I am … unhindered by talent

Drum (at rest) (new color), originally uploaded by Unhindered by Talent.

Man, have I been swamped recently! Between classes, the upcoming concert, committee work, etc., sleep has often been way too optional, and my on-line life has really been weak. Sorry.

One of the more pleasant distractions, however, was Saturday’s Powwow. The Circle of Nations Indian Association (CNIA) student group on campus hosts a powwow every year that draws people from all over the region and is a really excellent event.

This year I was honored by a request from CNIA to "officially" take photographs of the event, apparently something no one had ever done in all the years we’ve had the event here. I took something like 1,600 shots in 11 hours on Saturday, and it’s gonna be a while before I get through them all. I also need to be careful about what I post publicly, so some of the best ones may not ever show up here.

It was enormously cool, and I’m really grateful that I was invited to be part of the event like this.

Here we have one of the drums covered with a blanket. The drumming groups are arranged around the edge of the dance area, and play in turn in a circle. There are enough groups (something like a dozen this year) that groups can take time to dance, socialize, eat, etc., between times.

There’s so much I’d like to say about the powwow, but no time now. Later? We’ll see.

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Wookieepedia

46,273 articles since March 4, 2005

The Star Wars encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

’nuff bloody well said. I blame PeeZed for the pointer - he has so much to answer for!

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No real surprises here. Our family, for example, is officially dropping our last desktop at home this month. Kind of depressing to that something like Vista could have this kind of influence, though.

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk

Laptops set to out sell desktops

Laptops will overtake desktop PCs as the dominant form of computer in 2011, according to a report by analysts IDC.

The demand for bulky machines will continue to slowly grow but at a declining rate as portable machines become quicker and more efficient.

There will also be a short burst of desktop shipments over the next year as Microsoft rolls out Vista, it predicts.

 

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clipped from news.bbc.co.uk

Al Gore makes global warming plea

He said the US should freeze carbon dioxide emissions and push for a strong climate change treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.

Representative Joe Barton, the leading Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, challenged global warming science as “uneven and evolving”.

“You’re not just off a little, you’re totally wrong,” he said of Mr Gore’s conclusions that carbon dioxide emissions contribute to global warming.

Mr Barton said freezing carbon emissions would harm Americans and lead to “no new industry, no new people and no new cars”.

 

Another depressingly clear example of public figures being uber clueless about matters scientific, not to mention economic! Sadly, though, it’s probably not that simple, as it’s hard to imagine being so willfully contentious without there being some significant (financial) incentive. Which version of “nearly all scientists who have studied this agree that we ought to be very nervous” does Barton not get? And what version of free-market economics did this guy study in school (assuming such radical events as studying happened in his misspent youth) where incentive didn’t lead to innovation and markets? We already have new cars and new industries in the hybrid market alone, and you can bet that a major cap on emissions would radically increase competition and investment in a whole host of arenas.

Frankly, I think it’s this last bit that really depresses me. Even if you have your doubts about how serious or imminent the threat is, these arguments against taking steps to improve the situation just make no sense. Fossil fuels are a finite resource, and burning them pollutes. These are indisputable facts. Burning less of them and more slowly would seem to just be common sense. Creating political and economic structures that encourage the exploration of alternative approaches would seem equally sensible. If the U.S. really is full of smart, creative people, let’s leverage them to find new ways to do things, and help them make plenty of good capitalist green in the process.

And, given the enormous lag times in these ecological systems, I would be especially inclined to do it early, before things have really hit the fan (assuming that hasn’t already happened, which isn’t entirely obvious).

We’ve obviously got to make it clear to these yobs that we the people think this is a serious issue that badly (if not desperately) needs attention. I certainly hope it becomes a major issue in the upcoming election cycle…

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This is an excellent example of what you can do with a little ingenuity and patience. Given that hours would have been relatively abundant when things like Stonehenge and the great pyramids were built, and given that ingenious people would have dedicated their energies to these kinds of practical problems instead of video games, it’s not unlikely that they were at least as competent as he is at moving heavy things.

I found it pretty amazing that a member of his family allowed him to move their pole barn 300 feet just to show that it could be done. I’m nervous enough about the idea of professionals jacking up our house for foundation and basement work; I can’t see myself letting someone slowly spin a working building around just to prove it possible :-). I wish we’d learned more about how he got the cross pieces on the arches up. Standing the beams up was impressive, but the cross pieces seem a much trickier business. Still, it’s all quite something to watch.

Kudos to Ellery Crane for pointing me at this post.

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Sax in profile, cornet beyond, originally uploaded by Unhindered by Talent.

Can’t come to the big show but still want to contribute to the good causes? The Lance Armstrong Foundation makes it easy to donate on-line! They have provided us with a nice little web page on their site, complete with the ability to make donations electronically. My wonderful sister (check out how incredibly cute the hamsters she works with are!) has already started the ball rolling, so get in there quick!

The photo, BTW, is Joe Alia (on sax, left) and Sub-Evil Boy (on cornet, right) rehearsing over at Joe’s house.

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Nate Fortuna posted an interesting piece in my Social and Ethical Implications of Technology course on a modern version of the old idea of a “foundling wheel”. The original was something like a revolving wooden barrel, usually in the wall of a hospital or convent, where one could anonymously leave a baby to be cared for by others.

Now numerous hospitals in Europe have created modern equivalents, where one can anonymously leave a baby at a hospital. Instead of a wooden barrel, though, they now have heated cradles, respirators, and alarms that immediately notify emergency room personal.

It’s obviously deeply unfortunate that anyone would feel the need to abandon a child, but this is clearly a far better option than the steps of a church, a cardboard box in an alley, garbage bins, or worse.

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More favorites - 14 March 2007, originally uploaded by Unhindered by Talent.

36 more wonderful images from the happy land of Flickr :-).

1. My Gift, 2. seaside chaos, 3. reflection of winter, 4. Tiki, embracing his sphynxy bat heritage by hanging upside down from his jungle gym, 5. Rockies, 6. Mt. Zion Cemetery Overview, 7. Tinker Hill in Fog, 8. Why I have no pens, 9. Half a Bat, 10. Waiting for the express.., 11. Reveal, 12. revenge of the foot pokies, 13. i need a girlfriend, 14. Mountain Dusk, 15. Australia, Western Australia: Visted place, 16. Mermaid or what? (Black footprints), 17. American Rome Orton, 18. Concrete and rust, 19. Snow and wind, 20. a socratic dialogue with p!nk, 21. blossoms in the evening, 22. Dances with Waves. That was then…, 23. exit at your own risk, 24. Clouds Rushing Over the Blue Spruce, 25. Untitled, 26. Last Bloom, 27. Sawtoothed Grain Beetle, 28. Fade away, 29. You go first…, 30. The Icelandic beacon., 31. The Temples of Syrinx, 32. come out and play, 33. Félagsandi, 34. Canned, 35. blame it on the rain, 36. Legs

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

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Modulatio(n), originally uploaded by Unhindered by Talent.

Cory of Monkey River Town left a comment on this photo that got me going on something I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about, namely the current and future status of radio (at least in the U.S.) and of KUMM (the student radio station here at UMM).

It’s pretty clear that radio in general, and KUMM in particular, is in a pretty weird place right now. With iPods, and podcasts, and XM why would anyone listen to live, local radio, especially the bland, commercial filled crap that dominates so much of the airwaves. When everyone was the captive of their cars or an inexpensive transistor radio, the current model worked pretty well. Now people have a huge array of choices, so it’s not clear how much longer they’ll keep listening to the lame stuff corporate radio keeps feeding them. They’re already leaving in droves (for example, and so far the suits haven’t been very creative in their responses (some are simply in denial).

As far as KUMM goes, I think the profile of listeners and (especially) DJs has changed enormously, and we’re still not at all sure what that means. 20 years ago, a milk crate of LPs was a pretty good sized music collection for a college student, and DJing at the radio station was a great way to access a vastly larger music collection than any student could afford (or find room to store!). Now, students have 50-100Gb of music on their hard drive and can’t find time to listen to a fraction of it all. When I started at KUMM in 1991, I was unusual in how much of my own music I brought in to the station (but I was old and had collected a lot over the years). Now I see shows where two or three DJs have laptops and iPods that they’re plugging in and playing from, and the only “station” music they’re playing is they’re required four songs from the official new music section every hour.

So why listen to KUMM? Why be a DJ on KUMM? Do we really care about upping our wattage so that people in Glenwood (and maybe Alexandria on a good day) can here us? Or is our real market in on-line broadcasting and (if we could sort out the permissions) podcasting specialty programs? My sense is that if we have a future, it’s online, but it’s unclear exactly what form that will take.

Thoughts?

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Mutant Variety Show poster, originally uploaded by Unhindered by Talent.

As mentioned earlier, In a little less than three weeks, Sub-Evil Boy and I will be hosting a strange evening of music and fun, with donations going to cancer-related charities.

And so here we have our advertising poster :-).

The octopus image comes from PeeZed’s blog, the photo of Sub-Evil and I from Ellery Fisher, and the banjo shot is mine. The background is a manipulated detail from a photo of some of WeatherGirl’s wonderful art.

Hardly high art, but still it has an antique etching of an octopus, and that’s gotta be worth something!

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