September 4, 2014 by suzannesmom
As usual, the Fort Point area is swimming in art this September. The few examples below don’t begin to scratch the surface, but they caught my eye: a longtime mural in a Farnsworth Street garage, a mosaic at Channel Center, and the rainbow-like installation “Shimmer” that draws a smile from many passersby.
Says the Fort Point Arts site, “ ‘Shimmer‘ is a temporary public art installation by Fort Point artists Claudia Ravaschiere and Michael Moss. Using the refractive qualities of florescent and jewel toned plexi glass, this piece activates the the Congress Street Bridge and changes the public perception of a familiar urban environment. The piece is constructed to catch the natural and ambient light to create a luminous field of color and alternating hues. The visual impact of the’ Shimmer’ will change as the light changes throughout the day.”
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, boston, Claudia Ravaschiere, fort point arts, Michael Moss, postaday, rainbow, shimmer | Leave a Comment »
September 3, 2014 by suzannesmom
“These yak songs are just one of countless endangered music traditions around the world, vanishing as modern life intrudes and the last practitioners die without passing them on. Worried about the loss, ethnomusicologists have begun trying to document, preserve, and even breathe new life into these disappearing traditions …
“Music contains vital information about how people live—about their animals, their weather, their practices, and traditions—and about the world we share. One Australian researcher, Allan Marett, recently wrote that the loss of certain music like traditional fishing or food-gathering songs represents a loss of ecological knowledge that could ‘potentially compromise our ability to adapt to as yet unforeseen changes.’ ” Read the interview here.
Photo: Ian Kirkland
Kantaoming master Seng Norn (right) and students.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Allan Marett, cambodia, catherine grant, culture, die out, ecology, endangered music, ethnomusicologist, gal beckerman, ian kirkland, music, postaday, seng norn, tibet, yak | Leave a Comment »
September 2, 2014 by suzannesmom
I was all set to blog about Providence PuttPutt, an artist-inspired, Kickstarter-supported pop-up entertainment for kids when I found out it was scheduled to last only for the summer and has just closed. Sigh.
So, sticking to a small-pleasures, quality-of-life theme, we turn once more to Denmark, where biking made a big jump in one year.
Angie Schmitt at StreetsBlog Network writes, “For years the bike commuting rate has remained roughly steady at just over a third of trips. Then last year the city’s bike commute mode share increased from 36 percent to 41 percent. Meanwhile, driving declined 3 percent as a share of commuting trips.
“The unexpected increase had a lot of people baffled. But Mikael Colville-Andersen at Copenhagenize thinks he knows what happened …
What has happened is that 17 huge construction sites fell out of the sky all at once. Not something that happens every day. In addition, most of central Copenhagen — between 2012 and 2013 — was under further construction because of the upgrading of district heating pipes under many streets that had to be ripped up. …
Driving was rendered incredibly difficult. Copenhageners, being rational homo sapiens, chose other transport forms. Public transport has increased, too, but the bicycle is clearly the chariot of choice. It’s no surprise at all why cycling is booming.
“There you have it,” Schmitt adds. “If you want to improve cycling in your city, make it an awesome place to bike, sure, but don’t forget make it a terrible place to drive. ”
More here.
Photo: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Biking in Copenhagen
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Angie Schmitt, art, artist, biking, construction, copenhagen, Copenhagenize, denmark, Mikael Colville-Andersen, miniature golf, postaday, providence puttputt, simple pleasure, StreetsBlog Network, terrible place to drive | 2 Comments »
September 1, 2014 by suzannesmom
I’m reblogging Hortographical’s Friday post on raspberries. What a nice blog she has! And she manages to stick to the gardening theme.
hortographical
The warm, dry summer we enjoyed this year came to an end when August arrived bringing with it cooler, damper weather*. Funnily enough, damp weather favours the development of rusts on plants as well as on metal, although they’re nothing to do with each other!
Some of the older varieities of raspberry are particularly prone to raspberry rust (Phragmidium rubi-idaei). I have some Glen Ample canes – apparently it is the most common/popular summer fruiting variety in the UK – and they have rust (my Autumn fruiting varieities are, so far, rust-free). I class Glen Ample as an “older” variety, although it has only been on sale since the 1990s, so it’s not really so old.
Tell tale discolouration on the upper side of the raspberry leaf…
…the different spore types on the underside of the leaf
Rusts are fascinatingly complex organisms with a vocabulary all of their own. The…
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September 1, 2014 by suzannesmom
Following up on yesterday’s post, which highlighted simple pleasures like spending time in the library, I give you this report by Morgan Ribera at Bustle.
“Apparently, libraries provide patrons with a happiness that money can’t buy. Or at least nothing less than almost two grand in cash. According to a recent study commissioned by the U.K.’s Department for Culture, Media, and Sport, the act of going to the library induces joy equivalent to that brought on by a £1,359 ($1,878) pay raise.
“The study was conducted in an attempt to measure which activities have the most positive impact on an individual’s well-being. Visiting a library scored among the top joy-generating activities, alongside dancing and swimming, giving us yet another reason to hang-out at our local library. …
“And this U.K. study adds even more to the proof already stacking up on the value of libraries, a value that was evidenced extensively in a Pew Research Study released [in March]. The rather pleasing results of this eye-opening Pew study showed that habitual library goers maintain stronger community ties, are more likely to socialize with friends and neighbors, and exhibit higher levels of technological engagement.”
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bill lapp, Bustle, community, Department for Culture Media and Sport, happiness, joy, library, Morgan Ribera, pay raise, pew, photo, postaday, socialize, uk, well-being | Leave a Comment »
August 31, 2014 by suzannesmom
Quite a bit of energy has been spent on studies to determine what makes people happy. The findings often seem self-evident (for example, the observation that simple pleasures can be the most satisfying), but studies may be needed when the culture grows detached from what is self-evident.
NY Times columnist Ron Lieber writes, here, about one such study: “Amit Bhattacharjee and Cassie Mogilner, met when Mr. Bhattacharjee was earning his doctorate at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where Ms. Mogilner is an assistant professor of marketing.
“When they decided to work together … they were trying to help answer one of the next big questions in the emerging field of happiness studies. Already, scholars in the field have established that experiences tend to make people happier than possessions. What we do, it seems, has more potential for lasting satisfaction and memory-making than what we have. But Mr. Bhattacharjee, who is now a visiting assistant professor of marketing at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, and Ms. Mogilner wanted to know what sort of experiences made people the most happy and why.
“To find out, they conducted eight studies in which they asked participants about their recollections of, planning for or daydreaming about various happiness-making experiences. They also checked to see what sort of things their subjects were posting about on Facebook. The researchers’ definitions of ordinary and extraordinary experiences, when they prompted people to discuss one or the other, were simple and focused on frequency; ordinary experiences happen often and occur in the course of everyday life.”
Lieber notes ordinary experiences like reading the paper, walking around the block, talking to neighbors, spending time in the library. I would add playing with grandchildren, listening to music, and baking something when you have time.
Update 9/3/14 — John just sent word of another study tending to prove the same thing, here.
Free Shakespeare production on the library lawn in summer
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Amit Bhattacharjee, Cassie Mogilner, dartmouth, pleasures, postaday, Ron Lieber, simple, tuck, university of pennsylvania, wharton | 2 Comments »
August 30, 2014 by suzannesmom
Inside my neighbor’s lotus flower is something that looks like a shower head. I think I will make a new year’s resolution on it (the school year, say): “Because you can never imagine what’s inside the lotus, try to be alert to the subtext.”
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged beach, blackberries, flower, lotus, mural, photography, photos, postaday, summer | Leave a Comment »
August 29, 2014 by suzannesmom
Do you believe in miracles? Consider the snowflake, consider the soap bubble.
Our family is big on soap bubbles in summer. Wired magazine seems to be big on soap bubbles, too, with a recent article on an installation involving bubble magic.
Kyle Vanhemert writes, “Soap is pretty ordinary stuff – until you blow a bubble with it. Then it becomes something a little bit magical, shimmering with delicate, ever-changing color. Unsurprisingly, if you shine a light through that swirling orb, it makes for a pretty incredible show.
“That’s the gist of ‘Invisible Acoustics,’ an audiovisual installation by Royal College of Art graduate Dagny Rewera. For the project, Rewera created three apparatuses that combine light, sound, and soap to spectacular effect.
“First, a wand dips itself into a pool of water, creating a wet, soapy lens. A speaker plays tones and chords, vibrating the soap, while a light projects the proceedings on the ceiling above. …
“Each of the three units is set to play a different range of frequencies, making for three distinct sets of patterns unfolding overhead.” More here.
Art: Dagny Rewera
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, audiovisual, bubbles, Dagny Rewera, installation, Invisible Acoustics, postaday, royal college of art, sound, vanhemert, wired | Leave a Comment »
August 28, 2014 by suzannesmom
The mother of the cofounder of Meaningful Wins is not big on gambling, but as John reminds her, she is the one who took him to Suffolk Downs once when he was 12 and let him bet on a horse, so she doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
In any case, she is proud that John and his college friend Thad Levine (Texas
Rangers) have successfully worked with nonprofits and baseball players, among others, to provide a way that people who play fantasy football can donate their winnings directly to charity.
Peace Players International writes, “Ellis and Levine recently founded Meaningful Wins which allows fantasy football players to compete in leagues for the charity of their choice. Leagues are first set up on commercial platforms such as NFL.com, ESPN.com, and Yahoo.com just as usual. After doing so, they can then register on MeaningfulWins.com. Each league player then receives an email asking them to register, pay their entry fees, and then choose a charity to play for, upon which completing this information they will receive a tax-deduction receipt. At the end of the fantasy season, the winning player’s charity receives the money!”
See John interviewed, here, at New England Cable News. Read about Meaningful Wins at the Nonprofit Times, here.
Photo: Doctors without Borders, now partnering with Meaningful Wins to receive donations from fantasy-football players.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged charity, doctors without borders, donatino, fantasy football, meaningful wins, msf, necn, new england cable news, nonprofit, nonprofit times, peace players internatinoal, postaday, texas rangers, thad levine | Leave a Comment »
August 27, 2014 by suzannesmom
Art: Salvador Dali
I was swept away by theater at age 10 as the understudy for Alice in Binny Rabinowitz’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. Ever since, I’ve been a fan of the little girl who was so clear-eyed about the unreasonableness of grownups.
So imagine my delight at Maria Popova’s essay on the many different ways the story has been illustrated, including by Salvador Dali.
“In the century and a half since Sir John Tenniel’s original illustrations, the Carroll classic has sprouted everything from a pop-up book adaptation to a witty cookbook to a quantum physics allegory, and hundreds of artists around the world have reimagined it with remarkable creative vision. …
“In 1969, Salvador Dalí was commissioned by New York’s Maecenas Press-Random House to illustrate a special edition of the Carroll classic, consisting of12 heliogravures — one for each chapter of the book and an original signed etching in four colors as the frontispiece. Distributed as the publisher’s book of the month, the volume went on to become one of the most sought-after Dalí suites of all time.”
See a splendid array at Brainpickings, here.
Art: Lisbeth Zwerger 
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged alice, alice in wonderland, antrim players, art, binny rabinowitz, brainpickings, children's literature, illustration, john tenniel, lewis carroll, Lisbeth Zwerger’, looking glass, maria popova, postaday, salvador dali, understudy | Leave a Comment »
August 26, 2014 by suzannesmom
“Nearly two decades ago,” writes National Public Radio, “a massive wave struck the Tokio Express, a container ship that had nearly 5 million Legos onboard. The colorful toy building blocks poured into the ocean. Today, they are still washing up on shores in England.
“Tracey Williams and her children first happened upon the Tokio Express Legos in the late 1990s. Since then, she’s created a Facebook page called — Lego Lost At Sea — where other collectors show off their findings.
“Williams, who lives in Cornwall, tells NPR’s Scott Simon that among the many small, colorful and ironically nautical-themed Lego bits are flowers, swords, life vests, scuba tanks and even Lego octopi. …
” ‘I thought it would be quite interesting, from a scientific point of view, to monitor where it was all turning up, what was turning up and in what quantities and who found it,’ Williams says.” Read more here.
I note a variation on a theme in Pen Pal (which tells what happens when a child on the Gulf Coast throws a message in a bottle into the sea and ends up with a political-prisoner pen pal across the world). Francesca Forrest, author of Pen Pal, records true stories about messages in bottles at her website about the novel, here. Like the stories of Legos washed up near England, some of the message-in-a-bottle stories are pretty intriguing.
Photo: Tracey Williams/Lego Lost at Sea
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cornwall, Francesca Forrest, lego, lost at sea, message in a bottle, npr, pen pal, postaday, scott simon, Tokio Express, Tracey Williams | 8 Comments »
August 25, 2014 by suzannesmom
A while back, I wrote about a documentary on Mary Donnelly, a public health nurse who made house calls for many decades and on whom year-round island residents relied. She was so trusted that the community made donations to something called the Mary D Fund, and with the money, she would directly help people in need by paying heating and other bills when they were strapped.
Today the island dedicated a bit of park on the harbor to her and unveiled a marker.
Read my previous post here.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged block island, island nurse, mary d, mary d fund, mary donnelly, new shoreham, postaday, rhode island | Leave a Comment »
August 24, 2014 by suzannesmom
When I said I was taking my laptop on vacation, Bob urged me to forget about work and release my “inner Frenchman.”
Well, my inner Frenchman is having a field day as I have a couple days without work and before the family returns to the island. I wouldn’t like it all the time, but for a brief spate, it’s nice to just take pictures and naps, read an Eliot Pattison mystery about the French and Indian War, and plan lunch with friends. The days are sunny, the evenings may feature an art opening.
(Wish I could say the beautiful produce is mine, but it’s Sandy’s and Pat’s, from their garden.)
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged garden, photo, picture, postaday, sun, vacation | 2 Comments »
August 23, 2014 by suzannesmom
After a delightful morning with my granddaughter and my older grandson, I went to Providence to hang out with my younger grandson and Suzanne and a good friend.
I caught up with them at the park, where the farmers market was winding down and a free summer concert was revving up: the annual Summit Music Festival. (Check it out here.)
The four of us liked a blues group called the Selwyn Birchwood Band (pictured) and another band called Smith and Weeden. The ice cream eater below had reservations about a third performance. Everyone’s a critic.
We spent a chunk of time going “higher, higher” on the swing in the playground and watching a multi-ethnic group of small boys kick a soccer ball. (How brave it is to go up to boys you don’t know and ask to play!) We skipped the face painting, which was gorgeous but, to a 2-year-old, kind of pointless. We watched kids and grownups painting a mural wall.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged band, blues, concert, Festival, free, music, postaday, providence, Selwyn Birchwood Band, Smith and Weeden, summer, summit | 8 Comments »
August 22, 2014 by suzannesmom
Yesterday I tried Google Glass.
Summer interns where I work had been given a pair of the wearable computer glasses to program. For fun, they made the glasses present a data-visualization tool my boss created last year.
When I tried it out, I had to say first, “OK, Glass” to activate the program. A small computer screen appeared in front of my vision but a bit higher and to the right. Then I had to ask see a piece of the information I knew was available in the data-visualization tool. “Show me the population of Boston.”
Then the interns told me to scroll with my finger on the right side of the frame to see other data about Boston: characteristics of people in lower-income census tracts; characteristics of middle- and upper-income tracts. Finally, I asked to see other cities.
Until yesterday, I had no idea that you talk to the thing. It’s wildly expensive and, according to MIT Technology Review, sometimes subject to security dangers.
But what a fun toy!
(Hmmm. I can hear my father quoting Fowler’s dictionary: “Fun is a low-cant word.” And that man didn’t even know “fun” would someday be used as an adjective. Well, as the song goes, something’s lost but something’s gained in living every day.)
Photo: NBC producer Frank Thorp using Google Glass in Washington, DC, Aug. 2, 2013. 
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged dictionary, fowler, frank thorp, glasses, google glass, MIT Technology Review, postaday, voice command, wearable computer | 6 Comments »
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