test materials - pay attention

What to do if you have no idea what the answer, or even the question,  on a test is about.
 
 
 





 

 

all in a drop of water

2000 frames a second, captures stuff that is happening right in front of our eyes - (open in youtube to see the full screen)

Thanks, G!

ipv6 - he - net (explorer certification)

Made it to Explorer level !

All others to the back door.

Right after i took the picture the security guard came out to ask what i was doing.

he.net ipv6 certification !

newbie:


links to he.net and updates going up the ladder...

How to Buy a Car

https://library.minlib.net/patroninfo~S1/1126662/item&2707160

from "how to buy a car" to "what are steps to bring about peace in the middle east" and everythinng in between, trying to understand and predict behavior when you assume that each player is only interested in their own benefit.

perhaps it's not idealistic, but if we recognize that most individuals act in their self interest, and if they believe their interest is maximized, with appropriate incentives the player of the game can also achieve what they want...

----
excellent car buying strategy, but only if you don't want any extended warranties ..

is it duck tape or duct tape ?

http://tapeestry.com/   Met Kevin Richard today, all is made with .. duct tape (in various colors).

So the stuff is said to be no good on ducts.
But seems to be great for other things.

starlings (cranes?)

http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/exh_gfx_en/ART37187.html

definition of murmuration http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/murmuration

education - free or __?

Open Courseware at MIT http://ocw.mit.edu provides access to classes, quizzes, video lectures, demos, etc.

But student-taken class notes...   whose property is it ?
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/12/13/freeharvardeducationcom/?page=full

If a professor spends years crafting a teaching method / style / content should she retain control of that rather than permitting it to be posted on youtube, unedited, and of uncertain quality ?

mathematical bagel cutting

http://www.georgehart.com/bagel/bagel.html

after you do the linked rings, make the moebius strip !

thanks, Dan !

humbug vs BS ?

Max Black's "prevalence of humbug"
http://www.ditext.com/black/humbug.html

Professor Black's work is cited in Harry Frankfurt's "on bullshit"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0691122946/ from Amazon.
Google books has a preview here.   You might just sit in the B&N and read it through - it's not that many pages, just don't spill coffee on it.

Harry was on the Daily Show -

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Harry G. Frankfurt
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

After he published that one he went the other way "On Truth"
http://www.amazon.com/Truth-Harry-G-Frankfurt/dp/B0027IQB7E

Another video from google -

extreme sheep herding

and who said sheepherding was boring ?

mech toys and sculptures

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DPp17s4Y4o&feature=related
search on youtube for "deanlucker" and related videos - amazing.
the page for Ann Wood and Dean Lucker is  http://www.woodlucker.com



reminds me of the American Visionary Art Museum (Baltimore) - here is one of the items on the exhibit -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/markart/2905511500/  or just look for "avam" in flickr - but no pictures ( aww) of the hand-crank and motorized mech toys in the big warehouse building at the end...

fun in recycling

look for more at http://thefuntheory.com/ (thanks, VW!)


and

and now for a variant on the paper thing ...

a bit of fun from the New Zeland Book Council ?  
it's not "origami" - lots of cutting involved --

origami film on pbs - art AND science

Don't miss this.

pbs (independent lens) is showing a film Thurs 12/3 evening 7:30pm wgbh-ch2,  Friday 12/4 at 1pm wgbx-ch44,  and many other times - check the preview, and local listings (see comment below)
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/between-the-folds/index.html
this goes directly to the preview:
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/between-the-folds/previewpop.html

this part
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/between-the-folds/film.html
shows Michael LaFosse making and folding his own paper, Paul Jackson dramatically showing what can be done with ONE CREASE, and Eric Demaine at MIT.

Lots of diagrams, a "matching game" of figuring out which crease pattern goes with which finished piece.

Already missed the local showing at the Boston Public Library two weeks ago, but if you look around on the film pages you will find many excellent resources online.   Joseph Wu, Robert Lang, Michael LaFosse, Peter Engel, Eric Gjerde, Tom Hull (in Massachusetts!), and many others, including Brian Chan - see his video on folding the 3d version of the "mens et manus" MIT logo  "in three easy steps" (ha ha).

high voltage = dont do this at home

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-tesla-coils-zones-02-dec02,0,3913995.story

all this time I thought they were van de graff generators

dont try this at home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifWL7yWSRLI

or at least settle up on your insurance(s) - life, hospitalization, ...

products for home and car...

products galore

http://www.home-backup-protection.com/  some customers get one for each side of the bed...

http://www.amazon.com/Mobile-Office-WM-01-Laptop-Steering/dp/B000IZGIA8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1258684601&sr=8-1  the consumer reviews are the most amazing.   you too, can:

if the questions or results cause me distress...

So I'm taking this survey online.   Purely personal business, no corporate secrets being disclosed.  I get this as part of the initial information before I can even get started ...


"If the survey questions or results of the survey cause me any distress, I may contact the National Mental Health Association at 800-969-6642. "

I guess you can't be too careful these days.

mass production of living tissue, yes !

the "meat band-aid"
http://gizmodo.com/5401477/meat-band+aids-and-mass-production-of-living-tissue
made by organogenesis ...

if you cut it,  it self-heals.  

2 easy reads

The original short story on which the movie "the box" is based, by Richard Matheson:
https://library.minlib.net/patroninfo~S1/1126662/item&2563443

Jean-Dominique Bauby's story
https://library.minlib.net/patroninfo~S1/1126662/item&1615682
of the diving bell and the butterfly - also made into a movie
https://library.minlib.net/search~S1?/tdiving+bell+and+butterfly/tdiving+bell+and+butterfly/-3,0,0,B/frameset&FF=tdiving+bell+and+the+butterfly&5,,5

Read the book first - it's a short easy read.

art critique phrase generator

http://www.pixmaven.com/phrase_generator.html

The Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator

TABLE A:
0) I'm troubled by how
1) With regard to the issue of content,
2) I find this work menacing/playful because of the way
3) It should be added that
4) I agree/disagree with some of the things that have just been said, but
5) Although I am not a painter, I think that
6) Umm...
7) I'm surprised that no one's mentioned yet that
8) It's difficult to enter into this work because of how
9) As an advocate of the Big Mac Aesthetic, I feel that
TABLE B:
0) the internal dynamic
1) the sublime beauty
2) the disjunctive perturbation
3) the optical suggestions
4) the reductive quality.
5) the subaqueous qualities
6) the iconicity
7) the aura
8) the mechanical mark-making
9) the metaphorical resonance
TABLE C:
0) of the biomorphic forms
1) of the sexual signifier
2) of the negative space
3) of the spatial relationship
4) of the facture
5) of the purity of line
6) of the Egyptian motifs
7) of the gesture
8) of the figurative-narrative line-space matrix
9) of the sexy fish
TABLE D:
0) verges on codifying
1) seems very disturbing in light of
2) contextualizes
3) endangers the devious simplicity of
4) brings within the realm of discourse
5) makes resonant
6) visually and conceptually activates
7) notates
8) spatially undermines
9) threatens to penetrate
TABLE E:
0) the accessibility of the work.
1) a participation in the critical dialogue of the 90s.
2) the eloquence of these pieces.
3) the remarkable handling of light.
4) the inherent over-specificity.
5) the distinctive formal juxtapositions.
6) the essentially transitional quality.
7) the larger carcass.
8) the substructure of critical thinking.
9) the exploration of montage elements.

Old faithful cam.

John Cleese

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000092/

Happy Birthday, John.

drying the tears

drying the tears...

Given the starting point of a blank emotionless mask, I wanted to bring in some emotional content. Drying the tears hints that even the mask might cry (some of the white Krylon did drip to the right in a tear-like stream but is mostly hidden). Butterflies are drinking up the tears on one side (are they looking for the salt or are they really sympathetic in a fundamental, atavistic way?), and others are (mostly) made from tissue paper - appropriately fragile and delicate. The inside of the mask is ... a mess. Receipts from Starbucks, the grocery, etc., are the chaotic internal flutterings in our busy heads. If you look deep enough under the chaos you can see some fear in the moth over the lips from "silence of the lambs". The weight in the back is just to keep it from tipping over.

October, 2009.

butterflies

based on Michael la Fosse's butterfly for Alice Gray, the big red one and small 1" ones (starting from 2"x2" square) are made from tissue paper - the others are made from receipts, etc.

the brain looking at the brain ...

The fall 09 issue of Spectrum: http://spectrum.mit.edu/issue/2009-fall/mit-brainpower/

read all about it.

food, wonderful food

http://gesine.com points to http://confectionsofamasterbaker.blogspot.com/
This is a quick, entertaining read. I recommend it.
What a nice convergence of food, book, and happiness.
Scroll down and look on the right side for a list of recipes (keep scrolling past the junk).

Gesine talks about her one-way (mirrored on the store side) window through which it was originally planned to have a view from the kitchen, to the front. Didn't work out as expected because the viewer from the back room has to be "in the dark". Like detectives looking into a brightly lit interrogation room, viewing from the dark side. But "in the dark" really means "lacking information" / "not knowing what is going on". I guess you have to read the book, I didn't understand it.

contemplative neuroscience, ya!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tRdDqXgsJ0

Google Tech Talk September 23, 2009 ABSTRACT Presented by Richard J. Davidson In this talk, Richard J. Davidson will explore recent scientific research on the neuroscience of positive human ....

computer expertise

from http://xkcd.com : (click below to see bigger)

boneless chicken

Boneless chicken farm:

Starting with a 7 lb whole chicken, adjust to your chicken as necessary.

With a sharp paring knife, (small blade) start separating meat and skin from the ribcage.

First cut 12:31pm

The side against the back has more bone (less meat), need to be somewhat more careful.

Both sides of the rib cage are stripped now, keep going down the sides of the rib cage.

Keep rolling the meat down all sides, then when enough of the ribcage is open, just twist off the bone.

Cut through joint at thigh (leave the thigh bone), remove one bone at a time if needed.

Near the wings, more small bones need to be removed.

Empty chicken ! (chicken puppet?) (hello, there, what's your name?)

Deflated chicken

12:51pm flatness

Make about 1 cup white rice (add 2 cups water to make 3 c total), add most of a 1 pound bag of diced carrot and peas, mix in.

Beat two medium eggs and fry flat at bottom of pan.

Slice into squares about the same size as the carrots and peas.

Sew up neck end first.

Back and forth across the gap.

Stuff with rice, carrots, peas, and egg mixed together.

Before stuffing, taste to see if you want to add some salt / pepper for flavor.

Sew up bottom of bird.

Tuck the tips of the wings underneath, as seen below.

Put on rack, and roasting pan.

1:16pm on rack

Tie drumsticks together.

Roast at 350F for 1hr 20min or until internal temp reaches 170F, or thigh temp reaches 180F.

Raised to 400F for about 10 minutes to try a little external browning, about 20 min into the cooking (prob should have preheated and started at 400F and then dropped to 350F.) There is some continuing cooking after the bird is removed from the oven.

Pure luck that the popper popped up right after I removed from the oven.

2:50pm out of oven

Other view.

Slice through - look, ma, no bones !

Another view.

Reassembled bird with slices taken out.

Bon Appetit !