The whole of Team Clunky is about to embark on a brave adventure into the slightly less-than-great white north. We like to call it Michigan. This trip marks not only the beginning of holiday break for us, but also a month of traveling for the clunky robot, as he will also be braving the foreign lands of Holland, home of syrup and wooden shoes.

We will be releasing our commemorative holiday desktop soon, then after that we will be taking a short break to practice wearing wooden shoes, and to acquire a taste for dutch foods.

However, clunkyrobot.com will be updated with pseudo-humorous weblog posts over the next couple of weeks.

Then we will make our triumphant return on Jan. 15th. with new designs and desktops.
stay tuned!
and until then please browse The Atlas of the Universe

As seen through the lens of the unflinching robotic eye version.01:
DSCF0010: Dekalb Farmer's Market

robotic.eye.v01 desktops:
> robotic.eye.v01 @ 1024 pixels wide
> robotic.eye.v01 @ 1600 pixels wide

robotic.eye.v01 specs:
FujiFilm Finepix 3800
3.2 megapixel
6x optical zoom
64mb storage
Digital-Optics w-angle lens

Mummies:

"They can not kung-fu you, and they are slow. But they will curse you as soon as look at you. There is a mummy in the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and everyone who has ever looked at it has died, or will."

Serious Danger, they are funny.

From the X-23 Security Robot user's manual:

Thank you for purchasing your new X-23 Security Robot! We at Science Machine industries are sure you will get countless hours of enjoyment from your reliable, and loyal X-23 Security Robot. New to this version of the X series Security Robot is an array of exciting features. Including:
- Recharging Pod
- Thermal Imaging
- USB 2.0 interface
- Lithium Ion Battery
- Secret Weapon (codenamed: Death's Head)
- Cross-circuit dampeners

This product is not for use by persons under the age of 13, or by any adult under the influence of prescription drugs. DEATH OR SERIOUS INJURY WILL OCCUR.

enjoy,
Science
Machine

> [desktop] X-23 Security Robot @ 1024 px wide
> [T-Shirt] X-23 Security Robot for boys and girls

The second friday of every month, the physics and astronomy department of Agnes Scot college holds a lecture in their Bradley Observatory. This past friday, clunkyrobot was in attendance, mixing it up with the local intellectuals. The guy in front of us took notes on a yellow legal pad. It was awesome.

Cecilia Burnbaum lectured on the anatomy of a star, how they live, and how they die. She spoke about black holes, and how at the center of every galaxy we've looked at there lives a super massive black hole. Including our own galaxy.

After Dr. Burnbaum spoke, those in attendance were allowed to look through the observatory's 30inch Bell Telescope. We were able to view a very clear image of Saturn, complete with dramatic harsh shadow cast across it's rings by the sun. It was a very good feeling. Looking with my own eyes, the farthest I've ever seen. Looking out so far into our solar system. It's really there, in case you were wondering. I checked.

few pictures:



::click for bigger::

The second friday of every month, the physics and astronomy department of Agnes Scot college holds a lecture in their Bradley Observatory. This past friday, clunkyrobot was in attendance, mixing it up with the local intellectuals. The guy in front of us took notes on a yellow legal pad. It was awesome.

Cecilia Burnbaum lectured on the anatomy of a star, how they live, and how they die. She spoke about black holes, and how at the center of every galaxy we've looked at there lives a super massive black hole. Including our own galaxy.

After Dr. Burnbaum spoke, those in attendance were allowed to look through the observatory's 30inch Bell Telescope. We were able to view a very clear image of Saturn, complete with dramatic harsh shadow cast across it's rings by the sun. It was a very good feeling. Looking with my own eyes, the farthest I've ever seen. Looking out so far into our solar system. It's really there, in case you were wondering. I checked.

few pictures:



::click for bigger::

+++
/////SS.SagKal.05comm.array
///comcast.digital.cable.trans
///transmission received: 5:00:00
///est. transmission broadcast: 19:00:00
+++
//////interrupt transmission

Hot on the heels of a semi-heated political debate on a friend's livejournal (a debate I may have gotten into a little over my head) the clunkyrobot sees Georgia State Rep. Zell Miller on The Daily Show plugging his new book, "National Party No More." I don't think Zell could have summed up his whole political viewpoint in any smaller grouping of words. He did it in four.

Zell made himself famous in Georgia because he's the democrat that acts like a republican. It's a sort of political sideshow, like at the midway... you know, Carnivále style, everyone has paid their 5 tickets to see the 2 headed political mutant. And as you would expect, one of the heads is sewn on.
He's a funny guy though, and actually comes off in this southern charming kind of way... but still in a southern charming politician kind of way... smiles and handshakes.

Those Guinness commercials are funny, simple, and tight.

AOL spends the top dollars to garner street cred by making fun of itself, in the way a money-loosing bazillion dollar blind elephant only could, by self referencing the sheer multitude of stunningly wasteful plastic CD's it sends out every week.
The message:
Don't throw out this newest cd, it's the best AOL cd every in the history of AOL CD's. Seriously... This is it. You are totally going to love this CD. It's the newest bestest one... In fact it's so good, it's been awarded the highest number for any AOL wasteful plastic CD release... AOL 9.0, that means that there have been AT LEAST 8 perviously stunningly wasteful cd's released by AOL. But rest assured that this is THE MOST BEST AOL CD...
Except...
for..
the one that will come out in two weeks...

///////end transmission
+++

Beyond our farthest known planet, a privately funded expedition has been building a masterpiece. In Geosynchronous orbit with Pluto, the Space Station Sagittarius Kaleidoscope sits as a monument to man, and his achievements. We at clunkyrobot.com honor this monument in the only way we know how. By making desktops and t-shirts!

Check em out:

get em while they're hot.
> [desktop] SS Sag.Kaleidoscope @ 1024 px wide
> [T-Shirt] Super Cool Sag.Kal for boys and girls

I learned today that The Hubble Space Telescope will complete it's mission in 2010. On April 24, 1990 the Hubble began it's mission with a faulty mirror, it has, since it's repair, given us some of the most stunning images of our cosmos.

The Hubble is named after Edwin Hubble, who proved that our universe was expanding, and provided the groundwork for the Big Bang Theory.

It is sad to me to think of the Hubble slowly over the 4 years following 2010, descending into our atmosphere and ultimately burning up. It seems unlikely that NASA will take on the risk of retrieving the satellite, however, I would love to some day see it sitting in The National Air and Space Museum.

I wonder what the next space telescope will look like, better yet, what will the images it returns to us look like. As advanced as the Hubble is, I cannot imagine what will be sent up in it's place. In the mean time, see The Best of the Hubble.

-- update --
Here is the successor to Hubble
Here is the Space Telescope Science Institute

If you don't download our desktop, or buy one of our t-shirts, Little Animals everywhere WILL DIE. Their blood will be on your hands....

There are little animals everywhere. They are small and friendly, and need your help. Only you can help the little animals. But the question is: Will you help the little animals? Help them by giving them a home on the chest of your t-shirt.

All Save the Little Animals proceeds go to clunkyrobot.com, and through a complicated "trickle down" method of economics, little illustrated animals everywhere will be saved*.
(* by "saved" we mean "bought with money")

here is how you can help:
> [desktop] Save the Little Animals @ 1024 px wide
> [T-Shirt] Save the Little Animals shirt for girls!
> [T-Shirt] Save the Little Animals shirt for women!

Yesterday, The clunkyrobot, and his fiance, ventured into the harrowing jungle known as Used Auto Sales.

We first pulled into a chrysler dealership, and met a man who listened to us little, but spoke to us a great deal. He spoke so much, and listened so little, we had to stop him in mid sentence to tell him we were leaving, I'm still not sure if he heard us.

We drove across the street, and bought our new car.

A 1999 Mazda Protege.
The asking price was $12,000, we talked them down to $8,344.

I was stunned, we had them talked down to $9,500, which as far as my research tells me, is a decent price for this car, maybe a little marked up. We just kept telling them we were going to have to sleep on it, and we weren't even playing hard ball, we seriously just wanted to think about it. This drove them nuts, they finally said, "Give us a number, anything, a number that will make you drive home tonight in this car."

We said... "Um... (sheepishly) $8,000"
Our sales rep, the very cool Travis, came back from a talk with his boss, a piece of paper in hand with $8,344 written on it.

we said... "uh... yeah"
and the rest is used car sale history!
Look for a spicey new clunkyrobot Mazda Protege Desktop soon!

We highly recommend Stone Mountain Toyota for their undying efforts to put us in a used car we felt we got a super-fair deal on. We couldn't have done it without our tough-as-nails, and not a little bit smarmy spiritual advisor Chuck, who kept us grounded, thanks dude. Clunkyrobot is now accepting submissions for a name to cristen our new car with.

also, Be an educated consumer:
> Clark Howard Comsumer Advocate
> Clark's Car Advice

Ben Folds has been making music.
So far since the break up of The Ben Folds Five, he has released one full length solo album, one live album, and 2 EP's. With a reported third EP on the way.

Why is Ben making these 6 song EP's when he could just release a big full length? well, here is what he has to say about Sunny 16:

"if i was starting over again and had to make a demo tape, i'd use this EP. it represents a big part of what i do very naturally. part of me thinks i'm an idiot for 'wasting' this recording on a limited release EP, but i'm really into this method of recording and releasing quickly and making it all about music, so here it is."

No big marketing campaign, no record company "roll out."
He is simply making music and releasing it when it's done.
How... genuine of him.

This new EP is full of stuff that makes Ben Folds music so wonderful, from semi-political (political in a charming not cynical way) Tracks like "All U can Eat," to introspective self reflecting songs like "There's Always Someone Cooler Than You" Ben Folds is still making really good music, for himself, and for us, and nobody else.

You can grab this album from iTunes, or Ben's online store. Also check out Speed Graphix, his previous EP. (links via mindsmith)

The clunkyrobot has been participating in an online activity called Photoshop Tennis. It's a simple idea, one designer creates an image in photoshop, sends it to another designer, who then ads a layer on top of that, each adding layers progressively until the match is over.

It can make for some stunning work.

I participate in this time honored designer battle at a place called baseboard. There I've met some of the most talented designers I've ever seen.

Photoshop Tennis was invented by Jim Coudal as a way to waste time on friday afternoons. Did he realize it would spark such interest? (the BBC, Wired, Tech TV) Probably not, did he know that he himself would be hosting an annual Photoshop Tennis Tournament? Certainly not.

PST is at it's greatest when the two designers are truly in a battle, always trying to better the last volley. This is when Photoshop Tennis becomes a Photoshop Battle.

See the Baseboard Tennis Forum for some action

*A-sign-flippa*

The Clunkyrobot store is officially open for business. With a modest variety of t-shirts available for your discerning tastes. All shirts are guaranteed (not an actual guarantee) to cover your body from at least your neck to most likely your lower abdomen. Wear your shirt to keep warm, or wear it to make a social or geo-political statement.

> The original Team Clunky t-shirt
> Bindle will Travel t-shirt
> Project Tesseract t-shirt

Also, please browse our shelves for other products offered at comparable value and quality.

After years of speculation, lies, mis-information and distrust, The Ben Stiller Show has finally been released on DVD.

One of the best sketch comedy shows of all time. It's as much Jud Apatow's show as it is Ben's. He's the unsung hero behind thankfully off center TV shows and movies like Freaks and Geeks, and The Cable Guy.
Respek.

(p.s.)
on the subject of Freaks and Geeks:
Do your part.

In the depths of deep space there sits a structure. It sleeps. A bridge between dimensions, this structure only needs to be operated in the correct way. This is the purpose of Project Tesseract. It's not going to be easy, for in the depths of space, it often becomes very cold.

That's when robots wear rung cotton fitted shirts to keep warm. Shirts like this one:

> [t-shirt] Project Tesseract

The clunky robot bought a book at the airport this weekend called The Rough Guide to the Universe. Seriously, an indispensable breakdown of our knowledge of the Known Universe. The book does not speculate on string theory, even though it thoroughly covers the idea of a unified theory. It doesn't hypothesize about the existence of extra terrestrials, but it does speak of the Drake Equation.

What it does do is simply lay out all of the specific data we have gathered on our cosmos.
Like:
The distance of Mars from the Sun. (141.6 million miles or 228 million km)
The diameter of Saturn. (74,897 miles or 120,535 km)

It starts with Earth, moves on to the moon, through our solar system, to our neighboring galaxies, even out as far as explaining what we know of Dark Matter. (which is nothing, except that it's probably out there) Just the facts.

which brings me to the point of this post.

The Pioneer Plaque.

When the Pioneer 10 spacecraft was launched in 1972 on it's way to Jupiter, it carried with it a message for anyone who might stumble upon it. A golden plaque, depicting the people who sent this awkward little probe on it's journey.

The plaque was designed by Carl Sagan, and drawn by Jon Lomberg.

We all know how great Sagan was. Jon Lomberg is an artist whose work is inspired by astronomy.

"He specializes in designing and executing visual presentations about astronomy in all media, including exhibit design, film and television, computer graphic, print and electronic media."

Even his weirdest paintings are inspired by scientific theory.

> Order Jon Lomberg prints online
> Order Carl Sagan's Cosmos on DVD