Hate

"Being a hater just means that you are the one not having fun."

Burning Man 2008

Check out pics from this year's festival at Camp Montage.

My favorite overheard quote from BRC:
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"How many glow sticks are in your outfit?"
"Umm, I'm not sure. Around 500."
"Cool."

Academic Humor

Hilarious

The Great American West

Buffalo in Yellowstone

"Me Voy" by Julieta Venegas

Yearning to travel?

Go by cargo ship.

72 and sunny

72 and Sunny makes some of my favorite ads, including those for Bugaboo, Callaway, and, of course, Discovery Channel.

Patton Oswalt's Commencement Speech

This is a great speech.

Rattlesnake!

My brother Jeff, his girlfriend Danielle, my friend Joe and I went camping up at Lake George this past weekend. After two days of roughing it and camping in the wilderness, we decided to give ourselves a break and camp in a designated site. As soon as we pitched our tents, I heard my brother scream like a little girl and run towards the car. Usually I ignore my brother's screaming, but Danielle screamed too. So I took a look and here is what I saw:



The funny thing is, no one really freaked out. After the snake went along its way, we continued to pitch our tents with hardly a worry. If this had happened in 'the wilderness' (a site not designated for camping), we all would have insisted on a motel room.

Pyrrhic Victory

Pyrrhic victory \PIR-ik\, noun:
A victory achieved at great or excessive cost; a ruinous victory.

Studio DDT

DDT is the studio that creates the wonderfully bizarre special effects in Guillermo del Toro's movies Pan's Labyrinth and The Devil's Backbone. I can't wait to see del Toro's latest, Hellboy II.

Seven Deadly Social Sins

1. Politics without principle
2. Wealth without work
3. Commerce without morality
4. Pleasure without conscience
5. Education without character
6. Science without humanity
7. Worship without sacrifice

Bake Sales

Resistance

Wall-E Origami

Brian Chan has designed an original origami of Wall-E for Geekologie. See more pics of Wall-E (and Iron Man) here.

Fahrenheit Roller Coaster

Hershey Park's newest ride is the steepest roller coaster ever, featuring a 97-degree slope (7 degrees beyond vertical!) that results in 4 G's worth of force. Looks like a piece of cake.

Good Magazine Presents Barack Obama and John McCain

Darwin Quote

"It's not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most
intelligent, but most responsive to change." -Charles Darwin

DJ Fingertips visits NYC!

DNCHRD III: DJ FINGERTIPS from LVHRD on Vimeo.

Unleash the superstar inside you!

The Science Barge

How do we city folk get our food?

The answer today is grim: our food is grown far away, mass produced on giant industrial farms using harmful chemical pesticides, and transported at a great cost to our environment.

The good people at New York Sun Works are trying to change that paradigm by building a prototype urban farm called "The Science Barge."

The Science Barge grows tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce with zero cost to the environment -- the farm is completely sustainable, wasting no energy, using no chemical pesticides, and producing no carbon dioxide.

You can visit the Science Barge at Riverside Park South throughout the summer.

Images from the Hubble Telescope

Check out Harvard Magazine's "Eye on the Universe," an interesting article accompanied by amazing photographs taken from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Crank Dat Flying Squirrel

Listen to this funny skit off of Wale's mixtape.

Jake Beckman

I checked out the website of an acquaintance from college today and was really impressed. Jake Beckman is an incredibly gifted artist. I love his artwork: well-executed, fun, and thoughtful.

NYC's Top 10 Ice Cream Sandwiches

Time for your first homework assignment of the summer: Read this article. Choose a destination. Grab a friend and get a bite. Take pics and write a food review. Publish. I want to know what's good!

Goodbye, MH3!

My four year tenure at Mott Hall 3 ended yesterday with little pomp and circumstance. I moved a few things from my room, handed out yearbooks to 8th graders, and turned in my keys to Ms. Rose. Quiet, just the way I like it.

A few words I wished I told you...I leave Mott Hall 3 feeling blessed. Blessed that I had the opportunity to teach awesome kids, work with cool colleagues, and grow as a teacher and human being. Certainly, MH3 has seen the best and worst of me -- things I never knew I had in my me.

I leave knowing that I have learned, taken, and given so much, and I hope that whatever I do next will afford me the same opportunity.

A million thanks to all of you!

Central Park Summerstage

Check out the 2008 calendar for Summerstage, the free summer concert series at Central Park.

A few highlights:

1) Friday, July 11, 2008 | 8-10 p.m.
Rennie Harris / Pure Movement
Francesca Harper Project
Rennie Harris Pure Movement is a hip hop dance company out of Illadelph (Philly). They do a lot of exciting and athletic dancing -- if you like ABDC (America's Best Dance Crew), then you'll probably enjoy this free show.

2) Thursday, July 17, 2008 | 7-10 p.m.
Junot Diaz
Junot Diaz is a Dominican-American writer who wrote this year's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. He also wrote the popular short story collection Drown. If you haven't read his stuff yet, then do yourself a favor and go to the library, find these books, and read them. Thank me later.

The Largest Rodent in the World

The capybara is the largest rodent in the world. Its extinct ancestors were once the size of grizzly bears! Discover more about capybaras on Wikipedia.

Learn From Laurence Fishburne

"You're the prince. You're the prince and I'm the king."

"Let America Be America Again" by Langston Hughes

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!

Dry or Wet Earwax?

When I was young, I always wondered why they called the gunk in your ear "wax." My ear wax has always been powdery, and today I discovered that I'm not alone.

Unlike other ethnicities, most East Asians have a mutation that make their ear wax dry and flaky. Eureka.

Read the Live Science article here and the New York Times article here.

Slow Mo Dogs

Ben Kingsley on Adolescence

"I think youth has become very tangled up with consumerism. And I think the very extraordinary years that we call adolescence, moving from childhood to adulthood, they're very fleeting. And, I don't recall my adolescence being so consumer driven, so constantly invaded by peer pressure, fashion, gossip, uhhh very transient musical fashions and tastes, clothes, uh umm role models. It seems to be very cluttered, and adolescence is hard enough without a whole multibillion dollar consumer industry jumping on the backs of adolescence and making them, and squeezing them, squeezing dollars out of them. Well in fact, the reverse should be happening, that we should as an adult society, be squeezing encouragement into them and decent values into them and beautiful thoughts and ideas into them. No, we just want their money. It's pathetic, and I think somewhere in this story and in the dynamic, in the essentials of adolescence being a necessary time for experiment...But at the heart of it is, in order to grow, you have to make mistakes, you must be reckless, you cannot follow the herd, you have to follow your heart, you have to, to quote my crazy character, end up face down in the gutter, get your heart broken, make a mess of things because that is what adolescence is. And it's self healing. We make a mess as adolescents and it's self healing. Unless of course we stray into narcotics which will kill us or into alcohol which will kill us or into any kind of very compulsive destructive behavior but we are constantly, adolescents are constantly invited to be constant consumers. So it's a little unfair to expect adolescents to be free of certain substances, eating disorders, drug disorders, alcohol disorders and at the same time say but you do have to consume. It's very unfair of them, you know."

Watch the video of Ben Kingsley on the June 17, 2008 taping of the Tavis Smiley Show here.

Watch the trailer for Ben Kingsley's new movie The Wackness here.

Watch an example of rampant childhood consumerism here.

NYC Waterfalls

This summer's fun new public art project is almost here: four waterfalls created on the East River by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. More info here.

Entertaining Review of the Incredible Hulk

Movie review of the Hulk. Written in the voice of the Hulk himself. Review funny. Movie not. Read here.

Lupe Fiasco's Album "The Cool"

Lupe talks about the concept behind his newest album, "The Cool" on the Tavis Smiley Show:

Suicide Prevention Workshop

When students have a half day, teachers have to stay after school and attend class. Today, we had a suicide prevention workshop. A well-respected physician from Montefiore Medical Center came in and talked about suicide among adolescents. Certainly a grim but important topic.

A few highlights from today's lecture:
1. Suicide rates increase with age. There are virtually no suicides among children younger than 10 and very little among middle schoolers. The suicide rate begins to climb steadily from high school onwards. Senior citizens have the highest rate of suicide -- it's just not publicized because it's the 25th leading cause of death among the elderly. On the other hand, suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States among those aged 15-24 (behind accidents and homicide).

2. Suicides can happen in waves. A single suicide can spark copycats throughout a community. Therefore, it's very important how leaders in the community handle these crises -- drawing lots of media and community attention may be unhealthy for others going through problems of their own.

3. Boys are four times more likely to succeed in a suicide attempt than girls. The common perception is that girls are more dramatic than boys and attempt suicide to not kill themselves but to draw attention. This, at best, is a partial truth. Rather, girls are much more likely to attempt suicide by digesting pills and boys are much more likely to use more violent and effective methods. It's much easier for a physician to save a patient who overdoses on drugs than it is to save a patient who shoots him/herself.

4. Girls are four times more likely to attempt suicide than boys. The risk factors leading to suicide among teens -- family disruption, substance/sexual abuse, gay/lesbian sexual orientation -- lead to feelings of powerlessness in our society. Girls, I believe, have less avenues to excise these feelings and are therefore more likely to act out on their own bodies (e.g., cutting, anorexia, bulimia, and suicide) than boys.

So, what do we do? The support system in the Bronx is woefully inadequate -- our speaker today acknowledged that the medical system here does "triage" -- since there are an overwhelming number of individuals who need help, doctors attend only to the worst cases. Really, it's up to the rest of us -- friends, family, teachers, etc. -- to look out for our own.

Sustainable South Bronx

Majora Carter is one of those few brilliant people trying to make a difference. See what she has to say about "greening" the South Bronx.


Majora, I love you.

Floating Pool at Baretto Point Park

According to online local news sources Curbed and Gothamist, a 260 foot long barge with a full-sized swimming pool, AKA The Floating Pool will be docked at Baretto Point Park this summer.

Baretto Point Park is a relatively new NYC Park located in Hunts Point, a neighborhood located in the South Bronx. It's part of the community's plan to "green the ghetto." Although there have been complaints of foul odors emanating from nearby industrial plants, the Floating Pool should help draw thousands of locals this summer to the area.

Aurora

Check out the Google Image search results for "Aurora Borealis." Stunning.

NYC Bridges

Even though I hate sitting in traffic and polluting the environment, I will miss driving to work every day across the Whitestone Bridge. The views of both Manhattan and the Long Island Sound are spectacular.

"Man Made," an interesting and informative series on the National Geographic channel, had a great episode on NYC bridges earlier this year. The combination of science, engineering, and history makes for irresistible television!

Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech

A few years ago, Steve Jobs, the current CEO of Apple, gave an inspiring commencement speech at Stanford University. He had three personal stories to share, with three simple lessons:
1) Your life is a random assortment of events that you can't (completely) control. Even though you may have no idea how these 'dots' will connect, you just have to believe that they will, somehow. "You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."
2) Do what you love. "Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."
3) Be in control of your own life. "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become."

Thanks for the advice, Mr. Jobs.
Read the full transcript of his speech on Stanford's website.

What Funky Body Odor Says About You

With temperatures rising above 100 degrees this week in New York City, it's inevitable your olfactory nerves are going to be impinged upon by another person's body odor. Even though you may not enjoy the experience, you can learn something about your neighbor just by taking a whiff.

For one, body odor can indicate a person's health. For example, people who give off the scent of ammonia may be suffering from kidney or liver disease. And for those who smell sweet -- while it may sound great in theory, it may mean that you're developing diabetes. So...not so great.

Even though most of us try to mask our natural scents, scientists believe that we may be covering up a good thing -- these odors may be used to communicate information and emotions to others. We're more likely to recognize and feel comfortable around the smell of our kin, and feel fear around those who smell different than us.

And guys -- worried about sweating in front of your crush across the table from you? It turns out it may not work against you: women who are fertile pick up on certain chemicals found in men's sweat that women who are not fertile do not. So if you're interested in picking up a beautiful young lady, your best bet may be to work up a sweat! Just try not to sweat on the lady; I'm pretty sure they're not too keen on that.

Read the article here for yourself.

David Sedaris

David Sedaris has released a new book of essays entitled "When You Are Engulfed In Flames." I have been a fan of Sedaris since high school -- his writings are often both touching and funny -- and look forward to reading his new book.

You can watch Mr. Sedaris read one of his famous essays below:

Wu Chess

The Wu-Tang Clan has a new social networking website centered around chess. Apparently, RZA is pretty good. You can challenge him here.

"Cucurrucu Paloma" by Caetano Veloso

Caetano Veloso performs "Cucurrucu Paloma" in Pedro Almodovar's 2004 film, Talk to Her. You probably won't understand a single word in the song (it's sung in Portuguese), but you don't need to speak the language to understand the emotion Veloso is conveying in his performance. Beautiful!

Words to Live by

The superior man goes through life without any one preconceived course of action or any taboo. He merely decides for the moment what is the right thing to do.
- Confucius

nobody but you

by Charles Bukowski

nobody can save you but
yourself.
you will be put again and again
into nearly impossible
situations.
they will attempt again and again
through subterfuge, guise and
force
to make you submit, quit and/or die quietly
inside.

nobody can save you but
yourself
and it will be easy enough to fail
so very easily
but don't, don't, don't.
just watch them.
listen to them.
do you want to be like that?
a faceless, mindless, heartless
being?
do you want to experience
death before death?

nobody can save you but
yourself
and you're worth saving.
it's a war not easily won
but if anything is worth winning then
this is it.

think about it.
think about saving your self.
your spiritual self.
your gut self.
your singing magical self and
your beautiful self.
save it.
don't join the dead-in-spirit.

maintain your self
with humor and grace
and finally if necessary
wager your life as you struggle,
damn the odds, damn
the price.

only you can save your
self.

do it! do it!

then you'll know exactly what
I am talking about.

"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.

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.

I Will Derive

Geeky math humor.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mr. Rogers breaking with Jermaine

Mr. Rogers

"Going On" by Gnarls Barkley

Love this song & music video.

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.–Samaná, D.R. migrations
"Music of Morrisania"– students of PS 140

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.

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.

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.

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.

Chicago Poems by Carl Sandburg

"They Will Say"
Of my city the worst that men will ever say is this:
You took little children away from the sun and the dew,
And the glimmers that played in the grass under the great sky,
And the reckless rain; you put them between walls
To work, broken and smothered, for bread and wages,
To eat dust in their throats and die empty-hearted
For a little handful of pay on a few Saturday nights.


"Who Am I?"
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back may times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading "Keep Off."

My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.


"At a Window"
Give me hunger,
O you gods that sit and give
The world its orders.
Give me hunger, pain and want,
Shut me out with shame and failure
From your doors of gold and fame,
Give me your shabbiest, weariest hunger!

But leave me a little love,
A voice to speak to me in the day end,
A hand to touch me in the dark room
Breaking the long loneliness
In the dusk of day-shapes
Blurring the sunset,
One little wandering, western star
Thrust out from the changing shores of shadow.
Let me go to the window,
Watch there the day-shapes of dusk
And wait and know the coming
Of a little love.

Breaking as Art, Self-Expression

The "Transformer" Owl

What do you do when confronted by an enemy -- ruffle up your feathers and prepare for a showdown, or shrink in size and try to hide? If you're the Southern White-Faced Owl (P. granti), it all depends on the enemy. When confronted with a slightly larger bird, the owl increases its size and aggressiveness to ward off a potential conflict. When confronted with a much larger bird, however, it decreases its size and attempts to hide and avoid confrontation. Check out the YouTube video above -- it's hilarious.

Milwaukee Arts Museum

A few years ago, I attended an exhibition of Santiago Calatrava's sculptures at the Met. His designs had a unique organic structure/fluidity to them, leaving a distinct impression on me. So when I visited friends in Chicago this Spring Break, I made it a priority to check out the Milwaukee Arts Museum, and, in particular, the pavilion the Spanish architect designed. I was not disappointed -- stepping into the space literally took my breath away.
For more of his work, visit his website. Two of his most recent projects are proposed structures in NYC -- the WTC Transportation Hub and the residential complex 80 South Street.

Archaeologists Use Ancient Droppings to Date the Presence of Humans in North America

Recent evidence suggests people settled North America at least 14,000 years ago. The evidence? None other than human coprolites -- a fancy scientific term for fossilized feces -- discovered in an Oregon cave.
The photograph above is none other than a healthy helping of number two deposited over 12,300 years ago, containing 14,000 year old human DNA and protein. (Not sure why a person's doo-doo contains human DNA and protein -- the New York Times article, unfortunately, doesn't address this issue).

This is certainly not the first time I've heard of scientists using scat for evidence. Wildlife enthusiasts often use dookie to track and locate animals. Because of my field trip to Taconic three years ago, I can now discern deer defecation from other animal leavings (they are small round balls often in neat little piles). And one of my coolest professors from Swarthmore College was an ethnobotanist who analyzed the chemistry of elephant droppings to determine the nutrients elephants consumed when they became ill -- information that could potentially be used to synthesize new medicines for humans. Pretty neat (though mildly nauseating) stuff.

So the next time you take time to vacate your bowels, ponder this: What are you leaving behind for the rest of the world to discover, and what is it saying about you?

:-/

Photographs by Jan Von Holleben

The pic above is from Jan Von Holleben's series entitled "Dreams of Flying." View more of his work here.

I heard about Jan Von Holleben and Tiffany Bozic from the excellent online publication, "Lost at E Minor."

The Philosophy & Art of Tiffany Bozic

"There's always something that I'm trying to lock down and I don't know what it is. It's the same thing in my mind that almost is like music where everything is almost connected by this fluidity."

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"What I always think of first and foremost is just how incredible and ornate every single thing is. Everything just seems so perfect. And then you realize that it's not finished. That it's still evolving. What are they going to look like in a thousand years even? And that to me is really exciting. Seeing these things alive, that's what I'm trying to capture: the life."

See more of Tiffany Bozic's artwork here.

The Daily Mammal

The elephant shrew, above, is more closely related to elephants than rodents.

Jennifer Atkins has an ambitious goal: draw every mammal species on Earth. Since there are 5,000 named mammals, she expects the project to take 14 years if she draws one animal every day.

Follow her progress here.

Top 10 Wildlife Conservation Stories for 2007

Read brief summaries about the work being done by conservationists to save nature's endangered species.

Duelity

At duelity.net, the Vancouver Film School presents a pair of beautiful animations that illustrate two opposing theories of the origins of life, evolution and creationism.

View the videos here.

I want to stress that the theory of evolution is a scientific one, supported by evidence gathered from the natural world. Creationism is a religious doctrine; it is substantiated not by scientific data but by Christian belief.

The conflict between science and religion, I think, arises when one discipline infringes upon the boundaries of the other. Science -- because of its inability to gather data beyond the natural world -- should not make any claims about the existence or non-existence of God. Religion -- because of its inability to discredit scientific theories based on rigorous data -- should not make any claims about the validity of the theory of evolution.

Science can not tell you that you do not have a soul, or that God does not exist. Likewise, religion can not tell you that the world is flat or that humans did not share a common ancestor with other primates. To avoid conflict, keep the areas of expertise between the two disciplines distinct. For I believe there should be room for both science and religion in a moral, rational, and free-thinking human being.

Best Astronomy Photos of 2007

APOD (Astronomy Pic of the Day) has posted its favorite astronomy pics of 2007. The one below is my favorite -- be sure to click inside the pic to view a larger image of it.

Cool Insect Video

Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em

Hey farmer farmer
Put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!

Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Cat vs. Crawfish and The Unknown Rebel

Here's a cute video of a pet cat toying with a very well defended crawfish (and a disinterested dog in the background). I love the acoustic version of the Imperial March (Darth Vader's theme song in Star Wars).


The video reminded me of one of the heroes of the late 20th century, the Unknown Rebel.

Watch the video of the Unknown Rebel defying a fleet of tanks here. What do you do when you're staring down impossible odds? Very few choose to stand and fight.

The True Origins of Hip Hop

Did you know that hip hop began in a Mongolian farming village? A funny (but fake) story about the origins of hip hop.

Untidy Beds May Keep Us Healthy

Don't like making your bed? Use science to justify your sloth!

According to the BBC, a new study suggests that unmade beds are less habitable by house dust mites. These pesty dust mites are thought to cause problems like allergies and asthma. The theory is that unmade beds dry sheets and mattresses better than made beds; made beds tend to be warmer and moister, ideal conditions for dust mite habitation.

"Something as simple as leaving a bed unmade during the day can remove moisture from the sheets and mattress so the mites will dehydrate and eventually die," Dr Stephen Pretlove said.

Read the BBC article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4181629.stm

Origami Master

Eric Joisel is a true origami master, able to create life-like sculptures out of single sheets of paper. He is able to simulate the emotions, postures, and movements of people (out of paper, mind you) far better than multi-million dollar Hollywood action movies like Beowulf.

Goethe Quote

Readers of this blog know though that I love poetry and science. So when I see a quote about the two together, my heart skips a beat.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (pronounced Ger-ta) said "Science arose from poetry...when times change the two can meet again on a higher level as friends."

I admire Goethe's work. He's a German romantic who wrote one of my favorite novellas, The Sorrows of Young Werther, and he's one of the most quotable guys around. But I'm not sure what he means here. Science arose from poetry?? When did that happen? How can they meet again? I have some ideas about what he's trying to say -- namely, mind/body dualism -- but, still, I am puzzled. Anyone want to take a stab at interpreting what Goethe means?

Raising Tadpoles

SEM kids --
Here is some info about raising tadpoles. If you have some extra time, please read it! I will look into acquiring the necessary materials this week.

http://allaboutfrogs.org/info/tadpoles/
http://www.fdrproject.org/pages/POtads.htm

A Love Poem...

...written by one of my 8th graders. i think it is beautiful.

i wrote to you about my feelings
but you just put it aside
i told you that i cherished you
but you acted like you didn't care
i see you smile
and that makes me feel pure inside
i see you talking to your friends
i wonder...
"why can't we be like that"
i keep thinking about you
even when you put me down
i try to help you
thinking that something might occur
i say i love you
and you take it...
like someone passing you a ball
catch it and throw it to someone
like nothing...

Confirming a Bias

In a previous post, I warned you of the danger of squirrels. New Scientist, a reputable scientific journal, has published legitimate scientific research to back up my claims!

Relying on data collected from infrared (IR) video taken, scientists have concluded that squirrels use heat-emitting bushy tails to ward off predators! And I quote Jeff Hecht:

It's Californian ground squirrel versus rattlesnake in a potentially lethal showdown. But the squirrel has a secret weapon that until now has remained invisible to the human eye.

The ground squirrel heats up its tail then waves it in the snake's face - a form of harassment that confuses the rattler, which has an infrared sensing organ for detecting small mammals.

What's really amazing is that the ground squirrel will heat its tail when confronted by a rattlesnake, which detects IR light, but will not heat its tail when confronted by a gopher snake, which does not detect IR light.

Don't believe me? See for yourself. View the YouTube videos in the New Scientist article.

Light Writing

Check out the work of these two German artists. I wonder if they are responsible for the light writing in this Red Hot Chili Peppers video.





The Energie Motion website has more pics and a YouTube video.

Mid-Autumn Festival

Notice the moon at all this week? It is at its biggest and brightest today, and the Chinese celebrate this event every year. It's called the Mid-Autumn Festival, and, along with New Year's, is one of the biggest Chinese holidays. During this time, many Chinese people eat a special food called Moon Cake -- it's a sweet pastry with red bean paste in the middle (although it looks delicious, I'm not a big fan...it tastes a bit weird if you're not used to eating East Asian sweets).

The Chinese celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival with their family, because the full moon makes you long for home and your loved ones. To mark the occasion, my family went out to dinner on Sunday and enjoyed a delicious seafood meal in Flushing.

Hope you enjoy your Mid-Autumn Festival!

Tree Climbing Goats!

Out in Morocco between Marrakech and Esouria, goats eating in a Argan tree.

It seems goats are attracted to the berries of Argan trees in Morocco. Argan tree branches are generally a bit of reach for the generally short goat, but the berries are so enticing that the goats become adroit tree climbers during berry season.

The Fantastic Voyage of Billy The Bullet