nimio!
the project that i am doing with meta just got blogged on information aesthetics. to myself i am thinking a] how did that happen? b] crap we need to finish this up ;]
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the project that i am doing with meta just got blogged on information aesthetics. to myself i am thinking a] how did that happen? b] crap we need to finish this up ;]
if you seriously have "we are morally right" in your powerpoint presentation...
oh just kill me now.
[thanks boing boing]
more from the world of technology that is making a deeper difference: the lifestraw.
The aptly-named LifeStraw is an invention that could become one of the greatest life-savers in history. It is a 25 cm long, 29 mm diameter, plastic pipe filter and purchased singly, costs around US2.00. The most prolific killer of human beings in developed countries is the automobile, followed by a host of diseases resulting mainly from an indulgent lifestyle.Millions of people perish every year because they simply don’t have clean water to drink. Until now, there was not much we could do about this because systems to clean water were costly and required electricity and spare parts and and and … but the LifeStraw now offers a viable means of saving tens of millions of lives every year.
LifeStraw is a personal, low-cost water purification tool with a life time of 700 litres – approximately one year of water consumption for one person. Positive test results have been achieved on tap, turbid and saline water against common waterborne bacteria such as Salmonella, Shigella, Enterococcus and Staphylococcu.
[thanks gizmag]
i'm #3 for up up down down left right left right B A B select start. that's old. skool.
and #5 for roxy hacker sexy. need i say more? ;]
according to the boston globe there are a pair of lesbian swans in the public garden. they were a famed couple apparently, "romeo and juliet," but now in need of a name change.
''I think this proves that there's something in the environment in Massachusetts," Brian Camenker, director of the Article 8 Alliance, a Waltham-based organization fighting same-sex marriage, joked in a telephone interview. ''Maybe it's the water that's causing all this lunacy."but i filter my water! ;]
[thanks meta]
Thou art no Romeo
Famed swan couple is all-female
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff | August 12, 2005
Boston's beloved pair of swans -- feted by city leaders, residents, and tourists alike as one of the Hub's most celebrated summer attractions -- are a same-sex couple. Yes, scientific tests have shown that the pair, named Romeo and Juliet, are really Juliet and Juliet.
The city's Parks and Recreation Department conducted the tests months ago, but didn't announce the results for fear of destroying the image of a Shakespearean love story unfolding each year in the Public Garden.
''Each year when the swans go in, the kids immediately come to us and say, 'Which one's Romeo, and which one's Juliet?' " parks spokeswoman Mary Hines said yesterday in response to a Globe inquiry. ''It's just like one of those fairy tales; why spoil it?"
This year and last, the swans have laid eggs in the spring and then stood guard at the nest as visitors and nearby residents made regular pilgrimages, hoping to see the eggs hatch. Neither batch did. Turns out, that's because they were never fertilized by a male swan.
The news ignited something of a debate among swan spectators in the Public Garden yesterday, with some insisting the city now should buy a true Romeo and others saying the city should embrace the two as a couple.
''If these two swans are happy together, they shouldn't have to have a guy," said Emma Stokien, a 15-year-old from New York. ''It's good to have the swans as a symbol of the acceptance in Massachusetts."
Some advocates involved in the heated debate on same-sex marriage took the opportunity to rejuvenate their argument, with a touch of levity.
''I think this proves that there's something in the environment in Massachusetts," Brian Camenker, director of the Article 8 Alliance, a Waltham-based organization fighting same-sex marriage, joked in a telephone interview. ''Maybe it's the water that's causing all this lunacy."
The city has kept swans at the Public Garden lagoon for 16 summers. City parks officials adopted the current Romeo and Juliet a few years ago, after others died. The breeder told the city that both were female, a good fit for the Public Garden because specialists say male swans tend to be aggressive.
But when the eggs showed up last spring and the swans began acting like future parents, park rangers thought the breeder had made a mistake. They began preparing for the first-ever hatching of swan babies, or cygnets, in the Public Garden.
Park rangers constructed a fence around the nest of nine or so eggs and began making regular checks, trying to monitor the progress of the eggs. In mid-July, though, the eggs began to disappear, one by one. The swans themselves had been seen kicking some of them into the nearby lagoon. Speculation abounded that maybe the swans had been inattentive. They tended to abandon the nest for hours on end. Maybe the public attention had disrupted their parenting, some said.
Rangers managed to save one egg with hope of getting to the bottom of the mystery. After testing, they discovered the egg had never been fertilized. And when the swans returned to their winter home at the Franklin Park Zoo, parks officials decided to have their genders tested. Not an easy task, specialists said.
It's not just a matter of turning the birds upside down, said aviculturalist Frederick Beall, general curator of Zoo New England, who performed the tests. It requires inverting the bird's rear quarters and performing a detailed examination of reproductive organs. While there is a small margin of error, Beall said he has no doubt that both Romeo and Juliet are female. ''We are 100 percent certain," he said.
Swans will pair up with members of the same sex if there are no opposite-sex mates available, and one will act out the role of the opposite gender. They tend to stay with the same mates until death, typically between age 20 and 30.
''You could have two males, and they'll go through all the same behaviors, building a nest and sitting on it, but you won't have the eggs," Beall said.
Within an hour of the swans' return to the Public Garden in the spring, Romeo or Juliet -- rangers aren't sure which one -- laid a single egg, built a nest to house it, and began the pre-parental behavior. One would sit on the nest while the other shooed ducks away or went off to drink and feed. Sometimes they switched roles. After a week, though, the swans abandoned the nest, and the egg was found destroyed. Rangers removed the nest and fence, without grieving for the egg that would never hatch. (Swans typically lay only one clutch per year.)
As Romeo and Juliet, who are between 6 and 7 years old, stood on the rim of the lagoon yesterday, where swan boats glided by only yards from their nesting ground, spectators snapped pictures and commented on their beauty.
''They should have a Romeo," lamented Laura Elsheimer, a Hudson resident and owner of Sunshine Taxi Cab.
A visitor from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., suggested that the city should try to have one of next year's eggs fertilized so that Romeo and Juliet could become same-sex parents. ''I'm sure they'd probably be perfect parents," said L.D. Hollingsworth, smiling as he watched the swans grooming themselves.
Some same-sex marriage advocates hoped the swans' celebrity would not be diminished by the revelation of their same-sex status.
Marty Rouse, campaign director of MassEquality, said in a telephone interview: ''We should still cherish and love our swans, no matter whom they choose to swim with."
Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.
freaky gorgeous. gabríela fridriksdóttir also directed the video for bjork's "where is the line?" which is, incidentally, one of my favorite bjork songs...
[thanks we make money not art]
two new technologies that are heavy on sexuality. you'll be seeing more of this sort of stuff as i continue to collect material for our workshop proposal...
eavesdripping which uses water as a physical display:
Because the way of displaying is physically so present, it would be best to initially use it to visualize something and make it sensually experienceable which is equally present, but not perceptible. The metaphor of the installation would be to wash something from the air and make it visible on the ground in front of you.
Paul Granjon's Robotarium is a sort of robot zoo inhabited by three automatons. The two big robots are "sexed" aluminium carapaces constructed around industrialised white nylon genitals. The only purpose of the male and female robots is to mate with the other.Then there's a small and solitary creature that lives in the Robotarium. The Smartbotis a simple and not-so-smart robot that lives on a table fitted with a low border. It moves in a straight line until it hits the border. Then it blinks and says either "Shit" or "Merde" or "Fuck" before resuming its hopeless exploration. After a few minutes it stops and cries luminous tears. Crying done it shuts its eyes, goes to sleep for a while, and starts all over again.
[thanks we make money not art + we make money not art]
nature has a cool article about the inca khipus, which are bunches of knotted colored strings that store numbers. recently scientists have gotten closer to working out how the numbers are actually stored and finding some clues to what sort of data it might represent. read on for the full article.
[thanks information aesthetics]
News
Published online: 11 August 2005; | doi:10.1038/news050808-11
Scientists untangle Inca number-strings
Knotted threads carry signs of ancient accountancy.
Andreas von Bubnoff
Scientists have picked apart some 500-year-old calculations from the Inca empire.
The team deciphered the maths from a series of 'khipus': elaborate structures of coloured, knotted strings. Researchers have long known that the Inca, who lived along the west coast of South America from AD 1400-1532, used such cords to record numbers. But this is the first mathematical relationship found between khipu. And that may help to work out what kind of information they stored.
Khipus encode numbers as knots in strings hanging from a cord. The closer a knot is to the cord, the higher its value, just as the number 1 can denote 1, 10, or 100 depending on its position.
Numerical value also depends on a knot's shape. Single overhand knots encode tens, hundreds or thousands. Single knots represent ones, and long knots with between 2 and 9 turns encode the numbers 2 to 9.
"The challenging thing is that, while we can read these numerical values that are knotted onto the strings, we don't know what they refer to," says Gary Urton, an anthropologist from Harvard University and lead author of the study, published this week in Science1.
Modern maths
Urton and his colleague Carrie Brezine used twenty-first century computer power to seek numerical relationships between different clumps of string.
They analysed a group of 21 khipus found all together in 1956, near an Inca palace at the archaeological site of Paruchuco, in the Peruvian capital Lima. These are the only khipus found so close to each other, Urton says, making it more likely that at least some of them served similar purposes.
Sure enough, seven of the khipu were numerically related. The summed values of all strings of the same colour of one khipu, for example, matched the sums on the corresponding strings of another khipu. The sums of that khipu, in turn, could be found on the corresponding strings of a third khipu.
The numbers didn't add up perfectly, but Urton thinks this may be because the Inca rounded numbers up or down, or took averages of their results.
Death or taxes?
Urton speculates that these sums might record tax payments. Incans paid their taxes by working a certain number of days per year on state projects. The knotted strings could represent such days, and the sums could represent totals for all work in a certain area, Urton says.
Bill Conklin, a textile archaeologist at the Textile Museum in Washington DC says the study is "terrific, careful and great". But he thinks the numbers are probably records of animal sacrifices. "Sacrifices were very important to the Incas," he says. "If they didn't make the proper sacrifices, it wouldn't rain."
"That could be," says Urton, adding that only further studies will solve the matter. The team has created a database of the numbers, colours and other features of 290 khipus - about half of the 600 found so far. They hope to mine this in search of further patterns.
References
1. Urton G. & Brezine C. J. Science, 309. 1065 - 1067 (2005). | Article |
a plane from cyprus crashed on its way to athens this morning and 121 were lost. :(
Plane Crash Kills 121 in Greece
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 14, 2005
GRAMMATIKO, Greece (AP) -- A Cypriot airliner with 121 people on board crashed north of Athens on Sunday, and rescuers said they had found no survivors. Reports said the pilots were unconscious when the plane went down, possibly because of a lack of oxygen in the cabin due to decompression.
The Helios Airways flight HCY 522 was headed from Larnaca, Cyprus to Athens International Airport when it crashed at 12:20 p.m. near the coastal town of Grammatiko, about 25 miles north of the Greek capital, leaving flaming debris and luggage strewn across a ravine and surrounding hills.
The Boeing 737, with 115 passengers and six crew members aboard, was due to fly onto Prague, Czech Republic after stopping in Athens.
The cause of the crash was unclear, but first indications were that there was a technical problem -- possibly decompression or lack of oxygen in the cabin-- and not terrorism.
Sotiris Voutas, the first cousin of a passenger on the plane, told Athens' Alpha television station that he received a text message from his relative on his mobile phone minutes before the crash.
"He told me the pilots were unconscious ... he said: 'Farewell, cousin, here we're frozen."
The only piece of the plane that remained intact was the tail section of the jet. Bits of human flesh, clothing, and luggage were scattered around the wreckage, which also started brush fires around the area.
Rescue helicopters flew overhead and firefighting planes swooped low to extinguish some of the fires. Ambulances crowded the roads near the crash site and dark black smoke could be seen rising from various sites around the crash.
"The Helios flight that crashed in the Athens area left Larnaca and was headed for Athens. The exact causes unknown," government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos said.
Rescue workers and residents on the scene said they had not found any survivors.
"There is wreckage everywhere. I am here, things here are very difficult, they are indescribable," Grammatiko Mayor George Papageorgiou said. "I am looking at back tail. The fuselage has been destroyed. It fell into a chasm and there are pieces. All the residents are here trying to help."
The head of the Greek airline safety committee, Akrivos Tsolakis, described it as the "worst accident we've ever had."
He speculated that there may have been a problem with the cabin pressure.
"There apparently was a lack of oxygen which is usually the case when the cabin is de-pressurized," Tsolakis said.
Two F-16 fighter jets were scrambled shortly after the plane entered Greek air space over the Aegean Sea and did not respond to radio calls. It is standard Greek air force procedure to intercept any aircraft entering the country's airspace that do not respond to radio calls.
Greek radio and television stations reported that the air force pilots saw no movement in the cockpit of the plane before the crash. There were some reports the two pilots seemed to be unconscious.
"The plane crashed around 400 meters (yards) from homes in the area," said Miltiadis Merkouris, a spokesman for the Grammatiko municipality.
In a crash with possible parallels, a lack of oxygen apparently cause the crash that killed golfer Payne Stewart in South Dakota in 1999.
Stewart's twin-engine jet went down in a pasture after flying halfway across the country on autopilot, as Stewart and the four others aboard apparently lay unconscious for lack of oxygen after the plane lost cabin pressure. Everyone was killed.
Stewart's widow, Tracey, and their two children sued the aircraft manufacturer, claiming a cracked piece of equipment caused cabin air to escape as the plane made its ascent on its flight from Orlando to Dallas. In January, a jury cleared Learjet of responsibility
Learjet argued that the plane lost pressure in another way, and that the aircraft was poorly maintained by Sunjet, the now-defunct Florida company that operated the jet.
Helios Airways, a privately owned airline founded in 1999, is Cyprus' first independent airline. It operates a fleet of Boeing 737 jets between Cyprus and London; Athens; Sofia, Bulgaria; Dublin, Ireland; and Strasbourg, France.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis canceled a holiday on the Aegean island of Tinos to return to Athens to deal with the crash. Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos also canceled a vacation.
like the french aids ads i posted before, here is a set promoting safe sex between skeletons.
logan airport [of boston] is trying to put the kibosh on free wifi. check out the story on cnet. this is completely ridiculous. not only should i have to pay $63 dollars for a cup of coffee, but now if continental airlines wants to offer up free wifi [albeit in their frequent flyer lounge which i'm sure i'll never visit] the fine folks at massport are trying to stop them. they'd prefer i pony up 8 bucks for their "reasonably priced" service. shame on you, logan. shame.
[thanks boing boing]
stilts by eelko moorer from rca.
I'm interested in designing objects dealing with the consequences of contemporary life. My method of working produces products that are sometimes functional, and sometimes experimental or conceptual.dangerously sexy, no?I use accessories and interior-objects as means of expression. They are among the commodities that are very closely linked to human life. They project our ideals, anxieties and obsessions very prominently.
"psychiatrie fur misshandelte kusheltiere". that's right. mental help for mishandled cuddly toys. this little game is awesome. i drove the hippo crazy by accident at first, but then managed to cure her. phew.
here are a few interfaces i've been meaning to post about:
"the big change of recent years in urban areas has been in the home environment. r*Emote mirror is a pair of networked interactive lighting installations that creates communication between isolated people in urban cities and their loved ones who are far away"
don't think it's really specific to an urban space. but the density vs. isolation is of course a valid point
make responsive graffiti on a public bench using your finger
Interactiv installation designed for busy streets. People interact by standing in front of the large screen. A camera records the user one slice at a time enabling the user to make strange bodies. The recorded slices are stored for other people to play with.
the AP has got a cool story about how saudi youth have coopted bluetooth for some less than acceptable: flirting.
But for many Saudi youths, who have almost nowhere to meet members of the opposite sex, the technology is a godsend. It is replacing a favorite method of flirting: throwing phone numbers at women through car windows or in shopping malls.
[thanks boing boing]
In Saudi Arabia, a high-tech way to flirt
Bluetooth gives segregated sexes a way to reach out, discreetly
The Associated Press
Updated: 6:41 p.m. ET Aug. 11, 2005
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - The restaurant, like all Riyadh eateries, has taken precautions to prevent its male and female diners from seeing or contacting each other.
Circular white walls surround each table in the family section, open only to women alone or women accompanied by close male relatives. Other male diners are on lower floors.
Yet despite the barriers, the men and women flirt and exchange phone numbers, photos and kisses.
They elude the mores imposed by the kingdom’s puritanical Wahhabi version of Islam — formulated in the 18th century — by using a 21st century device in their mobile phones: the wireless Bluetooth technology that permits users to connect without going through the phone company.
“It’s more fun coming to a restaurant these days,” said Mona, 21, as her two friends giggled. Their Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones rested on the table next to the remnants of a dinner of club sandwiches and fries.
“I’ve been using Bluetooth since it came out last year. We’re always looking for new things to add a spark to life,” Reem, 24, told The Associated Press.
Reaching out, discreetly
The women would not give their full names when talking about communicating with the opposite sex — so strong is the taboo in this kingdom where men and women are strictly segregated. Unrelated men and women caught talking to each other, driving in the same car or sharing a meal risk being detained by the religious police.
But connecting by Bluetooth is safe and easy. Users activate the Bluetooth function in their phone and then press the search button to see who else has the feature on within a 30-foot range.
They get a list of ID names of anyone in the area — names, mostly in Arabic, often chosen to allure: poster boy, sensitive girl, lion heart, kidnapper of hearts, little princess, prisoner of tears. Some are more suggestive, like “nice to touch” and “Saudi gay club.”
Users then click on a name to communicate with that person.
Panic over pics
The phenomenon has started to receive attention in the media, especially after stories appeared saying women were photographing female guests in revealing evening gowns at weddings — which are segregated — and circulating them to friends by Bluetooth.
That created some panic among those who feared pictures of their mothers, sisters or daughters would be seen by men. Some families hired female guards to confiscate camera-equipped mobile phones from wedding guests.
There is little the government can do to control Bluetooth use. Last year, it banned camera-equipped phones but backed off because cameras have become a feature in most phones.
Abdul-Aziz al-Aseeri, a 25-year-old computer science teacher, said he tells his students that Bluetooth technology can be misused. “I warn them of the dangers of having pictures of their mothers and sisters ending up in the phones of their classmates,” he said.
A lifeline for the lovelorn
But for many Saudi youths, who have almost nowhere to meet members of the opposite sex, the technology is a godsend. It is replacing a favorite method of flirting: throwing phone numbers at women through car windows or in shopping malls.
With Bluetooth, men and women can safely flirt at malls, restaurants and even traffic lights.
For the most part, the messages are innocent. But for this conservative society, it is pretty bold stuff.
Many images feature babies — some blowing kisses — perhaps because women consider them cute. Animated cartoons doing belly dances, dreamy Arabic songs and sappy, sentimental messages are also popular.
“Last night I sent an angel to watch over you, but he came back soon,” said one message. “I asked him why, and he answered, ‘Am not allowed to watch over other angels.”’
A sprinkling of not-so-innocent
Some are more forward: a picture of a woman covered in a cloak and then another one of her in a white top, looking coquettishly from beneath the rim of a cap; an image of two women kissing; a woman taking off her trousers while suggestively shaking her hips.
A few contain hardcore pornography or viruses that infect people’s phones.
On a recent warm night, Abdullah Muhammad sat in front of his laptop at a sidewalk cafe waiting for his computer’s Bluetooth to pick up nearby users.
“I use Bluetooth to meet girls,” said the 24-year-old businessman. “The religious police cannot catch me.”
His long, dark hair combed back, Muhammad said when he sees a woman walking past, he presses the search button in the hope her phone’s Bluetooth is on.
With women forced to cover up in the kingdom, how can he tell if she is someone he would like to start a relationship with?
“I check her Bluetooth ID,” he said. “If it’s cute, then I’m pretty sure she will be pretty.”
subway maps for your color ipod. i just wish they were subway maps for my color ipod...
[thanks cool hunting]
so i've been away from the blog lately because i've been busy ordering my messy life. i went back to socal at the end of july to go apartment hunting with sled for a place in long beach. after a stressful week, he, meta, and i finally have a place to live in belmont shore. it's a cute little house two blocks to the beach and one block to 2nd street which is more urban than orange county could ever dream of. rock.
after that, i went up to siggraph in la to help my friends from the future applications lab run their ubiquitous graphics demo. but contrary to a certain advisor's beliefs, i am more than just a booth bunny, damnit! i can make coffee too! [man, i'm awful...]
now i am back in boston trying to finish up nimio for it's ecscw 2005 demo. i'm not nervous at all. i swear. we have like, DAYS left...
in fact i'll be travelling quite a bit in september:
sept 1 - 7: off to the high high highlands of scotland to visit the sheeps.
sept 8 - 15: tokyo for the metapolis and urban life workshop at ubicomp.
sept 17 - 22: paris to demo nimio at ecscw.
sept 23 - 24: amsterdam for urban screens.
phew.
