July 6th, 2007 by bweber
On the advice of the lovely and talented Stephanie (A.K.A, “the wife), I’ve joined the ranks of millions of Apple users. In her extensive experience the Macs have been easier to use, have fewer problems, aren’t susceptible to viruses, require less care and feeding, and are all-around better machines.
(One thing I need to make clear is that, the wife rarely gives me her unsolicited opinion. She knows I have definite ideas about what I’m doing and how I want it done, and lets me screw-up and fix my problems on my own. But when she decides to say something, I listen more to her than I do to anyone else. She’s piped-up only a handful of times in eleven years of marriage, and each time her advice has been sound. )
So I bought a MacBook.
We’ll see how it does, how easy it is to use. All I can say right now is — so far, so good.
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May 10th, 2007 by bweber
A couple of weeks ago the wife, then kid, and I went to Chicago’s very own John G. Shedd Aquarium. If you haven’t been there in a while, you owe yourself a trip. If you’re an out-of-town reader and you come to the Windy City, an afternoon at the Shedd needs to be on your itinerary.
While there, if you find it necessary to heed nature’s call, you’ll find these in the bathrooms: The Digital Washroom Advertising System by Impressionaire.
“ImpressionAire places digitally-equipped warm air hand dryers in high profile, high traffic public washrooms. Your ad message is displayed every 30 seconds around the clock on a high-tech flat panel computer screen.
The viewer looks at your ad while drying hands in a venue that is free of traditional advertising.
Target male or female washrooms, change your message overnight and reinforce your total media campaign with this unique new advertising venue.”
I have to admit, it’s a clever and well-executed idea. But, while curiosity makes me wonder about advertising costs and administration, I can’t help but be annoyed that I’m forced to endure commercials in the bathroom. Is there no escape?
Has anybody run into these hand dryers elsewhere — in the US or the world?
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May 3rd, 2007 by bweber
Got an email last week from Fine Arts Guild member Holly Miller. She says she loves the STILL LIFE WITH MONSTER series enough that she wants “to print them out and make wallpaper.” She also thinks they’d make great t-shirts and sent along this mock-up to prove it.
My first official piece of fan art. Very, very cool. Thanks, Holly!
Makes me think I should get something going with Café Press. I’ll let you know when that happens.
Meanwhile, keep those cards and letters coming! And don’t forget to check out Holly’s art work here.
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April 26th, 2007 by bweber
The site had been live for a couple of weeks when came this unexpected piece of fan mail:
I‘ve checked your site out a couple of times and it looks good.
I feel that you should put that poem you wrote about “loving you best when you are very far away” on there. I love that one!
Also, be careful what you wish for if you ask other people to write something about you! I’ll bet I could come up with a something verrry interesting!
Keep up the hard work!
Love, Mom
This started a hunt through the floppy disk archives for something I wrote back in 1993. It was eventually re-discovered on one of the dozen or so back-ups that was part of my regular college writing routine.
Read the rest of this entry »
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April 6th, 2007 by bweber
And now, the news.
I had wanted to start this blog with a piece I’d written while a columnist for the Illinois State University Daily Vidette. Actually, “A Practical Guide To Graffiti Etiquette” is the piece that got me the job.
Please keep in mind, this was 1994, the early days of the public “Inter-Net” and e-mail was still a novelty, at least for me. There might be things that date the piece, but the sage advice shall weather the ages.
A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO GRAFFITI ETIQUETTE
Brad Weber
As popular and efficient as electronic mail and computer bulletin boards are, there still exists a low-tech communications network that most of us encounter at least once a day: Bathroom graffiti.
Unless a reader is looking “for a good time,” this ubiquitous “b-mail” is not much in the way of an informational system. Racial slurs, sexual preference epithets, Greek letters and gang symbols hardly qualify as useful gems of knowledge that need to be shared or kept.
Writing on the walls seems to be a way for the graffitist to keep him or herself occupied until he or she emerges from the rest room, presumably rested. My advice to ISU graffitists: Take a book in with you. Better yet, take a copy of “The Daily Vidette” and stay informed
If you find yourself overwhelmed, if you simply must scribble graffito on the painted metal walls that oh-so-briefly surround you, follow these few simple rules of graffiti etiquette.
1. Use good penmanship.
A graffitist must take pride in his or her work. If a graffitist can’t be bothered to write legibly, why should anyone take the time to decipher what is written? Remember graffitists, your audience remains captive for only so long. If there happen to be other, more clearly written graffiti on the wall, your messy one will be overlooked and your message ignored.
2. Check your spelling.
People reading b-mail already think graffitists are inept morons, don’t compound your image with bad spelling. Pick up a pocket dictionary or try making flash cards for your most frequently misspelled words and have your friends test you on them. If this is still too complicated, bring a corrected version of the message into the stall and copy it from the page to the wall.
3. Write in a straight line.
4. Try to write at eye level.
Once again graffitists, remember your audience. Don’t make the reader contort him or herself for your message.
5. Avoid slurs against and stereotypes of races, religions and sexual preference.
If as a graffitist you like to write in this genre of b-mail, be sure to sign your name so interested readers can track you down and personally show their appreciation for your work.
6. Number and date the entry.
One graffito can promote many responses. These responses often prompt others to take pen and comment on the comments. To prevent the order from becoming jumbled, confused, and difficult for the reader to follow, preface your graffito with “In response to the No.3 comment . . .,” and then write on.
Although arrows are an effective way to direct a comment to a particular graffito, they are messy and cover up what other people have to say.
7. Don’t skimp with language.
Use it to your advantage; say what you mean. The thing that differentiates good graffiti from bad is word choice. You might as well buy a thesaurus when you pick up that dictionary.
8. Don’t use foul language.
Unless there is a valid reason for it, keep perversion and profanity out of your graffiti. It only serves to diminish your work.Try replacing the hackneyed obscenity with a simile, metaphor or a description. Be sure to look up the definitions of “simile” and “metaphor” after you buy your new dictionary.
I know this is a lot of hard work, but for one graffitio to be noticed in a sea of scrawls and slander, it is going to have to be exceptional in every way.
9. If you must draw, stay away from nudes.
Even the most tastefully done picture of a naked body can cause a great deal of controversy. Landscapes are nice. A bowl of fruit is always a crowd pleaser.
10. Try something new.
Rather than scratch the usual libelous remark, jot off a favorite recipe, recommend a good book, pose an ethical dilemma, copy a few verses of poetry on the wall.
Culture is so hard to come by, especially on a college campus. Surely the suggestions made by graffitists can expand each reader’s cultural horizons.
Whether b-mailing, scratching desks or spray painting buildings and overpasses, graffitists would do well to note that these are still acts of vandalism.
According to Sgt. Wood of the Normal P.D, the official charge is listed as “Criminal Defacement of Property.”
If the damage is less than $300, graffitists will be charged with a Class A misdemeanor, which carries up to a $1000 fine and/or up to one year in jail.
Any damage over $300 is automatically considered a felony. Fines and jail time are proportional to the amount of damage
Should any of you get caught in the act, remember the rules of etiquette apply to jail house graffiti, too.
And don’t forget to look up “libelous.”
Posted in General, Editorials | 2 Comments »
April 1st, 2007 by bweber
Greetings, all, and welcome to the site.
Today marks the official launch of the Junior Mad Scientist. Astounding, I know: I wasn’t sure it’d ever happen, either.
Before this goes any further, I need to send a loud and hardy HUZZAH!
to Mike Rende — Web designer and search engine optimizer extraordinaire — for the master craftsmanship that went into the Junior Mad Scientist homepage. State of the Art and a thing of beauty, the JMS site is Mike’s way of helping me release my stories and art out on an unsuspecting world. Thanks, Mike.
Not that you’d know it, but this is actually JMS ver 2.0.
I’ve been paying for this URL since 1998. Around 2003, Mike was nice enough to design and build a great-looking blog, the code for which was left to rot until earlier this year. Then, in late February, just as I was ready to push this thing off its virtual cinder blocks, I deleted the whole site! EVERYTHING! 404‘d by my own hand. (What a maroon.)
So, once Mike found out I was serious about getting a digital life, he went ahead and did the redesign and, man, it looks great.
I’m sure you’ll find something to enjoy: art, stories, comics, essays, and the occasional rage-induced rant (though I’m hoping to keep those to a minimum). There’ll be plenty here for everybody, so stop back and poke around at least once a week. I should have things cleaned-up and in sensible order sometime in the next decade. Yes, that includes the formatting.
For now, the posting schedule for essays and articles will be late Thursday nights, that way you’ll have fresh and thought-provoking JMS content for Friday morning. I’ll be adding chunks of art, link updates, and other goodies as I can, usually a couple of times a week. This includes Noble Failure, my monthly attempt at a 24-Hour Comic. More on that later.
If you like what you find, or even if you don’t, goahead’n forward the link to everybody in your address book. And be sure to email me at bweber@juniormadscientist.com with comments or suggestions.
Over and out.
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