Now THIS was a computer game. I hope that the piece I’m working on now for NutsOnline.com is half as compelling and memorable.Lemonade Stand port for Mac OS X and PC. I think you Apple ][ people probably will need to scrounge a cassette tape.

during some research for this multi-screen project, i came across more inspiration. here is some time lapse video i found on the ‘net. the idea stems from Koyaanisqatsi. if you know of something similar, or where i can find royalty free hi-def video of this stuff, shoot me an email, or leave a comment. enjoy!
Building [...]

Matthew Falla has made a number if interesting electronic product and exhibit designs.Thanks to Crispin Jones for the link.

*** Had meant to publish yesterday. Apparently I am a blogging slacker***

Today marks the two year anniversary of the day that hurricane Katrina made landfall and immersed eighty-percent of the city of New Orleans in water, as high as 20 feet in some areas. To mark the event, President Bush, in a disgustingly typical political move, went down to visit the city and even ventured to the still painfully devastated neighborhood of the Lower 9th Ward, touring The Ninth Ward charter school, which two years ago was under 18 feet of water. Full article from the New York Times.

The reality of this visit can be summed up by this passage from the article:

“To get to the school, the president’s motorcade crossed a canal with new white cement wall that had “Hindsight” painted in large red letters. Along the route, considerable damage was still visible, with boarded-up houses and lots strewn with debris.”

However, President Bush was not the only politician that chose, two years later, to care about a city that has been virtually forgotten. Every hopeful presidential candidate seems to be jumping on the Katrina bad wagon, from Barack Obama to John Edwards and Hillary Clinton. As the Times Reports, New Orleans has become a ‘new’ element of the 2008 campaign.

Of course, despite my cynicism, this is good. Even Bush’s little trek to the city puts New Orleans back in the news. At this stage, as suicide rates and crime skyrocket in the city and many people still have yet to see a dime of financial assistance from the federal government, any coverage of what is really happening is absolutely a godsend. But where have these ‘interested parties’ been for the last two years?

My friends Michelle Citrin and William Levin made this. Go team!

testing

I have definitely been busy since I returned from Northern Ireland. School has started, and I am teaching two-and-a-half classes, with seven adjunct instructors teaching labs. Ay caramba. I am almost done with the Armagh Media Project Web site. I have a looooooooong list of things still to catch up on, courtesy of having spent the summer in Europe. But I would do it again.

Help Choose My New Boots

Zappos gave me a $30 gift certificate for having to deal with UPS bullcaca. I am going to buy some stylish new boots. Which should I buy?

So How Are the Katz?

The kitties are fine. They spend a lot of time trying to hump each other and chasing each other around. No blood has been shed, thankfully. They have extended their little competition to the litter box, where they seem to be having a contest to see who can, uh, depost the most and the stinkiest. In desperation, I went out and purchased that expensive blue crystal litter by Fresh Step. Amazingly, the stuff works as advertised, eliminating poop odor and miraculously soaking up all of the peep. If you have a stinky cat poop problem - try it. Although it’s expensive, it seems that the blue crystals last a while. The two of mine will probably go through a bag a week.

Continuing on…..
Seattle Waterfront Arcade
Because of this particular arcade’s proximity to a lot of Seattle’s tourist attractions on the waterfront, I suspect that local arcade game enthusiasts may not know about this one or want to deal with parking down in the increasingly popular area (according to a new report Seattle now ranks ninth in the [...]

This just in from Chicken John’s campaign headquarters or whatever he calls his bus or his loft or whatever. I am proud, or at least bemused, to say I have donated heavily to this campaign. Someone’s gotta speak up for the San Francisco I moved out her…

it’s been ages since posting. just want to update with photos from what i’ve been doing…

ate at a noodle shop in seoul that served all-you-can-eat peanut butter on toast to accompany your kimchi ramen:

discovered that they sell hypodermic needles in the art supply store:

started growing sprouts in fishnet stockings:

went to an electronic music performance where this trumpeter made sounds

I love it and I hate it.
I love the effectiveness and hate the superficiality. I like the ease and yet dislike the tools. We have gotten so easily used to minimizing our conversations to a chat window - generic SMS messages - receiving e-cards instead of real post. When things come too easy, we tend [...]

Final verdict: I did fall on my butt, but my tailbone is okay (a little numb after the bike ride to work this morning). I bruised my left and right knee caps falling forward too. Rental skates suck hard. My right skate kept pulling me to the right.

It was beautiful though. I think I’ve been waiting for something like this for a long, long time. Perhaps since the last time I played roller hockey with the boys on my street. Before they realized I was older and a real girl.

Whenever I skate, I’ve always skated for speed. I always try to joke around with people that I lap (circling them, whipping off them, slowing down into them, etc). At the open skate it just clicked and everyone was really supportive. It ain’t hockey, but maybe it’s better.

I miss my blades though. I’ll have to get used to quad skates; right now I feel like I have a wing clipped. Anyway, if I make it through I’m thinking of going by Deadeye (looks at spcedog).

Fucking finally.
A new blog address means finally being able to comment.  ohmygodthepossibilities.  In all honesty, I have not a clue in the world if anyone stops by here sometimes occasional, but in the off chance that you do, I’d love to know it and know what you might think.  The whole move was actually finally [...]

After a very long time with Movable Type, I’ve finally switched over to Word Press. I’ve wanted to this for so long now, but the fact that MT wouldn’t properly export all my previous entries and that Godaddy wouldn’t properly serve Word Press stuffs made it somewhat difficult. I’ve switched my Godaddy hosting [...]

One more video. . .

Run Lola Run Lola Run Lola Run Lola Run from shiffman and Vimeo.

The Kaywa Reader is a 2D Barcode Reader to install on your mobile phone. Once installed, you can scan 2D Barcodes and the content of the 2D Barcode is then immediately resolved on the phone. This idea is not new at all, semacodes have been around for a while. What I really liked about this [...]

natural selection is harsh, especially when it starts at school. i wrote EVOLUTION after seeing a girl i’d made fun of in fourth and fifth grade when i was walking to the store. of course being the adult i am today, i ran across the street so she wouldn’t see me. this comic is my [...]

I spent all weekend at Heartland Havoc (yay Gotham!), so of course I want to join again. There’s even a skating workshop with the Ohio Roller Girls on Sunday. I have no excuse this year; Veronica Mars got cancelled (but yay for KB on Heroes!) and I’ve lived here a year and have no friends outside of work.

The thing is my bum is still smarting from falling down the stairs. The last thing I need is to fall on my butt skating in front of people I’m trying to impress and start crying cause my coccyx is screaming. Sometimen I can barely sit at work.

*sigh* And the roof is leaking. When will the thunderstorms quit?

With a little over three weeks left until the Conflux Festival, Angela and I are pushing the further development of our project Under the Level into high gear. In addition to the functionality that has been part of the project since day one, we are creating an interactive map, based on source code for a wordpress plugin created by Steven Jackson (and with his assistance of course) and we are utilizing some audio and video footage taken by Scott Corrigan during the ITP visit to New Orleans this past March. We plan to include the audio (interviews with NO residents) as part of the interaction a user would experience with their phone and incorporate some of the video footage from the Lower 9th Ward on the web site (which is also getting a makeover). We also plan to start a blog, hopefully with other contributors, that not only will provide information about the current circumstances in New Orleans, but also discuss issues relating to climate change and natural disasters.

We are scheduled to give our workshop at Luna Lounge, which is located at 61 Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg from 11am to 12:30pm Thursday, September 13th and Saturday, September 15th. After the workshop, we will be conducting a walking tour through the streets of the surrounding area for anyone that would like to experience the project in its intended environment.

In addition to many other very interesting projects at Conflux this year, several former and current ITP students will be showing work. Mike Dory will be showing Concrete Crickets, Dan Phifer and Mushon Zer-Aviv will be showing Shift Space and Christian Croft and Kate Hartman will be showing Energy Harvesting Dérive. Forgive me if I missed anyone.

It should be an awesome time!!

IAC Video Wall Day 2 from shiffman and Vimeo.

The last place that I visited in Ireland was one of the most magical. CS Lewis wrote in a letter to his brother that Rostrevor was his inspiration for the world of Narnia. Lewis was born in Belfast (something I did not know), and Rostrevor is kind of halfway between Belfast and Armagh. It was raining on Friday, but I knew I wanted to go. So I boarded the bus to Newry and then to Rostrevor and set out in the Fairy Glens.

I returned to the US on Saturday night. Wendy took good care of the cats while I was away. mfinchina seemed to have survived the days she spent at my apartment, and made it to her family in upstate New York. I invited Wendy, her roommate Karen and Mario over on Sunday evening, still groggy with jet lag.

They asked me which part of my summer travels I liked the most. I had to say Ireland. Italy was beautiful, life was easy, and of course I love Paris. But Ireland has that rare combination of breathtaking scenery, history and politics that is incomparable. And I was in Northern Ireland, remember, so perhaps the troubles of the recent past just added to the intrigue.

But now I’m back. I have so many things to do before school starts on Monday. aiwanakademie, do you want to meet for drinks on Friday? lxbean do you want to go to the Clark Park Farmer’s Market on Saturday? kylecassidy I have London Sunday Times magazines. master_nefer, what is your schedule? I have been away for a long time.

Click here to see more images of Narnia.

IAC Video Wall Test from shiffman and Vimeo.
We’re testing the most pixels ever library on the IAC Video Wall. So far it works.
More to come in the next two days. . .

Looking down at Lake Isabella from our camping site

Group shot in the middle of desert with Jay and his friends (from left: Jay(Fire Poker), me(guest of honor ), sasha(Skinny Raven), mike(Squirrel Chief), Joe(Snow Legs), Pedro(Sky Pointer) and Melissa(another guest of honer) -  I think Zelmo, Diane and Debbie already left at this photoshoot.)
As [...]

Or what a couple of days. I’ve learned that:

• rabies treatments are very painful (poor abean)
• falling down the stairs is not the way to start the day
• powerful people can have really unstable dogs
• the # of jokes per accident drops depending on severity

My butt hurts, Alina’s leg hurts but we’re ok. Oh, and Floyd doesn’t even seem to remember hurtling down the stairs with me at all. Dogs are great that way, I just wish she could walk herself for a few days.

Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve loved to eat lemons. On their own. My mother apparently did the same thing when she was a kid, only she’d put salt on them. Of course, that’s not nearly as weird as it sounds, given the wonderful delicacy of preserved lemons. This morning, my friend Zach [...]

There is a lot of talk about the frustrations that advertisers have working in the so-called “new media” space because consumers are more savvy and are finding an increasingly smaller percentage of websites sticky as more and more pop up on the web every day. Frustratingly, marketers seem to think that creating social networking sites [...]

Thanks to everyone who came out tonight to the closing party of the Interactive Youth exhibition at Material Connexion. I’d also like to thank everyone at Material Connexion, who hosted a great event, especially the outstanding Ben Rosenthal, Project Manager for Public Programs.

Also, in from the archives is a link from back in May from the Popular Science How 2.0 Blog about the ORB at Maker Faire.

Ok… here you are going to notice how much I like TV.Tonight was the finale of “So you think you can dance”. I saw every single episode of this show. I was hooked from the very beginning. I had my doubts, thinking it was going to be the same mediocrit…

Admittedly, I’m a chart geek. I have copies of all the relevant Tufte books. I feel that I know a deceptive or misleading chart when I see one.
Let’s look at this one at cnn.com, about obesity rates in the US.

At first glance, I noted, damn, look at the red, the south sure is [...]

The Interactive Youth exhibition at the Material Connexion will be hosting a closing party tomorrow, Thursday at their Chelsea location. The exhibit features work by Anne Hong, Andrew Schneider, Ron and Nick Sears and my self. If you plan on coming ple…

This recent article in the Times (the UK one, not the New York one) explains how modern beef and dairy production is actually worse for the environment in many respects than cars (he uses the average UK car which, if my memory of having lived over there serves me right, is tiny and very fuel [...]

Picture a Day now has its own album here. The generic skin will soon be replaced with one that goes with the rest of the site, but for now, that’s what you’ve got.
Enjoy!