dandan.

July 14, 2010

Polar gets a shower

Kush has a polar bear. Actually, it was my polar bear before it was Kush's. Remember when Coca Cola ran that huge polar bear/winter ad campaign?

Now you remember, right?

Everyone said how cute the bear was?

That was around the time Akira and I were super happy and one day he comes over and gives me this awesome polar bear. I've always loved having it around. Of course, I don't keep the red "Coca Cola" scarf on him all the time. For one, it's summer (why a polar bear is even in North Carolina now, I'm not sure). And for two, I don't really want Polar to be a big ad.

Kush took him with us in the sweltering humidity yesterday while we walked all over town. Polar swang, got in the sandbox, and climbed on the slide along with Kush.

So then, Akira washed him.

Now Polar is fluffy as the first time I saw him.

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May 24, 2010

Tom foolery

For a long time, I thought this blog was going to end.

I was sad about it, too. I hate it when blogs just die off like that.

OK, we had 2.56 readers, but that's okay. I like posting here. It makes me remember the beginning of it all. Blogging, I mean.

Back in 2006, that is, when we started this blog. And it morphed, sort of, into http://www.design-kompany.com. You could say that became its own little personality, or you could say we got distracted trying to figure out our lives as a couple in business together selling graphic design services. So much has changed. In 2010, we are now a couple helping people find their brand voice, and we're also parents.

No we don't have a baby blog. Nor did we send out the ceremonious e-mail announcement when he came.

But we did splurge on some nice letterpressed ones and sent them via regular mail. The old fashioned way. For correspondences that mean something, carry a little more heft than just a quick dashed off, maybe some typos but who cares kind of e-mail. And yeah---in handwriting.

If you're a letter writer, you know what I'm talking about.

At its best, e-mail can only carry so much weight. You don't see or feel the movements in a page of handwriting. It's so dry and digital. I should stop typing this now.

No more e-mail personal stuff. There's a better medium for telling our heart-to-heart stories.

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December 15, 2009

Hello Dandan?

Um. Is this blog still working?

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March 23, 2009

In God (and Machines) We Trust

I go to the cornerstore to buy a piece of posterboard.

The sign says it's going to be 99c. A buck. I can afford that, even in this economy.

So I haul the board all the way up to the front.

This adolescent, hollow-eyed kid with yellow hair stares through me. "Is that all?"

D: Yeah.
K: That'll be..... $1.94.
D: ...
K: ...
D: Um, the sign says this is 99c.
K: [looking at the register, squinting] Um, it's 89c.
D: 89c.
K: 89c, mm-hmm.
D: So, like, howcome it's $1.94?
K: Tax is... 9%.
D: Yeah. So, that's more than double the price.
K: ...
D: [considering dropping it, not being so cheap. then stubbornly refuses!]
K: That's just the way it works out.
D: !
K: ...
D: Then, forget it!

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March 2, 2009

White Ninja

One of the things that happens when you work at a newspaper, which I used to do, is that people think you're all literary and stuff.

Someone asked me what books I liked one time.

It was innocent and casual.

I think I surprised him.

I said, "White Ninja."

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February 24, 2009

Sun wind moon

Weather here is weird.

Sometimes it's totally rainy, like this morning, and it reminds me of West Cork, Ireland. I even get little flashbacks of the tea at Field's in Skibbereen. Then suddenly it turns sort of vaguely overcast and not as rainy. And you go out and voila! A brilliant burst of sun smiles down on you and you're reminded that the world is actually a beautiful place. I love sun.

The whole whipping wind that we experienced in Ireland, that was pretty hard core. I remember going kayaking in slashing rain and crazy wind. People were really into it, though.

Full moon recently. That explained a lot of things.

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January 29, 2009

More online

I did it.

I finally got a MySpace.

I also signed Design Kompany up for Facebook and... Twitter. Well, kind of. I can't use my real name for some of this stuff.

It's odd operating under... pseudonyms.

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January 27, 2009

Should Dandan podcast?

About a year ago I started making these little videos for YouTube. I don't know why. I just wanted to. Here's an example.

And now I just can't stop thinking about podcasting. It's podcasting this, podcasting that. Even Barack Obama has podcasts, I hear. I don't know. I'm not sure. I think it can be a bit overloady. You can get carried away podcasting, I think. Plus, who wants to hear it? Really. Dandan is enough as it is as a blog. Right? Who wants to hear somebody's opinions, anyway. Downloading opinions to their iPods and jogging and stuff. You know what I mean? Jogging with opinions blaring in your ears. I was thinking about how I used to go for walks on Broad Street in Durham with my walkman blasting stuff. This was before iPods, this was actually before CDs. I had a cassette tape player. I don't know why, but in Seattle, that kind of thing is all retro and "in." People actually have told me they like this one T-shirt I have, this guy in line somewhere said, "I like your vintage T-shirt." What he didn't know was this was just a college thing I got somewhere, that the vintage was really me.

Anyway, I'm mixed about the whole podcasting thing. Should Dandan podcast, or not? You guys can be honest.

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January 6, 2009

[melo]drama

I found this on the Internet:

"Drama is people doing amazing things for very good reasons. Melodrama is people doing amazing things for no good reason at all."

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January 1, 2009

'And I'm on Fire!'

Whatever happened to Tone Loc, anyway?

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December 5, 2008

Emo hair

Browsing the Internet, I found this thing about hairstyles.

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October 17, 2008

'Safe Baby Handling Tips'

Really enjoying this book.

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September 21, 2008

Facebook: Yes or No?

I've been on the fence about "social networking" sites that it seems to me actually kill real relationships. For example, MySpace. And Facebook. The former seems just, well, silly, and after a sneak peek at the latter, what with people all writing bits and pieces, I'm more inclined towards the "No" side of whether to join or not. I recognize that I blog, and that is kind of like sharing bits and pieces all over the place, but you know, it's different. Then I got to thinking about it some more, and reading what people say about their sites and then I found this:

So yeah, that says it all, doesn't it?

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September 12, 2008

Mom and Baby Yoga

H: You should check it out.
A: Wait, what do they have the baby do?

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July 21, 2008

What does Dandan mean?

Dandan, or だんだん in Japanese, means "bit by bit."

The name here is inspired by this notion. Taking it one day at a time.

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July 2, 2008

'Release:'

I've been making these kinds of short videos every once in a while.

And posting the short films at our art and design blog for Design Kompany.

There are reels and reels of Digital8 tape here at DK world headquarters in Capitol Hill, Seattle.

I guess they're tapes. Not reels. Not reelly.

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June 16, 2008

Horse or not?

This is going to be a touchy subject for Indian-American kids across the country.

Especially those from Northern Indian provinces.

One quick and easy point of contention for newlyweds-in-the-making and parents on their Indian side is this:

“Are we going to have a horse or not?”

Any one of my Indian-American peers who brings their significant other home for marriage approval, the whole question of the wedding planning gets real complex real fast.

For one, this is not a parentally-sponsored match. Instead, it is the early stages for what's called a “love marriage."

Bollywood makes a big hoopla of love marriages. In fact, they are the plot for each and every Bollywood film.

Indian weddings in America

Nonetheless, our story is focused on the U.S. of A., and all the difficult stuff that comes with being a second-generation Indian person dealing with planning a wedding.

More importantly, a second-generation Indian person with zero clue about what an Indian wedding is “supposed” to be like.

Has anyone out there been to a really authentic-feeling Indian wedding in America?

What I've noticed at them is this---

Instead of a white horse to transport the groom to the bride's place, for example, like they do in Northern Indian provinces on the day of the "procession," you might have something else.

Like a white car.

At one wedding I went to, the groom pulled up in a white BMW.

The idea is to show wealth and stuff, so I guess that works. But taken out of context (the colorful and random chaos that is India), I get the feeling a certain special something gets a teensy bit lost in translation.

See related posts at Design Kompany:
Design Kompany's short-short film set to an 'Ameri-bolly' soundtrack
Why Indian women wear bindis
Indian jewelry
A miniature painting from Rajasthan

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June 4, 2008

Clinching the nomination

If this guy doesn't inspire, I don't know who does.

America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for this country that we love. The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations, but I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs for the jobless. That this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal. This was the moment when we ended the war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last best hope on earth. This was the moment, this was the time when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves and our highest ideals. Thank you Minnesota. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. ---Barack Obama

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April 3, 2008

"Hoarfrost" and Non-Nuclear Explosions

I learned a new word.

"Hoarfrost."

Which looks like this:

I always learn new words when I reconnect with a friend who's very into description and accuracy in talking about lots of things. That's because he's a radio reporter.

Some time back we wrote about one of his stories on salmon, which those of you on the East Coast may not know are pretty endangered here. I wrote about salmon like once a week or something for two years for a Seattle paper, so I can tell you a LOT about it if you have 46 hours of free time.

Anyway, another of J's stories hits the airwaves this Saturday.

Here's the scoop:

J: KUOW informs me they'll play my "Ripple Rock Meets its Doom" story again this Saturday afternoon during Weekend America. Sometime between noon and 2pm on 94.9fm. (Or anytime at PRX.org.)
D: What is the story about?
J: a VERY FUN 4.5-minute story on one of the world's largest non-nuclear explosions, and the Canadians who breathlessly described it on live TV from a bunker on Vancouver Island, 50 years ago this Saturday.
D: Cool. I'll stay tuned.

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March 31, 2008

Four lines from Omar Khayyam

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Trans. E. FitzGerald (b. March 31st 1809)

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February 11, 2008

Too Many Conchord Flights

A: Well, it's kind of a chicken and egg situation.
D: ...
A: If we get super busy, we need to hire someone. But we can't hire someone until we get super busy.
D: Wait, how is that like a chicken and egg situation?

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January 23, 2008

'She Married a Pirate'

M: She married a pirate.
D: What?
M: A pirate. She married one.
D: ...
M: ...
D: Wait, how'd you know he was a pirate?
M: He had a squiggly beard.
D: ...
M: And a big face. He had a big face.

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December 30, 2007

Google-y Eyes

D: ... and she was telling me about how great it is, because you have "iGoogle" or something, and you can--
A: I have iGoogle. It's my homepage.
D: Yeah, well, and you can tag folders, and Google will send you articles that it thinks you would be interested in--

A: Yep. I have that.
D: And she said this was so great, but I was like, no, thanks! No Googly eyes for me!
A: ...
D: ...
A: That's where I get all my news.
D: ...
A: They actually let you choose if you want to read it or not!
D: A! Wake up!! Don't you see!? They're feeding you!
A: ...
D: You're saying, "They're nice." It's like, "Google: The benevolent Big Brother."
A: So? I'd rather it be a Benevolent Big Brother than a Malevolent one.

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December 11, 2007

Seven Lines from Thomas Eliot

Among the smoke and fog of a December afternoon
You have the scene arrange itself -- as it will seem to do--
With "I have saved this afternoon for you";
And four wax candles in the darkened room,
Four rings of light upon the ceiling overhead,
An atmosphere of Juliet's tomb
Prepared for all the things to be said, or left unsaid.

Portrait of a Lady
Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965)

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November 27, 2007

Two Sets of Twins at the Same Time!!

Today I met a woman who's got two sets of twins.

Two sets of twins!!!

[Twins Twins]+[Twins Twins]

The sun was out and it was a lovely time to be walking around Eastlake. Except I wasn't walking, I was waiting for a bus. The bus wasn't here yet. Bicyclists cursed drivers. People waited. And... my mind starts up...

That woman has two sets of twins! How the hell?... Maybe it's fertility drugs, I heard about those septuplets. Or... maybe it's just the randomness of nature. I wonder, though, what are the odds of having two sets of twins?

Of course I have to look into this.

According to Babycenter.com, "These days, about one in 32 births are twin births. This rate has gone up 65 percent since 1980. --Babycenter.com

So there’s me thinking:
Probability of having one set of twins = 1/32 = .03125, or about 3%. Fair enough.
That means... all other things being equal*, the probability of having two sets of twins = (1/32)^2 = 1/1024.
In other words, .000975, or .0975%. Less than one percent. Dude, less than a tenth of one percent!!!

I'm still curious. What about other scenarios, for example, two sets of twins at the same time?

What I find with the help of Google is Dr. Iannelli, who apparently was curious about the same questions as me, and did his own round of internet research on the probabilities of having twins.

Though dated, Dr. I found from his searches that the chance of having 'natural' quads that are made up of two sets of identical twins is thought to be... 1 in 25-36 million.

But it happened! He writes: "A family in Nevada gave birth to four identical boys (Karma quads) in 1997, and two families, one in California (Khamsa/Muy quads) and another in Washington (Hulford quads) had four identical girls in 2002."

Read further about twins. Specifically, fetishes... in the Stranger

*Qualified!

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November 1, 2007

Why I Didn't Take a Digital Camera

Just back from Europe, on assignment for Design Kompany.

Of course I had to bring along my trusty Minolta SLR. But I didn't bring the digital camera.

Reasons:

Battery could fail, weighty, charger needs to be handled, memory runs out, and the fact that you can always find a picture of something you saw somewhere online.

Above: Milan's Duomo.

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August 28, 2007

Eclipsing Russian

I didn't sleep a lot yesterday because I was waiting up for the total lunar eclipse last night, and that was pretty exciting.

While trying to sleep but not really I had this odd little dream...

[Smoky bar scene]

There I was, looking at the man, and wondering what the heck he was saying. Hard to discern from this angle. He seemed gruff, and maybe approachable, if you were in the right mood, which I wasn't.

Still, I just had to know one thing.

"Excuse me." I'm tellin' ya. I had to know. "Are you speaking Russian?"

"No!" came the rough reply.

"Well, what language is that, then?" I waited, impatient, and the answer flew back without a trace of mirth.

"Vodka!"

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August 4, 2007

Tattoo bindis

Oh. They have these kinds of bindis, too. Didn't know. Someone on Broadway today had one.

More on bindis.

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July 9, 2007

Kissing Game

W: Happy wedding S and J! We are now going to play a game. It's called the kissing game.
D: ...
W: The bride will be blindfolded, and three people will give her a kiss. She has to guess which one is J!!!
[Cheering]
D: ...
X
W: Was that J?
S: No.
X
W: Was that J?
S: No.
X
W: Was that J?
S: Yes, that was J!
[Cheering]
D: ...
W: Now we cut the cake!
D: ...
W: ...
D: What a boring game.

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June 23, 2007

Le Corbusier on Art & Architecture

On Thursday, this inspiring quote came across my desk at Design Kompany--it's an extended block of text authored by French-Swiss architecture guy Le Corbusier--

You employ stone, wood and concrete, and with these materials you build houses and palaces. That is Construction Ingenuity at work.

But suddenly, you touch my heart, you do me good, I am happy, and I say, 'This is beautiful.' That is architecture. Art enters in.

My house is practical. I thank you, as I might thank Railway engineers, or the Telephone service. You have not touched my heart.

But suppose that the walls rise toward heaven in such a way that I am moved. I perceive your intentions. Your mood has been gentle, brutal, charming or noble. The stones you have created tell me so. You fix me to the place and my eyes regard it. They behold something which expresses a thought. A thought which reveals itself without word or sound, but solely by means of shapes which stand in a certain relationship to one another. These shapes are such that they are clearly revealed in light. The relationships between them have not necessarily any reference to what is practical or descriptive. They are a mathematical creation of your mind. They are the language of Architecture.

By the use of raw materials and starting from conditions more or less utilitarian, you have established certain relationships which have aroused my emotions. This is Architecture. -Le Corbusier

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May 11, 2007

Cascade Graph Theory Thing

I found this pic and an old article called "You Are Who You Know" on Salon.com.

So this social networking thing is all the rage now or something.

I keep wanting to say something about how it connects to graph theory.

Nodes, modes and conduits. I know there's something important to say about this kind of mathematical application to a phenomenon--

An acquaintance who's done electronic math modeling or something told me I ought to look up "cascade theory." I am doing that. Slowly.

Another reason I am procrastinating is because my copy of Schrodinger's Cat is on loan. Actually, it's not my copy. It's J.'s copy, but J. is years and miles away. For the record, I did try to return it. Valiant efforts are not always rewarded, which is good for my bookshelf and wallet.

Anyway I've been checking around and looking for a good thread here on the graph theory thing. I mean it. An angle. A story. Something.

A golden nugget of information that will make everything magically click into place.

Until then, Dandan is quiet. Like a vacuum cleaner turned off.

Like how I keep bolding stuff? Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about.

A says his favorite post on Dandan is the one on Ghost in the Shell.

D: Because of that Keanu Reeves line?
A: Yeah.

More animations like Ghost in the Shell need to be made. Fewer movies like Speed. Or Blades of Glory.

Although Cillian Murphy is in this new one about Barley Shakers or some such name. Cillian Murphy, dude.

As they say in Dublin, deadly.

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April 16, 2007

Three lines from Ian McEwan

"The world would narrow and deepen, our voices would sink into the wamth of our bodies, the conversation would become associative and unpredictable. Everything was touch and breath... Like a moment in a recurring dream, these spacious, innocent minutes were forgotten until we were back inside them."

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March 15, 2007

But 31 is prime!

D: Tea and cake tomorrow?
L: Sounds good!
D: ...
L: ...
D: It's my birthday.
L: No way! How old are you gonna be?
D: 32.
L: What's that divisible by?
D: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32!
L: Rad!
D: ...
L: Cool! Well, enjoy your last few hours of being 31.
D: Say, 31 is prime!

*

A: Wait, why is 31 'prime'?

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March 12, 2007

24 is the best

D: I turned 24... wait, no! I turned 24 in New York. Now I remember.
L: ...
D: I remember because I was at Columbus Circle and thinking about it.
L: About what.
D: How cool it is that 24 is divisible by 1,2,3,4,6,12 AND 24!
L: Whoa! You really do like math!

*

A: Wait, so is 24 the best?

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February 26, 2007

Not the Other Google

J: So I'm reading this book, The History of Infinity.
D: Yeah? How far back does it go?

*

D: I'm writing a post for Dandan about this History of Infinity book.
K: Yeah?
D: Yeah. I think I'll call it "The Other Google."
K: ...
D: What.
K: Well, 'googol' isn't really infinity.
D: ...
K: It's just a 1 with a hundred zeroes after it.
D: ...
K: I mean, googol is a really big number, but infinity is a really really big number.
D: So it's not technically accurate, is what you're saying.
K: Yeah. Not mathematically, anyway.
D: ...
K: ...
D: That's kind of interesting. Thinking about infinity and space and stuff like that.
K: ...
D: Kinduva mindf*** typing 'Google' into Wikipedia.

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January 30, 2007

When Cyborgs Have Feelings

What is this one, "When Cyborgs Have Feelings?" you're saying. Yup. I know what you're thinking, you're thinking, "This post is going to be about AI or maybe IA, Isaac Asimov."

'Kay, no, this isn't about futuristic gadgetry that figures out how to think, but about a movie that is.

Yesterday I got to tell three sets of people the story of how I just saw Ghost in the Shell.

You get different responses, of course, from different groups. And hearing what they all thought about the movie was kind of neat and put it in a different perspective and stuff. Some were California designers. Some actually knew a helluva lot more about anime than me. Some were folks I've been hanging out with lately as the days grow longer, hibernation comes to a close, and we all crawl out of our caves.

Anyway, getting back to shells and ghosts and stuff. I really didn't "get" this movie. I mean, first it was all dubbed over in English (which Akira and I didn't realize until we got to the END and the menu bar popped up and it said "Japanese with English subtitles" and we both cursed because 1) you really lose a lot of the character when those dubbed people voice over and you know, it's always the same people and voices, isn't it! and 2) Akira's native language is actually Japanese. So what if I don't understand これは難しい日本語の文章じゃないけど、だったらいいな。I mean, he does. And if 50% of the audience is right there getting it, then man, you know that is better than 0%.

So this movie was one of the ones that inspired Matrix, according to some credible sources. Anyway, I am a big fan of Matrix. Keanu Reeves did better in this than when he was chewing all that stupid gum in Speed.

So yeah, I saw the first Matrix on its opening night in the way front seat of a theatre somewhere in Manhattan. I was with a bunch of art students from Pratt, whom I was running with in those days, and we were all excited about the whole cape and kung fu and judo and slow-mo and title sequences and green laser lights bouncing around doing their thing.

The Fifth Element, the Matrix, and that one with Tom Cruise and those women who can see the future and have those little red "Yes" balls that roll around--what the heck was that movie? All of these seem to have been influenced by Ghost in the Shell. And I'm not a movie critic, okay. It's not like I've watched 4,582 movies through my childhood and teenage and early 20 years.

But I do like the motion of photography and sound, along with the time bit of it. Except for in dreams, you just don't get that anywhere else but film.

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January 22, 2007

The Natural Nirvana Guarantee

There is this little incense store I went to yesterday at Pike Place Market. Everything inside, except the guy and girl chatting across the counter ["plastic is really not a big deal for the planet in the scheme of things," he said, and she said "I don't get it," and he waves his hands and goes "time-travel!"] is from India or Nepal or Tibet.

In the window, I found a "Ganesh kit." Not even in Ahmedabad have I seen one of these! On the front of the box it says: "Includes incense, instruction guide, prayer cards and a beautiful hand-crafted deity."

What is this about? And anyway, Ganesh does not hang out in the way the artist has depicted here, what is going on with that? Maybe having the Hindu gods do anything you want is part of the Natural Nirvana Guarantee.

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January 9, 2007

Philosophizing Relativism: Are You Happy?

--I know, but it's just so general to say that when you're not saying anything at all. It doesn't describe anything.
--Why not? Sure it does. I'm talking about the equation of y versus x, you know what I mean? I mean if y is 'happiness,' than what is x? As in, what does y depend on?
--Depends on a lot of things. Comfort, security, safety, love, friendship, wealth, health, freedom... buncha stuff. Some people just choose to weight some of these things more heavily than others.
--So everyone's on a different trajectory, you mean.
--Yeah.
--So if my x, wait. So my x weighs some things more heavily than others, is what you're saying.
--Yeah.
--...
--...
--I don't know. That's not a very satisfying answer.
--Why.
--I mean, isn't it just naysayerish to throw your hands up in the air all the time and say, "It depends." I mean, isn't the purpose of science to break things down into quantifiable chunks so you can really see links and make comparisons and contrasts? I mean--
--No, because--
--'No!'
--Hey, I'm not saying it isn't. I'm just saying that it has to do more with the relative perceptions than anything else. I mean, if someone asks you point-blank, 'Are you happy?,' there are way too many variables that are weighted differently according to each person that you can't have an objective yes-or-no-answer.
--But this Italian guy I met on Friday asked me 'Are you happy' and I said, 'dunno,' and he said, 'Dunno!? But can't you just feel it in your heart! It's like... you just know it. And he starts waving his hands all in the air and goes, 'I know it if I'm happy or not,' he says. "I just know it... it's like... being in love!"
--...
--That's quite a line, huh.
--Quite.

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December 29, 2006

"But It Wouldn't Be Christmas without Gifts!"

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November 28, 2006

Optimum Pitch for a Slinky

Last night a friend dropped a cell phone from the top of some stairs, and we next heard a series of clear thumps as the tiny metallic item proceeded to yield to the force of gravity. When I realized what was happening, I studied the staircase closely. It appeared to have a rather steep pitch. In other words, tall steps with narrow horizontal surfaces on which to place a foot. You cannot have wide feet for this staircase without increased risk of trippage.

Anyway, staring at the stairs for a second made me think of a toy I used to have. Slinky.

Those of us who were born before 1980 may remember the Slinky Craze that overtook elementary schools across America. Like Transformers and My Little Ponies, you just had to have one. They came in colors. They came in plastic. They came in metal. They came in boxes.

The metal ones made the smooth slinky sound when they slinked, making them more desirable amongst my circle, but if you messed them up they were messed up permanently. Tradeoffs.

So thinking about slinkies and upon closer inspection of the stairs, all of a sudden I had a burner of a scientific inquiry.

What I wondered is this. What is the optimum pitch for stairs for a slinky to properly "step" down? I mean, some stairs are steep and others are broad. So, what is the best slope for slinkies to best do their thing? If you have read this far and don't know what I'm talking about, please read this Wikipedia explanation before proceeding.

Now, then.

We are back in front of the steep stairs. You have Slinky, stairs, and a ruler. You have to determine the optimum pitch (that is to say, the change in y-dimension over the change in the x-dimension), or:

delta y
_______
delta x

People who have studied linear algebra will know this to be the "slope." m. This is the quantity we are looking for. We want to figure out the optimum m value to build the stairs in our dream homes so our future slinkies will have a good time getting from the top of the stairs to the bottom, without running into themselves or missing steps. Like Tiny Metallic Phone.

Anyway, you really want to be sure that you are with me here. Let's try this experiment together. Okay, here we go. Best of luck, fellow physicists! Ready, on your marks, get set, Go! A-ha! And slinky begins to slink.

We are using the metallic ones so you get the nice slinky slink sound. [Please pause for a moment to imagine the slinky sound.]

Okay, I think the numbers are in. Yes! They are. Thank you, gentlemen. May we have the winner, please. A Google query into "Optimum Pitch" for Slinky yielded the following revelations.

According to this site, we have a nonanswer. "Once optimum phase shift is approached, things change fast. As little as 45 degrees change in phase shift can make a large difference in directive gain, while a 180 degree error can be devistating [sic]. Accidentally stumbling on the optimum value seems unlikely."

But we have another slinky investigation that's provided new and different information. According to this person's “Slinky Walking Speed vs. Angle” experiment, the ideal pitch has been determined to be.... a range! Somewhere between 24 and 41 degrees.

Voila! And there we have it.

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November 13, 2006

meta-post, #331

d: hey! you are writing a post!

a: yeah.

d: oh, there's nothing on DANDAN. Is that why you are posting?

a: yeah, don't you know? I only do laundry when there's no more underwear.

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October 22, 2006

Happy Diwali & Eid Mubarak

Last night we lit candles and put 'em in the window. But since you don't see too many Indians in Capitol Hill, I don't think people knew what they were about. So far, the only Diwali-related thing I've heard about in Seattle is a fundraiser at a Bellevue* Barnes & Noble.

Not exactly the dazzling display of light and color you see in India for this big family holiday, the Festival of Lights. If my grandmother were still alive, I'd bring her a box of sweets.

Half a dozen years ago, I was in Nottingham, England, around the time of Diwali. Not too far from a town full of Indians ("Asians," they said.) "Check it out. Take this bus at this time, see the lights."

And yeah, they had a couple of fireworks and rows of Indian stores. I got a box of incense and a take-away curry. That stuff was good.

*This is the neck of the woods that's home to a bunch of Indian expat engineers, many of whom work at a certain Seattle software company.

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September 19, 2006

The Savage Planet

This 1973 animation by French director Rene Laloux unloaded lots of color and surprise.

It reminded me of The Wall, given the vivid soundtrack and imaginative character animations.

Someone online described it as "trippy science fiction" but really, it's a good idea to pay attention to the storyline. If you were preoccupied, you'd miss a lot of layers of messages.

They translated the title for the English-speaking audience from La Planete Sauvage, or "The Savage Planet," to "Fantastic Planet." [A note about translations: In Japan, Hollywood film titles that get translated often get obscured like this, so in some video stores they categorize these by actor. Tom Cruise. Brad Pitt. Et Cetera.]

In the film I'm talking about, aliens and humans vie for the right to occupy space and be in charge of their world. But power struggles aren't just between the two species, they're internal too. Humans battle it out for the power to influence their own kind and be in control of the planet's resources, even fighting to the death.

Imagine!

Outside of City Market, a little corner store in Capitol Hill, there's a sign about different kinds of coffee on sale all at the same time. It says, "If our coffee can get along, why can't we?"

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August 30, 2006

"We Will Not Be Silent"

Interesting story on the BBC's website today about Arabic on T-Shirts.

Excerpt: 'I grew up and spent all my life living under authoritarian regimes and I know that these things happen. But I'm shocked that they happened to me here, in the US."

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August 28, 2006

Ancestry of a Purple Dinosaur

K: You know, I think this dinosaur was the precursor to Barney. Someone looked at that and said, 'There should be a kids show hosted by a big purple dinosaur.'
D: ...
K: I bet that's what happened.
D: ...
K: ...
D: Can I take a picture?

*

A: Wow! That's the dinosaur? That thing is huge!

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August 23, 2006

Bunch of Lines from H.W. Longfellow: "A Psalm of Life"

What the heart of the young man said to the psalmist

TELL me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!--
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,--act in the living present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

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August 15, 2006

"You Don't See What You're Seeing Until You See It"

A story in the International Herald Tribune today claims some people proved an expansive century-old math problem revolving around the nature of space.

It's called the Poincaré conjecture. [IHT explains it this way: "If any loop in a certain kind of three-dimensional space can be shrunk to a point without ripping or tearing either the loop or the space, the space is equivalent to a sphere."]

A guy named Grisha Perelman apparently published some stuff on the Internet in 2002 to get people on the trail to prove this, but then he disappeared into the Russian woods.

Now that everyone else has caught up, math bigwigs wonder if Perelman will come out of the woodwork to claim a bunch of prizes. Even though he's already turned down zillions of other kinds of recognition. Including cash!!!

Interviewed in the story was a guy named William Thurston of Cornell University. Lending his insight on how humans arrive at solutions to perplexing questions, he said: "You don't see what you're seeing until you see it. But when you do see it, it lets you see many other things."

Full story: Elusive proof, elusive prover: A new math mystery"

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July 26, 2006

“Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”: Six Lines from The Economist

"One criticism is that the pursuit is self-defeating. The more you pursue the illusion of happiness the more you sacrifice the real thing [emphasis mine]. The flip side of relentless mobility is turmoil and angst, broken marriages and unhappy children. Americans have less job security than ever before. They even report having fewer close friends than a couple of decades ago. And international studies of happiness suggest that people in certain poor countries, for instance Nigeria and Mexico, are apparently happier than people in America.” --The Economist, July 1 2006. full story, "Pursuing Happiness"

Pew Research Center study, "Are We Happy Yet?"

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July 21, 2006

Broadway and Denny: "Go Back to Your Country!!"

D: When you have a second, I'd like to know a little bit about Borderline Personality Disorder.
R: The 'symptoms' section of the Wikipedia article on BPD is a good place to start. The thing with all personality disorders you have to remember is that they are not black or white, or put another way, they aren't "either you are borderline or you're not". Every person has elements of each of personality disorder. Our tendencies are towards some more than others. A Venn diagram could be useful. Anyway, personality disorder labels are useful for communicating a large amount of information in a short space, I think usually between mental health workers. And personality types are constitutional, whereas mental illnesses are superimposed and are easier to mollify. Meaning, you can treat a manic/depressed/psychotic episode, but you can't treat an antisocial/avoidant/borderline/etc personality. I think I might get done early today. I'll give you a ring.
D: I guess the reason for my curiosity is, I want to know if the mental state of Americans is in a perilous place. I'm not convinced we can truly handle the stress and anxiety of being a nation at war. I've been reading about bombings in London during past wars, where people could see the skies darkening. Surely there's something we can't see damaging us immediately today, surely this war is taking a toll on our collective mental health?
R: ...
D: This came up because I overheard a conversation about a just-married woman whose husband got deployed for 7 months to Iraq. I tried to picture how they would start a life together after his return. I hate to think about what they brainwash all the young people who go into the military to think about foreigners. It surely can't be good news for the next generation of Americans -- and the future of this country -- if its people are taught to mistrust the rest of the world.
R: ...
D: ...
R: I've been working in the VA hospital. The 'V' stands for veterans. I talk to guys everyday now about being in wars, the Korean, Vietnam, Gulf War, etc. It makes me think of war as part of the human experience now. The effects are a little different for every war and generation I guess, but the gist is the same, nightmares, trouble with re-entry into society and a state of hyper-arousal. Or, another way to say it is, post traumatic stress disorder.
D: ...
R: I saw a girl at Logan Airport saying goodbye to her soldier husband last year. He was going to fight an unjust war for us mostly willfully ignorant Americans. She was crying, and wearing a long pea coat, he was quiet.
D: ...
R: ...
D: Howcome nothing's happened, really, after the Downing Memo.

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July 19, 2006

Zen of Blogging

"Editorials? What editorials? Blogging is all about the Zen of Being in the Moment. It's the new media, man."

"But what about the readership? Who wants to know your rambling about nothing?"

"They don't need to want to. They will stumble onto your site by forces of nature, and they will leave when they feel like. It's all in serendipity. 'If you reach out for it, the universe will give it to you' kind of thing. Don't worry about it."

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July 18, 2006

Words I Spell-Checked on Dictionary.Com

aioli
decaffeinated
food borne
casserole
mozzarella

Nothing like a blaring typo to kill the mood!

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July 10, 2006

Skull Man

Here's a BBC article about a guy holding part of his skull in his hands.

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June 3, 2006

Scenes from a windowsill

A lot of people are moving lately. And when you move, you tend to find old desks, chest of drawers, things that you have had for a long time and no longer want. So, a lot of used furniture ends up on the sidewalks with a "FREE" tag on it. Over the Memorial Day weekend, there was a pile of it right outside of our window, some of them our own found-but-no-longer-desired furniture (yes, we are moving, too). Sitting on the windowsill with the view, with various human drama (or the lack thereof) unfolding down below, provided an excellent respite from the packing and cleaning.

------
[a young guy, very excited and animated, bounds over to a TV stand balanced on the curb, grabs it, runs back to his friends]
A: I wish I had a camera.
D: Or a video camera.
A: Yeah! it would be a funny video blog piece.

A: We could put something out, wait for someone to grab it and shoot the entire scene, like the candid camera thing.
D: Wouldn't that be like spying or something?
[pause, as we thoughtfully gaze out where an old guy in trainer pants with a dog passes by]

D: Never mind. Spying is exactly what we are doing.
------
D: There goes some young hipsters.
A: Yeah. They didn't even look at the stuff over here.
D: I think they are called that because they show off their slim hips.
A: Uhm, D, the term stems from the word "hip" meaning trendy or fashionable, I think.
D: Oh, yeah... heh.
A: Can I quote you on that?
------
A Guy on a Bike I: [looking at the stuff, as he approaches it slowly] FREE!
AGOAB II: Yeah. Something must be wrong with it, dude.
AGOAB I: [emphatically] FREE!!
AGOAB II: Yeah... [cycles away]
AGOAB I: [catching up with his buddy, but looking back at the stuff again] FREE...
------

We actually watched a few people examine our old sewing-machine table (we picked it up off a sidewalk ourselves, but that's another story) later that weekend, and even took pictures. Apologies to the guy whose private moment with a piece of furniture we rudely interrupted.

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May 25, 2006

Magic Pink in the Hexadecimal Code

[Pictured: Another sketch in Illustrator. How I made it]

D: What's Magic Pink?

I: Magic pink is a specific color used in graphic files to specify transparent areas... Typically the RGB color Magenta is used, which is represented in Hexadecimal as #FF00FF or in decimal as 255, 0, 255. Magic pink is used in areas where one-bit transparency is needful.--Skin Your Screen

D: Transparency. Tell me more about that.

I: 'Kay. Here's the definition.
trans·par·ent (trns-pârnt, -pr-) adj.
1. Capable of transmitting light so that objects or images can be seen as if there were no intervening material. See synonyms at clear.
2. Permeable to electromagnetic radiation of specified frequencies, as to visible light or radio waves. So fine in texture that it can be seen through; sheer. See Synonyms at airy.
3. Easily seen through or detected.
4. Free from guile; candid or open: transparent sincerity. --Dictionary.com

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May 22, 2006

"Hams and Non-Hams Alike are Welcome"

B: Boston's a pretty nerdy city, too.
D: Yeah?
B: Sure.
D: ...
B: Can I tell you what I did?
D: Wha'd you do.
B: I went to the MIT Swap Meet*.
D: ...
B: Take the nerdiest people you knew at State. Then amplify them.
D: Wha'd they have?
B: Electronic components for people who build stuff. Vacuum tubes and old-fashioned amplifiers, too.
D: What are those for.
B: Antique electronics.
D: ...
B: I bought some synthesizer parts.

*MIT calls this a place to buy, sell, and swap amateur radio, electronic and computer equipment. ("Hams and non-hams alike are welcome.")--MIT Swap Meet page

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April 18, 2006

A Word About Typography

Since The New York Times redid its Web site earlier this month to "sprinkle a little more serendipity around the site," and make it simpler, they say, I've been thinking a lot about front pages. The Oregonian's news designer Mark Friesen runs a site where you can download images of the faces of daily papers.

A link there pointed me to a guy named Mark Simonson's blog post on what he wrote as a youngster about typography. He said designer Herb Lubalin created this font (pictured) especially for a magazine called Avant Garde Gothic. That was in the 60s. Today it's a typeface.

I wonder if anyone is working on a font made especially for digital media? It can't be much longer before we get bored with the likes of Arial, Verdana, or... Times.

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April 13, 2006

Four Lines from W.E.B. Du Bois

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April 12, 2006

Wordiness, and Other Such Items Related To This Theme

A lot of people in media agree that writing short is good. "When you can," they say, "cut out any 'jargonese.'”

This site provided these examples of wordy jargon:

synthesize vertical relationships
embrace real-time niches
unleash transparent interfaces
monetize web-readiness
target virtual schemas

See what I mean?

A pretty good book on clearing word clutter is On Writing Well, by former newspaper reporter William Zinsser.

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March 20, 2006

"Glory Be to He Who Keeps the Evil One in Check"

Some of the stuff I got for my birthday: a chocolate cake, a small tote bag, flowers, a bracelet, and this 2 Pac e-card with the "Glory Be" title. A mechanical rendition of Fur Elise plays innocuously in the background as the "happy birthday" message scrolls.

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February 13, 2006

Going Places

D: I’m going to San Francisco. I’ll take the train, I think.
R: How long will that take?
D: 22 hours.
R: What!? Why don’t you just fly, dude?
D: …
R: Not as romantic.
D: No.

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February 1, 2006

"That's a fun name! Now, how do you want it today?"

I finally went to get my hair cut today after about three weeks of "I think I need a haircut" moments in the bathroom. I go to this semi-chain place called Rudy's, which sort of caters to the Capitol Hill hipsters around "Pike-Pine Corridor". It's set up like a co-op, where hairdressers take people on first-come-first-served basis, instead of usual appointment system. This means every time, I get a different person, and a different haircut.

I find myself going back to this place, though it isn't especially convenient for me (there are several other choices that are closer or about the same distance from my home). The results vary widely, to say the least. It's not especially cheap, either.

So why do I go back? If it's not the product (the haircut), can it still be called brand loyalty? Maybe. I think it's the familiarity. I've come to expect the hipper-than-thou clientele, the nonchalant reception when I walk in. I have learned to enjoy finding a spot among the blood-red chairs, staring at an old issue of iD, or listening to Jeff Buckley or Cat Power wailing on the store PA, which is always on, a tad too loudly. It's rather odd to think that this hipster joint became a familiar, comfortable place for me to frequent, but I guess some things are starting to rub off on me after two years.

Also, I do like the thrill of not knowing what my new haircut will look like beforehand, and of sometimes being subjected to fresh-faced hair school graduate who would pinch the back of my neck. What's life without a bit of surprise, eh?

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January 22, 2006

Fourteen Lines from Wordsworth

These beauteous forms,
Through a long absence, have not been to me
As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:
But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them
In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;
And passing even into my purer mind,
With tranquil restoration:--feelings too
Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps,
As have no slight or trivial influence
On that best portion of a good man's life,
His little, nameless, unremembered, acts
Of kindness and of love.

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January 8, 2006

Little Box of Stuff

Sometime between Christmas and New Years, this box arrived at our door. Postmarked from Japan.

Inside were small packages of individually wrapped sweets: a bag of chocolate-covered prunes, apple cheesecake, 'n some salty snacks that have peanuts mixed with other tiny edibles. We put away a few packs of curry for a rainy day. Of which there have been a lot of lately.

Oh, by the way. I'm making a movie about some stuff. More on this later, but if any AV folks have tips on useful editing software, I'd love it if you could shoot me a note.

(Somewhat) related side note: Last year we saw this fun Seattle improv group, Flaming Box of Stuff.

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January 5, 2006

Eight Lines from Tagore

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action---
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

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January 3, 2006

Tips for Making a Gingerbread House

ASHEVILLE, NC -- Millions gathered at the Grove Park Inn over the holidays to examine small gingerbread houses made from assorted candies.

Of particular interest was a home built using pretzel sticks stacked to create a log cabin. Another featured "brick walls" rendered with gum sticks.

Competition entrants also decorated front lawns, for example by modeling snow with icing normally used to cover cakes. One person made a Christmas Tree by stacking star-shaped cookies of decreasing diameter. This worked, to a point.

Winning entries rotated on small platforms near the entrance of the hotel. Thanks to sheer luck and some maneuvering, D+A squeezed through the throng of house gazers to snap this image, a Dandan exclusive.

[Editor's note: Here are some Gingerbread House Construction Tips]

1. Decide on shape and style of house.
2. Make templates for all sides and roof.
3. Decide on the materials you plan to use.
4. Roll out gingerbread to approximately ¼ inch thick.
5. Decide on a style of window (examples: poured sugar, chocolate candies).
6. Do all decorating on side of house before assembly.
7. Make icing with egg whites, powdered sugar and vinegar. Keep covered.
8. Assemble. You will need cans and little boxes to help support your house while the icing dries.
9. Decide on material for the roof (keep weight in mind).
10. When sides and front are dry and sturdy, assemble the roof.
11. Cover with a little powdered sugar for a snowy look (optional).
12. Add Christmas trees or people, animals, little ponds, snow banks, etc.
13. Have fun!

Source: some Asheville tourism promotion site

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December 24, 2005

Things I Learned in 2005

Do things throughout the year that keep it interesting.
Read more. Listen more.
Don't believe what people say, watch what they do.
Find time to be quiet.
Keep up with family. Be nice.
Don't get attached to what comes too easily.
Mix it up.
Pay attention to what's really going on.
Take trains.
When it's sunny, play outside.
Put in commas. Breathe.
Go see glaciers before they're gone.
When it snows, play outside.
Do things only if you mean them.
Decide, then act. Don't just react.

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December 14, 2005

Ninjas

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November 23, 2005

Veggie Roast?

So tomorrow is Thanksgiving. [For our friends abroad, this is a big-deal holiday here in the States. The idea is you roast and stuff a big turkey and generally eat a ton. Kind of gross, but there you have it. [Bonus tidbit: if you're from Michigan, you put off family time specifically to catch (American) football. The Detroit Lions' official site says except during WWII, they've played on the day every year since 1934.]]

But there's one group of people that won't make turkeys. Vegetarians. One of them, a friend of ours, says she's making "tofurky roast."

I'm curious, so I ask Google about this. Google, obviously created by carnivores, shoots me this:

"Did you mean: turkey roast"?

I assure G that I'm quite clear of my query, then click to a commercial site, Tofurky.com.

What I learn there is this. Aside from water and beans, a roast of tofurky contains calcium lactate from beets, "vital" wheat gluten, "natural vegetarian flavor," and organic tofu made with two kinds of chlorides: magnesium and calcium.

I wonder, do you serve mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce with that? Personally, I'd go for a side of palak paneer.

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October 21, 2005

Three Lines from Susan Wheeler

Get out there and do it for yourself. Be afraid of nothing and nobody. Fear is the thing that holds people back.

.

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October 14, 2005

Busyness

The summer 2005 issue of journal on Social Research is a navy blue volume titled "Busyness." It's tagline? "Busyness as the Badge of Honor for the New Superordinate Working Class."

Here are some references from the articles therein.

1. In his book The Ugly Civilization (1929), Ralph Borsodi writes: An earn and buy economy is causing us to measure men we know by what they earn, measure the life we have to spend in terms of money. But time is not money at all. Time is life itself.

2. In Russian, the word for busyness is suyeta, the same as for vanity. (I've just dashed off a note to a real Russian person to confirm this. Hi I!)

3. In his book, Tyranny of the Moment: Fast and Slow Time in the Information Age (2001), Thomas Eriksen writes: Growing numbers of people are becoming accustomed to living in a world where colorful fragments of information flit by, lacking direction and cohesion, and do not see this as a problem. Computers undermine the pleasures of slow time, like fishing or savoring a skill, and create instead the tyranny of the moment.

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October 12, 2005

A Line from Enzo Mari

Try to work and live in a way that is not alienating.

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October 11, 2005

NE Belmont & 16th

"Walmart."

"They are bad, man."

"They sure have good deals, though."

"Do you know that they don't sell anything made in America? That's right. All Chinese stuff. That's why they're bad."

Portland was rainy. It felt exactly like Seattle, except maybe with fewer drugs.

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September 22, 2005

10 Pieces of Fruit in a Box

Been doing some introspective thinking. Here are the questions that popped up.

10. What is antimatter? Kids can find out here.
9. Did they really go to the moon?
8. Where are my keys?
7. Have you seen my childhood?
6. Did I leave my wallet at home? Maybe I lost it. Did I?
5. How do you know when it’s time for a change?
4. Can I make a fax with this? It’s new, isn’t it?
3. Should I take the bus tunnel? They’re going to close it for two years starting Saturday.
2. Should I eat this plastic boxful of fruit, most of which is cut ungracefully in large, unwieldy chunks?
1. Today I feel sick. Am I sick? God. Could it be Avian flu?

Posted by Dipika at 5:12 PM | Comments (0)

September 14, 2005

A Line from Annie Dillard

"How we live our days is, of course, how we live our lives."

「今日一日をどう過ごすか、それはすなわち、この人生をどう生きるか、という事。」

Posted by Dipika at 6:54 AM | Comments (0)

August 19, 2005

Happy Rakhi

So you know how they have those yellow Lance Armstrong bracelets everywhere? The other day I'm listening to the BBC Asian Network and they say “rakhi bands” are trendy now, with Oxfam running this fundraiser.

All this is 'cause today is rakhi, or raksha-bandan, an Indian holiday where sisters tie a string bracelet, the rakhi, around the right wrist of their brothers. They wish for the brother's health and happiness and get a gift or cash in exchange.

Aside from tying rakhis, Rumela.com says Indians are into “fresh flowers, exchange of gifts... new clothes, meeting new and old friends and offering of sweets” and that India's always been known for it's "celebratory fervor.” Not sure exactly what that is, but I think the Indian-Americans' national Bhangra Blowout competition in Washington, D.C., taps into it.

But "the beauty of Indian culture," according to this site, is that a girl can tie a rakhi on the wrist of any guy she feels close to. "Our tradition tells us that the world is our brother and sister... In this way, relationships are strengthened, solidified and purified. The tradition of rakhsha bandhan symbolizes and underscores the way Indians live together as brother and sister -- relationships filled with love, devotion and affection, but devoid of lust, attraction or violence."

On the BBC show, this caller kept giggling when she told the entire tuned-in world she tied 400 rakhis last year. "Most of them were on my gay male friends!" she said, practically in hysterics.

Posted by Dipika at 8:13 PM | Comments (1)

August 18, 2005

One mHz of Change

Sometimes if you're forced to wait and you can manage to not be mad about it, you notice things about a place you would never choose to be stuck in. So then, out of boredom that on a good day sublimes into curiosity, you think stuff that would never have entered your preoccupied, self-absorbed head.

"So this is Jimi Hendrix's neighborhood."

All the book learning about differential equations or Greek classics you did dives out the window. But if you're patient, you become slightly aware of the many things that are here that you can't see and don't know. That's when the dots connect, synapses pop and brain frequencies get blipped out of phase.

Posted by Dipika at 7:48 PM | Comments (0)

August 14, 2005

One Day

Two guys speaking in a language that's maybe Hebrew sit down on my left. The bench is worn and initialed and overlooks Elliott Bay. They begin lighting cigars, and pause midpuff for a photo. A navy-clad brunette snaps the camera. Resumes her place by the railing with another woman. They're watching boats. Smoking slim cigarettes. Freeway traffic drowns the words and salt interlaced in the air.

Posted by Dipika at 9:47 AM

August 3, 2005

Bad Ficton (2)

A white furball zooms across the blank of space in her spherical shell. The craft's casing is made of a heat-resistant plastic her people created many aeons before the Earth people evolved.

Her confident, blue eyes peer through the translucent shield as she expertly maneuvers. She plunges through the stratosphere. Crashes at 2 million miles per hour into a speck of the Pacific Ocean.

Not a problem for Furball 202.

Impact velocities don't hurt the Furball Populations. Which is why they could survive the sequences of asteroid belts that pelted their planets. Generations later the memories of those days are mere traces of myth. Now, namelessly and singularly, furballs leave their home galaxy to find less turbulent places of shelter.

Furball 202 is one of their expert explorers, those who choose to lose themselves on tangents and follow rays of otherworldly suns. The most curious ones. Built so as not to age. Heat won't ruffle them, and crashes don't faze.

She scoots to the edge of an archipelago the Earth natives call Japan. Rolls ashore. Shakes salty water free. Moves inland, sleekly.

“こんにちは," the natives say. (Konnichiwa). Must be a greeting of some sort, she surmises.

"私、宇宙からきました" (I’m from space), she replies.

"ふーん" [Expressing vague interest]. "あ、そうですか。"(Oh, really?)
"おなかへってるでしょうか。" (You must be hungry.) "お寿司いかがですか。納豆はだめかしら。じゃ、ざるそばかなんか。"　(How about sushi. Do you like Japanese dish, natto? What about special cold noodles?)

“わたし、たべません。”　(I don't eat).

“ふーーん.” [More curiosity.] Then the natives eye each other. Move closer. Form a circle to surround Furball 202. Unaware she knows jujitsu (柔術).

Posted by Dipika at 10:17 PM | Comments (0)

August 1, 2005

Corner

Quiet weekend. Hung out with A, caught a pint in the sun, watched Batman Begins. Too hot to do much more. And A, in his Zenlike way, says we should have more quiet time like this.

A comma in midst of the paragraph of daily life.

I'm half-listening and going through old notebooks and find this old sketch. One of my old apartments, I think. Next to it, this little saying, scrawled in old handwriting in pencil:

The more you think, the more you will get into the corner and cannot come out anymore.

This is how August begins.

Posted by Dipika at 6:00 PM | Comments (2)

July 31, 2005

Jackson Heights

While in New York City last month, we took a evening excursion to Jackson Heights, a neighborhood that is home to many Hispanic and Indian immigrants. I always liked ethnic neighborhoods (other than the East Asian kind everywhere, which I am usually a bit weary of), and I wasn't disappointed when we got there. An elderly lady in sari here, a group of Punjabi girls here checking out the latest Bhangra in a CD shop here, and plenty of yummy-looking restaurants everywhere.

We also noticed off the main street in the residential area, there were real people living in the area; people (presumably) working in New York City, not just immigrants, but working-class families, young professional couples, students. Balconies with clotheslines, a few new condos, charming old houses probably there since the time the area was a magnet for newly arrived Jews and Italians, now seemingly occupied by young struggling artists. A real melting-pot, in short. Jackson Heights is, I learned upon coming home, one of the last bastion of 'walkable community,' a holy grail of today's environmentaly-minded hipster politics.

Alex Marshall, author of "How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl and the Roads Not Taken" says about Jackson Heights:

"It's been a ladder for an emerging middle class for most of its existence, and it still is. Latin Americans, Koreans, and Indians have replaced or merged with Italians, Jews, Germans, and Greeks. These changes have often been wrenching sociologically. But the bottom line is that Jackson Heights is still where new immigrants come, get their first jobs, and move up" (How Cities Work excerpt taken from the author's web site).

After decades of shopping malls replacing the city centers, it seems today's immigrants find America as a suburbia; why is Jackson Heights different? Marshall says that the presence of New York City as a massive economic center that provides jobs is an important factor. Also important is the city's mass transits.

"we see how transportation determines form and thus lifestyle. People live differently in Jackson Heights, and most of New York, because they get around differently. (...) we see the uniqueness of the street-based life that non-car-centered transportation produces. There is a closeness, an intimacy to life, in Jackson Heights that must at times be suffocating but which I often yearn for. We gave up something when most of our cities opted to build highways and Interstates, rather than train lines or subways" (from the same source).

Word up, bro. Word up! The question, though, is how we can bring our communities back to life. Can we build public transportation, and critical mass of demand for it, in today's America? It seems almost plausible in cities like Seattle, yet we see so many obstacles: money, bad planning, bipartisan politics, real estate prices...

Posted by Akira at 3:46 PM | Comments (0)

July 25, 2005

Contents

Today I decide to clear out my desk and find, what is this?, six pen caps. Just little plastic caps, without the accompanying pens. One each of red, blue and, I guess you’d call this “clear.” Three black ones, too. All Bics.

I’m racking my brain trying to think up where there might be pens with unattached caps lurking around the house. Weird.

For some reason there is also an envelope, one of those window ones, with my name on the front. It’s full of change, mostly pennies, with a couple of quarters tossed in. I don't remember putting it there.

Also in my desk drawer are a pair of scissors, masking tape, an empty box that used to have a dozen #2 “Blackstonian” pencils, and two unopened boxes of staples. No stapler.

I returned the staples.

Posted by Dipika at 3:18 PM | Comments (0)

July 14, 2005

10 Reasons D's Cell-less

10. Cell phones interrupt conversations. (“Mind if I just take this?”)
9. Or they make you have needless conversations. In New York, people once called from their cell to say they’d be four minutes late. (Also: “I’m at the store, honey. Should we get the yellow one, or the white?”)

8. Invisible electronic waves would concentrate around my head.
7. I have a calling card. Enough minutes left to call Ireland and Japan for plenty of birthdays to come.
6. People find you. All the time.
5. Potentially dangerous. Don't talk and drive. Enjoy the scenery, or a tape mix from high school or something.
4. $$$. Sorry, but I just don’t buy any of those “savings plans.”
3. They move around when they ring.
2. I can always borrow Akira’s in a bind.
1. I like pay phones. Really.

Posted by Dipika at 1:01 PM | Comments (2)

June 27, 2005

flying tight

While traveling to the east coast for a wedding, I had a chance to experience firsthand the financial troubles our major airlines must be having.

I knew their budget was tight. But it still felt vaguely upsetting to be subjected to the non-frills, feck-you-we're-having-a-rough-time (non)service. The unsmiling air hostess sped past by me with a once-only doling out of water in plastic cups, while in the first-class section two trollies full of drinks went back and forth at a leisurely pace. Sure, it was a red-eye deal, at a modest $250 coast-to-coast, but it did leave somewhat of a bad (not to mention dry) taste in my mouth.

Oh, and did I mention they were two-hour late departing? When we finally left the airport, as the plane inched along to a runway, a high-nosed air hostess declared: "Alright, we'd be more than happy to stop this aircraft RIGHT NOW if you want to keep moving around!"

Needless to say, our flight back was also delayed for a few hours, forcing us to take a cab home from the airport, but that's another story.

By the way, an Irish startup Ryanair, which operates pan-European low-fare flights from Ireland and UK, just got rated as the most punctual airline by the US Dept of Transport. Ryanair was said to have been modelled after the US low-fare airlines such as Southwestern. Ouch!

Posted by Akira at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)

June 21, 2005

Solstice possibilities

It’s the solstice today. It will be light until late into the evening, and I will be either in Capitol Hill finishing my library book at some café or in Fremont watching soccer at some bar. Yet to be determined, by a mix of today’s alignment of stars and karma.

Just found out I’m going to be at this blogging conference this weekend. Blogs are neat, aren't they? I wonder who is making the best of them. What do they like to do with their spare time when not writing comments and uploading them for the world to see? I'll find out.

Posted by Dipika at 6:08 PM | Comments (0)

June 17, 2005

Post

I am really starting to get into this idea of reading more, but not just classics or newspapers. The other day I found this mini-dialogue on a blog.

Q: What’s your favorite piece of furniture?
A: My computer.

Posted by Dipika at 7:30 AM

May 25, 2005

Center

Everyone has to get lost before they can find center. That's something I put in an e-mail one day, and getting to that thought is the reason I'm going to Philadelphia next month and Vegas in September. Traveling the circumference, you can't always remember where you started, what you were thinking at the start. But there is a center. A fixating radius that holds you, the force of attraction inversely proportional to the radius squared.

No one ever tells you that you're going to get off track, though. But somewhere along the way it happens. You might be 17 and in a funk, it's raining and you're just walking, thinking, not sure of where you're going. You might be older, much older, going through a mid-life crisis. But it is necessary to veer off track if you want to get to the middle again. And when you're there it's immediately clear. That place where all that's known and yet to be known to you align perfectly.

Here is a Yeats poem that came across my radar in recent days. This is what got me on this tangent.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

From The Second Coming by W.B. Yeats

Posted by Dipika at 7:57 PM | Comments (0)

May 24, 2005

Is New York obsessed with Toyko?

The craze seems to go on and on. Following the recent report of Murakami becoming the first Japanese New York Times Best Seller, Interview magazine just came out with its "Tokyo issue" and features pop icons from Utada to Kaneshiro, fashion guru Nigo to super architect Ando. It's an incredible mixture and ridiculously superficial skim-over (with a bunch of typographical and other errors), but what's amazing is that they actually made a whole magazine with nothing but Japanese pop culture. They even managed to squeeze in Donald Richie, who lent a kind of academic cred to the whole idea (and was by far the most interesting article).

Is this a good thing? As a native Japanese living in the States, I am somewhat flattered, for sure. But something feels odd. It's like seeing your own brother who is a brilliant cut-up art poet, appearing in Total Request Live with P. Diddy. Like, you know they don't get it, he's up there for a comic relief or something.

Sure, some of the people covered are doing interesting work (Asano, Kaneshiro, Cornelius, Nara). But they are already gaining a strong foothold as international artists. It seems to me that 'being from Japan' has least to do with their successes; they hinge more on the disappearance of the barriers (language and otherwise) between audiences of different cultures and artists that existed before.

Reading the magazine, it was interesting to note that many artists being interviewed seem aware of this -- that their workplace is becoming increasingly borderless and their work and influences, more international -- themselves, whereas the interviewers don't ("would you like to work in Hollywood?" they keep asking).

So, nothing exciting in it per se. But taken as an indication (that things are very fluid these days, and the mainstream media is playing a catchup), it does seem to open up quite a set of possibilities... Torattoria-Sub Pop mashup, anyone?

Posted by Akira at 12:02 AM | Comments (0)

May 20, 2005

Sleepless in Seattle

My better half is in Boulder, CO this week, for a workshop on environmental reporting. I am finding myself not going to bed at night for the sheer lack of discipline. Not that I am being productive; it's mostly net surfing and reading useless stuff in the weeklies. Listening to My Bloody Valentine that our friend lent me, finding that the jangly guitar noise feels oddly comforting very late at night.

Apparently, these people declared May "the Better Sleep Month." It's probably time to hit the sack now...

Posted by Akira at 3:02 AM | Comments (2)

May 10, 2005

Why I left Old Skibbereen

A friend of ours from France (hi Eric!) sent us a link to his crazy collection of pictures from Ireland, and it got me thinking about the how and why of my whereabouts. You see, it's been exactly one year since I arrived to Seattle from the hills of Skibbereen. It's been a good year, definitely, but there has been a lot of adjusting for sure.

The farmers, cows and sheep that roam on the roads, the pubs where people sing and talk to strangers as if they are part of a family, the ever-changing sky and lights on the green hills... West Cork was every bit strange and foreign to me, yet something in the place really spoke to me, like I'd known it all along. Something in me still misses it.

So why did I leave? Well, it was a matter of putting an end to what I had always known would end sometime. I was not from Ireland, and I had no Irish in me -- there was no way I was going to settle there. As wonderful as the culture of Ireland is, it's also very, how shall I put it, Irish. I was just a hired hand in a small enterprise, and sadly there was nothing to tie me to the place, after three years.

Is it any different here? Maybe not. I am not American (yet), and I still haven't really found my niche here. But in the city, you are not alone 'not belonging' anywhere - it's more a matter of fact, a byproduct of the lifestyle. I guess I am more of a city rat.

I do love the expansiveness of the Northwest. The perspective it gives me, of the mountains and oceans afar, skyscrapers and old buildings near. In Tokyo, you have no sense of space. Everything and everyone is constantly in your face.

You could say I choose the middle ground, a sort of a compromise. This city has a lot of influences from the East, and there are lots of perks to being one of the closest port from Tokyo. The weather and landscape is reminiscent of Ireland (to me). I get to eat well, live close to everything, but there's still a sort of small-town feel left. It's a good place to live, and I am pretty content so far in it.

Of course, it helps that I actually do like the rain. Gives me all the excuse I need to stay home and read!

Posted by Akira at 8:52 PM | Comments (0)

May 9, 2005

Seymour

Mixed feelings on Sunday when Akira snapped this pic. Great fun to repot a plant in the great outdoors, but what really knocked me out this week was a bloodcurdling trip to the dentist. At the time the conversations didn't sink in, but days later I can process them. What I'd experienced has finally taken root.

Those who appear ancy, I learned, are given headphones and a CD player. "Do you like any special kind of music?" asks the dental assitant, who will soon chat away about restaurants down the street and what's happened with the open spot at her last job.

"Yeah," I say, noticing my mouth going numb. "Jazz."

"Like, Norah Jones?"

I make a face.

I get Ella Fitzgerald, though even with the walkman there's no way to get away from that silvery drill sound. I mean, it is in your head.

So even though I'm smiling in this pic from Sunday, I'm still a little irked about the four fillings.

Our plant got a new name, too. Say hi to Seymour.

Posted by Dipika at 7:40 PM | Comments (0)

April 26, 2005

Boo Boo

After dinner today we had something unusual for dessert. Baumkuchen. It was a gift from our good buddy who brought it all the way from Narita airport. Anyway, I made coffee and poured two cups and Akira cut slices of Baumkuchen.

It's made by Juchheim, this company that Akira suspects is Japanese.

Two Baumkuchens and two cups of coffee were perfect after the lovely pasta dinner that Akira made. It was especially good because today we are both in good spirits. Not like yesterday.

Then, we suddenly got on to talking about pen names. That's because of our friend in Portland, who runs Barka Lounge. We were thinking he likes being called Lawrence, not Larry, even though we always call him Larry. I was thinking Goro Gigoro would be a funny pen name for somebody like Akira, but he swears he doesn't need one.

I thought about it for a second, then said, mine would be "Boo Boo." I was kind of thinking of the French sounding version of it, you know, La Boubou. Like that. Sophisticated.

"Boo Boo?" Akira says, starting to crack up into smiles. I'm watching him for a second then all of a sudden this image pops into my head.

"Boo Boo!" I remember the little guy. "Yogi Bear's sidekick."

Akira goes, "Who?"

"Yogi's sidekick, Boo Boo. You know."

"I've never seen Yogi bear cartoon," he says slowly at first, then a light goes on behind his eyes. "Wait, I have seen him. I know Yogi Bear to look at." And starts in this song...

Do do do do do do do
Yogi, Yogi Bear
Yogi, Yogi Bear
Yogi wa... I don't know.

"Keep going, Akira. Come on."

Yogi had a friend, Boo Boo... hey!
Boo boo boo boo bear,
Boo boo boo boo bear.

Everybody!

Posted by Dipika at 7:54 PM | Comments (0)

April 20, 2005

Yamanote in Seattle?

The other day, I read an article in Seattle Times entitled "a Lesson from Tokyo" that advocated that Seattle would benefit from "small-scale Yamanote line in the heart of the city." The title and the premise intrigued me, sure, but frankly, in my opinion, it's a load of nonsense.

Now, don't get me wrong: I am all for public transportation, I would love it if I could get on something, be it monorail, light rail or just a little more punctual and convenient bus line, and get to various parts of town. But to model this city's public transportation solution to Tokyo's is just plain megalomania.

For a start, there's the massive difference of scale. Tokyo prefecture has a population of 12 million (about 20 times City of Seattle's population), in about 2200 square km (about 10 times Seattle). The Yamanote-line the guy talks about runs in the area that's known as the special district with 23 wards, with a combined population of 8 million in an area that's about three times the size of Seattle (or about 1/8 of King County, for a bit of perspective). You can see that the population density just doesn't compare, even considering the entire Tokyo against the most dense areas of the Emerald City.

Shinjuku station, one of the Yamanote line (whose entire length is about 22 miles) stations, gets more than 200,000 users daily. Okay, these people don't all use Yamanote line (Shinjuku station serves about 10 lines by 5 different railway companies), so let's look at another station. Harajuku station is a much smaller station with just Yamanote line going through, and it gets about 72,000 people getting on and off one of these trains daily. Oh, and guess what? These railway companies are generally just getting by, most of them in the red.

If the proposed Lake Union line (about 1/3 the size of Yamanote, maybe?) is to be viable, it needs to get at least 30,000 people using it every day. How many people live in the city again? That's right -- that means about 1/24 of the entire population of the city needs to use the thing (be it light rail or trolley, going around Lake Union) every day. Is that too big a number, or small enough to achieve for Seattleites? Let's see...

King County Metro transits get annual ridership of 100 million. Impressive enough for an American city for sure, but that's less than 300,000 daily all over King County. Would one person in ten of these people who already ride the buses use the new line, every day? Probably not.

All this number crunching means nothing really. The numbers are kind of arbitrary, and we are essentially comparing apples and oranges. I didn't mention the massive cultural difference that exists between the Americans and the Japanese, or the rest of public transportation infrastructure that supports these "hub" lines such as Yamanote. The point is, why go to Japan to look for a model? I am just a bit puzzled. I mean, did the author study all these numbers and say, Oh the readers won't know the difference, or was he just ignorant of his myopia. Has he been to Japan?

Is it just Seattleites simply like to think big? Or is this another case of Japanese fetish we are seeing everywhere these days here? I am very much amused and mildly flattered that my home country is getting so much attention from the intelligentsia (and the teenagers) here, but I often see the dumbing down of nuances, differences and distortion of minor (and not so minor) facts. Am I being fastidious?

Posted by Akira at 3:24 PM | Comments (0)

March 29, 2005

Japanese Invasion

Seems that Japanese popular music is making a comeback here. Lots of bands from Japan, from obscure to domestically-established, are touring the States (and stopping in Seattle), and making a sizable buzz everywhere. Pop princess (in Japan) Hikaru Utada has an album out here with all-English songs, SXSW apparently had a section called "Japan Nite."

"So is the day approaching when a Japanese rock band makes it big here?" asks music writer Peter Larsen("Japanese bands making a splash overseas", The Orange County Register).

Sure, punk-rock duo Shonen Knife has been on the scene for a long time, and I am not so surprised off-center bands like Guitar Wolf, Electric Eel Shock and Polysics are touring the States. After all, playing music for a living (whether you make money from it or not) appears to be much easier here than anywhere in Japan (outside of Tokyo, of course). However, bands like the Pillows and Puffy Amiyumi (of the anime by the same name) are of the true J-pop lineage, and I am somewhat taken aback that these guys are finding audiences here.

Maybe it's anime's (Japanese cartoon) recent surge into the mainstream, as a Shonen Knife member suggests in the story above. (I have heard office workers in this city citing Cartoon Network shows, with character names like "Mamimi" and "Naota", instead of Conan, HBO or Daily Show from the night before) Maybe it also has something to do with the popularity of Japanese movies, animated or not, in recent years.

Maybe, it's been long coming.

Japanese rock always looked to the West for inspiration. Now that Japan has sunk into depression similarly experienced in the punk-era UK, Japan's ready to infuse its own angst into the highly-polished sugarpop that has been the staple of the karaoke-driven music industry.

But then, you could say the US is now ready to accept J-pops, now that the likes of Jessica Simpsons are dominating the American scene. I am mixing up music and pop culture here, but the nature of this adulation towards Japanese culture makes it very hard to distinguish the two.

In any case, it certainly seems more people are aware of the Japanese popular music scene, many no doubt more aware and hip to the latest developments over there than this old geezer. I do think though that there are many I could teach something about J-pop to. You could be curious about some of the music, but may not have listened to any of it. Maybe you've gone to a show, and are curious to know more about their influence, background and whatnot.

So, I am proposing a series. Sort of an annotated Essential Listening list to better prepare the uninitiated and throw in a bit of contextual backdrop to the already converted.

I will pick an old album by a Japanese band each week, with comments on the surrounding cultural context, musical influences, and my personal flashbacks. I won't pretend that I know everything, but it will at least be a perspective from a guy whe spent his first 17 years there.

Posted by Akira at 11:45 AM | Comments (0)

March 27, 2005

Sunset

The weather was pretty rough yesterday so I stayed in and had lots of tea with Akira. But today there was a clear moment late in the afternoon when the clouds parted. Some sun came through. I decided to take a walk, the long kind where you don't know where you'll end up, you just start.

Few others were out on Capitol Hill wandering about. Had they been, they'd see the bright clouds above Puget Sound fade away with evening. It feels good to move around, clear the head. Get a sense of the great wide open.

Grand stuff. Now I think I'll put on the kettle.

Posted by Dipika at 8:11 PM

March 23, 2005

How to build cardboard furniture (1)

We had a lot of cardboard from the furniture we bought since we moved into this place. Didn't have the heart to throw it all away, but it was becoming an eyesore, building up in the corner of the room like an ancient shellmound.

Over Christmas, we went to a chic Japanese restaurand in downtown L.A. called R23 (a snazzy flash site, wish there were some pics) and they had all these cardboard chairs like Frank Gehry's infamous "cardboard furniture" line that they actually used for guest seats, and so we thought, 'Hey, we could DO that!'

Well, three months later, I have finally gotten off my butt and built a few things that hold things instead of just taking up space. Pictured here is a horizontal bookshelf with three square compartments.

I reasoned that three or four layers of cardboard, bound or glued together, could be as strong as a plywood piece of the same size, at least to vertical forces. So then I just drew some sketches and went straight to cutting the boards to my specs. The hardest part was to cut these things straight and exactly the same size, as I only had a 24-inch ruler and a utility knife.

Experimenting with smaller pieces of paper would have been smarter, as I noticed that my design had a fairly serious structural flaw (can you guess what it is by looking at the pic? it's pretty obvious) once I cut the pieces and glued them together. So I devised small supports of wooden dowels along the underside of the shelf where it meets the vertical 'column'(or sidewall)s through drilled holes on these columns.

Once the pieces are cut, glued together and the holes are drilled, assembly is fairly simple and easy. When the holes are snug, the boards tend to stay in place because of their natural elasticity, so there's no need for more glue or nails. It's easy enough to take it apart when you don't need it anymore, or when you are moving.

The result? Well, it's no Frank Gehry, and it's not that pretty either, but as a bookshelf it functions all right. We already crammed it with books and it seems to be taking the load quite happily (pictured right. There's also a lightstand in the foreground, also made of cardboard that came with, surprise -- a lamp -- and put together in less than half an hour with what was around). I named it "Clutzy" in the spirit of Swedish furniture-making tradition.

Here's a picture of my other masterpiece, "Chubb" coffee table (the top sheet's not glued on yet). The legs came just like that in a furniture package as a filler/cushion, I just cut them to the length I wanted. The top is four sheets cross-glued, with the bottom two sheets cut out for the legs to slot in. It's stable enough for me to sit on! I designed it to go with the low sofa/futon we bought, but once put together, it reminds me of those traditional chabu-dai (low, portable dining tables for small meals) I used to see on television dramas in Japan.

I am contemplating a few more pieces, maybe paint the ones I made so they look less cardboardy and ghetto. I will report any progress if there is anything noteworthy.

Posted by Akira at 10:51 AM | Comments (4)