>I used to teach television production to college students, and later directed live newscasts for a local station. I find this piece brilliant, but then, it doesn’t take a once-upon-a-time professional to know what’s really going on…
Perfect.
Author: Tucker
>One week of an IDEO project
>The famous design firm IDEO is often considered the most creative such company in the U.S. I have heard about them for years, but now I am more interested because I have been doing some research on innovation and creativity. There design processes tends toward what they call controlled chaos. It is active, cooperative, democratic (mostly), and sometimes intense.
Recently they set up a camera to capture an entire week of work in two minutes:
Ten years ago ABC’s Nightline ran a story about IDEO and its design philosophy. Nightline asked IDEO to redesign the ubiquitous shopping cart in five days. This video is one of the best distillations of how to get a group to think & act creatively under time pressure and with a specific goal in mind.
>cups & balls
>
As a kid I loved magic. I still do, but back then I would buy inexpensive magic paraphernalia and try my hand at doing a few tricks. I was terrible. I can still do a couple of bad card tricks but that’s about all. One of my favorite tricks is the classic (more like ancient) cups & balls. Some say it dates back to ancient Egypt. I wouldn’t be surprised.
Cups & balls is primarily based on sleight of hand and misdirection – the two mainstays of table magic. It is such a fundamental trick that most magicians know it well, and there are a virtually uncountable number of online videos ranging from professional magicians to rank amateurs showing off their versions of the trick. Here are three worth viewing.
The great Dai Vernon does a classic version of the trick, along with a little humor:
Ricky Jay performs maybe the best version anywhere online:
And finally, the iconoclasts Penn & Teller explain the trick while in an ancient Egyptian tomb:
There are more fanciful, complicated, and stunning magic tricks out there. Cups & balls is certainly not making the Statue of Liberty disappear, but it is a fun trick that can still astound, especially in the hands of a master.
>a new year’s changes
>This blog is just over three year’s old. Since starting it I had also joined FaceBook, and then Twitter. Life continues, of course, in its typically unpredictable way and I have become drawn towards unplugging myself somewhat from the online life. I have deactivated my FB account and deleted my Twitter account. I also plan on posting less here, though I won’t quit entirely.
The reasons are many and have been just below the surface for some time. In short it is just the need to de-clutter my life and get on with other things. There are many things I would rather do than fritter and waste my life looking for distractions. I can’t predict that by unplugging more from the Internet (and other things) I will finally write that book I’ve always wanted to write, or get in shape and climb a mountain, but I can say that maybe, just maybe I will spend more time with my wife and kids. Maybe I will find more and more little ways to be productive rather than merely receptive.
The fact is, when I look at my life, and I look at those things I most am proud of, they always seem to be things I’ve very consciously done, things that took effort, commitment, even a little obsession. I have a list of things I want to do, or characteristics/talents I want to develop, and I know that to do so means simplifying my life and removing distractions. I am tired of constantly wishing to do things and then finding instead I’ve wasted a couple of hours online (or a couple of years!).
There is so much more value in talking over beers with a friend at a local pub than there is in “connecting” via any social networking site yet created. There is far more value in taking my kids camping or skiing than checking Google Reader for updates. And, of course, spending more time with my wife doing the hard work of living “as one” rather than just two hard working people moving along parallel paths is invaluable. Each of us sitting at our own screens surfing or blogging or updating our profiles just doesn’t quite cut it anymore (it never really did).
Fortunately I am not the only person seeing these things or choosing to declutter. Now, this doesn’t mean I’m giving up my online life entirely, but I hope to be more focused elsewhere.
>Belated birthday: PilgrimAkimbo turned three!
>
December 11th 2006 was the birth of PilgrimAkimbo.
Like me this blog has changed over the past three years. I began PilgrimAkimbo to write about films and to connect with other cinephiles. As the years have gone by some film blogs I followed shut down, others have slowed their posting to a crawl, and me, I have shifted to more personal, more political, more social, more theological postings, and less about film. I find myself commenting less on other blogs and I get fewer comments on this blog. It would not surprise me that receiving fewer comments at PilgrimAkimbo is due to the kinds of posting I tend toward these days, but I have also seen a waning in the blogoshpere. I think the enthusiasm that once charged blogging has subsided somewhat. Tell me if I am wrong, or what you are observing.
I question constantly why I have this blog, if I want to continue or cease altogether, or if I want to make any big change in direction. I have desires for many posts, but I find my energies often lacking. I want to write more about film and art, but that takes effort, and my current computer has a hard time producing good screen grabs. On the other hand I have less of a sense of obligation to “my readers” as I once felt. PilgrimAkimbo is just what it is and I try not to have any pretensions about it. Let me know what you think – and if you blog, how that is going for you.
Mr. Chaplin nears the end of his celebration of PilgrimAkimbo with the last bite of cake. Sadly we had a lot of cake left over.
>The World According to Monsanto
>I know you may have already seen this video, but if not, it is worth taking the time.
Part One
Part Two
Part three
Part four
Part five
Part six
Part seven
Part eight
Part nine
Part ten
>What’s really going on in Copenhagen? The Yes Men arrive!
>Did Canada just promise to dramatically reduce its greenhouse gases and pay their climate debt? It looks like it:
Uganda responds:
Will the real Canada please stand up:
Oops, its the Yes Men being, well, the Yes men.
I feel rather sorry for Uganda, but not for Canada.
>Ring those bells: 350 in Eugene
>
This morning I did something new for me. I attended an environmental rally.
Now don’t get me wrong, this was a little affair, just a few people for a few minutes. But it was good. After it was over I walked away glad that I had attended. The purpose of the rally was to highlight the number 350 as it relates to the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
The big deal about 350 is that it is the critical number for CO2 in terms of parts per million in our atmosphere. 350 ppm is the upper limit that scientists have determined is safe for life on the planet. Presently the number is near 390 and rising. The goal is to bring it down to at least 350, or lower. 350 is also the name of a non-profit (350.org) started by Bill McKibben. This was a 350.org event.
I had my wife’s Flip camera with me and took a few shots. Here’s the gang doing their thing:
What was great for me, in a very small way, was just to have gone to such an event. I often tend to not do things I want to do merely because of unfamiliarity. Now that I have gone I hope to feel more freedom to attend future events and possibly get more involved in local/global issues. For the time being, however, I am happy to just try to apply good principles of living to my life, and read, think, and write about these things.
>Greenpeace, smokestacks, and my children
>I am reading the book Greenpeace: How a Group of Ecologists, Journalists, and Visionaries Changed the World by Rex Weyler, and thoroughly enjoying it. I have to say the more I learn about Greenpeace the more I like them. And like so many other things in my life, I think I know something until I start reading about it, then I realize what I assumed turns out to be different from the truth, or at least a skewed facsimile.
Also, I recently came across this video of a Greenpeace direct action campaign in England. I would encourage anyone to take the time to view it.
Not only do I like their spirit, but there is something fundamentally human about what they did. As a parent I look to the future for my children and I wonder what kind of world will they live in, and will that world be one where greed, power, and selfishness prevail, or will it be a world where the basic needs of human life take precedence over corporate profits? It’s easy to get sappy, and I can’t say I’m an expert on either global warming or pollution, but I have to say one thing my MBA taught me is that you cannot trust any publicly traded corporation to willingly diminish it potential profits for the sake of my wellbeing, your wellbeing, or the wellbeing of my children and yours.
>Björk on television
>Whenever I need a dose of wisdom I always turn first to the profound thoughts of pop stars. And what better source of pop star wisdom than Björk.
pilgrimakimbo 