Origami Seahorse

Another of my personal origami dollar creations is the seahorse. This is a bit trickier than the dollar bill penguin. I created this from my memory of what a seahorse looks like, and as a result not all the details are correct. For instance, the tail I made curl backwards and they actually curl forward. So the pictures I've taken are of the reverse tail configuration, but the directions I put down show the more correct forward curl.

Anyway, all that being said, I'm posting directions on how to make the seahorse. Let me know how it goes!







Step 1: Fold the dollar bill in half lengthways, and unfold.
Step 2: Fold the corners to the center-line, similar to how you would start folding an airplane.

Step 3: Fold the corners again towards the center-line, again like in an airplane.
Step 4: Fold the oppose corners to the center-line.


The next few steps are preparation for a rabbit fold. Both of the triangular flaps will get a rabbit ear fold.

Step 5: Fold the edge of the triangular flap that lies on the center line to the hypotenuse of the triangle. The unfold.
Step 6: The the edge perpendicular to the center-line to the hypotenuse and then unfold.
Step 7: Create the rabbit ear by folding along the creases created in the last two steps. The right angle portion of the flap gets folded in half and pulled so that it points away from the end of the bill.

Step 8: Repeat the rabbit fold on the opposite flap.
Step 9: Fold the bill in half lengthwise, so that the folds just created lay inside the model.



Step 10: Fold the edge with the rabbit ear folds to the centerline of the model. This will expose the rabbit ears. Repeat behind.
Step 11: Rotate the model so that the rabbit ears are towards the top.



Step 12: The next step is to crimp fold the top of the model. This will form the head. The crimp fold can be created by grabbing the tip of the model and rotating it forward while holding the body with the other hand. It's really just a couple of reverse folds.

Step 13: Fold the ears forward. The ears were created by the rabbit ear fold earlier. Fold them so that they stick straight upwards. They can be curled slightly for appearance.

Step 14: Inside reverse fold the tip of the nose downward.

Step 15: Inside reverse fold the tip back upwards. Make the fold so that it lies just below the line of the jaw. This will create a flared appearance at the nose. You can just the tip a bit to make it stick out less.



Step 16: Crimp fold the body. This can be done with an inside reverse fold to bring the tail upwards and then a second reverse fold to move the tail back downward.

Step 17: This step will form the fins and thin the tail. Start by thinning the tail. The fin gets formed with a rabbit ear fold. As you thin the tail, pinch the corner that will form the fin. After this step the model will not lie flat.



The next few steps form the tail curl. Diagrammed below are the steps to form the tail the "correct" direction.

Step 18: Inside reverse fold the tail forward.

Step 19: Outside reverse fold the end of the tail upward.

Step 20: Fold the tip of the tail inward to complete the model.

Cruise to Bermuda

I just got back from cruising to Bermuda. The cruise left from South Boston, so I had to take a cab a whole mile and a half to get there. I suppose I could have walked, but it is vacation and I did have luggage.

I think the theme for this blog post should be the knowledge that a cruise ship is a small world. I should have learned this lesson from my first cruise where people were congratulating me on my belly-flop championship for the entire cruise. Although, this time I would extend the small world to include the ports.

Bermuda is home to 66,000 people, according to my knowledgeable taxi driver. Considering that's roughly twice the population of South Boston, or a tenth the population of Boston, that's a decent, but not large number. The cruise ship I was on, in comparison had roughly 3,000 passengers... Doing that the math that means 1 in 20 people I met were from my cruise ship! Alright, it doesn't actually imply that, but if everyone were put into a giant bag and shaken up...

The first amusing incident I'd relate along those lines requires a bit of back story. On the first day at sea, there was a pub crawl on the ship. The crawl went to five of the bars on-board with a drink at each one. There was also various shenanigans involved, which for the most part I won't go into. The one part I will go into is that there was a rule that stated whenever someone on the pub crawl yelled, "Pub Crawl!" everyone was supposed to respond, "Pub Crawl!" Being a bit of an instigator and having a loud carrying voice, I felt obligated to give out the call a few times (and was actually asked to do so by the boisterousness impaired). What does that have to do with 1 in 20? On the last day in Bermuda, I was sitting down enjoying a bottle of water when I heard a boy yell "pub crawl!" I turned around and saw one of the guy's who had been on the pub crawl with me and his young son. The son had apparently recognized me and the call!

One of my favorite pastimes on the ship was singing karaoke. They had karaoke set up each night, and I would have a couple of drinks while singing. There was a core group who showed up most every night. But there were also people who showed up a couple of times, or at least I didn't see every night. And yet, I had people waving to me quite frequently, "Hey Karaoke guy!" Twice was while I was in Bermuda sight-seeing! I guess I do tend to stick out of a crowd, but still...

A few other random pictures... I thought this one was hilarious. At poolside on the cruise ship there were two bronze statues. This one of a girl diving/jumping into a mini-pool, notice the sign!This picture was taken in the oldest church (St. Peter's) in Bermuda, which was built in 1612. Quite a nice place, and surprisingly quiet considering the noise right outside from the street and foot traffic. This is their organ, which ended up being a little blurry...
This is a picture of the National Drink of Bermuda, the Rum Swizzle as served at the Pickled Onion (the onion being the national vegetable, of which I didn't partake, instead I had the fish and chips, which was excellent, although most excellent on the fish side than the chips side). I also had some Rum Swizzle at the Swizzle Inn, which has the motto "Swizzle Inn and Stagger Out" which isn't a just a motto.
Oh Bermuda also has a beach or two, this one being the most famous Horseshoe Bay:

Today in History (April 12th)

April 12th doesn't stand out to many people as an important day in history. At least, I never really thought about it, until this year.

Today is the 150th anniversary of the first shots of the US Civil War. My mom always called it "The War Between the States" or "The War of Northern Aggression" because "there was nothing civil about it." There is a lot of truth to that. More people in the US died during the Civil War than during any other war. In fact, the Civil War nearly accounts for half of all US deaths during war. The reason it was so costly, was we were fighting ourselves. Every death, friend or foe, was the death of an American.

There is a lot of discussion in the media today about how contentious times are today. While it's true the public is more polarized than at any time in recent history, it's not true that it's the most contentious. (Look up Sumner and Brooks if you don't believe me.) The line between sides is not as obvious or clearly geographic as it once was. There are red states and blue states, but if you really look at how votes break down, it is more a question of urban vs. rural. If you look at California, which is considered a blue state, you'll find that the cities have a super-majority of Democrats, but the entire rest of the state is Republican. In fact, in many states if you look at a voting map, you'll see a similar trend, blue in the cities and red everywhere else.

I'm getting a bit off track here. I mainly wanted to make the point that 150 years ago, this nation began to tear itself apart. From the ashes of that war, a stronger nation emerged. The strength of the United States is in our motto "E Pluribus Unum." So, I'd urge everyone to remember the lessons of history, and be civil to each other.

Of course, I would be remiss as an Aerospace Engineer, from failing to point out that 50 years ago today, the first man in orbit. While Yuri's flight was not the trigger for the space race (much as the shots at Fort Sumter were not the start of the Civil War), it is still an important date in history. It also marked the beginning of an amazing time in World history where science grew by leaps and bounds.

So, April 12th might not be a red letter day in history, but maybe it should.

Thanksgiving

Alright, Thanksgiving was a while ago, but I haven't gotten around to writing about it. At the last minute, well, a week before last minute, I decided to take my sister up on her offer to go down to Knoxville for Thanksgiving.

Melanie picked me up at the airport with her two daughters. Veronica was being rather standoffish as usual, but Heidi didn't seem to mind it when I carried her. On the drive back from the airport, I learned the Veronica loves "Veronica" by Elvis Costello. I'd hear from the backseat "Veronica song on" over and over until my sister would flip back to it. Also, while my niece might greet my "Hellos" with "No", she would take french fries from me. Speaking of food, I also learned my niece is just as fond of peanut-butter as I am.

Thanksgiving day we went to the home of some of Melanie's friends from church. Melanie and I had picked up a turkey and the plan was to fry it when we got there. Meanwhile, a second turkey was getting smoked. The frying turned out to be a non-starter. The first tank of propane emptied before the oil got hot. We got a second tank, and tried again, but the burner wasn't going full blast like it should. After half an hour or more, the oil was barely over 100 degrees. Eventually we gave up and decided to smoke the second turkey as well, but not until after we had the first one.

It ended up being a late lunch timewise, but delicious. I really enjoyed the smoked turkey, but was sad that I didn't get to try the fried turkey, since I've heard it's delicious.

While Thanksgiving was nice, what was really nice was getting my niece to like me, at least temporarily. I resorted to an electronic bribe. Melanie had told me that one of her friends had downloaded a song to play which amused Veronica. So I went to the App store and download a couple of games for Veronica to play on my phone.

The game is pretty simple, fitting for a two year old. Basically there are large rectangles covering a picture. The simple version, you just touch the square and it goes away. The next most advanced level has a little flower on one of the rectangles indicating that that one has to be pushed first. The third level has dots on the rectangles like dice, and the fourth level has actual numbers. The version with the dots was hit or miss with Veronica, so we mostly played the one with the flowers.

Once Veronica saw that I had a game on my phone she came right over. It took a bit of explaining but she figured it out pretty quickly. The funny thing was that after about five minutes of playing, she got tired of pushing the rectangles herself. So she would grab my finger and use my finger to press the button instead. All told it probably kept her amused for half an hour or so.

Later Veronica came over to me and put her hand in my pocket. "Phone Game" she said. So I pulled out my phone and let her play for a while. Then she'd get bored and wander away. This kept up for a while, with Veronica coming over and saying "Phone Game" and I would load it up for her.

Of course, right after she was done playing, she didn't like me much. But I figured out how to make it more fun for her, a second level bribe. Whenever she would push the correct square, the phone would make a faint click sound. So I started saying "Click" when she pushed it. She found this very amusing. She even started saying click as well.

There was also a faint buzzer sound when she would push the wrong rectangle, so I started saying "RNNNT" when she would push the wrong rectangle. She enjoyed the buzzing so much that she would intentionally press the wrong one just to hear me buzz. She would go through all of the show rectangles (except the one she was supposed to push). This would leave her with a fierce case of the giggles. Perhaps the first time I've heard her giggle.

Anyway, the e-bribe worked well enough that she would actually sit on my lap. When we were done playing the game, she even let me read her a couple of books. Although her idea of reading Winnie the Pooh was turning the page when I was only a paragraph or two through. Melanie was quite amused by the "madlibs" like resulting story.

Of course, the good-will I had garnered wore off over night. She wasn't as standoffish as she had been, but she wouldn't let me read her a book. It was also the day I was leaving, so I didn't have a chance to rebribe her sufficiently. At least now I know how to win the heart of a two year old.

Dented Car

Today I pulled a dent out of the hood of my car. I ordered a suction cup type dent puller online and it got in on Friday. So this morning I went out to my car, wiped the dent clean and then applied the suction cup. It took surprisingly little force before I heard the dent pop back out. The fix isn't perfect, there is some residual waviness, but it is not very noticeable, especially compared to the dent.

So how did the dent get into my hood? Well, that story is much longer and started last weekend. I was driving to the grocery store, planning to stop for breakfast on the way. I was stopped at a light when I saw three men off to my right. They were on the island between the straight lanes and the lane that turns right.

I'm not sure exactly what was going on, but the two white guys were taking the coat off of the black guy. The black guy wasn't putting up much of a fight, until the two other guys starting walking off. They were saying something back and forth, but I had no idea what. One of the white guys kept walking, and the other turned back. The two started fighting. Well, they never quite got around to actually landing any punches or kicks, but they went through the preliminaries.

The guy who was not participating in any of this, grabbed his buddy and starting pulling him away, across the street in front of me. There were still some words being exchanged, but it looked like the confrontation was over. Then the black guy started following them across the street. It was at this point that the light turned green.

Since they were directly in front of my car, I didn't proceed. Eventually they cleared the way, and I started forward. I'd gotten about three feet when the black guy turned around and started back across the street. I stopped well before I would have hit him, but that didn't stop him from turning his anger on me and kicking my car.

At this point, I decided it wouldn't be the best idea to get out of my car and confront this individual. First of all, I was in the middle of traffic, second of all, he was clearly in a contentious mood. Third, I didn't know what the other two guys would do. So once he cleared the way, I drove off.

I got to the diner where I was going to have breakfast and got out and checked my car. Sure enough there was a dent where the guy had kicked my car. I tried to decide what to do. Judging from the looks of the guy, I was guessing there was a good chance he was homeless. Even if I could find him, there chances of him having any money to fix the dent was small. I also tried to decide about an insurance claim, but figure that was a losing proposition, because it would be near or below the deductable.

I had a quick breakfast while I tried to figure it out. I decided to go back to see if any of the three were still around. I stopped at the gas station near the corner where this had all happened. I thought I had seen the guy before I pulled in. I got out of my car and looked back toward the intersection and the guy who kicked my car was walking towards me.

He asked very politely and humbly, "Excuse me sir, have you seen two guys walking by here." I said I had seen him kick my car. He seemed a bit surprised by this, although he did say he'd pay for it. I thought it highly unlikely but didn't know what to say. He said that the guys had taken his bag and his coat. I hadn't seen a bag on either of the two men, but I had seen them take his coat.

He kept going on about the coat, and when he realized I had seen what happened he got a bit frustrated, but when I reminded him about him kicking my car, he just sat on the ground. He said he was homeless (he'd mentioned something about Pine Street Manor which is the homeless shelter a few blocks from where all this had happened), and they'd gotten all his stuff. He also said he didn't do drugs, although the smell coming off of him belied that idea (although it could have been from being homeless and unbathed). I talked to him a bit more and decided to call the cops. The guy agreed about calling the cops.

I talked to the cops for a bit, describing what I had seen between the three men and then what the guy had done to my car. She asked me if I felt comfortable letting the guy talk about what happened. At this point the guy was super passive, so I handed over my phone. He held it backwards, and even after I turned it around for him he still was having a hard time. I ended up holding the phone for him while he described what happened.

His story was that he'd put his bag down somewhere and when he came back he saw three guys walking away with a bag that looked like his. He'd asked to look at the bag to see if it was, but said he'd done it really politely since he didn't want to start anything. Apparently they kept going with his bag and his $250 dollar coat (that his brother had given him out of love).

The guy eventually wound down and I spoke briefly to the dispatcher again, then the police cruiser showed up. The guy started talking to the police office while I waited. The officer sat rather stoically through the whole story. Eventually a second cruiser came up with two more police officers. I talked to them briefly and showed them the dent in my car.

There was now a third police cruiser on hand, and a fourth officer. The guy who kicked my car came over to where I was talking to the officers about the dent and what had happened. They asked him if he'd kicked my car. He said yes, and the cop immediately said, "Put your hands behind your back, you're under arrest." The guy wasn't surprised, or even seemingly upset.

One of the cops quipped, "That was easy." I was a bit upset about this. They didn't seem to care that the guy had his stuff stolen. They told me I could leave. I asked if they wanted a description of the other two guys. They said they'd gotten the description from the guy they'd just arrested. I said he couldn't remember how many guys there were. So reluctantly they let me start describing them.

I started the description and the cop said, "So they looked like junkies." I tried to say they looked like townies. I also said that the whole thing would have been caught on the traffic camera. But apparently for something like this, they wouldn't go through the hassle. They said that it was probably just two other guys from the methadone clinic. The guy who kicked my car, hadn't mentioned anything about his bag being stolen while he was in the methadone clinic.

I talked briefly to the first cop who had arrived at this point. Mentioned which way the guys had gone. I said I hadn't seen them with a bag, but I had seen the coat. I said it was a long black quilted coat with fur trim. He asked if it had a money symbol on it. I hadn't seen anything of the sort. The coat the guy had described to him, totally didn't match the one I had seen. So I wonder where he had gotten the coat. I also wonder whether the guys I had seen were two of the three guys that might (or might not) have stolen the guy's bag and the coat he described to the cops.

I feel bad for the guy. He has his stuff stolen, and in a moment of anger he takes it out on someone else (well, that someone else's car). As a result, he gets arrested. I don't know what's happened to him since, I haven't heard from the cops about the matter. I do know they don't feel sorry for him, since in their eyes he's just a junkie. Maybe someday he'll be more than that.

Dollar Bill Penguin

One of my hobbies is origami, and a few years ago I started inventing my own models. While out at a bar, I came up with a way to make a penguin out of a dollar bill. It makes a great tip. So, I've decided to publish the how-to on how to make the penguin.

1) Fold the dollar in half length-wise and unfold.
2) Fold the corners of the dollar to the center-line (airplane fold)
3) Fold the new edges to the center, making the point sharper
4) Fold the dollar bill in half with the folded corners inside
5) Reverse fold the dollar so that the point is perpendicular to the rectangle
6) Reverse fold again, this time along the edge of the new triangle
7) Crimp fold the straight section through the obtuse point of the triangle so that the long edge of the resulting rectangle is parallel to the long edge of the triangle (see comments for tip)
8) Inside reverse fold the two small flaps parallel to the long edge. The new fold should lay along the long edge of the triangle
9) Inside reverse fold the tip of the triangle. The reversed edge should form a slightly acute angle with the side of the model.
10) Inside reverse fold the corner of the rectangle at a 45 degree angle, so that the crease lies slightly above the free corner
11) Fold the two free points (formed in step 10) inward, so that the free edges are parallel.
12) Inside reverse fold the point (and all the layers) at a 45 degree angle. The fold should go through the free corner. This forms the two feet.
13) Crimp fold the head. This is most easily accomplished by opening the head and folding the point in half, then folding the point back outward. Then refold the head.

The model can stand on its own. Once the basic folds are done the beak can be curled downward slightly to give it a more realistic shape. To give the flippers a bit more character, try giving them a slight fold in half along the point, just enough to give the surface a bit of a bend.

Catching Up

I haven't blogged for a while. I can't say it's because I didn't have anything to write about, it's just that I lacked the motivation to write. Also it tended to slip my mind, I would think, "I should write something," then by the time I'm done checking my email...

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Roller Derby Eastern Regional Tournament in White Plains, NY. It was a lot of fun, and I ended up seeing something like 13 derby bouts over the course of the weekend. With 17 bouts total that's a pretty serious tally.

One thing I couldn't help but notice was the incredible diversity in ability between the top teams and the bottom teams. The closest thing I can compare it too, is the difference between high school football and pro-football. Although that is a bit off, maybe an all-star high school team. The most obvious difference is in terms of speed and conditioning. But there is also significant difference in teamwork and coordination. Also, the top teams are much more tactical in their approach.

After the first day of bouts, I went to the after party. It was a floating after party going from bar to bar in downtown White Plains. At the first bar, they were having a drink promotion (actually many of the bars had the promotion at one point). The most interesting part to me was that the guy running the promotion was actually on the wagon. Apparently he has been dry for over five years, and got the job just after getting sober.

I also met a bunch of fun folks, including some of the skaters who were hosting the tournament. In particular I'd like to mention Vixen Von Bruizen and Milkstud Piglet. Piglet approached me at the first bar and said she knew I was with the roller derby. I asked how she knew, apparently I stand out. Must have been the bowling shirt.

The last bar of the night had a mechanical bull. We immediately got in line for the bull when we got to the bar. The line was pretty long, and wasn't moving terribly quickly as the guy was taking it easy on the women, and letting them have a second try on occasion (or letting them ride a second time with one of their friends). Watching two girls riding a mechanical bull is not actually that exciting. Anyway, eventually my turn came. I actually think I lasted a good amount of time, and I remember hearing a lot of cheering from the derby crowd (although I don't remember actually seeing anything). When I was finally thrown off and talking to those who had been watching, Dumptruck told me someone had commented that I was doing really well, he'd said, "Of course he is, his feet are still on the ground." Dumptruck's observation was actually quite astute, because a few times I did push off the ground to maintain my seat. I also got to spend some time with one of my fraternity brothers, Mostafa, who got to the bar just in time to watch me ride the bull.

The next morning I was a bit the worse for wear, but I managed to get up and have breakfast with Jen and her family. We got to share some bacon, which was good.

I have to mention a couple of driving related things about the trip to NY. First, when I was about to cross into Connecticut (you know, the big "Welcome to Connecticut" sign), I saw a Massachusetts state trooper sitting on the state line, waiting to pull over people crossing into Massachusetts. The second thing I have to mention, is that I still hate driving through Connecticut. It seems like every time I drive through Connecticut I hit construction traffic.

In other news, I had a birthday. I got together with some friends and went to Fire + Ice, which is a Mongolian BBQ place. Basically you fill up a bowl with raw ingrediants (mine was mostly beef and bacon, with some corn in the first batch and broccoli in the second). Then you give it to the guy working the grill and he fries it up, adding whatever sauce you selected (in my case no sauce). I also had a couple of large drinks. The second drink I had was actually a shared drink, which I didn't end up sharing. I don't know if its a Mass law or a Cambridge law, but bars can't sell one person more than two drinks at a time. The large shared drink count as four drinks. Anyway, between the volume of the drinks and the amount of food, I was stuffed by the time I left. But I did end up having enough room to share a couple of scorpion bowls at the Hong Kong after dinner. We actually spent a good amount of time at the Hong Kong playing with the little plastic animals they put in the Scorpion bowls, creating little scenes and taking pictures of them.

Alright, I'm sure there was something else I wanted to mention while I was writing, but I can't think of it right now. I do want to wish my brother a Happy Birthday! Hope it's a great one!