The other day it got very foggy right before dusk. I grabbed my camera and headed over to a graveyard that caught my eye while driving home. I found tons of geese all over the place, taking a break from flying south. It was very eerie walking through this place at dusk, even with all the geese.
Check out the rest of the images on flickr.
Never again will I have to take out books from the library for technical drawing source material. Google’s powerful patent search engine makes over 7 million patent documents available instantaneously. Some quick favorites: Toupee, Pocket Protector, Lint Incinerator, Clown Head Fanny Pack, Skunk Trap.
The Times has a good write up on the farewell to 11 Spring St. A longtime haven for street artists, the building was sold and is being converted into condos. For the past few months artists have been coming in from around the world to install pieces that will be on view only tomorrow through Sunday.
I stumbled over this amazing little gadget about a week ago as I was updating content on my personalized homepage. It follows right along in a trend I’ve been noticing lately in clean, ultra-efficient programs that are generic enough to be personalized to individual specifications but that also have the ability to easily mass-distribute content across the internet.
This one looks like it will be very useful. It makes saving and organizing the endless amount of information available online unbelievably simple. By right clicking a selection you can save content to your notebook. You can customize how you want it organized, create multiple notebooks for different topics and you have the ability to collaborate with other people on them. You also have the ability to publish your notebook and make the content available through a google search. You can also download it as an extension for firefox which integrates the notebook with your browser, making it even easier to use. Not only is google offering an extremely useful tool, but they are providing another powerful feature in publishing them online; it allows for instant access to yet another interconnected network of information.
The National Science Teachers Association has been getting a lot of press lately for passing on an offer of 50,000 free copies of An Inconvenient Truth. Laurie David, a producer of the film, wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Post basically asserting that NSTA declined due to the influence of their corporate sponsors (Exxon Mobil, Shell).
In the original NSTA email response to the offer, they said they didn’t want to offer “political” endorsement of the film and they saw “little, if any, benefit to NSTA or its members” in accepting the free DVDs. Additionally, they wrote that accepting the DVDs would place “unnecessary risk upon the [NSTA] capital campaign, especially certain targeted supporters.”
Since David’s piece, NSTA has responded, saying
“In the op-ed Ms. David goes on to characterize NSTA as a willing corporate America partner that eagerly pushes corporate messages about the environment. This is not true.”
Their response also states that they “are working to promote the availability of the film.” The response goes on to describe the productive programs their corporate sponsorship has funded.
Apparently, their president-elect called into NPR and said NSTA “would have accepted the donated DVDs if it hadn’t been for the distribution costs, which he estimated at $250,000.”
While I don’t think oil companies are telling NSTA what to teach, money can be a very motivational factor in determining policy. I think it comes down to NSTA opting to play it safe because of their sponsors. The buzz Laurie David’s op-ed piece created is now forcing them to come out and defend their position. They’re highlighting a conflict over the distribution methods for the DVD as part of the reason for their rejection. What does it cost to send a DVD through media mail? A dollar? I wonder how much they paid to distribute “You Can’t Be Cool Without Fuel.”
Check out shortlistli.com to see my work featured in the art section! Thanks to Nathan for the support.
I have some work in the Small Miracles show up at Atlantic Gallery in Soho Dec. 5th-30th. There are two openings: Dec. 5th 5-8 and Dec. 12th 6-8. Gallery hours are 12-6 Tues-Sat if you want to check it out and can’t make either opening. A portion of the proceeds are going to the Seeds of Peace charity.
Interesting article about the resurgence of ocean life after mass extinctions. I like the idea of complex ecosystems developing immediately out of nothing. 90% of ocean life gets wiped out and it comes right back stronger and more complex than ever before. I was just reading about this in Scientific American about how it was probably gases and global warming that caused mass extinctions, not comets. Anything that opens by comparing something inanimate to the evolution of living organisms, immediately has my attention.
just testing the blog.
