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2007-11-30

Creativity: WantsForSale.Com

Along the lines of Million Dollar Homepage in the “are you kidding me?” department, Wants For Sale illustrators Justin and Christine create pictures of stuff they want and then sell them for the retail price of the item depicted. Portrait of Christine and Justin by Phil RyndaTheir desiderata range from an order of buffalo wings ($12.70) to a month’s rent ($1,056.07). So far they've "bought," among other things, food, clothes, video games, a Nintendo Wii, a gym membership, and sushi at the trendy New York eatery Nobu. They’re still waiting for someone to fund the iPhone they covet and to pony up $1 million for “financial security.” They also do commissions off other people's wish lists. Wants for Sale has been successful enough to inspire a spin-off, Needs for Sale, using the same basic premise to benefit charities. <http://www.wantsforsale.com>

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2007-11-29

Community: Islamic Law in Today's World

A crucial new addition to our political dialogue: Islamic Law In Our Times - A Realistic Assessment of Islamic Law in Today's World by Asst. Prof. Haider Ala Hamoudi of U.of Pittsburgh School of Law: <http://muslimlawprof.org/>

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2007-11-28

Graphics: Grim Natwick

A really cool exhibit at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive:

You may not know his name, but you've seen his work....Woody Woodpecker, Snow White, Betty Boop, Mr. Magoo and Mickey Mouse were all brought to life by the same remarkable man -- Grim Natwick.

Grim was mentor to Chuck Jones, Walter Lantz, Marc Davis and Richard Williams; and no other animator had a greater impact on the artform. Grim's first animation was for William Randolph Hearst's Krazy Kat Studio in 1917. His last credit was on Richard Williams' "The Thief & the Cobbler" in 1995. Natwick's career spanned the entire 20th century, and it defined the whole history of animation.

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive has mounted an exhibit of artwork from Natwick's personal collection. Included are gag drawings depicting life around the cartoon studio, caricatures of co-workers, and the preliminary sketches that give us a peek behind the creation of some of the greatest cartoons ever made.

The online exhibit catalog consists of five articles:
Introduction: Grim Natwick's Scrapbook
Part One: Early Years In New York (Hearst, Fleischer)
Part Two: The Golden Age of Animation (Iwerks, Disney, Lantz)
Part Three: The Modern Era (UPA and beyond)
Part Four: The Greatest Animator Who Ever Lived (Studio Gag Drawings)

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2007-11-27

Resources: A website for balloon professionals

With the arrival of the Balloon Resource Center, "a new window to the industry for all Balloon Professionals...[to] stay up to date with products, design ideas, activities and industry issues," can licensing, regulation, correspondence courses and professional associations be far behind? I hope so, before someone really gets hurt. <http://www.balloonresourcecenter.com/>

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2007-11-26

Pablo Picasso, the Official Web Site

Fitting that there is something called the Pablo Picasso: Official Web Site. The artist, known for his style-a-minute development of cubism, blue and pink period works, "Guernica," et al, was the Bob Dylan of 20th Century Art (the Mick Jagger, too, but that was on another field of play). The site has an illustrated timeline, a genealogy (showing his many amours), material about his studios (in France, Spain, and elsewhere), illustrated essays on selected works, and a list of exhibitions around the world. In English, Spanish, and French, natch. <http://www.picasso.fr/anglais/>

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2007-11-25

Good Eatin': Mmmmm, Bugs!

Sooner or later, global warming and overpopulation will force even faint-hearted Americans to turn to entomophagy, that is, to eating bugs as a source of nutrition and, yes, pleasure, as people in so many other parts of the world already do. You might as well get prepared, and a place to go for some examples of edibles that are already table-ready, such as spicy crushed giant waterbug paste from Thailand Unique or chocolate-covered scorpions from Lazybone, is the list of 32 Edible Insect Foods You Can Buy Online from SenseList. For practical information about bugs in your kitchen, including recipes and shopping advice, visit the Manataka American Indian Council, Food Insects Newsletter, Sunrise Land Shrimp or Iowa State University. To learn more about the history of the phenomenon, visit the University of Kentucky Department of Entomology or download Why Not Bugs? (pdf) from The Southern Herbalist's Stalking the Wild. You can see pictures of your future meals at the Thai Bugs site, Zack’s Bug-Feasting Page, and the USDA Agricultural Research Service. Cookbooks that provide recipes for cooking insects include Creepy Crawly Cuisine: The Gourmet Guide to Edible Insects, the Eat-A-Bug Cookbook, Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science of Eating Insects, and Bugs for Lunch. And pay careful attention the next time you dine at that fine Asian-Fusion restaurant you like so much. Bon appetit.

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2007-11-24

American Civilization: Benjamin Banneker, 1731-1806

These sites about Benjamin Banneker, born on November 9, 1731, in Ellicott's Mills, Maryland, a largely self-taught African American "author, scientist, mathematician, farmer, astronomer, publisher and urban planner [who] was descended from enslaved Africans, an indentured English servant, and free men and women of color," discuss accomplishments and key events in his life, and include between them an essay on Banneker's "Almanac," letters to and from Banneker and Thomas Jefferson, links to exhibitions, digitized documents, and other images and writings.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2p84.html>
<http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/nov09.html>

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2007-11-23

The Museums: National Farm Toys Museum

The National Farm Toy Museum in Dyersville, Iowa "features thousands of toys and exhibits....Tractors, implements, trucks, miniature farm dioramas, toy manufacturing information, and pedal tractors are on display around the museum. Also displayed are two Doug Schlesier sculptures, plaques honoring inductees into the National Farm Toy Hall of Fame, and a plaque honoring the founders of the world’s largest farm toy manufacturer headquartered in Dyersville, the Ertl Company."
<http://www.nationalfarmtoymuseum.com/>

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2007-11-22

Nature: Natural Disasters

The Guardian, the British newspaper, collects news articles about recent natural disasters around the world on its website. Highlights include the November floods in Tabasco, Mexico, the wildfires in Southern California, and an earthquake in Manchester, England last August. The site also has links to interactive guides on earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, and Mount Etna. The Guardian UK

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2007-11-12

Pencil Sharpening: Frank Sinatra sings "MySpace"

2007-11-11

Labor: Working Class Studies Association Website

"The Working Class Studies Association aims to develop and promote multiple forms of scholarship, teaching, and activism related to working class life and cultures.

"Association Goals:
  • Promote awareness, growth, and legitimacy of working-class studies internationally
  • Promote models of working-class studies that actively involve and serve the interests of working-class people
  • Promote critical discussions of the relationships among class, race, gender, sexuality, nationality, and other structures of inequality
  • Promote interdisciplinary, multi-disciplinary, and disciplinary approaches to studying and teaching about the lived experience of working-class people
  • Provide opportunities for academics, artists, activists, workers, independent scholars, students, and others to share their work, make connections with colleagues and professional organizations, and learn about resources
  • Facilitate conversations and critical debate engaging diverse intellectual and political approaches to scholarship, teaching, and outreach in working-class studies
  • Create partnerships that link scholarship with activism in labor, community, and other working-class social justice organizations" -- from the website.
<http://www.wcstudies.org/>

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2007-11-10

Californio: Tejon Ranch

The next time you make the mind-numbing run between and L.A. and the Bay Area on the I-5, the information on this website for Tejon Ranch, "the largest contiguous expanse of land under single ownership in California," will give you something to talk about. The site has a historical timeline of the expanse (established by a Mexican land grant in 1842), details about conservation and wildlife (condors, wildflowers, oak trees...), background on ranching and farming and on a controversial planned development (an industrial complex and a residential community), maps, photos, and a list of movies filmed on location. <http://www.tejonranch.com/>

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2007-11-09

Mathematics: Dangerous Knowledge (BBC documentary)

In this BBC documentary, David Malone profiles four mathematicians -- Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing -- whose genius profoundly informs us, but which tragically drove them mad and eventually led each of them to commit suicide. The film talks to contemporary thinkers, including Greg Chaitin and Roger Penrose, who continue to pursue the question of whether there are things that mathematics and the human mind cannot know.

Cantor, whose work proved to be the foundation for much of 20th-century mathematics, believed he was God's messenger and was made insane by trying to prove his theories of infinity. Boltzmann's struggle to prove the existence of atoms and probability eventually drove him to suicide. Gödel, the introverted confidant of Albert Einstein, proved that there are problems that will always lie outside human logic; his life ended in a sanatorium where he starved himself to death. And Turing, the great Bletchley Park code breaker and the father of computer science, died trying to prove that some things are fundamentally unprovable.

Dangerous Knowledge outlines some of the profound questions about the true nature of reality that mathematical thinkers are still struggling to answer. Google Video, 1 hr 29 min.

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2007-11-05

Backyards: Your Friend, Moss

Living With Mosses, by students and faculty at Oregon State, has the worthy goal of enhancing "public awareness of the effects and benefits of mosses in our everyday environment." In addition to basic moss biology, the site discusses moss on sidewalks and rooftops, pros and cons of mosses in lawns and gardens, physical and chemical moss control methods, and moss encouragement.
Mad About Moss: The Simple Art of Moss Gardening, from the newsletter of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, recounts one gardener's bold experience of replacing a lawn with a carpet of moss, lays out the conditions for moss growth, describes how to start and maintain a moss garden, and oh so very much more. Living with Mosses and Mad About Moss.

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