
Nice gallery of Lesser Kestrel shots (via MeFi) at Jerome Guillaumot’s web site. He also has some nice bee eater (and Hoopoe - guide to the thirty!) pictures - enjoy.
I’ve been using netvibes for a few weeks now and wanted to take a moment to recommend it. My netvibes page/portal/site is now indispensable - I can keep an eye on my favorite blogs, my Gmail account, Flikrstreams, etc. Clicking on the image above will take you to a Flikr page where I’ve marked the screen capture up a bit. Another great web app I fell over recently was Pandora (I know, I know, I live in a cave) - you give it an artist or song name and it starts streaming music similar to your seed selection. A great way to expand your horizons - in a rational world, the music industry would be showering the Pandora folks with cash. I’ll leave you with a Youtube clip I first saw about 3 weeks ago - it’s getting huge linkage, but one more won’t hurt. Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us:
I stumbled across Michael Jekot’s web site this morning and saw some paintings that I like quite a bit. The Porsche 917/Auto Union portrait above is especially resonant - I saw 917s race at Watkins Glen way back when. Although I prefer the Martini paint job (even then - the lure of psychedelia >grin<) the Gulf colors are likely the canonical version. The Auto Union silver arrows are also faves of mine - a perfect blend of function and just enough form to cover.
