THE GALAXY? SATAN? SPOUSAL ABUSE? BONDAGE?

WHY?

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An art installation located in Cologne, Germany by Marco Hemmerling.

In it we see reflecting fragments of surrounding buildings. While you move around the sculpture, the reflections on the glass constantly change and you become part of the installation with the buildings reflecting in the background. At night the installation is lit from within with colors and distorting film.

-  Artistic Things

Photos taken from Designboom:

“Slow down, you move too fast.
You got to make the morning last.
Just kicking down the cobble stones.
Looking for fun and feelin’ groovy.”
Simon & Garfunkle

I am almost always in a rush, even when I’m sitting down doing nothing. I’m often thinking of what lays ahead, a dozen different thoughts fighting for some elbow room inside the little space within my skull. Meditation helps a great deal in quieting the noise and providing me the breathing room to focus, but nothing really does it for me as when I go out with my camera and begin to photograph.

One of the biggest mistakes I see students make when they are photographing is that they are in such a damn rush. They see something interesting, something that makes them stop in their tracks and inspires them to make a photograph. And that’s what they do. They make “a” photograph. And then they are eager to rush on to the next thing. They haven’t even gotten started. They haven’t even given themselves time to really see what they’re seeing and they’re off looking for the next best thing. That’s no way to live a life and that sure is hell is not a way to be a photographer.

Admitted, I often have to fight the same tendency, but experience has shown me that I’m always served by sticking around a bit and exhausting as many possibilities as I can. Though not every scene or moment can afford such leisure, when it can, I always find that it provides me the time to refine my vision, excising those things that work and building on the things that do.

Such was the case this morning, when I walked out to a beautiful day with amazing light and clouds. I walked to the church that is down the street and started making images, drawn by the strong lines of the building and sky. For the next 30 minutes, I shot over a hundred images at different angles and perspectives, trying to find what image best expressed those qualities that made me stop in the first place. I even made some images that I didn’t think would work, but created them anyway simply because the thought came into my head to take that picture. It might not work, but that’s not a good enough reason not to make the photograph.

When I go out to photograph, that is time I’m dedicating for myself and not for anyone else. It’s my gift to myself and it’s not intended to serve the needs of a client or a student or a friend. It’s time that I take out of my day to practice something that I love and that provides me so much joy. So why rush it. If photography for me is ultimately about exploring and discovery, with a side benefit ends up being the production of a beautiful photography, then why don’t I just get out my own way and allow myself to enjoy the process and the moment.

So, I slow down and don’t worry about the next thing or the next shot. I just stay present and raise the camera to my eye and working on discovering something about what I’m seeing. In the end my photographs are the better for it.

The other day I made up a triangle centers lab for my 8th graders. 

Here is how it went:

Day 0: Homework for tonight is to make a triangle larger than your hand out of some material heavier than paper.  Cardstock or cardboard are ideal.

Day 1: Open GeoGebra and get to work.  Kids got after it.  Some slowed themselves down by not reading directions very well.  The nice thing about GeoGebra is that it’s easy to erase. 

Day 2: Most finished the lab and went onto extension activity.  Those who didn’t finish had a difficult time managing time.  They could do the work, but staying focused was the issue. 

Extension:  Now that you know how to find the circumcenter and incenter, construct an inscribed and circumscribed circle using only compass and straight edge.  These students haven’t done anything with a compass, so I offered a 6th point (assignment was worth 5) for those who could figure out how to do the constructions on their own.  If they chose to look up the “how to” of constructions, they then would have to prove that the method of angle bisecting works. 

David came up with his own extension.  He asked, “why does the centroid allow you to balance the triangle?” 

“Nice question.  Now go away and come back with an answer.”  He’s figured out that the three medians divide the triangles into six smaller triangles with equal area and that would account for equal weight distribution from the centroid.  He can see it in GeoGebra, but is working on a formal proof.  Brandon tried to backdoor me with a proof by contradiction, “well the six triangles have to have equivalent areas because if they weren’t, the large triangle wouldn’t balance.”

Don’t try to beat me at my own game, son. 

Chris’ reflection:  “Hey Mr. Cox, you just kinda gave us a test without giving us instructions.”

“Yeeeeaah kinda, huh?

For Next Time:  Stamp each page after students have demonstrated the correct constructions.  Then allow them to go to the next page.  Take a little more time discussing the difference between “drawing” and “constructing.”

How can you see children in your palm?

Clues can be found on the heart line,  fate line, life line and marriage lines.

On the heart line, a branch toward the middle finger of Saturn, the planet of responsibility indicates a child coming into your life. This can be your birth child or a child coming into your care.

On the life line, a inner life life that begins part way down the palm can sometimes indicate a soulmate or someone very special such as a child coming into our lives. The fate line may also become doubled at this point which shows you will be extra busy. Squares around the fate line at this time indicate nesting, and time spent at home.

On the marriage lines under your little finger of Mercury there are the children lines. The marriage lines run horizontally and the children lines are vertical or diagonal branches off this line. The number of branches show how many children you will have.

Children lines joining the marriage lines

If I foster a child or work with children will that show in the palm?

Yes, the line however cuts through the marriage line. If the child line joins the marriage line, then it is your birth child.

Many faint vertical lines seen around the Mount of Mercury show you work with children.

Will it be a boy or a girl?

If the line is vertical it will be a boy and diagonal it will be a girl.

Will my child be healthy?

Look for lines attached to the marriage line.  A deep line is best for good health but generally indicates an outgoing personality and a light line a shy child. If the line has a circle symbol it will drain a chid’s health 0r can indicate a difficult pregnancy. Wavy lines can indicate anxiety. Squares show guardian angels.

What will their personality and talents be like?

Symbols such as triangles on the children lines show talent for business. If the line is long and reaches up into the base of the little finger of Mercury they will be a chatterbox in touch with angels and imaginary friends. A forked child line shows multiple talents and they may change their direction later on in life.

Will I have twins?

A doubled child line that both join together and a doubling of other major lines in the palm can sometimes indicate twins.

A collection of photos from Demi Moore’s hand campaign..What I want

@tishageske wants sleep

www.twitter.com/mrskutcher

Wanted by @dianne_crumbley

@hanapandaa wants true love

Tomorrow there is a test

Segon joc dels Jocs EMPM 2009!

Quants triangles hi ha a la següent imatge?

Només vull que em digueu un número concret! No val enviar varies opcions ni respostes!

Enviar un correu electrònic amb la solució i amb assumpte “EMPM 2009 joc2″. I no oblidis posar el teu nom o alias! SORT!!!

So, I fired off two more emails…  One to Subway, and one to my new friend Mr. Jones at Quiznos.  No response from Mr. Jones yet, but we do have one from Subway.  I’ll share it all below!

OK, so email one, to Subway:

From: ERiC AiXeLsyD world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com
To: “Bridenbaker, Mack” m.bridenbaker@sfaft.org
Cc: Paula Gomez gomez_p@subway.com; Kevin Kane kane_k@subway.com; Anna Marie Seeley seeley_a@subway.com
Sent: Mon, November 23, 2009 10:24:20 AM
Subject: Re: Subway [Customer ID: 1918316]

Hello Mr. Bridenbaker,

It’s been over a week since your email to me saying that Ms. Gomez would address my concerns and I’ve yet to see any sort of response.  I still haven’t had a reply to my initial message to Ms. Seely, or  from anyone on your team.  I’m disappointed in the lack of comment overall, my first message which was sent on Oct. 28th has still gone unanswered.

I now understand why the employees in your stores have an “I don’t care” attitude.  It trickles down from the top, and certainly must be passed on in franchise owners, hiring, & training.

I’m amazed at your total lack of concern for the decline of your once championing establishment.  I should perhaps pass on my shellfish allergen and cross-contamination concerns to some allergy awareness groups.  Perhaps allergy awareness lobbyists will warrant some attention.  Everyone I know already hates Jared and the $5 footlong commercials, so I don’t need to push the issue on that one.  The concept of cheese tessellation will obviously elude the average sandwich artist from now until the end of time, so we have no hope there.

Perhaps in copying Quiznos’ idea of toasting subs, you should also adopt their business model in using better quality ingredients and customer service policies.  I have had a continued dialog with them regarding your lack of customer service and their seemingly misleading Toasty Torpedo ads with the very tiny hands.  They proudly stand behind their ads (however creepy), their innovation, and their customer service.

Not signed.  On purpose.  Notice all the Cc’s, everyone hates that… I don’t care who you are.   I tried to poke at every issue and make empty useless claims about allergy awareness groups, and I brought up that Quiznos is the trend-setter while noting that they’re also not perfect.

And, on a friendlier note to Quiznos, I decided to reveal my intentions to an amicable Mr. Jones:

From: ERiC AiXeLsyD world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com
Date: Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 9:22 AM
Subject: Re: The Quiznos Toasty TorpedoT ads?
To: “Jones, Tony” TJones2@quiznos.com

Thanks Tony,

I must confess, I do have a blog and I have been chronicling my email escapades there.  I like to play them as part consumer advocacy, part humor and all goofy.  I used to write snail mail letters, but email has made it so much easier & faster.  Some friends have encouraged me to keep writing, so I have.  I really enjoy the open & honest dialogue that we have going on, and appreciate that you stand behind the product & integrity of your company… and take the time to respond to emails such as mine.  Also, you obviously have a sense of humor, which has to be a “must” for any kind of customer interaction.  I’m sure you get goofier emails and phone calls from actual crazy people.

I’m intrigued at your suggestion that I get into consulting or franchise journalism.  Do you know how I would even go about this?  Would I need to obtain a degree in something?  I hope to grab followers to my blog just for amusement, but am unaware as to how to make it a profitable venture, ha ha ha.

Thank you once again for your time, I’m actually waiting to hear from some of your Quiznos colleagues, and Subway has still not given me a response beyond “someone will respond”… not that I’m at all surprised by that at this point.

Rock on!
-Eric

Hopefully he writes back in a positive light, and still finds all of this amusing.  Still waiting for further comment from his other colleagues, none of which have really delivered so far.

And, now, the fun part… Subway’s response (or lack thereof):

From: asksubway@subway.com
Date: Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 3:03 PM
Subject: Subway
To: world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com

Monday, November 23, 2009

Dear Mr Aixelsyd:

First, allow me to apologize. Secondly, I would like to thank you for taking the time to contact us and share your comments.

At each SUBWAY® restaurant, it is the goal of every owner; manager and employee to produce each sandwich and salad properly made to order.

Our customers provide us with valuable input, which we use to improve our operations. Your comments were shared with the regional office in your area as well as the owner of the SUBWAY® restaurant that you have visited.  Since all restaurants are individually owned and operated it is the owner who would be the person to contact you in response to your concern.

I have gone ahead and copied our Training Department so that further lessons can be addressed with owners and their employees on proper handling.

Again, I appreciate you taking the time to contact us. SUBWAY® looks forward to your continued visits.

Sincerely,

Paula Gomez

Heh.  “First, allow me to apologize” not followed by an apology is extremely profound, and hopefully intentional.  Then, she thanks me for writing, probably through gritted teeth.

This line reeks of copy & paste:  “At each SUBWAY® restaurant, it is the goal of every owner; manager and employee to produce each sandwich and salad properly made to order.”

And, I love the long winded “it wasn’t me”/”it’s not my fault”/”it’s not my problem”:  “Your comments were shared with the regional office in your area as well as the owner of the SUBWAY® restaurant that you have visited.  Since all restaurants are individually owned and operated it is the owner who would be the person to contact you in response to your concern.”  Basically, she’s telling me that I’m being ignored by a lower level.

“I have gone ahead and copied our Training Department so that further lessons can be addressed with owners and their employees on proper handling.”  With what?  Cross-contamination?  Cleanliness?  Cheese tessellation? How to reply to customer emails?

“SUBWAY® looks forward to your continued visits” …so we can spit in your food?  Did she read my emails?  Perhaps this whole thing is just a reading comprehension issue.  I find it amusing that the e Subway spokesperson declined to comment.  Perhaps now is the time to move into old-school W(aL)D mode, and reply that Subway will not be allowed on the moon when I’m emperor.

Are there any psychologists or psychiatrists out there reading this?  I’d love to get your take (…if you can tell me without telling me what my own problems are, ha ha ha).

If you haven’t been following,you may want to check out the back-story rundown here:  If we’re keeping score, that’s Subway 1 and Quiznos 3½. That should explain the last email, and at the bottom there’s a rundown of all the ones that came before it (with links) if you’re interested.

Also… lots of people have been telling me they’re following… by word of mouth, or Facebook, or Twitter, and even via text message… but I beg you, if you’re reading… post a comment here, and others may have a comment about your comment.  I see by the stats that people are reading.  Don’t be shy.  We’re all friends here.  Except for you, people at Subway… Except for you.

Post #2 in my “So you want to be a model” series. Now, let’s talk about adding visual interest to a picture. I learned this trick in my high school photography class. When in doubt, make triangles. Yes, triangles. You’ll hear Tyra Banks say to create shapes with your body. Yes, this is true. Shapes are good. But the best shape of them all for photography is the triangle. All types of triangles… oblong, obtuse, equilateral, right triangle. In these images, they’re basically all created equal in my humble opinion. Again, I’m no expert. Did you notice I referenced my high school photography class? Yup… that’s all folks. But here are some visually interesting pictures where triangles stand out. Can you count the number of triangles in each?

Left: Do you see the triangles created in the photo? Right: Check out her arms and her leg.

I love this photo. Her body is creating all sorts of triangles here. How many triangles can you count in this picture?

source

You can even use structural triangles to add interest to a picture. Now, in this case you’ll likely have to see if your photog has an eye for these structural triangles. Unless of course, you have a way of moving metal and earth (X-men no?).

source

source

How else can you create triangles in photographs?