Speaking of games,

I've encountered a new one that's absolutely delightful. Go forth and enjoy Chain Factor.

It's beautiful to look at (the music is lively without being irritating and the pastel disks look like mentos) and of course fun to play. What I really admire, though, are the sentiments expressed in the faq:

" The games industry is poised on the brink of a profound transformation. Games have the potential to be the most powerful artform ever invented, an unparalleled medium for the exploration of dynamic interactive systems and the expression of complex emotional, social, and political ideas. "

There is also a strong collaborative component - new powers may be unlocked with secret keys, and then enjoyed by everyone.

Cleo.

I met this lady on my way to the Monrovia Coffee Company today.

According to his "mom", his name is Cleo, and he's 13 years old.

Yes, the object behind them is a pram.

Making good on my threats .

Here is some banjo for you. Welcome, new/old readers from livejournal!

Just playing around...

Trying out my new toy. Gee golly I love this thing. If you're lucky, maybe I'll post banjo videos.

More about brains, and deep breathing will be forthcoming.

Oh, and have you registered for BIL? Rumor has it I'll be presenting on the first day of the conference. I'll update the wiki with the abstract soon. The topic will be Highly Gifted Education. If you were a product (or victim) of gifted ed, please feel free to get in touch - I'd like to present a variety of perspectives.

Crystal and Smoke - Putting Image Back in Mind

On Jan. 28 2008 at 5:30 pm, I'll be listening to a lecture by Barbara Maria Stafford, the first of a series of six. Tomorrow night's offering is entitled "Skeletal Figures: The Emotional Intuition of Form."

Dr. Stafford's work, from what I understand, uses neurosciences as a point of embarkation for her exploration of "perception, sensation, emotion, mental imagery, and subjectivity" in art, from the early modern to the contemporary era.

It has been several years since I sat in a formal art history course. I'm looking forward to the experience.

Edit: Here is an excerpt from her book Good Looking: Essays on the Virtue of Images,

"Today's instructional landscape must inevitably evolve or die, like biological species, since its environment is being radically altered by volatile visualization technologies. This ongoing displacement of fixed, monochromatic type by interactive, multidimensional graphics is a tumultuous process. In the realm of the artificial, as in nature, extinction occurs when there is no accommodation. Imaginative adaptation to the information superhighway, even the survival of reflective communication, means casting off vestigial biases automatically coupling printed words to introspective depth and pictures to dumbing down."

Professor Stafford's delivery was precisely as one might expect from reading the above paragraph. Last night's lecture, however, was concerned with structure in the visual arts as a form of human communication that transcends language. I'm not sure, but I think she made some good points.

Puzzle Fiend.

I don't know about you guys, but I love me some puzzles. Words, numbers, those wacky color-and-shape dealios Mensa keeps shoveling out; it doesn't matter. I'm one of those people who actually read the chess column. The kind of girl who starts Tetris at level 19. I'm always looking for a new fix.


Perplex City was delightful. But after the Receda Cube was found somewhere in the UK, it lost some of its appeal. Sure, the puzzles are still fun, but what good is climbing the global leaderboard if you know the victory condition has already been satisfied? I am anxiously awaiting the second series, but until then I've been occupying myself with Project Euler.

This is a great way to get my puzzle on and gain experience programming as well.

Are you a Replicant? Or are you a Repli-CAN?

Oscar Pistorius is the Cyborg of the Moment.



You're probably already aware of his story: a double, below-the-knee amputee as a child, Oz has grown up to be a fantastic runner... with the help of his Ossur brand Cheetah prostheses. For an in-depth introduction, I recommend Wired's article from early last year.

They call him the "Blade Runner." Sexy, no? His Nike ad is pretty hot, too

This week, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has ruled that Pistorius's carbon-fiber legs confer an unfair advantage, and has barred him from competing in the Summer Olympics in Beijing. I have yet to read the IAAF report, but news items I've heard have mentioned the "springiness" of the Cheetahs (greater than that of the traditional calf-and-ankle model, but that's not hard to beat) as well as his more horizontal stride - he doesn't waste as much energy bouncing as he runs. I've also heard arguments focusing on his (purported) aerobic efficiency - nonexistent legs don't require oxygen.

These might be valid arguments for an advantage if he consistently beat the intact competition. But he doesn't. His 400 meter best is still a half second short of the Olympic qualifying time. So it's hard to see where the advantage is conferred, exactly.

The day double amputees begin to regularly smoke "able bodied" Olympians, then it may be time to reevaluate whether the competition is fair. Unless and until that happens, I say let him go to the trials. If he qualifies, let him race.

It comes down to energy efficiency. How much effort does an athlete expend to get his or her results? There's no free lunch in the Olympics (or in Major League Baseball either, apparently). But it's unreasonable to suggest that this guy is not working as hard as his counterparts. Insulting, really. Oscar Pistorius isn't a cheater - he's exactly the kind of dedicated competitor who belongs in Beijing this summer.