another awesome processing project!

Statement from the creator, PEdro M. Cruz:

The data refers to the evolution of the top 4 maritime empires of the XIX and XX centuries by extent. I chose the maritime empires because of their more abrupt and obtuse evolution as the visual emphasis is on their decline. The first idea to represent a territory independence was a mitosis like split — it’s harder to implement than it looks. Each shape tends to retain an area that’s directly proportional to the extent of the occupied territory on a specific year. The datasource is mostly our beloved wikipedia. The split of a territory is often the result of an extent process and it had to be visualized on a specific year. So I chose to pick the dates where it was perceived a de facto independence (e.g. the most of independence declarations prior to the new state’s recognition). Dominions of an empire, were considered part of that empire and thus not independent.

I don’t wanna call this small experiment of information visualization neither information art. Either way sounds too pretentious — as the visuals are not very sophisticated or elegant, and the way that the information is treated doesn’t enable the extraction of advanced knowledge. Although, it works very well as a ludic narrative. I ultimately found it very joyful. A direct interaction with the timeline could be a future plus!

(via Anil Dash)

Visualizing empires decline from Pedro M Cruz on Vimeo.

My awesome friend David, who runs Culture of Soccer, wrote an entire essay about my pho eating abilities! I like to think that I’m the kind of person who inspires people to eat and to eat with love till your tummy expands full of bursting love bubbles. Some people invent things, some people save the world - I inspire people to eat! Here’s a picture of Pho Baby that David refers to in his essay about ME!

An Essay About Tricia Wang, The Pho Eating Champion

by Sir Dr. David Keyes, Expert Phoysics Analyst

Tricia Wang is a pho eating champion. Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut may wow us with their hot dog eating abilities, but that’s just speed and quantity. They both lack what Tricia’s eating has in abundance: style.

Tricia knows everyone who works at Pho Ca Dao. And it’s a good thing that she is able to win them over with her unique brand of charm because otherwise they would look at her like the crazy pho lady that she is. It would behoove Pho Ca Dao to put in an alert system notifying its staff of Ms. Wang’s arrival because her pho consumption may require the use of a separate kitchen. More on that in a minute.

First, you should know that Tricia wears a bib when she eats pho. She may be crazy but she keeps her clothes clean.

Second, you should know that Tricia likes to order #18 large with less noodles and meat on the outside. (Oh yeah, she also likes to order spring rolls with shrimp, but who cares really? You ever seen a blog called Fuck Yeah Spring Rolls! Yeah, me neither.) But the really amazing thing is what she does with all the fixings. I don’t know exactly how many plates of basil, bean sprouts, mint, onions, and cilantro she orders, but more than you think can fit in her bowl of pho. Seriously, folks, huge quantities of this stuff. And then she just heaps it into her bowl. Fortunately, the green stuff shrinks in the hot water (which also cooks the meat as she adds it), leaving her room to add more. And more. And more. And more. Did I mention she likes to add a lot of vegetables?

Tricia is not a fast eater. In fact, she’s quite a slow eater. She savors her pho. She searches for new pho puns (it’s getting progressively harder to come up with new ones). She comments on other people’s pho eating prowess. She adds more vegetables. She runs out of vegetables. She asks for more vegetables. She adds more vegetables. And she keeps eating.

Tricia complimented me for the similarly slow pho-eating pace I employ. But soon compliment turned to insult as I committed a huge pho (10 points for me!) pas: I added more vegetables to my bowl than I could eat. Tricia’s level of indignation only rose when I told her that yes, in fact, I was finished and would not be eating the rest of the cilantro I had added to my pho. “Well then why did you take the cilantro?” she asked, annoyance dripping from her tongue. I had no answer.

But things did not end badly. Any pho trip with Tricia has a “happy ending:” Tricia’s pho baby. It’s like watching one of those time lapse videos of plants growing; in the course of a meal, you get to see her stomach expand before your very eyes. By the time her bowl is empty, Tricia has quite the baby bump. Walking to cashier yesterday after our pho adventure, she turned to me, looked down at her belly, and said, “how many months?” Four at least, I’d say.

It’s a good thing that, as Tricia herself puts it, “my stomach is very expandable.” Without that, the pho experience with Tricia Wang would not be what it is today: un-pho-gettable.

I was just in Baja California and it was such a trip to see a christmas snowman overlooking the ocean in 80 degree weather.

i love my foldable bike so much! I need to buy a bike and leave it in nyc and another one to leave inside my car.

This reblogged from my quote blog, Dichos y Vida . I am feeling to INSPIRED by Cornel West in this interview with Tavis Smiley.  You have to watch the video to really FEEL this quote- I love Cornel West!  The entire interview can be found here. He talks about his break with Harvard, the role of academia, and the fetishization of success in America.  (thank you Tanya and Jessica)

My favorite part of this interview is this quote below - I also translated it into Spanish.

You have to have a habitual vision of greatnesssssss. You have to believe in fact that you refuse to settle for mediocrity. You won’t confuse financial security with your personal integrity. You won’t confuse your success with your greatness or your prosperity with your magnanimity…..You have to have a vision of something that is luring you all the time that for something grander than you….[What is] the quality of your service to others? Do you find joy in your service to others? Do you actually believe in fact that living is connected  to giving?

Now some people may not believe in that. I’m the hedonistic narcissistic individualist type. That’s just not who I am. I am not into that kinda stuff.  I say that’s fine, that’s fine. I chose to attempt to pursue this role.

———————-
Tienes que tener una visión habitual de grandeza. Tienes que creer en el hecho de que te niegues a conformarte con mediocridad. No confundas seguridad económica con tu integridad personal. No confundas tu éxito con tu grandeza o tu prosperidad con tu magnanimidad…Tienes que tener una visión de algo que te esté atrayendo a algo más grande que tu…[¿Qué es] la cualidad de tu servicio a otros? ¿Encuentras alegría en tu servicio a otros?  ¿Realmente crees en el hecho que vivir está conectado a dar?

Quizás alguna gente no crea en esto. Soy del tipo individualista, hedonista y narcisista. Eso no es lo que soy. No me interesan esas cosas. Te digo – está bien, está bien. Yo escojo tratar de seguir este tipo de vida.

OMG OMg I’m addicted to rock climbing! I am becoming a lizard  - my sticky hands scale the wall to reach the mountain top.  I am a wolf with magic paws!

This was the best physical and mental high I’ve ever experienced AT the SAME TIME!. I swore I was going to die on the rope - it looks so much higher once you are in the air - but I didn’t! after one climb, I tried another and just kept challenging myself. Liane took me on my first climb and it was awesome! I wish I could do this everyday, everywhere! What I loved that is was all about partnership - when I thought I couldn’t reach my next rock - Liane would encourage me to keep going. On one of the last  climbs of the day I had to take a break and hang mid-air cuz my hands were shaking - I couldn’t imagine how to get around the corner - but I did it!  I FREAKING LOVE IT!

The crazy part is that I have a slight fear of heights and while it didn’t go away, I did become more at peace with my fear after each climb. I became my own therapist in the air - cuz you’re just hanging in there on the rope and you either say to your belayer that you need come down or you figure out the next rock to place your foot and hands - only TWO DECISIONS and you HAVE to CHOSE ONE.

Everytime I would panic - I would scream outloud - and then I would tell myself that it was ok - life was going to be ok - graduate school will be ok - family will be ok - the world will be ok - just figure out where to place your foot. it was a very practical mind and body excercise. I loved it. absolutely loved it and can’t wait to go back.

Even just by looking at these pictures and writing about this my hands are now sweaty cuz I’m reminded of how high I was in the air. breattttthe

and through it all, I never felt alone. you know how when you do yoga or other sports its’ all about you? or like when I kickbox it’s all about the intensity of taking your opponent down - even in badmitton there’s a competitive aspect to it - just like any point-keeping sport.  Well in rock climbing it’s about a partnership. at least that’s how I view it. Your partner holds your life in your hands. your partner has to work with your pacing - or else someone could get hurt  - the rope can get in the way. And my partner was my awesome friend Liane - so thanks for being the BESt belayer ever! and it was also really cool to watch Liane scale the wall - I learned a lot from watching how she chose rocks and pathways. Rock climbing is awesome for team building, listening, and loving.

I really felt that I could use my dance and yoga background when I was scaling the wall - I imagined myself floating up through space. Before I rock climbed I wanted a pair of Vibram shoes - now I want them EVEN MORe because they would be perfect for climbing. So now I’m officially addicted to dancing and rock climbing. oh and badmitton.

This has to be the best Know Your Meme episode yet! great rhythm with the editing. informative historical contexualization.  masterful weaving in of popular culture. and freaking WEIRD AL is in it! COME ON! this is tooooo cool. I grew up on Weird Al!

This is American culture at its best - only Weird Al could exist in America - everything about this episode speaks to the unique experience of growing up with pop culture in the US.

Appreciating this episode requires one to understand the technological feats of audio engineering, iphone apps mania, misogynistic off-tune popularity of *some* rap artists, hip-hop’s intimate yet under-appreciate relationship with technological innovations, Weird Al as as cultural commentator long before South Park and John Stewart, internet memes as a cultural phenomenon, kanye’s popular tantrums, and satiric political commentary with popular media.

Essentially, this episode won’t make sense unless you know where to culturally place/appreciate all these aspects - yes there’s even a place for a rapper like T-Pain who can rap/sing (badly) about his love for the strippas and strippas and more strippas.  Oh and T-Pain twittered this Know Your Meme homage to his cultural legacy.

If I EVER forget why I love America - which often happens sometimes when I’ve traveling/living in other countries and fetishizing their health care system or affordable non-organic hormone pumped food or political participation levels or slower non-materialistic lifestyles - REMIND me to watch this episode of Know Your Meme.

it also looks like Sony is releasing a Weird Al compilation album. awesomeness.

elspethjane:

As Jamie Dubs just said, WE BEAT THE INTERNETZ, GUYS!  So, T-Pain just tweeted our KYM episode.  :)

I’ve always said that biting is fashionable!

via cache.gawker.com

I love my city!  Brooklyn this moment makes me proud!  During the NYC Marathon today my friends danced and cheered on the marathon runners from all around the world with a Gospel choir AND a marching band! Brooklyn I LOVE LOVE YOU!

kenyatta:

Dancing at the NYC Marathon with Baratunde, Nora, and the Emmanuel Baptist Choir.

(via Cultural Bytes)

Livescribe just announced the next iteration of their beautiful Pulse Pen, a new 4gig model in titanium and black. The Livescribe pen is a digital pen that writes on digital paper, records your writing, records audio, and does many other cool stuff. Essentially you dont’ ever have to scan in what you write anymore! With their special paper and pen, you can have everything digitally recorded foreeeeever! Here’s a good review from Berry Review comparing scanned notebook with livescribe paper and a demo from the Livescribe website.

I bought this pen for several reasons.

1. I like to write on paper still. And I’ve stopped because I was always losing my paper. So now Livescribe solves that problem!
2. I want to record audio while I write - this is awesome for doing fieldwork! As I am interviewing people I can write down my notes while recording their voice! OMG
3. I want to doodle again. I love doodling, drawing graphs, mapping ideas out - livescribe allows me to upload all my doodles easily!

After I bought it I found even some more cool features that I didn’t know of!

1. you can play the piano! this was soooo cool! you can add beats and change the instrument. Here’s a video of me making my piano and composing a masterpiece - THIS IS too fun
2. you can have it translate basic words in several languages - Mandarin, Swedish, ARabic, and Spanish - probably more but I didn’t look into. Here’s a video of me translating “beer” into all the available languages on the demo card.
3. they sell small notebooks that you can carry around with you the size of a book for only $13 for a pack of two. So that means you’re not stuck with the big 8x11 notebook that they include in the box when you buy the pen.

After I started using the Livescribe, I was faced with some new questions from an ethnographer’s perspective.

While the pen is useful for the ethnographer, what does it communicate to the interviewee? Is it ethical to use a tool that doesn’t look like a traditional audio recorder to audio record an interview or interaction? With note-taking for ethnographer moving beyond the traditional pen/pencil paper to a digital process, the benefits for the ethnographer are clear but does this effect the interview process?

The site of an audio recorder can sometimes prevent people from being as free to share information and personal thoughts. So I thought this is cool - the livescribe pen can help ME ease my anxiety about taping! But then I thought from the participant’s perspective - what do they think when I tell them in the beginning of the interview that I would like their permission to tape this interview and that I will be taping it with this “pen”?

In many of the places that I am working, communication technology such as cellphones is relatively new and people don’t have spending money for creative gadgets. I think this pen might freak people out! Ok Maybe they wouldn’t be freaked out, but I can imagine them being a bit weirded out and curious at the same time - and then I wonder if their processing of the “pen” as an audio recorder would get in the way of the interview goals at hand.

I wonder if they would think well if this thing *looks* like a pen but is an audio recorder but also is a pen because she’s writing with it - what else could she have on her that is not really what it appears to be? Or what if this also doubled as a video camera (which would be totally awesome! Livescribe designers build a video cam into this!) Would people start thinking what other conspicuous looking devices are recording the interaction?

There’s something very clear when you take out a separate tool that functions as an audio recorder or camera to document an interaction. It sends a clear message about the intention of the interaction: this process, your actions, the surrounding - is being recorded. The tools can makes the “ethnographic moment” explicit. Whereas if are using tools that look like pens to do all those things - perhaps that takes some of the power away from the participants. In the Human Subjects Review Process, the assumption in the application is that when you say you’re going to ask a subject for permission to tape an interview, the researcher is going to audio record with a traditional digital audio recorder.

I was even thinking that if I had the chance to take this pen into my fieldsite, when I ask for permission to tape an interview, I could take out my audio recorder and place it on the table. But then I would actually tape with it with my pen

Now I hope that my relationship with my participants are always based first and foremost on trust. So I don’t think they would be suspicious of my intentions or of my “tools” But I am just imagining for general research purposes and situations where maybe it’s not deep ethnography - maybe it’s just one time or 2 week project where you don’t get the chance to establish a close relationship.

Well either way, the Livescribe pen I believe is an ethnographer’s dream come true.

Here’s where this post becomes very personal and sad and also why I don’t have any stories of me taking my pen into my field sites. Please do not proceed if you do not want to hear heart-wrenching news….

I bought my dream pen in March of 2009.

and here comes the horrific news…

I LOST MY LIVESCRIBE PEN 33 DAYS AFTER I PURCHASED IT.

Only 5 months later am I able to admit this without pain. I’ve only told 4 people in the world before this post - a close friend, two of my phd advisors, and a stranger I saw in the airport with the pen. Weeks after I lost it I had high hopes of finding it again - so I wasn’t ready to admit that it really gone.

I lost it on a my flight from DC to JFK on Delta. I have NEVER had a pleasant experience flying on Delta Airlines. So losing my precious Livescribe pen on one of their flights is one more reason to avoid flying Delta. I called and called their lost and found. I even went back to the Delta lost and found office at their JFK terminal in person - but it was never to be found.

I have to blame someone, and certainly I cannot blame the loss of the Livescribe on myself. So I would like to officialy transfer the blame from myself to Delta Airlines.

Delta, you suck. You lost my pen. One of your morally deficient customers took my pen and they never returned it to the Delta Lost and Found. Your airline and your customers suck.Your Lost and Found customer service agents were always rude and they didn’t take me seriously when I told them that I had lost a very special pen. They laughed at me. you suck.

Ok now that I’ve finished transferring the blame to Delta, I would love to expound on why I was so in love my Livescribe. My feelings are still raw, full of passion and pain - but I am in a state where I’ve moved beyond anger and am able to talk about my pen without tears.

Ode to Livescribe

Livescribe, you were always good to me when we were together. you never left my purse. you never walked out on me for another notebook. Although then you only worked on a PC - I comprised and took you to my netbook. I see now that you operate on OSX. Well if we were together still I would introduce you to my Mac Air. I love you still. you are committed to excellence. I filled up your 2 gig capacity so quickly, but now I see you’ve grown up to a 4 gig adult. I wanted to take you everywhere with me to all my research sites around the world we could’ve seen the mountains in Mexico, the <polluted> Rivers in china, the stars in the Appalachia - but…alas, we were separated…but only in this lifetime.

SO i’ve thought long and hard about this - about why I lost it.

• is it because I treated it (in my tired state) as just any other pen? I don’t keep track of my regular pens and I never have invested in those $100 pens or received any expensive White gold-plated pens.
• Is it because my brain hadn’t switched to thinking - this pen is FREAKING expensive and special - don’t let it leave your hands?
• it is because I am not mature enough for creative gadgets that look conspicuous yet have multiple functions?

While those are all possible answers, I have another theory. I think I lost it because I didn’t have it strapped around my neck. I should’ve used the neck strap that came with the Livescribe pen.

Now Livescribe designers - this is where you have to listen to me - I didn’t use the strap because it was reallllly ugly! I don’t think I am the only customer retarded enough to lose their pen (ok it’s quite possible I am the only one so far) - so I think you should make it easier for people to fashionably hang their pen around their neck. I suggest moving away from the rounded string to a flatter shoe-lace like strong. Also the thinner the better - and something that is adjustable would be great. like a slide knot. i can definitely tell you that the black string will not look good with your new beautiful titanium pen.

Also Livescribe you HAVE to design a better looking case! the black case that was included in the box was disappointing - I couldn’t even get my pen out of the case half the time! it was to tight and it was just plane ugly. You’ve designed such a beautiful pen so there’s not excuse for failure with the pen’s case. The case itself (if used) can become a reminder to someone who’s lost-prone like me to take special care of the pen - so the case has to be beautiful ok? I didn’t use the case after the first day when I realized that it would take me at least 5 sec to struggle to get the pen out of the case.

while I am at it - is there any way to make a tiny indent for the fingers? my fingers would ache after writing because the pen is so thick.

(btw now I know that if you buy something with your American Express card they have a protection plan that will give you your money back if you lose or have something stolen within 90 days. I know this 6 months too late.)

The first moment of Livescribe love - Setting up the pen (all the photos of my pen)

This flow chart is so accurate! I followed the questions and ta-dah- i’m buddhist! and buddhism is the religion  that I identity with the most.

jamiew:

ysugano:

ReligionFlowChart (via hedwig_the_owl)

I’ve launched a new group food blog with ADriene Hughes, FUCK YEAH PHO - a central place for pho lovers to gather and phofreak out togehter and pholophize about our love for pho.

so far there’s lots of pictures of my distended stomach post-pho and adriene’s amazing pho art. Join and contribute your favorite pho-to.

and yes, that makes the proud owner of 6 lovely blogs.  I have 3 more to announce soon so don’t get too comfortable with your rss reader.

can you tell that I love pho?

my bowl is OVErflowing and I’m freaking out about our low basil count. damn I love pho. you should join our new blog FUCK YEAH PHO! the party is here! Adriene is there, you should be too!

fuckyeahpho:

YUM YUM Video with Tricia Wang!

I am too angry to even write about how WRONG this is on so many levels. This is an Illegal Alien Green Card Holding Costume that was sold at Target’s website and is currently available from Toys’r Us, Walgreen and for $27.99 by FOrum Novelties on Amazon and $26.97 by FGFK Halloween Costumes on Amazon also. FGFK calls it a “funny” costume.

It’s one thing to for Americans to be totally ignorant of how inter-dependent we are with Mexico’s migrant population and how millions of migrants from Mexico work their asses off so that Americans can afford their lifestyle - but it’s a whole other thing to MOCK Mexicans for their labor.

Target has taken it off its website - please write to AMazon, TOys R’ Us and Walgreens and sign the UNited Farm Workers call to action.

” offensive “illegal alien” costume is being sold at Walgreens and Amazon.com as well as other stores. (*Update: 10/17/09 - It appears that Target and Toys R Us have pulled the costume from their websites sometime last night.)

According to these websites, you can now dress up as an “illegal alien” for Halloween. These stores are selling the costume made up of an orange jumpsuit with the words “illegal alien” written across the chest. The costume even comes with a mask of a space invader with big eyes, and a green card.

The extra terrestrial creature perpetuates racism and discrimination in an already hostile environment and during a period of time when the debate on immigration reform is increasingly hateful and divisive.

Please send an e-mail today to Walgreens and Amazon.com and let these corporations know that this is not funny. They used poor judgement in selling this offensive product and should pull it immediately.” From United Farm Workers