[liff] Dymaxion Chronofile: The Ultimate Diary

2636.I have been additcted on various levels since high school of writing a diary. It must be said that right now that compulsion is tending toward a maximum, which is neither here nor there for anyone else but fairly joyous for me; also, there are levels of doing this. I'd like to be doing it a bit more; I tend to be distracted by shiny things and life events. 

If one asked oneself who the most dedicated diarist is, what would they say? Pepys, I'd imagine. I think there's one who kicked it up to the next level, thought, and that'd be the legendary Buckminster Fuller, a man who never did anything by halves.

And so it is with his journal, or, as he coined it, his Dymaxion Chronofile. In it he pretty much saved everything - newspaper clippings, photos, pictures, correspondence, reciepts, business transaction records. Originally it was kept as a series of leather-bound scrapbooks, but eventually due to centrifugal pressures such as storage, economics, and suchlike was simply filed in boxes.

The purpose of it all was to create a study of a life in context. Knowing what happened during certain times and viewing what Bucky saved within the scope of them would, I'd presume, generate some insight as to how a human responded to his surroundings, how he changed them and how they changed him, for starters.

Today, we'd call them lifeloggers or, if it were me, hoarder. Whatever. There may be lifeloggers out there … but they are certainly no Buckminster Fuller, who was smarter than just about everyone I've ever known (no offense, everyone I've ever known).

Here's something about the Chronofile from the Stanford University collection: http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/spc/fuller/about.html,  and this link will take you to a Google image search with the appropriate keywords. About four rows down is, for some bizarre reason, a photo of Sarah Palin. I don't know why either. Sometimes you just have to savor the irony. 

Technorati Tags: Buckminster_Fuller, Dymaxion_Chronofile, Diary, Diarists

[pdx] Portland: On The Edge Of Something Or Other

2629.(via OLive)The National Lists of Things Administration, outsourced at this juncture to the makers of Edge Shaving Gel, have deemed Portland as one of 10 cities on the "Edge of Greatness".

Having been born in Oregon and grown up in the Willamette Valley, I'd say what we're actually on is the Edge of Wetness, but that's my sarcastic side speaking out, and I've promised to discipline him this year. No dinner for you tonight, young man, and we're not reading you any more Camus for your bedtime story!

What pushes a city up to the Edge? Well, in our case, Indie arts (hallo, Indiewood!), indie music, a whole bunch of LEED-y buildings and soccer.

On the list, we are not quite as Edgy as Denver, but Edgier than Austin, Seattle, and even Los Angeles? Wha? We're edgier than Elay? Dude!

Here's the List. We await yet the next list of something or other that Portland will no doubt appear on.

If there's a list of cities that are apt to appear on lists, Portland would no doubt be right up at the top of it.

 
Technorati Tags: Lists, Portland, Best_of_lists

 

[pdx] What Now? Quebec Imperialism in Oregon?

2627.As Isaac Laquedem has found, Google Maps has deeded I-84 in NE Portland to French North America: it would seem to be also Quebec Route 366.

Just so the Quebecois PM knows, I draw the line at escargot. That stuff's nasty.

Technorati Tags: Google_Maps, Geographical_Bloopers

[logo] First Ahhnold and Maria Separate, Now This, or, Paging Sarah Connor

2621.So, just after we hear that Mr and Mrs Schwarzenegger separate, we hear that MSFT has bought Skype.

Hmm…

Coincidence?

I sure hope so.

Will Sarah Connor come to the white courtesy phone?

Via Jeff Patterson.

[tech] They Actually Are Still Making Typewriters, Somewhere

2615.It would seem that, as a wise American once expounded, reports of the death of the typewriter have been greatly exaggerated. This from Gawker, via The Great Penguini:

In the retelling, however, this somehow came to mean that Godrej & Boyce was the last existing typewriter manufacturer in the world, and that this therefore marked the final, wheezing gasps for the antiquated word-processing machines. From the fake typewriter ashes, a million nostalgic personal essays bloomed.

There are at least a few firms left that are creating new typewriters, including a firm referenced in the article that apparently creates "see-through" typewriters for use by prisoners.

Referenced was this search on Staples website which turns up several models. I would point out that these are strictly electronic typewriters, which, to me, is an important distinction … perhaps not to others, but certainly to me. I think the mechanical typewriter has a niche, infinitesimal though it may be.

But breathe easy, fellow lovers of the rustic art of creating type with actual mechanical effort … our day is not completely over. Not yet, anyway.

And while we're there, mea culpa for spreading a bit of un-information there. But it was with a good heart.

[icons] "Get A Mac": Art Imitates Life Imitates Art Imitating Life

2610.They've become iconic: John Hodgman as the PC and Justin Long as the Mac. Over many years and between 60 and 70 seperate commercials, the buttoned-down, business-suited, bland Hodgman became a sort of PC-tan against Long's Mac-tan in the ultimate collision of American advertising and moe anthropomorphism.

Turns out that the incarnations are actually quite close to the stereotype.

An article on PC World reports than an unscientific survey run by a site called Hunch suggests that the stereotypes have basis in reality:

An unscientific survey by Hunch, a website that makes custom predictions based on your interests, shows that PC users tend to prefer fitting in with others, are less tech savvy, and prefer Hollywood films over indie films. The same survey suggests Mac users tend to throw more parties, are modern art enthusiasts, and would rather drive a Vespa than a Harley.

The real cosmic joke, in my opine, is that John Hodgman is actually a hardcore Mac user:

Here is the joke that is absolutely apt, though I once promised I would never make it: "I play one on TV, but I am not a PC." It is true. I am first of all: not a computer, but a human being; and second of all: a Mac user, almost exclusively, since 1984. There was a brief period in the wilderness between 1997 and 2003. Let us not speak of it.

Justin Long is an Actor whom, I presume, doesn't trouble too much about computers.

And so it goes.

[art] Another Diary Portrait: PDX Mayor Sam Adams

2603.Yesterday at the Belmont Branch Library I did another drawing, this one based on another photograph. This time, it's a well known photograph of a well-known personage in this town: Mayor Sam Adams.

Some liberties were taken around the background, but I think I came pretty close here.

And closer:

I know it's not perfect either (the line of the mouth and the shading were a bit tough to hit), but I like the way I was able to pull this one off. I'll call this one a success.

[liff] Advice From the Gosselins? Even at Dollar Tree, That's Overpriced.

2603.The Dollar Tree is a great place to pick up cheap craft supplies. The Wife™ subjects me to visits weekly. The Dollar Tree, however, is not a good place to expand your library unless you want to stock the bathroom or do it ironically. Recently saw this glossy little number, and wondered if this signified some sort of cryptic disdain for the customer base:

The book. Multiple Bles8ings: Surviving and Thriving with Twins and Sextuplets, was on sale at the Foster Rd. Dollar Tree on a table of books they have out there - kind of like they do at Costco, except the books were clearly not exactly huge sellers the public. Jon and Kate, of course, having apparently felt the succeeded long enough at survining and thriving with twins and sextuplets, decided to plant C4 under thier marriage. Last seen, Kate is doing whatever she can to land on the cover of People next week, and Jon … actually, who gives a crap?

They said it was dollar for that. I told them they'd have to pay more than a buck for me to take it off their hands.

There is finally a retail space that is below the remainder bin.

I've tried coming up with another one-liner for this, but find that my mind is beggared for any ideas. But I will say this: though I am solidly against burning books, there are some which argue that maybe trees shouldn't have died to produce them.

[unicorns] PDX Unicorn Mounted Patrol - Magically Delicious

2600.A very very thrilled tip-o-the-unicorn-horn today to Farmer McGlitter, who's featuring a photo and a link to this blog entry in his blog Unicornomics today:

Word is getting out that Portland was built on a unicorn burial ground, and that makes us even more magical!

Farmer McG's post, including five things that make having a mounted unicorn patrol awesome, can be found here:

http://unicornomics.com/unicorn-mounted-police

Clean. Green. Sustainable. Magical. Unicorns!

 

[liff] Powell's City Of Books: Philosophy on the Return Carts

2593.The nifty thing about going to Powell's is, of course, you never know what sort of thing you'll take away from there, and I say that because if you don't leave with books, you leave with something to think about … a little philosophy, perhaps.

Seen on a book return cart in the Pearl Room (my favorite because that's where the art-how-to-books are) was this sagacity:

Now, if you're having any trouble reading this, here's the transcript:

The sticker reads:

NOTE to Supreme Court: Corporations have no belly buttons - Corp are NOT People!

The first response:

Note To Parents: Babies have no conscience - Babies are NOT people!

And the rejoinder to that:

Nonsense! Sociopaths have no conscience, and they are certainly people!

And, in an attempt to graphically define the proposition, there is a kind of circle-diagram below. I say kind of because the curve enclosing People looks more like an amoeba, which is fair, because some people I've met in my life strike me as amoebas (others as anaerobic organisms, but this isn't Rant Day, so I won't go there for now). The breakdown is kind of like this:

1. Babies and Sociopaths are both People but have no conscience;
2. Babies and Corporations both have no conscience but only Babies are People;
3. Sociopaths and Corporations both have no conscience but only Sociopaths are People;
4. Babies and Sociopaths and Corporations have no conscience as a commonality.

Sadly the diagram creator did not treat presence or abscence of belly buttons; hopefully they will revise the diagram when they figure out where the oval has to go. Hey, I'm not doing their work for them! I'm all hoi-polloi here, I do not trouble my mind with such fundamental building blocks of human thought!

I'll check again on this cart and see if it ever gets updated - providing I ever find it again.

 

[liff] A Supreme Irony

2591.I am doing the best writing in my life right now in my diary.

… but it's my diary. Which means I can't share it with you.

Duh.

[design] PDX Blue's New Design: Whatcha Gonna Do When They Come For You?

2591.This is not actually the first time we've seen a design change in the Portland Police Bureau livery. Back before 1990, they had a very smart look, a simple blue stripe with the words "PORTLAND POLICE" inline, a Portland Rose as the centerpiece, and the tagline "Sworn To Protect: Dedicated To Serve" in a subordinate position.

With the redesign to the sportier design in 90, we saw the tagline go away and the nice, balanced design. I was sad about this; I thought the layout was well done, and the tagline was very classic police branding.

Well, times change and they're going to be doing new cars - Ford's retiring the Crown Victoria nameplate and the PPB is likely going back to the revived Chevy Caprice - and this calls for a new design.

The Oregonian has a summation of some of the shortlisted designs at http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/03/new_wheels_for_portland_police.html, and they are … interesting. There's variations on the classic black-and-white and some very daring designs; one features huge, pumped up tires, and a machine gun with distressed type beside it, and the other has flame coming from the wheels and the announcement Here comes the HEAT on the rear quarter.. My money, though, is on the stripe-design that they abandoned back in '90 to come up with the current look, but I'm a lover of old-fashioned things when it comes to things like Police. When it comes to branding for an organization that people should trust in, you should go with something friendly and approachable.

But that ATV with the back-mounted machine gun … that shows verve, elan, joie de vivre, and any number of abstruse French words that mean "risk taking".

[pdx] A Church I Did Not Expect To Find In Portland

2587.Those who know me well and deeply know of an abiding, bordering on morbid, interest in spiritual salespeople, especially those of that uniquely American institution, the electronic church.

Something is incredibly distracting about a televangelist plying his televised wares - though, it must be said, not so much so that I'd actually start buying what they're selling.

America has borne more than her share of such amusements, from the sublime to the gross - usually gross. Of them all, though, and still the most unique and certainly the most entertaining, was pastor Dr. Gene Scott (1-800-338-3030), the Big, Absurd Man of God. This was Dr Gene Scott:



To say Gene Scott was a character was lame praise. He was larger than life, almost larger than himself. He did nothing in a small way. All one had to do was watch five minutes of one of his programs, seated leaning back in his chair, like some Picassoesque version of William F. Buckley, teaching scripture in terms nobody ever thought to do (Robin Williams once had it "I will now compare and contrast God and Spider-Man", and that's not far off the mark) cutting to a Gospel choir, and yelling Get on them phones! when calling for contributions, and you were either enthralled or converted.

He certainly was the most self-confident of all tv preachers. His teaching, take-it-or-leave-it, was the most amazing amalgam of the cerebral and the absurd there's ever been. His act, and not for trying by various modern exponents of the faith, has never been successfully followed.

He also lived life as big and loud as his preaching. His ministerial career brought him great wealth, none of which he was ever the least bit abashed about; he lived large, got large, and showed off his posessions with relish. A segment of his satellite-distributed show could just as likely be about his stable of thoroughbred horses as it might have been about the Bible. And he never apologized about it or made some excuse about how God somehow wanted him to have it, so far as I can recall; life rewarded him well for what he did, and he enjoyed it.

But toward the end of his life, his teaching style toned down a great deal, and he and his new wife as of 2000, Melissa, gave scholarly sermons with the tone of a college lecture at his aptly-named Los Angeles University Cathedral (well, not the cathedral part anyway). Dr Scott himself passed away at age 75 back in 2005. Pastor Melissa has carried on the work ever since, but without the panache of the Good Doctor himself, watching a Scott broadcast lost its ironic fun, and I moved on.

Though it must be said, if more pastors were as pulchritudinous as Melissa Scott, you wouldn't find young men getting bored with church, maybe.

Now, The Wife™ understands my proclivities in this wise, and spotted something in SE Portland that she thought I would find interesting:

"Did you know there's a Gene Scott Memorial Church over by Hawthorne?"

No, I didn't. That Gene Scott?

"The sign also says Pastor Melissa Scott."

Well. I'm hooked!

This last weekend, we found it. It's an old SE church, tucked away in one of the inner 'hoods, at the corner of SE 32nd Avenue and Taylor Street. Here it is in Google Maps Street View:



It's a very attractive building, obviously having been home to more than one congregation over the years. The little brown sign there, at the corner, is the smoking gun.




Dr. Gene Scott. University Chapel. Pastor Melissa Scott.

I suppose there may be more than one combination of the three bits of nomenclature above that would indicate some other formation of Scotts and chapel, but life has taught me that that's not the way to bet.
As big as the Scott's personalities were, it amazes me that we didn't hear more about it. But that's also life for you. And as it appears the building is up for sale, we can conclude safely that there won't be much more of a presence in PDX for the Wild Man of God, or his wife.

Dr Gene Scott, where ever you are … I salute you, sir. You always were a unique act. We could use more like you. At least for entertainment's sake.

[art, design] Portland Mercury's Japanese Tsunami Cover: Best. Damn. Alt. Weekly. Cover. Ever.

2585.One main reason I enjoy the Portland Mercury so much is why many other people don't; they don't take themselves seriously. You'll find good solid news in ther - the PMerc's City Hall coverage is good, if brief, and when they do do news they take a straight approach, but an atmosphere of whimsy pretty much pervades the publication.

The best part is the cover. Sometimes odd, somtimes sublime, sometimes WTF-inducing, the cover art always engages the eye. The thing about the cover art is that it doesn't always have much of anything to do with the stuff inside - but it does catch the eye. At least half the reason I seek out PMerc each week is to see what they were audacious enough to put on the cover.

This week, though, the best expression of the most important event of the year so far was found on the cover of the PMerc. Typically they have headlines laid down with the same whimsy the rest of the publication enjoys, complete with a sarcastic or goofy tagline. This week, here's what we have:

A black wave about to engulf the Rising Sun. No slapstick and the URL of the Red Cross instead of a one-liner tag line. The thing is, it caught me by (no joke intended) surprise. The practice of non-sequitur cover-art had become something of a learned-response to me - absorb the cover art without giving it too much meaning. So, the expression of sheer minimalism and simplicity snuck up on me. Because it had the drop on me, it made much more of an impression than if it had been something I expected to see.

Well done, PMerc, well done.

I hope you don't mind me showing this little bit of brilliance off.

Here's the archive page for this issue: http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/IssueArchives?issue=3654819

[pdx] Paula Deen Riding A Unicorn Spirit Over Portland, Y'all!

2576.Since Portland is known as a foodie town, and Paula Deen IS food, y'all, what would be more perfect than a union of the Deenzilla and the awesum unicorn spirit of Portland?

I know!

Your meme of the day: Paula Deen Riding Things. Here: http://pauladeenridingthings.com/. They even got Paulas you can insert into your own graphics and submit.

Which I have done.

[liff] My New Cyberdeck - SunDial Seven Launches

2562.

I finally can has upgrade.

One thing that has truly, truly hampered me is the age of my hardware. Up until last week, my platform was a Power Mac G4 … yes, a G4 … from 2003. It has served me honorably and well, and were it not for the relentless march of progress, it would have continued to serve well, if perhaps a little slowly.

I have been recompensed for a technical editing job I completed, however, and that has enabled me to acquire a long-delayed, extremely called-for, technical upgrade. SunDial Three, the old CPU, as devolved to The Wife™, as it's all she needs for her needs and more. Now, upon my desk, is an iMac.

I wasn't sure that an iMac would ever suit my needs; indeed, as a post some time ago vouchsafed, I was seriously considering a Mac Mini. I would still go that route, if it didn't make more sense to get the iMac.

My acquistion adventure took the same route my re-equipping adventure took two years back: PowerMax, that legendary Tualatin-based Apple reseller, who has been making people very happy for a very long time and has done it for me twice. You may find reviews about it online; they are not mere words. There are some severely happy people in the world of Macintosh because of them. The used range of Macs was impressive, to say the least. This particular one runs Leopard, and that, as much as an Intel heart, was crucially important. And it may seem "new to me" … but it seems new.

This iMac, for instance, was built in 2007. It's shiny, sparkly-clean, fast, powerful, and quiet, delivering power that I only thought would be obtainable via desktop Mac Pros. Of course, a replacement computer running Intel was absolutely essential, and this is a Core 2 Duo running 2Ghz. The old machine was a dual-processor PowerPC G4 PowerMac, packing 1.25Ghz.

I have need of a machine that will help me fight the competition battles that I plan on fighting. I need to catch up, and catch up quickly. This iMac - 20-inch screen, slimmer than a computer with this much power has a right to me, and quiet, quiet, quiet (the old G4 sounds like an air compressor next to it) will be instrumental in helping me to do some serious catching up.

I plan on documenting that in this, the public notebook of a striving, as yet unsuccessful but never truly giving up, graphic designer.

In the meantime, all mad props to PowerMax. I'll never buy from anyone else, if I can help it.

[liff] Everything I Needed To Know I Learned From War Of The Worlds

2561.

Just some basic truths.



Go here to read witticisms.

Technorati Tags: War of the Worlds

Powered by ScribeFire.

[VW] How Long Would You Wait To Recover YOUR Stolen VW Type 2?

2548.

Would you wait 36 years?

Submitted for your approval: Stolen in 1974 in Spokane, Washington; Recovered, 2010, Rancho Cucamonga, California.

For those less purist: the type 2 VW is what the rest of you all's call a VW Bus, VW Van or Microbus.

And so it goes.

Technorati Tags: Vee Dub, Volkswagen, Type 2, Microbus, strange

Powered by ScribeFire.

[art] Mandala Monks In The Library, Part II

2540.

We took some time out from OryCon 32 on Friday afternoon to peep the mandala I mentioned in the previous-minus-one missive. It had come quite a way, well towards being finished.

I, sadly, forgot the camera and do not have pictures. A completed version of one can be found at this page, click on the image just to the left of the text and it will expand for you; also some pictures of a similar one under construction can be seen here. A picture of a similar mandala, produced for the Dalai Lama's visit to the British House of Commons in 2008, (which suggests some style variation is allowed) can be seen right; it's sourced from Wikipedia here.

I can say that the impression upon approaching the mandala is that it's remarkable just how much surface relief it has. The nearest visual analogue I can cite is the way that the tops of decorated sheet cakes you get from the Safeway look. There is a granular visual texture to everything, and the fact that they are creating small ridges, mounds, and piles of colored sand are obviously explicitly taken advantage of the the monk constructors to cause some design elements to lead the eye about and stand out somewhat as focal points.

As I mentioned above, it looks like some variation in execution is permitted. Left, find a photo clip of the interior; an eight-petaled design. Notice how the gradations in color from the center to the outside of the petals at NW,SW,NE, and SE are discrete bands of color. In our library's version, the monks have achieved a gradation worthy of Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. It's truly impressive to see, and I'd love to know how it was done. Sadly, in as much as I'm not Buddhist nor a monk nor looking to be one, I should probably never find out. But it is suggestive of one of my favorite ideas, which is freedom within bounds and limits, of creativity amazingly unleashed which you are made to work within a canon of expression, which is utterly counter-intuitive but seems to be the way life works.

I've experienced it. But it defies easy explanation. And I digress.

When we got there, it was just before quitting time for the day, which was 5:30 PM. Four days into a five-day construction program, the mandala was largely complete, with just the outermost ring to be filled in. The circle of petal-like shapes just inside that were about 99 per cent completed.

The construction of the mandala depends of steady and exacting precision application of those colored powders by each of the monks. The tool for this is called a chakpur, which pictures I took can be seen in the entry two-back, and they're simply long metal funnels with a sawtoothed area on one side. The monk scoops up some colored sand from one of the bowls, strokes the chakpur with a metal stylus to make sure that sand has packed up against the applicator end, then lays the funnel against his forearm and goes to work. By lightly rapping the serrated surface back and forth, an almost waterlike stream of sand is deposited. The rest, I'm guessing, is practice and skill.

Once again, the mandala will remain for public viewing (the mere act of viewing seems to be held to impart a blessing to the viewer) until the 29th at noon, at which time the mandala will be ritualistically dismantled and the sands will be deposited in the Willamette (no worries, people, it's non-toxic. You think Buddhists would want to harm a fishy?) in order to release the compassion blessing to the world.

A good idea of what physical effort goes into creating a sand mandala can be seen at the Liveleak video here: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b42_1275511628. Six days condensed into about two minutes. Very enlightening, let's say.

Complete info, again, is here: http://www.multcolib.org/events/collins/mandala.html

Technorati Tags: Compassion Mandala, Drepung Loseling Monastery, Multnomah County Library

Powered by ScribeFire.

[art] Banksy At The Door of Number 10

2539.

How does Banksy do it? We'll never know, but I strongly suspect that Banksy is, in reality, the British PM.

Clicky to go to the original article
where the whole piccy can be escryed. May be NSFW,
YMMV, or if you clear the screen off real-quick-like when
the boss or any kids come in the room

The picture referenced, published by a British humor publication of sketchy rep, can only mean that, or that Banksy is more awesome than many of us assumed.

“Well of course it is embarrassing,” said a cabinet minister who asked not to be named,” but then again the value of the house has just gone up by about half a million pounds. Money is tight these days so, you know, and to be honest the Treasury is saying ‘well hang on a minute, lads – there might be something in this…’”

Well, we all have to make sensitive decisions these days.

Technorati Tags: Banksy, Britiain, spoofs, teh funnay

Powered by ScribeFire.