Archive for November, 2009
Take your time.
Thursday, November 26th, 2009Happy Thanksgiving to one and all. We wish you time to savor, whatever your meal and whomever it is with.
Genuine Telecast
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009Yes, this is slime mold
Friday, November 20th, 2009
Bless this Russian fella who beautifully photographs slime mold!
The price of ambivilence.
Thursday, November 19th, 2009Paul Van Zyl is a former anti-aparthied activist and the Executive Secretary of the Truth and Reconciliation commission. He is cofounder and the Executive Vice-President of the International Center for Transitional Justice. His talk here is about America and our use of torture – a practice repeatedly condoned by our former Vice President. Van Zyl lives in the U.S. now with his wife and child. Calling us all out, he asks, when you allow torture where does the line get drawn? He speaks of this as a matter of self interest, “We need repudiation of torture not just because it’s wrong, but because once you’ve opened the Pandora’s box, the violence and degradation are seldom confined to your enemies alone.” Americans can not be ambivalent about torture. We need our own Truth and Reconciliation commission.
Shine on.
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Live Now is a project created by Eric Smith after being diagnosed with cancer. Check out it out and go back when you’re needing some affirmation. Thanks to Aaron Bouvier for sending us the link.
Romanesque cauliflowers?
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
Sample chatter on this 3D, nature inspired art from the amazing blog dataisnature: “This particular chaotic expulsion generates organic looking surfaces complete with baroque vegetation – its not hard to imagine a forest of Romanesque cauliflowers invading a small cave, growing in clumps of (a)symmetry.” Delicious!
Patients like me.
Monday, November 16th, 2009We just caught our friend Jamie Heywood on NPR’s Morning Edition this morning. He was talking about Patients Like Me the online community he and his brothers created for people with ALS, Multiple Sclerosis, AIDS or depression, to name a few. It is a “platform for collecting and sharing real world, outcome-based patient data.” Patients share and track their experiences and symptoms. The site aggregates the information. The more people share, the more information will be generated. Useful for patients, doctors and researchers alike. Listen
Friday, November 13th, 2009
The other night my seven-year-old’s homework was to write what he would do to celebrate the veterans on Veterans Day. He decided on cash, in the amount of $100,000.75¢, to be exact. My parent’s were part of the anti-war movement when I was his age. The Vietnam war was very present for me and my brothers. We were very aware of the death and suffering on all sides. We also thought we could end it by organizing, speaking out, protesting. My parents and their friends took huge risks. Some of them were part of the Camden 28. At the late age of five I gave up my pacifier for Daniel Berrigan. In my mind a sacrifice beyond compare.
How can I be detached from the 2 wars we are in now? Is it because there is no draft? Or is it the firehose of distractions all around? Can you imagine if you were Obama and had to decide to escalate or not? Or a soldier who will fight? Or the mother, sister, father, daughter, son, wife, husband, who has to say goodbye and wait. And then the legacies of war that last long after the fighting is done. What then?
