Edge 312 Dyson continued to articulate his vision for a new age of biology in a related article (“When Science & Poetry Were Friends”) in New York Review of Books in which he wrote:
“…a new generation of artists, writing genomes as fluently as Blake and Byron wrote verses, might create an abundance of new flowers and fruit and trees and birds to enrich the ecology of our planet. Most of these artists would be amateurs, but they would be in close touch with science, like the poets of the earlier Age of Wonder. The new Age of Wonder might bring together wealthy entrepreneurs like Venter and Kamen … and a worldwide community of gardeners and farmers and breeders, working together to make the planet beautiful as well as fertile, hospitable to hummingbirds as well as to humans.”
That could become interesting: amateur genome artists/experimenters. And then? Genome biotech kits recommended for ages 15 and up. Look ma, I created a mouse with 8 feet! Isn’t that cool!
However, I do like the notion of bringing arts and science closer together.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
A History of the California Cycleway The following article, as printed in the November 1901 issue of Good Roads Magazine, was originally published in from Pearson’s Magazine: California’s Great Cycle-Way, by T. D. Denham
During the 1880’s, 1890’s, and the first few years of the 20th century, the Bicycle Craze prompted many innovations that would soon be adapted for the automobile. One innovation was described in the following article about a bicycle freeway, built before the term “freeway” was coined.
The South California towns, Los Angeles and Pasadena, are now connected by the strangest and most interesting of links-a magnificent, elevated cycle-way, with a smooth surface of wood, running for nine miles through beautiful country, flanked by green hills, and affording views at every point of the snow-clad Sierras.
On this splendid track cyclists may now enjoy the very poetry of wheeling. At Pasadena they may mount their cycles and sail down to Los Angeles without so much as touching the pedals, even though the gradient is extremely slight.The way lies for the most part along the east bank of the Arroyo Seco, giving a fine view of this wooded stream, and skirting the foot of the neighboring oak-covered hills.The surface is perfectly free from all dust and mud, and nervous cyclists find the track safer than the widest roads, for there are no horses to avoid, no trains or trolley-cars, no stray dogs or wandering children.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Poetry expressed as architecture. Spanish architect Calatrava designed a beautiful railway station in Liege, Belgium.
You can find photos here and here (Wikipedia).
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Helmet cam!!!
Kawamura Ganjavian – SCENTER One particular scent can bring back more memories than a thousand pictures. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to store smells the same way we store photographs? SCENTER is a depository of scents. Concentrated personal fragrances can be stored inside compact cartridges, their scent being released through a nozzle upon pressing the bellows thus evoking the memories embedded in them.
I love the photos. How delightful! I can picture Y. carrying one with her 24/7 and adding little vials of scent-memory.
This afternoon we met at Jon’s studio in Santa Fe. Michael brought the kit he wants to record with. Drums were unpacked: Drums were set up: Microphones were set up: A DM-View of a mike-cable in front of the kick drum (((not a good place to pass out))) Drums were tuned: I love hi-hats and Michael has an especially nice pair (((and is a great hi-hat player!))) Another DM-View. Agua, sin gas for him, con gas for me. View through the control room door, while Jon was recording a bit of the drumming. Michael’s back, as he was listening to the sound of his drums. He was pleased. Jon used only 5 microphones and it sounded excellent. Strong and yet very natural. Two out of those five mikes were trained on the kick. Gotta hava a great kick sound, especially in a trio! Finally, successful microphone placements were measured and recorded.
Carnival in the Netherlands and carnival in Brazil. (from a Boston.com slideshow)
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Clive Thompson in Praise of Online Obscurity | Magazine Then, in 2007, she began a nifty project: tweeting recipes, each condensed to 140 characters. She soon amassed 3,000 followers, but her online life still felt like a small town: Among the regulars, people knew each other and enjoyed conversing. But as her audience grew and grew, eventually cracking 13,000, the sense of community evaporated. People stopped talking to one another or even talking to her. “It became dead silence,” she marvels.
Why? Because socializing doesn’t scale. Once a group reaches a certain size, each participant starts to feel anonymous again, and the person they’re following — who once seemed proximal, like a friend — now seems larger than life and remote. “They feel they can’t possibly be the person who’s going to make the useful contribution,” Evans says. So the conversation stops. Evans isn’t alone. I’ve heard this story again and again from those who’ve risen into the lower ranks of microfame. At a few hundred or a few thousand followers, they’re having fun — but any bigger and it falls apart. Social media stops being social. It’s no longer a bantering process of thinking and living out loud. It becomes old-fashioned broadcasting.
The lesson? There’s value in obscurity.
Socializing does not scale. Funny, we knew that didn’t we? It’s one of the lessons we learned in grade school.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• I always enjoy, when it appears as if the camera floats.
* Only 8% of white American high-schoolers have a best friend of another race. (For blacks, it’s about 15%.)
* The more diverse a school is, the less likely it is that kids will form cross-race friendships.
* 75% of white parents never or almost never talk about race with their kids.
* A child’s attitudes toward race are much harder to alter after third grade, but a lot of parents wait until then (or later) before they feel it’s “safe” to talk frankly about race.
Crowfoot – Wikiquote What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. – Crowfoot‘s last words, 1890
East and West collide and madness ensues as pink postcards and confetti rain down from the sky, while Tigers roar and fireworks explode in every corner…
foodconsumer.org – Chinese New Year 2010 The first day of the Chinese New year 2010 is Sunday, Feb 14, 2010 – the year of the Tiger, according to the Chinese Zodiac.
The Chinese New Year does not follow the western calendar and the fist day of the Chinese lunar new year can be any day between late Jan and mid-Feb. It is said that the Chinese Zodiac which designates the lunar new year cycle was introduced by Emperor Huang Ti in 2600 BC. Thus the year 2010 on the western calendar is the Chinese lunar year 4708.
Happy Valentine’s day and happy new year. Welcome the year of the tiger.
(Thanks for the reminder Y.)
And, speaking of tigers…
Tiger Farms in China Feed Thirst for Parts – NYTimes.com Shrinking habitat remains a daunting challenge, but conservationists say the biggest threat to Asia’s largest predator is the Chinese appetite for tiger parts. Despite a government ban on the trade since 1993, there is a robust market for tiger bones, traditionally prized for their healing and aphrodisiac qualities, and tiger skins, which have become cherished trophies among China’s nouveau riche.
With pelts selling for $20,000 and a single paw worth as much as $1,000, the value of a dead tiger has never been higher, say those who investigate the trade. Last month the Indian government announced a surge in killings of tigers by poachers, with 88 found dead in 2009, double the previous year. Because figures are based on carcasses found on reserves or tiger parts seized at border crossings, conservationists say the true number is far higher.
