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When my parents first sent me away to summer camp I was less than impressed. I cried for two weeks beforehand but even my 13 year-old antics made no difference. I was still sent – and I really can’t blame my parents, I needed to get away from some of my friends at the time! I didn’t send a single letter home in the two weeks that I was away – my poor parents had no idea what to expect when they picked me up and, I suspect, feared the worst. Luckily, I loved it and returned for at least 10 more summers! I am hoping to send more letters “home” from Camp Magic Macguffin this summer.
I have just caught up on this week’s Daily Creates that deal with photos. Videos should be an upcoming cabin activity!
These critters have nightly pool parties in our pond and are often available for a photo-op. This photo was taken with a borrowed htc One phone – its not nearly as clear as my iPhone pictures.
I know that I was supposed to trace my face but all my attempts were really pathetic so I resorted to using the sketch effect in the free photo editing app Be Funky.
Finally, here’s my representation of the moon photo. Funny how all cameras have flashes but I find pictures taken without a flash are much better. I’m hoping that the snow effect looks like stars or space debris!
For today’s Daily Create which asks us to represent the moon somehow, I immediately thought of the Three Moon Wolf shirt, which is an internet phenomenon that Tom Woodward turned me onto more than a year ago. In short, the Amazon page for this somewhat cheesy t-shirt design has become the inspiration for a comment campaign that has earned this piece of clothing a kind of internet cult status. According to many the shirt has magical qualities that are bestowed to any who wear it. This mythology around the Three Wolf Moon shirt was born out of the more than 2400 product reviews, add to that 48,000 users voting on the comment narrative and you have a pretty compelling example of freeform participatory storytelling. And after all that the shirt still has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon. It’s one of those fascinating cases where the most unlikeliest of stories plays out in the comment fields of a seemingly unremarkable item on a commercial site.
This is the web’s greatest Moon.
And then there is Paul Bond’s Keith Moon which hit the mark for me.
First, I see Alan’s video about being in Canada with “corporate.” Then, Martha is hard to find (is she ever HERE?? — I hear she has a “history” of sorts). Then, some person posts an image on The Daily Create that looks as though it was ripped from my nightmare last night:
Hatchet Jack is a little too “friendly,” if you ask me. Especially after dark. And a girl can’t be too careful.
Is it just me, or does it seem like there’s something going on under the surface here that just doesn’t feel right? I’m starting to sleep with my footlocker on the bed with me. I’ve taken to hoarding food in my bunk because I’m afraid to go to the mess hall – and Sloppy Joes do NOT make good bunkmates, let me tell you.
Something’s got to be done to make us all feel safer, but it feels like no one’s in charge. Maybe after I’ve got my bunk assignments settled, I’ll feel better.
Long day of recording ahead tomorrow — lots of tracks to lay down for the “Under Pressure” project. So I’m going try to sleep now…
…fancying a little Wild Irish Rose…
…Darn you Hatchet Jack!
Thinking about thinking has been a mild passion of mine for the past couple of years. It began when I had the opportunity to learn about Derek Cabrera’s work with the Patterns of Thinking. I’ve written about it before and continue to think about it in planning and teaching.
One of the things Derek often talks about is the need to focus on the content we are teaching AND the way students are thinking about that content. It seems he is not alone in this sentiment:
Helping my students learn about their own thinking and reflect on it is one of my greatest goals as a teacher. Helping them think better, whether that means becoming a more critical consumer of information, asking questions as they observe the world, defending their own ideas, or trying different perspectives, is the greatest gift I can give them.
I came across this through Dot Physics, a blog written by physics professor Rhett Alain. I read (or at least skim) every post because of his fascination with the world around him, his willingness to ask any question and try to figure out the answer, and his fabulous writing. The physics goes way over my head.
Daily Create 139. Moon Collaboration. Carley and I made a picture of the moon waiting for our food. (Taken with Instagram at Steak ‘n Shake)
Flickr image by cogdogblog
Gardner Campbell has a nice beard. So does Hatchet Jack and that makes us compadres. Gardner Campbell also don’t like face lifts and ol” Hatchet Jack is not really into the boutique facial look and plastics either. So Jack likes Gardner.
But Jack thinks the internet is like a bowl of mush. Now it ain’t the mush whats important, its the dang bowl. Cuz during our lifetimes of travel, and lord knows Hatchet Jack has wandered, we come acrost many a campsite and many a companions. And some enemies too. Now all them folks have something to offer. Bullets or food or drink and for the better of those options you’ll be wanting a bowl to put that stuff in so you can eat it.
Ya can’t be lookin a gift horse in the mouth, and sometimes ya will want to organize the mush. That is if ya can’t stands the beef mixed up with the beans. And if you carefully place the stuff in yer bowl, and use yer fork, if ya got one, or yer knife to kinda move stuff around, you can divide it up so the stuff don’t get all mixed up. Now Hatchet Jack prefers it all mixed up, and heaps of it, so a bowl works just fine. No need for a plate or a platter or what have ya. Christ, Jack feels lucky to have a damn bowl at all cuz for many years he didn’t have one and eatin’ off yer pants or a plank of wood gets a bit messy.
So, having yer own bowl is important as you travel about. A good bowl that you can paint yer own colors and carve yer name in! A good sharp hatchet also helps cuz ya never know who might come try to take yer saddle or yer bowl. You’ll be wanting to chop their frickin hand off if they try that and a hatchet work great for that sort of thing. That is what Hatchet Jack thinks.
water sprinkler, memorial day weekend (Taken with Instagram at Salem Fields Community)
I’ve lived in my apartment for two years and I have yet to put anything up on the walls in my room. I tried to hang to some frames on the wall with those adhesive hooks but, I think the combination of the old plaster walls and paint led to nothing sticking very well. So here I am, going on my third year at the apartment with empty white walls.
A few days ago the Daily Create prompt led me to tracing my face using some paper and pencil. I enjoyed the process of drawing so much that I kept on drawing. I’ve always been a doodler (just take one look at my notebooks from classes) and I like drawing but, I’ve never been in the habit of consistently drawing. It is one of my regrets when I was younger that I did not pursue taking art lessons. I had some talent and interest but, it was never in the cards that I would pursue it. So what does this have to do with my blank walls? Well, I decided that I would use one of my walls as a collage wall of sorts. I’m going to start drawing and making things and hanging them up. The desire to see something on my walls will give me the push I need to start creating and letting things flow. Also, there is something about being able to see work and progress sitting in front of you that you just don’t get by viewing it on a screen or only in your mind. I consider the wall a temporary cork board of sorts, a place to get messy but, it doesn’t have to be permanent. So, lets make art dammit! I’ll post thing as they progress (and actually as of this post there are already new things up) and maybe if some of you have some wall space of your own you can follow suit.
After several attempts over the past few days, I feel I’m finally getting a sense of how to make animated GIFs that have smooth looping motion with an economical files size. This jumping GIF was pulled from a four second video capture at 4 frames per second. From the 16 frames that were created, only eight were used. I’ve discovered that an even number of frames will make turning the GIF into a texture file to be taken back in to Second Life is preferable. Incidently, using GIMP, I’ve set the delay rate between frames at 280 milliseconds.
Now that I’m getting a better handle on this process, I hope to be able to write up a useful tutorial with screen captures later this week.
The backdrop image is from Earle Berkey’s May 1951 cover of Startling Stories. It is apropos of nothing in particular other than trying to conform to the spaceflight aesthetic that seems to be emerging at the Always Be Reflecting parcel.
Sorry, but camp is over! Head over to ds106
The Campfires have all been put out.
Camp is now over (see the final story. If you are craving an experience like this, head over to ds106 and see how to participate. For more on the Summer of Magic Macguffin, see.....
