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[info]merylinabarrel
I would like you to please admire the pumpkin I just carved. I got the pattern from Blade Diary where a guy named Posterchild posts stencils for graffiti and examples of how it looks actually painted on something. I like the site, but I'm not much of a tagger, so I altered one of the patterns and made it work for my pumpkin.

Step One: pick out a good pumpkin. Step Two: draw the pattern on the pumpkin.


Step Three: rip out the guts of the pumpkin. Step Four: very carefully carve the pumpkin.


Step Five: hold the pumpkin up as if it was your head. Step Six: light the pumpkin and see how it looks.

The gentlemen depicted is Alan Turing, who is considered the father of modern computer science... maybe you've heard of the Turing test for artificial intelligence? He was British and worked for the British secret service as a mathematician and cryptographer until he was convicted of being a homosexual (which he was and which was considered a mental illness under the law). To avoid being sent to prison, he had to agree to undergo estrogen hormone therapy and he did for a year, but the homosexuality conviction caused him to lose his security clearance and therefore to lose his job. He killed himself a year later by eating an apple poisoned with cyanide, which seems a little ornate, I think.

It's quite a sad story, but he makes a delightful pumpkin. The last time I carved one was four years ago and it had a pineapple on it. It was pretty nice, but I think Turing beats it, even though he looked better in the drawing phase than at the end of the process.

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That is probably the most ridiculously amazing thing I've ever seen. Shall I bow down to you now, or later?

!

There really aren't any words for how cool this is so I should just end the comment now.

Why did you carve a pumpkin with an outline of Colin's dad?

My sentiments precisely. Haha.

That jack-o-lantern is the greatest. Both in subject and in execution.

I'm always amazed when I see these detailed carvings, and yours is great!

And the computer-guy in me loves that you picked Turing, ha ha! Awesome ~~Napalm %-)>

so i totally remember the i pineapple barry pumpkin. should i not?

On top of everything else, the estrogen apparently gave him some formidable man breasts. Imagine the tenderness...

(The ornate apple suicide seems appropriate for someone who dealt with such ornate codes.)

Where are you going to keep that? Is it be able to fit on your window sill?

You have got to be one of the coolest people I've ever come across. That pumpkin is amazing.

Wow! That pumpkin is great!!!
And such historical significance!

It's like, school and fun all rolled up in one!

Yay pumpkins!

that is the coolest thing i have ever seen in my life.

You can consider that pumpkin admired :D

That's quite a historical reference for a pumpkin- I must confess that I wouldn't have recognized Turing's image if I'd come across it walking around (but I definitely recognize the name).
Turing probably ranks up there with Oscar Wilde in terms of influential men's men, IMO.

If you didn't already know, this LJ post has been posted on Boing Boing, which is how I happened across it

(P.S... I think glowing Turing > drawing phase Turing. Just my input)

Great post

(Anonymous)

2008-09-10 01:08 am (UTC)

This is amazing, what a talent. Happy Halloween!
http://halloweenhub.wordpress.com/

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