What Can Be Made
This video comes from a student of mine that was in my Flame Effects class last year. I’d say that was a win :-)
Firefly Dragon Bike by Justin Lebrun Works
Archive for 2013
Want to Learn Video Production? Go to Workshop Weekend Video
I’m not directly involved with this but it looks very cool. https://workshopweekend.net/video/catalog July 20 & 21 in Oakland, they’ve got a gazillion experts gathered to teach video production. Pre-production, camera work, lighting, interviewing skills, post-production… the list is a freaking mile long. All jammed into your brain in one weekend!
Check it out! Go! Make a movie!
Ticketmaster Pricing
I’ve long cursed Ticketmaster for gouging customers with their service fees. They have exclusive contracts with almost every large performance venue in the US. Here is a good article that explains how this came to be.
This article written by Steve Knopper was in Rolling Stone Magazine July 2009 and was found on the author’s website. I’d summarize it by saying the business is complicated by it’s long history and it’s convoluted evolution.
In Light of Recent News
In light of recent news, maybe it’s best that I didn’t accept the offer to go to CCSF’s Diagnostic Medical Imaging program. I would have been at the start of my second and final year of the program. Right now, there’s no telling if the program would be accredited. It’s still all up in the air though!
Accreditation Revoked for City College of San Francisco
Oh shit. I just got this email from City College:
We have received the decision from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. The Commission has decided to terminate City College of San Francisco s accreditation effective July 31, 2014, approximately one year from now…
I have come to appreciate City College tremendously. It’s a good place and fine place.
I hope the college survives this meat grinder!
Read this article by Nanette Asimon at SFGate for the full story.
This is an excellent accounting of a complex issue. Thank you Nanette. Find @NanetteAsimov on Twitter.
(local archive)
(07-03) 15:01 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — Beset by mismanagement and unable to persuade overseers that it had repaired extensive problems, City College of San Francisco will lose its accreditation a year from now and its elected Board of Trustees will be stripped of decision-making powers, the college learned Wednesday.
The decision by an accrediting commission allows the college of 85,000 students – one of the largest in the nation – to stay open until at least July 31, 2014.
City College is expected to appeal the decision. State law prohibits taxpayer funds from going to unaccredited institutions, so if the commission’s decision stands, the college would likely be forced to shut its doors.
The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges is expected to install a state-appointed special trustee as head of the community college. The trustee, Robert Agrella, has been advising City College during its yearlong struggle to remain accredited and in business.
“It’s shocking and outrageous, given the massive changes we’ve made,” said John Rizzo, president of the City College Board of Trustees. “We’ve reorganized every level of the management structure, in every department. We’ve cut pay. We’ve funded the reserve for nine years.
“This is really bad for San Francisco.”
The stunning verdict makes City College only the second public community college in California ever to lose its accreditation. The first, Compton College, had its accreditation revoked in 2006. It was then absorbed into a neighboring community college district.
Students who attend an unaccredited institution are ineligible to receive federal or state financial aid, and their diplomas often mean little to employers seeking skilled employees.
The accrediting commission is a private, nonprofit agency, and one of six regional accrediting bodies overseen by the U.S. Department of Education. The commission that accredits community colleges in California has 19 voting members, mostly college chancellors, faculty and education experts, and is supported by dues from member colleges.
The commission placed City College on the most severe sanction a year ago and warned that it could lose its stamp of approval.
It cited a broken system of governance and fiscal planning in which a skeletal crew of administrators and bickering employees failed to make necessary budget cuts, even as state funding dried up. Over the years, the college constructed sparkling buildings while neglecting such basic needs as computers and campus maintenance, the commission said.
The commission gave City College eight months to show why it should remain accredited, a deadline that expired in March. The commission then spent the spring deciding whether the college had made significant steps toward fixing its problems.
So for a long, nail-biting year, college faculty, staff, administrators and even students worked to attack and repair every deficiency.
Thousands of people depend on City College for a leg up into the middle class. The school produces hundreds of paramedics, phlebotomists, restaurant workers, nurses, firefighters, police and more each year that keep the Bay Area’s economy humming.
Hundreds of other students earn credits for transfer to university, often the only way they can afford to attend college. The college is also a essential location for immigrants to learn English and for senior citizens to find intellectual stimulation through music and art, memoir-writing and useful classes like nutrition education.
With City College nearly bankrupt last fall, college officials persuaded voters to approve a parcel tax for the school that, combined with tax money from Proposition 30, put the school back in the game.
But money alone wasn’t the college’s problem.
College officials likened their repair efforts to changing tires on a speeding car.
They unilaterally cut pay and entered into battle with angry faculty in a labor dispute that has yet to be resolved.
They reorganized the management structure in every department, also in opposition to department chairs, many of whom would be required to give up leadership duties and return to the classroom. The dispute with the chairs’ union settled this spring.
To fix the college’s tangled decision-making structure, college trustees dismantled a decades-long system of faculty leadership over the strong objections of employees.
They eliminated a multi-headed hydra of 46 committees that, instead of facilitating decisions, often served to obstruct and control them, and replaced it with a more streamlined approach to “shared decision-making,” more like the concept embraced by colleges and universities nationwide.
They pumped up their reserves and established a nine-year fiscal plan.
But in the end, it wasn’t enough.
Burning Man 2013 Resource Guide
Presenting the Burning Man 2013 Resource Guide!
From the Jack Rabbit Speaks, “We’ve compiled a list of fellow JRS readers who are offering you their bits, bobs, wares, services and suchlike (and often special discounts for Burners) to help you prepare for the playa.”
This is a simply spectacular listing of burniphenalia. Enjoy!
RESOURCES 2013
Table of Contents
Acme Playa Supply
http://acmeplaya.com
Decorate your body, your bike and your camp. Look Fabulous on the Playa! – Glowing Flowers, – Light up Tutus, – Battery powered glowing Bike decorations, – Night glowing decorations, – Sparkling earrings, – EL Wire, – Glowing Fiber Optic hair extensions – Body art, – Crystal Eye Makeup strips – Fabulous clothes
+ Battery powered + re-usable
Burner owned business. Playa tested gear.
Use the code BURNBABY for 10 % off!
patti (at) acmeplaya (dot) com
Astral Hoops
http://astralhoops.com
After being gifted with our first hula hoops at the Arizona Burning Man Regional, TOAST!, in 2007, we quit our corporate jobs in pursuit of making cutting edge LED hoops and flow tools. Burning Man changes lives you say? If you’re not familiar with what we do, swing by our website for pictures and videos of what we’ve been creating. Our hoop and flow tools are entirely designed and hand built by us in our Denver hoopshop and are some of the most technologically advanced in the world. Save $15 on the purchase of any new LED hoop or flow tool over $100 using coupon code: BM2013. Offer expires August 15th to help give us time for our own BM preparations.
info (at) astralhoops (dot) com
AudioPixel
http://audiopixel.com
Tired of the same old blinky blinky? Want more out of your LEDs?
Hire AudioPixel to outfit your project with powerful software that has enabled next-generation experiences at hundreds of stages and art installations around the world. No need to invest in proprietary media servers and software that doesn’t do everything you want, when AudioPixel can program custom solutions that fulfill your visions. Check out AudioPixel.com to get an idea of what’s possible, and contact our team to discuss options for your interactive project, art installation, mutant vehicle, or dj/stage.
Burners receive a free consultation, and software purchase includes custom 3D pixel mapping for your project.
About AudioPixel: Initially started as a Burning Man project in 2008, AudioPixel has grown into a specialized production team, designing and lighting immersive projects around the world. Some event highlights include lighting the Boom Festival 2010 in Portugal, NeXus at Burning Man 2012, and joining the legendary producer Tipper to present an exclusive audio-visual tour: The Tipper Sound Experience.
info (at) audiopixel (dot) com
Goodby Stereo
This is the Kenwood KA-800 stereo that I grew up with. Just looking at it brings back good memories. We don’t really have any use for it now. My sister is selling it to a guy in Brooklyn who is opening a retro-technology store. It will dutifully play music in his store like it has since 1980. She is selling it to an ANTIQUE STORE! My cherished icons are ANTIQUES. Argh!
Workshop Weekend: Arduino – July 13-14!
The first Arduino Workshop Weekend is happening in Oakland on the weekend of July 13 & 14. This is an intensive event with 7 teacher/speakers, numerous topics and an aggressive, intensive vibe. If you want to jumpstart your Arduino-ness, this is the time and place to do it!
Study with me: Stanford Statistics in Medicine Class
Are you taking the Coursera Statistics class, “HRP258 Statistics in Medicine“? Want to join a study group with me? Google Hangout, Skype, in person, whatever.
Ouch, My Knees Hurt
Last week I rode to College of San Mateo, careful to be kind to my knees. But yet again I injured my knees riding my bike. Ow, it hurts. It’s this horribly nonspecific pain, more like a tingling gone horribly wrong. When it’s in full swing, it feels more like a “worry” that at each step something in me is on the verge of breaking badly. Thinking about where the sensation is coming from, I imagine it’s cartilage damage that heals over a 2 week period.
The mode of pain is really weird. If, for example I walk 100 yards, it’s not until 10 minutes later that the pain will come on moderately for about 4 hours. If I walk 1/2 mile, 10 minutes later the pain will come on strong for about 24 hours. That delay is really weird. The pain started gently a day after riding to CSM (obviously when the injury happened) and here we are 7 days later and I’m still very sensitive to any stresses on my knees.
In the past year I’ve hurt my knees about 3 times. Each time I make a further effort to be more careful so it doesn’t happen again. But apparently I haven’t done a good job of it.
The worst injury was after riding up Berkeley Hills, then the next day riding hard again, then again the next. The NEXT day the pain set in and I was nearly bedridden for a week.
I would like to take the advice of my mother on the matter, “Getting old sucks. Don’t do it.”
Next time, I’ll regale you about my slight tinnitus, my arms falling asleep while in bed, my sore throats from snoring, and the further adventures of Oliver my eye floater.