Creativity

Thank You, North Carolina

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Of course, thanks to the individuals who made the direct effort to make this project possible.  Click the image above to see the visuals they produced, and click here to see those individuals.  But North Carolina’s citizens, whose taxes make the University’s operations possible, deserve our thanks too:

Our 2012 Fellows present a Powering a Nation special report, “100 Gallons.”

“100 Gallons” explores how our most critical resource goes far beyond traditional power. More than fossil fuels, commerce or industry, water powers life. Continue reading →

A Learning Laboratory (Stop Motion Video!)

/ Chi-Chi Lin / 12 Comments

Yesterday, Jonathon, Siobhan, Milo, and I moved into one of the new Raxa Collective properties under development. As the four of us huddled silently under our covers, the backwaters of Kerala’s nighttime accompanied Jonathon’s ghost stories…

Instead of spooky tales, though, today I want to share with you another story Jonathon narrates, Raxa Collective presents “A Learning Laboratory.” It’s a short video, Jonathon (narrator), Sunnie (illustrator), Siobhan (director), and I (producer) put together with the help of all the staff and summer interns to highlight some of the best anecdotes of how Raxa Collective’s Cardamom County ecolodge has acted as a “learning laboratory” for its staff, international trainees, and summer interns.

Enjoy!

Top 3 Words to Avoid When Talking Shop with Architects

/ Chi-Chi Lin / 3 Comments

We are working in Cochin and sometimes I feel like I am speaking two different languages. I’m not talking about struggling with mixing English and Malayalam. I’m not talking about scratching my head each time I encounter an Indian head shake/nod (“Wait- was that a yes or a no?”). I’m talking about the client’s language vs. the architect’s language.

This internship really is a “living laboratory.” I am getting a chance to sit on the client side and discuss ideas with the architects that will push Raxa Collective’s vision forward. Crist and Amie have worked with the design team side by side on each project and I am starting to understand how they think, how to make sure my drawings, renderings, and presentations can be clearer, and more. Sitting in on these design meetings in which the architect and clients discuss, propose, discuss, present, discuss, discuss, and discuss some more, I realize…

It’s like talking shop at an auto repair.

Continue reading →

5 Lenses For Every Vacation

/ Chi-Chi Lin / 2 Comments

Hey guys,

All of us photobugs and travel-junkies have struggled with the age-old question: which lens should I bring on my River Escapes backwaters adventure or my Roman holiday or my trip to the moon?

As a casual photographer, I’m not crazy about specs. I don’t get the numbers and technical terms! JUST TELL IT TO ME STRAIGHT! I know there are people out there who are like me, so Ben, Milo, and I will make it as easy as possible to understand which lens YOU need to bring on your next vacation! We’d also love to know what YOU brought on your last vacation!

See which of description fits you best:

  1. I’m out to shoot wildlife. Tell me what I need to know.
  2. I love architecture and the built world. What should I bring with me?
  3. I’m a tourist who’s going to stick out like a sore thumb, but I really want to capture candid portraits of interesting people– help!
  4. I’m going to a naturey place filled with dust/humidity/dirt/whatever and I don’t want to constantly change my lens. What’s the best daily walk-around lens?
  5. I’m going on a service trip and I’ll be working on a construction site. How do I make it look epic?
Here’s what we’ll be introducing from our private collections today:
  1. Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM with 2x extender
  2. Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
  3. Canon EF 50mm f/1.8
  4. Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM
  5. Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

ALRIGHT, I’M READY!! NOW SHOW ME THE 5 LENSES I SHOULD BRING ON MY NEXT VACATION!!!

Continue reading →

“I found love when I was 6”: A Story of Tattoos and Love

/ Chi-Chi Lin / 1 Comment

There are many things I could have named this blog post, but I decided it should sound scandalous, it should sound crazy, it should sound epic. I mean, what is more scandalous, more crazy, and more epic than falling in love when you’re is only 6 years old?

Getting a tattoo? No.

Getting a tatttoo at 6? No.

Getting a tattoo of your true love at 6? Now that, my friends, is crazy.

Kamal's Tattoo of his wife's name, Meena

Kamal’s Tattoo of his wife’s name, Meena

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Man-Machine Collaboration

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Click the banner above to go to the source, one of National Public Radio’s many excellent podcasts (this one being among our favorite, as you may have noticed here, as well as here and here, not to mention here):

Here’s a robot from Ishikawa Oku’s physics lab at the University of Tokyo that plays rock, paper, scissor and always beats the human, every single time. Because the team that built it gave it a superpower.

Preparing for CUBs in the Galápagos

/ Seth Inman / 5 Comments

Over the summer, I’ll be working with youth in the community of the second largest island of the Galápagos archipelago, Santa Cruz. This central island is the touristic center of the archipelago, and Puerto Ayora, its capital, is the most populated (and thus, urban) area in the islands. In particular, my goal is to engage students of the Unidad Educativa Modelo Tomás de Berlanga, a bilingual non-profit school five minutes from the center of Puerto Ayora, and create a youth-led project that focuses on habitat awareness and improvement, participatory science, and the arts, specifically through birds.

I will try to apply the framework of the Celebrate Urban Birds program to the Galápagos, using a list of around 16-20 focal species to teach those I can reach on Santa Cruz about citizen science as a tool for conservation and research while hopefully deepening an appreciation of their surroundings. I aim Continue reading →

New Nazca Lines

/ Amie Inman / 2 Comments

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Last year I wrote about the maize mazes carved from growing corn fields that reminded me of the mysterious Nazca Lines in the Peruvian desert. I just discovered Polish artist Jarolslaw Koziara, whose work falls more into the category of land art installation, with carefully crafted plantings to create geoglyphic imagery. Continue reading →

In the Shadow of Books

/ Amie Inman / 1 Comment

For centuries books have held a place of honor in our collective hearts and minds, whether housed in the great libraries of classical civilizations, the libraries of the “Great Houses” of Europe, or the wooden niche in a country home.

Whether related to their historical relevance or their long beloved history, books resonate with the stories they tell, the places they carry us to and the way they make us feel. Continue reading →

Giving Wildlife a Hand

/ Amie Inman / 2 Comments

Creativity often breaks the boundaries of “Art” and flows unrestricted into the art of advertising, catching the eye and closing the deal.  Using uncharacteristic restraint in avoiding all the obvious applause puns tugging at my imagination, I will just say “kudos to WWF” for using Guido Daniele’s inspired work to make their important point. Continue reading →

Curiouser Than Fiction

/ Amie Inman / 2 Comments

Children examine the Automaton during a visit to The Franklin Institute.

About 5 years ago I brought home a curious book called The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.  Both of my sons had been avid readers and lovers of detailed illustrations since childhood and books like The Eleventh Hour by Graeme Base had been favorites for as long as I could remember, so the elaborate charcoal drawings and almost graphic novel design in this new book were intriguing.

The most fascinating moment came with poking around the history behind the story itself.  Although placed within a work of fiction, both Georges Méliès and automatons are quite real. The Franklin Institute of Science and Technology has one in their collection with a history similar to the one in Selznick’s book:

In November of 1928, a truck pulled up to The Franklin Institute science museum in Philadelphia and unloaded the pieces of an interesting, complex, but totally ruined brass machine. Donated by the estate of John Penn Brock, a wealthy Philadelphian, the machine was studied and the museum began to realize the treasure it had been given. Continue reading →

Happy Birthday, Douglas

/ Crist Inman / 2 Comments

Amie, she-er than she, was a bit late on noting the birthday of one favored writer, and I, me-er than me, will be a bit early noting another.  Click on the image to the left and you will find a fun opportunity to celebrate this birthday and at the same time support conservation for these creatures, which I still have not seen in the wild but hope to one day do so, or at least participate in something like this; anyway, take a look:

11 March 2012 would have been Douglas Adams’ 60th Birthday. To celebrate this event, Douglas’ family and friends, in association with ‘Save The Rhino’ (one of Douglas’ favourite charities) are holding a very special birthday celebration in his honour at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. An evening’s entertainment from some of the finest names in the world of science, comedy, entertainment and music, with a very special premiere performance of Douglas’ material, this is one event that is definitely not to be missed. Continue reading →

“You-er Than You!”

/ Amie Inman / 5 Comments

Photo: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

A Dr. Seuss centennial had come upon me a few days ago in an “almost missed it moment”. In many ways the consumate “ad man” who became one of the most beloved children’s book authors never actually changed careers.  Nearly each and every one of his books continues to reach the pinacle of salesmanship, but not for a product. With joy, wit and often irony, they sold the love of reading, imagination and exploration.

Continue reading →

Plan B

/ Meg Chatham / 1 Comment

My past posts reveal my desire to be directly involved with sustainable farming.  I plan and hope to achieve this, but as both the global population and the demand for land, space, and food rise, I recognize that being flexible with this dream may minimize any potential disappointment.  Comparatively, as much as I seem to “fly by the seat of my pants,” I like to plan.  I come close to peace when I at least have some general structure to my life.  So with this in mind, I began to brainstorm back-up plans to having my own farm.

In this search and planning excursion, I read an article and learned of vertical farming.  Dickson Despommier of Columbia University and his students researched this urban farming phenomenon and hypothesized that such projects could solve our global food insecurity problems.

I am unsure of its feasibility, but in my characteristic optimism, I believe it has potential.  Continue reading →

Canopy Capture

/ Organikos / 1 Comment

Click the image above to go to a story covered in Wired about a novel approach to mapping threatened rainforest, using existing technology in an innovative manner:

A small, twin-propeller plane flies over the Amazon rainforest in eastern Peru. The scale of the vegetation is extraordinary. The tree canopy stretches as far as the eye can see — an endless array of broccoli florets bounded only by haze and horizon. Greg Asner, 43, has seen the rainforest from this vantage point many times before, but he still stares out of the window in rapt fascination.

Continue reading →

Connecting The Madeleines

/ Crist Inman / 3 Comments

The young man working his way through the kitchen brought to mind a young man of about the same age, three decades earlier. I had the good fortune, in my early adulthood, to work in a restaurant owned and operated by a man who is one of the great chefs of his generation.  I did not work in the kitchen, but in the dining room, from 1983-1985. It provided the most important education of my life, which is saying a lot because I eventually earned a Ph.D. and even that did not top the learning earned in Guy Savoy’s restaurant.

Continue reading →

Not Your Average Madeleine

/ Crist Inman / 1 Comment

One of the most effortless pastimes is visually-cued memory.  Out of nowhere you see something that reminds you of something and you are off to the races.  Or you hear something.  Whether the trigger is visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, or olfactory–or any combination of those–if you have the fortune of a stock of pleasant memories then something may take you to the kind of place linked in the image above.

Continue reading →

Rock, Paper, Scissors

/ Amie Inman / 1 Comment

I grew up being taught that books are precious.  Whether due to text, illustration or both, the best of them possess a piece of our living memories, passed down through generations, becoming dog-eared with loving use.  In the age of eBooks and threatened libraries, the intangible qualities of a bound book are becoming even more precious.

But for many of the same factors (growth of internet research and eBooks) as well as due to progress itself, there are specific books that become obsolete almost as soon as they are moved from press to shelves.  Encyclopedias, Road Atlases and Medical Journals are good examples.  So what, then, is to become of those weighty tomes that a generation or two ago held pride of place in every household? Continue reading →