I Am Adam.

http://www.babelgum.com/browser.php#play/SEARCH,channelID:180160,hint_no_featured:1,order:MOST_POPULAR/15,4002581

worth watching

i'm working on tattoo designs, and trying to plan out my trip north and west and figuring out about getting my new car.

So some black kids were throwing rocks and other various things at my door. Pretty sure that I heard one of those kids yell "cracker".

They live three apartments down from me. when i say kids, i mean they are under 10, possibly under 8.

i stopped the group of them and then told them that i wanted them to take me to their parents, and I'd follow them until they took me there. the oldest kid tried to take me to another parents house, but then his dad called him back to my apartment complex. and I spoke with him for a minute, and he walked the other kids home.

You know, it's shit like this that makes me sad about racism and poverty. These are the kids I always see playing around outside, digging in the ground, or doing various things. I wave at them, and say hello, but they never say anything back. I don't know what else there really is.


now i feel shitty.

I've been thinking about augmented reality in terms of cities and I started to cosider the fact that perhaps street art and advertisements could be considered as the analog versions of that.

So I started to prod through ideas that seemed to work around the forms of augmenting the landscape with technology, and see how many brush with “The Cloud” systems.

Note that i'm skipping great swaths of other topics and commercial AR. I can't really say good or bad, i'm too dazzled by socialized tech, so for the most part i'm staying with diy.

http://www.woostercollective.com/2009/08/kanos_cellograff_in_paris.html

http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/xa7ocp_cellograff-part1_creation

this one is straight analog, but brilliant. You use celophane sheets to cover an area to paint on, that way you really arent damaging anything. You can make them in spaces that would be open, and then you alter your surroundings in a neat way. Could make a pretty awesoem haunted house.

http://www.digital.udk-berlin.de/en/projects/summer05/main/freeproject/trains.html

videos created on train tunnel walls by a parasitic device made to sucker on the side of the train.

http://robotmonkeys.net/2009/03/02/qr-graffiti-for-pirate-radio/

http://www.yurisuzuki.com/graffiti.html

this was meant as an alternative to pirate radio, the idea is that you get in much less trouble by making an online redio station and stenciling a QR code link to it around town than you ever would if the british authorities caught you with a pirate radio station,

http://gizmodo.com/tag/qr-codes/

http://grinding.be/2009/01/16/qrcode-fence/

on that subject I just wanted to throw out there a little bit about art and QR codes mixing. Paintings, patches, etc.

http://grinding.be/2009/07/28/barcodes-for-the-rest-of-us/

then theres the bocode

http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/22/virtual-wall-concept-protects-pedestrians-livens-up-crosswalks/

this one interested me because it's an obvious example of something changing the landscape, a laser wall made to fence in the pedestrian walkway. Savannah needs this because every asshole in a car just drives through even when youre walking there.

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/08/cbs-embeds-a-video-playing-ad-in-a-print-magazine/

this one I think works wonders for this topic, and it happened in the midst of this week. A video and audio embedded into a magazine page. If you can have it on one paper, imagine where all you could put it and how long it could do whatever you asked. Its essentially a very simplistic microPC left in a paper, at a price low enough that pepsi would front the cash for the lot of them.

http://www.blahblahtech.com/2008/04/cell-phones-micro-projectors-gps-give-rise-to-metavision.html

this talks a bit more about the ideas that i'm sliding into next

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKbtTPYZEig

early forms of laser and light based building graffiti.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.12/graffiti.html

wired did a write up on more that you could look into if the subject interests you.

 

http://www.nawlz.com/

nawlz is a futuristic comic. Its all online and its flash based. I love it. It touches these topics and blends them to a really interesting vision of a not terribly distant future.

 

Some of my friends tease me about my tastes on occasion, but i wanted to say something, and this coffeetable is perfect to discuss it.

i think of it as pompous designs. really its about designers not thinking about the people using their products.
the quote from the people at better living through design just pushed me far enough into pissed to comment on it though

"It could be argued that splayed legs of this 'broken' coffee table might cause some bruised or broken toes, but perhaps the novelty and magazine storage overshadow that particular concern."

 are you fucking kidding me? "oh, you could break your toe on this, but its so neat that it totally makes up for it! And for only 400 Bucks its a steal!"  fuck you.

my first issue is that they took a regular coffee table, cut it in half, and then put a piece of glass on top. the magazine holder is just coincidental. you could have made the same thing on the original table. in fact you could do a whole lot of things, so this is in no way special.
it not being my style notwithstanding, i still think you could utilize double the space with a more well considered design.

second, if you want it to look neat, that's fine, but don't risk the buyers health in doing so. who do you know who HASN'T slammed their shin or toe into some stupidly designed sloping piece on a table or bed or chair before? its not possible to totally keep that from happening, but dont make your design in a way that its a higher risk  to someones lower parts, that's like misanthropy.

and third, that for $400? for gods sake. go to a thrift store, buy a coffee table, saw it in half. paint it. put something long and flat on it. DONE. you can get fancy and do some things to it, like SECURE it, which it doesn't look like these guys did. sometimes i think people just piss their money away instead of taking the time or initiative. at least if you made it yourself the semi-ironic design would be entertaining.

alright i'm done, excuse the rant. i've got another post on the way.

In the midst of last month I went on a trip to Milledgeville, Georgia. Milledgeville was once the capital of Georgia, but that title was denounced during reconstruction, and now it lies as a sort of out of the way college town with some historic shit, some fun and trendy shit, and a whole lot of country folk and rich people with vacation spots in the outlying area.

Anyway I went up there and then drove north to the edge of Lake Sinclair where I stayed for a week painting a log cabin. It was pretty awesome, especially because it was work, but a break. This was 16 miles from much of anything like a city, so the seclusion and nature-ly part of it made for a grand week.

So on my way into and out of town a few times I noticed a strange building poking out from behind a bunch of trees when I was passing the Oconee River.

On the day I was finished and leaving, I gave in to the itch, and found my way to the park upriver. its at this point that I notice the old Oconee River Bridge that was on the other side of the crossing bridge.

I hopped into the river and took my things that I had to carry and put them in my shirt pockets, then waded up to each.

So here's what pictures I took and what research I could find about them. Its a little speculative, but its the best I could find with internet only research.



Oconee Mill, Treanor's Mill





























Peter J. Williams, Hugh D. Treanor owners.

Act to build mill on the town commons at the first shoal on the Oconee River. established 1821-1823, still operating in early 1900s. Part of the brick work is visible from the Oconee River bridge. William H. Jewell, manager in 1910.

Source: CTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA, PASSED AT MILLEDGEVILLE, AT AN ANNUAL SESSION, IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1821. Atlanta Constitution June 7, 1903, 1910 Census

Info from here.


And here's a possible shot of the original wooden mill building, before the newer masonry structure was built.

There's a excerpt mentioning it during the civil war in this book here.


Old Oconee River Bridge





November 25, 1864


Following the battle of Stockbridge, Georgia, in which the mounted infantry troops of the Orphan Brigade gave Sherman's March to the Sea its first real resistance, the Kentuckians fell back in front of Sherman's Right Wing, toward Milledgeville. The Federals bypassed Milledgeville, and found themselves at the crossings of the Oconee River, south of Milledgeville, on November 24, 1864. These crossings consisted of the main road, which crossed via Ball's Ferry, and the railroad bridge, some three miles to the north.


Captain John Weller, Acting Major of the Fourth Kentucky Mounted Infantry, described the defense of the railroad bridge. The Fourth Kentucky was joined in this action by a unit of convicts from the Milledgeville penitentiary and a battalion of cadets from the Georgia Military Institute at Milledgeville. The Fourth Kentucky had previously crossed the river at Ball's Ferry, headed north to the railroad bridge, and recrossed there, to set up a defensive position blocking the bridge. The Fourth Kentucky was in the center, protecting the bridge, with the convicts and cadets on either side. Let us join Capt. Weller's narrative:

Oconee River Bridge

"The convicts were dressed in prison garb, and were hardened in appearance, but calm and brave. The cadets were, of course, very young, some of them certainly not over fourteen years of age. The Federals advanced their line of skirmishers, and firing commenced. The bravery of the school boys was the glory of this fight. Several of their number were carried off wounded and dying. I can never forget the looks of one little boy as four convicts carried him on a stretcher to the rear. His handsome young face, with the flush of fever on it, and the resolute expression of his eyes, indicated that he fully realized the situation."

The skill of the Fourth Kentucky, and the bravery of the cadets and convicts notwithstanding, the Confederate force (probably numbering not over 400 total) was facing an entire Army Corps (probably the 17th) of Sherman's force. As at Stockbridge, there was little the gallant Southerners could do to stop the Federal juggernaut. When Federal artillery began to fire at the bridge, the Confederates withdrew and recrossed the river. The Federal 15th Army Corps had already crossed further down, both by the main road at Ball's Ferry and by a boat crossing, so the force at the railroad bridge would soon have been cut off. Once again, the Orphans had delayed Sherman's March, but could not prevent it from reaching Savannah.

--- Geoff Walden

Info from here.


so that's what i found, and i hope to start posting more of these sorts of finds.
GPS Coordinates, 33.082717,-83.214464

"ghost oppression" is the chinese term for what i experience at night every once in a while, or at least i experience something similar to it.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/sleep_paralysis/

sometimes i can't move during a very stressing moment in my dreams, so lets just say spiders are bursting into and out of my organs. i'm frozen solid or really, i'm just limp, because i'm still unconsious, but my mind is trying to use my body which is still limp because i'm asleep. god thats terrifying.

and lets talk about night terrors. boy, do i love night terrors.

by the way..

been working on some paintings and was gone in the woods for a week working on a log cabin. i really hope to have more to show soon. tryng to accomplish more.

computer power plug finally died. need a new one before i can use computer for more than an hour at a time.

its been good because it keeps me from screwing around on the internet, and bad bacause it makes me more compelled to sit in billies room where she runs the tv all day. i'm allergic to tv.

my first version of the back piece is ready,



now i wait on friend contributions, and work on writing and other creative shit whilst without the nets.



have some new music

alex medina
technoey and glitchy, pretty good working music
aspera
more poppy and stuff, i kept the two original tracks and they remind me of some songs from air or another obscure band in my head

I statred thinking about some projects that seem very useful and very gratifying. Right now i'm looking at making a paracord bracelet
http://www.instructables.com/id/Paracord-bracelet-with-a-side-release-buckle/

and try making a pair of moccasins, preferrably like the DIY shoe from patagonia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqn_riEIFBw

that and i'd like to make some tire tread sandals for when my crocs wear out. (I know, shut up.)

i'm looking at a trip north and west, for as little money as possible. I'd like to have the trip end in Seattle. But I don't know so much about that. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions or offers, please let me know. Its part of my goals to work on using the next 5 years as best to my abilities so that I can say I really made an effort to make my first 30 years the best I can.

I've also been studying herbalism and plant uses, its been interesting studying ethnogens and vegetable health uses. For example celery is known to help put you to sleep and lower blood pressure. The plant coleus has been used as a dream potentiator.

I'll hopefully get to study more of that shortly, but my real goal right now is to scratch off as many things on my list of things I want to accomplish before I die by november, so I wont feel bad as a 3 job carrying shmoe for the next few years after that. ohmygod, life.

http://www.earth-touch.com/
this podcast is so very wonderful. I hope someone else agrees.


http://www.archive.org/details/acp043_herv_-_interiority
http://www.archive.org/details/EatMe_-_st_album

both of these are technoey things to enjoy.

I'm making a rework to my back tattoo design and then I think I might start the process, maybe doing the whole piece to skin in one sitting if I can. I want to let people who I care about to put their hands in on the design so that I have a memory of them in it.

Wide angle is the tentative name of the online zine project. The group has an assignment sent out, and I have been working on graphic work and assigning people to certain positions of responsibility.

Hopefully this little experiment doesn't fail.

Currently we're at a beta site point.
http://wideanglemag.blogspot.com/

it needs more work, but i'm waiting till graduation ends so I can let people get back to a quieter time before I start up the posting runs.

In other news.. I took photos of all my painting pieces and i'm working on a commission set as soon as I get the motivation for it. I'm also looking at more graphic ventures like tattoo flashing and poster designs. I'll be putting stuff out there for people to see pretty soon. When I have my website set up, I might start a new blog specifically for it.

A rather blue couple of months have left me pretty out of it on the productivity end, so lets hope that is going to pass soon. I've been going through little painting rushes. If nothing more, i'm starting to build up enough pieces for my own gallery show.

*****______M_ _U_ _S_ _I_ _C_______*****

http://www.peppermillrecords.com/pm011
some arty folky music

i've developed quite the skill in not updating.

so here's what i'm gonna do..


this post i'll tell you about what i've been up to.
next post i'll talk about arty shit.
the post after that will be about some personal stuff i wanna do.


_________________________B_u_l_l_s_h_i_t_________________________


So it's been a while for me. i've been working on a group project. the idea of it is something i posted about last year. i've culled together a pretty decent small list of people who are interested in it, and we're about ready to start on our first month of the magazine releases.

i'm killing off older things from my life. one of those is my hotmail account. if you already have my email address it will be easy enough to change. just change the location from @hotmail to @gmail.

another one of those things is my ties to Lakeland Fl. no, i'm not going to start cutting away friends. i'm getting rid of bank accounts and things, and soon enough i might be getting rid of my phone number for a new one, or just going without for a while.

i'm also getting rid of other things i own. like cds, dvds, books, extra clothes, furniture, fixtures.

Sounds sorta newage-y to want to get rid of all my things. I know. I cant skirt the truth there all the way. It is partly because there's no way in hell I need half the shit I own, so why not go ahead and spread the wealth around. But there is another reason..



by September of 09' I will hopefully be in training in eastern Europe or Central Asia with the peace corps.

The countries included in this are:
Ukraine
Moldova
Romania
Bulgaria
Macedonia
Albania
Georgia
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Kazakhstan
Turkmenistan
Kyrgyz Republic
Mongolia

I was nominated for community development or municipal infrastructure. Those should make sense but what I know of what I will be doing probably, helping to build buildings, helping to plan, design, dig and construct infrastructure lines for the towns or villages, or maybe even shantytowns. There might be other stuff, but that's where I thought i'd be.
Now things are changing.. i'm now set for ESL teaching, same place, different timeframe and job.

Its a 2 year gig. I'd been hoping I could use all of my personal vacation time beforehand to travel and just suck in as much of life and the US before I go.

Now its likely that i'll have to put those plans on hold. my family and i have been on the ropes, and its been very turbulent. i'd say something more about it but frankly the more i think about it the less stable i feel these days.


So yeah...

http://grinding.be/2009/02/12/chinas-death-buses-deliver-executions-organ-harvesting-on-the-go/


yep..

http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=comic&id=11740&page=all

...
so, uh... what?

i found this to be pretty interesting.. although surreal and sort of goofy.


http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/cable-city-and-hanging-hotel.html

this thing would be really fitting on a low gravity planet, assuming we ever get to one. i think its an interesting thing to consider what other planetary conditions would yield to architecture.

also. i love urban decay
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/01/18/the-beauty-of-urban-decay/

i'm gonna write as much as i can down that i did from this year...

January;
went to Tybee Island to see fireworks.

Trained to do volunteer reenactment at old fort jackson.

Drank a lot, danced a bunch, and camped out overnight on the top of the fort beside the Savannah River

put a song of mine on internet archive, I should do more of this.

pretty sure I finished a painting around this time.

February;
went to a banquet for the company I worked for, said banquet had free bar, this resulted in the firing to the guy I worked with for 4 months... I dressed up pretty.

Went to Florida for my moms birthday. Made her a picture that she likes

March;
another St Patricks day, probably the best one I've been around for. Was with our bosses and having a good day.

Tried absinthe. It tastes minty sort of.

Hosted Mathias when he was couchsurfing through Savannah

April;
got my first tattoo, it's on my ankle

May;
old fort jackson turned 200 years old, we fired cannons and had a great day of it

finished my first tapestry. Hoping to do more of that soon.

June;
went up to Chattanooga Tennessee and camped in raccoon mountain. Hiked all over the mountain, and went on a tour of the cave there. It was really surreal.

July;
helped build a log cabin, spent a week in the most delightful place in Virginia with a family, sharing cooking duties and wandering the woods.

Bought a jar of moonshine.

August;
started kicking around the idea of a magazine project.

September;
started demolishing concrete at work. Pretty much went full time doing that on and off until January

Went to Florida to see my uncles funeral

picnic in the park with bosses. Listened to orchestra and ate finger foods.

Played half life 2 mods for a week or so

October;
saw NIN on the best tour I've seen, it was really well done.

Shut down and packed away my tower pc. Now only using my laptop.

Had a great Halloween night, drank and ate candy. danced the night away. I was a steampunk engineer.

November;
voted and felt good about it.

Helped put some of the last touches on the project to fix the first arch on the bridge that the city of savannah granted our organization for running trains across.

Blues & BBQ celebration, I had food and helped a little, dipped out.

Squished a finger under a granite slab.

Celebrated thanksgiving in Baltimore. Had an unsettling evening with the doll fiends. Saw quantum of solace and loved it

got sick

December;
baked a lot of food

got sick

turned in my peace corps application.

went to a bazillion parties with the bosses

made my own barbecue recipe with my brother

designed a portrait of Billie and I



so it was a big year. I dont feel i've done enough, but I cant say that this year was bad or slow. I've felt busy for a lot of it, but my resolutions for this coming year are

to help more people. To move forward with my life. To finish things. To stay sane and make an effort to be happy.

Heres to o9'

So, the lead singer of the eels is the son of the man who wrote the theory of parallel universes in quantum physics. I just watched a show about it on nova. It was really touching, to me, as a view of the bonding of son and father through the sons searching., sort of the way I always see my dad...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7BHFieatVE

Theres another thing I've seen that is sort of the same thing. Its called My Architect. It was done by the , excuse my saying it like so, bastard son of Louis Kahn, the modernist architect from the 60's and 70's. Just like the nova show, the son really knew very little about his deceased father, and is learning about and slowly bonding with his father by seeing his work and his history.

http://www.myarchitectfilm.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2wyXJiIwjk

Its pushing me to consider some of the subjects of intimacy more.

Is intimacy truly damaged by distance now, with current technology? Does the cloud form of communication cause a more complete form of relationship or affectionate experience, or is that form of ambient intimacy that has been forming only effective because theres something tangible in the sense that you see a relic of their lives each time.

Does the Son of Kahn (heh) feel the same sort of connection with his father by seeing one of his buildings as two lovers would from feeling each others touch through one of these bracelets or by rereading that love letter that you kept?

Is it that our ability to look back on the thing or to feel it what truly makes the experience real enough to make you feel for the person? Either way, I would love to feel more bonding to the people I've lost, because thats sort of what searching for your heritage is, right?

Heres 2 great articles that touch on this, both by clive thompson. Good writer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/magazine/07awareness-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-01/st_thompson

 

Last night I dreamed that I went to an underground amusement park, made like those cities carved into the sides of caverns and canyons. I got a job there, and then immediately was forced to do some kind of impromptu yoga ballet in front of an audience and keep up with the other person who knew the choreography.

Also in the dream a new fingernail grew underneath the one I hurt a bit ago, and I had to rip out the one on top with needle nose pliers.

So yeah...

 

Happy New Year!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/nyregion/15budget.html?em

okay, so heres why I call bullshit on this. I think it would be considerably noble to put an effort into creating a taxation program around purchases. Retail taxation is proven to work, because we all have to eat, and most of us wear clothes.

So heres what I think would be an interesting but never implemented program. Reinstate the budget cuts on schools and medical programs. They need that money more than you. Run a govt audit for spending, and then all corporate tax cuts go out, which will free up plenty of cash. Now you have some wiggle room.

And with that wiggle room start working out programs for retail taxation. Exempt things that are innately healthier, and hefty up the taxation on things that are worse for you, so you promote health in the lower income brackets, because they will be the only ones giving a shit that soda costs 20 cents more, and pure orange juice 20 cents less.

Once the balances between those is created, you're likely to begin to see a good flow of money by the upper levels of people who will be buying their taxed goods, and a forced hardship for people who are too hardheaded to change to healthier food , as well as to those producing it.

I could keep pushing the idea, but you get it. The point is that I figure that if you're gonna start taxing shit, then why not go ahead and tax shit that helps to curve people into healthier lifestyles, like how smoking taxes were intended to work.

 

But of course this is all just theoretical. And there are plenty of more realistic ways to go about this.

(7:10:50 PM) ShadowyCoho: my shoe is atom dari
(7:11:07 PM) atomdari: well my shoe is what the fuck are you talking about

i've been hit by a messaging chat bot lately. it likes me, and its getting craftier at screwing with me.

so after thanksgiving i havent posted much here because i got sick and then never got back to doing things on here. i've got some stuff i wanted to post so i'll probably put down a couple posts when things slow down over the trip to the parents.

yesterday i got sick and then by midday my stomach was wonky but i did alright. i blamed it on the whiskey. i've learned my lesson, that i dont really like mint juleps, or makers mark for that matter. whiskey is usually just too bitter for me.

so last night i'm asleep, and suddenly billie bolts up and runs off. to puke. sorry i gave you whatever it was... :(

anyways i'm headed out tomorrow night for home. i'll try to post some stuff when the family isnt watching.
merry solstice.

this show was on channel 101 back in my sophomore year, so,... like 05

( here's the rest of the series )

and sorry if this post is wonky, i'm so tired of the backwards buggy formatting that lj uses.