« April 15, 2007 - April 21, 2007 | Main | April 29, 2007 - May 5, 2007 »
The top five reasons why people unsubscribe from blog feeds out of 34 identified by ProBlogger:-- via Mark Goren
- Too many posts (the post levels are too overwhelming)
- Infrequent Posting (or the blog is effectively dead)
- Partial Excerpts Feeds
- Blog Changes Focus (too much off topic posting)
- Too many posts that I see elsewhere (redundant, repeated or recycled news)
The "MacBook Pro Thin" has become the new iTablet of perpetually rumored Apple products.
Mostly technology-centric, this time.
IETF I18n Gasp
Somehow I missed this; John Klensin and Michael Padlipsky have an Internet-Draft entitled Unicode Format for Network Interchange; gosh, if the IETF acknowledges that the Internet needs to treat all the world’s languages as first-class citizens, the next step might be to deduce that the same applies to its documents, the things that describe and define said Internet.
Wrangling Solaris and Rails for Twitter
Joyent runs Solaris and hosts Twitter and Twitter is overloaded; so they brought in the Solaris heavy artillery and learned some weird things about Rails (patch already committed by DHH). I’m bugging the people who were at that meeting to write it up in deep technical detail, there are lots of good lessons in there for both the Rails and Solaris communities.
Reverse-engineering REST
Uh, Google’s showing off code to observe REST applications and induce WADL descriptions? That feels deeply weird to me and I’m too busy to deep-dive right now, but it might be important. [Update: A colleague at Google dropped me a note to point out that this is from a former intern with ambitious naming ideas; its name now doesn’t include “Google”.]
Brain Regain
This piece called India Grows Up tells the story of how the Indian entrepreneurs behind Riya decided to move it from Bangalore to the Bay Area. Anomaly or trend?
Correo
Hey, look at Correo; it’s trying to blend Camino and Thunderbird technologies and come out ahead of Mail.app, which feels like a very hittable target to me.
Before you qualify to criticize Democrats, Mr. Giuliani, you must account for your preparation of your city for these clearly predicted attacks. Tell us, please, what steps you took to make your city safer. Until you do, then I strongly suggest you should keep your mouth shut about Democrats and terrorism. You have not qualified to criticize others, let alone be president of the United States.
Yesterday, Governor Spitzer announced that he planned to introduce legislation to update and change New York State's abortion laws. The Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act, as Spitzer's bill is called will "encapsulate protections similar to those afforded by Roe, that a pregnant woman has the right to an abortion in two circumstances; first, prior to viability of the fetus, and second, at any time when necessary to protect her life or her health," according to Governor Spitzer's wife, Silda Wall Spitzer. The bill will also change portions of the current law that many abortion rights activists feel are out of date. In addition to provisions for the woman's health, the law would also amend laws that consider abortion as a homicide and repeal a statute that, "criminalizes, among other things, providing nonprescription contraception to minors." The state law would not supersede the ruling by the United States Supreme Court last week to uphold the ban against so called partial-birth abortions. A deputy director from Planned Parrenthood said that Spitzer's bill would make doctors more comfortable with the full range of abortion procedures. Once introduced the bill still has to pass the Democratic-led Assembly and the Republican-controlled Senate. Photo of Governor Spitzer by AP/Mike Groll
A collection of maps of Paris for an art history course, scanned from slides (so they could be a little sharper; 8-bit only). The maps date from 1716 to 1887. Via Plep....
The WSJ has an article about how people re-engineer the Nintendo Wii controller to do all sort of things. This is done through downloading free software on the Web and tweak the code to re-assign the control/movements to specific commands. See wiihacks.blogspot.com and WiiLi.org. Some excerpts I found interesting:
“what has most captivated hackers is a mechanism inside the Wii-mote called an accelerometer that can detect its speed and direction of motion. It is the accelerometer, made by Analog Devices Inc., in Norwood, Mass., that allows Wii players to use their remotes to act out whatever game they’re playing, whether it’s casting with a fishing rod or swinging a tennis racket.
(…)
Nintendo says it is surprised by efforts to reprogram the Wii-mote and discourages the practice. “The Wii Remote was created to play on the Wii system only,” says Anka Dolecki, spokeswoman for Nintendo. But all the interest in the Wii-mote could have an upside for the company. The dozens of free games on the Web that incorporate the Wii-mote have helped add to the buzz surrounding the console.
(…)
Some companies see possible business applications with the Wii-mote. Rick Bullotta, vice-president of SAP Research, an arm of the German software giant SAP AG, is looking at ways to integrate the Wii-mote into their clients’ manufacturing operations. He envisions factory and warehouse employees walking through facilities pointing and waving Wii-motes to monitor and control machines.“Why do I blog this? the wii hacks are more and more documented, it’s interesting to see how this innovation from the gaming area can lead to change in other area.
Examiner column for April 30.
Around the teacher lunchroom, hands are wringing and teachers are beginning to panic. It’s test time, and our students are not as nervous as we would like them to be.
As I lecture on James Joyce, or spend five more minutes going over test-taking strategies, I occasionally spy a silly grin on the face of one of my better students and chalk it up to spring.
Yes, ee cummings was right. Spring is the time when the world is “mud-luscious.” The ominous presence of the balloon-man in his poem is nothing compared to the ominous blue Scantron forms that teachers learn to dread throughout May. Whether our students bubble a, b, c, or d might make or break our careers in high school teaching.
But students are not thinking of their teachers’ careers. They’re thinking about prom. Or about azaleas, or the girl across the room, or the boy who just walked past the door. James Joyce himself could be lecturing in Room 258 on “Dubliners” and I wager my students, looking down studiously, on second glance might be detected text messaging someone across room.
Two of my students admit to text messaging one another, even though they sit side-by-side. “We do it so as not to disturb the class!” they claim. Is it perverse that I see a certain logic there?
Absenteeism is legion. They all have good excuses: they are visiting colleges to make a final decision, there is a family reunion in Kansas, their finance class is taking a trip to a bank. No one is sick, but 8% have an excuse to be out of class.
So begins the game: “Did I miss anything?” It’s noble to say that students are responsible for what they missed, but three weeks later there might be a parent email noting that Johnny was not aware he had work to make up and could the teacher please accept it late? Only the most hard-hearted say no. Teachers consequently find it prudent to take preventive measures, chasing after seven students to say, “Yes--- you missed something!”
Spring is, perhaps most ominously of all, a time for teachers to size up the year. Will their students do well on standardized measures? What could we have done better? How have we messed up?
There is the sober realization that some students simply don’t do well on multiple choice tests. “No way is that student going to pass the test…” can frequently be heard muttered under a teacher’s breath. There are the delightful surprises, as well. Three or four of my students, contrary to the “start slowly and taper off” motto of most seniors, are just revving up in May---for the test? College? The future? Life? Those students are blessings, and I count them daily. (One, two…)
Like all springs, this one will pass, as the luscious mud hardens and yields to summer. Truthfully, I enjoy spring fever. The silly grins that light up their faces might have been mine many years ago. And I have every intention of smiling---after the test!
When I was trying to describe what using the [24" iMac](http://www.apple.com/imac/) is like to some friends, I came up with "It's the IMAX of iMacs!".
Scripts for use with ThisService to perform “Lucky” searches at Google from any application.
This beta version of the AOL site looks a bit familar. (thx, skamptacular) (link)
Yes, friends, I'm still doing the Daily Blabber videos -- now two times a week. But I only share the URLs with you fine folks right here if my hair and makeup look okay. Needless to say, it's been a rough few weeks. I don't look too horrific, so I'm passing along the link to this week's gossip week in review. Topics? Hugh Grant's bean toss, Rosie & Donald and, of course, Miss Britney.
More on WK here.
The Washington Post examines the possible change in the chocolate standard with Chocolate Purists Alarmed by Proposal To Fudge Standards. (I couldn't resist that title!) While the proposed change isn't limited to chocolate (it's more general than I'd realized, basically allowing for the substitution of vegetable fats), it certainly will impact chocolate if it's approved. [thanks Kayhan!]
James Edward Gray has written a tutorial for O’Reilly’s MacDevCenter.
The tutorial shows a slightly untraditional way to customize TextMate, as it transforms the text input window into an interactive RPN calculator.
I've been in London this week, working hard at what I do.
It's been exciting and the folks are great and the passion really charges up the discussions.
I just hope we aren't slowed by the Jello.
Wired features a web service called Buy Your Friend a Drink that lets you get a round for your friends without actually having to spend time with them.
Sounds like a great service for generous but absent friends, or for people who would have loved to attend their work colleague's birthday party if it were not being held at Calico Jack's on 42nd St (which unfortunately is one of the relatively few bars that is currently participating in this service) but still want to buy them a cocktail.
It's currently operating in New York. And Hoboken, which I guess makes sense, since what else is there to do in Hoboken but find novels ways to drink. Wired says they plan to expand the number of bars where you can redeem the drink credits that your friends buy for you, and also start up on the west coast. It sounds like the kind of neat and easy gift idea that I hope I would remember to give people (and sort of hope people would give me) but that I wonder how many people will actually think to use. But if you have to start hanging out at Senor Swanky's to get some free drinks from your suddenly altruistic and considerate friends, it's a small price to pay.
written by Amy
Steve Jurvetson let us know about a very cool recent reuse of one of his CC-licensed photos. This incredible macro shot of an ant was used to accompany an article on UCSF’s website about chitin and allergic inflammation.
Photo: Steve Jurvetson, licensed under CC BYJurvetson’s photography has been used under CC licenses many times in print and on TV. As he says in this discussion about Creative Commons on Flickr:
I use a simple attribution license which for me is just perfect. It maximizes the freedom for reuse while maintaining a channel for attention back to this photoblog.
And it really works. I never imagined that my photos would be used by anyone, and certainly not in the unusual places that they have so far… including: Maxim Magazine, Science magazine, on TV with the Charlie Rose Show, the cover of a board game, and numerous textbooks, even one for the blind (go figure!)… Here are some examples.
With the recent agreement the city made with the public school principals' union in the news for it's unusual additions (like a $25,000 incentive for principals to head schools in difficult areas), we suggest you also read the Village Voice article about teachers in "rubber rooms" for the underbelly of the public school dealings. The "rubber rooms" are where teachers who are in the middle of disputes, whether they've been rightly or unfairly removed from teaching duties. One teacher, Georgia Argyis, who was asked to sign a document that accused her to pulling a kindergartener's arm - and then Argyis yelled at the principal and made remarks about her weight, said that being the rubber room was "like being a vegetable."
Rubber room hours match that of a typical school day—Argyris would sign in at 8:30 a.m. and be released at 3:20 in the afternoon, with a 50-minute lunch break. Like something out of a dystopian fairy tale, however, this school had no children, just a few cafeteria workers, social workers, and custodians who shared the same lot... Because teachers in rubber rooms are awaiting their cases to be heard, they aren't technically being punished. But they are restricted from numerous activities—they can't use MP3 players, telephones, or laptop computers. (Most flout those rules, however, and use various devices openly.)... To keep occupied, teachers read, play games like Scrabble or chess, or work on their screenplays. Art teachers work on paintings. Masters degrees get completed. Last year at the Seventh Avenue rubber room, a group of teachers taught each other to knit. Exercise is a popular activity.Another teacher told the Voice, "It's high school on steroids. Or maybe a mixture between a minimum security prison and a senior home." And the teachers are getting paid all during this time. And last fall, John Stossel had an "epic" explanation of the bureaucracy that occurs when trying to fire a teacher. See the two page PDF, which explains that the teacher has to sign a document, it doesn't necessarily mean the teacher agrees he/she did anything wrong, it seems more like an acknowledgment the teacher knows what's going on.
It doesn't post! It doesn't store your password in the keychain! It doesn't automatically refresh! It's useless! Just a demo! Don't worry, Craig! ;)
Download BSTwitterApp.zip.
(BS... my initials come in handy sometimes. ;)
The idea behind this app is to show some basic use of the technologies that folks writing hybrid apps in Cocoa use. It uses NSXMLDocument and XPath to parse the friends tweets, WebKit to display the tweets, and NSURLConnection to download the tweets.
It also demonstrates that just doing the plumbing—downloading and parsing—is only the barest beginning. For Mac apps, the magic is in the user interface. This doesn’t have any of that magic.
(Folks who aren’t developers sometimes think that apps like Twitterrific are 90% under-the-hood plumbing and a 10% sprinkling of user interface. The truth is more likely the opposite: 10% plumbing, 90% user interface.)
The coolest part of this is the code that parses the Twitter friends timeline. The parser is really very small. (And I’ve heard that there are ways to do it in even less code.) The central part of the parser is +[BSTwitterParser _parsedObjectWithNode:], which shows some very basic use of XPath to get data from an NSXMLNode.
First we heard hogs had been fed some of the contaminated pet food, but we were assured those hogs hadn't entered our food supply. Now comes the government report that tainted hogs entered the human food supply after all. But "the potential risk to human health was said to be very low." Let's hope this time they're right.
Apparently, Apple is buying enough flash to build twice as many iPods (or iPhones) in the second half of 2007 as they sold in the second half of 2006.
Here's some we're considering for a baby girl:
- Aethelthryth Bearrocscir Fake
- Ebba Fembar Fake
- Beomia Bisgu Butterfield
- Orva Edla Butterfield
- Viradecthis Orva Fake
- Gobnat Coy Butterfield
Any other suggestions?
Some lawyer is suing his dry-cleaner for $65 million because they lost his pants. God, I hate lawyers. (Not you, I like you.) (link)
Blaine: Slides for Scaling Twitter talk.Blaine’s beautiful scaling Twitter slides. Final chapter in the Rails-vs-Twitter-versy? (And congrats Blaine on becoming a Rails committer!)
The NY Times published an article today about Fulfillment by Amazon and how Amazon is developing other ways to make money. I’m quoted with other merchants in the article about Fulfillment by Amazon, “a program designed to allow independent sellers to use its network of distribution centers to store and ship their products.”
We use FBA to fulfill Clip-n-Seals and hopefully soon our Bike Hugger shirts.
Both of those products have done well from Bike Hugger traffic and we’ve got more products on the way.
Rhode Island is the birthplace of the diner, and the New York Times takes a look at some its oldest historic diners. I'm a huge diner fan, especially of the authentic railcar diners. I wish there were more here in Manhattan, but two I like to frequent are The Square, in TriBeCa, and the Cheyenne, on Ninth Ave near 34th Street. I just wish there were a great one close to my house. Boston has some good ones, especially in Somerville and Cambridge, that I used to go to all the time when I lived there. Mmmm...diner breakfast would be good right now.
This is wonderful: je t'attends depuis la nuit des temps jodie foster. Trivia by Adriana: "Jodie Foster is fluent in French and does her own dubbing." Also worth watching, Jodie Foster quotes Eminem.
This is wonderful: je t'attends depuis la nuit des temps jodie foster. Trivia by Adriana: "Jodie Foster is fluent in French and does her own dubbing." Also worth watching, Jodie Foster quotes Eminem.
Friday, April 27Judith Z. Miller at the Boathouse
For Arbor Day, the Prospect Park Audubon Center at the Boathouse presents "Sticks and Stones," an art exhibit featuring Judith Z. Miller. The Brooklyn artist brings her collection of "Sacred Staffs," necklaces, and amulets to the Boathouse. Made from found natural objects, her pieces are inspired by the Park’s trees. Programming continues with a free children's workshop on Saturday and a free opening reception on Sunday.
1pm-4pm. Just inside the Lincoln Road/Ocean Ave. entrance to the Park. Free.Lightning Bolt at Pratt Institute
Pratt Radio and Todd P showcase experimental music with a free all-ages concert: Lightning Bolt and The Sun Ra Arkestra. Taking place on the Pratt Main Lawn, the show must be over by sunset, so show up early. In the event of rain, an announcement will be made by 2pm. Pratt is a dry campus.
6pm. 200 Willoughby Ave. Free.After the jump: Cherry Blossom Festival
Photo by ElissaSCA.
If you've been following along with this week's Cook the Book feature, you'll have gotten to know the kinds of foods that cookbook author and longtime food blogger Heidi Swanson loves to make and share with readers. But we wanted to know a little more about her. So she's the subject of this week's Meet & Eat.
Name: Heidi Swanson
Location: San Francisco
Occupation: Cookbook author, photographer, content producer
URL: 101cookbooks.com or heidiswanson.comFavorite comfort food?
Beans. I love them - baked, boiled, broiled, sauteed, mashed, you name it. I like all shapes, sizes, colors, and kinds.Guilty pleasures?
Most (all?) of the coffee shops in my neighborhood aren't using organic milk. It's frustrating because I don't like to start my day with a cappuccino or latte made from milk from cows that have been pumped full of bovine growth hormones—but it happens on occasion. I just try to minimize it or drink tea at home.Describe your perfect meal.
The perfect meal - good friends in the kitchen cooking and then enjoying that food together. Aside from that, enjoying a San Francisco burrito on a warm night while sitting on the steps beneath Coit Tower is hard to beat.What food won't you eat?
I'm vegetarian - I don't eat meat (fish, goat, rabbit, cow, chicken, deer, Pig, etc). Beyond that, I'm game for just about anything. I have a theory that if I don't enjoy eating something it is likely because I haven't had it prepared well (by me or someone else)...What's an unexplored food you'd like to try?
I'd like to further learn about (and experience more) Shojin cooking—Japanese Zen monastery cuisine.Favorite food person?
There are so many! I'm having a hard time choosing just one. How about a list of a few of the people I admire for not only doing interesting work in the food (or wine) worlds, but also for carving out their own paths—and on top of that, for being genuinely nice/cool people.
- June Taylor: June Taylor Organic Preserves
- Carl Doumani: Quixote Winery
- Amy Franceschini: Victory Gardens 2007+
- Ben Ripple: Big Tree Farms Bali
- Molly Stevens: food writer and instructor
- Dan Barber: king of Blue Hill at Stone Barns
- Andrea Nguyen: food writer and instructor
When did you first realize you were a serious eater?
I was a picky kid. I think I'm making up for lost time (and meals) now.What do your family and friends think of your food obsessions?
I think they enjoy being the recipients of my (seemingly endless) recipe testing. Another bonus is that they also get all my pass-along cookbooks.Favorite food sites or blogs?
This is tough! Picking favorites is never easy for me. A few personal favorites:
- Food Blog S'cool: A great resource for the growing community of food bloggers.
- Michael Ruhlman's blog: Never a dull moment here.
- Rancho Gordo's New World Kitchen: Steve Sando (my favorite bean producer) recently set up a blog. He focuses on new world ingredients which is an area of interest to me. I like to see what he is cooking, where he is traveling, and the various cooking techniques he uses.
- Ideas in Food: A culinary sketchbook of sorts. I love the way Alex and Aki workshop ideas, the way they attempt to look at ingredients in new ways, and the way they talk through their percieved successes and failures.
- Nigel Slater on Food
Thanks Rhizome!
Link to the news item and below…
Karaoke Or Die
Have you already subscribed to the video feeds of ‘Karaoke Deathmatch 100’? If not, do it now, as you don’t know what you are missing. ‘Karaoke Deathmatch 100’ is perhaps the most significant project ever from MTAA (artists M. River and T. Whid). Well-regarded within the new media community for works such as ‘1 year performance video (aka Sam Hsieh Update),’ it is with ‘Karaoke Deathmatch 100’ that they reach an audience beyond this field. Unfolding over 50 days, the ‘Karaoke Deathmatch 100’ features both artists in an ‘alcohol-fueled blood feud […] 50 rounds of sing-along fury,’ to use their own words. Taped live over an 8-hour period, these sessions are screened everyday at midnight (New York time). One sees both artists—one singing, the other seated in the back of the studio—both in front of typically cheesy karaoke videos. Viewers can post comments on the performances and vote on the best performer. T. Whid won the first round (with 21 votes) after singing Guns N’ Roses’ Welcome To The Jungle. One reader commented, ‘It’s like American Idol, only different. I feel like my vote counts here.’ Another noted, ‘You suck and so does Guns N’ Roses.’ The current score is tied at M. River: 6/T. Whid: 6, but the contest is just beginning. The artists, themselves, beg the question,’Who will emerge victorious?,’ decrying, ‘Only YOU can decide.’ So don’t miss any other face-off. Log-on today and participate in ‘the most brutal performance art smack down of the new millennium.’
- Miguel Amado
Don’t forget to visit KDM100 daily and vote for T.Whid!
Earlier this week, when Gothamist was looking at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's CherryWatch Blossom Status Map, things didn't look too promising for the weekend. But with yesterday's update, we see that the buds on the Prunus 'Kanzan' (the trees in a row on the left) are starting to open. Just in time for this weekend's Sakura Matsuri (cherry blossom festival). The schedule for the weekend includes over 60 events and performances in addition to the 200+ trees in bloom. We can't think of a better way to spend the weekend (okay, maybe Yankees-Red Sox). During Sakura Matsuri, there is an admission charge of $8 for adults and $4 for seniors and children. You can buy tickets online before going for expedited admission. For those of you that don't enjoy crowds, we highly recommend that you go early or during the week because the Cherry Blossom Festival gets pretty crowded.
New York City's budget surplus just got a little bigger. The previously projected surplus of $3.9 billion has been upped to a projected $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ending June 30th. Despite the additional projected surplus, Mayor Bloomberg is being prudent with the extra money. While there's a projected surplus for this year, Bloomberg is going to use the extra money to pay down expected future debt. $1.3 billion is going towards the projected $1.6 billion deficit in 2009 and $1 billion toward 2010's $3.3 billion deficit. Where's all the money coming from? City agency cutbacks and surprise revenue from all the large real estate sales (hello, Stuy Town). Further details of the mayor's 2008 Budget and Financial Plan are being presented at City Hall today. Some of the projected surplus will go towards cutting property taxes and the city's sales tax on clothes and shoes as well as funding health programs for ground zero workers and the mayor's initiatives in PlaNYC.
[Download Google Earth] The Google Sketch-up has the ability to draw any type of model without taking extra time. If you have a Sketch-up and 3D warehouse then you can share your 3D art easily with your friend and groups by placing them on Google Earth.
Giuliani, the most rat-faced and most-married of all the former mayors of New York, is now running for President on a platform that his advisers refer to as Operation Two-Faced Gay-Traitor, which is intended to convince national voters that clearly he will use any opportunity to seize power and then turn this country into a morally-pure fatherland united in opposition to both the filthy Arabs and anyone who doesn't want to have sex with Judith Regan—a transformation he can effect in just under ten days, unless he's too busy cheating on a wife or committing incest.
Slate has just released a special series on the brain - taking a critical look at some of the most recent developments in the field and asking researchers how neuroscience has changed their life.
There's a wonderful article by developmental psychologist Alison Gopnick on getting past the hype surrounding mirror neurons - which are being used to explain almost every form of human behaviour despite the lack of evidence.
A host of brain researchers note how neuroscience has impacted on their day-to-day life and changes the way they see the world.
Most strikingly, Christof Koch notes that his research into consciousness convinced him to become vegetarian as "mammals can consciously experience the pains and pleasure of life".
There's also a few articles on cognitive enhancement: notably, one on the history and myths behind popular 'brain supplement' ginkgo biloba and another on neuroplasticity and the new craze for 'brain training' programmes.
Neurotheology, the neuroscience of religious and spiritual experience, also gets a look in with an article examined the development of this new discipline and another on whether technology could induce spritual experiences via the brain.
I have to say, the article on the 'five biggest neuroscience developments of the year' is a bit ropey.
For example:
2. The neural alteration of morality. Six people with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex were presented with moral dilemmas (e.g., would you smother a baby to prevent bad guys from finding and killing people in hiding) and were found to be two to three times more willing to kill than people without brain damage. The advertised conclusion is that such willingness to kill is objectively immoral. The feared conclusion is that if brain design determines what's moral, you can change morality by changing the brain - and once technology manipulates ethics, ethics can no longer judge technology.
In fact, we've known for a very long time that brain damage can make people less moral, as the case of Phineas Gage suggested, and modern studies of 'acquired sociopathy' have reported.
It's also interesting that the study in question found patients with ventromedial brain damage were actually more moral in utilitarian terms.
They were less swayed by the normal emotional response to making decisions that required trading off considerations of group welfare against emotionally negative behaviours (for example, having to sacrifice one person's life to save a number of other lives).
Whether this is less moral, depends on your moral framework.
Generally, though, the series is well worth checking out and has some fascinating insights and commentary.
Link to Slate special series on the brain.
"DjangoKit is a framework that will take a Django application, and turn it into a stand-alone MacOS application with a local database and media files. It's more of a thought experiment than an effort at producing a real application, but there are a couple of simple examples and the source code is available for download from my subversion repository."
Matt Busch, the artist behind You Can Draw Star Wars has a few video tutorials for kids on the official Star Wars site. This one, about light and shadow, shows what’s missing from a lot of kids’ how-to-draw books — too many have step-by-step lessons (though there’s that, too) that can stifle creativity, but here Matt teaches art and drawing fundamentals using Star Wars simply as a theme. He’s pretty entertaining, too, and if I were still 10 years old, I would eat this stuff up. I certainly drew my share of R2-D2s as a kid.
(Thanks, Robert)
a web-based baby data visualization tool that tracks the sleep patterns, feeding schedules & diaper habits of a newborn baby over time. the "Baby Tracker" application allows new parents to create detailed records & custom charts of Sleep, Diapers, Bottles, Solids, Nursing, Pumping Activity & Medicine, to better understand the baby's daily patterns & needs. it also allows parents to share that information online with family & friends.some of the data visualizations include a "sleep propability distribution chart" line-plot, an "awake, transition & asleep time period" chart, a "visual diapers" sparkline graph & a comparative "1 year ago" feature.
P.S. for the hard-core infosthetics fan who even reads this 3rd paragraph, I can reveal that I probably will become a trixie tracker "customer" this August!
[links: trixietracker.com & trixieupdate.com]
“Whoa!” When I opened up the Design within Reach catalog to see a Biomega AMS 8 Speed Bicycle on page 1. That’s probably the epitome of bikes as a designer item and it’s a commuter bike at that.
The Biomega @ Design follows the UM by Puma, another designer concept bike. We’ll have to post on this further, when I see a bike at DWR’s stores, and then start thinking about who’s going to wrench the bikes for them?
From Shanghailist: Asia Drawing Portal: startdrawing.org is a new (to us) site with the following mission statement:
startdrawing.org is a web resource portal for Asia's artists and drawings. This site was started with the aim of showcasing and sharing drawings from talented artists in Asia, and in the process, promote the joys of drawing.
The selections above were taken from the site's China section. The top item is from Shanghai-based designer Beibang (??), whose website is supposed to be ideaprisoner.com, but we can't get it to load. The painting on the bottom is from Hebei's Zhang Lin Hai (more here).
Technorati Tags: art , asia, cartoon, china, drawing, painting
folks, this blog will be closed out and moved to its new home:
http://jesuspark.blogspot.com/please make a note of it.
Yesterday I wrote about producers changing their approach to foie gras production and I wondered, "By changing their approach to product, aren't producers acknowledging that force-feeding is inhumane?" Some folks wrote in with some thoughts about my question.
Berry:
I would say, not necessarily. Producers could merely be acknowledging that if they don't change their production methods, shrill activists may get their product banned altogether, so they're attempting to compromise.
Kevin:
Obviously the producers have to speak for themselves.
But in my view efforts to find a way other than gavage to create foie gras is simply an acknowledgment that some people object to force-feeding (whether the arguments are correct or not), are passing laws against it, and the producers want to stay in business.
Lisa:
I don't think the only or strongest conclusion is that force-feeding in foie gras production is inhumane, nor do I think that producers exploring alternatives is inconsistent with their statements that the animals don't suffer during the process. An alternative view is that the producers are aware of the power of public opinion--informed or not, scientifically correct or not--and are considering other approaches that may yield the same product but avoid the public condemnation. Trying to find the happy medium, as it were.
All three of you raise valid points, and it's quite possible that the production changes are motivated by a simple desire to stay in business. Still though, I can't help but feel like this is one of those logic problems you see on tests. If force-feeding is inhumane, you change your method. If it's not, you don't. Of course, I never took logic in college, so I'm sure I could be guilty of some kind of logical fallacy here. Thanks for writing folks, it reminds me I should turn on comments again!
