Cold War Era Rocket Ship Playgrounds
The above work is credited to Artist Lauren Orchowski. She created a great photographic series of 23 Cold War era rocket-theme playground structures, called Rocket Science, made with an 8 x 10 inch view camera between 2005 and 2008 all over the United States. [Source: Lauren Orchowski, via Gizmodo]
This brought back back memories of my former pre-school in Elkhart, IN (I think it was called Seven Dwarfs Nursery School). Regardless, we had a very similar rocket ship. Actually, now that I consider it, I remember most of the playgrounds of my childhood playing host to this fleet of missle slides. :)
A Fractal Fairytale
On March 5th, 2009, in a brief moment of Existentialism, I posted a Tweet (which then subsequently updated my Facebook status) that I think that "all of life as we know it and the universe is fractal!".
Mike Bonifer, someone whom I had the pleasure of meeting at an event a couple of months ago in Salt Lake City where he spoke on the topic of improvisation, replied:
"It's good. Sounds like the start of a Fractal Fairy Tale...".
To which, I replied "Indeed.....lets improvise one via our status updates ;)".
Little did I know that it would set off a chain of events over the next 48 hours that would result in a improvised multi-media fairytale co-created via Facebook by Mike Bonifer, John Woodiel, and I. I am providing the outcome of this collaborative below so as to preserve it in a public setting and therefore share it with a broader audience. Enjoy!
-Prologue-
Jeremi Karnell: In the beginning, there was darkness, and then BANG! An infinity complex of time, space, and matter.
John Woodiel: Without a sound, the matter took on a life of it's own. Moving and expanding like the slow formation of ice crystals or snowflakes, it became more violent and complex while maintaining it's mesmerizing serenity.
---------
John Woodiel: Without a sound, the matter took on a life of it's own. Moving and expanding like the slow formation of ice crystals or snowflakes, it became more violent and complex while maintaining it's mesmerizing serenity.
---------
Mike Bonifer: Once upon a time, the Number One was all there was. And it was lonely.
Number One gave its loneliness a name. And that is how Zero came to be.
Mike Bonifer: One and Zero began to dance, and their dance became an idea and their idea became code and in this code they discovered meaning.
Jeremi Karnell: From supergaltic to subatomic, the continuum wrapped its arms around all that was and all that will be.
Mike Bonifer: One and Zero had a word for the meaning they had discovered. They called it Who-ha.
John Woodiel: Who-ha had an ulterior motive. Who-ha ultimately tempts zero to consume from a mystical concept alluding to the interconnectedness of all life, telling zero that it will not lead to the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a living organism. Zero succumbs, and convinces One to do so as well. Aware now of their exposed nature, they try to cover this that is embarrassing or disagreeable. And hide from the sight of The Continuum.
Mike Bonifer: Fearful of the Continuum, One and Zero dance only in darkness. They call out Who-Ha's name, hoping to recover the mystical concept and hear once more the promise of convergence. From this darkness, two offspring emerge, twin points of light named Knowledge and Wisdom.
Jeremi Karnell:
010000010111010000100000011101000110100001100001011101
000010000001110100011010010110110101100101001000000100101101
10111001101111011101110110110001100101011001000110
01110110010100100000011000010110111001100100001
000000101011101101001011100110110010001101111011
01101001011000010000001101001011011100010000001
10001101101111011100110110110101101001011000110010000
0011101010110111001101001011100110110111101101110001000
0001110011011000010110111001100111001110100010000001000
10001101111011011100111010000100000011100110110000101111001
001000000110000100100000011100000111001001100001011110010110
010101110010001000000110011001101111011100100010000001101101011
0010100100000011011100110111101110111
http://www.roubaixinteractive.com/PlayGround/Binary_Conversion/Binary_to_Text.asp
Mike Bonifer:
010000100111010101110100001000000110111101110110011001010111001000100000011101000110100101101101011001010010110000100000010010110110111001101111011101110110110001100101011001000110011101100101001000000110011101110010011001010111011100100000011010100110010101100001011011000110111101110101011100110010000001101111011001100010000001010111011010010111001101100100011011110110110100101110
Jeremi Karnell: This jealousy consumed the universe. Because of this, the cosmic melody faded away and the dance between One and Zero faltered. Oh, null, nil, zilch or naught; regardless of what name the Number One called Zero this amphibian between being and non-being sat silent as the air is to nothing.
John Woodiel:
Mike Bonifer: One and Zero began to dance, and their dance became an idea and their idea became code and in this code they discovered meaning.
Jeremi Karnell: From supergaltic to subatomic, the continuum wrapped its arms around all that was and all that will be.
Mike Bonifer: One and Zero had a word for the meaning they had discovered. They called it Who-ha.
John Woodiel: Who-ha had an ulterior motive. Who-ha ultimately tempts zero to consume from a mystical concept alluding to the interconnectedness of all life, telling zero that it will not lead to the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a living organism. Zero succumbs, and convinces One to do so as well. Aware now of their exposed nature, they try to cover this that is embarrassing or disagreeable. And hide from the sight of The Continuum.
Mike Bonifer: Fearful of the Continuum, One and Zero dance only in darkness. They call out Who-Ha's name, hoping to recover the mystical concept and hear once more the promise of convergence. From this darkness, two offspring emerge, twin points of light named Knowledge and Wisdom.
Jeremi Karnell:
010000010111010000100000011101000110100001100001011101
000010000001110100011010010110110101100101001000000100101101
10111001101111011101110110110001100101011001000110
01110110010100100000011000010110111001100100001
000000101011101101001011100110110010001101111011
01101001011000010000001101001011011100010000001
10001101101111011100110110110101101001011000110010000
0011101010110111001101001011100110110111101101110001000
0001110011011000010110111001100111001110100010000001000
10001101111011011100111010000100000011100110110000101111001
001000000110000100100000011100000111001001100001011110010110
010101110010001000000110011001101111011100100010000001101101011
0010100100000011011100110111101110111
http://www.roubaixinteract
Mike Bonifer:
01000010011101010111010000
Jeremi Karnell: This jealousy consumed the universe. Because of this, the cosmic melody faded away and the dance between One and Zero faltered. Oh, null, nil, zilch or naught; regardless of what name the Number One called Zero this amphibian between being and non-being sat silent as the air is to nothing.
John Woodiel:
John Woodiel:
010100110110000101110110011001010010000001101001011101000010000001100110011011110111001000100000011101000110100001100101001000000110110101101111011100100110111001101001011011100110011100100000011000010110011001110100011001010111001000101110
http://www.roubaixinteractive.com/PlayGround/Binary_Conversion/Binary_to_Text.asp
Mike Bonifer:
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Mike Bonifer:
0
Jeremi Karnell: Malformed binary. Your binary code is must be divisible by 8!!
Mike Bonifer: With Zero as its companion, One was not lonely any more.
01010011011000010111011001
http://www.roubaixinteract
Mike Bonifer:
00000000000000000000000000
Mike Bonifer:
0
Jeremi Karnell: Malformed binary. Your binary code is must be divisible by 8!!
Mike Bonifer: With Zero as its companion, One was not lonely any more.
---
Religulous
One of the best documentaries I have seen this year, Bill Maher's Religulous takes on the current state of world religions. Below I transcribed the monologue he gives in the last 10 minutes of the movie, which I thought was brilliant. Enjoy!
"The irony of religion is, that because of its powers to divert man to destructive courses, the world actually could come to an end. The plain fact is that religion must die for mankind to live. The hour is getting very late to indulge in having key decisions made by religious people; by irrationalists; by those who would steer the ship of fate not by a compass, but by the equivalent of reading the entrails of a chicken.
Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking. It’s nothing to brag about. And those who preach faith, and enable, and elevate it are intellectual slaveholders. Keeping mankind in a bondage to fantasy and nonsense that has spawned and justified so much lunacy and destruction.
Religion is dangerous because it allows human beings, who don’t have all the answers, to think that they do. Most people would think it is wonderful when someone says, “I’m willing lord! I will do what ever you want me to do”. Except that since there really are no gods talking to us, that void is filled in by people with their own corruptions, limitations, and agendas. And anyone who tells you they know, they just know what happens when you die; I promise you that you don’t. How can I be so sure? Because I don’t know, and you do not posses mental powers that I do not.
The only appropriate attitude for man to have about the big questions is, not the arrogant certitude that is the hallmark of religion, but doubt. Doubt is humble. And that’s what man needs to be considering that human history is just a litany of getting shit dead wrong.
This is why rational people, anti-religionists, must end their timidity and come out of the closet and assert themselves. And those who consider themselves only moderately religious really need to look in the mirror and realize that the solace and comfort that religion brings you actually comes at a terrible price.
If you belonged to a political party or a social club that was tied to as much bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, violence and sheer ignorance as religion is, you would resign in protest. To do otherwise is to be an enabler, a mafia wife for the true devils of extremism that draw their legitimacy from the billions of their fellow travelers.
If the world does come to an end here or wherever, or if it limps into the future decimated by the effects of religion inspired nuclear terrorism, lets remember what the real problem was. That we learned how to precipitate mass death before we got past the neurological disorder of wishing for it. That’s it! Grow up or die."
Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking. It’s nothing to brag about. And those who preach faith, and enable, and elevate it are intellectual slaveholders. Keeping mankind in a bondage to fantasy and nonsense that has spawned and justified so much lunacy and destruction.
Religion is dangerous because it allows human beings, who don’t have all the answers, to think that they do. Most people would think it is wonderful when someone says, “I’m willing lord! I will do what ever you want me to do”. Except that since there really are no gods talking to us, that void is filled in by people with their own corruptions, limitations, and agendas. And anyone who tells you they know, they just know what happens when you die; I promise you that you don’t. How can I be so sure? Because I don’t know, and you do not posses mental powers that I do not.
The only appropriate attitude for man to have about the big questions is, not the arrogant certitude that is the hallmark of religion, but doubt. Doubt is humble. And that’s what man needs to be considering that human history is just a litany of getting shit dead wrong.
This is why rational people, anti-religionists, must end their timidity and come out of the closet and assert themselves. And those who consider themselves only moderately religious really need to look in the mirror and realize that the solace and comfort that religion brings you actually comes at a terrible price.
If you belonged to a political party or a social club that was tied to as much bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, violence and sheer ignorance as religion is, you would resign in protest. To do otherwise is to be an enabler, a mafia wife for the true devils of extremism that draw their legitimacy from the billions of their fellow travelers.
If the world does come to an end here or wherever, or if it limps into the future decimated by the effects of religion inspired nuclear terrorism, lets remember what the real problem was. That we learned how to precipitate mass death before we got past the neurological disorder of wishing for it. That’s it! Grow up or die."
Tamarind House, St. Lucia
Last week Cindy and I had the distinct privileged of renting Tamarind House, a private villa in St. Lucia. The house sits on over 14,000 square feet of property that also contains a private cottage and another guest house called La Bagatelle (also available to rent). I provide video walk through of Tamarind House in my previous blog post. You may also find photos that I took of the property via my St. Lucia Flickr Album. I can not say enough positive things about this experience. The villa was immaculate, the private chefs (Anne and Cheryl) talented, and the view of the Pitons breathtaking.
To help one have a deeper appreciation of the villa, Cindy and I transcribed a write up of the property that we enjoyed reading in a coffee table book from Tout Bagain Publising titled "Maco Caribean Homes". It seems as if this book is no longer in print and copies are extremely rare to come by. To that end, I hope they do not mind me offering their piece on Tamarind House here (all photos that I embedded along with the story are the ones I took while staying there). The man who built Tamarind House, Norman Brick, unfortunately passed away last year. The following article was written while he was alive and provides one with a much sense of the Villa's history, architecture, and art that was Brick's beautiful vision. Cindy and I thank him (and his lovely partner Nancy) for giving us a wonderful memory of his beautiful home in St. Lucia.
Tamarind House
From Maco, Caribbean Homes. © 2005 | Kathy Ann Waterman, and Marie France Aqui
A retired executive builds retreat from volcanic rock and celebrates space, light and air amidst the fabled Twin Pitons of St. Lucia.
When Norman Brick awakens at Tamarind House and the twin Pitons are swathed in sunlight, with the Caribbean Sea to his right and the island’s lush green hills to the left, he considers himself a very fortunate man.
Brick, who was born in England, built his home amidst two towering green pyramids in St. Lucia, the fabled Twin Pitons. While the design and style are anything but traditional West Indian, Tamarind House embraces the priorities that were in place when craftsman of a bygone age were defining what is now known as Caribbean style. Space, light and air were the most important consideration in the creation of the 14,000-square-foot home.
Brick, former vice president in the United States for what became Eastman Kodak, undertook the construction of Tamarind House from 1978 to 1980. When he retired in 1980, he spent another 10 years as a consultant in Hungary, Brazil and Czechoslovakia, before devoting most of his time soaking up the view from tamarind House.
The walls of his home were constructed from local Belfond stone and Wayne Brown, a Canadian who came to St Lucia in the 60s and who specializes in building one of a kind properties, recalls how the local masons would sit under the tamarind trees on the property, chipping away at the pink, grey and fawn volcanic rocks. The ceiling was crafted from Guyanese greenheart wood, and the doors from red cedar in Brown’s carpentry shop in Soufriere, and the floors were made from terra cotta tiles from Barbados. Large wallaba poles, which were also used as beams across the rooms, supported the roof rafters.
The design centerpiece of the house is the living room and terrace, covering about 2,500 square feet. The living room is sparingly but exquisitely furnished with Caribbean and French period pieces. The uncluttered terrace is shaded by trees and there is but a scattering of tables and chairs
.
An arched way doorway leads directly to the living room with its vast ceilings. The arches in the living room were re-done three ties before Brick and Brown were satisfied with their curves and height. A flight of stone stair descends to and open courtyard with banana trees and a large, spreading tamarind. A spacious kitchen and three bedrooms adjoin the living room. The two main bedrooms, each with private verandas, face south and consist of only three walls with doors. Nothing is allowed to obstruct the views of the mighty Pitons.
Perhaps nothing reflects Brick’s determination to make the most of his home with a view than his bathroom. It’s modest in size but the doors open to reveal, once again, the might Pitons.
A short stroll from the main building is the cottage and the lodge, each self contained and spacious. They are used to accommodate visiting friends and relatives. A Bio-Flex surface tennis court, which Brick laughingly describes as an expensive mistake, and a rectangular swimming pool, each on a different level, complete what must be one of the most unusual homes in the region.
Much of the furniture at Tamarind House are antiques, such as the tables, armoires, and chaise lounges, which were bought in Soufriere and reflect the period when St. Lucia was under French control. Several pieces came from Golden Leon in St. Kitts and a large armoire in the living room was imported from France. The living rooms sofas and the large trestle dining table were made out of wild breadfruit wool in Brown’s carpentry shop, while other unique pieces were made by St. Lucian craftsman, most notably master carpenter Harris Lionel.
When Norman Brick awakens at Tamarind House and the twin Pitons are swathed in sunlight, with the Caribbean Sea to his right and the island’s lush green hills to the left, he considers himself a very fortunate man.
Brick, who was born in England, built his home amidst two towering green pyramids in St. Lucia, the fabled Twin Pitons. While the design and style are anything but traditional West Indian, Tamarind House embraces the priorities that were in place when craftsman of a bygone age were defining what is now known as Caribbean style. Space, light and air were the most important consideration in the creation of the 14,000-square-foot home.
Brick, former vice president in the United States for what became Eastman Kodak, undertook the construction of Tamarind House from 1978 to 1980. When he retired in 1980, he spent another 10 years as a consultant in Hungary, Brazil and Czechoslovakia, before devoting most of his time soaking up the view from tamarind House.
The walls of his home were constructed from local Belfond stone and Wayne Brown, a Canadian who came to St Lucia in the 60s and who specializes in building one of a kind properties, recalls how the local masons would sit under the tamarind trees on the property, chipping away at the pink, grey and fawn volcanic rocks. The ceiling was crafted from Guyanese greenheart wood, and the doors from red cedar in Brown’s carpentry shop in Soufriere, and the floors were made from terra cotta tiles from Barbados. Large wallaba poles, which were also used as beams across the rooms, supported the roof rafters.
The design centerpiece of the house is the living room and terrace, covering about 2,500 square feet. The living room is sparingly but exquisitely furnished with Caribbean and French period pieces. The uncluttered terrace is shaded by trees and there is but a scattering of tables and chairs
An arched way doorway leads directly to the living room with its vast ceilings. The arches in the living room were re-done three ties before Brick and Brown were satisfied with their curves and height. A flight of stone stair descends to and open courtyard with banana trees and a large, spreading tamarind. A spacious kitchen and three bedrooms adjoin the living room. The two main bedrooms, each with private verandas, face south and consist of only three walls with doors. Nothing is allowed to obstruct the views of the mighty Pitons.
Perhaps nothing reflects Brick’s determination to make the most of his home with a view than his bathroom. It’s modest in size but the doors open to reveal, once again, the might Pitons.
A short stroll from the main building is the cottage and the lodge, each self contained and spacious. They are used to accommodate visiting friends and relatives. A Bio-Flex surface tennis court, which Brick laughingly describes as an expensive mistake, and a rectangular swimming pool, each on a different level, complete what must be one of the most unusual homes in the region.
Much of the furniture at Tamarind House are antiques, such as the tables, armoires, and chaise lounges, which were bought in Soufriere and reflect the period when St. Lucia was under French control. Several pieces came from Golden Leon in St. Kitts and a large armoire in the living room was imported from France. The living rooms sofas and the large trestle dining table were made out of wild breadfruit wool in Brown’s carpentry shop, while other unique pieces were made by St. Lucian craftsman, most notably master carpenter Harris Lionel.
Now This is a Suite Room!
I have had the fortunate opportunity to stay in some pretty amazing places in my life, but nothing quite compares to what the Ivy Hotel in San Diego is offering. It's Star Suite is designed for decadence. This 1,275 square foot room hosts a king sized bunk bed (the frame is covered with shag carpet), stripper pole, and an enormous shower and door that turns clear or opaque at the press of a button.
My hats off to Cindy for running across this lil gem. Looks like tons of fun. :)
Interview with Mass High Tech to be highlighted by NECN tonight on the 6:30pm News
Today, Mass High Tech featured two of Boston's leading Neuromarketing Research Firm's in an article they published titled "Innerscope Research tests biometric response to Super Bowl Ads". The article highlights how Innerscope Research and One to One Interactive's Quantemo Lab are using cutting edge Neuromarketing Research techniques to measure human emotional response to media. I was interviewed earlier in the week for this piece. I want to personally thank Carl Marci and Innerscope Research for including One to One Interactive in this coverage.
NECN plans to review in tonight 6:30pm broadcast here in New England. For those of you interested, tune in!
April 2009
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- The Easter Bunny Hates You!
- Flutter: The New Twitter
- Cold War Era Rocket Ship Playgrounds
- A Fractal Fairytale
- Religulous
- CEO's Guide to Jetting!
- Tamarind House, St. Lucia
- St. Lucia Villa Tour (Tamarind House)
- Now This is a Suite Room!
- Interview with Mass High Tech to be highlighted by NECN tonight on the 6:30pm News
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