"Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love." - Peace Pilgrim
**************************
We shall not cease from exploration,
and the end of all our exploring will be
to arrive where we started, and know
the place for the first time. - T.S. Eliot
**************************
Did u know this?
link
**************************
Listen:
link

***************************
Visual clutter detection: MIT researchers have designed a software tool that measures "visual clutter." According to the scientists, the system could someday help designers create better displays, maps, and data visualizations and steer our attention in various ways. The prototype tool, written in MATLAB, is freely available here. From the MIT News Office:
"We lack a clear understanding of what clutter is, what features, attributes and factors are relevant, why it presents a problem and how to identify it," said Ruth Rosenholtz, principal research scientist in MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (BCS) and the paper's lead author.

The fact that one person's clutter is the next person's organized workspace makes it hard to come up with a universal measure of clutter. Rosenholtz and colleagues modeled what makes items in a display harder or easier to pick out. They used this model, which incorporates data on color, contrast and orientation, to come up with a software tool to measure visual clutter.

To be useful, such a tool has to capture the effect of clutter on performance. In their paper, Rosenholtz and her colleagues-- MIT BCS graduate student Yuanzhen Li and BCS undergraduate Lisa Nakano--tested the influence of clutter on searching for a symbol in a map, like an arrow indicating "you are here." They found good correlation between the time it takes to find a symbol in a map and the amount of clutter according to their measure.
*************************
(Tired News Pic Here)
********************
CLICK HERE
********************
Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play. - Heraclitus
*********************
An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea. - Buddha
*********************
http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/index
"Each of Tufte's volumes also provides a trove of inspiring examples, ranging from thousand-year-old Chinese maps to representations of the entire charted universe of galaxies, from photos of Roy Lichtenstein murals to Japanese railway timetables. From such examples, Tufte builds a set of common-sense principles for data design: Tell the truth. Show the data in its full complexity and let viewers make their own discoveries. Highlight the "differences that make a difference." Ruthlessly remove unnecessary ink. Offer "visual access to the subtle and difficult." Reveal what is complex."
http://www.salon.com/march97/tufte970310.html
*********************

*********************
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72581-0.html?tw=wn_story_page_prev2
******************
This is a great tool for visually referencing things:

http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html

Seems like a resource to keep track of as it could come in handy
whenever one needs to show something important to get the idea
across to a group.
********************
You are now in control of your life. You see, the ego is never in control. The ego is controlled by wishes for comfort and convenience on the part of the body, by demands of the mind, and by outbursts of the emotions. But the higher nature controls the body and the mind and the emotions. I can say to my body, "Lie down there on that cement floor and go to sleep," and it obeys. I can say to my mind, "Shut out everything else and concentrate on this job before you," and it's obedient. I can say to my emotions, "Be still, even in the face of this terrible situation," and they are still. It's a different way of living. The philosopher Thoreau wrote: If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps he hears a different drummer. And now you are following a different drummer--the higher nature instead of the lower. - Peace Pilgrim
***************
What do you have to do? Pack your bags, Go to the station without them, Catch the train, And leave your self behind. - Open Secret by Wei Wu Wei
*********************
We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time. - T.S. Eliot

Commented to bOINGbOING today!

I couldn't not comment: I kept it short and simple, but - OH! - the rage I felt when I read this: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/09/03/the-militarization-o.html

Back from vacay...

Just returned from California vacation! Whew! What a trip. San Francisco, Big Sur, Cambria, Ventura, L.A. Big, very big. Will try not to bore with all the details: Visit family, drive the coast, watch the kid play at the Rose Bowl! Fun! More pictures than I can shake a stick at. Will post some soon as I am organizing and enhancing somewhat.

The task today is learn to add photos... later!

BIG SHOUT of 'Thanx' to Worth1000.com for the eyeball pic: perfect.

Merci beaucoup.

Time does not exist...

... what more can be said.

I love the Internet!

It is just such a future we are living in! I've read recently that scientists have determined that the future can "leak" into the present. I know this is true because I just ordered travel luggage from L.L. Bean for an upcoming trip (more later) sitting in my pj's in my kitchen, swilling my coffee and in two days, Steve, (our UPS guy) will bring me my luggage like it is already here! Time is increasingly irrelevant. We're all in the Big Now, now.

My del.icio.us

Ok,so that wasn't so bad.

The picture was a bit much. But, hey, if I'm going to do this: mistakes WILL be made!

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

Let's see how this goes!