machine501

Well, a picture of my painting is on tech-”press-release regurgitation machine”-crunch.com-alternative valleywag, anyway.  Here’s a screen cap, in case you don’t see it when you go there:

I just heard on NPR John McCain say that in this financial crisis we should work together as americans, and not as Republicans and Democrats.  I heard him say something similar in a press conference about the potential disasters from hurricanes Gusta and Hanna where he said:

“I want to thank my fellow Republicans as we take off our Republican hats and put on our American hats”

Both statements have the implicit argument that Republicans and Democrats act in the interests of the parties first and the country second.  You’d think he’d reword it so that the implication applied only to his political opponents.  Anyway, why would anyone say such a thing?  What does it mean to put on a partisan hat?  Another implication in this statement is that donning an American hat is beneficial and gets things done.  So why not wear the American hat all the time?

Some folks from my alma matter have a startup non-profit company trying to make extremely low-cost incubators to save newborns in developing countries.  Typical incubators cost thousands of dollars, but theirs costs only $25.  

Their project is one of the top 25 on the American Express member’s project, and with your vote, they could win and earn $1.5 million in funding.  They’re up against serious competition and need lots of votes. 

So, if you have an american express (u.s. cardholders only), click on this link:

http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/AGAYRZ

and login to vote for “Embrace”.  There is NO donation required.  Amex will donate $1.5 millon to the project with the most votes.

Deadline is september 29th.

There are many copies …

via BURNLAB

Here’s a picture I took from my kitchen window.  Note the model Angelino emptying his bladder into the storm drain right outside my house.

This is in Santa Monica, a year after I’d moved into the place.  That’s his SUV back there.  He just drove around the corner, pulled over on a no-park zone, and unzipped his trousers.

Back when I first moved to Venice, I saw someone through my front window hike up her skirt and take a dump on the grassy area in front of my apartment.

Think about your current career.  Now, think back to an object that you loved that influenced your decision to follow that path.  For me it was a Commodore 64 that an uncle owned.  Anytime my uncle was away I’d sneak in some programming time, making the machine blink its borders, or animate a smily face across the screen, eventually freaking out my mom by writing a program that wrote “This is GOD speaking!” across the screen while blaring a crazy synthesized seemingly infinitely ascending tone.  Now think about this: can today’s computers awaken that curiosity and sense of awe that eventually lead you to a career in computers or are they now so opaque that, unless someone purposefully installs a programming environment, they’re unlikely to engage with the computer in a way that leads you to experiment with it?

I started thinking about this when I was reading a review of Falling for Science: Objects in Mind, a book that asks a similar question: what beloved object began your love for science?  The book consists of 51 essays, including some from senior scientists, answering that question.  You can probably guess some of the objects, like LEGOs and computers, for example.  But some objects are a little more surprising, like chocolate meringue pie and My Little Pony.   

My initial reaction was a nostalgic feeling that, no, today’s computers don’t lend themselves to that type of engagement, they’re opaque, not transparent .. get it? naked … nevermind.  Sure, today’s computers come pre-installed with software that lets you make movies, music, and write documents; programs that lets you create stuff and, an environment with tool for creative activities, but activities unrelated to computation.  I think of today’s machines with tons of craplets and compare it to my first PC, which had BASIC and the source for a little game about a monkey that hurled bananas; basically, stuff that let you play with the raw bits of the machine.   Yeah, the end product oftentimes was a video game, or some multimedia thing, but I had to translate from computer code to sounds, graphics, or algorithms.  That’s the sort of stuff that led me to my interests in computability theory, communication, and HCI.  My social and physical interactions with computers have had tremendous influence on what I’ve done, even down to the subject of my college essay.  I think that’s why the mac feels like such a great environment; because it comes with all the media stuff installed AND with programming and scripting languages that let you muck with the machine. 

I really like Turkle’s concluding remark that “at a time when science education is in crisis, giving science its best chance means guiding children to objects they can love”.