Honesty Boxes

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In case you missed the short item about this cyclist down under, it is worth a look.  So is the related item (click the image above to go to the original) about honesty boxes:

Many tourists in automobiles surely pass right by them unaware—but cyclists see these handmade, unguarded food stalls in the distance, usually first as a cardboard sign advertising some product of the homestead. Many times it’s just pine cones, sacks of sheep stool or firewood—and sometimes the sign is just a notice that a reputed local bull is ready and eager to mate.

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Today At MOMA

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A completely different kind of photographer from our hero, Errol Morris,  Cindy Sherman is more classically defined as an artist.  With all the wonders as well as baggage that come with that term.  Although artists have sometimes been heroic, the recent trend has included plenty of fashionistas.  Cindy Sherman challenges; decide for yourself.  A retrospective show opens today, showing 35 years of her photography.  The New York Times review, titled Photography’s Angel Provocateur, has a nicely turned phrase about the show and how the viewer is:

…confronted by an artist with an urgent, singularly personal vision, who for the past 35 years has consistently and provocatively turned photography against itself. She comes across here as an increasingly vehement avenging angel waging a kind of war with the camera, using it to expose what might be called both the tyranny and the inner lives of images, especially the images of women that bombard and shape all of us at every turn.

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Gavi Sightings: February 25, 2012

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I happened to meet Mr.Madhu Menon who is a Director of ANALA (Ahmedabad Nature Lover’s Association) when he came to Cardamom County for a property visit on the 25th of Feb. He happily shared his nature loving photos with us.

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Photographer As Mystery

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Errol Morris has been a hero at the vanguard of quirky approaches to justice (made a film that freed an innocent man on death row; followed that up with a film that led a famous statesman to be able to acknowledge his war crimes), but has never been noted as a hero within the wider popular culture.

Smithsonian has an article about Morris (click the image to the right to go to it) that will not likely change that, but it does have one of the most fascinating paragraphs you are likely to read about a film maker who writes extensively, especially about photography:

Born in suburban Long Island, Morris graduated from the University of Wisconsin. After a stint of cello study in France, he talked his way into the Princeton graduate philosophy seminar of Thomas Kuhn, an icon of postmodernism, the man who coined the term “paradigm shift.” It wasn’t exactly a meeting of the minds. In fact, it almost cracked Morris’ skull, which is what Kuhn seemed to be aiming to do at the climax of an argument when the esteemed philosopher threw an ashtray at Morris’ head.

Golden Dewdrop (Duranta erecta)

/ Salim.E.I / 2 Comments

Golden Dew Drop is an ornamental plant which is a fast growing shrub that can easily reach 5-10ft tall. The clustered flowers are light blue or lavender in color grows and bloom almost all year long. The fruit are like golden balls that hang off the branches. Continue reading →

Blue Revolution

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The Utne Reader, long the aggregator of choice for news on a wide variety of topics from a wide variety of sources, has a great new life on the internet: bigger, better, faster. An item currently on their website (click the image above to go there) is worth a look because of the provocatively obvious (to anyone living in a location where water scarcity is already an issue) opening line:

It’s time to confront our long-held, deeply ingrained belief that water should be forever free, Cynthia Barnett contends in her new book Blue Revolution: Unmaking America’s Water Crisis, which recently came out on Beacon Press.

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Photographing New Frontiers

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At first glance, we want to go there.  Is it somewhere in the southwest of the United States, or maybe those amazing mountains in Jordan where the dwellings of Petra might be just around the corner? Continue reading →

Gavi Sightings: February 23, 2012

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Here we are sharing the photos of Mr. Jonathan, who recently stayed at Cardamom County. He visited the Gavi Ecotourism destination and experienced the wilderness through trekking, bamboo rafting, and a nature walk.

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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 →

Biking In The Catlins

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Facing off with the edge of the world, where the gray and blustery waters of the Southern Ocean meet the rocks of Curio Bay, in the Catlins (New Zealand). Photo by Geoff Green.

Today, a post on the Smithsonian blog (sub-blog?) called “off the road” catches our attention.  The photograph on its own would be enough to catch the eye, but reading this fellow’s several paragraphs about a place called the Catlins is enough to get on the raft and start paddling to New Zealand (if, like us, you like faraway places):

A main claim to fame of the Catlins is the area’s high latitude. Slope Point is the southernmost spot of land on the South Island, at 46 degrees, 40 minutes south. Oh, come on, now. Don’t raise your eyebrows and whistle like that. Seattle, for example, boasts a latitude of 47 degrees, and Glasgow goes just under 56 degrees. Yet I’ll grant that the Catlins are farther south than Tasmania, than Cape Town and than most cities in South America. This is, indeed, among the southernmost settled areas on the planet.

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Blood Flower (Asclepias curassavica)

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The Blood Flower (Asclepias curassavica) is one of the food plants for the many butterflies which can be seen in and around the Western Ghats. In our butterfly garden it attracts the Plain Tiger butterfly and bees, among other nectar feeding insects. Continue reading →

Universities Pushing Boundaries

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The University of Minnesota has a website devoted to environmental issues, and we immediately enjoy its spirit and perspective.  Click the image to the left to go to one brief article in a series titled “What would it take?”, in this case featuring an interview with Solomon Prakash.  He is asked a series of questions around the specific theme “What would it take for social entrepreneurship to make inroads to poverty?”  His answers conclude with:

I think the next 10 years will be the decade of social entrepreneurs. I see lots of talented people who want to solve social problems making serious career changes. Some mainstream design firms have actually set up a whole branch around social innovation. Consulting companies are looking at hybrid models of social change. Increasingly, companies are saying it’s no longer possible to look at customers just as consumers. More and more people understand that social change is no longer a marginal activity. The opportunity is huge to solve problems and to come up with interesting commercial models that can be sustainable.

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Periyar Sightings: February 21, 2012

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This afternoon I went to the main entrance of the Periyar Tiger Reserve to assist one of  our groups staying at Cardamom County. We had the good fortune to see a herd of elephants along with baby at a very close distance to the main entrance.  Our group members got very excited and took many photographs. Continue reading →

Celebrating Difficulty

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Meg’s post, considering the image and the beginning, might have taken a different turn.  Click the image above to go to a short blog post by astrophysicist Adam Frank, which has a photograph remarkably similar to Meg’s as its header.  Where Frank goes, we follow. Continue reading →

Needing Mr. Miyagi

/ Meg Chatham / 2 Comments

Anyone who has ever been to ski slopes may have experienced small, pint-sized, infant skiers buzzing down the hills.  As a veteran skier of 18-years, I proudly proclaim that I was once one of these daring children.  However, I learned this past weekend that through the years I have lost this fearlessness when I was challenged to try snowboarding.  I would love to boast that my first run was very similar to this video, but the aching of my entire body keeps me truthful as if to say, “Ha!  You wish, Meg!”

Several times I met the side of the mountain and regardless of the many parts of my body that hit, the solid surface was resilient to my attacks; in fact, the bruises that continue to surface would argue that it fought back with increasing firmness.  The absence of soft, powdery snow brought my awareness to this season’s lack of typical winter weather, and it drew my attention to the resort’s snow-making cannons.  Continue reading →