Fun Time

Actually it's 3900lbs. Wheee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tiny House Blog

Another of my favorite sources for this blog (especially when it comes to "tiny" homes) is Tiny House Blog.  A creation of Kent Griswald, it offers information for and about the tiny homes movement. In an era where the battle cry seems to always be "More, bigger, Bigger, BIGGER!" when it come to housing, his blog is a welcome relief to the bigger is better mentality that is wrecking our world and delivering the lion's share of resources and wealth to those who already have far more then they'll ever need or use.

This week Kent has a posting about a White House intitiative to reform states building codes to allow homes under 1000 square feet. Now let's watch Congress bend over backward to try to kill it.

An Elegant Theory of Everything

Physicist and surfer Garrett Lisi has proposed an extremely elegant way of presenting a Unified Field Theory. Without going into it here and risking misinterpretation, I offer a link to the article and this utterly fascinating video that presents an animated look at its principles.

Travel Photo of the Week

Turnip Rock, Port Austin, Michigan

The Scale Of The Universe

If you want to get an idea of the scale of the known universe, from the quantum foam all the through to the observable universe, then this is the web site for you. It starts out at one meter with the average human and like-sized objects. Scroll to the left and you start getting smaller and smaller. Scroll to the right and larger objects come into view.

I especially liked when you arrive at 10^8. You see the Earth and most of the other planets and the larger moons in our solar system.

Here's a link to the site: The Scale of the Universe 2. It also has nice, Zen-like ambient music which you can turn off, if you wish.

Natural Building Network

From their "Welcome" page.

"Natural Building Network is a not-for-profit membership association promoting natural building principles, materials and practitioners worldwide. We support ecological regeneration, social justice, the building of community and economic opportunity, and the recognition of indigenous wisdom as essential in creating healthy, beautiful, and spiritually-uplifting habitation for everyone."

Moyers and Company

The work of Bill Moyers has been a staple in my adult life ever since I watched "The Power of Myth," his six part interview of mythologist Joseph Campbell, when it was first broadcast in 1988. My wife and I were very sad when he announced his retirement last year and "Bill Moyers Journal" went off the air.

Now, Moyers is back with "Moyers and Company" and below, he talks with psychologist Jonathan Haidt on the differences and struggle between Left and Right in America.

Fun Time

http://www.instructables.com/id/Giant-Papercraft-Trojan-Horse/

Why Nations Fail

Over the span of this blog I have offered many ideas on how to make things better for ourselves. Better food, better shelter, better entertainment and better ideas.

Why? Because I see things around me not getting better. From my perspective, our nation is in a slump.

Now comes a well reasoned book from Daron Acemoglu (Killian Professor of Economics at MIT) and James A. Robinson, a political scientist and economist (David Florence Professor of Government at Harvard University).

"Why Nations Fail" offers a history of failed states and why they self-destructed. That's right SELF destructed. Why did it happen? In every case, the nations wealth ended up being cornered by an already wealthy, politically connected elite. Concentration of capital was the cause. Sound familiar?

If you have the stomach for it, here is a video where Acemoglu outlines and explains the premise of their book.

Happy Birthday Stephen Sondheim

One of my favorite contemporary composers is Stephen Sondheim. Today he is 82. Here's a selection from my favorite piece of his work "Sunday in the Park With George."

Travel Photo of the Week

 Cliffside homes in Positano, along Italy's Amalfi Coast.

Watershed House

Lloyd Kahn has always been one of my most important inspirations. His 1973 book, Shelter, is my bible of vernacular architecture. The photos below are from his blog. This is a writing studio in Oregon. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Here's a link to the architect's site.

Do You Want To Be Creative? Turn Off The Electronics. Get Outside.

This is part of the advice I give my students. The basic idea is to stop your habitual behaviors and break out into something new. Want to compose original music? Listen to the wind. Or a babbling brook. Or a car crash. At a lecture in London, designer, illustrator, writer, film-maker and teacher Bob Gill gave the same advice on how to get a great idea. Get off YouTube and get out into the world.

"When you get a job – say an ad for a drycleaner – many images come to mind, we all have preconceptions," Gill said. "My suggestion is to forget every image that comes to mind, forget everything you know about drycleaning. Instead of sitting at your computer, and looking at books, go to a drycleaner, and sit there. The way to get an interesting idea is to go to the source. Stay there until you have thought of something interesting about drycleaning. Then, listen to that idea and it will design itself."

Copywrong

It's been awhile since I've ranted about anything, preferring to limit my postings to highlighting the different subjects that I'm interested in. Here comes a rant about something I'm very interested in.

In the interest of full disclosure: I am a Copyright holder. As a creator of intellectual property I have a right to decide its disposition and whether I make a financial profit from it. That's called copyright.

For awhile I have been watching as the right to these rights move from being a property right to an instrument of tyranny. I won't go into the different cases involved and to the extension of terms that are being used solely to benefit corporate "persons."

What I will highlight today is SABAM. They are the Belgian agency that collect music royalties and it has become one of the prime examples for how entirely out-of-touch-with-reality certain rightsholders groups are. Word has gotten out in Belgian media that SABAM is contacting local libraries across the nation, warning them that they will begin charging fees to libraries that engage volunteers to read books to children.

Volunteers.

Who read books to children.

This is not just a problem in Europe. Several decades ago, Michael Jackson's attorney's tried to charge people who sang "Happy Birthday" (to which he owned the rights) in their homes. They only gave up when they determined that there would be no way of proving, in a court of law, that their rights had actually been infringed.

The Sonny Bono Copyright Act extended terms from 50 years after the death of the author, to 75 five years after their demise. All so that Disney could continue to own The Mouse, who was about to go into public domain.

Now there are efforts afoot to extend Copyright into perpetuity and Congress has been authorized to be able to take works out of public domain.  What does all this add up to?

In effect, corporate control over all art and endless litigation, sometimes against the very artist responsible for the creation of a work of art.

I am not going into a lengthy argument to prove my points. This is a call to action. If this concerns you, figure it out for yourself and then act.

Fun Time!

Happy Birthday

Today is our daughter's 19th birthday. It is the last year of her teenage years and the first of her adulthood.

Recession Special: Home & Workplace In Ten Feet By Forty

From August of last year.

I saw this on a blog last August and filed it for later use. Following the current theme of this blog and with economic reality hitting so many of us squarely in the face these days, I think it might be a good time to post it now.

Michael Pozner was living in a little less than 500 square feet when he decided that he was going to optimize the space he had for maximum use. This is the result. This makes a lot of sense for high density, urban living such as his location, New York City. It also makes sense for any environment where space is at a premium. I especially like the pull-out stairs as drawers.

Travel Photo of the Week

Barley Fields, Mustang, Nepal

Perplexus

Here's another one from two years ago. There are now two more Perplexus games available, one harder, one easier.

I just completed this wonderful 3D labyrinth game.  I spent about three hours over three days doing it and was it ever fun.  This is a great, fun tool that teaches students patience, perseverance, concentration, spatial awareness, planning ahead. All skills that will serve them well in their futures. I found it on Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools and I have to say that the $25 was very well spent.  Not only do students learn from it, but teachers can also use it to assess cognition, dimensional awareness skills, coordination.

Here's a link to the history of Perplexus.

http://www.santarosa.edu/~mmcginni/superplexus/history/history.htm

It has 100 stations that you have to negotiate.  Some are difficult topsy-turvy turns. Some double back on themselves. It's definately all-ages.  It's like a 3D video game without the electronics.




Available from Amazon and other toys stores.  Target is supposed to have them soon.  One caveat: get the Playsmart one, not the Buksi.  The Buksi model has the Buksi Logo raised on the top and bottom of the clear plastic hemispheres and this can distort your view during critical stages of play.  Have fun!

Taylor Mali Tells Us What Teachers Make

I'm giving clinics for Loudoun County Schools the next two days so I thought that today I'd rerun an entry from January of 2010. Taylor Mali's slam poetry performance tells us "What Teachers Make."

I teach. Sometimes, people ask me what I make. Taylor Mali puts it well. One thing I would add, though, is "I make the future."

http://www.ted.com/talks/taylor_mali_what_teachers_make.html

How Buildings Learn

Here's a post from almost two years ago about Stewart Brand's video series based on his 1994 book, "How Buildings Learn." Stewart is one of the reasons my interests are as broad as they are. Also, I've almost never known him to be wrong. This is the first episode of the series. The rest can also be found online.

Stewart Brand is one of my favorite nonfiction writers. I just finished "Whole Earth Discipline" and will blog about it in the next week. Today I want to write about his 1994 book "How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built."

A building has a lifespan. It starts with design. Then comes construction. After that, habitation. Now the really interesting things happen. As people use the building, it goes through growing pains. People like to change things. A building either welcomes or resists change. This, along with the march of time, causes it to age. Eventually it will be reborn or die. That is what this book is about: the process and progression. People like buildings that are easily adaptable to their needs. People don't like buildings that aren't. That is also what this book is about.

In 1997 the BBC created a six-part, three-hour series based on the book featuring Stewart as the host and narrator. It is as enjoyable as the book itself. Over the next few months I will be posting a lot about buildings, as architecture and simple utilitarian structures have always fascinated me.

This video is the first of six, which I will post sequentially. It is entitled "Flow" and concerns the fluidity with which buildings must adapt (and be adaptable) to be useful and loved. Have a look.

Sporadic Posts

Sorry, but this week the posts are going to be sporadic as our daughter is home from college for Spring break and I want to spend more time with her. I think I'll do some reruns of past posts, a kind of best-of.

In the meantime, have fun!

Fun Time!

Audri Clemens is seven years old. Look at what he did. Rube Goldberg would be proud.

Ignorance IS Strength

Yes, you read that right (or maybe I should say correctly, since "right" is such a loaded term these days). This year we are faced with the choice between a sitting President whom many distrust and fear and an undetermined contender right (there's that word again) out of Orwell's 1984.

It's bad enough with all the saber-rattling these potential candidates have engaged in. But now we have the two front-runners basically saying that a college education is not necessary for navigating the modern world (and Romney hinting that the federal government shouldn't help finance college).

I offer this editorial from Paul Krugman as evidence. Here are some quotes.

"Mr. Santorum made headlines by declaring that President Obama wants to expand college enrollment because colleges are “indoctrination mills” that destroy religious faith."

"Don’t just go to one that has the highest price. Go to one that has a little lower price where you can get a good education. And, hopefully, you’ll find that. And don’t expect the government to forgive the debt that you take on." (Romney)

This is pandering the the anti-intellectual crowd that fears that their ignorance and prejudices might not be passed on to the next generation.

Please read the op-ed piece yourself to make up your own mind.

Manŭfactum and Kaufmann Merchantile

This is from Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools. Have you ever wondered where to get the finest of a particular tool? Not just something functional in the short term (ie. cheap), but an item that is elegant, long-lasting and useful.

Enter Manŭfactum and Kaufmann Merchantile, two companies dedicated to bringing the highest quality of an item in its class.

In an age where the lowest price seems to be the final arbiter of all values, I am always searching for the best quality. I hate junk.

Camelhair Cardigan €298 (approx $321) from Manŭfactum

G. Wiseman Handmade Pocket Knife $330 from Kaufmann Merchantile

Travel Photo of the Week

Venice Lagoon, Italy

Boston Dynamic Robot Sets Speed Record

Boston Dynamics has been developing four legged robots for DARPA and the military. The latest, "Cheetah," can run up to 18 mph.

The developers like to talk about how it can be used in hostage situations or how it can help our troops in battle or prevent unnessesary casualties.

I tend to think about what Syria's Assad would be doing with several of these right now. Once you open Pandora's box, THE CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG.

Temporal Distortion

This video is absolutely stunning. It is made up of 20-30 exposures edited together to make a "time-lapse" style film. "Most of the video was shot near the White River in central South Dakota during September and October 2011, there are other shots from Arches National Park in Utah, and Canyon of the Ancients area of Colorado during June 2011."

As a bonus the score is by Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead, Eureka, etc).

Can The Human Brain See Quantum Images?

There is so much going on in the physics community over quantum entanglement. Now comes an article in MIT's Technology Review that asks whether the human eyes can see images that are based on entangled photons.

It has been proposed that birds can "see" the Earth's magnetic fields because of atoms in their eyes that have entangled electrons.

Is it possible that humans possess some variant of this ability?

Fun Time

Dick Clark is selling his Malibu home. Here it is.

Yes, that's right, for only $3.5 million dollars you can live like the Flintstones. Here's a link to more photos. If you're really interested, here's a link to the realtor's listing.

A Life Less Ordinary

This is from Birch and Bird blog. Birch and Bird is an interior design blog and a few days ago they featured a 540 square foot home on Sauvie Island, just North of Portland Oregon. Jessica Helgerson, her husband and two kids live there. I really like the efficiency of the home, from the adults loft bed space to the pull-out closet in the kids’ bunk room. The couches have drawers beneath for toy storage and double as guest beds.

Jessica designed it. Here is a link to her interior design firm.

The 20 Most Beautiful Bookstores In The World

I love bookstores. I love to go in an just browse for hours. You never know what you'll find. Here is a photo essay on the 20 most beautiful bookstores in the world.

Now that Borders is gone (and Barnes and Noble in trouble) maybe someone, somewhere will start opening small bookstores, but they probably won't be as wonderful as these.

Cafebreria El Pendulo, Mexico City, Mexico