anthropometaphors

Halloween in Aneheim, 1948

It looks like pirate costumes were just as popular 60 years ago as they are today.  And look!  How quaint (or not), there is a little girl in blackface makeup.

From the UCLA Library digital collection.

Teesha Moore creates some vivid, intensely detailed journal pages.  And when I say journal pages, I mean: she regularly creates collage with paint, crayon, paper and ink to write journal entries onto.  Some entries are serious, others are whimsical.  Each one is packed full of creativity, intention and Teesha.

Here are two examples:

Although she shares her methods and means, I doubt I could reproduce anything remotely similar to her work.  Apparently she works on batches of 6-10 pages at a time, working in one of two modes (crafty visual or writing mode).  The batch work is iterative, as Teesha will return to the pages to fiddle or add details until she’s satisfied with each piece.  And so it’s gone for 8 (!) years.  I’m in awe of her perserverance, and find her visual expressiveness intensely inspirational.

As a curious child with too much free time on my hands, I would imagine myself an explorer and set out to find buried treasure…at the back of a junk drawer too full to be of further use, or at the bottom of a musty, forgotten trunk, for example.  I once hit the mother lode when I discovered the tops of – seemingly solid – octagonal side tables lifted off to conceal a storage space.  Piled in no apparent order were heaps of photographs from the 1970s.  The colors were a bit yellow, the light generally warm, and the photo paper thick.

When tweaking with some of the digital images I snap, I’ve played around with temperature and saturation to imitate the coloring of those old photographs.  Here’s one example:

Gwendel, c.1978

However, I need not fiddle with image settings to give my pics an old-timey feel any longer (although I will probably continue to fiddle for quite some time).  Thanks to Poladroid, I can simply drop an image into their desktop icon and out pops a pola(d)roid.  Like an actual Polaroid image, the picture comes out black, gradually developing into something quite true to form.  Here’s a before and after, side-by-side:

Arlis, before and after Poladroid

In other fun, visual news: the folks at Idee have released Multicolr, an ingenious search mechanism that uses visual search technology to locate images relevant to a search input.  For example, by selecting a set of colors (the max is currently 10), Multicolr will search 10 million images in the Creative Commons collection on Flickr, retrieving those images whose color profile is a match.  Below is a screen shot from the Multicolr site, with my search criteria on the bottom right.

and...viola!

Visualizing my blog content with Wordle is like looking into a mirror of text.  Here is my current reflection (wearing autumnal colors):

anthropometaphors in wordle form (october 2008)

In addition to the outfit change, the content of my wordle is different from the two I posted in August.

Two image galleries have caught my eye.

The first comes from Prix Pictet’s 2008 shortlist of 18 photographers nominated for works demonstrative of their talent as artists and ability to communicate stories of urgent global significance within a distinct sustainability theme. The theme for 2008 is water.

The Whale and the Skua by Sebastian Copeland

Wasserstiefel by Roman Signer

So who is Pictet, and why the interest in sustainability? I found the answer surprising:

Pictet is a leading wealth and asset management group worldwide, which aims to be grounded on sustainable business principles for the environment, society and corporate governance.

In this context we seek sustainability not just in terms of our core business and financial success, but to build long-term partnerships with our stakeholders based on trust and mutual respect.

Preservation and management of an item is required for it’s sustainability. It seems Pictet has expanded their definition of wealth and asset sustainability to include the environment. Hm.

The second gallery also contains a surprising juxtaposition, this time between photographer and subject. Fashion photographer Sølve Sundsbø has created the Perroquet project, a showcase of 8 film shorts and a selection of photographs. Eager to pay homage to a lifelong fascination with science photography and nature documentaries, Sundsbø has as the central focus of this project the perroquet, a type of small, slender, long-tailed parrot. Using skills developed in the fast-paced, demanding fashion industry, Sundsbø has captured the movement of the perroquet in mid-flight. The resulting images are breathtaking flashes of stolen glory.

As someone with eyes (occasionally) bigger than my bank account, living within my means can be frustrating at times. After this month’s economic upheaval, it’s become more important to get by and make do with what’s available.  It’s akin to being on a financial diet; while I continue to crave the act of nesting, I’ve turned to substituting DIY homey projects for bespoke purchases as a way to satisfy my urges.

One thing I’ve quickly learned is Apartment Therapy is a form of DIY porn.  I’m no longer relegated to surreptitiously stealing glances of decor and style as I pass by well-lit city windows.  Instead, I read a San Francisco-specific daily feed rife with design ideas, projects, and pictures of the final product.  What sets AT apart is it’s grassroots approach to homemaking.  Much of the content is generated by users; the house tours and remodels are examples of other young folk doing the best they can with what they have.  A new AT feature, roommarks, is a forum for users to share pictures of their inspiration ideas and submit comments all around.  I’ve yet to use roommarks, but I do have a folder of inspiration images that are perfectly suited for the site.

I’ve started a very long list of projects, large and small, to work on as a form of creative self-expression, home improvement and the beautification possible when the two intersect.  This week I organized the linen cupboard, medicine cabinet and bathroom drawers.  While not the most creative task, it was on the list and has made the room easier to navigate early in the morning, pre-coffee.  Next up: “upcycling” a few pieces of found furniture with sandpaper and paint.

A console table, painted and co-opted as a vanity station

The future is moving toward me so quickly! In July, I was daydreaming of server gardens. Today, about 3 months later, Science released a report detailing a molecular computer that functions within living cells. Within a few clicks, I’d found evidence of other biological computers, including a DNA computer that is unbeatable at tic-tac-toe. The ability to control processes within living cells would offer the potential of a revolutionary approach to studying and healing biological systems. For example, a molecular computer could be used to detect cancer cells and enable the targeted release an anti-cancer drug.

The molecular world is a fascinating place. Our ability to probe, understand and manipulate objects invisible to the naked eye is phenomenal. Researchers have developed ways to visualize the complexity of life at a microscopic level, and Nikon’s Small World website is a showcase of life science, chemistry and materials science photomicrographs. The image I find the most striking – in part because it is also somewhat disturbing – is Chick Embryo , an image captured using stereomicroscopy by Tomas Pais de Azevedo:

Chick Embryo

Several years ago I considered purchasing a digital microscope for personal use, and bid for one on Ebay. I lost. Since then, my microscopic needs have advanced, and I think I’d require unlimited use of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to be completely satisfied. Hopefully advances in technology will pave the way for a consumer grade SEM. Either that, or a biotech lab closure will flood the market with cut rate deals on high-end microscopes. I may have to wait to strike it rich, or receive one as a gift. So if the first year wedding anniversary is paper, the 41st anniversary is land, which anniversary is laboratory equipment?

Update: I just found a how-to wiki with instructions for how to take microphotographs with a standard digital camera and a decent lab ’scope.  Good to know!

While talking with a co-worker yesterday, the subject of politics came up.  Seeing the red flag and wanting to avoid a potentially awkward situation, I guided the conversation to neutral ground.  Or so I thought.  It seems my co-worker wanted to continue talking politics, because she unchanged the subject.  She claimed Obama and Palin are equivalently inexperienced, and – regardless of the outcome of the election – US policy will ultimately be the same.  Not knowing how to respond, I kept mum, made an excuse to leave the room, and – putting the instance out of my mind – went back to work.

In true esprit d’escalier form, I thought of a reply to my co-worker on the way into work this morning.  I heart science, work in biotech, and consider science education to be a cornerstone of basic education.  As such, I’ve paid some attention to each party’s proposed science policy and it’s reception by the scientific community.  When considered from the scientific perspective, there is a tremendous difference between Obama and Palin.

A group of 61 Nobel Laureates have endorsed Barack Obama for President.  This is the largest number of Nobel Laureates to endorse a candidate for office.  The endorsement letter, written 25 September 2008, urges Americans to support Obama for President in the November election:

During the administration of George W. Bush, vital parts of our country’s scientific enterprise have been damaged by stagnant or declining federal support. The government’s scientific advisory process has been distorted by political considerations. As a result, our once dominant position in the scientific world has been shaken and our prosperity has been placed at risk. We have lost time critical for the development of new ways to provide energy, treat disease, reverse climate change, strengthen our security, and improve our economy.

We have watched Senator Obama’s approach to these issues with admiration. We especially applaud his emphasis during the campaign on the power of science and technology to enhance our nation’s competitiveness. In particular, we support the measures he plans to take – through new initiatives in education and training, expanded research funding, an unbiased process for obtaining scientific advice, and an appropriate balance of basic and applied research – to meet the nation’s and the world’s most urgent needs.

As for Palin, I haven’t yet found her endorsement letter from 61 Nobel Laureates.  However, I was able to find an image to help convey what I understand to be beliefs contributing to Palin’s scientific agenda: