Monthly Archives: March 2006

Magnetic Implant Troubles

Monday, March 27, 2006

I thought I should post a magnetic implant update. My right hand, the one with the stacked magnets, is doing great and I'm very happy with it. It's not sore at all, and is very sensitive — I recently noticed that my electric stove (in Mexico we had gas) puts off a rather large electromagnetic field at the junction point of the burners and the internal power supply… And in many cases I can feel electricity flowing through power cables. It's wild being able to see farther into reality than a normal human.

Anyway, my left hand is, well, fucked. All four of the magnets appear to have completely lost their silicone coating. I don't know if this is because it's harder to coat the small magnets, or if it's because they were made by an employee rather than “the boss”, or if the magnets migrated together and eroded the coatings… Either way, all four appear to be exposed. The surrounding tissue has darkened significantly, and, most disturbingly, the magnets have completely lost their magnetism, suggesting to me that they are breaking down in some way.

The one side appears quite stable and is not sore, but the other side (right picture, above) is more irritated and sometimes painful, and almost appears to be blistering. I think I'm going to leave it for a day or two because I want to see if it blisters and rejects, but after that I'm going to cut it out (both of them in that hand; I think cysts have partially developed around them). The experiment has gone far enough and I think I'm beginning to endanger myself… I am going to have to do a series of heavy-metal detox treatments after all of this! That said, for the record, I don't regret it at all.
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Log cabin modders?

Monday, March 27, 2006

One of my goals with BMEfest is that people walk away with something that they remember for the rest of their lives. So it has to be more than “just a party” or get-together. I think obviously going swimming with sea lions and having lunch on a deserted tropical island and then a Pain Solution show in our Mexican compound did that, as did the rural party out in Tweed with the crane and bands and insane fireworks, as did Rachel's ModProm, and I think the backyard mega-barbecues in Toronto (like when TLC came and filmed us and the monster truck pull) were just at a really special time… Not better or worse than now, but special, in that it was the season that this particular reincarnation of the body modification community was birthed.

Anyway, I'd planned a two-part party for this year; one part out in the country (on the farm I grew up on, near Tweed), and the other part here in Toronto (a club show with a performance). I have a back-up space for Toronto confirmed, so that's safe, and am flushing out the options on it, but it's the rural part that I wanted to talk to you about today.

My father (who initially proposed this) still has about two hundred acres of mixed farmland and forests. One of his best friends is an experienced log-cabin foreman (or something like that). He's proposed that if we got enough of us together, that we could, in one or two days, build a log cabin from scratch. So I'm thinking about a four day BMEfest. We take the first two days to go camping at the party site, and build a log cabin where before was just a clearing in the forest, and on the third day more friends join us (since not everyone will be up for the build) and we host a giant field party in our new log house.

Oh, and there's a boat we can take out and we can swim in the lake of course as well. Then on the fourth day, we return from the wilderness and have a suspension-show and live music party at a club in the big city… So… What do you think? Would that be memorable enough? Do you have what it takes to be a part of this and create something special again?

UPDATE: Just to be clear, here's the dates: Thursday and Friday, June 29th and 30th would be the log cabin build, then Saturday, July 1st would be BMEfest (the main field party at the fresh cabin), and we'd finish on Sunday, July 2nd with the afterparty in Toronto.

(Original forum unavailable, sorry)*
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Hair removal and Ruby Searches

Sunday, March 26, 2006

I cut off all my hair again today… A little while back I picked up a trimmer so I don't have to spend forever doing it with a razor. It's not right down to skin, but most of the time I just go with this anyway.



Going…
Going…
Gone!

It's been a pretty lazy Sunday on the whole… Nefarious and I got up, painted a bit, made some pasta leftovers, and then went out to Home Depot (the guts of her toilet tank broke, among other things), then to Staples (got a water cooler), and to the grocery store.

This afternoon I coverted the core BME databases (for the images) to SQL commands, so now Jon has a big SQL file with about three quarters of a million pictures… He's playing with ideas to rebuild the search engine (and maybe the core interface) using Ruby and AJAX tricks.

What do you want it to do?

I'm thinking about a search box that suggests terms for you, and perhaps even builds galleries on the fly; you can search inside sections and subsections, filter by artist, submittor, locations, and more… If you've got a dream interface to BME, let Jon know!

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An old picture

Saturday, March 25, 2006

My father just posted a picture of my brother and I and some of his family. You may remember a while back (sorry, I couldn't find the link) that Rachel posted a picture of her at age three where she looked a lot her… Well, I thought I ought to share this, from about age six or seven (I'm guessing) where I a lot like her as well (and that's my brother in the middle/front)….

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In Lindsay and Oshawa…

Saturday, March 25, 2006

I had a nice time visiting with Ryan and Corrie and getting to see the shop… I was told the drive could be as much as three hours, but I drove it in just over an hour. I've also driven from Belleville to Toronto in under an hour (in my old TT). Anyway, what I really wanted to write about:

My brother Devon was awesome today… In an intense and grueling half hour series of matches, he beat the odds and destroyed Ron Bath in a grudge match and rose back toward number one in the world to number three in the mens unlimited class. It's the first time I've been to a professional tournament (this one had many of the top guys in the world at it; John Brzenk, UFC/K-1 Pride Fighter Gary Goodridge, Travis Bagent, and more) and it's wild to see what it can build to… I really am incredibly proud of my brother, and seeing him and his friends in action there really makes me believe they have what it takes to take what is currently the largest underground sport in the world into the mainstream.


The second-from-last picture is there for Saira and Rachel to ogle.

It was kind of a cool family thing too because my sister (go watch her movies) was there filming for ARM TV (when that gets posted I'll mention it again; and they interviewed me too), and of course I designed the shirts… So everyone was a little involved. Oh, and to put the above pictures into full context, my brother is about six and a half feet tall! He's a giant!

Anyway, he's still back there right now arm wrestling in both the 220lb category and the unlimited class (in both right and left as well I assume)… I definitely don't have that level of stamina (wow). I think there's something like $20,000 in prize money at this meet so I hope he continues to do well!

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