Saturday, May 30, 2009
280th post
These were logos I had to design for Illustrator homework. The top row are miniature black-and-white generic computer logos. The colorful one is an independent reworking of Adobe's Illustrator program logo.
TODAY'S BOOK: "The Lonely Mound", by William Campbell Gault ((c) 1967)
Labels: graphics
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
279th post
Here's a question that I know has been bugging you all lately: who put up the best career numbers in a Mets uniform with #32 on the back?
Only four position players have worn #32 for the Mets, accumulating 233 games played with that hallowed number on their backs. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Bill Pecota!
Bill logged 117 games all around the 1992 Mets infield and, by default, became career 32 leader in almost every offensive category, from hits and runs batted in to walks and strikeouts. He never tripled (but then again, no Met 32 ever has), and was bested in certain stasts only by Mark Carreon, who played 84 games under the Three And Two before switching to 45 for two seasons.
Carreon had 7 home runs to Pecota's 2 and was caught stealing 4 times (Pecota thrice). As for percentage, fuhgeddaboudit: Mark was .318-.382-.506 as opposed to B.P.'s lackluster AVG, OBP and SLG of .227-.293-.297.
Interestingly enough, Kevin Mitchell only appeared as a 32 for 7 games, 18 less than Eli Marrero, yet still managed to worm his way onto the leaderboards: he's tied with Pecota for second-most home runs, and with both Pecota and Carreon for most times hit by pitch (1).
Now for the pitchers, of whom there are a lot more of. One man stands above the pack, however; please meet Jon Matlack!
Jon played 7 seasons and change as a 32, outpacing all the competition (Tom Hausman pitched in 125 games, 78 short of Matlack's mark) and leading in every category save two: saves, which goes to Hausman (3), and ERA, with his 3.03 knocked off by Carlos Diaz's 1.97--set in 1,361 less innings!
And Now You Know.
TODAY'S BOOK: "The Chimpanzee Kid", by Ron Roy ((c) 1985)
Only four position players have worn #32 for the Mets, accumulating 233 games played with that hallowed number on their backs. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Bill Pecota!
Bill logged 117 games all around the 1992 Mets infield and, by default, became career 32 leader in almost every offensive category, from hits and runs batted in to walks and strikeouts. He never tripled (but then again, no Met 32 ever has), and was bested in certain stasts only by Mark Carreon, who played 84 games under the Three And Two before switching to 45 for two seasons.
Carreon had 7 home runs to Pecota's 2 and was caught stealing 4 times (Pecota thrice). As for percentage, fuhgeddaboudit: Mark was .318-.382-.506 as opposed to B.P.'s lackluster AVG, OBP and SLG of .227-.293-.297.
Interestingly enough, Kevin Mitchell only appeared as a 32 for 7 games, 18 less than Eli Marrero, yet still managed to worm his way onto the leaderboards: he's tied with Pecota for second-most home runs, and with both Pecota and Carreon for most times hit by pitch (1).
Now for the pitchers, of whom there are a lot more of. One man stands above the pack, however; please meet Jon Matlack!
Jon played 7 seasons and change as a 32, outpacing all the competition (Tom Hausman pitched in 125 games, 78 short of Matlack's mark) and leading in every category save two: saves, which goes to Hausman (3), and ERA, with his 3.03 knocked off by Carlos Diaz's 1.97--set in 1,361 less innings!
And Now You Know.
TODAY'S BOOK: "The Chimpanzee Kid", by Ron Roy ((c) 1985)
Thursday, May 21, 2009
The return of Rister & Rob
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
277th post
I'll bet you've all been wondering why I've stopped posting my IsraTimes cartoons. (And those of you that haven't, should have been.) The reason is that we've finally parted ways--no skin off my nose. So today, I bring to you my favorite unpublished IsraTimes cartoons!
Short, sweet and to the point. I think the foreground terrorist kind of looks like the original Bip Bipadotta.
More simplicity. I also have no idea how to draw a tank.
The example par excellance of the Left-Hand-Right-Hand idea. PM Ehud Olmert was keeping ultra-religious political party Shas in his government by promising them that he would not try to negotiate with the Palestinians on Jerusalem's status--while almost every other day stories leaked out indicating him doing just that. (Shas eventually split over economic issues.)
Something about the idea of Olmert and Syrian President Basher Assad as British vaudevillians just appeals to me.
As the election campaigns heated up, candidates (l-r: Binyamin Netanyahu of Likud, Ehud Barak of Labor, and Tzipi Livni of Kadima) pulled out all the stops.
Moshe Feiglin is Netanyahu's in-party nemesis, the religious leader of the Jewish Leadership faction who perenially challenges him for the party's no. 1 (and getting closer every time). In 2008, Netanyahu helped fix it behind the scenes so that Feiglin was dropped from 19th place on the Likud's list to the virtually unelectable #36 spot. The concept of Feiglin always "bouncing back" after each defeat inspired this cartoon.
My take on the Bernie Madoff (tfui!) scandal.
Feiglin's demotion (see above) coincided noncoincidentally with Likud's status in the polls changing from "rising" to "hovering". Kadima, previously a solid #2, began rising and eventually ended up getting one more seat than Likud. The other names on Netanyahu's balloons--an image inspired by Larry Walters--are other solidly right-wing candidates, all MKs today.
When Kadima wound up getting 29 Knesset seats to Likud's 28, attention shifted to Avigdor Lieberman and his nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, which at 15 seats--and upseating Labor as Israel's third-biggest party--would tip the balance in favor of whoever asked nicely enough forming a coalition.
Likud won the bidding wars, and Lieberman was appointed Foreign Minister. This caused consternation for those who viewed him as unacceptably right-wing, which was just about everybody...
...And no wonder, for he spouted such ideological heresies as rethinking Israel's long-standing approach to negotiating with the Palestinians, which was rather one-sided and non-fruit-bearing. (Oslo, Wye et cetera are past failed agreements and accords; Peace Now is Israel's most prominent leftist NGO.)
TODAY'S BOOK: "Letters From Camp", by Karen Klise ((c) 1999)
Short, sweet and to the point. I think the foreground terrorist kind of looks like the original Bip Bipadotta.
More simplicity. I also have no idea how to draw a tank.
The example par excellance of the Left-Hand-Right-Hand idea. PM Ehud Olmert was keeping ultra-religious political party Shas in his government by promising them that he would not try to negotiate with the Palestinians on Jerusalem's status--while almost every other day stories leaked out indicating him doing just that. (Shas eventually split over economic issues.)
Something about the idea of Olmert and Syrian President Basher Assad as British vaudevillians just appeals to me.
As the election campaigns heated up, candidates (l-r: Binyamin Netanyahu of Likud, Ehud Barak of Labor, and Tzipi Livni of Kadima) pulled out all the stops.
Moshe Feiglin is Netanyahu's in-party nemesis, the religious leader of the Jewish Leadership faction who perenially challenges him for the party's no. 1 (and getting closer every time). In 2008, Netanyahu helped fix it behind the scenes so that Feiglin was dropped from 19th place on the Likud's list to the virtually unelectable #36 spot. The concept of Feiglin always "bouncing back" after each defeat inspired this cartoon.
My take on the Bernie Madoff (tfui!) scandal.
Feiglin's demotion (see above) coincided noncoincidentally with Likud's status in the polls changing from "rising" to "hovering". Kadima, previously a solid #2, began rising and eventually ended up getting one more seat than Likud. The other names on Netanyahu's balloons--an image inspired by Larry Walters--are other solidly right-wing candidates, all MKs today.
When Kadima wound up getting 29 Knesset seats to Likud's 28, attention shifted to Avigdor Lieberman and his nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, which at 15 seats--and upseating Labor as Israel's third-biggest party--would tip the balance in favor of whoever asked nicely enough forming a coalition.
Likud won the bidding wars, and Lieberman was appointed Foreign Minister. This caused consternation for those who viewed him as unacceptably right-wing, which was just about everybody...
...And no wonder, for he spouted such ideological heresies as rethinking Israel's long-standing approach to negotiating with the Palestinians, which was rather one-sided and non-fruit-bearing. (Oslo, Wye et cetera are past failed agreements and accords; Peace Now is Israel's most prominent leftist NGO.)
TODAY'S BOOK: "Letters From Camp", by Karen Klise ((c) 1999)
Labels: cartoon
Friday, May 15, 2009
Randomly reprinted post (XV)
"As Tevet draws to a close, it's time for... Nope! Not a list. Is this the Blog of Ultimate Randomness or is this the Blog of Ultimate Randomness? I need to know!
Can somebody give me a Halleloojy?
Never mind the giant stick insects, here come the matriarchs of Teflon V!
This time, it's the stoats who are a-marching all over town. And unlike the limp biscuits, they are armed with squid-shooting Canadian-manufactured rifles.
Wakka wakka wakka wakka wakka wakka wakka! Wakka wakka! Wak wak wak! Wakka wakka wak wakka, wakka wakka! Wakka wak wakka wak wak wakka wakka.
Tenderly slips the ship into the dark dankness of the night... 52
Just call me the mailman and pass around the bag of nuts, please. Dive in.
Game over. Picard singles off Kirk, driving in Sisko, and all the cheerleaders come out for smooches.
If you can't leave in a huff, then you may leave in a minute and a huff. Pterry, get well soon! We need more like that!
TODAY'S BOOK: 'Three Men in a Boat', by Jerome K. Jerome ((c) 1889)"
--94th post, 1/7/08
Can somebody give me a Halleloojy?
Never mind the giant stick insects, here come the matriarchs of Teflon V!
This time, it's the stoats who are a-marching all over town. And unlike the limp biscuits, they are armed with squid-shooting Canadian-manufactured rifles.
Wakka wakka wakka wakka wakka wakka wakka! Wakka wakka! Wak wak wak! Wakka wakka wak wakka, wakka wakka! Wakka wak wakka wak wak wakka wakka.
Tenderly slips the ship into the dark dankness of the night... 52
Just call me the mailman and pass around the bag of nuts, please. Dive in.
Game over. Picard singles off Kirk, driving in Sisko, and all the cheerleaders come out for smooches.
If you can't leave in a huff, then you may leave in a minute and a huff. Pterry, get well soon! We need more like that!
TODAY'S BOOK: 'Three Men in a Boat', by Jerome K. Jerome ((c) 1889)"
--94th post, 1/7/08
Labels: reprint
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
275th post
Two different Illustrator homeworks now--the first was about using the 3D Revolve tool, the second was 3D Extrude & Bevel, symbols, and gradient meshes.
TODAY'S BOOK: "The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland", by Jim DeFede ((c) 2002)
Labels: graphics
Friday, May 08, 2009
274th post
These were the top 32 results for a Google Images search for "32", except for the fourth, tenth, twenty-first and twenty-ninth pictures, which refused to upload.
TODAY'S BOOK: "The Battle for the Atlantic", by Jay Williams ((c) 1959)
