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SWOSU Campus Security
Policy Statement Addressing Security and Access
During business hours, SWOSU will be open to students, parents, employees, contractors, guests, and invitees. During non-business hours access to all SWOSU facilities is by key, if issued, or by admittance via the SWOSU Campus Police. In the case of periods of extended closing, the university will admit only those with prior written approval to all facilities.
Some facilities may have individual hours, which may vary at different times of the year. these facilities may be secured according to schedules developed by the department responsible for the facility.
Emergencies may necessitate changes or alterations to any posted schedules. Areas that are revealed as problematic have security surveys conducted of them. Administrators from the Dean's Office, Physical Plant, and other concerned areas review these results. These surveys examine security issues such as landscaping, locks, alarms, lighting, and communications. Additionally, during the academic year, the Directors of Facilities Management, SWOSU Campus Police, and Maintenance meet monthly to discuss issues of pressing concern.


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Retrospect: Two Years Later
When choosing an MBA, there are several factors that you have to take into consideration. Does the programme fit into my personal and career development plan? Can I afford the programme? What are the pros and cons to doing this MBA versus the other? And the list goes on. Every current and past student has had to make their list of why to choose St.Gallen and it was no different for Toronto-native, James Kurz, Full-time MBA alumnus class of 2011.
James started his education with a Bachelor in a dual degree in Economics and Commerce at the University of Toronto. Post-graduation, he worked briefly in the banking industry then shifted into medical technology. Within the medtech field, he executed consulting and market research projects covering various global market segments and technologies for a leading medtech business research firm.
After gaining several years of professional experience, he decided it was time to pursue his MBA. Deciding on where to study is not to be taken lightly and there are countless factors to take into account; James chose the St.Gallen MBA for the following reasons:
1. As a stepping stone to international work experience
2. To change industry: ideally he wanted to pursue a career in clean energy or sustainability and St.Gallen had great professors and offered courses on sustainability, something many MBAs did not offer
3. Studying in the German-speaking part of Europe was also a bonus as he has some German heritage and had previously studied basic German in Toronto
What are your lasting impressions and memories from your time at the MBA?
I had a great time in St.Gallen. I had the privilege to build strong friendships with incredible people from around the world. The class in general was full of accomplished, interesting and smart individuals, many of whom made a lasting impression on me. St.Gallen is a small town and sometimes there is not much to do, but with a great group of people, it is easy to have a fun time.
I was also very much impressed by the quality of the instructors. Most were highly accomplished professors who also had significant non-academic business experience. The small class size made it easier to directly interact with and learn from professors. As for some specific memories:
- A group of us organised weekly basketball
- A great sledding trip in the mountains graciously organized by two Swiss colleagues
- Travelling to Denmark with 3 other students to develop a case study with a large wind power company. During the trip we were given access to top level people in the company and the resulting case study was used in a future class.
What happened after graduation?
Post MBA life, especially for non-European people, can be difficult with regard to job hunting. After several months of searching (and burning money!), I decided to return to Canada and continue my search there. A couple of weeks before my flight, however, I got a call from a Berlin-based company I had applied to earlier. The position I initially applied for wasn't the right fit, but I had followed up with a call discussing my application and they remembered me when a more appropriate position came open. I did a telephone interview with them, then - two days before my flight - a second interview in Berlin and a week later (in Canada) got an offer from them. That should be a big lesson learned for any MBA grad: always follow up after any application.
What do you currently do?
For a little over a year now, I have worked as a consultant for Apricum, based in Berlin. We are a strategy consultancy (offering many similar services to, e.g., BCG or McKinsey) with a sole focus on renewable energy. Examples of the types of projects we do are building market entry strategies, developing technology commercialization strategies, merger and acquisition advisory and more.
How did the MBA help with your career?
The MBA helped me secure my current position because of the following:
- The HSG brand helped with my application
- It is a well-known university in the German speaking region
- I learned a lot from the classes, specifically the renewable energy and sustainability ones
- The many renewable energy-related opportunities that St.Gallen had to offer (e.g., internships, clubs, extra credit assignments) allowed me to demonstrate my industry interest
Any last remarks?
I'm happy to say that, even though it was a wild roller-coaster ride, it mostly went according to plan. I wanted to work in Europe and change industry by working in the energy field. In the end, it was a great outcome, although it came close to not happening. An MBA is a big investment of time and money; make sure to look at the risks and rewards of such an investment carefully and be sure to have a fallback option. Another key thing to point out is, although Career Services at St.Gallen are friendly, qualified and dedicated, there is only so much that they can do for you; they give you the tools with the instruction manual and we have to make the effort to read the manual and use the tools.
back to overview

subset: commoncrawl


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Colorado Ghost Town Books/Maps
Wild Horse Colorado Townsite - Ghost town
I ran across this town sort of unexpected. It derived it's name from a nearby creek. The creek was a watering hole for the wild mustangs that once roamed the area. Apparently the wild horses were plentiful and made the earth tremble as they charged across the plains. The legends suggest that they were descendants of the horses brought to America by Spanish explorers. The Spanish called them "bronchos".
Photos courtesy of Mike Sinnwell December 2007
A viewer writes 12/2008 - I was just browsing around on this thing and ran across your web site. I live in the town of Wild Horse and i really do appreciate your putting it on your site. Our town burnt down in 1917 and was rebuilt. there was only one house left standing on the east side of main street. the others on main were moved in by horses after the fire from other parts of the town. jim lafferty
Some December 2008 Update Photos Courtesy Mike Sinnwell
A viewer writes Sunday, November 22, 2009 Checking out your pictures, love them. My grandpa William H. Pfalzgraff settled in Wildhorse, Colorado and my father Wilburt H. Pfalzgraff was born there on April 25, 1910. My family had a hotel called the Pfalzgraff Hotel which burned down during the fire. My grandpa moved to Spiritfalls, Wisconsin around 1917, I assume after the fire. Keep up the good work. Willie Pfalzgraff
A viewer writes. - Tuesday, December 29, 2009 My father Anthony James Reymann was born in Wildhorse Colorado in 1907. Since he died when I was nine in 1963 I didn't get the chance to find out much about Wildhorse. If the town burned in 1917 were birth records saved? Is the town still there? I would like to visit someday. His fathers name was William Reymann. They moved to Denver I don't know the date , but it was said that my grandpa was a volunteer firemen in Denver. If anyone has info please email me at email@example.com
A viewer writes - Sunday, April 03, 2011 -- looking through the Pfalzgraff site and ran into your site. Wild Horse is part of my children's family history. (Herman Otto, John Hugo), Karl Johan and sisters Christina, Jennifer and Elizabeth would have the most information. I will pass this site on to him. Neat photos. Nancy White
A viewer writes - Tuesday, May 17, 2011 -- Great pictures. My dad talked about Wild Horse and he had visited there when he was a kid. My Grand Father was Herman Otto Pfalzgraff. All the old picture I have were taken of Deer Creek Minnesota, where my Grand father/ great grandfather lived before going to Wild Horse to help build the town. So thank you for the great picture of Wild Horse. Karl Pfalzgraff
A viewer writes - Thursday, August 02, 2012 -- Well I wrote back in 2009 saying my dad Anthony James Reymann was born in Wildhorse in 1907, and someday I would like to visit . Well today that wish came true took pictures and spoke to Curtis and Kevin! Learned a lot from the two great gentlemen!
A viewer writes - Friday, August 17, 2012 -- My grandparents met in Wild Horse and my mother was born there. My grandfather, T.J. McNevin founded and published the newspaper The Wild Horse Times. He also sold real estate and worked hard to promote the area. Alison St Paul, MN
A viewer writes - Friday, February 21, 2014 -- I remember visiting Wild Horse as a child. Was there once for a town celebration. My grandmother moved there in 1948 with her 3 youngest children and taught school in various schools in the area. We would stop and visit Curtis and Leona and family on the way through from Kit Carson to Hugo. Kit Carson was home to great uncle Hooley and Hugo was home by that time to my grandmother Agnes.
A viewer writes - Wednesday, May 07, 2014 - About a year or so ago, when I was working on my first novel, I was looking for a small Colorado town to base as the main characters' home town. In my research, I came across the story of Wild Horse. But, in my story, the town didn't vanish; it became a thriving railroad and cattle community, a stop on Amtrak and the home of the annual Wild Horse Stampede, an annual rodeo and western show akin to the Brush rodeo. -- Jeff email@example.com
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Footnotes for David Evan's Piece on Marijuana Legalization
These are the sources cited in David Evan's contribution to the Wonk Wars discussion on marijuana legalization.
[FN1] http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/why-should-we-care-about-cannabis.html; The Occurrence of Cannabis Use Disorders and Other Cannabis Related Problems Among First Year College Students, Addictive Behaviors 33(3):397-411, March 2008;Compton, Dewey & Martin, Cannabis dependence and tolerance production, Advances in Alcohol and Substance Abuse 1990:9:129-147; Miller & Gold, The diagnosis of marijuana cannabis dependence, Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 1989:6:183-192; Clayton & Leukefeld, The prevention of drug use among youth: implications' of legalization, Journal of Prevention 1992:12:289-302; Kaplan, Martin, Johnson & Robbins, Escalation of marijuana use: Application of a general theory of deviant behavior, Journal of Health and Social Behavior 1986:27:44-61; Bailey, Flewelling & Rachal, Predicting continued use of marijuana among adolescents: the relative influence of drug-specific and social context factors, Journal of Health and Social Behavior 1992:33:51-66; Regular or Heavy Use of Cannabis Was Associated with Increased Risk of Using Other Illicit Drugs Addiction, 2006; 101:556-569; As Marijuana Use Rises, More People Are Seeking Treatment for Addiction -Wall Street Journal, 2 May 2006; Twenty-Five Year Longitudinal Study Affirms Link Between Marijuana Use and Other Illicit Drug Use - Congress of the United States,14 March 2006; New Study Reveals Marijuana is Addictive and Users Who Quit Experience Withdrawal - All Headline News, 6 February 2007; Cannabis Withdrawal Among Non-Treatment-Seeking Adult Cannabis Users -The American Journal on Addiction, 2006; 15:8-14; Escalation of Drug Use in Early Onset Cannabis Users Vs. Co-twin Controls - Journal of the American Medical Association, 2003; 289:4
[FN2] New Report Finds Highest-Ever Levels of THC in US Marijuana, June 12, 2008, http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/news/press08/061208.html
[FN3] The Netherlands Drug Situation 2007 - National Drug Monitor, European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction 2008, pgs. 107 and 108
[FN4] Non-medical Marijuana: Rite of Passage or Russian Roulette? July 1999 obtained at website www.casacolumbia.org; The Occurrence of Cannabis Use Disorders and Other Cannabis Related Problems Among First Year College Students, Addictive Behaviors 33(3):397-411, March 2008.
[FN5] What Americans Need to Know about Marijuana. Office of National Drug Control Policy. October 2003. Page 9.; The DEA Position On Marijuana, DEA.gov
[FN6] Birth Defects - Risk of Selected Birth Defects with Prenatal Illicit Drug Use, Hawaii, 1986-2002, Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A, 70: 7-18, 2007
Pain - Too Much Cannabis Worsens Pain - BBC News, 24 October 2007; Study Finds that Marijuana Won't Stop Multiple Sclerosis Pain - Neurology, 2002; 58:1404-1407
Respiratory System Damage - Marijuana Associated with Same Respiratory Symptoms as Tobacco, YALE News Release. 13 January 2005. www.yale.edu/opa/newsr/05-01-13-01.all.htm (14 January 2005); Marijuana Smoke Contains Higher Levels of Certain Toxins Than Tobacco Smoke, Science Daily, December 18, 2007; Marijuana Smokers Face Rapid Lung Destruction - As Much as 20 Years Ahead of Tobacco Smokers, Science Daily, January 27, 2008; Respiratory and Immunologic Consequences of Marijuana Smoking - Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 2002; 42:71S-81S
Cancer - Association Between Marijuana Use and Transitional Cell Carcinoma - Adult Urology, 2006; 100-104
AIDS/HIV - Marijuana Component Opens The Door For Virus That Causes Kaposi's Sarcoma -Science Daily, 2 August 2007
Brain Damage - Neurotoxicology; Neurocognitive Effects of Chronic Marijuana Use Characterized. Health & Medicine Week. 16 May 2005; Marijuana May Affect Blood Flow in Brain - Reuters, 7 February 2005;
Strokes - More Evidence Ties Marijuana to Stroke Risk - Reuters Health, 22 February 2005
Immune System Damage - Immunological Changes Associated with Prolonged Marijuana Smoking -American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, 17 November 2004
Mental Illness, Schizophrenia, Depression - Kearney, Simon. Cannabis is Worst Drug for Psychosis. The Australian. 21 November 2005; Curtis, John. Study Suggests Marijuana Induces Temporary Schizophrenia-Like Effects. Yale Medicine. Fall/Winter 2004; Cannabis-Related Schizophrenia Set to Rise, Say Researchers - Science Daily, 26 March 2007; Report: Using Pot May Heighten Risk of Becoming Psychotic - Associated Press, 26 July 2007; Marijuana Linked to Schizophrenia, Depression - British Medical Journal, 21 November 2007; Anterior Cingulate Grey-Matter Deficits and Cannabis Use in First-Episode Schizophrenia The British Journal of Psychiatry, 2007; 190: 230-236; Marijuana Increases the Risk of Both Psychosis In Non-Psychotic People As Well As Poor Prognosis For Those With Risk of Vulnerability to Pyschoses American Journal of Epidemiology, 2002; 156:319-327; Psychophysiological Evidence of Altered Neural Synchronization in Cannabis Use: Relationship to Schizotypy Am J Psychiatry, 2006; 163:1798-1805
Violence - Cannabis 'Linked to Aggression' - Scotsman.com News, Press Association 2006; Marijuana Had a Greater Effect on Increasing the Degree of Violent Behavior in Non-Delinquent Individuals Than in Delinquent Individuals - J Addict. Dis. 2003; 22:63-78
Infertility - Marijuana Firmly Linked to Infertility - Scientific American, 22 December 2000
Hepatitis - Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology 2008, Vol. 6, No.1, pages 69-75, captioned Influence of Cannabis use on Severity of Hepatitis C Disease


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The almost appropriately named Dam Toys company, based out of Hong Kong, makes toys you wouldn't expect from Chinese company; they specialize in 1/6 scale action figures of the US Army. That's right, a Chinese company making US Army-themed toys.
Many of the figures produced by Dam Toys are based on different soldiers, everything from regular infantry to marines, but they also make their own line of gangster figures, which are relatively new to their catalog. These gangster figures look almost as if they've stepped out of a Rockstar game.
Perhaps the most awesome thing about these toys is that they're so detailed. For instance, the 12-inch US navy seal corpsman has a medical supply set in its backpack, which opens up. In the medical supply set, there are miniature bandages and tools—the scissors actually work!
While they're currently focusing their toy lines on the US military, Dam Toys says they're looking into expanding their gangster line, as well as designing a Chinese military figure.


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For better or for worse, the red carpet at the Oscars is undoubtedly the most buzzed about of the year. It's the last and biggest awards show of the season, so the stars are pretty much required to bring out their A-game. Unfortunately, that doesn't always work out, and so without further ado, we bring you the worst Oscar looks of all time.
We complain about yawn-worthy nude gowns and matchy-matchy red dresses, but the following looks take it to the next level. Take a gander below, and tell us if we missed anyone:
Cher in Bob Mackie
n of 14
Image title
this is some kind of spaceship or something.


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'X Factor' Teen Lands Major Nickelodeon TV Deal & Recording Contract
- Rachel Crow may not have won "X Factor," but she is now poised to make several dreams come true all at once. She has scored a talent deal with Nickelodeon that includes ...
- Read more
Fred Figglehorn is a character that was created by (and played by) teenager Lucas Cruikshank, became a viral sensation on the Internet and eventually was the centerpiece of two made-for-TV movies on Nickelodeon. Now, Fred has his own show on Nick, appropriately titled "Fred: The Show." Every day is an adventure, both at home and at school, for Fred. As he tries to traverse teenage life, Fred is apt to cause mayhem -- it wouldn't be an adventure without mayhem, right? Bertha is Fred's best friend, his trusty sidekick even when it means following him into a bit of a pickle. Not so friendly to Fred is next-door neighbor Kevin, a nemesis who tries to make Fred lose his marbles (which sometimes works). If Fred finds himself in some kind of trouble, chances are it was Kevin who caused it.


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I was delighted to receive an invitation recently, to visit the tiny French Appellation of Les Baux de Provence, a rugged, windswept area that nestles to the west of the Alpilles mountain range in the Mediterranean south. The occasion was the annual "Fête Les Vignerons", a wonderful celebration of local food and wine.
Les Baux sits in a beautiful little corner of Provence at the mouth of the Rhône. This is an area instantly familiar from the paintings of Cézanne and Van Gogh, where chalky white limestone outcrops on bauxite hills rise from a scrub-land of wild thyme and lavender, scattered with neat parcels of ancient vines and groves of olive trees (the mineral Bauxite, used in the production of aluminium, takes its name from the village). Visiting the area is easy for the UK wine lover, with low-cost airline Ryanair flying directly from London Stanstead to Nîmes, a pleasant one-hour drive away.
Les Baux itself is a fascinating hilltop village, most of it dating from before the 16th century, some from the 10th century. The narrow village road climbs steeply from the car parking
area, as you wander through labyrinthine streets, heading ever upward towards the ruined Citadel of Les Baux. On my visit the Mistral was blowing the proverbial gale, but Les Baux
thankfully has several cafés and restaurants within its ancient walls, offering some respite. Les Baux is an area of polyculture, with almost all farms growing olives and bottling
fine estate olive oils (also an AOC product), as well as producing other fruits and nuts. The unspoilt beauty of the area is quite uplifting, and
the wine estates extend a warm welcome to visitors.
The Appellation Contrôlée area of Les Baux de Provence was created less than a decade ago. It separates this enclave
from the larger Côteax-d'Aix-en-Provence AOC for reds and rosés, whilst for the moment whites remain under the larger AOC. Vines planted here are mostly typical of the southern
Rhône, including Mourvèdre, Syrah, Grenache, Carignan, Cinsault and Counois for reds, with Rolle, Clairette and Ugni Blanc for whites. There are
also plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Sémillon.
left: Mas de la Dame as painted by Van Gogh in 1889
Because this is a tiny appellation of only a dozen estates, it would be easy to think of it as a winemaking backwater. Indeed, the wines tend to display an element of rusticity, with
a deal of grippy tannin and little truck with flattering, sweet new oak. For palates schooled on the reds of the New World, or modern Vins de Pays from the nearby region of
the Languedoc, these wines might be accused of having a slightly old-fashioned character. But this style should not be confused with poor winemaking or lack of quality: over my few days of drinking these wines
I began to appreciate these wines more and more for what they are: wines made to be drunk with food, where that suggestion of rusticity was transformed into a wonderfully
supple, savoury appealing wines, including some of profound quality.
But there are changes afoot too, which depending on your point of view, might worry or delight you. The producers of Les Baux have
kept a watchful eye on their neighbours in the south, where plantings of "international" varieties are increasing rapidly, especially Syrah. In some of the estates - Château d'Estoublon
and Mas Sainte Berthe for example - the cellars have acquired new oak barrels. The traditional foudres - large, old-wood vats - are still employed almost universally,
but barrique fermentation, lees-stirring, and all the techniques of modern fine-wine making are gradually gaining ground. Special cuvées, both red and white, are being
produced which are much more international in character, to sit alongside more traditional styles. The barrel-fermented Coin-Caché white and red of Mas de la
Dame (with help from consultant oenologist Jean-Luc Columbo), or the Cuvée Louis David from Mas Sainte-Berthe, are examples of deluxe bottlings that are aiming for
a premium position and more international market.
Visiting the dozen estates of the region can easily be done in a couple of days by car. Making appointments is recommended, as not all estates
have official visitor centres, and invariably it will be the winemaker who will greet you, or some other important member of the workforce. One estate that is well set-up to receive visitors is also one of the most stunning: the
biodynamic estate of Château Romanin. Romanin's cellars are carved deep into the rock face, a wonderfully atmospheric cave, where the story of bio-dynamic winemaking is
told via displays around the walls and vats of maturing wine. There is a large, modern visitor's centre, shop and tasting bar. Drop-in visitors are welcomed.
Much work is going on in nearby Château d'Estoublon, where new owners the Schneider family are restoring both the 14th century house, and vineyard holdings. Estoublon is renowned for its olive oil, but now under the direction of Rèmy Reboul there is equal emphasis on regaining a once considerable reputation for wine. Eloi Dürbach of Domaine de Trévallon is a consultant. It is interesting that Trévallon, though without doubt the biggest name of this tiny enclave, produces his wines under the humble Vin de Pays appellation. The reason? He has refused to plant Grenache Noir in favour of the Cabernet and Syrah that make up his famous red blend, so does not qualify for AOC status.
Les Baux is fascinating little microcosm of the world of winemaking into the 21st century, where age-old traditions and methods are being forced to rub-shoulders with new thinking and technology. Whilst some areas - great swathes of the Languedoc for example - seem to have gone hell for leather after modernisation, it is, and will be, fascinating to observe the development of the wines from this tiny, relatively isolated region. All the signs from my visit show that there is wonderful quality in the vineyards here, and a group of like-minded and dedicated winemakers who are trying, perhaps even struggling, to accept the need for change, whilst preserving the very real qualities of their traditions.
They are doing a fine job so far of balancing tradition and modern wine tastes. As I said, I grew to appreciate
these wines more and more, especially when drunk with good food: they offer a huge amount of character and quality for modest prices, and represent a fine
balance between the old and the new. The wines of Les Baux are worth keeping an eye on - and well worth trying if you have the chance.
Left: the producers of Les Baux, with guest of honour, chef superstar Pierre Troisgros
|click here for tasting notes on the wines of Les Baux
Domaine de Terres-Blanches
13210 St Rémy-de-Provence
Tel: (33) 490 95 91 66; Fax: (33) 490 95 99 04
Château d'Estoublon-Mogador
13990 Fontvieille
Tel: (33) 490 54 64 00; Fax: (33) 490 54 64 01
Château Dalmeran
13103 Saint-Etienne-du-Grés
Tel: (33) 490 49 04 04; Fax: (33) 490 49 15 39
Domaine Hauvette
chemin du Trou-des-Boeufs, la haute Galine
13210 St Rémy-de-Provence
Tel: (33) 490 92 03 90; Fax: (33) 490 92 08 91
Domaine De Lauzieres
13890 Mouries
Tel: (33) 490 47 62 88; Fax: (33) 490 47 62 89
Mas de la Dame
13520 Les Baux-de-Provence
Tel: (33) 490 54 32 24;
Fax: (33) 490 54 40 67
Mas de Gourgonnier
Le Destet, 13890 Mouries
Tel: (33) 490 47 50 45; Fax: (33) 490 47 51 36
Mas Sainte Berthe
13520 Les Baux-de-Provence
Tel: (33) 490 54 39 01; Fax: (33) 490 54 46 17
Domaine Olivier d'Auge
13990 Fontvieille
Tel: (33) 490 54 62 95; Fax: (33) 490 54 67 63
Château de Romanin
13210 St Rémy-de-Provence
Tel: (33) 490 92 45 87; Fax: (33) 490 92 24 36
Domaine de la Vallongue
Quartier de la Vallongue, 13810 Eyguières
Tel: (33) 490 95 91 70; Fax: (33) 490 95 97 76


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E-volver is a software that invites an "image-breeding-machine" and a human "gardener" to collaborate together. While the machine has no notion of the aesthetic qualities of the evolved images, the human can barely understand what internal processes are taking place.
It all begins with a an incoherent tangle of moving lines and points and colored planes, and on the basis of the user's personal preferences, this gradually evolves into a more coherent image.
The software generates artificial 'organisms' measuring one pixel. Each 'organism' is made up of genes that determine how the organism will 'behave' on the monitor. The genes read the properties of the surrounding pixels and, based on what they find, tell the organism what to do and where to move next.
Each image is like a garden in which newly-cultivated plants are left to their own devices. The way images look is not only a result of the collective behavior of the organisms, but also the result of the users. By using touching the screen, visitors can influence the visual patterns displayed on the monitors. They can deactivate one of the four pixel gardens. Voting out the least exciting images devalues those particular genes and upgrades the genes of the three surviving pixel gardens. In other words a group of organisms evolves that contains properties that generate the most pleasing collective image. That is, until the computer "resets'', which happens when a predetermined number of votes has been cast. And then the whole process begins again.
E-volver monitors have been installed at the Leiden University Medical Center (NL). The work echoes the research that takes place in the LUMC. Whereas the scientists are mainly focused on biochemistry, genetics and the evolution of biological life, the installation shows how autonomous processes such as growth and evolution, which can maybe be understood theoretically but which are never directly perceptible in daily life, can be perceptible on a sensory level.
A work by Erwin Driessens & Maria Verstappen, of Tickle Salon the fame.
Via re-qualia.
Nicholas Zambetti has just graduated from Interaction Design Institute Ivrea and i have no worry about this guy's future. Have a look at some of the projects he's been working on during his studies and you'll see what i mean: the Egg, Quattro alarm clock, Zen in a stone and Arduino.
His thesis project is another confirmation of his talent. Occasional Coincidences looks at how systems that recognize and present meaningful coincidences can be designed.
In the past, scheduled TV and radio broadcasts carried with them an implicit occasion. Housewives would schedule their tea time to enjoy a soap opera. Upon hearing the introduction to their favorite detective show, children would rush to their room in search of their secret decoder ring. After the dinnertime variety show, fathers would sit by the radio or television for the nightly news. These now quaint examples of media occasion demonstrate how scheduled media broadcasts stimulated popular discussion and supported social behavior indicative of commonalities of interest.
Unlike the collective cultural rhythm fostered by scheduled media broadcasts, today's on-demand media has encouraged media isolationism.. We've become immersed in ourselves, fiddling with personal media players loaded with enormous amounts of music and video in hopes of crafting the perfect soundtrack to our daily lives.
However, the personal nature of our media selections offers opportunities to build meaningful media-related social behaviors and relationships. Coincidences of media selection can be a meaningful indication of similarity between people and can act as a mechanism to reintroduce media-centered social occasions.
Zambetti designed two retro-looking objects and a software that recognize synchronous coincidences as they occur. For him, coincidence-awareness supports the personification of objects and software, deepening our relationship with them.
The Timely Speaker is a modified hi-fi speaker that turns digital music into a messaging channel between people. Messages are attached to songs, delivered and printed only if the recipient plays the song during a date or time interval specified by the sender.
Synch Television sparks dialog between friends who happen to be watching related TV shows or movies (perhaps movies made in the '60s or TV shows of the same series) at the same moment. When the tv kit detects a coincidence, it informs you of its existence and nature. The special antenna would bend and rotate, pointing in the compass direction of the other people involved, indicating you are tuned into each other's 'channel'. Touching the trembling antenna would cause it to calm down and display an on-screen message that would say, for example, "Coincidence Found: Your friend Myriel is watching a movie by the director who made the movie you are watching: Peter Jackson."
The Musincincidence software application enables people to actively search for coincidences on a map. Compositing information as markers on a map, it displays the current and recently played songs of all people connected to the system.
Some of its features:
Born and raised in Silicon Valley, Douglas Edric Stanley has been working for ten years in France as artist, theoretician and researcher in Paris and Aix-en-Provence. He is currently Professor of Digital Arts at the Aix-en-Provence School of Art where he teaches programming, interactivity, networks and robotics. He has taught workshops on the production of code-based art and has shown his work at digital art exhibitions and festivals around the world. He's also a researcher at the laboratory LOEIL in Aix-en-Provence and a PHD candidate of the Laboratory for Interactive Aesthetics at the University of Paris 8 where he explores the evolution of artistic creation in relation to the algorithmisation of the world.
A couple of months ago Douglas Edric Stanley invited me to give a talk at the Ecole Supérieure d'Art d'Aix-en-provence. After having exchanged a few emails with him and seen what he was doing in the School, i felt like he would be a perfect interviewee: not only is his work interesting but he also explains clearly and simply notions and dynamics that so far sounded too complicated (it's very gratifying for a non-nerd like me to finally understand all that without much intellectual effort.) Best of all, he doesn't mind saying what he really thinks.
The interview is somewhat longer than usual. I didn't feel like cutting or doing any kind of editing. It makes a great read and is full of surprising insights and rather bold statements about the (sad) state of new media art in France, making music with your Rubik's Cube, where tangible computing is going to, what it really means to be a "new media artist" and show your stuff at prestigious festival, etc.
Can you tell us something about the abstractmachine research projects you developed for ZeroOne San Jose?
First, a conceptual response. The abstractmachine is just that -- a research project, a platform even -- and not an artwork, per se. One of the theoretical hypotheses I have been exploring over the past decade, and which has recently transformed itself almost into a sortof manifesto, surrounds the idea of an emerging epistême in which modularity reigns, where objects are seized by constantly shifting rules and conditions, and programmable machines create not only a new aesthetic, but even ask the question anew, "what is aesthetics?"
Often we talk about "interactivity", and I might even be a specialist on that subject, at least I probably was once (cf. http://www.abstractmachine.net/lexique). But over time I have come to realize that interactivity is only the tip of the iceberg, and that the idea of building endless gadgets that go BOING! in the dark when you step on them is absolute vanity. At the same time I loathe the contemporary art world's smug distain for these same gadgets, their incapacity to see the emerging field within these often simple, almost childlike objects and installations. So I'm trying to evolve the gadget without throwing out the charm of what takes it beyond its pure gadget status.
Now with that preamble out of the way, let me describe concretely what that means for the ZeroOne Festival. I have proposed four "terminals". There will be a terminal for making music, a terminal for making games, and two terminals dedicated to algorithmic cinema. These terminals are linked to online "emulators", allowing people to use the abstractmachine either online or in a physical context. If all goes well, in San Jose people will be able to access the physical terminals, whereas online people will use the emulators. The experience will not be the same, but they will have advantages one in relation to the other.
While these works address the idea of programming and physical access to algorithms, I'm not interested big massive tentacular interfaces hooked up to cellular automata, modular robotic structures, or massive neural networks linked to some wacky biometric swimsuit. "Algorithm" does not equal complicated mumbo-jumbo. All of the terminals from the abstractmachine are simple, using simple interfaces: a Rubik's Cube for making music, a Gameboy for making games, a Lego webcam for making movies coupled with touchable surface for exploring them. These machines all allow people to play with these media and objects/images/sounds algorithmically. The logic is often that of a puzzle, a toy, a mosaic, while being at the same time a very simple -- but effective -- form of computer programming. These are real algorithms, but manipulated via simple objects and gestures.
The shift to interactivity was historically a profound and sensible one, but what came with it -- the algorithms behind all that interactivity -- was the real shift. But what is an algorithm? Can you hold it? Does it look like anything? Can anyone play with it? The answer is of course yes. Over the years, I've come to realize that this added supplement is actually quite simple, and can be accessed by anyone. In fact, there is nothing really ontologically all that different -- at least from my perspective -- between programming a game and playing it. The developers have just cut us off from the compiler, but we still have a relationship with the source code which we read by playing the game. When you play a game you are just de-programming it, exploring how it was built in reverse. You touch the code, you play it, you put it to work. So why not make that process more apparent to the users? We must absolutely start making the process palpable, and more importantly, palatable.
The most obvious example of how I try to do this is also the most fun. It's called ^3, or simply cubed. The idea is simple: take a Rubik's Cube and make a musical composition instrument out of it. Each face on the cube is a separate instrument, and the colors represent the notes on that instrument. The speeds of each instrument/face, as well as their volume are based on how you position the cube. Each face is played in a loop, just like any other basic electronic music sequencer, and by manipulating the cube you manipulate the sequencer.
The program is free if you use it online, and interface with any MIDI compatible instrument/software. Of course if you come down to the show in San Jose you'll be able to compose using a real-live cube, and even Bring Your Own Rubik's Cube -- hence the latest moniker: BYORC music. I'm just waiting for some goofy speedcubing DJ to interface it into an insane breakcore patch and go apeshit with it. Add to that the visual dimension, where you're modifying your composition algorithmically on the fly, in front of a crowd with a real-live Rubik's Cube, and you've got quite a show.
The idea came to me while watching an Autechre concert. The sound system sucked, and the only goop that filtered through came from the massive looping rhythmic structures. I watched them building these structures, and all I could make out were these little flashing lights running across some rhythm sequencer with adjustable knobs. I suppose there was Max/MSP in there somewhere -- they're famous for it -- but this big linear sequencer really seemed to have a central importance in the construction of the music. Those sequencers are fun, but is this really where we're going with electronic music? Humanity has been at it for over 50 years, and the best we can come up with as an ideal electronic instrument is a 303 Groovebox ¡#@?¿! So I got to thinking of something that would be fun, visual, simple by design, but insanely difficult for the musician to master. Permutate one face and you've just fucked up your perfect rhythm on the others. Each rhythmic and melodic structure gets tied up in a web that can only be mastered by learning the simple but difficult-to-memorize algorithms of the Rubik's Cube. It's a sort of acid-test for electronic music nerds. Let's finally get those knob-twiddlers onto some really-fucking-difficult instruments!
Don't miss the video!
Why this interest for the Rubik cube? Fond childhood memories?
Actually not. I sucked at the Rubik's Cube, and couldn't solve it. My siblings knew how to solve the cube, as did many of my geek friends. And as I grew up in Silicon Valley, right in the heart of the emerging home computer/BBS/video game phenomena, there were indeed quite a few future nerds hanging around who knew how to solve the cube. I had no such talents. I suffered a similar fate when it came to programming. It wasn't until I was studying at the Collège International de Philosophie that I started to realize the ontological importance of these machines and finally got to work figuring them out. So I had to move to Paris -- and study philosophy of all things -- to understand where I came from, and why things like Simon and the Rubik's Cube and Pacman were all part of an emerging culture of the algorithm that I had grown up with.
But even those who grew up in the middle of nowhere know the Rubik's Cube, it is not just a nerd phenomenon. So it's got a tinge of 80's nostalgia, sure, but it's mostly about finding the most well-known interfaces for playing with algorithms, and turning those into instruments.
It's actually a lot of work just keeping up with it all -- each of these axes moves so fast (perhaps with the exception of interactivity) -- and indeed I'm becoming a bit tired trying to follow all these fronts. I gave myself ten years to get a grasp on what's going on. Those ten years are more or less up, and it's time to move on.
That said, these subjects are in fact tied intimately together. To think that you could specialize in interactive graphics without
You can also add a new category to the above list: along with programming and networks and robotics I am currently adding 3D modeling to my arsenal, with a new project to build a commercial video game. This is also one of the reasons I'm really excited about the introduction of Processing into my atelier in Aix-en-Provence. I've always wanted to program in OpenGL with the students, but it was too hard for them to get
So to go back to the list, the current interests are: programming, interactivity, networks, robotics, simulation, and video games. Along with robotics, it is pretty clear by now that there is something happening in video games -- even if they still suffer from everything interactive art suffers from. But unlike interactive art, video games are starting to poke their heads out from under the surface, and I want to explore that. Sony and Microsoft are still totally oblivious, but Nintendo seems to be on to something. I have yet to get my hands on the Wii controller, but if it lives up to its promise, we've definitely taken a step forward in interactivity. And we will have taken a further step into mixing all these fields up.
Basically, I am interested in the algorithmic nature of the computer, in distinction from its digital or computational aspect. When we talk of algorithms, we are talking about the process of the computer, how it can order tasks and activities and adjust itself to incoming data.
This in fact ties in with the previous response. I believe that we can now see that robotics is slowly rendering physical the algorithms that we formerly only knew on-screen, that's why I sometimes speak of the "physicalization" of algorithms, which is different from a materialization which would suggest a more natural process. Robotics is a sort of Application Programming Interface to the physical world, a way of making the physical world accessible to arrays, loops, pointers, boolean operators and subroutines. A few years ago, I went out to get research funding here in France around the idea of robotics as being the next GUI. I called that project "Object-Oriented Objects". The screen is often just a simulation window for something that wants to be physical, and when you see everything that's going on with rapid prototyping this intuition appears to (literally) be fleshing out. The infinite modularity of the computer does not just stop at the screen, at folders, or copy-paste media. This modularity is very powerful, and goes far beyond the screen. Obviously a lot of this has already been explored by the Media Lab crowd -- they're the real precursors on this front. That said, I don't think we've explored the theoretical implications of this transformation enough. I still see sensors and actuators : stuff that captures data, and stuff that makes noise and moves other stuff. These two activities should ultimately collapse onto one another : capturing data = moving stuff; moving stuff = capturing data. Hence the proposal for the Rubik's Cube as a musical instrument: here's an algorithm, it's physical, you can touch it, it makes music, and all of these things mean the same thing.
How do you explain what you're doing to someone who has never heard of interactive art or code-based art?
Interactive art is *really* hard to describe, because you often have to wade through all the apriori of "user control" or "freedom of choice", and so on. Often, when I show my algorithmic cinema platform, people ask me: are the images just chosen at random? When I answer, no, there is a program proposing new images based on what you do, they reply: "oh, so it's pre-programmed". I.e. for most people, "interactivity" is opposed to "programmed", which is of course totally absurd when you think about it. What they are truly talking about are complex metaphysical concepts of chance, fate, predestination, and thus time. Interactivity is a far more specific phenomenon, but has all these theoretical apriori mixed in, even for those with no explicit grasp on these concepts.
Ironically enough, when it comes to code-based art, it's a lot easier. You just need to know who you're talking to, and adapt it to them. In the end, these concepts are not all that difficult.
Let me give you an example using one of my favorite data structures, the "array". When you program a computer, you often use this thing called an array. An array is something that mostly holds numbers, and looks something like this:
list_of_numbers = {1, 2, 3, 64, 63, 4, 16, 61, 33, 22} ;
The interesting thing in programming is that this list of numbers could be used for all kinds of stuff. This list, for example, could be a list of numbers that describe the musical notes in a composition. If you can imagine a piano, now imagine that you have assigned a number to each note -- note 1 would be the note at the far left, note two the note next to it, and so on. When you play the notes in order, you get a little solfege: {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} = "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La". An array could hold that list of notes, and be able to play them in order to make a little song.
Arrays are also used to hold lists of characters, i.e. text. When users read what I am saying on your website, they will, in fact, be reading an array. Of course they won't be saying to themselves, "what a boring array", for all they will see is the text. But the computer will see it as an array. Each letter in the array is represented inside the computer with a number : A = 65, B = 66, C = 67, ..., a = 97, b = 98, c = 99, and so on. So when I write "Hello", in my word processor, I am just filling up an array with a bunch of numbers, i.e. 72, 101, 108, 108, 111. So while your readers will see "Hello", their computers will see a list of numbers: 72, 101, 108, 108, 111.
Now imagine that you're playing Super Mario Bros. way back in 1985. Since Super Mario Bros. is drawn flat, from the side -- i.e. in two dimensions -- you could use the above list to describe all the objects Mario has to jump over as he walks along the path. 1 = mushroom, 2 = brick, 3 = hole, 4 = pipe, and so on. As Mario walks along his path, the computer looks in the list, sees the number in the array and draws the right object in that place. Or you could use it in a game like Moon Patrol from 1982. If you were programming Moon Patrol you could use this array thing to draw the potholes in the ground, or how high the mountains are supposed to be in the background.
Now imagine that you're a creative guy like Toshio Iwai, and you also know how to program. Someone like Toshio knows all about arrays and things of the sort, and he knows that you can actually use them to do BOTH: i.e. to draw the graphics and to make the music. You can use the same technical structure to do both things. Suddenly drawing = making music, which is a brilliant move. Toshio of course didn't invent this idea, but from a programing perspective he really turned it into an art form. He understood how the same programming structures could be applied to many different uses. From the perspective of the computer, its just a list of numbers. But for the programmer it's one of the basic things you need to make something like music, or to draw certain types of pictures. What happens when you conflate those two uses? What happens if you switch them, or plug the output of one into the input of the other? It's like patch cords on an old 70's synthesizer, only here the computer can turn text into sounds into images back into sounds into whatever. This is why I talk about abstract machines, because the data is getting ontologically transformed as it passes through the circuitry. So knowing how to mix and match all that stuff is what renders different ideas functional.
Now, what interests me, and why I'm so interested in code-based art, is watching how people move from one concept to the next, and how previously illogical compatibilities become logical and compatible. At some point, it becomes what Gilles Deleuze says about questions - it's more important to pay attention to the question than to the answers they generate. For me it is less about the results or what answers people are looking for in their code (i.e. the "goal" of the program), and more about how they got there, what kind of questions they asked, and what "problems" are formulated within the question itself. The answer, for Deleuze, is secondary to what was formulated inside of the question. In the same sense, I am interested in what sort of algorithms, what sort of code structures are at work inside the attempt to make such and such a program.
You can often see the evolution of these structures at play within an artist's work over a period of time. I'm not really looking at the code as an end in-and-of-itself, but rather as the key to a way of thinking. If you're clear about that way of thinking, then anyone who's paying attention should be able to understand.
You have developed several applications for the Abstract Machine Hypertable, do you plan to work on new ones? Are you still excited by that interface?
The Hypertable was originally designed for a single application: Concrescence, my
Jeff Han starts from a video analysis system very similar to mine, but adds an important twist which gives him the ability to actually know which fingers touch the surface, and thus manipulate objects on the surface, much as you might do with a computer mouse only with all your fingers. My hypertable was never designed for this, and Jeff's solution is totally 'Airwolf' so it will probably become the basis for a lot of future work. Like many technologies, he wasn't the first to develop this idea, there is even a previous product out there using different technology with similar results. But Jeff's system has just that right "holy shit!" factor that has everyone excited about the possibilities of interactive surfaces.
The other development is Apple's future iPod, which is obviously designed for huge impact, but unfortunately will be a war waged with patents. We probably won't have access to this new system. In fact they are already facing a lawsuit on this front, meaning all of us who have been making designs with similar technologies need to be very afraid. But outside of the political and economic ramifications of Apple's solution, I think there is an important paradigm shift, especially when you read Apple's specific patent request on "Gestures for Touch Sensitive Input Devices". The shift is in the idea of reversibility, which goes back to my previous comments on robotics as the next GUI. Apple is turning the screen into a low resolution camera by placing sensors next to each red, green, and blue light combination that makes up the LCD screen. The screen IS the camera. Rather than having a one-way surface, as we currently do now, the Apple patent seeks something akin to David Cronenberg's image of the erotic television set from Videodrome: you can see it and it can see you. Reversibility is at work everywhere in programmable machines, but here we have a very tangible (pun intended) example of this transformation at work. In fact you can take this concept -- reversibility -- and apply it to many of the emerging technologies, for it is one of the new ways of thinking, fundamental to the new epistême.
But something interesting happened along the way. My assistant at the time, Pierre-Erick Lefebvre (a.k.a. Jankenpopp), got very excited about the musical possibilities of the hypertable, and proposed finding new uses for it. At the same time I had several commercial propositions, most of which were bogus, or didn't understand the way my system worked. So I decided to explore these two directions, albeit selectively: commercial design on the one hand, experimental musical instrument on the other. On the experimental front, I directed a workshop at the Postgrade Nouveaux Médias at the Haute Ecole d'Arts Appliqués in Geneva, where Pierre-Erick and I worked with a small group of their students to find new uses for the Hypertable. As the whole system was designed to be easily programmable, we ended up with a half-dozen propositions in just under four days of work. The first day, in fact, was occupied by reviewing how to program a computer.
Based on the experiences in that workshop, I asked Pierre-Erick to bring together a musical group which eventually became 8=8. 8 =8 = 4 programmers * 2 hands = 4 musicians * 2 hands = etc. All of our programs are music-generating interactive visual surfaces, the idea being that we generate our own visual musical environments rather than using pre-baked software. All the programs are images that generate sound rather than the other way around. We had our second performance, this time at the Scopitone Festival in Nantes, on June 1st and 2nd of this year.
So oddly enough, a very specific technology, designed for a very specific use, has actually been twisted and turned into all sorts of different uses. Fortunately I design everything these days as a platform, even when it is intended for a specific purpose. Everything is repurpose-able and a lot of my code and designs get recycled into other people's work, mostly via my Atelier Hypermedia in Aix-en-Provence. So who knows, perhaps the Hypertable will have yet again another permutation into something else. For me, it is just further proof that if you design it as a modular object, i.e. as a platform and not a gadget, the uses will more or less discover themselves.
You've lived, worked and taught in France for a long time now. What do you think of the new media art scene in that country?
Nothing less than an absolute catastrophe. As attached as I am to the French language, culture, and thought, I couldn't be in worse company when it comes to understanding what is at work in new media, and don't even dare to talk about French new media art. Just look at the Dorkbot map, where's France on that map? It's like a big hole. The French don't understand things like Dorkbot, even if there probably are a few potential dorkbotters here and there. To give another example: a little over a year ago, there was an important conference on code-based art at the Sorbonne. The French speakers were totally out of touch, especially when you juxtaposed them to the run.me crowd, Transmediale, or the live coders. Sure, we have Antoine Schmitt, but that's just one artist, and he's coming from a very different place than the live coder scene. Run.me was on its second or third year, and Transmediale had already distributed several year's-worth of awards to code-based art, while the French were just beginning to scratch their heads, "Hmmm, what's this?"
(continue reading the interview of Douglas Edric Stanley)
Continue reading Interview with Douglas Edric Stanley.
Looks like Italy is finally warming to art beyond Botticelli and Umberto Boccioni. Last weekend MixedMedia brought pixels, electronic music and experimental installations to the Hangar Bicocca in Milan, in July BIP will "build interactive playgrounds" in Arezzo and yesterday AB+ in Turin was hosting the C.STEM conference, an event dedicated to the cultural circulation of generative and procedural systems in the field of experimental digital art.
The event was organised by 32Dicembre, Teknemedia, Fabio Franchino and moderated by Domenico Quaranta. Every single person involved in the event seemed to be genuinely interested in the subject and they knew what they were talking about (something which shouldn't be taken for granted in Turin when it comes to digital arts.)
I had read about generative art but listening to the artists discussing their methods, motivations and explaining how they work with code gave me a better grasp on the genre.
Generative art, writes Wikipedia, refers to art or design that has been generated, composed, or constructed in a semi-random manner through the use of computer software algorithms, or similar mathematical or mechanical or randomised autonomous processes. As Domenico Quaranta explained in his introduction, the genre exists for years but has never been really accepted by the world of visual arts. Generative art is not closed in its own bubble, it dialogues with other fields such as design, performative art or architecture, for example.
The first artist invited to give his view on generative art was Marius Watz (Oslo/Berlin). If you want to know more about him, there's an excellent interview of Watz in artificial.dk and i'm also quite fond of his blog generator.x.
His first slide: "f(t) - Form as a function of time. In which an ex-designer talks about generative art, design and code. How software has become a function of space-time. An introduction to generator.x, a (semi)theorical platform."
Watz used to work as a graphic designer. He cannot draw but discovered that he can code. Lovely, lovely code. Code was his first tool, now it's his material. After some time, he realized that everything he was not able to do with his hands he can do with a computer. For example, programming could be used to create visuals. In the mid-'90s he worked in interaction art then turned to what is now called generative art but had no specific name at the time.
First work he introduced is System C. A Drawing Machine, a machine that once set into motion knows how to make a result on its own. The "time-based drawing machine" uses a software system to create rule-based images. Several autonomous agents move over a surface, making marks as they move, as a realtime two-screen projection.
The drawing process is modelled on a simple kinetic system. Each agent has a speed and direction that change for every step it takes. It experiment with both chaos and order and results in a great range of organic-like expressions. Watz explained how interested he is in such organic forms: they are voluptuous, almost excessive.
"My work is about non-verbal experiences. It explores forms as a syaethetic space." Form as a function of time.
He then showed his Electroplastique pieces. The first one was created for an exhibition at Aix-en-Provence. He was inspired by Victor Vasarely, the father of Op-Art who explored the transformation of shapes and grids. Electroplastique has an esthaetics that translates forms into visual and spatial experiences (see also ElectroPlastique #2 which ran for three days at Transmediale.)
One of the works he showed i liked most is AV.06: Illuminations, commissioned by the AV.06 festival for the Sage Gateshead in Newcastle. The combination of forms projected were formulating a feeling of space. The 3D form systems were chosen in response to the architecture, to maximize the sensation of forms "pushing through" the walls of the concert hall concourse (designed by Norman Foster).
Watz likes to play with different parameters and with colours in particular to create a kind of visual hedonism, in a very direct way. For him, generative art also produces new tools for performances, both audio and visual ones. The software becomes a new performative extension of the artist him/herself.
Fabio Franchino's talk was next. He's been working with code in visual art for 2 or 3 years.
Kinetoh is a series of procedural artworks developed with the ambition to print the results in high resolution.
The work was featured in rhizome in an article that highlighted the cubism influence of Kinetoh, although the artist says that he didn't have any cubist esthaetics in mind when he started working on that project.
His main concerns are:
The Unstabalizer is a social application system for bars, clubs and any location or event which sells alcohols.
The Unstabalizer can turn a bar into a self-organizing system similar to a stock exchange. The price of a drink (a "stock�?) is set based on demand. The more people buy a certain drink, the more its price will rise, causing the prices of other drinks in this alcoholic stock market to fall. The owners and organizers can also set minimum prices, to avoid loss due to "market dynamics�?.
The system is built as a distributed Flash application. It consists of one central "Exchange�? component, which centralizes the price dynamics, and several "Broker�? components, which are placed next to the registers. The "Exchange�? component's Flash interface is used to input the initial prices and later to display the dynamic alcoholic stock market using engaging graphics and Flash animations. The "Broker�? components' Flash interface accepts requests based on people's alcoholic desires. The requests are sent to the "Exchange�?, which recalculates alcohol prices, refreshes the stock market screen and sends back the current price, which is then printed on a receipt. The "Exchange�? component can handle simultaneous "Broker�? updates and synchronize prices accordingly.
More bar fun: A robot predisposed to alcohol, Ask for a drink and get your personal data, the Chit Chat Club or how to have a drink with an avatar, Interactive Bars Phosphorescent, Tableportation.
Surveillance cameras are not only said to make people feel better, they might one day be able to spot individuals carrying concealed firearms.
For Loughborough University's multi-environment deployable universal software application (Medusa, see PDF) project, CCTV footage of people carrying concealed firearms will be analyzed to identify characteristics associated with the behaviour of criminals (body stance, gait, movement and eye contact with cameras) before they commit a gun-related crime. This information will be used to develop a machine-learning system for behavioural interpretation. Armed with this data, the CCTV cameras will scan footage and match behavioural characteristics that indicate if an individual might be carrying a gun.
The system might be developed to study knives as well.
Via The Engineer. Image from Lonely Radio photostream.


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The latest in the Stephanie Plum series is as funny as ever and contains all the usual characters. Grandma Mazur just gets better and better. No Stephanie Plum would be complete without the usual chaos of Stephanie & Lula and this starts with a scene of Stephanie almost choking her ex husband whilst planting a bug on him for Ranger, but when her ex husband ends up missing the police ask questions, of course her alibi is Morelli!
The ramblings & obsessions of a fisherman's wife! ~ a potpourri of history, genealogy and books. Also some general ramblings if they take my fancy!
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Wednesday, 13 February 2008
Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich
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A fabulous evening event demands an equally fabulous outfit, and L'Wren Scott's satin dress is ticking all the right boxes. The ruched bow back and accentuated folds ensure a sensational silhouette. Heels and a clutch are the only additions you'll need for a flawless party look.
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text: Spencer Platt/Getty [ Federal Taxes Need To Be Filed By Monday By Dennis Foley April 10, 2013 Have you filed your federal taxes yet? You should do it soon because the filing deadline is this Monday. Read More|Comment Category: 710 KEEL Poll, Financial, Shreveport/Bossier City News Tags: income taxes Send to a friend! Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Pin it! Reddit This! Share on Tumblr!


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Livestock Event 2013
Livestock Event became an opportunity to promote our models that recently started operating with a Deutz Tier3B engine. While these Deutz-powered 90, 100 and 110BHP models were spotlighted, being the smallest model in our product range, "Baby ArmaTrac", the 504e has won the mind and heart of a British farmer who was delivered the tractor via our newest member of distributor network, only a couple of hours later than he had joined our family. Doesn't life bring it on when you aren't even looking? We congratulate these two new members of our family and hope to join them for a cup of tea next time we are on the green, wet and surprising grounds of Britain.


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An individual is permitted to withdraw from a course for any reason by the deadline for authorized withdrawal listed in the academic calendar. The student receives a grade of WX for the course without academic penalty. However, the student is still responsible for the tuition costs as per the university's refund policy. A WX form can be acquired from the department office or Registrar's office and must be completed and submitted to the Dean of Graduate Studies for approval.
Requests for authorized withdrawals after the WX deadline will rarely be approved, and must be based on non-academic reasons. The student must submit a written request to the Dean of Graduate Studies. The student must also provide documentation regarding the non-academic reasons for the withdrawal. The Dean may request additional information regarding the case from the department. The Dean has the sole authority to grant withdrawals without academic penalty. Withdrawals from a course made without prior approval after the deadline are not authorized, and the student will receive a grade of F.
If a student is given permission to withdraw from a course, the student is still responsible for the tuition costs as per the university's refund policy.


text: I just returned from a trip to Soldiers Grove and I have to say that Roth House was the highlight of the trip. We were visiting relatives in the area and decided to spend the night, and hopefully this will not be my last trip to the Driftwood region. After an easy check, we were extremley pleased with our room.... More


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Dog Gets Into Viciously Adorable Fight With Doorstop [VIDEO]
It's not exactly Ali-Frazier, but this fight is memorable in its own right.
It's not exactly Ali-Frazier, but this fight is memorable in its own right.
Sometimes it's rough being a dog. People always want to pet you. They want you to roll over, shake, speak, etc. at their command. Fetching can get old-- I mean, you get the ball you bring it back, you do it again... sometimes you just want to take a break. You want to have a seat. And maybe you can't help where that seat is. Like the dog in this video, who plops right down on a kid's head. Check it out after the jump!
I've always said that dogs are far more loyal than most people, and I think that this story proves my point perfectly. I mean, how many people do you know that would run almost 1,200 miles with you while you biked across China?
Cats are adorable. Cats with toys are more adorable. But, this video of a blind kitten playing with toys for the first time ever is both the most adorable and most heart-warming thing I've ever seen.
The kitten's name is Oskar, and he was given several balls with bells inside them so he'd be able to track them easily. Watch as he quickly realizes that this is a pretty fun thing to do after the jump!
Think about it, when was the last time you jumped rope? I can confidently say that I haven't picked one of them up since I was probably 12-years-old, so I'm pretty out of practice. When I was a kid, I was always jealous of the people who could double dutch, because I couldn't figure it out. And now I'm jealous of this dog for that same reason.
Geronimo is a 2-year-old cattle dog mix that her owners rescued from a shelter. Not only is she able to double dutch better than most humans, she can also catch a frisbee in mid-air and then do a back flip. I'm not kidding. Check out the video after the jump!
You're probably thinking to yourself, "So what? My dog sleeps all the time!". And, that's true, to a point.
No matter how adorable your four-legged friend is, it's pretty hard to top the cuteness factor of Boo, who is possibly the cutest dog in the world.
Not only does he fall asleep, he does it methodically, and while listening to a Muse song. Check it out after the jump!
Clearly, adorable wire-haired dachshund Lola has something on her mind. So, while her owner films, Lola makes a noise that sounds startlingly similar to the words, "Oh, no!" Has Lola met "No No No" cat?
Is there anything more adorable than a dog greeting its owner? How about a dog greeting its owner after they return home from military deployment? We dare you to watch this supercut of lovable pooches welcoming their owners home from military service and not get choked up.
A one-year-old St. Bernard named Jub Jub shows remarkable skill at balancing things on his head, including a bottle of booze, a stuffed animal, a laptop, a shoe, a kitten, an Egg McMuffin, you name it. Good boy!
Apparently, this golden retriever howls along every time the daughter of the house practices her saxophone.
The results aren't exactly John Coltrane and Billie Holiday, but it's not so bad for inter-species jazz.
This pooch was able to stay perfectly still as his owner built a Jenga-like tower of tempting dog treats right on his snout. Then the canine continues the balancing act until getting a signal that the trick is over.


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Atlanta Hawks v New York Knicks
Earl Barron of the New York Knicks dribbles the ball against the... News PhotoAtlanta Hawks - Basketball Team,Ball,Basketball - Sport,Dribbling,Earl Barron,Full Length,Madison Square Garden,NBA,NBA Pro Basketball,New York City,New York Knicks,Sport,USA,VerticalPhotographer Bruce BennettCollection: Getty Images Sport 2013 Getty ImagesNEW YORK, NY - APRIL 17: Earl Barron #42 of the New York Knicks dribbles the ball against the Atlanta Hawks at Madison Square Garden on April 17, 2013 in New York City. The Knicks defeated the Hawks 98-92. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)


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FORT WAYNE, Ind. (5/24/11) - The Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) didn't look far to find its first full-time commissioner. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) member hired a former part-time commissioner of the WHAC and former NAIA director of Champions of Character initiatives Rob Miller to lead the conference.
Eight institutions comprised the WHAC since the 2005-06 academic year: Aquinas College (Mich.), Concordia University (Mich.), Cornerstone University (Mich.), Davenport University (Ohio), Indiana Institute of Technology, Madonna University (Mich.), University of Michigan-Dearborn, and Siena Heights University (Mich.). The conference expanded in 2010 when University of Northwestern Ohio joined and will have 10 institutions when Lourdes College (Ohio) becomes a member for the 2011-12 academic year.
"The presidents of WHAC schools recognized the growth of the conference warranted a full-time commissioner," said WHAC president Dr. Arthur Snyder. "Rob Miller is the right person to lead the conference into the future."
Miller's history with college athletic administration is extensive. He spent the last three years as commissioner of the Sun Conference and guided the league through an expansion phase and a name change. As the NAIA's director of Champions of Character for eight years, he pioneered the organization's efforts to change the culture of sport through character. He also served as a regional director for six of the 14 NAIA regions.
Prior to joining the NAIA, Miller led the National Christian College Athletic Association for 5 years and served the WHAC as part-time commissioner from 1992-97. Miller earned his undergraduate degree in Education from Spring Arbor University in 1986 and his Master's degree in Sports Administration from Michigan State University.
"Rob is familiar with our conference and a seasoned NAIA conference commissioner," added Dr. Snyder. "He will serve our student-athletes well."
Miller's leadership is of the highest caliber. He was honored with the Mike Krzyzewski-College of the Ozarks Leadership Award in 2004 and was named a Spring Arbor Alumni Young Leader the same year. In 2007, he received the Win the Tip Honoring the Profession Award. He currently sits on the NAIA National Administration Council and is a member of NACDA and Win the Tip Basketball Network. He also served on the steering committee for the USA Coaching Coalition from 2002-2007.
"I am excited to work again with people and institutions I hold in high regard," said Miller. "The opportunity to help lead the WHAC is an exciting challenge. Our main goal as we work together is to provide the student-athletes we represent with a great experience."
Miller's official start date is July 1; however, he is consulting with the WHAC on a case-by-case basis.