For my undergraduate design thesis at PNCA I’m working on explaining particle acceleration through design and interactivity. Using the International Linear Collider as a model, I created diagrams for each step in a collision experiment. They’re intended to help define a visual language for the project and will soon be animated and used as the basis for an interaction prototype. Read on to see them up close. (more…)
I’ve just launched the new version of this site and it comes with many exciting changes, both in design and under the hood. The front page now acts as more of a portal, aggregating content from the blog, portfolio, flickr and twitter. The portfolio has been completely rebuilt using Django and is much easier for me to update. I’ll be putting together a more complete introduction to the new site once DNS settles down a bit. Stay tuned.
This post is only on the new server. If you see it, the DNS is being friendly.
The fifteen branches of the Jackson County Library System closed today due to a lack of funding. I’ve spent countless hours both in the Ashland library and using its vast resources. I’ve known librarians for years who are now without jobs. This closure troubles me greatly.
Driving past the streetcar yards the other day, I spotted a brand new train being loaded on to the tracks. It’s bright green and had a more rounded, bubblelike, nose than the current model. Presumably this is one of the trains that they built the new siding for last year while I was here.
This should give a quick idea of how much snow had come down in downtown Portland by about 8:45 this morning. It’s still coming down pretty steadily. It’s very pretty, but it’s making this apartment search a bit more difficult.
A while back I came across a piece of software called Sidenote, developed by Pierre Chatel. It’s an incredibly neat little notepad app with a beautifully clean interface that sits on the side of your screen and pops out whenever you need it. At the time I found it originally, I didn’t really see the need for its functionality, but it was so incredibly cool that I kept it around just in case. Last week, when I was looking for a way to keep track of all of the stuff that I had to get done before the end of the term, I dug out Sidenote.
I soon discovered that, while it WAS great at storing my todo list, it also gave me an amazingly quick place to dump all of the other things that I wanted to get done, but couldn’t. I started using it almost as a digital version of my moleskine and soon found that I was getting more done because my mind was clearer.
Of course, it’s arguable that the real reason that I’m currently so enamored with the little program is because of one obscure design detail. When you upgrade to a newer version, the software tells you that it’s going to upgrade your note database. Many developers would have just spent twenty seconds, stuck this message in a standard dialog, and called it good. Pierre went so far beyond this, creating the beautiful animation you see here and making the message fit his interface flawlessly. When I saw the animation, I was struck with this giddy euphoria. “People still care about details!” I thought, and it made my evening so much better. Thanks, Pierre.
While walking to school this afternoon, I noticed that the top of the Broken Angel art structure, had some smoke coming out of it. Further inspection showed that the smoke wasn’t coming out of any chimney but that a small portion of the upper tower was on fire. Out came the cell phone. After talking to a couple of dispatchers (first general 911, then fire) I was told that the fire department was on the way.
The FD turnout was impressive. I think there were seven engines on surrounding streets within five minutes. By the time they arrived, the flames had grown to engulf the entirety of the upper tower. Soon, a bucket truck was up and they hosed down the tower continuously for several minutes, mostly extinguishing the fire.
There was still a small bit of the tower burning after the initial spray was shut off, but it remained tiny and didn’t spread. Some firefighters entered the structure and, after they emerged, a second round of spraying took care of the last bits of smoldering.
The Broken Angel seems to have survived this day and will continue to provide an interesting feature to the neighborhood. All the same, I have to wonder what toll the water took on the already decaying structure. How much longer will it continue to survive the elements? The fire remained contained to one tower and the surrounding buildings remained untouched (except for a bit of water fallout from the spraying), which is incredibly lucky considering the amount of dry wood I imagine is used in the construction of the building.
I haven’t updated this site in a while, primarily because I’m in the middle of rethinking its design to work in some new contentful sections. Expect more frequent, and more interesting, updates in the future.
Since I moved to Portland, my mailbox has been flooded with credit card offers galore. Apparently when you only have one credit card and you pay it off on time, they like you. After about the first month of receiving them I stopped throwing them away and started keeping them, thinking that it would be interesting to find out which company was the greatest offender. This evening, back in Ashland, I came upon the cache of offers and sorted them out. Results follow.
Total: 59
The MAX train was right on time. 3:57 am on the dot. By the time it got to the airport, it was twenty minutes ahead of schedule. I picked up a steamer and a bagel and was surprised to find that the prices were the same as I would have paid outside of the airport. Security was fast. I barely had enough time to get my boarding pass and ID out of my pockets before it was my turn in line.
I sit now at my gate, E2, looking out the window at the 757 that will cary me on the first leg of my journey. The sky is dark now—the plane leaves at sunrise—and the runway lights are reflected on the wet tarmc. The chairs are comfortable enough and the internet access is free. Boarding begins in about five minutes.
