About 2 minutes into the video the 14th Dalai Lama asks if America has a Green Party and if so he would want to join it. Made me smile 
Read more about his remarks here.
6/23/2008 || 1:12 pm
Definitely not Comcastic
For the last two weeks the internet has been down at my house. This makes it nearly impossible to do daily blog entries. I hope to get back to the regular routine once the internet is back up….
Posted One Year Ago: University of Texas at Austin Quilt #3
6/13/2008 || 5:21 pm
Wale Versus WALL-E [via youtube doubler]
click to view the mashup
I downloaded Wale’s “Mixtape About Nothing” the other day and it occurred to me that Disney has a cartoon coming out that had a similar spelling of the main character. This mashup features Wale’s video called “Uptown Roamers” and on the right is Pixar’s trailer for the upcoming animated feature film called WALL-E. The cartoon’s main character looks a bit too much like Johnny 5 from Short Circuit (1986). I doubt I’ll be seeing the movie, but I’m enjoying Wale’s newest mixtape.
Click here to download Wale’s “A Mixtape About Nothing”. Click here to read a great review of the mixtape.
View more screen grabs:
(more…)
6/12/2008 || 12:19 am
In Praise of a Contented Mind / My Mind to me a Kingdom is
Edward de Vere - 17th Earl of Oxford
from an engraving by J. Brown after G.P. Harding 1575
via Wikipedia
In Praise of a Contented Mind
My mind to me a kingdom is;
Such perfect joy therein I find
That it excels all other bliss
That world affords or grows by kind.
Though much I want which most men have,
Yet still my mind forbids to crave.
No princely pomp, no wealthy store,
No force to win the victory,
No wily wit to salve a sore,
No shape to feed each gazing eye;
To none of these I yield as thrall.
For why my mind doth serve for all.
I see how plenty suffers oft,
How hasty climbers soon do fall;
I see that those that are aloft
Mishap doth threaten most of all;
They get with toil, they keep with fear.
Such cares my mind could never bear.
Content I live, this is my stay;
I seek no more than may suffice;
I press to bear no haughty sway;
Look what I lack my mind supplies;
Lo, thus I triumph like a king,
Content with that my mind doth bring.
Some have too much, yet still do crave;
I little have, and seek no more.
They are but poor, though much they have,
And I am rich with little store.
They poor, I rich; they beg, I give;
They lack, I leave; they pine, I live.
I laugh not at another’s loss;
I grudge not at another’s gain;
No worldly waves my mind can toss;
My state at one doth still remain.
I fear no foe, nor fawning friend;
I loathe not life, nor dread my end.
Some weigh their pleasure by their lust,
Their wisdom by their rage of will,
Their treasure is their only trust;
And cloaked craft their store of skill.
But all the pleasure that I find
Is to maintain a quiet mind.
My wealth is health and perfect ease;
My conscience clear my chief defense;
I neither seek by bribes to please,
Nor by deceit to breed offense.
Thus do I live, thus will I die.
Would all did so as well as I!
Last night I was adding some new books to my shelves and decided to look at my old copy of the Norton Anthology of English Literature. I opened it up, turned a few pages and stumbled on to In Praise of a Contented Mind. It’s anonymous poem most commonly attributed to Edward Dyer but according to Norton, it was possibly written by Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford (painting above). According to the Oxfordian Theory, some believe that Edward de Vere was the poet who’s pseudonym was Shakespeare. I hold the opinion that Shakespeare was most likely a group of nobles who collaborated together to write under the pseudonym of Shakespeare because their status as nobles prevented their official authorship.
In 1588 William Byrd set the poem to music in Psalms, Sonnets, and Songs of Sadness and Piety, as “My Mind to me a Kingdom is.” This version (below) is attributed to Sir Edward Dyer and includes some modification to the original prose.
My minde to me a kingdome is,
such perfect joy therin I find,
That it excells all other blisse,
which God or Nature hath assign’d.
Though much I want, that most would have,
yet still my mind forbids to crave.
No princely port nor welthie store,
no force to winne a victorie,
no wyly wit to salve a sore,
no shape to winne a loving eye:
to none of these I yeld as thrall,
for why my minde despise them all.
I see that plentie surfeits oft,
and hastie clymbers soonest fall:
I see that such as are a loft,
mishap doth threaten most of all:
these get with toyle and keepe with feare,
such cares my minde can never beare.
I presse to beare no haughtie sway,
I wish no more then may suffice:
I doe no more than well I may,
look what I want my minde supplies,
loe thus I triumph like a King,
my minde content with any thing.
I laugh not at anothers losse,
nor grudge not at anothers gaine:
no worldly waves my minde can tosse,
I brooke that is anothers bane:
I feare no foe nor fawne on friend,
I loth not lyfe nor dread mine end.
My wealth is health and perfect ease,
and conscience cleere my chiefe defence,
I never seeke by brybes to please,
nor by desert to give offence:
thus doe I live, thus will I dye,
would all did so as well as I.
The score was mass produced as a broadside where it remained popular for over 100 more years. According to google, this posting is between the 15th and 30th mention of this poem on the internets.
6/11/2008 || 7:50 pm
The Trilingual Afghan Calendar
Last night I had someone from Pakistan query Google with the sentance “i want to see gregorian calendar 1387,” and the third result was my Zodiac link. After “reverse searching” the query I found this calendar for the year 1387 written in Dari, Pashto & English.
The following text was copied from the author, Emal Alekozai (thank you!) I will note there are some formatting issues with the tables, so bear with me.
(more…)
Posted One Year Ago: Google StreetView I.E.D. - Blowing Up The Spot
6/10/2008 || 6:17 pm
Madison Square Garden Quilt
Using my new procedure, I pre-rendered 2 tiles to create this third derivative map of Madison Square Garden in Midtown Manhattan. It looks very similar to Hirshhorn Quilt (they are both circular buildings) but they are composed of aerial photographs taken at different spatial scales. The NYC imagery has been downsampled to 2ft per pixel compared to DC’s imagery which is at 6 inches per pixel or a difference of about 16 times less detail (I think). Up next will probably be the New York Public Library, which was actually in the first tessellation, but dropped from the second.
View the Google Map of Madison Square Garden in New York City.
View the rest of the details:
(more…)
6/9/2008 || 9:00 pm
The Dr. Bill Show!
I’ve been at odds with DC Vote for years. While we are on the same side regarding the importance of congressional representation for DC residents, I’ve been quite dissatisfied with their approach toward bringing true equality. As an ardent supporter of statehood, I’ve been annoyed that DC Vote has been a puppet of the Democratic Party and has wantonly gone after partial representation instead of full representation.
Last year I modified their logo to create a 1/3 fraction because of their support for the constitutionally dubious Norton-Davis bill that would give DC a token vote in the House of Representatives, but no representation in the Senate, or 1/3 representation. This was followed up by a nice phone call from the executive director of the organization asking me nicely to not screw around with their copyrighted logo (free speech rules!). I even created multiple designs of the DC Flag that had only one out of the three stars filled in to show my fractional contempt. However, my best creation was the modified DC license plate that said “TAXATION WITH 1/3 REPRESENTATION,” which was ultimately mentioned in the Washington Times.
Worse is that DC Vote has been able to conflate “voting rights” with “statehood” in public discourse to the point that people use the words “voting rights” incorrectly. The inherent irony is that they’ve been advocating for a voting right (singular) because they are staunchly in favor of giving Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton *a* vote in the House. In my opinion, “voting rights” (plural) involves DC residents having Congressional representation in both the House and the Senate. I remember when we marched at last year’s rally, I had to stop people from chanting “Give us the vote” because they were naively advocating for partial representation when we were holding a large flag that said “DC STATEHOOD NOW!”
Earlier this afternoon I noticed an advertisement on Wonkette for “Dr. Bill” and after clicking on it I was brought to DC Vote’s website to watch a flash version of the video above.
Frankly, I really like the video and that’s why I am posting it here today. With my reservations about DC Vote aside, I actually like this video as a means for explaining the disenfranchisement of DC residents. There is no mention of any constitutionally dubious legislation, rather its a simple & straightforward video that makes a strong case for giving DC residents representation in Congress while making fun of America’s worst president.
If you are reading/watching this from outside of Washington, DC, please share this video with your friends. If you think “change” is coming to Washington, maybe it should start with the enfranchisement of DC residents.
Related Entries:
(more…)
Posted One Year Ago: Pearl Street Quilt #2
6/8/2008 || 2:45 pm
Mark Your Calendars!
A few months ago I was contacted about giving a lecture at the October meeting of the New York Map Society. At first I was slightly bashful about the offer because most map societies deal primarily with antique maps, but after talking with the organizer I realized that it would be a great opportunity to present my work to a larger audience.
Originally the presentation was scheduled for October 11th (the day after my birthday) but due to potential scheduling conflicts with the New York Public Library (Columbus Day weekend), the date was pushed a week earlier. I haven’t given an extensive presentation related to my maps in a couple years, but with four months to prepare, I have ample time to collect my thoughts. However, since I’ve generated so much new content since my last presentation I think the hardest part will be finding a way to distill everything into 90 minutes!
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m going to be making some new maps of New York City. On the docket are some maps of Midtown Manhattan, which is where the Humanities & Social Science Library of the New York Public Libraries is located. It’s also where I’ll be giving my presentation.
I hope to donate one of these upcoming maps to the library in conjunction with my presentation. I figure that there is no better way say thanks than through a donation. Its also a great way to give the audience a chance to visually inspect what I think will be one aspect of my presentation.
WHO: Nikolas Schiller & the New York Map Society
WHAT: A presentation & discussion about my maps
WHERE: The New York Public Library, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018
WHEN: October 4th, 2008 at 2:30pm
WHY: The questions related to where you are from, where you are at, and where you are going are timeless!
COST: ABSOLUTELY FREE!
Mark your calendars!
Posted One Year Ago: Pearl Street Quilt
6/7/2008 || 6:12 pm
Manhattan & Brooklyn Bridge Quilt
Yesterday I went through all my 2008 entries and began to compile this year’s maps like I’ve done for previous years. However, this year I decided to expand the listing to include designs & animations that I’ve made.
The rationale for this expansion was rather simple: if these yearly listings are to be aggregates of my creative work, they might as well include everything. I’m a bit tepid about going through the previous years to find creations that I might have missed, but I imagine that I’ll get around to doing it. Also, since this website has gone public, I’ve found myself sharing content that I did not create and this makes it more difficult to decipher what I’ve created and what I have found on-line & decided to share here.
Today’s creation is the start of a new series of New York City maps that I expect to make in the coming days. This morning I discovered that the USGS has released newer imagery of New York City that was taken in March of 2006.
However, as with other imagery, I’ve found that the older imagery is of better quality. Its not that this new imagery is fuzzy or not as sharp, but rather I found the coloration to be more subdued. The 2004 imagery, which I used to produce all of my previous New York City maps, is more vivid and the colors just look nicer. With that issue aside, I’ve made a few different tessellations that I’m going to be using for the next set of maps of New York City.
This map shows the Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as a tiny portion of Brooklyn and a larger portion of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. I tried a few different Quilt projection shapes and finally settled on using the Diamond Quilt Projection because I like the way the bridges create a square box within the diamond layout. I have made a derivative tessellation of this map, but I think I’m going to use some of the other imagery first.
View the Google Map of the Manhattan & Brooklyn Bridges.
View the rest of the map’s close-up details:
(more…)
Posted One Year Ago: Pornographic Tessellations
6/6/2008 || 12:37 pm
Tonight! Art Party @ Capitol Hemp
If you haven’t been to Capitol Hemp yet, come & check it out tonight!
Posted One Year Ago: new project with Google's Street View
6/5/2008 || 5:32 pm
My Brash Poem from Art-O-Matic 2008
Inverted scan of the poem
Brash is a poet that goes around Art-O-Matic and leaves each artist a poem. Last week I noticed that my poem had been taped up to my exhibit space, so I decided to take it home, scan it, and post it here on-line. Word is that Brash will probably have a poem made for EVERY artist (thats a thousand poems!) at Art-O-Matic 2008. Brash, if you are reading this, thank you!
Posted One Year Ago: Half Mile O' Maps
6/4/2008 || 12:39 am
CurrentTV: Green On Green [feat. the 2008 Green Party Presidential Candidates]
This four minute video showcases some of the 2008 Green Party presidential candidates and their stances on a few issues. I like the way the video goes about rectifying some misconceptions about the 2000 election and the importance of voting for who & what you believe in. As I noted last week, Cynthia McKinney has clinched the Green Party’s presidential nomination, but regretfully I won’t be able to attend the national convention this year because family duties call me to Colorado at the same time. After attending the two previous annual meetings I’m really curious to see who shows up, but this year I’ll just have to watch the videos of the proceedings on-line.
6/3/2008 || 6:33 pm
Bicycle Freedom! [Vélib’ in DC]
With Washington, DC about to begin the first bicycle sharing program in the United States, I’m posting some videos featuring the Parisian bike sharing service called Vélib’. The names in French is a combination of “vélo libre” or “vélo liberté” and in English it means free bicycle or bicycle freedom.
I think these YouTube videos are a fitting follow-up to my new bicycle freedom in Washington, DC
|
Bikes Belong presents: Velib Bikes sharing is transforming how cities look at public transit. We went to Paris in November 2007 to see for ourselves what Velib is all about. [I really like the use of the infographics] Vélo Liberté - Parisian Bike Culture The author of Copenhagen Cycle Chic rides around Paris with his wife: “In ten short months the urban landscape of Paris has been transformed by the Vélib’ bike share programme.” See Blog Entry
“In the morning, you can go to work in the tram and come home by bike; it depends on the weather, it depends on your mood and on your friends,” said Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe Sunday. Delanoe aims to cut car traffic in the city by 40 per cent by 2020. Velib’ [en Français]Voici un reportage sur Vélib’, le nouveau service public offert par la mairie de Paris que j’ai réalisé pour le magazine Webcarnews. Retrouvez le sujet complet sur www.webcarnews.com Here is a report on Vélib, the new public service offered by the mayor of Paris that I produced for the magazine Webcarnews. Find the subject comprehensive www.webcarnews.com |
I post more when I find them….
Related Bicycling Entries:
- Bicycle Freedom! [Vélib’ in DC]
- DC Bicycle Registration Law to be Discontinued [Yeah!]
- Rush hour bicycle traffic congestion in Copenhagen, Denmark
- Streetfilms: Ciclovia in Bogotá, Colombia
- Then & Now Birds-Eye Views of the Westminster Neighborhood in Washington, DC [1884 & 2005]
- GPS nabs another one...
6/2/2008 || 5:28 pm
DC Bicycle Registration Law to be Discontinued [Yeah!]
Great news from the DC DMV:
DC Bicycle Registration Law to be Discontinued
Bicyclists Encouraged to Register with National Bike RegistryMedia Contact: Karyn Le Blanc at (202) 671-3490
(Washington, DC) The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) and the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) announce a major change in DC bicycle registration law.
Beginning June 1, 2008 bicycle registration is no longer required by law in the District of Columbia. Subsequently, registration will no longer be available at any District police or fire station as of this date.
DDOT and MPD now encourage citizens to register their bicycles with the National Bicycle Registry (NBR). NBR is a service that allows users to register their bicycle by serial number in a national database.
Accessible by law enforcement anywhere in the United States, NBR makes it easier and faster for police officers to identify and prove ownership of stolen bicycles and return them to their rightful owners.
“Using the National Bicycle Registry will help streamline bicycle registration for District residents and provide for an easier registration process be it online, by telephone, or by mail,” said Emeka Moneme, Director of DDOT.
“Each year, over a million bikes are stolen. Most are left unclaimed and cannot be returned to their owners because the bicycles have no label or identification. It is simple to put an NBR label on the bike to register it, and we want to encourage all of our residents to do it,” said Chief Lanier.
To register a bicycle with NBR residents may do any of the following:
* purchase a NBR registration kit for $10 at area bicycle shops
* register bikes and find additional information online at www.nationalbikeregistry.com
* call 1-800-848-BIKEFor additional information contact DDOT’s Bicycle Program Office at (202) 671-0681.
Truth be told, I’ve been riding around Washington, DC on my bicycle for the last six years illegally. After hearing only horror stories from friends dealing with DC’s antiquated registration system, I boldly decided to never register my bike. There was a great City Paper article on how the registration program basically allowed DC police to pull over ANY bicyclist to check the status of their bicycle’s registration, and if the bike was not registered, it was confiscated by the police. The unfortunate result was that this law was used disproportionately to arrest young black youth suspected of crime instead of going after the actual bicycle thieves (I’ve had 3 bikes stolen in the last few years!). I actually read over the current bicycle laws over the weekend and have some interesting findings, but I will save them for when the current laws are updated.
NBC 4 has an article on this topic, so does the Washington, DC Express newspaper, where I left a brief comment. I’ll also have more bicycling videos posted here shortly.
5/31/2008 || 4:26 pm
Cookn’ With Federico Aubele now available on iTunes
Image links to iTunes Store
Last week “Cooking with Federico Aubele” [link opens iTunes Store does not work] was released by Washington, DC-based ESL Music. I decided to download the entire album and I suggest you do the same. You can listen to some of his tracks on his MySpace page.
Cookn With Federico Aubele was recorded in Buenos Aires, Argentina in March of this year, this album captures the sound hearing Federico live. In a couple weeks Natalia Clavier, who is the female vocalist on this album & Panamericana, has her own solo album coming out on ESL. I’ll definitely post something here when it’s released.
His last album Panamericana was my favorite album of last year and this studio album features tracks from both Gran Hotel Buenos Aires and Panamericana as well as two unreleased tracks. I’m tempted to post my favorites tracks here, but I’ll refrain for the time being
I received word from ESL Music that the CD has been taken off-line. It looks like the CD is going to be re-released in the not-so-distant future. The CD is worth the wait.
Posted One Year Ago: Random Blog Entry Link Added To Menu
5/30/2008 || 2:00 pm
the Phoenix Mars Mission
The Martian surface is rather barren….
Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
For nearly the last year I’ve been following the various contemporary space missions on this blog. It probably all started last summer after finding the unique Zodiac from 1544, then this curiosity progressed to Google Sky & Stellarium, to seeing my first Moon Mars conjunction as well as Saturn for the first time in December, and most recently seeing Mercury Messenger’s first photographs of the backside of Mercury and seeing Jupiter conjunct the Moon for the first time last week.
Today’s entry concerns the Phoenix Mars Mission which I’ve found to be pretty fun to learn about. The website consists of scientist blogs, near-realtime photographs and animations. Because it’s all happening in near-real time, it’s like you are exploring Mars alongside of the official scientists. Quite cool.
Related Space Entries:
(more…)
Posted One Year Ago: LOLMaps #51 - WARNING: contains geography not suitable for minors
5/29/2008 || 3:23 pm
A coded message in the last article from the Washington Post’s Linton Weeks
Yesterday I stumbled across this article on Reddit. Its a simple article about John Updike, but it’s also the author’s last article for the Washington Post because the newspaper is laying off / buying out a number of their journalists. As you can see below, Linton Weeks included a cute coded message for his long-time readers:
Updike Reads The Lines in American Art
Jefferson Lecturer Tackles Nation’s Quest for Identity
By Linton Weeks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 24, 2008; Page C07Give novelist and sometime art critic John Updike credit. The 2008 National Endowment for the Humanities Jefferson Lecturer tried to answer the thorny question: “What is American about American art?”
Onstage at the Warner Theatre Thursday night, in front of 1,900 culture lovers, the angular, silver-haired Updike used more than 60 images, ranging from formal mid-18th-century portraits by Bostonian John Singleton Copley to the hyper-realistic late-20th-century renderings of Richard Estes, to make his point: “The American artist . . . born into a continent without museums and art schools, took nature as his only instructor, and things as his principal study.”
One of the salient traits of this country, he told the gathering, is an urge to define what is American. To delineate the romantic wildness of our nature. To search for a national self-image. That desire to map the New World is reflected in the tight classicist tradition of American art.
Drawing rules in this country’s artwork, Updike said. He quoted a European-trained artist who criticized Copley — the first American to exhibit a painting in Europe — for being too “liney.” That is, too reliant on the drawing in his paintings and not free enough with color and light.
By tracing that harsh “lineyness” in American painting, and juxtaposing it against a freer, more colorful romantic “painterliness” in other work, Updike laid out a convincing answer to his overarching what-is-American question.
Yet he did it subtly. Flashing slides of well-knowns, such as Gilbert Stuart, Winslow Homer, Grant Wood and Norman Rockwell, Updike pointed out the distinctions.
European-influenced artists, such as Homer and John Singer Sargent, tended toward the painterly; more purely American artists, such as Copley and Thomas Hart Benton, toward the liney.
Reading from a text, Updike, 76, spoke in a raspy voice. The presentation moved quickly. An invitation to deliver the Jefferson Lecture is the loftiest award given by the federal government for “distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities,” and there was a patriotic air to the affair.
Even the U.S. Marine Band showed up to play before the ceremony.
At no point during the speech did Updike, or the slideshow technology, falter. The address was based on “Picturing America,” an NEH initiative to distribute reproductions of American paintings to schools and libraries.
Diversity was nearly absent in Updike’s presentation. The painters he referred to were mostly males of European descent, a cohort he referred to as “that least hip of demographic groups.” He did not, for instance, mention the extraordinary American painter Mary Cassatt, who became an expatriate.
Either ignored or overlooked, as well, was any reference to a 19th-century European debate — similar to the liney-painterly dichotomy — between classicist Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres and romanticist Eugène Delacroix.
Regardless, Updike’s lecture was high-minded and provocative — like most of his work.
Soon after the talk ended, the patrons repaired to the Willard Hotel for a wine-and-sweets reception. So did Updike.
All I can say is: well done and I hope the next job is even better!
5/28/2008 || 1:54 pm
Face the (Corporate) Candidates on YouTube
Today I wrote YouTube, LLC (owned by Google, Inc) the following letter:
Dear YouTube, LLC,
Your “Face the Candidates” section ( http://youtube.com/youchoose ) needs to be updated to include all presidential candidates. Currently American voters are not being shown all the candidates for president of the United States of America and this prevents your users from making an informed decision on what presidential candidate to vote for in November.
As a member of the Green Party of the United States, I find your explicit bipartisanship to be counter to your parent company’s corporate philosophy. The link to the “Face the Candidates” page is titled “YouChoose” but in reality it could be written “We’ve chosen for you,” because the web editors have unfairly excluded a presidential candidate.
Please include Cynthia McKinney’s campaign channel ( http://www.youtube.com/runcynthiarun ) to your “Face the Candidates” page because she is running for president and deserves the same placement as her democratic & republican party counterparts.
Sincerely,
Nikolas R. Schiller
I wrote this out of general frustration regarding how controlled the American political system is. Even though I voted for Cynthia McKinney in the Washington, DC primary and she’s now acquired the majority of Green Party delegates, there has been absolutely no national media coverage of her campaign (don’t believe me, check the Washington Post & New York Times websites). This type of American Blackout is unpatriotic, nondemocratic, and downright wrong and with Google’s “do no evil” corporate philosophy in place, this letter is an attempt to challenge their web editors to do the right thing and include all presidential candidates regardless of political affiliation. Will they change the page? I doubt it, but I know that I’ve made an effort, albeit a small one.
Posted One Year Ago: TV Kultura mentions the last 4 years of my cartographic activities
5/27/2008 || 2:50 pm
My Art-O-Matic 2008 Opening Night Exhibit Dissected on Flickr
I’ve never been a fan of Flickr. I dislike how photos are lifted from Flickr all the time without proper citation. One of my biggest annoyances regarding my artwork or other people’s work is when it’s posted on-line with no link back or extra information regarding the artist or the circumstances regarding the image’s origin. Instead you get “neat huh?” “Cool photo!” “Look at this!” etc and while it’s great that more eyes are seeing the image, it undermines the artist’s visibility because the citation is not always accurately presented. A good example of this lack of information can be seen at the social image bookmarking website FFFFOUND!. This lack of citation is not the case 100% of the time, but its the main reason why I don’t upload my artwork to Flickr. Since I have ample server space and nearly unlimited bandwidth I’ve never needed another repository for my images.
I also don’t like the stalker ability that comes with having all of your photographs on-line for strangers to look at and download. I won’t name names, but I’ve looked through some Flickr photostreams of some of my friends and have found that the photos offer far too much information about their lives, activities, and friends. You can look through someone’s photos and see their exes, the interior of their homes, and basically just about anything the person decided to place out there for strangers to view. Worse is that you cannot access the information regarding where your photographs are viewed from. Since I have access to my website’s server logs I can find exactly how many times a photograph has been looked at and by what IP addresses. This information is shielded from the Flickr user and dumbed down to a lowly view counter.
With those reservations aside, I decided to play nice and upload one photograph of my Art-O-Matic 2008 exhibit taken on May 9th. I went through and tagged the photograph twelve times showcasing the content that has been placed on top of the Base Map. Since I embedded quite a few links into the notes, I’ll be able to track exactly who clicks on the image and know with a certain amount of certainty how many times the photograph has been looked at and where the photograph is being looked at from– if they click.
(more…)
5/26/2008 || 1:26 pm
DC Residents say they want full democracy, like New Delhi.
This article is a great primer on the disenfranchisement of Washington, DC residents. However well-crafted or edited, I genuinely have issue with this one statement– the only place where the word STATEHOOD is mentioned in the entire article:
While many Congress members support a vote in the House for Washington residents, statehood is less popular because it would mean adding two senators from one city in an upper chamber that has only 100 members for the entire nation. And although the population of D.C. is greater than the state of Wyoming, the District lacks characteristics normally associated with states such as diverse geography with both urban and rural areas. Yet, these definitions of what constitutes a state are not written in the Constitution.
Statehood is the easiest answer, but the hardest solution to obtain. The League of Women Voters gave up on Statehood in the 90’s and were most recently in favor of the constitutionally dubious 1/3 representation bill. What I find sad is that the words “An Equal Constitutional Rights Amendment” are used in place of an actual bill. So instead of working for statehood- a singular goal- they are currently advocating what? A to-be-drafted bill that will probably only give partial equality? It’s rather sad. I mean, come on. The Democratic Party, DC Vote, the League of Women Voters, and the ilk are not able to change anything because they gave up on what DC residents voted for. Instead of not wavering and clearly stating one precise goal: statehood, they have sought “incremental” answers that have missed the mark. Its just so happens that most of these incremental steps are unconstitutional. Politics might be the art of compromise, but equal representation is the basis for politics. Statehood might be the most difficult solution to the DC Dilemma, but it provides the residents with full equality that no “voting rights bill” can match.
Below is the article:
(more…)
Posted One Year Ago: FlickrVision 3D
