The Count High project is failing. There are not enough numbers going out. Not nearly enough. That means I am doing things wrong. Waiting for momentum to build has not worked, in fact, the opposite happened. In the first week, more numbers went out than over the last month. There has been a drastic drop in requests and something needs to be done about it.

I have some ideas, but they are a small fraction of the ideas which could be thought. Give me ideas, post in the comments, email in - everything needs to be done to make this a success, so even if you think “He’ll never go for this idea” send it in anyway because I’ll do it. I’ll post to that art forum, I’ll write to that radio show. In case you’re wondering, I did write to David Attenborough.

So you tell me. What’s your idea?

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As mentioned earlier, the digital art community 3D Commune has really pulled together and come up with a lot of numbers. I don’t know why. Other communities have sprung up and died off, leaving just a handful of contributions to remember them by. For a while I thought the modelling community (as in real models) would take over as the leader in online contributors, but they went the way of others. Perhaps another community could eclipse the 3D Commune? For now, they seem the solid leader and I spoke with a few more just recently.

Anita Scripter (Contributor 190) began as a doctors assistant doing angiograms, which she went on to do for twenty years. “I was living back at my parents house, not working,” she says “when the dr my mother worked for hired me and taught me to do angiograms.” A process which involves “[taking] photographs with special Zeiss cameras and after injecting fluorescein dye into a vein. I taught myself the film developing and took over that part of the job too.”

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Across the Internet, as people become more aware of the Count High project, topics are springing up on messageboards of all shapes and sizes. There is a topic on a site for passionate readers (BookCrossing.com). There is a topic at a penpal forum - where people sign up to write snail-mail letters to eachother (xpostcardx.proboards49.com)! And a neat write-up over here which seems to be a site about how to self publish books. These are a random sampling, and there are more. None so far has been as passionate as the 3D Commune. I spoke with some of the contributors from there just recently.

Firstly, Mark Feemster (Contributor 174) is co-moderator of the Bryce and Cinema4d forums and Galleries. “3DCommune is basically a gathering place for artists of all types. We gather and discuss works in progress, post our art and tutorials, share ideas and help each other solve problems we may be having beating our computers and particular programs into submission.” Mark works as a waiter “for the money” and when not riding mountain bikes or playing disc golf, he is a graphic artist “I specialize in Architectural Visualization. Art is my love and my hobby,” not more than his son, who he says “is my greatest creation!”

Tihomir (Contributor 187) is a graphic designer which he says “involves a lot of nerves sometimes.” A fan of “collecting various stuff,” graphic design was a natural progression for him, as “computers have always be my interest from when I was little kid.” At 31, Tihomir likes to dream big, with his goal of one day to “get a job in big studio and earn some decent money!”

Mike Mahoney (Contributor 188) is “a 57 year old Journeyman Cement Mason and I have been a member of the Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons International Association for 30 years.” He got into that through an early start in construction “when I was young and too dumb to know any better. Actually it has been a pretty good living that engenders a good deal of pride in ones craftsmanship when you build something that will most likely remain standing for the rest of your life.” The years of hard physical labour, and trying to “keep up with the new generation of young and dumb” have taken a toll. “I’m really looking forward to the day that I can hang up my trowels, but that day is still a ways off, if I live that long.”

To find out where Chumley will sail, who met the Oracle and my thoughts on double numbers, click to read the rest of the article below.

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Just a few hours ago, on the quest for the Count High project to collect 123,456 artworks, the number 300 was reached. This is an outstanding achievement and leaves only one conclusion - there are 123,156 artworks left. To fill just one of those spaces, the Count High project is seeking wildlife documentarian David Attenborough to contribute.

For a while, I have considered celebrity contributors - I don’t know any and feel their contributions would be just as valid as any of yours, so I spent no time seeking them out. Last night I watched a documentary hosted by Sir David and came to the conclusion that any celebrity Count High number would be a joke - except for him. I am deadly serious about this, if anyone out there knows someone who knows someone who might know him, please get on it.

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Recently a contributor joined the project and came up with an excellent image (seen left) however something became clear with this image which I hadn’t thought of before. Up until the receivement of the image, I’d operated under relatively no rules at all. I’d let you come up with the images as you see fit, as long as it had the number prominently displayed. Up until now I assumed that meant in a manner easy to read, as you would a typical number.

However, Count High contributor Koosie had submitted an image with the number in reverse. I’d never thought about that before, but on first look it was difficult to see what the number was, until the realisation that it was backwards. I asked Koosie something which I’d never asked anyone at that point, to head back to the drawing board and come up with an image which displayed the number a bit more clearly. At first a bit miffed, Koosie agreed on the condition that “if [you’re] ruling out mirrored images, you also have to rule out upside down representations.”

I agreed and added a condition of my own, and as such The Koosie Rule was born and is in immediate effect. From here on out, backwards and upside-down representations of your number can be included in the image, as long as the number in its most prominent form is clearly legible (meaning forward).

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