Archive for October, 2008

Oct
31

Democrats and 401(k)s?

Someone told me yesterday that they had heard that “the Democrats wanted to get rid of 401(k)s.” Obviously, as someone intending to take advantage of the 401(k) plan at work, this concerned me – also, I’d not heard it talked about at all in this election cycle, which intrigued me, since I’ve been paying reasonably close attention, so I went digging. I have to admit – I don’t have a great understanding of the economy (much like Sen. McCain’s notorious admission), so I’m playing catch-up.

So what’s up? If you google “democrats 401k”, you get a bunch of right-leaning blogs declaring that Obama and Pelosi want to gut 401(k) plans. Let’s take a look.

Congress – specifically the House Education and Labor Committee – was having hearings earlier this month on economic issues and had a lot of ‘expert witnesses’, people who are considered to be experts in the field being debated, gave testimony. One of these was Teresa Ghilarducci, who is a professor at the University of Notre Dame and director of their Center for Economic Policy Analysis. She had a pretty dramatic proposal – to eliminate all tax incentives for 401k plans. Instead she suggested a government-sponsored program, set up with mandatory minimum savings rate, with a match of $600 per year for lower-income workers. A few Democrats, notably the committee chair George Miller – have indicated that they thought her proposal was interesting and contained elements they thought should be considered.

Now, does the most drastic plan proposed by just one of several expert witnesses mean that “the Democrats want to get rid of 401(k)s”? That is a question I leave to you, but first some reading on the issue:

Posted in Politics | No Comments »

Oct
20

Coolness roundup 10/20

At the suggestion of Eric, I thought I’d do a little roundup of a few things I’ve seen recently that I thought were awesome. (Actually, it was my idea, but Eric gave me the tiny amount of encouragement that I needed.)

Booty Juggler

Rachel would tell you that I have a certain affection for things piratey. (Yarr.) So I was delighted to see the post on grain edit this morning about Booty Juggler. It’s both a lot of fun, and one of the most beautifully designed (and amusingly designed) Flash games I’ve seen. So check it out.

HOPE – CHANGE

Erik Natzke is, quite simply, the man. I saw him speak at FITC, and thought, man, this is what generative art ought to be like. So my ambition is to do work as interesting as his. But more on that later. Anyway, check out his latest work. (Yes, that’s generative art, not paint.) Oh yeah, and make sure you vote.

The New Yorker

Quick little thing, the cover of the New Yorker – what a great little illustration. Saw it on ISO50. I just really dig the style, it’s a lot of fun. And again, make sure you vote.

Thomas

And lastly, this one is for Adwoa. And me too, because I think it’s adorable. Saw this first on grain edit, but the meat is on Design*Sponge. If only I could find a copy of it… my future (hypothetical) children would love it, and in the meantime, I imagine I would enjoy it too.

(Vote.)

Posted in Inspiration | 1 Comment »

Oct
19

The Visitor

I watched a movie tonight. Which, if you know me, is not at all strange. My friends would say that I’m a bit of a movie addict, and getting a Netflix subscription has only played in to my weakness.

It’s a funny thing… in my four years of college, I was pretty busy. Swimming took up a lot of time, and the New Media program was always demanding – each year, I thought it was demanding, and until partway through senior year, it would always get more demanding. Early on, I got hooked on movie trailers, but I so rarely could find time to see movies. Besides, during large sections of my college career, if I did carve out a little free time, it seemed like I never could find anyone to see a movie with. The other problem: for some reason, watching movies was “something I did with other people.” I’d watch movies that I’d seen before by myself, but for some reason, I felt like discovering a new movie alone was somehow a little strange or pathetic.

Needless to say, I’ve gotten over that. Towards the end of school, I started putting together a movie list – classic movies I’d never seen, movies other people recommend, or movies whose trailers I’d seen but hadn’t gotten a chance to check out. It’s a pretty long list.

So all of that is a long way around saying that I’ve been watching lots of movies since moving to SLC. And I like movies, I’m often a pretty easy critic – I can recognize that a movie is pretty bad and still find a lot of enjoyment in it. Tonight, though, I watched a film that really grabbed me in a way that doesn’t happen very often.

The Visitor, written and directed by Thomas McCarthy, is the story of a depressed, disaffected college professor who reluctantly comes to New York City for a conference. He has not been to his New York apartment for years, but upon returning to it, discovers that a young immigrant couple is living in it. What follows… well, I don’t want to tell you all about it, because you should find a copy and see it. It’s a very human movie – about healing, about discovery, about secrets, about giving up, and about not giving up. I loved it. So please, check it out.

Posted in Life, Movies | No Comments »

Oct
17

Fleet Foxes

White Winter Hymnal from Grandchildren on Vimeo

Last night went along with Jon, Tyler, and Gary to check out Fleet Foxes, playing at the Venue, a terribly creatively-named joint in a seedy part of town. It turned out to be an interesting evening – got yelled at by a grouchy cop (who rolled down his window to shout at me for taking too long to get out of his way in a gravel parking lot), stood in line for a long time, worried that we wouldn’t get in. Some of the crowd was pretty obnoxious, and there was an interesting episode with a lady had a bit too much of something, and was feeling the music (and nearly falling down).

All that aside, the music was pretty fantastic. I struggle to categorize it. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I don’t have to. Such interesting sounds and methods for making them – in a song early in their set, the lead-guitarist was using a string bass bow to play chords on his electric guitar. And the lead singer was so chill – every time the place was filled by applause, he seemed so shocked – as if to say, “You’re clapping for us? Really? Wow. That’s awfully nice of you!”

So it was a nice time, and I’ll have to look into their tunes more. I’d been trying to remember where I’d heard them first – after the show, I finally remembered that the “White Winter Hymnal” video was on Motionographer a month or too back. So check it out in the embedded video above.

(Nice bonus – someone was handing out free compilation cds at the entrance, which I hung on to all night despite a suspicion that it might totally blow… but so far I’ve been pretty impressed with it. It seems to a label-compilation of indie-folk music. Yes, I said indie-folk. A little different, but so far pretty enjoyable.)

Posted in Life, Music | No Comments »

Oct
14

“I have read about him, and he’s an Arab.”

Over the weekend, I saw an article on CNN that I just want to talk a little bit about, because quite frankly I can’t get it out of my head.

Since this is kind of a political post, I will issue a disclaimer up front – I’ve already decided that I’m supporting Sen. Obama. Having said that, that isn’t what this post is about at all – I won’t be trying to convince you that you should vote for him.

What I want to talk about is this article [source] that tells of a woman at a rally who stated, “I don’t trust Obama. I have read about him and he’s an Arab.”

This is what has been bothering me. For one thing, the ignorance of that statement frightens me a little bit. An Arab would be someone from, or with ancestry from, Arabia, or the Middle East as we often call it. Sen. Barack Obama is the son of a man from Kenya (which, if you’ll consult your atlases, is not in Arabia) and a white woman from Kansas (which is most definitely not in Arabia – I do hope we can all get together on that.)

I don’t know if that woman was confused about his heritage, but I suspect that she was trying to suggest that Sen. Obama is a Muslim. First of all, he is not – every respectable media outlet has fact-checked that, thanks to that rumor that keeps coming back (thank you internet) – and I was pleased that Sen. McCain was good enough to correct her. Secondly, it seems to imply that being a Muslim is somehow bad or un-American.

Now, this just makes me angry. I am not Muslim – I grew up in the Episcopal Church. But I also like to learn a little bit about the world around me, and I try not to be ignorant. And I am infuriated by this thought-process since Sept. 11th that Arab = Muslim = Terrorist.

Let’s get a few things straight. While Europe was in the midst of the “Dark Ages,” Muslims in Arabia were rediscovering and expanding upon the learnings of Classicism (Greek and Roman learning), practicing math, science, astronomy, medicine, and other disciplines at a level that it would take Europe until the Renaissance to catch up to. So let’s not hate.

Muslims are people who practice the religion of Islam. It quite literally means “submission” – submission to the God of Abraham, who they call Allah. Of the Five Pillars, which constitute the chief practices of “good” Muslims, one of them is zakat, or alms-giving. Muslims are called upon to help those less fortunate than themselves, to work to eliminate the inequalities in this world that lead to suffering. Other core beliefs include declaring their belief in Allah, praying, making pilgrimage, and fasting. If these are the marks of an evil people, I’ll be on their side, please.

People point to many violent extremist acts that are carried out in the name of Islam – the so-called Islamic Terrorists. Yes, there are terrible people who claim Islam as the reason that they do what they do. But I would ask any Christian – is the KKK a good reference for the religion you believe in? The Klan claimed Christianity and used Scripture to support their atrocities.

But let’s dig a little further. If Islam is, as I believe, a peaceful faith, practiced by 1.5 billion people, where are these extremists coming from? The poorest places on earth, generally. There are rich extremists, yes. Osama Bin Laden comes from a very wealthy family. In some of the poorest countries – where the populace is generally impoverished and the government lacks either the means or the will to provide education, medical care, or food for the hungry, these rich extremists are the ones filling the need. In Three Cups of Tea (see my previous post), Greg Mortenson relates seeing radical madrassas pop up in the rural highlands of Pakistan, and hears accounts of wealthy men from Saudi Arabia coming with suitcases of cash to build them. Extremist ideologies take hold in these places because, frankly, no one else is helping the people out – the hand that feeds you, educates you, and keeps your family alive will ultimately be the hand that affects your view of the world.

And one last thing – yes, Sen. Barack Obama’s middle name is Hussein. It’s not just the last name of Iraq’s former leader. It’s an incredibly common name with many spellings, depending on region and varying over the centuries. So if I could stop seeing forwarded emails and internet comments about “Barack HUSSEIN Obama” (as if a middle name that was given to him is somehow proof that he “hates freedom”), that would be fantastic.

So this is my plea – please, please, let’s calm down and learn a little bit about the world around us. And maybe we can even extend a helping hand and take a stab at fixing the root problems that have lead to so much intolerance, hatred, and death.

(P.S. I think it’s worth reading Campbell Brown’s commentary on the issue. It certainly bears repeating.)

Posted in Politics, Soapbox, World | No Comments »

Oct
12

Three Cups of Tea

I just finished (literally, not more than ten minutes ago) a pretty awesome book.

I don’t recall when I first heard of it, maybe on Amazon, I really don’t recall. I do remember being reminded of it when the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour came to RIT, because there was a blurb about it in the accompanying magazine, and I discussed it with my friend Brendon (who, when I last spoke to him, was in a cyber-cafe in Greece, but he had picked up the book before leaving the US, so he was working through it as well).

Three Cups of Tea is the story of Greg Mortenson, a mountaineer who, after being defeated by the treacherous heights of K2 and losing sight of his guide, mistakenly found his way into a poor village in the mountains of Pakistan. Not only did this stroke of luck likely save his life, but it also changed it, as the hospitality he received inspired him to return to build a school for the village. What began as a single promise grew into the Central Asia Institute, building schools in the rural heights of Pakistan and Afghanistan, particularly focused on the education of girls.

The book, cowritten by David Oliver Relin, is captivating. I know a lot of people who insist that they don’t read non-fiction because it is boring – it is possible that I am wired differently, as most of what I’ve read recently has been non-fiction, but I defy people to call this story boring. It’s a statement of what American foreign policy at its best could be. In a part of the world where poverty and desperation feed the ranks of extremism, “Dr. Greg” aims to combat the source of the problem – giving people, particularly girls – education, and thus the means to improve their lives. Rather than trying to win an idiological war militarily (as killing people who believe that you are an oppressor is unlikely to change their opinion), Mr. Mortenson has been actively “winning the hearts and minds” of these people.

It’s quite a popular book, so you’ve probably heard of it. It was a New York Times #1 Bestseller, has won awards and probably been on many book-club lists. But if you haven’t read it, you should check it out. Grab it at Amazon, or visit ThreeCupsOfTea.com to learn more.

Posted in Books, World | No Comments »

Oct
11

Music in the mornings?

I’ve been having a hard time getting up in the morning. Since moving to SLC, I’ve been relying on my cell phone’s alarm clock – not the most pleasant way to wake up in the morning. So I’ve been thinking that music is probably a better plan.

It got me thinking about a clock that I saw on the ISO50 blog a while back – the Porsche Design P´9121 by Etón . I’m a big fan – at least from the front, it’s striking. My friend Adwoa remarked that it’s a very “male” design – I suppose I see what she means, but I’m strangely okay with that. It seems a lot less elegant and graphic in the 3/4 view though – I suspect I’d need to see one in person to judge it. Regardless, the price tag on this puppy is $600 – I’m nowhere near the point that I’d be comfortable spending that much on an alarm clock – I’m not sure I ever will. So for the time being, I will be digging out the radio alarm clock I’ve used since I was in grade school.

Photo by pt

The radio alarm will work for now, but it’s old and kinda ugly, so for kicks, thinking about a do-it-yourself approach. A quick Google search yielded a simple alarm from back *way* back in 2005, as seen above. Not a clue how hard it would be – I can’t find any sort of instructions or advice, and I have the very tiniest bit of electrical experience. But I think it may be time to get more – I think I may be wanting to do more some more electrical work in the future.

Posted in DIY, Inspiration | 1 Comment »

Oct
9

The XO-1

I don’t remember when the first time I heard about the One Laptop Per Child project was. I do remember my first reaction – I thought, that’s all well and good, but I feel like there might be more important things to do first – provide clean water, food, shelter… But the more I’ve read about it, heard about it, and thought about it – I don’t feel like it’s a distraction anymore. Of course clean water, disease control, nutrition are all important. But how about education? Education has to be the solution. Because the truth is, at the end of the day, people from the rich, developed world won’t be the ones to solve the problems of the developing world. It will save itself, but it’ll take education. And this is what the laptops are really for.

That being said, the laptops aren’t supposed to be a top-down educational tool – “You will sit and learn THIS, because we’ve decided it’s important!” No, it’s for the kids to learn and interact themselves – to connect to the internet, to collaborate, to explore and program and create.

So let’s take a look at the laptop that OLPC has developed, the XO-1. The technology is pretty impressive. In making a laptop that could really be used worldwide in developing areas, they were basically tasked with building the most energy-efficient computer ever – and they seem to have done a really good job – 5-10% the power use of a normal laptop. How does it get its electricity? There are options – a solar panel for use during the day, hand cranks or foot pedals for when that’s not an option. The motherboard can turn off while the screen stays on to save battery power. And perhaps most interesting is the mesh network.

The mesh network allows laptops to share an internet connection wirelessly – if one laptop can connect to the internet, another laptop can connect to it, and it will form a whole network of internet-sharing – very useful in a school or a village setting. (Check out OLPC’s mesh network demo if you’re a little fuzzy on the concept – just click on the laptops to turn them on and drag them around to move them)

I was watching a video about the design of the laptops – you can watch it below – and discovered something I didn’t know before. All computers, it seems, are required to have some sort of chime when they power on. The chime for the XO-1? It’s a 4-chord sequence, provided courtesy of the band U2. It comes from the song “Beautiful Day.” I think it’s awesome – mostly because I absolutely love U2. How I got into their music is a whole other tangent, but I’ve also been impressed in recent years by the work that Bono does. I get annoyed as anyone by celebrity charity causes, but Bono really knows his stuff – he got a graduate degree in development studies, working under Jeffrey Sachs (economist/professor – Harvard, Columbia University, The End of Poverty – more about him to come later too).

So all of this is pretty awesome. Come mid-November, OLPC is teaming up with Amazon for their second give-one-get-one program – allowing consumers to purchase one for themselves, and donating a second to OLPC target countries. Looking forward to that – I want to check one of these puppies out.

And since technology never stands still – the designs for the XO-2, which should be unleashed upon the world in 2010.

Posted in World | No Comments »

Oct
7

What's your Carfun Footprint?

So… since setting up here in SLC, what have I been up to? The first big project I worked on since coming to Struck full-time was the MINI Carfun Footprint Calculator.

MINI Cooper asks drivers to keep their environment in mind (something I wholeheartedly agree with) – but insists that drivers don’t have to sacrifice fun when they drive. Therefore: the Carfun Footprint Calculator.

At Struck, we had the task of building the calculator. My man Jon Minori workshopped the device with the folks at BSSP, coming up with a design for the device. My chief task was modeling the calculator in 3d after the design was solid – taking a 2-dimensional design, bringing it into 3d, and finally animating the device. The texturing of the device – making the chrome shiny, the leather polished, – generally making the device beautiful – was done by Jeramy Morrill.

The development team rocked hard on programming the device, and Jon and Matt Austin rocked the animations that occur on the device screen, particularly the Green Score and Fun Score animations, which featured illustrations by Dan Christofferson.

This is why it’s great to be at Struck – everybody rocks pretty hard.

Posted in Interactive, Struck | No Comments »

Oct
6

Call it a new day

Well, hey there – if you’re reading this, welcome, thanks for reading.

This is, as far as I’m concerned, the relaunch of my blog, here with a new name on a new domain. I’ve left the old posts, however, so you can poke through my sporadic posts from my senior year – chuckle a little at how bad I was at keeping up with my blogging, how I’d promise to post about things, then fail to… hopefully, this time things will be a little different.

I’ll be tweaking the design of the blog as it goes along – trying to keep it fairly simple, so that when I post lots of visual content (again, the burden is on me for that) it’ll shine.

Going to keep this short – it’s past my self-imposed bedtime, work in the morning… but coming up in the next week or two:

  • the work I’ve been contributing to at Struck
  • a little bit of personal work
  • One Laptop Per Child, and the amazing (to me, anyway) tidbit about it that I just discovered tonight

… and who knows what else. Watch this space!

Posted in Blog, Life | No Comments »

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