Thursday, May 29, 2008

"What?!?! Oh...My...God."

Street Art

Interested in graffiti and street art?

Here's your to do list:
1. Watch Infamy, a top notch documentary.
2. View photos at The Wooster Collective, an online gallery of street art. Tagged by artist.
3. Visit 5 Pointz, an abandoned warehouse in Long Island City, Queens
4. Check out the Graffiti Hall of Fame at 106 and Park.
5. Hang out with graffiti artists at The Point in the South Bronx.
6. Read up on David Choe, my favorite graffiti artist.

Bored?

Read these blogs and try these ideas from the Free Idea Factory or these assignments from Learning to Love You More.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Miracle Fruit

The New York Times reports about a so-called miracle fruit that makes everything taste sweet.
The miracle fruit, Synsepalum dulcificum, is native to West Africa and has been known to Westerners since the 18th century. The cause of the reaction is a protein called miraculin, which binds with the taste buds and acts as a sweetness inducer when it comes in contact with acids, according to a scientist who has studied the fruit, Linda Bartoshuk at the University of Florida’s Center for Smell and Taste.

Read the original article here.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

I Will Derive



Geeky math humor.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Drugstore Cowboy

I saw Drugstore Cowboy last night, a 1989 film directed by Gus Van Sant. It's about a crew of drug addicts who rob drugstores to feed their addiction for dope. I was impressed with many elements of the movie and particularly struck by the character of the protagonist, Bob.

Bob is the undisputed ringleader of his crew, a lifelong junkie who has spent his entire life trying to get high. His need for a steady diet of dope has led him to a life of crime, and he's found himself down a path where he will be spending the rest of his life on the lam or in prison.

Despite this bleak future, Bob is an admirable character -- he is strong, handsome, smart, principled and caring. He just has one fatal flaw -- his hopeless addiction to drugs -- and that one flaw has set him upon a path for destruction.

Bob is the quintessential tragic character -- a person built for a life of glory, success, and honor, brought down by his Achilles heel.

I can't help but reflect on my own life and those of my friends, family, and students, and worry that we may suffer from the same fate. My Achilles heel? A lack of discipline -- an overt distaste for the mundane, an inability to persist and follow commitments through to the end. This flaw, unfortunately, extends in both my professional and personal life, and I worry that it may be my undoing.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

I think (I am popular), therefore I am.

The key to your social success is what other people think of you, right? Wrong. According to this Newsweek article, what matters is your perception: if you think people like you, then you're more likely to get the house party invite (even if you are a jerk, weirdo, or dork). The converse is also true: if you think people don't like you, then you're less likely to get invited to Eric's super cool bash on Saturday night. It doesn't matter whether or not you're well liked -- it matters whether you think you are or not. Mind over reality, apparently.

Listening to this song will do you no good in the popularity department, but I love it anyway.

World Science Festival 2008

The World Science Festival is coming to NYC next weekend, which means a whole lot of events with famous science people. Check out the website here.

I will be attending this performance/lecture on Music and the Brain.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Oh! My Mama by Alela Diane



This Tuesday will mark the 10th anniversary of my mother's death. I miss you, Mom.

Zen Master and the Little Boy

I like this quote from Charlie Wilson's War:

There was a little boy. And this boy, at his 14th birthday, gets a horse. And everybody in the village says, "How wonderful, the boy got a horse!" The Zen master says, "We'll see."

Two years later, the boy falls off the horse, breaks his leg and the whole village says, "How terrible!" The Zen master says, "We'll see."

Then a war breaks out and all the young men have to go out and fight, except that this boy can't, because his leg is all messed up, so now everybody in the village says, "How wonderful!"

...You know what the Zen master said.
And the Zen master says 'We'll see.'

Love Hurts




Ouch.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Food Party 3

My brother showed me a copy of this video a friend of his friend made. I have to admit, I watched the DVD and fell in love with the the creator. What a weirdo!





Spanish Dancers


Check out the beautiful movement of this graceful animal, the sea slug (which is classified in the mollusk phylum and more specifically the gastropod class). They are called "Spanish Dancers" for good reason!

Reminds me of the flamenco dance I saw at Riverdance in high school.

Giant centipede eating mouse.

Truly frightening.

Rock the Bells

This festival is loaded.

Performing artists include A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Mos Def, The Pharcyde, De La Soul, Rakim, Method Man & Redman, Raekwon & Ghostface, Immortal Technique, Dead Prez, Murs, Spankrock, Wale, Santogold, Jay Electronica, B.O.B., Kidz in the Hall, Amanda Blank.

Sunday, August 3 at Jones Beach. Ticket prices start at $40. Probably need to get them early before they sell out.

More info here.

And check out two of the best hip hop tracks ever -- "Drop" and "Runnin'" by The Pharcyde.



Sunday, May 11, 2008

Black Latino Lineages and Linkages: Historical Ties that Bind

I got this email the other day. Looks pretty good --I've heard about the Schomburg Center and have wanted to visit, and Mark Naison is an entertaining speaker.

Saturday, May 17, 2008 1 – 4 pm
Schomburg Center — 135th Street & Malcolm X Blvd.

Join us for a public conversation on the historical and cultural connections between New York's
African American and Caribbean communities with particular attention to the AfroLatino/a experience.

Co-hosted by Schomburg Center & El Museo del Barrio

Participants:
William "Sandy" Darity – Duke University
Manuela Arciniegas – Cultural activist, The Legacy Circle
Mark Naison – The Bronx African-American History Project
Victoria Archibald-Good – Social Worker & long-time Patterson Houses resident
Ryan Mann-Hamilton – Graduate student researching U.S.–SamanĂ¡, D.R. migrations
"Music of Morrisania"– students of PS 140

Thursday, May 8, 2008

What do we spend our money on?

Here's a cool NYT interactive graphic.

Dance Parade

The 2nd annual NYC Dance Parade will be held May 17. So far there's 28 dance styles registered to participate -- from roller disco to tangoliquide to Korean contemporary. Check out the website here.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Blackout Poems



Austin Kleon creates wonderful poems in a unique way. The formula: The New York Times + Sharpie = Poems

Click the pics above to view full size images, or, even better, visit his blog here.

U.S. News' Overrated Careers

According to U.S. News, the most overrated careers in 2008 are

Advertising executive
Architect
Attorney
Chef
Chiropractor
Clinical psychologist
Medical scientist
Nonprofit manager
Physician
Police officer
Real estate agent
Small-business owner
Teacher

The article discusses the upsides and downsides of each career choice, and best of all, offers an alternative career that may be a more suitable choice.

Find out more here.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Using Metamaterials to Render Objects Invisible


Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku discusses the possibility of rendering objects invisible using tiny light-bending materials in this Natural History article.

In order to make an object invisible, visible light needs to be bent around the object. Think of a stream of water flowing around the surface of a stone: water flows around the perimeter until it makes it way completely around that stone and continues along its original path. If the same feat can be done with light rays, that stone would be invisible!

Doing so requires light waves to be bent at extreme angles previously thought impossible. But scientists have synthesized new "metamaterials," that do just that. In 2006, researchers at Duke University and Imperial College London built materials that made objects invisible to microwave radiation.

These metamaterials must be smaller than the wavelengths of the radiation they are bending, so doing the same with visible light is a considerably more difficult feat: while microwaves have a wavelength of 3 centimeters, visible light waves have a wavelength of only a few hundred nanometers. (One nanometer is one billionth of a meter. That's really really small: approximately five atoms fit across one nanometer.)

Developing the nanotechnology required to make invisibility cloaks appear to be researchers' biggest challenge. So scientific teams across the world are currently exploring different methods of refracting red light, since red light has the longest wavelength in the visible spectrum. Whether or not any of these methods succeeds is anybody's guess; but, the ultimate goal is to bend all frequencies of light completely around the object, rendering it invisible. Far out.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Bring Back Board Games!

I will freely admit that (1) I'm 26 years young and (2) I still love playing board games. Although I'll never be a true gamer, I wish I could play more often than I currently do -- a few times a year, when a sufficient number of my dorky friends gather together.

Just like Michael Jackson's Thriller album, board games need to make a comeback. KanYe West proves that you needn't be a nerd to enjoy a good game:


Connect 4 - Jonah Hill vs. Kanye from kwest on Vimeo.

(BTW, I found this video at Kanye West's blog. He's got lots of cool stuff to check out.)

Synchronization

This demonstration blew me away.