Recently I've been fascinated by the social and religious taboos early day scientists had to overcome to study human anatomy. Some called it witchcraft and playing God. Others such as Yasukazu Minagaki (1784-1825) couldn't resist dissecting the cadavers of criminals in hopes to aid the living. And while drawings of cadavers in western medicine always depict corpses as painless living entities, Yasukazu's work is gruesome, informative, honest, and elegantly raw. His work is currently stored in the Keio University Library. The collection is also online.

This is the longest my hair has been since my high school mullet, and I'm having way too much fun finding the hair style that's gonna stick for awhile.

Just following the mullet was the spiked hair, held up high with the infamous hair gel. Purple hair gel.

Here's hoping this next hair cycle for me isn't history repeating itself!

Our ferret Gizmo could make you smile with the simplest of actions. She'd follow you all over the house, undeterred by the walls and corners she couldn't see, and perk her head up almost to ask "Whee! Where are we going now?". And man how she loved a fresh potato. Put a potato on the ground and she'd try to drag it to one-of-her-many secret hiding spots.

She was curious and playful. She used to love sitting in my suitcase before I'd leave for a trip and I'd pull her around the house. When I'd stop she'd jump out and dook and dance for a spell then climb back in for another ride. There were a couple times she almost ended up on a plane with me!

Oftentimes when you picked Gizzy up she'd climb right to the top of your shoulder and just sit there, perched on high sharing your view. She might even give you a kiss or nestle up in your hair. Her fur was so soft against your cheek and the heat of her body against your neck was calming.

On walks, Gizmo was always the ferret to find her way home first. She'd walk side by side with you. And I know you think I'm making this next part up, but yes, she also knew how to heel: stopping on a dime and waiting for my lead.

She was a great companion, a teacher, and a wonderful sister to Olive. I'm going to miss hearing them play in the mornings: running through the ferret tubes under our bed, or the pitter patter of her little feet scurrying across our floor, or feeling her lick my arms while I meditated by the fireplace.

She had complications from adrenal gland surgery and died peacefully in her sleep.

Gizmo, you are dearly missed but you continue to warm our hearts with your memories. I still cannot wipe away the smile of joy you gave us even amongst these tears of loss. Thank you for your friendship. We love you!

* illustration by lindha boberg

I love my home entertainment system. My current inventory is:

• 1 mac mini
• 1 nintendo wii, 4 controllers, 2 DDR dance pads
• 2 USB video game controllers for MAME OS X. I heart old school arcade.
• mtr, handbrake, front row, perian, transmission

This weekend I added parallels and windows xp to the list so I can watch movies instantly through netflix. I’ve had the best playback luck when I let the movie queue up for 15 minutes or so before watching. Otherwise it’ll sputter every now and then (and I’m on a fast, wired, cable connection).

I also purchased an Apple TV which I tried for about a week. Since it’s a closed piece of software it’s no good to me. With my mini, I download Perian and then I can watch almost any movie format in Front Row. Also, Front Row knows about the Movies folder in my home directory, so I linked to the external Drobo from the Movies folder. Now I don’t even need to go through iTunes to access my DVD collection and I can keep my DVD discs in the garage and scratch-free.