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Monday, September 28, 2009
Bligh is a hypocrite on Queensland abortion law | Article | The Punch
Keep the pressure on Queensland and the other states and territories to follow the lead from Victoria and ACT. A summary of abortion laws can be found on the The Children by Choice website.
The ACT has the most progressive law in the country. In 2002 they repealed the statutory and common law offences of abortion, and the procedure is now regulated in the Health Act. There is no evidence that any increase in demand for abortion at any stage of gestation has occurred.
In contrast, law reform in WA in 1998 has had less positive outcomes. The law is unnecessarily confusing prior to 20 weeks gestation, and after 20 weeks gestation access for termination is complex, requiring each woman’s case to be evaluated by a faceless committee. Documented problems with the regime include women feeling pressured to make a quick rather than considered decision after a negative fetal diagnosis when the pregnancy is less than 20 weeks, and of women failing to bond with babies they were compelled to deliver after being denied abortion by the committee. Read the Department of Health and Department of Justice’s Review of the Amendments (.pdf document 369 KB).
Access to abortions is frequently expensive and difficult to obtain. In March 2008, the Council of Europe invited all member states to decriminalise abortion on the grounds that “A ban on abortions does not result in fewer abortions, but mainly leads to clandestine abortions, which are more traumatic and more dangerous". See their full report Access to safe and legal abortion in Europe (.pdf document 123 KB).
FACTS from ProChoiceNSW
The story that has put abortion back in the dock | Article | The Punch
Abortion needs to be removed from the NSW Crimes Act too!
ProChoice NSW is a collection of individuals and organisations formed in response to the law reform process currently underway in New South Wales.
We believe that all women have a right to safe and legal abortion.
Become Facebook Fan http://www.facebook.com/pages/prochoiceNSW/95662462275?v=wall
or follow on Twitter! @prochoiceNSW
We are committed to achieving a law reform outcome for New South Wales women that:
* maximises their reproductive rights and freedoms
* fosters their dignity
* respects their moral agency by putting the decision in their hands.
Pro Choice NSW supporters include:
Family Planning NSW
ProChoice NSW welcomes new supporters. If your organisation would like to join, please contact Jillian Wolfe: jwol8303@gmail.com.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Sand artist Kseniya Simonova, winner of Ukraine's Got Talent, becomes internet hit
She is summoning spirits.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Structural Cyberbullying
In “Critical Mass, how one thing leads to another”, Philip Ball says, “I want to suggest that, even with our woeful ignorance of why humans behave the way they do, it is possible to make some predictions about how they behave collectively.”
Bullying. Cyberbullying. Structural cyberbullying. The situation where the revolutionary new network society is structurally opposed to equality, and is relatively stable and thus unlikely to change, or to reach a tipping point without radical measures.
“The network society is less inclusive than the mass society. You may be a member of some part of the mass society by birth or ascription. In the individualized network society you have to fight for a particular place. You have to show your value for every network. Otherwise you will be isolated in, or even excluded from, the network. In the network society, you have to stand firm as an individual. You are not that easily taken along in solidarity by proximate people.” (Van Dijk, 2006 p 36)
“By specifying precisely how connected systems are connected, and by drawing explicit relationships between the structure of real networks and the behavior (like epidemics, fads, and organizational robustness) of the systems they connect, the science of networks can help us understand our world.” (Watts, 2004, p303)
Barabasi believes that we are not far off a scifi-like ability to predict and influence human behaviour. Will this be used for the good of mankind?
Women in Computing
“Around 75% of girls and 60% of boys say they would consider work normally done by the opposite sex, but many types of work are still highly segregated. With more support, things could be different.“ from the Gender Agenda UK
In March 2009, Dr Maria Klawe joined Microsoft’s board, bringing the representation of women to 2 out of 10. Said Klawe:
“The underrepresentation of women in the fields of science and engineering is one of the critical issues facing the computing industry….I’m looking forward to helping the company continue to make progress on this important issue.”
Dr Klawe has a background in mathematics and computer science including functional analysis, discrete mathematics, theoretical computer science, and the design and use of interactive multimedia for mathematics education. She has written widely on Women in Computing. I can’t help but wish it was in network theory and social analysis.
Users and Consumers are Not Wearing the Pants
Sure lots of women are blogging, but are any of them making a living? Some of the most high profile bloggers have found the cost too high. Kathy Sierra, the game developer, tech blogger and author of “Code Like A Girl”, one of the few female voices in the technology sphere quit after becoming the target of death threats. (“Cyber threats against well-known blogger” David Louie, ABC)
“A new social system starts, and seems delightfully free of the elitism and cliquishness of the existing systems. Then, as the new system grows, problems of scale set in. Not everyone can participate in every conversation. Not everyone gets to be heard. Some core group seems more connected than the rest of us, and so on. Prior to recent theoretical work on social networks, the usual explanations invoked individual behaviors: … We now know that these explanations are wrong, or at least beside the point. What matters is this: Diversity plus freedom of choice creates inequality, and the greater the diversity, the more extreme the inequality. … The very act of choosing, spread widely enough and freely enough, creates a power law distribution. “ (Shirky, 2003) “Power Laws, Weblogs and Inequality”
The Digital Divide is Divisive
I was shouted down in my second class for expressing my view that women haven’t exactly achieved equality… even if and when we have equal access! I think the answer might lie in quotas in order to reach the percolation threshold. (Watts, 2003 p235)
“Indeed, it is a considerable irony of the network society that, for most of its members, securing the minimum condition of inclusion (and thereby averting complete exclusion and the radical powerlessness it would bring) simply grants them access to the infrastructure of their own continued inequality and relative domination.” (Castells, 2004 P 31)
I suggested a simple gender analysis like the number of women cited in the reading 7/58 vs the ratio in the class 18/23 should give pause to think. But I do not apparently make a convincing argument. Is that me or is that the network?
The Gender Agenda, website from Equal Opportunities Commission UK, suggests 200 years to impossible to achieve equality in some areas at the current pace.
The Australian Census on Women in Leadership is reporting a gradual decline in women’s participation in Australian business and government. (Australian Government Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency)
“Women still trail in pay stakes” Dan Harrison, the Age
“Women urged to sue to fix pay gap” Kirsty Needham, Sydney Morning Herald
“Fewer women holding top company jobs” Adele Horin, Sydney Morning Herald
crochet coral reef - iff - margaret wertheim
The crochet reef project is an interdisciplinary marriage of non-euclidean geometry, marine ecology, environmental activism, feminine handicraft and collective feminist practice. Just as living reefs propagate by sending out spawn, so too the crochet reef reproduces through an almost organic process - inspired by the efforts of the IFF, citizens of Chicago and New York have created their own Sister City Reefs, another of which is currently under construction in London.
See and download the full gallery on posterousTuesday, September 22, 2009
Girl/Green team robotics club
The Green Team (aka the girl's team as opposed to the blue/boys team) gave me this robot as a thank you for getting them to RoboCup Nationals 09 in our first ever year of competition. I am so happy!
We outperformed most of NSW and will kick the rest of Australia's butt next year, but mainly, I am overjoyed that I had a Green Team cause the girls really weren't interested to start with. But once I found a way to get them involved they were amazing!
I hope that everyone can find a Green Team.
Robogals
This is Robogals - started in Melbourne and going global! I love it!
* Robotics Lessons
University students volunteer to give LEGO robotics lessons to school girls using the LEGO Mindstorms NXT kits. For every five girls in the class there will be one Robogals volunteer. Lessons may be held at the school or at a participating university.
Lessons are typically taught in 3-hour sessions, over 2 sessions, (though this may vary depending on your location). Girls participate in small groups ranging from 2-4, depending on the number of NXTs available. The lessons include:
* An introduction to science, engineering and technology
* Building a robot using LEGO Mindstorms NXTs
* Adding and testing electronics (motors and sensors) to the robot
* Programming the robot to move, use the sensors and perform specific tasks
Following the lessons, if the girls and the school are interested in participating in the FIRST LEGO league (FLL) international competition, Robogals will help train the students for competing in the FLL. More details about FLL may be found here.
Lessons are held throughout the year. Please contact us for more information.
Monday, September 21, 2009
concept robots
Sorry, I am SO steampunk somedays! This is amazing flash from plaguedog via conceptrobots artzine.
Posted via web from AmIArt
art : concept robots
Sorry, I am SO steampunk somedays. This is amazing flash from plaguedog via conceptrobots artzine.
The Further Evolution of the Revolution 1
The internetworked society remix of the revolution will not be televised, by andragy.
There needs to be further evolution of this revolution unfortunately! My memes of production are limited by my means of production.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Reasons to be a Futurist, parts 1, 2 and 3
ia Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Painting above is "La strada entra nella casa" or The Street Enters the House by Boccioni, 1911, an Italian futurist. (and face it there weren't many futurists who weren't Italian, as it became associated with nationalism and fascism.)
Marinetti, "War is beautiful because it initiates the dreamt of metallization of the human body. War is beautiful because it enriches a flowering meadow with the fiery orchids of machine guns. War is beautiful because it combines the gunfire, the cannonades, the cease-fire, the scents, and the stench of putrefaction into a symphony."
Futurism, as created by Marinetti, was a celebration of youth and technology. "Marinetti expressed a passionate loathing of everything old, especially political and artistic tradition. "We want no part of it, the past", he wrote, "we the young and strong Futurists!" The Futurists admired speed, technology, youth and violence, the car, the airplane and the industrial city, all that represented the technological triumph of humanity over nature, and they were passionate nationalists. They repudiated the cult of the past and all imitation, praised originality, "however daring, however violent", bore proudly "the smear of madness", dismissed art critics as useless, rebelled against harmony and good taste, swept away all the themes and subjects of all previous art, and gloried in science." (wikipedia)
This led to the adoption of Fascism and the promulgation of some truly hideous memes, although I like Sorel's ideas of science up to a point, the point of a separate nature, as very pre-postmodern. Others influenced by futurism include Ridley Scott's Bladerunner, who consciously attempted to traduce the meme. Finally, lIke Walter Benjamin, many futurists died (or were killed) in the violence of war that they espoused, although not usually because they were futurists.
Isaiah Berlin identifies three scientific anti-realist currents in Sorel's work.
[edit] Science is not reality
He dismissed science as "a system of idealised entities: atoms, electric charges, mass, energy and the like – fictions compounded out of observed uniformities…deliberately adapted to mathematical treatment that enable men to identify some of the furniture of the universe, and to predict and…control parts of it." [1; 301] He regarded science more as "an achievement of the creative imagination, not an accurate reproduction of the structure of reality, not a map, still less a picture, of what there was. Outside of this set of formulas, of imaginary entities and mathematical relationships in terms of which the system was constructed, there was ‘natural’ nature – the real thing…" [1; 302] He regarded such a view as "an odious insult to human dignity, a mockery of the proper ends of men", [1; 300] and ultimately constructed by "fanatical pedants", [1; 303] out of "abstractions into which men escape to avoid facing the chaos of reality." [1; 302]
[edit] Science is not nature
As far as Sorel was concerned, "nature is not a perfect machine, nor an exquisite organism, nor a rational system." [1; 302] He rejected the view that "the methods of natural science can explain and explain away ideas and values…or explain human conduct in mechanistic or biological terms, as the…blinkered adherents of la petite science believe." [1; 310] He also maintained that the categories we impose upon the world, "alter what we call reality…they do not establish timeless truths as the positivists maintained", [1; 302] and to "confuse our own constructions with eternal laws or divine decrees is one of the most fatal delusions of men." [1; 303] It is "ideological patter…bureaucracy, la petite science…the Tree of Knowledge has killed the Tree of Life…human life [has been reduced] to rules that seem to be based on objective truths." [1; 303] Such to Sorel, is the appalling arrogance of science, a vast deceit of the imagination, a view that conspires to "stifle the sense of common humanity and destroy human dignity." [1; 304]
[edit] Science is not a recipe
Science, he maintained, "is not a ‘mill’ into which you can drop any problem facing you, and which yields solutions", [1; 311] that are automatically true and authentic. Yet, this is precisely how too many people seem to regard it.
To Sorel, that is way "too much of a conceptual, ideological construction", [1; 312] smothering our perception of truth through the "stifling oppression of remorselessly tidy rational organisation." [1; 321] For Sorel, the inevitable "consequence of the modern scientific movement and the application of scientific categories and methods to the behaviour of men", [1; 323] is an outburst of interest in irrational forces, religions, social unrest, criminality and deviance - resulting directly from an overzealous and monistic obsession with scientific rationalism.
And what science confers, "a moral grandeur, bureaucratic organisation of human lives in the light of…la petite science, positivist application of quasi-scientific rules to society – all this Sorel despised and hated", [1; 328] as so much self-delusion and nonsense that generates no good and nothing of lasting value. In essence, something of a Romantic like Blake, Sorel would say, "the artist creates as the bird sings on the bough, as the lily bursts into flower, to all appearance for no ulterior purpose." [2; 196]The Fischbowl - Did You Know? 4.0
Monday, September 14, 2009
Did You Know? 4.0: The Economist Media Convergence Remix
The Economist Magazine is hosting their third annual Media Convergence Forum in New York City on October 20th and 21st. Earlier this year they asked if they could remix Did You Know?/Shift Happens with a media convergence theme and use it for their conference. Scott McLeod and I said sure, they got XPLANE to create the presentation, and the result is farther down in this post. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend the Forum, as I’m already missing school a few days this fall and I just couldn’t justify missing a couple more (it was very kind of The Economist to invite Scott and me), but it looks like an interesting event.A few anticipatory FAQ's about this version.
- It’s the first one that I’ve been part of that does not have a specific education focus (although I certainly think the media convergence ideas discussed in the video have great relevance for education). The idea behind the original (and subsequent) presentations was to start/continue/advance the conversation around certain ideas, so I see this hopefully doing the same thing around media convergence (and, selfishly, it will hopefully get some of the folks attending The Economist’s Media Convergence Forum to perhaps focus on some of the education ideas in the previous DYK’s). And, given the Creative Commons license on the previous versions, folks are not limited to remixes that only talk about education.
- They decided to designate it version 4.0 even though there have been only two previous “official” versions. But the Sony/BMG remix that is currently the hot version is typically referred to as version 3.0, so who are we to argue with the wisdom of the crowd?
- I should not get much, if any, credit for this one. I sent along a fair amount of statistics for their consideration, and certainly provided some feedback along the way, but otherwise didn’t have nearly as much to do with this version. Laura Bestler, Scott McLeod’s graduate assistant, did most of the research for this one, and of course XPLANE did all the graphical work. (I should, however, still get most or all of the blame if you don’t like it, since I started this whole mess.)
- Like the previous versions, this one is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license, so you’re welcome to use/modify as you see fit, as long as you follow the terms of that license.
What does it all mean? (Well, besides the self-referential and now self-serving answer of “Shift Happens.”) I think the fact that a simple little PowerPoint (some folks would say simplistic and they would be right – it was meant to be the start of a conversation, not the entire conversation) can be viewed by so many folks and start so many conversations means that we live in a fundamentally different world than the one I (and most of you reading this) grew up in.
I know some folks would dispute that, and that’s an interesting conversation in and of itself, but if you buy that – if you buy that on so many levels the world is a fundamentally different place – then it just begs us to ask the question of whether schools have similarly transformed from when we grew up. If your answer to that question is no, as I think it probably is for a large majority of you, and if you see a problem with that, then what should we do? What is my responsibility, and your responsibility, for making the changes we believe are necessary? What are you willing to step up and do?
Here’s the presentation. Source files will be uploaded to the wiki shortly.
I kind of wish I hadn't seen this, as I now think anything I pull together in inimitable sticky tape and string fashion is just so hopelessly outclassed! I've just seen a couple of XPLANE vods and think that the curve at which homemade video content was good enough has perhaps already been passed.
However, what's most interesting to me, aside from the great vod, is the history of Did You Know and Shift Happens. Congratulations Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod and everyone else along the way. Keep it up.
Monday, September 14, 2009
The Evolution of the Revolution 1
Download now or listen on posterous
freestyling track inspired by "The Revolution will Not be Televised" updated to include internet, cyborgs, the digital divide, network society
Evolution of the Revolution 1
Just as I wonder how on earth to finish the last half of the video in the next hour before having to return to robots and children, the deadline for digital fringe festival has been extended.
None the less, I'm halfway home, here's the mix:
And here's the poem:
Evolution of the Revolution 1
The revolution will not be televised
or streamed live,
It will not be broadcast or podcast or vodcast.
You will not be able to download the revolution or to remix it
and upload it to youtube or ebay or amazon.
4chan is not the revolution.
The revolution will not come with added lols
or extra cheeseburger.
The revolution will not be optimised
or sticky.
The revolution is not tribal.
It will not be going viral. It has no friends.
The revolution will not be selling you anti ageing serums
while children are dying of AIDs.
There will be no apple a day
While a quarter of the world can’t eat
or read.
You will not be able to tweet the revolution from under the tanks.
Or from Myanmar if you have no power,
Or phone.
The revolution will not be sanitised,
Or white washed.
Whatever brand you use is ok.
There will be no entropy
You will not be able to exclude it from your network
Or publish it to your blog or facebook with a poke.
There will be no power law governing the revolution.
It’s not a small world after all
The revolution will not be supervised
or censored, filtered or firewalled.
The revolution will not be on MTV shaking that thang Uhhuh
or making pornos.
The revolution will not be at burning man.
Or playing wii or winning a webby.
The revolution will not be exalted doing boss raids in Ulduar
Or in rapture, or off in the clouds.
The revolution will be wearing the pants.
The revolution will not be between these thighs.
The revolution is not your mother.
The revolution is not an amateur,
it’s a pro.
There will be no feminist manifesto cause all that stuff is legislated now.
Uhhuh.
The revolution will not piss with the seat up
and it won’t clean the toilets either.
There will be no digital divide. The future has arrived
It’s just that the well is empty,
Manual labour will be endangered,
Car crashes and oil spills are bringing down the house
Everything is winding down. Fragmentation
of the nuclear family.
The revolution will not be polar iced.
It will not be black or white or read.
The revolution is illiterate and unfed and
it doesn’t give a damn about global warming.
The revolution will not be peace, man.
It’s War Child,
when you give a child a gun
not a book, then look at what you stole from them
(and are still stealing.)
We are not the revolution.
The revolution is on the inside, (it’s not stealing cars anymore,)
it’s stealing fear and joy riding.
I am the revolution
The revolution will not be virtualised
The revolution is UNwired.
The revolution will not require you to reboot your system.
The revolution will use dynamite.
All your bases are belong to us now.
No version 3.0 slash.dot semantic web end slash
It’s hanging out at TED Global with the other genii and the house elves.
The revolution is posthuman. The revolution is cyborganism.
The revolution is a paradigm shift in the phase transition.
The revolution is embodied
and undistributed.
This is the evolution/ of the revolution,
This is not the beginning of the end,
The singularity is no nearer,
but if we are the lucky ones
then this is the end// of the beginning.
The revolution will not be in cyberspace.
The revolution will be in side
Eyes are not the revolution
The revolution will be live
We are not the revolution
I am the revolution
This is the evolution of the revolution.
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Uploaded by mallox. - Official promo for Gil Scott Heron's collected lyrics and poems, Now and Then. Produced by Peter Collingridge and directed by Julian House (Intro) in 2001.
On Friday i decided it was time to give voice to a little genie that has been whispering to me since I first heard Gil Scott-Heron a long time ago. At different times in my life I've had the desire to revoice this classic because the revolution is a continually evolving meme in my life.
But I never really had the right combination of content and passion to animate what would otherwise be empty, shallow, crass. A ripoff not a remix.
Now I'm not exactly expecting anyone else to agree or even listen. But on Friday (3 days ago) someone handed me the deadline for the Digital Fringe Festival (today) and I thought could this be the time? and could this be the rhyme?
Progress so far... Friday. Research and Prepare. I decide that any video I can pull off while have to be of the simplest and decide for black and white and red as a thematic. I think at some stage in the past the Screenbase Media clip for The Revolution will Not be Televised must have left an impact. But I wish I hadn't just watched it again, cause it's beautiful in a way I won't be able to do. At all. Truthfully, my biggest aim is to pull off a few hand drawn assemblages that convey network structure and formation without totally sucking.
Saturday: Snatch a few hours to write the thing while hosting robot club, going to kid's soccer presentation and other children's activities. Somehow don't manage to finish writing the poem. Which is the critical core element.
Sunday: Try to finish writing around the important last meeting before Nationals Robot Club. Aiming to record in afternoon. Fortunately Carl couldn't get here till dinner time to help me set up garage band. Carl frustrated cause he's a pro and setting up a track with a complete novice without access to any of his stuff and 15mins is something he doesn't really want his name associated with. I think he was brilliant. So was Eury who looked at my story structure and put me through the why? wringer and Deb who gave me performance notes to the nth. She'll wonder what i did with them but they're all in there somewhere.
Monday: I have less than 5 hours between kids this and kids that to do a ... 4.30 min video. You have got to be kidding. I think this should stay an audio track. Either way, I'm posting it later today.
I pay homage to Gil Scott-Heron, Sarah Jones and Emmanuel Jal, none of whom were harmed in the making of this remix, I hope.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Why I will always be Mad, Menopaused & Mother.
Binary gender systems are constructed. They rely on the repetition of dominant narratives via psychology, music, popular culture, film and of course children's books. This gem comes from a children's book called, "I'm Glad I'm a Boy! I'm Glad I'm a Girl! It is from the 1950's and I almost appreciate how blatantly obvious it is, since there is no question what it is trying to do. Gender-based messaging is much more subtle and nuanced these days.
You can see the whole book here. I am very glad no one read this book to me as a child, I probably would have set it on fire.
Whenever I see vintage sexism now all I can think of is Mad Men.
Three things a woman always is that always make her NOT man or not HUman. Either you know exactly what I'm saying due to your innate intelligence or good sense, your early exposure to feminism or pursuit of philosophy. Or you don't, in which case enjoy my stream of random stuff/whatever.
Mad obviously irrational.
Menopaused exactly men no longer care.
Mother is the other.
Women: The Future of Technology
In 1945, six young women programmed the ENIAC, the 80-foot-long, eight-foot-tall, first all-electronic programmable computer.
On March 12 2009, you will have the opportunity to meet one of these amazing women, as she is honored by MDWIT for her historic contributions to the role of women in technology. *my note* Less than 25% of computing industry is female and numbers in US/Canada have dropped since the 70s. Minorities are less than 10%. Relative positions and salaries continue to be inequal. (February 2009 issue of Communications of the ACM "Inspiring Women in Computing")
Jean Jennings Bartik (left) and Frances Bilas Spence (right) preparing for the public unveiling of ENIAC, February 1946.
Born December 27, 1924, in Northwest Missouri, Jean Bartik grew up on a farm, the sixth of seven children. Jean graduated from the Northwest Missouri State Teachers College in 1944, and went to work as a programmer for Army Ordnance at Aberdeen Proving Ground. It was in Aberdeen where Jean met and harnessed the power of the ENIAC.
"I was just at the right place at the right time. It was divine providence or fate that selected me to be an ENIAC programmer. Betty Holberton quoted something interesting recently, 'Look like a girl, Act like a lady, Think like a man, and Work like a dog.'
I was told I'd never make it to VP rank because I was too outspoken. Maybe so, but I think men will always find an excuse for keeping women in their 'place.' So, let's make that place the executive suite and start more of our own companies." - Jean Bartik (read more about her in this Computer World - Unsung Innovators article)
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Prey for Power via Rocketboom
Solar mobile phones are selling rapidly in Kenya. Costing about $45 a piece, the phones come from China and are a standard mobile phone with a solar cell stuck to the back. Safari.com, the phone provider, says they sold 10,000 in first month.
The phones require about 6 hours of strong sunshine to charge fully. The supply of electricity in Kenya by other means is highly unreliable, so if it's cloudy for too long, you have to plug in the charger and...
"Prey for Power".
The final subtitle is highly ironic in the context.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
iCub, the Toddler Robot (w/ Videos, Pictures)
"(PhysOrg.com) -- A little humanoid robot called iCub is learning how to think for itself, bringing the world of science fiction to reality. The major goal of the "RobotCub" project is to study how humans learn and think, using a robot with the size and brain of a toddler, but the study is also expected to have practical applications in the near future.
The robot, with its cute white face and big eyes, is designed to learn from experience and adapt to changes in its environment, just like a human child. As iCub learns, the scientists behind it hope to learn about the development of cognition in humans. According to research director Peter Ford Dominey, the goal is to understand more about the ability of humans to cooperate, work together, and understand what others want us to do."
I expect it will shortly learn to play suzuki violin and then its cute as a button little face will strike terror in the hearts of every musical mother out there. I have discovered the Uncanny Valley soundtrack!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Slow Poetry and Invisible Kings
I'd like to rewrite my to do list more like the Romany marker poems from David Morley's Invisible Kings. Of interest here is also his recent Slow Poetry embedded, carved, etched, grown and drawn into the North Yorkshire landscape.
| W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | ||||
| O | O | O | O | O | O | O | O | O | O | ||||
| O | R | O | R | O | R | O | R | O | R | ||||
| D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | ||||
| W | W | F | F | S | S | W | W | W | T | ||||
| O | O | O | O | W | W | I | I | O | U | ||||
| R | R | R | R | O | O | N | N | R | R | ||||
| D | M | M | M | R | R | D | D | M | N | ||||
| S | S | S | S | T | T | S | S | S | S | ||||
| H | H |
via David Morley
SocialAction
I hate it when my really really good idea was just done by someone else. However, this is only the beginning. I look forward to testing this tool out on the dispersal of politically polarised information to see if it can measure the effects of clustering and the isolation of nodes.
My Extreme To Do List
Blog.
Read faster.
Lose 10-12kg.
Learn how to run.
Play football at Master's Games.
Read ALL the Network Society course notes this week.
Finish research, writing and referencing Gender Agenda assignment including 7 new posts by end of week.
Read ALL the Computers As Culture notes by next week.
Apply to TED India or Global.
Draft, discuss and revise plans for final assignments, lock topic by next week.
Start researching communities and prejudices re global warming on Climate Debate Daily vs Wikipedia.
Suggest skeptic groups sue Wikipedia for not providing neutral and objective information.
Run equivalence model skepticism to feminism?
Develop pathway for retired scientists to speak out online - the changed economy of science.
Settle for one paper and scoping a 1 year research and action plan re scientific knowledge, democracy, the environment and the internet.
Research and write the application as art AND/OR altermediacy.
Discuss plans for event/art installation with Eury and DeptHead on network society and control with parent/child metaphor.
If it's a go... then interactive sound/light installation to be constructed by Dec.
Research DesignLab more.
Dream up ways of mobilizing teh internets for illiterate non English speakers.
Sketch out plans for iphone ambient experiments.
Sketch out plans for my Eureka! clustering coefficient social search application.
Build it.
Finish the wiiiteboard... and the giant catapult.
Keep momentum up in kid's robot club after Nationals, with in school challenge and liaising with high school.
Continuing Science Club.
Continuing Trampoline School.
Continuing the TED Talks... now with guest curators!!!! YAY!
Read more bed time stories to kids.
Don't forget your friends and a social life.
Remember to go to work, too.
Personal stuff. Say no more.
Give up drinking. LOL.
Extreme To Do List Gets Distracted
What can I add to that image? These are some of the things I found along the search string "extreme to do list" starting with:
Indian Chemistry PhD posting furries on GaiaOnline as a platform to complain about discrimination, torture and wanting a job.
Quakers debating appropriate response to global warming and other environmental issues.
Extreme Pumpkins to amuse and terrify your friends, neighbours and children.
Two Knives - Incisive feminist posts on Bratz and beauty products.
Warcrafting for WOTLK from Wynthea at World of Matticus. Good tips for levelling up your characters and building miniguilds.
Maybank2u a malaysian banking portal reusing Einstein with domestic formulas.
Computer geek's 100 best aesthetically pleasing desktop turbochargers.
Design Mom.. I am duly awefully inadequate. It's amazing how many mom/women/craft things turn up on this string.
SilverClipboard puts it into practice, photographing then decimating everything superfluous in his married life. Wonder if he's still married?
Sodahead musing on do-the-extreme-right-wingers-threatening-revolution-even-realize-how-delusional-they-truly-are
LearnerDriver on 10 things to do if someone stares at you (for being young pretty and female in general)
TheSucculentWife's Favorite Things filed under Useful Stuff - ListPlanIt
and finally, I have to stop with the Extreme Women's Self Care Meetup attended by 0.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Augmenting Reality with the iPhone - O'Reilly Broadcast
Although the iPhone 3.1 is old news for those in the augmented reality space, it dovetailed so nicely with my current reading I had to include it! Echoing Heidegger, Baudrillard calls for us to pay more attention to the cultural mediation of objects.
"First of all man must stop mixing himself up with things and investing them with his own image; he will then be able, beyond the utility they have for him, to project onto them his game plan, his calculations, his discourse, and invest these manoeuvres themselves with a sense of a message to others, and a message to oneself. By the time this point is reached the mode of existence of 'ambient objects' will have changed completely, and a sociology of furnishing will perforce have given way to a sociology of interior design." (Baudrillard, 1997. "The System of Objects")