Russell A. Kirsch invented the square pixel. The history is that in the late 1940s, Kirsch led a research team that created America’s first internally programmable computer, the SEAC. By 1957 he and his team had invented a scanner which, using the computing power of SEAC, converted photographs to digital images. This breakthrough created the basis for satellite imaging, CAT scans, barcodes and desktop publishing. Kirsch is now retired and resides in Portland, Oregon. These days he claims that inventing square pixels was a bad idea and has a written a program that creates smoother, variably shaped pixels.
I think this story is really sweet. The first scanned digital image made on a computer in 1957 showed Kirsch’s baby son. Due to the importance of this first digital photograph, Life credited it as one of the 100 Photographs that Changed the World in 2003. Without Kirsch, this 8-bit-themed site wouldn’t be possible, in so many ways.
Ken Kesey was an American author, best known for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962), and counterculture figure who considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. “I was too young to be a beatnik, and too old to be a hippie,” Kesey said. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) by Tom Wolfe tells the story of Kesey and his 1960s band of psychedelic drug-using Merry Pranksters. Kesey died of liver surgery complications on November 10, 2001.
At the time, it seemed ominous to me that the great Ken Kesey, an Oregon resident, died the weekend I moved to Oregon in 2001. As of today, I have lived in Oregon for exactly 11 years. I swear my presence didn’t kill him. Today is also the day that Heidi and I return home to Oregon after 40 days of backpacking and train-riding through 10 countries in Europe.
Troy Polamalu is a strong safety in the National Football League (NFL). He has won two Super Bowls (2005 and 2008) with the Pittsburgh Steelers and has been selected for the Pro Bowl seven times. Polamalu’s hair is his most distinguishing characteristic, allowing him to be easily spotted on the field. He is of American Samoan descent, went to high school in Oregon and has a million-dollar insurance policy for his hair.
Bigfoot, also known as sasquatch, is the name given to an ape-like creature that cryptozoologists believe inhabits forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid. Most scientists discount the existence of Bigfoot and consider this cryptid a combination of folklore, misidentification and hoax.
Michelle Obama is the wife of President Barack Obama, and is the first African-American First Lady of the United States. Raised in Chicago, she is the mother of two daughters, and is the sister of Craig Robinson, men’s basketball coach at Oregon State University. She is an advocate for poverty awareness, nutrition and healthy eating.
First Lady Michelle Obama will provide the commencement address at Oregon State University in Corvallis on Sunday, June 17, 2012.
P.S. Having a traveling gnome prank played on us was great fun. The pranksters went all out, even giving Dingledodger his own Facebook and Google+ pages. According to Facebook, his birthday is October 12. Everyone needs more weird, random acts of kindness like this.
Tiny Ivo is a stuffed animal that resides on our bed. He is a brown woolen unicorn made in Oregon by Krystal and Mark Sharp, also known as The Roaming Peddlers. This magical unicorn, which my girlfriend Heidi bought in 2011, is embroidered with flowers and stuffed with about 1 1/2 pounds of organic herbs and flax seeds. He is a Magical Forest Friends creature. He was given the name “Derwin the Unicorn” by his makers. His tag explains that Derwin means “friend to the animals” in Teutonic. Tiny Ivo’s body is stuffed with chamomile flowers, calendula flowers, white willow bark, horsetail herb, juniper berries, dandelion root and flax seeds.
P.S. The name Heidi gave him was inspired by Golden the Pony Boy in The Science of Sleep, a favorite film in our house.
Today I am celebrating 404 days of pixel art (and, of course, the HTTP 404 error message that lets you know what you’re looking for was not found). Instead of yet another genocidal dictator, religious icon or superhero, today’s character is my girlfriend. Heidi is a native Oregonian who lives in Corvallis with Ian Cavalier, Eli, Tanuki and The King. She is likely to be found with her teacup, camera and bicycle. Attempting to locate other items she owns will usually result in a 404 error (and much digging through heaps of clothes, sketches and books).
P.S. Heidi calls my 8-bit characters “the tinies.” Now she is a “tiny” herself.
Update: Heidi and I were married on 11/11/12, so now her last name is Cavalier.
The leader of the Wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa) band of Nez Perce (or Niimíipu) during General Oliver O. Howard’s attempt to forcibly remove “non-treaty” Nez Perce from the Wallowa Valley of northeastern Oregon to a reservation in Idaho during the late 1800s. For his principled resistance to the removal, Chief Joseph became renowned as a humanitarian and peacemaker. He was born yesterday in 1840.
With apologies to Kurt Vonnegut: This is I. This is me. This is the author of this site. Today I am celebrating 365 days of pixel art with my most self-indulgent 8-bit character of all. I was born on this day in 1979. This year on 3/3 I celebrate 33 revolutions around the sun. For many years I called Pennsylvania home, but I’ve lived in Oregon since 2001. My three cats are Eli, Tanuki and The King.
Linus Pauling was an American chemist, biochemist, peace activist and author. He ranks among the most important scientists of the 20th century. Pauling was one of the first scientists to work in the fields of quantum chemistry and molecular biology. A graduate of Oregon State University and winner of two Nobel Prizes, he was born on this day in 1901 in Portland, Oregon.
P.S. “Do unto others 20% better than you would expect them to do unto you, to correct for subjective error.” – Linus Pauling
One of my three cats. The youngest, smallest and most skittish of the group. Tanuki was rescued from the feral cat colony beneath my old apartment complex. He is part-Siamese, insane and magical. I suspect that he shapeshifts. He was adopted in November 2008 as a kitten. My ex-girlfriend adopted his lunatic brother. They both turn three years old soon. His estimated birthday is September 2, 2008.
Update: Tanuki passed away on November 9, 2019, almost exactly four years after The King. He’s now buried in our backyard. Rest in peace, little buddy. On to shapeshifting in another realm. Eli is our last surviving cat, the only family pet we have left – gone are his father and his loyal, secretive little brother from another mother. Eli will turn 13 years old in March. (Thinking about the diversity of fur colors and patterns in the feral cat colony my cats came from, I’m reminded of the detailed Colour and Pattern Charts page at Messybeast.com.)
One of my three cats. Before being neutered, The King was the alpha male of the feral cat colony beneath my old apartment complex and the presumed father of Eli. He was rescued in October 2008 when I moved from the apartment to a house. This broad-shouldered, 17-pound cat is loyal, tough and possibly shamanic. He wins battles with raccoons. His estimated birthday is May 17, 2005, though he could be older.
Update: The King passed away on November 4, 2015 due to complications from feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), a lifelong condition from his feral past. He had grown thinner and more feeble throughout 2015. One morning he suddenly stopped eating, and it was all over by nightfall. I’ll miss how he followed me everywhere, requesting attention with his broken meow. The King is dead, long live The King. His body will join the previous homeowner’s deceased cat Bhanti (a tiny brown tabby female) in our backyard pet cemetery. Now we are down to two cats, Eli and Tanuki.
One of my three cats. Eli was rescued from the feral cat colony beneath my old apartment complex. More accurately, he showed up at my door on Father’s Day in 2007 as a 12-week-old kitten and asked to come in. He is large (17 pounds), intelligent, affectionate and codependent. My coworker adopted Eli’s brother. His estimated birthday is March 11, 2007.
Update: Eli passed away of old age on August 6, 2021, two years after Tanuki and six years after The King. Dear Eli, good boy until the end, respectfully waited until the morning after our daughter Ramona’s eighth birthday to leave this mortal coil. Ramona was very fond of him. We all were.
The Oregon Ducks mascot, Donald Duck wearing University of Oregon colors, is NCAA Division I pixel mascot #2 of 347. Pac-10 mascot #2 of 10. (View reference images.)
This is the first character in what I expect will be a long series of 8-bit college mascots. I’ve pretty much decided that I’m going to draw pixel art for a retro-style game instead of finishing my master’s thesis, Mascot Identity: The Symbolic Consumption of University Athletics Brands. So, in honor of my Oregon State University M.A. studies that intellectually prepared for making pixel art like it’s the 1980s, here is Benny Beaver.
Russell Kirsch – No. 562
Russell A. Kirsch invented the square pixel. The history is that in the late 1940s, Kirsch led a research team that created America’s first internally programmable computer, the SEAC. By 1957 he and his team had invented a scanner which, using the computing power of SEAC, converted photographs to digital images. This breakthrough created the basis for satellite imaging, CAT scans, barcodes and desktop publishing. Kirsch is now retired and resides in Portland, Oregon. These days he claims that inventing square pixels was a bad idea and has a written a program that creates smoother, variably shaped pixels.
I think this story is really sweet. The first scanned digital image made on a computer in 1957 showed Kirsch’s baby son. Due to the importance of this first digital photograph, Life credited it as one of the 100 Photographs that Changed the World in 2003. Without Kirsch, this 8-bit-themed site wouldn’t be possible, in so many ways.