art & ecology news for nov. 30

hi folks

hope you are having a nice day
things here are fine

I had a great day yesterday, met a lot of new folks up in Floyd & made some good progress setting up the sustainable living exhibit with Wayne. so far we have some very nice paintings, photos, and sculpture along with some books & posters. I hope to add a coloring activity and/or a ranger station style hands-on display if time permits.

anyway the show will be open during Winterfest at the Jacksonville Center this weekend, so please stop by if you are in the area. For more information on this exhibit, or to learn about the Sustainable Living Education Center please consult the ideapark.org loop.

so biodiesel is currently the sixth most popular search term in technorati which is really great I think
here is an interesting photo related to this tag

I heard that there is some kind of biodiesel awareness event going on at Virginia Tech tomorrow but I don't know many details about it. The info came from a listserv for one of the environmental groups on campus. anyway I think it will be in Squires.

so I met my new neighbor Bernie at the Jacksonville Center yesterday...Bernie will be teaching music in his space. The NRV Current is doing a feature Bernie although I am not sure when the article will be out.

Other Jacksonville Center news: there is a new glass shop where Presidio Arts used to be. This will be open at winterfest too. Charlie (Presidio Arts) has moved into a space on rt. 8 where he is selling retro furniture, art, etc. I have yet to visit it but plan to soon. Good luck in your new space Charlie!

the Scratch House folks just opened a cafepress shop and it is CUTE, take a look if you have time

bye, have a great day

Suzy

tags: biodiesel, Floyd, art, sustainability, Blacksburg, Virginia Tech, ecology

Winterfest 2005 at the Jacksonville Center

The 10th Annual Winterfest Arts & Crafts Festival comes to the Jacksonville Center for the Arts on Saturday, December 3 from 10am to 5pm & Sunday, December, 4 from Noon to 5pm.  At this holiday event, shop for gifts crafted by some of the area’s finest artists and artisans with jewelry, art pottery, clothing, blown glass, stained glass, sculpture, paintings, photographs, wood turnings, musical instruments, natural body care products, and much more. 

Christmas trees, local music, refreshments and arts & crafts activities for children will be offered during the day.  The teaching studios will feature demonstrations in blacksmithing, glassworking and pottery.  The Sustainable Living Education Center, (SLEC), will have a special opening exhibit on sustainability for the public.  SLEC, located at the Jacksonville Center, is a partnership managed by Association of Energy Conservation Professionals, Architectural Alternatives and The Jacksonville Center for the Arts.

Participants in this festival include: Aurora Illusions, Bell Studios, Brush Mountain Creations, Celtiquities, Chocolate Spike, Earth Dance, Faith Mountain Farms, Green Deva, Gabriele Hilger-Underhill, L.G. and F. Crafts, Martha Jane McDowell, Billy Miller, Gladys Moritz, Molten Creations, Mountain High Tie Dye, Tom Phelps, Tree Art, Walden Pond Products, Wildflower Cove Studios, Woodland Wonders, Woodstone Creations and World on a String.  Artists with studios in the center will also be open including George and Rain Lipson, Sarah McCarthy, Suzy Nees, Linda Osborne, Karl Yost, Doug Thompson and Playmore Music Learning Center.  For more information, please call 540-745-2784 or visit www.jacksonvillecenter.org.

southern sustainable agriculture conference in Louisville, KY

The Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group is hosting its 15th annual conference this year in Louisville, Kentucky from January 19 -22. Events will include field trips, networking events, and readings by Wendell Berry on Saturday night, followed by a "taste of Kentucky" dinner.

For details, please visit www.ssawg.org or call Mark Schonbeck at (540) 745-4130 or Shari Hawley at (678) 0696.

Coal mine explosion kills 68 in China

via yahoo headlines.

By JOE McDONALD, Associated Press Writer

QITAIHE, China - Coal dust caught fire in a mine in northeast China, sparking an explosion that killed at least 68 people and left 79 missing, the government said Monday, as the country's leadership called for tighter work safety measures. more...

tags: coal, mine, energy, safety

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hi folks
hope you all are doing well

so I am sorting the traces archives as fast as I can, if anyone is interesting in helping to sort these files please, be my guest.

today's featured string is wiki.

bye, have a great day and please try to save energy!

-Suzy

image tags - rat bad posture, new work, invitation, winter

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hi everyone
hope you are well
salt is the featured string today
take care, be well

image tags - thanksgiving

World Digital Library planned by LOC

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Library of Congress Plans World Digital Library

By Eric Auchard

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The U.S. Library of Congress is kicking off a campaign on Tuesday to work with other nation's libraries to build a World Digital Library, starting with a $3 million donation from Google Inc.
Librarian of Congress James Billington said he is looking to attract further private funding to develop bilingual projects, featuring millions of unique objects, with libraries in China, India, the Muslim world and other nations. more...

tags - search patterns, search technology, library, fuzzy searching, tag scatter, code, tag, browser, library, digital asset creation

snow tonight?

hi folks
this is some work by Martha, who teaches at the Jacksonville Center in Floyd.
Martha's site can be reached via the Scratch House News site.

well they say we may get a good amount of snow tonight.
I am getting eager to see the first real snow.

some interesting new content on the loop today - technorati mini is now available -
also information on a symposium related to search engine science

this will be happening at Yale in early December

if possible I am going to go to it











my sister Beth took this picture at the Brown Farm a while ago

in the ideapark.org image bin there are some pictures of the straw bale building that now exists on the Jacksonville Center site. it isn't completely finished, but I think it is already a very beautiful structure.

Pictures of straw bale workday can be found on the loop, which is still a little choppy as I have been performing some link pressure experiments.

let me see. I don't have too much free time right now so this must be quick - for the traces sculpture archives, I am trying to gather information about the bow - compound, longbow, otherwise - and to examine interplay between the bow and the transit, etc.

I am also curious to know instances in which a bow has been used as a landscape knitting tool, to prevent erosion and so forth, or for surveying.

well the cat is playing with the computer wires, I gotta go

have a great day.

Suzy-

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unsorted content begins here.

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ideapark.org news for tuesday, november 22, 2005

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via slashdot

Dotnaught writes "New Scientist has spotted a patent application from TiVo that suggests the company is "working on a PVR that will recognise one of several individual users, and respond to their personal preferences." The patent application describes the invention as "a multimedia mobile personalization system provides a remote control that detects a user's electronic tag, e.g. an RFID tag." It also promises personalized viewing at a variety of locations, detailing how TiVo might forward stored shows from home to a TV in a hotel room, for example. It remains to be seen whether hotels will be eager to help TiVo undermine their pay-per-view video revenue."

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R -

router
raven

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S

sample
search
snow
string
straw
super




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search + engine

science events - 2005

Search-regulation conference at Yale Law School.

This will be the first academic conference devoted to search engines and the law. "Regulating Search?" will take place on December 3, 2005 at Yale Law School in New Haven, CT. more...

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w - wuvt

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new strings in the ideapark.org library today -

yuki - snow.

other strings -

focus, general, vocabulary sample, router, route, hotroute, reader, wiring, parts, randomize, string, super, wire, thread, math, circuit, bow, transit, wiring method, compound bow + hack, compound bow + knit, query, rhizome, memory design, spider, reverse engineering, hunt, memory, cable, climb

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hi folks

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hope you all had a nice weekend
there are a lot of new pictures in the loop

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news for nov. 21-

ideapark.org readers who are interested to learn more about the mechanics of the dogs on trucks link pressure measuring device are encouraged to follow the DOGS ON TRUCKS loop of the radio of instructions on how this device is operated.

the dogs on trucks forward chomping ikigai browser was first unveiled to the public in April of 2005.

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many new pictures are in the unsorted content. some are test buttons for link pressure devices under construction.

so it is raining here today, that is nice...they say there may be some snow soon.

I am doing some link pressure experiments with the dogs on trucks traffic loop so if it a little bumpy please be patient. hopefully it will be an effort which will advance the fuzzy searching thing.

at the moment, the dogs on trucks radar detector is set to the tag audio. Barking sound is set to off.

if you would like to participate in this experiment, please visit the dogs on trucks loop using the loop exit below

traces will be monitored at

4: 30 pm
5:30 pm
and 6:30 pm today.

bye, have a great day.

Suzy


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wuvt page locator

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90.7 WUVT in Blacksburg
great radio. streaming & otherwise

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usda getting sued over poultry treatment

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via yahoo headlines. Nov. 21, 2005

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. poultry slaughter methods are cruel and raise the risk of consumers contracting a foodborne illness, the Humane Society of the United States said in a lawsuit that seeks to ensure birds are unconscious before being slaughtered. more...

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hi folks

here is a recent picture called Will You Please Wave Hello to La Mycelium for Me?

it is also tagged Good Caribou, Echo, and and Murasaki, for the Lady, not the color

aoi, I think, is what this one would be labeled.

below is some good content freshener, obtained via slashdot

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Posted by Zonk on Saturday November 19, @11:24PMfrom the in-case-you-need-to-make-your-own-universe dept.

No Fortune writes "Einstein called it 'Spooky action at a distance.' This article describes, in scientific layman's terms, how spooky action is created." From the article: "Normally the photons exit the crystal such that one is aligned in a horizontally (H) polarized light cone, the other aligned vertically (V). By adjusting the experiment, the horizontal and vertical light cones can be made to overlap. Even though the polarization of the individual photons is unknown, the nature of quantum mechanics demands they differ."

tags - technology, ivory, bill, tower

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bye, have a good day

Suzy

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clip -n - paste content freshener.
add to your site for instant freshness.
your robotic woodpeckers will love it.

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ideapark.org news - Community members filled the old BMS auditorium in Blacksburg, Virginia last night to view a movie about unfair business practices and the Wal-Mart code of ethics. learn more...

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excerpt from a recent Washington Post article. via technorati.

Phony Theory, False Conflict
'Intelligent Design' Foolishly Pits Evolution Against Faith

By Charles KrauthammerFriday, November 18, 2005; Page A23

Because every few years this country, in its infinite tolerance, insists on hearing yet another appeal of the Scopes monkey trial, I feel obliged to point out what would otherwise be superfluous: that the two greatest scientists in the history of our species were Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, and they were both religious. more...

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tags: evolution, intelligent design, faith, religion, fuzzy searching, existence, ethics

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ideapark.org loop tags for Nov. 19 - wal-mart watch, link pressure, engineering

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hi folks! hope you are all very well.

todays freshness award goes to Beth
do see her pictures if you have a moment

I am so happy to see all these blogs popping up

it was a frustrating morning, but I am over it
I think I need to spend some time pulling my bow
when I don't do that I get really grouchy

I own a compound bow and it is a fascinating tool
especially when you think of how it is related to the transit
if you are interesting in owning a bow go to whitetail in riner

sighting the bow also helps me a lot with my drawing and it generally calms me down.
the physics don't just amaze me. they make me feel a little liquified.
pulling a bow trigger is something else is all I can say

hopefully I will have some time this weekend to do some sketches of bows and do a little research on the history and origins of the bow
China in particular has a very rich history related to the bow

I spoke with some students at Tech yesterday, it seemed to be a bright group
they had interesting questions

also the jurying process for the IDEC show is wrapping up now, it has been very fun to be involved with that, some very nice work there. I forget where the exhibit will be but if I don't forget I will post it to the loop as soon as I can

other new & upcoming content in the loop includes

Evil Santa
Heaven & Earth
Happy, Happy Joy, Joy
Is it the Future Yet?
I Heart Rights

some interesting stuff on slashdot in the past few days...google is coming out with some kind of search tool that will help little web space owners get visitors where they want to go

as opposed to jamming web visitors into little mazes marked with arrows that say THIS IS WHERE YOU WANT TO GO

hey is anyone interested in helping to put up a straw bale house? It sounds like it is going to be a really interesting and fun event. I think there may be pizza for volunteers. Leon et. al will be putting up the straw bale studio.

if you would like to join us there please let Wayne know so he knows how many refreshments we should prepare

Wayne can be reached at the Jacksonville Center (540) 745-2784

Joe Kelley will be having an exhibit in Wytheville soon...his bird blocks will be on display

Cleo says hello.

ok well I think I need to go now, it's getting late

take care, stay warm.

--Suzy

image tags: trust is beautiful

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hi folks
we need to go cut wood soon so I must make this quick

Mary just posted a funny snake story, you can find it in the Scratch House News

Winterfest at the Jacksonville Center is coming up soon, I forget the date but will post it to the calendar when I can

Slashdot has a freaky post about neuroscience today...also some news on book scanning...

ok time to go. hope you all are well. have a great day. --Suzy

image tags: who is Antlerpants?

hi folks

so the first thing I should tell you is that I finally heard back from Google, and although everything is not yet completely straightened out I was very glad to get an answer from a human AND I have a phone number I can call and my feathers are pretty much completely unruffled so thanks Google

suffice it to say that overautomation is a big pet peeve for me.

my father has always told me, computers are stupid, and I wholly agree. They are excellent tools when you use them correctly, but they really are very stupid and you must be strict with them and not let them get into bad behavior loops.

So the Dalai Lama was visiting a school in DC today and a young man asked him why folks in DC have no congressional representation, and His Holiness more or less responded, Why indeed?

here is a bit of the article, from AFP via Yahoo -

The 70-year-old leader pondered for a while and shot back the same question to Bernard Igbedian, a 17-year-old pupil of Booker T. Washington Public Charter School for Technical Arts.

When Igbedian said he saw no reason for the denial of voting rights, the Dalai Lama, himself battling Chinese authorities for greater autonomy for Tibetans, said the people should speak up and find out why.

"Then you should find out. If there are sufficient reasons, we have to think more carefully, but if there is no reason, then shout," the maroon-robed leader told the student, drawing laughter among the 200 odd students and visitors.

Let me see, what else. I am hoping to get some time to research Hoge Mine this winter, take some pictures of the memorial and so forth. I do not know when this mine stopped running but I read an account that indicates that men were still picking coal out of there as late as the 1930s. There is some coal up at Traces in Floyd, it comes from the Hoge Mine area.

wow it sure got cold fast last night.

have a great day, hope you all are well.

--Suzy

event horizon by Shawn Wolfe

hi folks, I just read about a poster fundraiser and I saw one I like very much, here is the link
http://www.25abovewater.com/shawnwolfe.html
this is one image from a series of posters designed to raise money for victims of hurricane Katrina
bye, take care
Suzy

howdy howdy

hi folks, hope you have all been well

well I am pretty sick of looking at that old mountaintop removal picture so here is something a little prettier
this is a view of Brush Mountain, former site of Hoge Mine, which was still operating during the Great Depression
The Hoge Mine memorial was dedicated recently, although I have yet to see it
A recent Christiansburg Messenger had an article about it

by the way the ugly MTR picture will be on display at the SLEC show coming up this december
not all the stuff will be ugly and awful like that picture, there will be some very handsome works of art too
I have seen some of the work submitted and there is some great stuff

if you are an artist or a conservation enthusiast and you do not yet know about this show there is information about it on the loop

there is still time to include something if you would like

The Scratch House folks have been posting some very fun stuff recently
their blog is always a treat, and I always seem to find something new every time I visit
now they are writing about snakes, and helping to dispel some of the myths about them

Well I am having some more trouble with Google
I can't seem to find a real live human to talk with, and I really need to
this is the second time this has happened in the past few months

if you have been considering setting up an adwords or adsense account I am not going to try to poison your mind against Google but be warned - it is all run by robots!

there is no such thing as a hotline you can call if you get into a jam

Some people at Google might say this is not the case, but in my experience it is very true
If you are a little guy you are nobody, they just pawn you off on the robots
not that I am bitter. I just believe in product transparency, so that's why I'm sharing.

let me see. what else. oh yes. there is an art sale going on now at Traces, with selected items marked down up to 60% and sometimes more

Jenny the Giant Mule is a steal at just $75

which reminds me, a wal-mart awareness event will be happening soon at the old BMS
for information call Homebody (also on the loop)

OK well I really must be going, hope you are all having a nice day, stay warm.

-Suzy

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photograph of mountaintop removal coal mining
(photographer not known)

Source: Susan J. Daniels
Biologist & environmental activist
June 4, 1960 - November 18, 2004

keywords: biodiversity, red cockaded woodpecker, habitat loss, environment

hi folks

hope you all are well
today is a beautiful day, but this is a very eerie time for me, since it is very close to the day when Sue Daniels lost her life. today's edition of the ideapark.org loop honors her memory.

thanks very much for reading. take care.

--suzy

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In Memoriam: Susan Daniels

On Thursday November 18, Susan J. Daniels passed away at the age of 44. Sue has been a member of the Department of Biology since 1994 working in many capacities, including technical support, data analysis, editorial work, research associate and graduate student. She earned a M.S. in 1997, and recently had been working toward a PhD. Dr. Jeffrey Walters, Bailey Professor of Biology, was her major advisor for both of her degrees. Sue was an exceptional scholar with expertise in the field biology of birds, animal behavior, and conservation. She was a Cunningham Fellow, and has published ten papers and book chapters, all of high quality in prestigious journals and books. Sue was a friend to many, and a positive force within the Virginia Tech and Blacksburg Communities.

(text from the VA tech website)

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exceprt from a recent New River Current article by Tonia Moxley:

"One of six children raised by a single mother, Daniels said she always empathized with people in society who had no power. She came to believe that what she called "direct action" was the only answer to oppression.

Near the end of her life, she eschewed voting, preferring to organize events and network with other groups.

When she died, she was helping organize a summer of protest and education called Mountain Justice Summer that was inspired by the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s."

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nov. 2

hi folks

it has been a long day

today I went to traces in the morning to drop off something new...a welcome sign painted with sumi ink & handmade pokeberry paint

folks who are looking to submit work for the sustainability show might be interested to know that the display material will include a TV so visitors can view videos or dvds related to sustainability

also there is a photography show going on soon in the hayloft, I believe applications are still being accepted

bye, have a great evening

Suzy

tags: Floyd, Virginia

stone carving class with Chris Shackelford

hi folks,
below is a listing for a stone carving class at the Jacksonville Center in Floyd, Virginia coming up in a few weeks...

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SOAPSTONE SCULPTURE
Chris Shackelford

November 11-13: 9am-4:30pm

History, Materials and Methods will be discussed. Students will choose their stone and learn the fundamentals of carving. Design, Approach, Process and Finishing will be explored. This workshop is intended to start students carving. Ideally class can revisit progress after a couple months of the completion of this workshop. No experience necessary.

$180 for members/$210 for non-members
Code: SAW1111

for more information on the Jacksonville School for the Arts, please visit www.jacksonvillecenter.org.

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tags: art, Virginia, Floyd, stone, stone sculpture, stone carving, education, classes