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

male rape. where males rape other men through the rectum with their penis. it happens a lot in prisons. happens during wars. male rape isn’t necessarily about one’s sexuality, like any other form of rape it’s about power. it’s sometimes it’s carried out as a form of sexual assault on gay men by “straight” men who are homophobic - “same sex rape”.

In this article below, John Mayer becomes frustrated with his interviewer and threatens to “sodomize” the interviewer’s editor. I don’t know if the editor is gay or straight, male or female, but the implication is that he’s going rape the interviewer’s editor’s rectum.

then NY Mag publishes a post, “JOhn Mayer threatens so sodomize us.” It seems Ny Mag is flattered that such a star would threaten to sodomize them - as if NY MAG is proud that they incited such a visceral response from a celebrity like John Mayer.

so it’s interesting to me when the male rape discourse is legitimized in popular culture. My take on is that in our society, we express our feelings in terms of violence and sex and that kind of expression is seen as a form of power. so when John Mayer threatens the use of violence with his penis, his level of respect is increased because it reinforces the image of him being a bad-boy sex object. He can get women like Jennifer Aniston and then break up with her publicly and also threaten to male rape someone - he’s cool huh?

It’s just absurd to me that this kind of language is seen as funny, ironic, or powerful. Male rape then appears to be legitimized in these instances - where as rape of a woman’s vagina is always seen as criminal - but rectum rape here is seen as “cool.” we all know that John Mayer will not go out and rectum rape the editor - but it’s the very reaction by NY MAG that concerns me and the non-reaction by the media - what would the reaction be if it was a black actor who said this - or let’s say a black athletic star. It’s never acceptable to threaten the use of violence on someone, but there is a double standard and this John Mayer case illustrates this race standard.

It’s just absurd to me that this kind of language is seen as funny, ironic, cocky, or powerful. Male rape then appears to be legitimized in these instances - where as rape of a woman’s vagina is always seen as criminal - but rape by men who are upset of a person’s rectum seems to fly with the audience.

I just can’t seem to think how it is cool to have a celebrity essentially say that they want to use their penis and “forcefully” stick it into someone’s rectum.

John Mayer Threatens to Sodomize Us [NY MAG]

What do you think about health care? Would you take the public option?
Have you ever heard me play guitar? I’m really fucking good. You know what I’m bad at? Answering questions about public health care. This is not in my wheelhouse. Do you have any questions about music? I almost got a mad need to lighten up. You need to lighten up, because the questions you asked me were all troublemaking questions. If someone gave me the Nobel Peace Prize, and I didn’t deserve it, I would just shut my mouth and enjoy the hell out of it.

.

.

.

These are questions my editor wanted me to ask. I’m trying to build my journalistic career here.
You’re not building a journalistic career. You’re making yourself look like a moron and you’re not a moron. Who’s your editor?

Jada.
Jada is making you sound like a moron in front of people.

.

.

.

You don’t always have to rhyme, though.
I’m going to forcefully sodomize your editor.

via fabska

I’ve always wanted to be one of those lucky people who get called onto to give up their economy seat for a business class seat. I fly an average of 30 flights a year = that’s 30 chances to be bumped! But it never happens to me…that is UNTIL the first time it happened to me on my 15 hour flight from shanghai to newark!

COntinental overbooked and thank god to my US Government purchased $3902 roundtrip economy refundable and changable ticket, I was chosen to be bumped up to first class! I NEVER wANT TO go back to economy! It’s luxury up here guys!

fully reclinable seats, soo much leg room you can’t even reach the leg bar, you don’t even have to touch the skin of the person next to you or wake them up if you need to use the restroom!

I was so excited about being bumped that I couldn’t even fall asleep when I tried. I just kept thinking “omg I’m in first class for the first time on a 15 hour flight- that’s awesome!” I just kept asking for wine, ice cream, and toasted warm nuts! It was so obvious I was one of those people who never fly business class and was trying to make the most of it - I think the attendants were super annoyed that I didn’t fall asleep. I loved most my swivel tv and glass plate and silverware! Here’s the description for one of our appetizers: A demitasse of duck consomme with quenelles accompanied with a savory crab cake and vegetable dumpling with sweet kiwi chili sauce. I don’t even know what half of those words really mean except for duck, vegetable, kiwi and sauce!

it was just a magical day to begin with because when I arrived at the Shanghai airport I ran into my friends Kavi and MAtt in the check-in line! ISn’t THAT CRAZY to run into your friends that you had NO Idea you would see? I knew they were in the country and I had hung out with them 3 weeks earlier in Beijing - but we both didn’t know that each other was going to fly out of Shanghai and into Newark on the same day! Well actually I was supposed to fly out a week later but had to change my ticket cuz of family stuff - so even crazier!

all I can say is that first class is better than my own home. I never wanted to land. I loved being served food and wine every 5min. It was awesome.

I LOVE MY CITY!!!  Union Square you always bring surprises! I just love how nonchalant everyone looks as they walk by amazing drummers, a great dancer who moves with such beauty, and a giant furry blue duck who’s totally pecking to the beat.  LOVE you NY!

elspethjane:

kenyatta:

Subway Jam in Union Square, 7.18.09 

Just stick with this for eight seconds.

Seriously. All you need to watch is the first 8 seconds but it’s good for up to a minute. For real.

(via Curbed)

Shanghai is the sweets capital of china.
Shanghai is where my sweet tooth is fulfilled.

These two yummy glutenous balls of rice sticky love made me drool in my dream.

The first pair is a watermelon seed crusted squishy yummy ricy balls with warm coconut juice.

The second row is a perserved egg ball in taro shell with salty egg crusting.

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM I ordered an extra plate JUST for myself!  YUM yUM YUM!!!

I am on a search to make my living space more green and healthy. I did some basic googling and found lots of quacks and products marketed for people who are scared of toxis and any form of modern machinery/technology. Well it’s hard to find “scientific” studies that prove the removal of X amount of charged ion particles of electromagnetic radiation or X amount of toxins/sq feet. More or less, I will just go on the simple logic that having plants around me is a good for my health and decreasing the amount of time spent over electronics when I’m NOT actively using it (meaning when I’m sleeping), isn’t a bad idea either. Now I did find a scientifically “verifiable” study by NASA on plants as natural air detoxifiers, but I didn’t find any studies on EMF effects.

TOXINS

So in regards to toxins, I found NASA’s study on the best air-filtering plants.  Back in the 80’s, NASA was trying to figure out which plants to grow on the International Space Station (ISS) because when scientists conducted air tests on the ISS they found that the air was suuuuuppppper toxic due to all the human-made materials. As a result, NASA conducted a study on the best plants that remove the top 3 chemicals found in human-made products for everyday living: benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene. Although we don’t live on the ISS, we are subject to these chemicals everyday and the greatest human exposure is the dangerous chemical of Formaldehyde - it’s in almost everything from particle boards to carpets to furniture.

SOOOO the BEEEEEEST plants to remove all three toxins that was tested by NASA are: Bamboo Palm, Spider Plant (place this near wood or fireplace), English Ivy and Peace Lily (grow under artificial light!).

NASA’s lists of the top 50 plants with air-filtering rate from 1-10 is in the chart below. I am going to buy three new plants that I just learned about - both are rated at 8.5 on the 1-10 scale:  the Areca Palm because it’s a natural humidifier, Lady Palm because it’s bug resistant. Mother in-law’s tongue and Spider Plant because they are low-maintenance.

I also like the rubber plant, snake plant (grows anywhere even with no light), and Christmas cactus ( put in  bedroom because it gives off oxygen at night).

The study recommends philodendron, but I would be careful of this plant because it can harm the body when placed too close - so if you buy this plant just don’t put it in your bedroom.

This feng shui person gives other suggestions that I like, e.g putting computer monitor on top of bricks or wood to absorb energy and putting african violets in your office. Here’s a nother article on feng shui and plants that also recommends placing african violets in pairs to create good chi

Other Sources

• good article from Tree Hugger blog
• article on producing fresh indoor air
• blog post about Kamal Meattle’s approach in India - he highly recommends Mother-in-law’s tongue
• Book by B.C Wolverton, 1997, How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 House Plants that Purify Your Home or Office - B.C. Wolverton is a retired NASA scientist who worked on NASA’s studies on plants in indoor areas
• informative post from Green Your Living Space
• great review of the chemicals that plants abort from the Environmental Illness Resource Center

__________________

ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD

A google on EMF prevention reveals some super crazy internet quacks out to make $$. Let’s stay away from those!

I started on this EMF kick because after my grandma underwent chemotherapy (where she was bathed in ulta-high EMF to kill her cancer cells), she became super-sensitive to EMF in household products from the TV remote control to my computer. It’s been 2 yeas since her treatment and she is still super sensitive to electricity. I can’t use my computer near her because she gets headaches. If we drive by places with lots of power lines she starts feeling sick. If we’re in Target, we can’t walk by the electronics section.  So I’m trying to find ways to reduce her EMF sensitivity as this whole E-sensitivity limits her mobility outside of the house.  (When I started searching online, I found that Electrical Sensitivity is very common for people post-chemo and for people who in general just experience side effects from EMF.)

Now I’m not one of those people who freak out about being bathed in EMF. (ok I am lying -  I freaked out for a moment when I saw Treehugger’s post on EMF and Maple trees- until I realized it was an old April Fools Joke). I have a weird sleep schedule because my life is crazy right now. I don’t blame any of my less than healthy habits on EMF exposure. That being said, I don’t think it hurts to educate myself on a topic that is very understudied.

There is bad and good EMF. Our cells respond to EMF. Many of your basic cellular activities involve EMF activity- e.g. active electrons in our DNA or in cells that need to communicate with each other. EMF is measured in Hz -and 1 HZ is 1 cycle per second

• gamma rays is at 10 to the 24Hz (nuclear radiation - so very dangerous)
• visible light is at 10 to the 12Hz
• microwaves are at 10 to the 10Hz (300-3000Mhz)
• cellphone are at 900-1900 MHz (3G cellphones are at 2100Mhz
• The Earth’s magnetic energy is at  9.6–10.2 Hz.
• the human body’s EMF is at 0.5-20Hz

Now what is interesting is that we are the first few generations to voluntarily subject ourselves to consistent flows of multiple sources of artificial EMF - e.g. cellphones plugged to our heads, ipods in our ears, cellphone towers above our buildings, and computers on our fingertips. So I think it would be nieve to say that there can’t be EMF effects when we surround ourselves with it and are already well aware of the effects of other forms of more dangerous and even Ultra-low non-dangerous EMF. High-EMF = Chernobyl = bad.  One example of ultra low EMF is the relationship between our own body’s EMF and our pineal gland.  The  pineal gland is the endocrine gland in the our brain that produces melatonin and thus regulates our circadian rhythem (sleep/wake pattern). EMF could possibly affect your sleep.

• ionising EMF can break bonds - like change cellular activity in good and bad ways - Chernobyle = bad cuz too much EMF, radiation can be good because it changes cancer cells (but can also kill good cells)
• non-ionising EMR on health - e.g. exposure to visible light can delay pineal melatonin.

There has to be some of kind of connection there in terms of the levels of artifical EMF in the technologies that we use. Here’s a section from the Sustainable Housing Guide for Scotland on EMF:

“The Earth’s natural electromagnetic pulse is essential to our health and well being. Domestic mains current operates at 50 pulses a second (50Hz) in Scotland, which is six times faster than the natural pulse, and studies show that this can result in disturbed sleep patterns, nervousness, and high blood pressure, particularly where beds are sited next to mains cabling

So ere are some general tips that I’m going to follow for a reduction in artificial=EMF exposure:

• don’t sleep with any alarm clocks, cellphones, laptops, chargers and etc in your bedroom. If you must sleep with them - like an alarm clock,  then make sure that the alarm clock is at least 4 feet from your bed with a plant next to it.
• never have your laptop in direct contact with your legs and bodies - so I use Lapinator’s laptop stand - I looovveeeee it!
• Try placing an EMF absorbing plant next to your computer - like cactus or african violets. I can’t find any conclusive “scientific studies to prove this - but I’ve been told by several traditional doctors that I trust and in these cases - the absence of “scientific” tests doesn’t mean that the knowledge of traditional doctors are invalid.  Oh and don’ put a cactus in your bedroom or even buy too many big ones because cactus absorbs energy and you it can end up absorbing a person’s energy (as opposed to the computer’s)- which is no bueno.
• if you have a monitor, try to make sure it’s placed on natural materials - like wood or bricks.
• try to work on a desk that is made of wood.
• wear pure silver, copper and gold - all non-toxic metals. (aluminum is a toxic metal) - these
• I am going to buy an EMF safety garments - a glove for my grandma.  I’ll post an update about effective of reducing EMF pain for her. Although the Environmental Illness Resource Center says that they have not found any evidence of a change in EMF levels with the use of EMF-safety garments.

A great article that reviews recent EMF studies is Gee’s (2009) report, Late Lessons from Early Warnings: Towards realism and precaution with EMF? Gee examines how EMF research can be a model for proactive steps to understanding and preventing potentially harmful risks in society. I like this paper because it does not get involved in the EMF is bad or good argument - rather it focuses on how take policy level action in reducing/understanding the risks of EMF.

Some articles (some a bit wacky) that I came across:

• Electromagnetic Radiation and Health, download PDF, (2004), COmplementary Medicine
• An Excellent PEER-REviewed article by Bioinitiatve, A Rationale for a Biologically-based Public Exposure Standard for Electromagnetic Fields (ELF and RF) 2007. This study concluded:
• Biological and Medical Aspects of Electromagnetic Fields (2006), Frank S. Barnes, Chapter 8 - EMF Standards for Human Health.
  Electromagnetic fields and radiation: human bioeffects and safety (2002), Riadh W. Y. Habash.
• Green Leaves and EMF (2004), download PDF, Singh et. al, Proceedings of the National Seminar on Environmental Engineering.
• Late Lessons from Early Warnings: Towards realism and precaution with EMF? Pathophysiology Volume 16, Issues 2-3, August 2009, Pages 217-231 Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) Special Issue
• Green Fact’s Primer on EMF