Tuesday, November 30, 2004
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture
Link via Archinect
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Bankruptcy Here We Come
BostonHerald.com - Business: Economic `Armageddon' predicted
All I Want for Christmas
Canon EOS 20D
The Wall of Memories
An open invitation to friends who would like to help me build this site. (File under: Half-bakery.)The basic problem that I'm trying to solve is one that a lot of people have. Namely, they don't keep a diary. And even if they did, it would only be a record of ideas. This site would help people map their life's experiences and then to relate those experiences to others. I call it "The Wall of Memories" because it's where one would go to continually create the graffiti that is their life’s experiences continuously adding photos, stories, and people to their complex and utterly unique path through life.
I have no idea how you could make money off of this site. But I'm thinking you could simply sell subscriptions. I would gladly pay $50/year for a place that helped me organize and share my life's experiences with others. As more people join, the more the services has value. The last thing the world needs is another social networking site, so this site would benefit from partnering with, instead of duplicating, the efforts of another social networking site.
What do you think? You up for the challenge? I have a lot on my plate now, but I'd put in the extra hours at night and on the weekends to get it off the ground. I can even run around raising money if I had a good management team aboard. If resources are an issue, that is.
Link: The Wall of Memories - a photoset on Flickr
I've story boarded the concept on my dry erase boards and then photographed them and then added comments to them in my flickr set.
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Sushi Delight
At the sushi deli.
The Hotel San Diego
Now under disrepair. Those of you not from here may recognize the large white wall with block letters as the backdrop for the car explosion scene in "Traffic."
Pokez
The best mural in town
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Taking The Taco Express
Along my morning commute. Taking time to smell the tacos.
Friday, November 19, 2004
The energy web
Thought you might want to read this review and then buy the book. It's about energy, but it draws some interesting conclusions on how telecom can help with supply and demand. If you're paying $50 per barrel, smart devices can help curb waste.Link: Jon Udell: The energy web
Write, Geek, Write!
18 Tips for squashing writer's block. The web-inclined writer may enjoy tip # 13 - "unplug the router". Everything else is your standard fare. "Write the middle," "write from a persona," "listen to new music," "take a walk," and "write crap". I would add "write the critical notice" and "cook a large dinner with whatever you have in the house".Link: 43 Folders: Hack your way out of writer's block
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Grey Tuesday
Old news, but new to me."After a survey of the sites that hosted files during Grey Tuesday, and an analysis of filesharing activity on that day, we can confidently report that the Grey Album was the number one album in the US on February 24 by a large margin. Danger Mouse moved more 'units' than Norah Jones and Kanye West, with well over 100,000 copies downloaded. That's more than 1 million digital tracks."
Link to the Grey Tuesday project
Link to the Grey Video
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
iPhoto Heart Flickr
"Fraser Speirs rocks me lock a hurricane."You won't hear me say that in mixed company. But you will hear me talk about how nice it is -- finally -- to yield completely to the temptation of letting iPhoto rule my image library.
Recently I discovered the wonderful world of photo file sharing offered up by flickr.com. Here's what I have posted for all to see. There are a number of great details that the nerdist in me would love to point out. All those details add up to is one big fact: flickr lets you keep your photos online and share them however you want. Simple.
Before flickr I was in the habit of posting my photos using the photoshop and fireworks batch processing scripts. But those were static. Flickr is, in the parlance of everyday dot-commists, dy-nam-ic. I can syndicate my photos. I can upload my photos to my blog. I can email my photos to flickr. And now, I can organize and upload them using iPhoto.
And they say bliss is ignorance.
Link: Fraser Speir's Flickr Export for iPhoto.
Link: My flickr profile.
And if you look down below you can find some photos I've recently mailed and syndicated here.
Bagmen-a-go-go
Ohio State can't cheat like old SWC
Holy Cadeuceus!
Do no harm while you operate on a patient with a scalpel. If they get to the brink of death, you can talk them back to life. Using the Nintendo DS gaming system which comes with a stylus and touch sensitive screen and voice recognition built in. What's the size of such a gaming system? It fits on the palm of your hand. At what cost? $200 or so. Did I mention it's wireless?Link: Nintendo DS Demand On the Rise
Link: Nintendo DS Game System Home Page
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Spoon 6
And other photos from our Sunday brunch at the Beach House with Heather, Martha, Micaela, Denise, and Stephanie.
Ice
Flickr
This is a test post from
, a fancy photo sharing thing.
Monday, November 15, 2004
Motion Graffiti
link
'Music Is Not a Loaf of Bread'
Wired News: 'Music Is Not a Loaf of Bread'
LEGO MINDSTORMS
More imagination than I can handle.
How 'Dungeons' changed the world
Imagination op-ed from the Bostom Globe
America: None the Wiser
A H. L. Mencken Quotation came to me via a friend. The quotation was so apropos, I thought it must be made-up. It turns out my hunch was incorrect. H.L. Mencken did say it. And he said a lot of other things too. What an interesting life to lead, "America's Critic." These are the times in which we live. No more or less interesting than his. What with all our 2004 senses too, perhaps all the dumber.
Weighing a Lie
For those of us who subscribe to the Factcheck.org newsletters, the 2004 campaign ending signaled a retreat not only of political rhetoric in our everyday lives, but a retreat of its nearest cure - the factcheck.org reports. Today subscribers were asked to fill out a survey answering questions like "Were the newsletters helpful?" and "Did you forward them?" Normally, I wouldn't take the time to fill out a survey. Normally I wouldn't take the time to blog the fact that I took a survey. Normally, when given the chance to write-in my thoughts on what can be improved in an already invaluable service, I wouldn't be capable of the task. However today, I did. All of the above. It ended with the following:"It would be good to have a kind of rating scale for the degree and types of inaccuracies on which you're reporting. Then perhaps an ongoing tally of of these ratings. Quantifying qualitative matters can be difficult -- and a lie is a lie -- but as long as you're in the business of parsing the truth, you may as well set it on a scale, no?"
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
moock.org > unity > uPresence
"uPresence is a multiuser exhibit that portrays human interaction in a networked environment."Link"
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Repatriate: Join the Blogsphere
"So the wrong candidate has won, and you want to leave the country. Let us consider your options. "From Electing to Leave at Harpers.org
Missing the Boob Tube
So now that I've gone a full 2.5 months without cable (no rabbit ears either) I'm starting to see what TV has to offer. I look at the upcoming Frontline Special, the persuaders, and long for those college dorm room days when I shared a TV with my floormates. We'd watch the X-Files and Melrose as a group, and enact our own Mystery Science Theater 3000. Back then it reminded me of the films my dad would take me to at Strosacher Auditorium on the campus of Case Western Reserve University. Students would yell at the screen, make jokes for all to hear, and burst bubbles in the over-inflated screen personae du jour. I saw Pink Floyd the wall as a 6-year-old there and thought all parents went to such great lengths to institute post-modern caliber heckling and reflection into otherwise everyday entertainment. I miss those days. I miss that specific theater. One day, when I'm rich and can afford to lose the money, I'll open a TV shop. We'll sit around sipping bourbon with our neighbors and make more from ourselves than TV. Until then, I'll need to find someone nearby who will gladly indulge a few TV refugees on any given Thursday night.
The Optimism of Uncertainty
"I am totally confident not that the world will get better, but that we should not give up the game before all the cards have been played. The metaphor is deliberate; life is a gamble. Not to play is to foreclose any chance of winning. To play, to act, is to create at least a possibility of changing the world. "Read Howard Zinn's article in its entirety The Nation website
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Small Requests (for a Small Man)
In my lifetime, I want the Indians to win the World Series. I want healthcare for every baby, man and woman blessed enough with life to want to sustain it. I want an end to homelessness and joblessness. I want endless, renewable, clean energy. I want my bedroom to be a government-free zone. I want science to be confined by the laws of nature, not men. I want to live in a lighthouse and welcome the tired, the sick and the poor; this country is the best place I know. I want to experience freedom by choosing to live freely instead of boarding up in fear. Are you with me?
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Too Much, Too Late
[Open letter to Charles. A Christian friend of mine on the fence.]If you're still on the fence, then I guess you can be swayed. To be honest, it's hard to image anyone who has not yet made up his mind. Especially a smart guy like Chuck.
That said, I always like to look at the adages for timeless wisdom. "Power Corrupts. Absolute Power corrupts Absolutely." True enough, don't you think? Without a balance of power (Republican House and Senate, Republican Court, Republican Executive Branch) we'll get corruption. Look at Mexico if you need proof. One party for 100 years. It used to be the country of artists and wealth and bounty. Now it's a trap.
Anyway, it's -- how shall I say? -- interesting what people do with power. Some people invite contrary views Nixon and Clinton were experts at involving the opposition. Both, incidentally, were also impeached.
So let's try this adage on for size. "The Emperor has no clothes." Yes. It's quite apparent to everyone else he's naked. But he's convinced his tailor is the best. You want a way out of war? Don't ask the guy who still thinks he's fighting terrorism in Iraq. He's naked. He knows it. Only now it's his best selling point. I'll stay true to the course all the way to the (bitter) end. Which is easy enough when someone else, someone poorer, someone with less to live for, is doing the dieing for you.
And yet, some presidents like to rule with an iron fist. Take the Roosevelt's, for example. Man could they command attention. This is why we have presidents. They earn respect. They thrive on it. They become the essence of "the right man for the job." And we Americans, if we see them falter, it becomes our duty to bring them down a notch. Roosevelt numero dos got shit-canned right at the end of WW2. (Our involvement in WW2 will shortly become less lengthy than our war on Terror, just shy of 4 years.)
When the Emperor has no clothes, someone needs to tell him. Bush has effectively cleared anyone out of his cabinet and his immediate circle of influence who will tell him things he does not want to hear. Can this be healthy for the rest of us? If the president is asked to represent the 300 Million under him, shouldn't he have an open office?
You're a religious guy, Chuck. You respect that in a leader too. Here's another adage for you: What would Jesus do?
K
File Under: Peer Pressure
The writer's version of May 1 Relaunch. Something to kick start otherwise stagnant creative engine: National Novel Writing Month - National Novel Writing Month.Eh? Why not? Count me in!
Syndication Options Added
Link
Macromedia Flex Application
I am interested in building an application which helps artists organize and present their materials online. This tool will be a web-based tool allowing users to self-publish photos, writings, music and video as finished works. I will use flex to provide a meaningful interface for the administration and presentation of the artist's content.
