The Story About Ping.

One of my favourite childhood books was called "The Story About Ping". Mom read that little paperback to Jayme and me so many times I could probably still recite most of the lines. Ping was a little duck who hid from his family and ended up lost in a confusing harbour full of fishing boats.



Ping is drawn in a simple pan and ink style. The images are coloured with only four hues. However, even in its simplicity so much emotion is conveyed by the combination of words and pictures; Ping is terrified when he realizes his mistake and can't find his family. I think I was a sucker for good design even when I was a kid.



I've picked up The Story About Ping at several different bookstores, but have never brought it home. Some day I think I'll have my own copy again when I have a house with room to collect children's stories.

FB

Doug just told Uta and I a story that cracked us all up. Once he saw a man with not just a comb-over, but a comb-over that consisted only of neck hair. Yes, it started at the base of his head, climbed up and over, and was glued in place. Like, does he think no one will notice?

It goes back to Frances Bacon, one of our lab favourites: self-deception is a wonderful thing.



Not only was he a great philosopher and scientist, but this man truly had style.

Right Now.

I have just finished eating my grapefruit. Doug called my style 'monkey-head grapefruit eating all the brains'. I usually refer to it as 'pumpkin-head grapefruit that takes at least one hour to eat, maybe two if you're sitting in front of your computer. Mainly this is the situation that occurs when you slice off the top of the grapefruit, cut up the insides, and clean it out with a spoon. I adopted this method this winter after becoming tired of eating messy grapefruits. I find that this method cuts down on grapefruit juice spray immensely. I am able to avoid becoming a sticky mess and take time to savour the delicious fruit simply because it is a labour-intensive way of consuming citrus.

I'm feeling really happy today because I just made all the corrections Uta suggested on my thesis. There really weren't that many. I need to focus on defining all of the parts of my experiment and referring to each of them but a short name. This makes it much easier to read through the results and understand what I'm saying.

Just now, I realized I was tired of all that so I came here to update the labels for the posts. This makes it much easier to go back and find the things I wrote about, obv. I really want one of those word clouds where the most frequently mentioned words are big and then all of the other words are smaller and floating around them. I tried to find a gadget that did that, but no luck. I have, however, managed to attach all of the other blogs I watch on the side of my blog. This has cut down on the clutter along the link bar at the top of Firefox. I was almost out of room.

Next, I really want to fix up my header. I can't figure out how to make a design that fills the box in exactly. There has to be information about the dimensions around here somewhere. I still love Haekel's art, but I might switch from the black to his old fashioned ink-drawn tea-stained herbarium entries. There are many more of those so it would give me a lot more shapes to work with. Also, the title will show up better if I can make it black or grey on the off-white background. I also want to work on my science family posts and I've collected a bunch of ideas for posts about childhood inspirations. I'd like to collect more information about Edward Gorey, Shel Silverstein, and others for inspiration in my art and science.

eta: apparently no one else in the world eats a grapefruit the way I do, photographs the image, and posts it on google images. I was trying to steal a nice bright grapefruit picture to spice things up around here, but no luck.

Inspiration.

This is so beautiful:



I found it on one of the crafty blogs I follow for inspiration. Every time I finish a section or a bit of thesis I get to look at one. This prevents me from sitting around and daydreaming about all of my knitting projects at home. Uh, yeah, I do that. It's so strange how you can care so much about so many different things and yet some things just seem so much more fun to do. I suppose knitting is easier for me than this science gig since I've been actively practicing craft for so much longer. Not to mention, science still has that schoolwork vibe attached to it for me. I can't wait to be a free agent and just float around in the world for a bit.

For now, I'll type away and post pretty things. This particular blankie is made with a wide range of Koigu Premium Merino (KPM). The colourways are rich and beautiful. Imagine the possibilities with this stuff for giant granny squares which happen to be one of my favourite crafty items. A throwback to easy days in Warsaw at Nana's house. And possibly every summer weekend in Cottage Country, Ontario.



Okay, I'm out. Enough pretty internet pictures. I've promise myself that I'll send my Hypotheses, Predictions, Methods, and Results to Uta this afternoon for proofreading. Got to buckle down and show up, I just had to post this first.

Summertime Water Issue Awareness.

This morning I received an interesting e-mail from one of the student's I TA'ed last semester in Doug's EcoMethods class. His name is Dylan White and this summer he's taking on an epic journey: Dylan and his friend Garrett will be riding their bikes across Canada. Not only is this one seriously long trek, but it's an expedtition with a much greater purpose than seeing our great nation. Dylan and Garrett will be carrying with them equipment to produce a film about water issues across Canada.

I think this is an amazing feat to take on at a critical time for natural resource management in Canada. Our neighbours to the south have finely elected a worthy candidate to lead their country. I imagine the pressure to move water to the States will relax and we NEED to move away from the idea of privatization of our fresh water sources. This line from the Canadian Odyssey Quest for Water website is truely inspired, "One of the film’s objectives is to help build a sense of commitment and even pride in our natural waters, an awareness approach that we hope will encourage a change to the current complacency Canadians have towards inefficient water use and pollution." The emphasis is my own, but just imagine taking pride in something that we've taken for granted for decades. So out of Canadian character. I think there's opportunity for change and these two are on to something.

You can find the group supporting this journey on facebook. Or at their previously mentioned website.

And while you're at it, check out what these two are up to this summer. Another student from BIOL*4110 is heading the opposite way across Canada to create a film about water issues and how they are perceived by Canadian Youth. I haven't been in touch with them yet, but I can't wait to hear all about their journey as well.

Official Travel Blog.

This morning my blog has officially become a travel blog because I just went and had my first passport pictures ever taken. They are absolutely horrible, I look like I'm sleep-walking in them. I had just gotten up from my snooze on the bus to school and I'm wearing an antique sweatshirt passed up from my younger brother when he outgrew it at age 12.

I suppose I really need to work on that new header now and turn this into I want to be a (traveling) Arts and Scientist. I plan on posting all about my journeys to conferences in far away places over the next year. I'll have to tell more people about this place before I leave.

p.s. If you think that's cool, here's a new blog that I've been following lately: The Impossible Cool. It's all about icons of personal style in our recent history. I think it's neat to see what this person will find next.

Sheep Tricks and Cool Things.

Okay, so I don't even know how this is happening, but it looks really really cool. It's edging on too good to be true. I guess sheepherding really is an art. I love how the border collies helpl out with the whole thing and get to be the single dots. Sammy could do a really good job at this, I think, because she is a genius dog.



She's especially a genius at catching everything.



p.s. Here's another interesting display that has a lot to do with sheep as well. Emily's Dad found this years ago, sent it along, and I've saved it ever since.

Grist Mill, Waterloo Park

Tonight Nat, Pete Kelly, and I are going on an adventure to Waterloo Park. Apparently they have fixed up the old Grist Mill and they hold events and shows there now. Tonight we are going to see a band I have wanted to see for awhile now: Bruce Peninsula. Timber Timbre is also playing tonight, along with Ben Ong from Bocce.



Rumour has it the mill only holds 70-80 people and doors start at either 7 pm or 8 pm. So, we're going to leave Guelph at 6:30 and kill whatever time we may have when we get there. The drive is easy and it's a gorgeous sunny afternoon, so we'll be fine. I suppose I'll take the second sleeve of the sweater I'm knitting today.

So it goes.

Speaking of celebrating people who have had a huge impact on the shape of society as we know it with song....

Last night we went to the eBar to take in a live show. This is a more-than weekly occurance around these parts as our little city has an excellent indie music scene. Em had found out about this 10-piece collective of musicians called Library Voices. They had traveled all the way from Regina, Saskatchewan to play for a smaller-than-average crowd of Guelph locals.



They made us get out of our seats and I started to move. Um, wow they are so good. It must take a whole lot of practice to harmonize with so many other singers and have such clean stops and starts midsong. Anyway, I really really like them and then I fell in love with them when they played one of the coolest, most clever songs I had heard in a long long time: Things We Stole from Vonnegut's Grave.





I tried to throw my money at them in support, but they had been cleared out by a bunch of teenagers whom wanted t-shirts with the f-word on them. This wasn't the t-shrit they had last night, but I couldn't find a picture of it and I'd take this one anyday.

This Man.

The history of science is interesting and important to study. All of our modern thoughts, ideas, and conventions have important connections to the scientists that came before us. One scientist that we talk about a great deal in our lab is this man:



Nikolai Vavilov was born on November 25, 1887 in Moscow, Russia. There he graduated from the Agricultural Institute in 1910 after completing a thesis on the impact of snails on agriculture. He went on to hold many important positions in Russia where he studied botany and agriculture. He was the man who first determined the centres of origins of many of the most important agricultural species we still use today. This work relates to the work that my lab did just previous to my joining which was summarized in the book The Urban Cliff Revolution.



Vavilov collected seeds from all over the globe. He developed the largest seedbank in the world in Leningrad. During the Siege of Leningrad, which lasted from 9 September 1941, to 18 January 1943, Vavilov's research assistants defended the seed collection. As Hitler tried to gain power over the Soviet Union people were dying from starvation, but the edible seeds and potatoes survived for prosperity. Even one of the research assistants starved to death during that time.

Vavilov, himself, was arrested in 1940 for repeatedly criticizing the non-Mendelian concepts of his one time friend and Stalin's protege, Trofim Lysenko. Vavilov died in the German prison in 1943 due to malnutrition, but the entire time he was there he delivered over 100 scientific lectures.

In studying modern agriculture and botany we follow in everything Vavilov laid out for us. The Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry stills maintains one of the largest seedbanks in the world.

The Decemberist's last album, The Crane Wife memorializes Vavilov in one of their songs, When the War Came. His story is tragic, but inspiring at the same time. Every time we talk about Vavilov in the lab or find out new information about his life traveling the world and doing good science we end up laughing and smiling. He would have fit in very well here because, as Doug says, Vavilov captures what is good in all of the best scientists we've known.

Good Design.

Found this cool little blog today. It's called Design Observer. Each Monday one of the authors posts a series of desgin images for their readers to contemplate. His name is Eric Baker and this is the clip from the end of his weekly post:

Eric Baker Design Associates is a Manhattan-based design firm established in 1986. Eric teaches the history of graphic design and corporate identity at the School of Visual Arts, and has twice received National Endowment for the Arts Grants for independent design history projects. He is inveterate collector of books and ephemera.



I'm thinking more about communication outside of my usual styles and I'm feeling very inspired.

Doug is having a "shocking realization" (his words) that the world is moving forward faster than he can keep up. He just spent the last half hour on the phone with the, most likely, only government employee whom keeps track of all of the airphotos of Canada. Apparently, you can't see the 7 million photos online, you need to find the location, e-mail them, and they will snailmail you a letter containing the desired photo. In essence, the government can't afford to provid the service that googlemaps can for free. This is much like the way musicians can't afford to make a CD because noone will purchase it. People will just obtain it from the internet for the low, low price of zero dollars. None of this really makes sense to him and I try to support the indie music scene as much as I possibly can.

Black Cab Sessions.

I'm not exactly sure what this is, where it is, how it happens, but it's really cool. Definitely something to check out. I watched a few of them and my favourites so far are Fleet Foxes and Ane Brun. There are quite a few of my other favourite bands on the site as well. It's interesting to see what they will do outside of the recording studio, off the stage, and in the middle of the day.

Important things to do.

There are a few things that I really want to do at some point in my lifetime. One is have a song written about me. I've actually been working on this lately and thinking about it more often. Another thing I'd like to do is own an antique sock knitting machine. I grew up in a house at the bottom of the hill in Warsaw. My grandparents lived nextdoor in the house at the top of the hill. The hilltop house had been owned by two generations of family. My great-grandfather lived up there and raised his kids. From stories, I've learned that he had a sock-knitting machine and would make all of the hockey socks for the teams in Warsaw. Really, in Warsaw there's one thing to do in your spare time and that's play hockey. Noone can remember what happened to his knitting machine. I've searched through the driveshed a bit and I know my papa keeps his eye out for me, but I have a feeling that it's long gone.



I came across this video on the Craft: website. They always have really interesting clips and posts. This woman is demonstrating how her sock knitting machine works to a bunch of Texans at the Maker Faire in Austin, Texas in December 2008.


Antique Sock Knitting Machines - CRAFT Video Podcast from make magazine on Vimeo.

I think perhaps, attending Maker Faire at some point, should be on my lifetime list as well.

New look.

Today at lunch I'm trying to figure out how to customize this blog. So far I've learned how to update my title area. I put this together pretty quickly and it still needs work, but I really like how the look is working.

The images are taken from the work of Ernst Haekel. Haekel was a German scientist who lived from February 16, 1834 - August 9, 1919. He promoted the work of Darwin, did a lot philosophizing, and made beautiful artistic interpretations of everything he studied. One of the images he is most famous for is the controversial embryological drawings:



These drawings were recently (2001 and 2002) mentioned in Nature as examples of fake schematical drawings. I don't know much about this issue, but it's definitely an interesting one and something to look into a little further.

Whatever, even if the old drawings and sketches aren't completely accurate, he certainly could use colour and light in interesting ways.

Big Picture Stuff.

I just returned from the annual College of Biological Science (CBS) Financial meeting. Here, the President of the University, Alastair Summerlee, and the Vice-President (Academic), Maureen Mancuso, presented the current financial situation of the University and the College.

I have to admit that I felt my heartbeat increase rapidly when they started explaining the fact that the University of Guelph may be forced to declare bankruptcy in 2010. This will follow the filing of Laurier and the University of Toronto both in the same position. Imagine Ontario without most of its major institutions of higher education. We're in tough economic times, but this is going to do nothing to improve the situation. Both the Federal and Provincial Governments must respond to this and support the educational system either in the form of grant money or by extending the dates for declaring financial status.



To overcome this situation, the University needs to deal with a $47.7 million dollar deficit over the next five years. The two major areas that will be seeing change are the pension programme and the structure of degrees. The Provincial Government is leaning towards creating a province-wide pension standard. This would work the way the Teacher's Pension works. Safety in numbers and consistency across the board. I'm nowhere near retirement, so I haven't put much thought into all of this, but savings and investments will definitely be on my mind now. As for the degree structure, majors will be realigned to use resources efficiently and minors will be removed from the entire University. Recently, Doug has led the committee to completely restructure the Faculty of Environmental Sciences (FES). This process was difficult at times, but an overall success. I talked to him about this today because I was wondering why they were so on-the-ball with making these changes before this idea was strongly suggested across the rest of the school. He mentioned that the restructuring of FES was not driven by the financial situation, but by the way students are attracted to the University and what they require from major programmes. I thought this was interesting because these changes were seen as positive, forward-moving ideas. I hope the rest of the University will be as successful is pulling together as FES was.

Anyway, since working at the Athletic Centre (AC) for years in the midst of a financial scandel and crisis, I realized just how distant from one another various sectors of the University had been. Noone even noticed that thousands of dollars were being skimmed off the top of the AC funds until it literally fell in on top of itself due to lack of upkeep. I have always hoped that a cohesive, efficient system could be designed to bring us all together. People will be happier in their jobs and the entire place will work together more smoothly.

I'm thinking big picture here and that's the way it's gonna be for me from now on.
Cass

March Madness.

Okay.

So spring time is almost here and I am soooooo ready for it. Time to finish the thesis, clean out the clutter, and feel fresh and warm. I'm looking forward to packing up the heavy winter wear and being light and floaty, spending time outside in the sunshine, and watching our garden grow. I have big plans for spring and summer activities and I'll be taking advantage of every last weekend here in Guelph. I'm also looking forward to working on new spring art and making lovely things.

First off, some of my new projects include:

- Making new wall art for the house. I have some great ideas for embroidered pieces with buttons and beads and knitting combined. Nea is an intriguing shop at etsy.com that has all sorts of inspiring ideas. These are two of my favourites:





I think a collection of these sorts of things would be very interesting and a great way to show off some of my buttons and beads.

I also need to take up some paintings. I have a new eisel and a plain white skirt that I've been planning on painting with silk-screen ink. I can't wait for the day where I can go outside and sit in the sun and work away.

- I'm also revamping my wardrobe. I have intentions to go through the closet and deal with my basket full of mending. Last night I went shopping and picked out this little frock:



- Other than that, I can't wait to see if my alvar comes back to life this summer. Hopefully it won't get weed-whacked this year and I'll be able to harvest the seeds.

Natalie and I are also in the process of planning our vegetable garden. There is a plot in her backyard and I think we should turn it over in the next week or so. Then we'll head to the Ontario Seed Company to pick out some interesting varieties. There are also some growers at the Guelph Farmer's Market who carry organic, heirloom varieties. I picked up some delicious yellow pear tomatos, tiny tims, and hungarian wax peppers from there last year. They grew very well and abundantly.

K, enough for now. I'm anxious for all this to start!