UrbanRemix is a collaborative and locative sound project. [Their] goal in developing UrbanRemix was to design a platform and series of public workshops that would enable participants to develop and express the acoustic identity of their communities, and enable users of the website to explore and experience the soundscapes of the city in a novel fashion.

http://urbanremix.gatech.edu/

This project has been written about in the Transactions section of the journal Leonardo by Jason Freeman et al. Oct 2010 478-479

Beach House

Jai Paul

Grimes

Joy Division

Represent all the music artists that I love through posters.
This project is on work, and it will probably be till i’m able to enjoy music.

Juliette Poggi, since 2010

Glyph is a fantasy set in a time period similar to that of the Three Musketeers or the Elizabethan Era. This setting, while not original by any means, is still far less clichéd than the standard medieval themed fantasy (although I will hasten to add there is nothing intrinsically wrong with that.) But this was a very colorful time period, with flamboyant fashions, new discoveries, bold voyages, and intricate politics and plots. It was a time of revolution and radical change, or renaissance and reinvention. Firearms exist but have not yet been able to replace traditional weapons. All-in-all, a very exciting time with a lot of possibilities.

Deciding to place my fledgling idea in this setting was what really brought the idea to life for me. The original idea actually started with a small doodle I had drawn of a strange looking character, which I labelled “Nyzke’s Glyph.” I drew several more eventually, all labelled in the same way with different fantasy names. That lead to thinking of an idea to go with them, and since they were named, they obviously belonged or had originated with a particular person.

Eventually the premise became this: Magic is an unpredictable, untamable, and random force in it’s raw form. But when channeled through a certain symbol or glyph, it will produce a specific result. It is similar to the way water is normally fluid and unpredictable, but if frozen or forced through a sprinkler head, it is forced to behave a certain way and can controlled.

I reached kind of a wall here because I couldn’t decide how these glyphs would be controlled. I knew that there had to be a physical image of the symbol through which the magic could be channeled, and that doing so would leave the image “drained” and unable to be used again for a time.

But would anybody be able to use any glyph? Would there be clans of those that could use certain glyphs? Usually I gravitated towards only one person being able to use the glyphs, those born with a natural affinity for it. For quite a while I toyed with the idea of glyphs being captured if their users were defeated. Sort of a Pokémon thing. But I could never settle on a system that I was comfortable with.

The idea went stagnant for a while. During one of my creative spurt frenzies, I decided to revisit the idea, and I knew it needed something else. That’s when I hit on the time period and suddenly everything started to fall into place.

So here’s what I have: The ability to use glyphs is hereditary, with a few individuals in each generation able to use this gift. Because of the power this gave them, most glyph users are in positions of power and constitute the majority of the ruling class, including the Royal Family itself, wielders of the immensely powerful star-fire glyph. Occasionally a new glyph will arise in a family, as is the case with our protagonist.

The world is on the cusp of major change. The King is nearing death, and has two children vying for the throne. Civil war seems inevitable. Furthermore, revolutionaries and civil reformists are secretly rallying the common man to seize their rights.

Many glyph users lead double lives, going about in disguise to accomplish their own agendas, for good or for ill.

That covers the basic premise. Sort of a Three Musketeers meets X-men angle. I’ll share more about the plot and the characters (including more concept sketches) in another post, but in the meantime I hope you find this idea interesting.

Concept Art

As a rule of thumb, we will accept ANYTHING WITH A PLUG THAT ACCEPTS BATTERIES UNDER 75 LBS. If you have questions, feel free to send an email to mwhgreenclub@gmail.com.

This fundraiser is a huge deal because we’re trying to raise money for a school green house! We’re asking for a suggested minimum donation of $10. Note that there is a mandatory fee of $15 for small TVs and $30 for large TVs. Last year, we managed to prevent over 2 tons of electronic waste from going into landfills. Let’s make it 5 tons this year!

Below is a list of accepted items. Please send an email to mwhgreenclub@gmail.com if you have an item that you’re concerned will not be accepted.

One of the pieces of furniture in our house has been annoying me for a while. This little beauty.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with it. It’s just not to my taste. The dark stain reeks of the ‘70’s and…truthfully….I feel like a Nanna when I see it in my house.

BUT  this table serves a good purpose. It sits right near the front door and we keep our keys and umbrellas and bags in it. What a dilemma. I could have gotten rid of it and bought something a bit more contemporary. But, being budget conscious, I decided to reinvent it instead. A nice sanding, a lick of paint, what could possibly go wrong?

Now I’m no expert, this is the first time I have even laid my hands on an electric sander. But I thought I would share the steps I took to reinvent my wooden table.

Step One:
Clean the furniture piece. You wouldn’t believe the cobwebs and dust I found on the table. Seriously, I think a whole colony of spiders were living underneath this table. One spider had actually gotten itself squashed flat into the surface of the wood. I practically had to chip it off.

Step Two:

Sand the furniture. I used an electric sander and a hand sander for the more delicate parts. Sanding will help the paint stick to the wood. It’s a good idea to wear the appropriate gear, a dust mask and goggles if you are using an electric sander. See picture below. I guarantee this get up will attract the attention of the neighbourhood…for all the right reasons.

Tip:  If you decide to use a dust mask, make sure you take it off after sanding – unlike me who forgot and spent most of the afternoon with it on the back of my head like a Jewish skullcap…

Step Three:

Prime. It’s a crime not to prime! Go to your local hardware store and get some white priming paint. Because the wood was a dark stain I needed to do two coats. It’s boring especially for hypomanic me who just wants to get to the exciting part. But you won’t regret it. Truly. Priming is awesome sauce.

Step Four:

Sand. I know I know. but you want to sand down those paint drips and uneven surfaces before you paint you colour coat. Plus you get to put your sanding outfit on again. What is not to love?

Step Five:

Paint! My favourite part. Voila! From old to gold, tragic to magic, your furniture is now as good as new!

Inspired by Jules Verne and the vision of Harper Goff

The Nautilus.

Watching a highrise grow in the city is always something very interesting, seeing it from the inside during the construction phase is even more exciting. We went out high with Kees van Casteren / project architect from OMA Architects to have a look at the Netherelands biggest highrise – ‘De Rotterdam’.

Looking up is already a blast when you noticed that the whole building is cladded with uncountable facade units but looking down from the highest logistical platform was a whole new exciting expierience. Here are some impressions of the triple towers.

]]> http://maureenmoore.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/stay-home-and-read-a-book-ball/ Sat, 02 Mar 2013 03:50:35 +0000 maureenmoore http://maureenmoore.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/stay-home-and-read-a-book-ball/ http://jacobward2013.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/the-grounding-of-the-dreamliner/ Mon, 25 Feb 2013 06:19:31 +0000 jacobward2013 http://jacobward2013.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/the-grounding-of-the-dreamliner/ Originally aired on BBC World Service – Business Daily

Jacob Ward of Popular Science Magazine reflects on why the grounding of Boeing’s Dreamliner aircraft has also grounded the dreams of air passengers.

This For You February post isn’t the most impressive one but I had fun doing it so I wanted to share it anyway.

For You February for my Dad.

It was my father’s birthday coming up and I wanted to give him something personal. He’s a Landrover Defender maniac and he goes away on weekends with a Landrover club a lot. But everytime he has to take one of my mother’s bags and they are all quite feminine. So I decided to make him a weekender bag.

I based my bag on this tutorial for a zippered box pouch. I only made it a lot bigger and added 2 handles. I wanted to incorporate the Landrover logo and decided to carve a stamp. This was also a first and I think it turned out really nice. (I am aware this is technically copyright infringement, but because it was just a gift for my father I thought what the hell.)

He was dead happy with the result and took it to work the next day to show all his colleagues what his ‘little’ girl made him

Note: As you can see on the close up of the zipper I had a little touch-and-melt between the zipper and my iron. Whoops, didn’t think about the fact that plastic zippers melt

For you February for my Mom.

Remember the pajamas I made for myself? Well, my mother loved the pants so much I gave them to her. A few days later she called me saying she had a huge problem. She wasn’t able to take the pants off long enough to get them washed She wanted to live in them, they were that comfy and warm.

So I decided to make her another pair. This time I went for an off-white flannel. I saw it as a good opportunity to try out some decorative stitches on my new machine. I wanted to try flowers but my mother isn’t really the flowery type so I chose ton-sur-ton thread and went for geometric stitches instead. She loved them and now both pants are on heavy rotation.

I’m really sorry for the bad photo quality on this one, but my mother took these pictures with her iPad.

Note: I have enough of this flannel and the plaid flannel left to make some for me, so yay!

How is your For You February going?

Well it has been quite a long project which has survived flooding and vandalism but the wildlife garden at Our Lady of Victories is nearly finished. Seating areas, various willow structures, tree planting and a pond which fills by moving a stone in the stream (very thunderbirds) means that this must be one of the best places to be this spring.

SO HERE IT IS

I’m giving away:

• Five patterns (4 Burda, 1 McCall’s). They are lovely patterns but I bought them in the spur of the moment and I’m just never going to make them. They have never been used although for some reason I took the plastic off and put them together in a ziplock bag.
• 3m of the pink cotton poplin (that’s 3,5 yards I think) – If you make something out of it please show me
• 8 vintage red (plastic) buttons. They look like very large thread put together.

What do you have to do to enter?

• Leave a comment below saying you wish to enter.
• Tell me one thing you like about my blog and one thing you feel is still missing (give me some feedback on how to improve the blog, people)

When will the winner be announced?

You can enter until the 26th of february and the winner will be announced on the 28th (leaving enough room for the time differences). The winner will be chosen at random!

Good luck!

One of the major challenges with a school-wide competition is to harness enough momentum to plow through the week. Let’s briefly examine our numbers:

On the first day, we reduced our electricity consumption by 18.65% in relation to 2/13/2012. We were all pretty excited, but could we keep it up?

We sure did; on both Wednesday and Thursday, we remained at a constant 14% reduction. In relation to last year’s Green Week, we slowly died down over the week – but this year, we remained constant.

Then, on Friday, we went back up to 16.67% reduction in relation to 2/17/2012 – we were able to further reduce our energy consumption!

On the Facebook page, students reported that they enjoyed having fewer lights on. Classrooms felt more “relaxing” and both teachers and students realized that several light sources in our building really don’t need to be on. Our hope is that people will continue to maintain their pledges and that teachers will continue to use reduced lighting, as our school saved a total of $294.38 just by cutting a few lights.

Between West and Memorial, 3878.72 kWh of energy were NOT used. Therefore, we avoided 2.93 metric tons of carbon emissions. This is the equivalent of taking a car off the road for MORE THAN HALF A YEAR. We shut off some lights, saved money, and helped the planet.

It wasn’t that hard; we just have to make this a habit. Hallways were just fine to walk in with reduced lights:

     Classrooms were more than visible:

We got over 400+ pledges:

AND, we had a ton of fun making this happen:

On behalf of the Madison West Green Club:

THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS HAPPEN! Incredible things (like this) are only possible when we come together and work hard. In the words of Ghandi (and the excellent reminders in Mr. Grady’s classroom):

we must be the change we wish to see in this world.

Cheers!

Sevahn and Amy
emails: kayaneh@gmail.com and amy.h.hua@gmail.com

Please visit his great project:

http://www.artisopensource.net/cure/

All the face expressions, skin tones, eye styles, textures and other are long finished an the head is now in the scripting stage, this is where we ran into some difficulties. In order for all the planed features to work, the M3 system will involve some really complicated scripting and all of the promised features will take some time to be implemented. The script is being optimized and rewritten with each feature added, some of these features require a whole lot of code for them to work as intended and we decided that we will not be cutting corners and sacrificing features or quality of the product and try to push it out as fast as possible, no matter how pushy some of you are D:<, we take pride in our work and we will put in as much work in it as necessary for it to be worth your hard earned money.

oh and here’s how the HUD will look

On the other news, a bunch of updates will come soon for Rikugou and Avatar 2.0. The Avatar 2.0 will have an experimental 1.9 version update that does some fundamental changes to the shape of the head in order for it to not be dependent on custom joint positions. This will solve a few serious issues like the feet sinking into the ground and eyes popping out of your skull. The reason this update is experimental is because removing joint offsets will cause some compatibility issues with some of the clothing, mainly the U&A school swimsuit, so you shouldn’t be in a hurry to completely replace your 1.8 with 1.9.

I will post more details about these updates when they come out.

The show, called The Fosters, is a one-hour drama revolving around a multi-ethnic family mix of foster and biological kids being raised by two moms Stef (played by Teri Polo) and Lena (played by Sherri Saum). Stef and Lena Foster are a mixed-race lesbian couple who are parents to a biological son as well as several adopted children. When Lena decides to take in Callie, a troubled teen with an abusive past, the girl’s disruptive ways threaten to turn the Fosters’ lives upside down.

The show will begin filming this Spring and is set to air this Summer.

Sherri Saum in ABC Family’s ‘The Fosters’

This game was a single person project built in 2 weeks using Unity.

Link to the web version