Health Care Bill

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6709678.html

The Health Care Bill narrowly passed the House of Representatives and I'm so excited! I will write more on this later, but I definately had to add this to my blog!

Berlin Wall

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/11/06/clancy.east.side.gallery.cnn

I always knew about the Berlin wall, but I actually didn't know about the paintings along the sides of it. The reason this story striked my interest was the fact that the artists actually come back to fix up their artwork after it has dried. I also found it interesting that the east side of the wall was freely painted on, but the west side was not before it was taken down. The very interesting thing is that there is a show on the history channel on now about the Berlin wall.

Unemployment linked to crime

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/06/orlando.shootings/

Is the economy crisis linked to an increase in crime? A recent couple of shootings occurred lately and the link above is one of them. I wonder if someone who normally wouldn't go crazy would during this time? I think this is a social issue since Columbine, but I wonder if the violence is getting worse?

MOMA Artical

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/arts/design/25loos.html?_r=1&ref=design

I was reading this artical about how at the MOMA they are making little changes to the art that has been there for a long time. Whether it be getting rid of the frames on William Koonings picture or just switching some old Van Goghs around. This is something to think about. Most visitors probably wouldn't notice these changes, but the ones that come often may notice. I feel like this is important because you may find a picture looks much better on a certain wall or it says more next to another piece that relates to it. The frame may change the picture. I remember going to the BMA last year and a picture we had looked at had a horrible frame. I would like to see what it would look like without that.

Autistic Artist Draws New York from Memory

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1223790/Autistic-artist-draws-18ft-picture-New-York-skyline-memory.html

An autistic artist who was able to draw an 18 ft picture of the New York skyline from a 20 minute plane ride on memory alone. This is incredible and I can't imagine being able to do something like this in a million years. The pictures above are an actual picture and his picture side by side so you can see he remembered the specific buildings.
This makes me think of how some of the best artists were a little insane in the membrane. Pretty much all of them had a mental disability. Be it depressed, schizophrenic or autistic. I have actually had this discussion severial times. It's like how if someone is blind their hearing gets stronger. Some of the most talented people fail in other aspects. Leonardo Da Vince only had 7 finished works by the end of his life. Edgar Allen Poe was an alcoholic. Vincent Van Gogh commited suicide. There is a fine line between genius and insanity. I find it interesting and I don't think it's true in every case. It is fun to think about though.

Nefertiti

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/24/arts/design/24abroad.html?_r=1&ref=design

I have been hearing about the issue of Egyptian archeologist Zahi Hawass wanting the statue of Nefertiti from Berlin, Germany. The issue is that there isn't proof that it was taken legally from Egypt. It is believed that when the archaeologist discovered it he was given permission to bring it to Germany. When Egyptians don't get the artifacts back they cut off excavation from the offending place. Like the Louve in France. The issue here is that if we were to give every museum everything back that was taken 100's of years ago they wouldn't be nearly as interesting. If for example, everything in the Walters was given back to their countries of origin and all we could see are American works it wouldn't be nearly as interesting. I feel like it's immature to ask for everything back when it has been in the place it is at for an extremely long time. In the past Egypt has bidded on this object in better Economic times. I suppose that is the problem. They want it back and can't afford it. I just don't think it's fair if someone bidded on it in the first place to ask for it back. Even if it was stolen in the first place. We should all be realistic about the past and the present.

Leaf Preservation

I have been looking for ideas on leaf preservation and came across several helpful websites. I've decided that I will get some glycerine from a craft or drug store and preserve the entire branch in it. The website bollow has the steps to do it. Leaves can't be preserved forever, but this method should preserve them for several years. I would like to experiment with them a bit and see what I can make out of them. I'm thinking about a necklace or hat right now. I could also make something like a display piece that someone could put in the center of their table. A wreath would look very nice. This idea has mutated a bit since the beginning.

http://gardening.about.com/od/craftsanddecor/ss/Preserve_Leaves.htm
http://www.ehow.com/how_4480845_preserve-leaves-glycerin.html

BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8314581.stm

New planets have been discovered outside of our solar system. Some 5x the size of Jupiter! This is really exciting because scientists have discovered over 400 planets outside our solar system. A large number of them are low density. Out of those, 28 are similar to the Earth's mass. I have always been fascinated with other planets having life on them. The Moons of Jupiter are really interesting and one has a very high chance of fostering life. So much so that it is illegal to land on it. What would extraterrestrials look like? I wonder if life could survive on a planet that is made out of dangerous gasses. What if we all don't evolve the same way? These are questions that go through my mind. Even Mars has water even though it is either gas or frozen. I am excited about astronomy and I imagine it will be a great day when we discover new life in the universe because I strongly believe in it.

Boy and the Balloon

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/15/colorado.boy.balloon/index.html

Everyone is talking about an incident in Denver, Colorado. A weather balloon reportedly was carrying a little 6 year old boy. They found the balloon, but there was no boy inside. He is okay now, found in his parents attic. I noticed that little 6-year-old boys seem to have not developed the part of their brain that says, "Don't do that!" yet. There were two other stories that I had heard about a while ago. One about a six-year-old boy trying to hide in a microwave and suffocating inside it. The other about one climbing onto a closed ferris wheel and then falling to his death. My question is who was watching these kids? Should they be punished for this?

Bushman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cbBdydQlrk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Famous_Bushman

The bushman in San Francisco makes up to $60,000 a year scaring tourists from behind some branches that he collects. He inspired me to design my own outfit out of nature. It's already fall, so I may be able to create something really interesting. My project will be to create some form of clothing out of leaves and branches. I did find something interesting of the Droog website. http://www.droog.com/products/furniture/nest-house/ It's a house made out of natural material. I want to play with this idea some more and come up with some prototypes.

Disney Stores

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/business/media/13disney.html?ref=todayspaper

In the New York Times today there was an article about Disney stores. Instead of being more cautious, they are taking risks during this tough Economic time. I am amazed at what Disney has been doing over the last couple years. Buying Pixar and even Marvel out. It seems like they're going to keep taking steps forward and even open new stores. Is Disney the new McDonald's?

MIO Lecture

I went to see the MIO lecture on Thursday night by Jaime Salm. http://www.mioculture.com/

I'm going to go over some of his points during the lecture.

"Users define success, design is for people."
This means that designing something to sell is impossible if you don't have an audience. You have to design something someone would actually want!

Jaime Salm was talking about how him and his brother were critiqued by the president of a company they were trying to do work for. He said that he told them everything that was wrong with their product. They took his critique and adjusted their work. After that it sold much better and was more user friendly.

"Repurposing Industry"
This was my favorite part of the lecture. The capsule light. He found these hats that were made out of this material and then played around with it until he came up with his own design. This reminds me of the gum and fish skin we saw during our trip to New York at the Cooper-Hewett. The artist was trying to find a new use for the material. This is something an artist should be able to do. Think outside of the box. Create something that has never been created out of something that's never been used to create it.

Business
I thought it was a good idea to move business to Europe, especially if they were getting people buying their stuff for more than double the price to include shipping. If there isn't a market where you are, why not go somewhere else?

"Active Sustainability - Environmental Conservation Everyday it is Used"
This is something that he was talking about around the end. The florescant lightbulb can be turned off and on again. By buying it and turning it on and off you are saving energy. Why not make a product like that? A cherry tree for example. It is completely positive. A tree circulates oxygen and to top it off provides food. When you take the cherries it doesn't kill the tree. It is also an attractive site. I would like to have a product just like a cherry tree. (idea taken from Cradle to Cradle)

So, the lecture was interesting and I think more people should hear it.

Towson Mall

Today I stopped by the mall and went into several high end stores that I thought maybe carried fur. To my surprise I found nothing but faux fur. I decided that I will have to go to a furrier if I want to distribute these. Too bad I didn't make any cow ones because leather is still quite abundant.

http://nothoney.com/2006/12/12/hsus-investigates-burlington-coat-factory-for-animal-fur-fraud/

I did find a very interesting atrical when trying to research the stores that carried fur. Burlington Coat Factory was advertising real fur as faux fur. I find this really nasty. It's like giving a vegetarian a veggie burger with meat in it.

Fur Is Dead Postcard

Design Skills

Design Skills are the ability to design effectively. If you have very little design skills you won't be able to be successful. I think that design skills are something that you have to have naturally, but also something that you learn. At http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?613 they give a list of basic categories that all designers should have some skills in. Pattern Recognition, Story Telling, Visual Communication and even Empathy are listed. Empathy is an interesting point, to be a successful designer you should know about current events and publish your opinion on them.

Social Issues

I was at work tonight and was very bored. I decided to use this time to compile a list of possible social issues I could use for the Geurilla Tactics. Here is my list, hopefully I can give you guys some ideas. I plan to edit this post and add my ideas for each topic that I'm interested in. I may also try and group some of these together.

1. Hunting or Leather and Fur
Ideas:
a.) Print pictures of animal corpse and put it in leather or fur product at a store, so that when someone buys it they will open it up and see what the real cost of the bag was.
b.) Make an illustration of a reverse situation(Ex. Human head mounted on wall) and post it in a hunting area.
2. Road Rage
3. Smoking
Ideas:
a.) Create a fake advertisement that after 100 cartons you can get a free voicebox.
4. Drinking or Drinking and Driving
Ideas:
a.) People are laughing at you, not with you on poster with a drunk person that was written on while he was passed out at a party.
5. Little girls acting like sluts (Hannah Montanna)
Ideas:
a.) Print a gorilla face and put it on Bratz dolls. (idea taken from class discussion)
6. Sexism (No fat chicks)
Ideas:
a.) Create a "No fat dicks" shirt.
7. Financial Equality
8. Political differences
9. Healthcare
10. Sex (Young pregnancy)
11. Divorce
12. Racism
13. Littering
14. Recycling
15. Over reacting (Swine Flu)
16. Economy (Gas prices)
17. Violence
18. Censorship
19. Parenting
20. Bullying

Aid in Dying

I find this to be a really interesting issue. If you were suffering and were critically ill, is it okay for a Docter to help you kill yourself? In Montana their is a strong case going on. Robert Baxter, a 76-year-old lymphocytic leukemia sufferer asked for aid in killing himself because he was in severe pain. He has already passed away, but his case is being used to push for the legalization of assisting death. This brings me to the issue of when someone is in a coma and they will never wake up again. Is it okay to take away life support? I think the answer is yes, if someone is going to die anyway or if they are brain dead I think they should be allowed to decide. If they can't decide a close family member should be able to know what they would have wanted. In my case I think that if I was suffering or if I was pretty much dead anyway I would want to have assistance in killing myself.

DIY Galleries

I went into the Arts section of the New York times to see what is new in the art world and hopefully gain some inspiration. I found something interesting. I will refer to them as DIY Galleries. Artists in London are taking vacant stores or homes to make a temporary gallery. Last month the government in Britain gave $5 million dollars to areas that had a large amount of vacant stores to make into showrooms for local artists. I think this is a great idea because people will be more hopefully if instead of seeing an empty boarded up store they see an artists gallery.

Walk Around

We recently moved into a new house in Finksburg. This is a brand new neighborhood with white picket fences and freshly mowed lawns. Security is installed just incase someone from the next street over decides they want to break in and steal a plasma TV.

That's our current residence on the right side of the road, this may surprise you, but it's probably the smallest of the houses in this neighborhood.

They cleared away the forest and farm land that was once there. Their is a little bit left, so the residents don't feel too bad. I wasn't able to get a picture of it, but their are always deer walking around at night and other creatures that have lost their homes during construction.

Then if you go down the street you see the houses that have been their for years. I noticed this house because they actually dug out the front yard to make a dirt path so another car could park in the middle of their lawn. I find it really sad that we have a garage and a huge driveway with only 3 people living in a 5 bedroom house. I feel like this is wrong. The point of this is my issue is that their is to much of a gap between rich and poor in America.

Social Design

I immediately googled "social design" and the first webpage that popped up was http://socialdesignsite.com, so I checked it out. These keywords may sum up what social design can be about. The slogan of the webpage is "We cannot not change the world." I think this is a great quote because even if you aren't doing anything, you still are affecting the world. I don't really think their is an exact definition on it because it can be several things. Social design is about making your imprint on the world.