the twelfth late friday night eclectic buffet

hey it's friday night and the late friday night eclectic buffet is here again! lots of products to share that i think are cool and some nice pics of canada's wintery spring.

wooteik lim, the designer over at korea’s designodoubt has come up with a winning design that solves a perennial problem; what do you do when those little pieces of soap start gathering in the soapholders around your home?

featuring a holder for the bars that are still big enough to qualify for daily use, the holder also features a place to store those little nuggets of scented goodness. simply rubbing your hands together around the meshed enclosure produces a foamy mittful that you can then apply to yourself.

so simple! so clever!

the same designer has also created a solution to carrying a mouse around with you. to save space you simply deflate it as necessary and reinflate it when you get to your place of work - or play! imagine the looks on the faces of your colleagues as you blow up your mouse . . . . .

and finally, this very lovely alternative to traditional clothes hanger design . . . “the kiss bird” . . . . .

laptop users might be interested in this product which extends the function of the tracker pad and makes for a more intuitive relationship with the interface between your mind and the functions of the computer. more importantly, it addresses the problem of space for laptop users who typically work in space-deficient areas.

developed by simtrix, a new zealand firm specializing in electronics peripherals, the two swiftpoint models have a radical look about them that translates directly into their function.

the swiftpoint tripod looks like it would work a lot like a pen while the slider has more mouse-like stylistic cues, but as you’ll see, actually works a lot differently.

more information is available at future mouse.

as the proud owner (and sometimes maintainer) of two aquariums currently home to eight fish, i have to tell you that even the minimal amount of maintenance required by my fishy friends - six of whom are goldfish (and look at the name of this blog for goodness sakes!!!) - escapes me at times. they are always fed and their water levels are maintained at a reasonable level, but the cleaning and the ahem decorating of their worlds is sadly lacking at times.

still, i am drawn to the world of aquascaping as an ideal that i would one day like to be a part of. the stunningly detailed and immaculate little worlds that some aquascapists create leaves me gobsmacked and ever so slightly guilty about the homely little establishments my eight mates swim about in. it’s no wonder they can hardly look me in the eye . . . .

i’m especially glad that they can’t see these . . .


if you would like to know about the technical details of creating and maintaining these lovely watery worlds then this is the place!
if you’re content to look at other people’s aquascapes then you definitely need to look at this lovely gallery.

now from those watery worlds - which you know would be nice and warm and - well fishy, but still warm to look at, you get to go to some pictures i took this past week of the cold snowy "spring"/winter scenes around my home. late march snow one:
late march snow two:
late march snow three:
late march snow four: