Because I Said I like Them So

SWEET



I don't mean anything by directing you here*, but these are just sweet as can be, as are most of the things on that site.

A PROPERLY SMUG LITTLE BUGGA!



Meet William T. Wood, he is 10 years old and he knows more about aerogels than you, or me, or probably most anyone who hasn't received a Bachelor of Science in one of a few fairly specific fields. His story goes more or less as follows:

William was into aerogels (which are a fascinating group of substances, the lightest solid, stable matter known to us and it is used in "outer space")!

William spent some big scrillaz on some of these different forms that were created in a labratory, he spent some time educating the community on their various traits and uses, and then decided he would try to make his own, in his home, without the specific equipment needed to make this (from what I can gather) extremely finicky substance.

He managed to make some and that is just great.


2COLDSHANE & GLENN



These two guys are some cool cats. They already have a job lined up at Marvel! I don't know who these guys really are, but if I ever saw them, I'd tell them what an inspiration they are, and how, as soon as my mom lets me, I'm gonna get some of their artworks tattooed on my body.


*=yes, I absolutely do.

Thank You

This is Mum, she survived Cancer.

_

One year ago today my mother and father traveled south to Rochester Minnesota. This was to be the first of dozens of voyages to the Mayo Clinic located there.

One year ago today, my mother underwent her first surgery to remove the cancer that had developed on her ovaries.

One year ago today the thought that my mother had a very dangerous and difficult form of cancer was slowly sinking into my conscience.

Last night my mother gave a 10-minute speech at the Relay for Life event held in my old High School. I went to this event in a whirlwind and it was not until I entered the gymnasium full of people that it hit me. This was the first time I had been to this annual event as the family member of a survivor.

I have attended Relay for Life for many years. I have always sought to support 'the fight against cancer' and have felt good about going to this event. I don't think anything could have prepared me for the intensely foreign feeling that collided, head on, with my chest as I walked into my high school gym. – I have been extremely lucky in my life, I have managed to avoid tragedy and have led a very privileged, comfortable and healthy life. Which is why I believe I was so ill prepared for both the news of my mother's cancer, as well as that feeling of gracious relief I felt as I realized what this event was organized for, to allow more people feel that joy of life.

I watched as my mother took the stage and spoke to the packed bleachers about her 'cancer story'. True to my mother's fashion, she did not dwell on herself very long, but quickly turned her speech into an educating opportunity, speaking frankly about what signs people should be aware of, so as to catch cancer earlier rather than later. Also true to my mother's fashion, her speech was delivered in an animated, hopeful and captivating manner. I watched my mother speak, and as she did, thanking all of our friends and family members for their endless help and support, I internally thanked my father profusely for demanding I photograph the proceedings. I hid my swelling, teary eyes behind the lens and snapped photograph after photograph. I sat on that wooden floor that I hadn't touched for 2 years, and felt incredibly small compared to all of the stories surrounding me.

This may be a slight deviation from the typical pace of posts here, but I feel this an incredible and important moment to commemorate, if for nothing but my own records. I would like to again thank every person who contributed their thoughts, cooking, hands and wheels to me and my family. You are certainly due a massive karma payment.

I am reminded of a letter written to the year 2007, that most importantly states:

"...2007, you weren’t all negative. In fact after the dust clears from the wreckage of this year, I am left with this simple fact: I still have a Mum, and it appears I will for a while longer..."

Amen, and what is even more wonderful: those of my dear friends who have faced similar struggles in the past year seem to be in a similarly good position.



This is a blurry picture of Kelly, Mum, Robin and me. Kelly and Robin are our dear friends, words cant express my gratitude for all of their love and support.



This is mum and dad. Dad is very happy that mum is cancer free.

Thank you.

Love,

Colin

So Long

FREE EDUCATION.




Shouldn't it always be this way? I am shaking with excitement at the thought of taking Massachusetts Institute of Technology's - Environmental Earth Science Course For FREE!?!

PASSPORT FOTOS



These will allow me to leave the country. Can you believe that such a tired, poopy grin will allow you to leave and enter countries? I'm not so sure it will, I'm skeptical of these photos taken by the lady at Walgreens on her digital camera. I'm skeptical given how completely nonchalant and unprofessional the whole ordeal was. Thanks to Abi for carting me around. But if these don't work, no thanks to anyone at all.

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YES YES Y'ALL, YA DON'T STOP, YES YES YALL

Spring break has commenced, which means, a spring break of my bad habits, and a spring break into song and dance, and a spring break stuff, and a spring break from reading about Barbara "I'm Miss Amazing" Koppel.

ROAD COLORING 'CONJECTURE' (NOW PROBLEM)



An equation has been solved by Russian Mathematician Avraham Trahtman. The equation is called the Road Coloring Problem. The gist of the equation, or perhaps what can be done with this solution, is basically (and I stress that last word) this equation allows for extremely easy and efficient way-finding by a matter of plotted points. As I see it, this will have a significant impact on Urban planning, architecture, cartography, global positioning, road signage, and any and all forms of exploration. I think if positively thrilling. Read the article that Sam originally told me be about on Yahoo news.


NEW BEASTS IN ANTARCTICA




That's right folks, more new finds in creaturland! New GIANT jellyfish (12 foot tentacles) and large starfish (see above image) were found (amongst other amazing discoveries) in a recent expedition in Antarctica. The survey was conducted to determine the effects of Global Warming on Antarctica. None of the species are confirmed to be new yet, although they certainly seem to be previously undiscovered.

SALAMANDERMAN



I haven't read this entire article yet (its 8 pages, I know I should finish before sharing) but its pretty rad, and I've no patience. Basically this study suggests that through some cell manipulation humans would be capable of regeneration, in the same way salamanders grow tails back after losing them.

"the construction of a limb by the blastema is essentially a recapitulation of the limb formation that took place during the animal’s original development. An important implication of this insight was that the same genetic program is involved in both situations, and because humans make limbs as embryos, in principle we should already have the necessary programming to regenerate them as adults, too."

According to the article, this advance in medicine could be a mere 10 to 20 years away. That means in our lifetime, we will likely see a day when an amputation or loss of digit or limb, be it medical, accidental or due to disease, will easily be regrown. Sort of freaky, sort of thrilling!

2008 MERITS EXHIBITION.



This is a photograph of my Merits show for this year. It featured a vast array of damaged and plagiarized work. (jokes of course.... sort of) But in all seriousness I was fairly pleased with the final outcome, but the real hard hitters were here, here, here & here.


p.s. this post is dedicated to Oak Park IL... thanks for checkin' this!

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MUMMIFIED DINOSAUR



Perhaps you remember the excitement of finding a small piece of mummified dino skin a few months back? Regardless, it is obviously extremely rare to find a mummified dinosaur which archaeologists in Bismark North Dakota have done. This is absolutely THRILLING is it not?

I'd like to thank Sammy Dick for telling me about this.

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I BELIEVE IN COLLECTIVE CONSCIENCE







I just got this little package in my Eudora from my home skillet Alexandr R. My Mind has been seriously boggled!

These are BEER F*ING FLAGS just like my lil' doodles (only doper, except for Brazil, which is waaaay doper).

How am I supposed to feel? I hadn't seen these before, but DAMN! sure doesn't look that way.

I can tell you that I do feel kinda shocked and excited, and strangely pretty good, I kinda like the thought of Ideas existing and being discovered in these strangely similar ways.

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This is San Francisco's landmark HOUSE OF NANKING. Practically every single guidebook/site has a shot of this popular chinese eatery.


Meet the imposter: HUNAN FOOD. Located about a half block closer to the heart of the financial district. Coincidence? I think not. Hunan Food's is known for attempting to gain the business of the ill-informed tourists who wander the streets.

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CONGRATULATIONS DYLAN C. LATHROP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Eno Henze



This is a sort of cell structure installed by Eno Henze, whose fine art (and fine it most certainly is) can be found right here. Eno does some very nice sculpture and installation work, I am appreciative of his compositional skills, as well as his eye for material form and atmosphere.



Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis




Today I watched Jackie: Behind the Myth A documentary about Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. The Kennedy's man... But seriously I recommend this documentary if for no other reason than to learn about a family full of smart, wealthy beautiful people, who work very hard, and seem to get dumped on time and time again. I was pretty moved by the film to be honest.



ARCHITECTURE BLOGS THAT ARE BLOGWORTHY





I have found some very neat architecture blogs as of late and would like to share them, they have proven very intriguing.

Archinect
I believe this was made possible by Kevin Wade Shaw, thank you Kevin.

What If New York City...
A competition challenging designers to propose disaster relief for the Big Apple, found via:

DesignBoom
Architecture and Industrial and beyond.



SKETCHES. MIDWAY. GAIL




This is was done by both Abi and I. It is a quick sketch proposal for what our illustration on the back of the poster for my Internship at the Midway Contemporary Art Gallery could look like.



This is a quick sketch I did with some characters, they are supposed to be shapes reminiscent of roman characters, but not necessarily of specific ones.



I drew this, its the word "Reveal" can you find it?



I believe this to be my favorite, I will probably color it or shade it somehow, but I am rather partial to the simple sketch.

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•Sick like Barker on drums




This is pretty genius. A wonderful game of give me money and I'll do this for you. My favorite project by Mr. David Horvitz however is absolutely the project that I snagged the above image from. Where he simply states: If you give me $___ I will go to _____ and _____. Basically he will Blank your blank. Horvitz is a bit of a mystery, he clearly likes to utilize the postal service and is very fascinated by connecting people from great distances via mail. I can't quite tell what kinda fella he is but he sure does have some interesting work on his site.

GOODBYE BY 2050?

This article (which, it should be noted, is a year old) is not the only of its kind, but there is something about hearing it put plainly: If we continue to use the way we do, we will need to colonize two more planets in the next fifty years. Whoa.


SKETCHES FOR IDENTIFYING BEER FLAGS








These are some quick sketches made for my Global context of design project. Dylan and I are studying the importance of beer and identity from a local to global scale. These are of course sorta cheeky and as much about making a kitschy little visual statement as anything else but I think that they are the very early beginnings of what we are discovering about how vehemently and passionately people align themselves based on their beer.

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UPDATE: This was originally seen on Kate Farstad's blog. Apologies for the oversight. Authors be hanged!

I know I saw these somewhere on a blog recently, but a friend just sent me the link again and I laughed again. More interesting to me though, is this: why is the quintessential science fair typeface Frankfurter? Did I miss the memo as a kid? Don't tell the MoonGoons! They won't be hip anymore (or were they ever?)

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LADIES AND GENTLEFOLK: OWEN DENNIS


Thats right my friends, the moment we've all been waiting for but didn't know we cared about. SIR OWEN DENNIS my friends! OD(B) joins the elite rank of links to the right (-->) so please click his name and all the others to see those cool people's blogs. Owen, if your blog begins to be the sucks, I'll rid you.

RESEARCH AND BIG WORDS


This is more than a sweet image, its more than an epic photo, its not digitally rendered, it may be next Angels and Airwaves cover, but for now, this is an x-ray generator. Deputy Dog has this post about awesome research centers. I HIGHLY recommend you check that shit out if you have not done so already.

JEN STARK


I know some of you are already familiar with the work of Jen Stark, she makes sweet drawings and sweet sweet paper sculptures. They are mathy, colorful, and totally up my alley.

AWESOME



Agence France-Presse has THIS article about a so called "fourth generation" fuel source. The basic jist (which is very basic and cause for me to implore you read the full article, its short) is the man pictured above, Dr. J. Craig Venter has developed (through genetic modification of some unnamed organism) a means of creating octane based fuels. The sweetest part is that these organisms actually EAT c02! Tthese modified organisms consume c02 (thus cleaning the air) and excrete methanes or octane that can be used as fuel. If this is as good as it sounds, its really really good.


YEAH MAN, LEGOS RULE



Do you think Nathan Sawaya has ever been to LEGOLAND in the MOA? Who cares, his stuff is cooler than that. It very ridiculous, absurd even, but its a visual spectacle, and I love that. Check out his portraits and stuff too.