kathleen forden

2011 in Review

The good, the bad, the ugly…the truth in a more uplifting format if you will.

Thanks to F! I’m in my Twenties for the graphic

I was just cruising the web and found Hugh MacLeod’s gallery again.  It’s been a couple of years since I first saw his work so finding it again last night felt like a new discovery all over.

I’ll share one of his “scribbles” with you here.  Check out all his recent work from SXSW 2010, I really liked the US map as I’m a true “yankee “but now live in what he refers to as the “boring” part of the states.  (I don’t disagree).

Check out his site here: http://gapingvoidgallery.com/

I just got home from a business trip to Seattle. I’m sorry I missed TEDx Phoenix tonight in Mesa. I’ve been a fan of TED for a few years now and was excited to hear about the Phoenix edition.  Here’s one of my favorite TEDs

Wordle example of blog

I love seeing data in a Visual Data Diagrams almost as much as I love Augmented Reality.  It’s become my second biggest interest in emerging technologies lately.

Thank you IBM Research for allowing Jonathan Feinberg, the ability to reuse code he wrote on your dime to develop this awesome, fun, cool, educational application.

Try it – you too will fall in love – http://www.wordle.net/

<from the site>
Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.</from the site>

<excerpt from Wikipedia> The stone is said to have been presented to Cormac McCarthy by Robert the Bruce in 1314 in recognition of his support in the Battle of Bannockburn;[1] popular legend holds that this was a piece of the Stone of Scone. This stone was then installed at McCarthy’s castle of Blarney. When the castle was rebuilt in 1446, Dermot McCarthy had the stone preserved in the new castle.

The proprietors of Blarney Castle list several explanations other than the Stone of Scone for the ancient origins of the stone, many of which suppose that the Stone had previously been in Ireland but was then taken to Scotland and returned to Ireland in 1314.[1] The theories listed include those that the stone:

* was part of the wailing wall in Jerusalam brought to Ireland during the Crusades.
* was half of the original Stone of Scone – presented to Cormac McCarthy by Robert the Bruce in 1314 in recognition of his support in the Battle of Bannockburn.[1].
* was the stone that Jacob used as a pillow, and was brought to Ireland by the prophet Jeremiah.
* was the pillow used by St. Columba of Iona on his deathbed.
* was the Stone of Ezel, which David hid behind on Jonathan’s advice, while fleeing from King Saul, and may have been brought back to Ireland during the Crusades.
* was the rock that Moses struck with his staff to produce water for the Israelites, during their flight from Egypt.
* was related to the stone was known as the Lia Fáil or “Stone of Destiny” – part of the king’s throne, with mysterious powers.

None of these provenance stories account for why a stone of such significance and antiquity would be used in the construction of a fifteenth century castle, inconspicuously incorporated into an exterior wall and exposed to the elements. Apart from discoloration and wear caused by human contact, the stone is not readily distinguishable from its neighbors. </excerpt from Wikipedia>

Microsoft asked INVIVIA to come up with two extreme concept videos about augmented realities. What would we be able to do if the digital and real world were seamlessly combined?  These are what they came up with.

Old Adage, originally uploaded by Aen Tan.

Still holds true.

Think Culture Europeana

Great interactive museum online with works of art from throughout Europe

Posted via web from kforden.com