via boston.com
What in the world. These photos from Afghanistan always shock me, but it passes in a few minutes.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
New York City Blizzard time-lapse video - Boing Boing
New York City Blizzard time-lapse video
Xeni Jardin at 10:12 AM Monday, Dec 27, 2010
[ Video Link] by Michael Black. (via Aaron Stewart-Ahn)
via boingboing.net
nifty
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Organization of the artist - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia(Redirected from The organization of the artist)Jump to: navigation, searchThe organization of the artist is a concept devised by architect Frank Gehry and first used in writing by Oxford University professor Bent Flyvbjerg in 2005 in Harvard Design Magazine. The term denotes the organizational set-up Gehry enforces when his designs are being built to avoid subordination of the design creator and is part of his approach to effective project management.[1] The organization of the artist places the architect/artist in control of the design throughout construction and deliberately eliminates the influence of politicians and business people on design. The purpose of the clause, "organization of the artist" is to ensure that it is the design of the architect/artist that is actually built and not some compromise decided by political and business interests.
[edit] Origin
Gehry initially developed the concept of the organization of the artist as a reaction against what he calls the "marginalization of the architect/artist." Gehry explains:
There's a tendency to marginalize and treat the creative people like women are treated, 'sweetie, us big business guys know how to do this, just give us the design and we'll take it from there.' That is the worst thing that can happen. It requires the organization of the artist to prevail so that the end product is as close as possible to the object of desire [the design] that both the client and architect have come to agree on. [2]
Gehry argues that the organization of the artist, in addition to making possible artistic integrity, also helps keep his buildings on time and budget, which is rare for the type of innovative and complex designs that Gehry is known for. The organization of the artist thus serves the dual purpose of artistic freedom and economic prudence.
[edit] Application
The term "organization of the artist" first appeared in print in Harvard Design Magazine in 2005 in an article by professor Bent Flyvbjerg on cost overrun in major projects[3]. Gehry's Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (1991-97) is argued in the article to be a rare example of innovative, complex, large-scale architecture that is built on time and budget. Frank Gehry explained this achievement to Flyvbjerg in terms of enforcement of the organization of the artist.
In other projects, Gehry has been less successful in enforcing the organization of the artist. For the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (1989-2003) there was much interference from business and political interests, which caused large delays and cost overruns and an attempt to oust Gehry from the project. The integrity of Gehry's design was preserved only by the Disney family stepping in and demanding that Gehry stay on and finish the building[4]. Here Gehry learned the hard way the negative consequences for the architect when the organization of the artist is not fully in place.
The organization of the artist is a concept and a setup that is particularly relevant to organizations that place innovation and innovators at the core of their business model. Apple Inc. and Pixar are such organizations and they are both organized according to versions of the organization of the artist. Apple CEO Steve Jobs explicitly celebrated the ideas of Frank Gehry in Apple's "Think Different" campaign.
[edit] References
- ^ Who is Frank Gehry?
- ^ Bent Flyvbjerg, "Design by Deception: The Politics of Megaproject Approval." Harvard Design Magazine, no. 22, Spring/Summer 2005, p 53.
- ^ Bent Flyvbjerg, ibid, pp. 50-59.
- ^ "The Impossible Becomes Possible: The Making of Walt Disney Concert Hall." p 57 in Gloria Gerace, Symphony: Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall (New York: Harry N. Abrams), 2003, pp. 35-59.
[show] Frank Gehry
This architecture-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_the_artist"
via en.wikipedia.org
This is more like it.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Yes, we Coelacanth! - Boing Boing
via boingboing.net
it's Coelacanth Day! Really, yes, really awesome!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
UNC team builds 3D model of Rome using Flickr photos on a single PC in one day - Boing Boing
via boingboing.net
This video illustrates what i have been stabbing blindly at by taking so many photos and save them all. We have no idea what the world 100 years from now will look like. The power of digital processing and storage will change on many magnitudes of order what is possible that i don't imagine we can even begin to imagine it. This is fantastic.
How our "security" obsession costs us - National security
via salon.com
We have nothing to fear but fear itself. This is troubling. This is very troubling. I think we are close to a time when we will have gone too far to go back without radical change.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
POLICE STATE - TSA, Homeland Security & Tampa Police Set Up Nazi Checkpoints At Bus Stations
via youtube.com
Are you FUCKING KIDDING me. Incase there is any "intelligence" and also looking for smugglers, illegals, etc... basically you can not come or go without showing your papers and being tracked. And how cheery the TV guys seem. ugh. Howdy 1984 what too you so long.
Afghanistan, November, 2010 - The Big Picture
via boston.com
This image stopped me in my tracks. A modern cave painting. Insane, seems almost like a shot from a sci-fi movie. This is really worth a look.
2010 Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar - The Big Picture
via boston.com
Rock'n the Hubble. BTW is it odd to have an advent calendar with HST photos as the rewards... ironic?
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
An Excerpt from Bicycle Diaries - Boing Boing
via boingboing.net
Yet another major influence in my life. Slowing down and looking coincidence, I think not.
How many people make more than $250,000 per year?
How many people make more than $250,000 per year?The short answer: based on information from the IRS, fewer than 3% of tax returns (4 million returns out of 138 million total returns) claimed more than $200,000 in adjusted gross income (AGI) in tax year 2006 (more current data is not available). By definition, the number making more than $250,000 must be less than 3% (since some will fall in the range between $200,000 and $250,000.)
The long answer is pretty long – more than a thousand words long, judging by the length of this article. While I am not a CPA , or even a practicing accountant, I do have a degree in accounting and thoroughly enjoyed my income tax courses in college (yep, glutton for punishment). I’ll make an effort not to get too bogged down in technical terms in this article.
Why the question?For whatever reason, $250,000 has become a benchmark amount. During the presidential campaign, President Obama had a tax plan that would raise taxes on couples making more than $250,000. Recently, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that would impose a 90% tax for recipients of bonuses paid by companies that received bailout funds. This tax would be imposed on people making more than $250,000.
Why the source?The IRS is in the business of determining how much money people make and have a vested interest in the accuracy of their data. I have a synopsis of their data in the table at the end of the post, and have also linked directly to their spreadsheet.
Definition of termsHousehold – I am defining a household as any entity that filed a tax return. Note that people who do not have a tax liability are not required to file a tax return. These people tend to be on the low end of the income spectrum.
Income – This is definitely the tricky term. There are a few different things we could measure.
- Total income (line 22 of form 1040). Essentially, this is the result of adding up the money that comes in from all sources during the year – with the exclusion of tax-exempt interest income and the tax-exempt portion of some retirement benefits. This does include capital gains and business income (or loss). This is the largest of the three amounts I will describe.
- Adjusted gross income (AGI) (line 37 of form 1040). This is total income with a few deductions. For the typical person, the deductions would be for student loan interest as well as contributions to retirement accounts and health savings accounts. This amount will be smaller than total income, and this is what is used in the IRS statistics that I have used as my source.
- Taxable income (line 43 of form 1040). This is determined by taking the AGI, subtracting either the standard or itemized deduction, and then also subtracting the amount for exemptions (for tax year 2008, you would multiply $3500 X the number of exemptions – basically, the number of people in your household – and subtract this amount from the AGI.) Taxable income is used to determine your marginal tax rate. (Note: the marginal rate is the rate that is applied to the top slice of your income – it is not applied to your entire income. Income is taxed on a stair step basis, with each chunk of income taxed at a higher rate). In the case of Obama’s tax plan, he would be referring to $250,000 in taxable income, not total income or AGI.
The numbersYou can quibble with the numbers a bit. You may claim that some people cheat on their taxes, so that the number of people who SHOULD be claiming an AGI of $250,000 is higher than the amount that actually do. You may claim that full-time students or single people should not be counted as households (of course, that argument could be countered by the argument that there are valid households that are not filing tax returns). However, it seems unlikely that you’re going to move the needle very much. The fact of the matter is that very few households earn more than $250,000.
Other stats:
67% of returns had an AGI of less than $50,000. 88% of returns had an AGI of less than $100,000.0.26% of returns – a total of just 350,000 households out of a total of 138 million – had an AGI of $1,000,000 of more.
15,196 returns – roughly 1/100 of one percent – had an AGI of more than $10,000,000.
The average (mean) number of exemptions per return was 1.99. The number of exemptions in the “less than $5000 AGI” category is 0.95 (many are students who are claimed on their parents’ returns and thus cannot take themselves as an exemption) and peaks at 2.93 in the $500,000 – $1,000 range. This makes quite a bit of sense. The lower ranges are often going to have a higher concentration of single people, since those people have half the income of a dual-income married couple in a similar career.
“But nearly everyone I know makes $X. These numbers are wrong.”I have had people tell me that these numbers are too low, and that $250,000 is not a lot of money in their location (big cities). It might be true – and probably is – that there is a higher concentration of the higher income jobs in the bigger cities. However, the vast majority of the households in these areas are still going to be below $250,000.
I also think that people tend to look at their own situation and assume that it is typical. If you are college educated, you are actually not typical. Only 30 percent of adult Americans have a degree. Likewise, if you have a household income of $100,000, you are not typical.
It’s very easy to fall into this trap, though. Our friends have tendency to have a income level that is similar to our own – even if we don’t make a conscious effort to ensure this. Why? Think of where your base of friends comes from:
Work – If these people have similar jobs, then it’s quite reasonable that their income will be similar to yours.
College friends – Do they have similar majors, and thus similar occupations?
Neighbors – Your neighbors can all afford homes in your neighborhood, which essentially places a floor on their income level.
Parents of your kids’ friends – School districts in many cities are not particularly heterogeneous. This is because certain sections of town have neighborhoods containing homes in a particular price range. If you put an elementary school in the midst of these neighborhoods, the children are going to come from families with similar economic backgrounds.
Table based on data from IRS Website (Excel file)
AGI range returns % cum % % above ex/ret total 138,394,754 1.99 Under $5,000 14,308,963 10.34% 10.34% 89.66% 0.95 $5,000 – $10,000 11,786,747 8.52% 18.86% 81.14% 1.25 $10,000 – $15,000 11,711,680 8.46% 27.32% 72.68% 1.67 $15,000 – $20,000 10,937,694 7.90% 35.22% 64.78% 1.80 $20,000 – $25,000 9,912,261 7.16% 42.38% 57.62% 1.92 $25,000 – $30,000 8,749,761 6.32% 48.71% 51.29% 1.95 $30,000 – $35,000 7,554,418 5.46% 54.17% 45.83% 1.99 $35,000 – $40,000 6,597,407 4.77% 58.93% 41.07% 2.00 $40,000 -$45,000 5,677,163 4.10% 63.03% 36.97% 2.09 $45,000 – $50,000 5,010,030 3.62% 66.65% 33.35% 2.15 $50,000 – $55,000 4,644,439 3.36% 70.01% 29.99% 2.27 $55,000 – $60,000 4,092,692 2.96% 72.97% 27.03% 2.31 $60,000 – $75,000 10,117,786 7.31% 80.28% 19.72% 2.45 $75,000 – $100,000 11,140,408 8.05% 88.33% 11.67% 2.69 $100,000 – $200,000 12,088,423 8.73% 97.06% 2.94% 2.83 $200,000 – $500,000 3,121,485 2.26% 99.32% 0.68% 2.89 $500,000 – $1,000,000 589,306 0.43% 99.74% 0.26% 2.93 $1,000,000 – $1,500,000 150,431 0.11% 99.85% 0.15% 2.88 $1,500,000 – $2,000,000 64,007 0.05% 99.90% 0.10% 2.84 $2,000,000 – $5,000,000 98,724 0.07% 99.97% 0.03% 2.79 $5,000,000 – $10,000,000 24,975 0.02% 99.99% 0.01% 2.83 $10,000,000+ 15,956 0.01% 100.00% 0.00% 2.82 Legend
Column 1 – Range of adjusted gross income
Column 2 – Number of returns that fall into this range
Column 3 – Percentage of total returns
Column 4 – Cumulative percentage (percent of return that have this AGI or lower)
Column 5 – Percentage of returns that are above this range
Column 6 – Number of exemptions per returnColumns 1 and 2 are taken directly from the IRS spreadsheet. The other columns are calculations based on information from the IRS spreadsheet.
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Assorted
Income statistics
http://www.thesoapboxers.com/how-many-people-make-more-than-250000-per-year/
Interesting numbers.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Our New Safety Overlords - Megan McArdle - National - The Atlantic
via theatlantic.com
This is troubling.
Rio's drug war - The Big Picture
via boston.com
Not sure what is more shocking, the amount of force used or that face that I can imagine something like this happening in the states in the next 10 years.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
The Safety Question, Pt.2 | Talking Points Memo
The other end of the discussion. Maybe my non-flying friend is even smarter than she seems.
Errata Security: I was just detained by the TSA
So this is a real issue. not so much the scanning or the feeling up, but where is the line for private space, personal freedom and what is best for the group? This includes subjecting people to acceptable levels of radiation, as well as the how much privacy in our comings and goings we can expect.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
The Birth of Coffee
Join us for the Opening Reception!
Saturday | September 25
6:00 - 9:00 pm
$10 | CAFAM members FREEA festive evening of live music, cool folk and delicious fare provided by plancha: a taco joint and a special coffee tasting provided by Gaviña Gourmet Coffee.
RSVP to rsvp@cafam.org
The Birth of Coffee
Sept. 26, 2010 – Jan. 9, 2011A simple cup of coffee: Millions of people greet the morning, take a break, or end a meal with this dark brew. In these brief moments, coffee's rich flavor and deep aroma are simple pleasures unquestioningly accepted, although few of us ever consider the origins of this evermore popular beverage.
The Birth of Coffee documents coffee’s extraordinary journey from seed to cup. The photography exhibition, based on the book of the same name by Daniel Lorenzetti and Linda Rice Lorenzetti, chronicles the lives of coffee growers in Brazil, Ethiopia, Yemen, Guatemala, Indonesia, Colombia, Costa Rica and Kenya. Black-and-white photographs specially toned in and with coffee are interwoven with eclectic anecdotes and facts, bringing to life the stories of the diverse people who pick, plant and produce coffee.
The traveling exhibition is part of a larger, multiplatform, media project consisting of a book, the exhibition and website. The Birth of Coffee focuses on workers worldwide whose livelihood depends on the growing and production of coffee and relates how coffee is important to the history and society of each producing nation. The goal of the project is to extend the individual's personal coffee experiences, providing them with an understanding of the many people, places and processes involved in bringing coffee to the table. For more information please visit www.birthofcoffee.com.
About the Photographer
Daniel Lorenzetti is the founder of The Image Expedition, a private, not-for-profit organization. As a journalist and award winning photographer, he has written and photographed for over 20 magazines and newspapers including The New York Times and The Miami Herald. His photographs are part of the permanent collection of some of the most prestigious museums in the world, including The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. He was chosen to receive the prestigious South Florida Cultural Consortium's Visual Artist Fellowship. His first book of photography, The Birth of Coffee, was published by Random House. Lorenzetti was also a former White House staff intern under President Jimmy Carter and former documentary team member for Public Television. He has also led a core conversation at SXSW Interactive. He lives in Austin, Texas and Three Forks, Montana.
About the Author
Linda Rice Lorenzetti is the Editorial Director of The Image Expedition and an experienced writer with a diversity of publications to her credit. As a correspondent for the Tea and Coffee Trade Journal, she frequently writes about coffee; she was also a contributing writer for an anthology entitled The Adventure of Food, published in November 1999. She authored, Introduction to the Internet, an in-depth manual to explain its function and use when few people understood the technology. She also wrote a regular column for On the Internet magazine. She holds a degree in Human Resource Management and a certificate in Women's Studies, but her special interests are indigenous crafts, trade beads -- and, of course, coffee. She lives in Austin, Texas and Three Forks, Montana
To learn more about Linda Rice Lorenzetti and her work visit her web site at www.lindaricelorenzetti.com.
The Birth of Coffee exhibition is sponsored by Gavina Gourmet Coffee
please visit www.gavina.com
via cafam.org
For all the coffee drinkers out there.
Friday, November 19, 2010
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