Category Archives: Ideas

The Price of Sugar

HSYG on the side of the road in DR

I just came home from a movie screening I went to with my mother called, The Price of Sugar and it was one of the better humanitarian documentaries I’ve seen. It was sponsored by the people at the Vineyard: Christian Fellowship. As someone who has travelled to the Dominican Republic with her church, I really felt seeing this film was necessary. I have been a supporter of the Faire Trade movement for awhile now and I just think it is one of the more beneficial movements out there. Some of the things that were spoken in the documentary really struck a chord with me. I suppose its because I’ve seen some of the poverty in the Dominican Republic – but there is a difference to be Haitian and living in the DR than a Dominican living in the DR. In some respects (and correct me if I’m wrong) but I’d assume that since the relationship between the DR and Haiti is so non-existent that I think I’d rather be a Dominican living in the DR rather than a Haitian because at some level. I think it would be very difficult for someone to live in a country where its’ natives despise them.

The whole documentary reminded me of a moment when I was with my HSYG and we were at a supermarket in the DR. Every time we went to the supermarket there was a Haitian family living outside. If I remember right I believe it was a mother and at least three kids. I think we were on our last day and we decided to give them all the left over lunches (unfortunately it only happened to be one sandwich left). The little boy of the family came up to the bus and we gave him a sandwich. The eyes on the boy grew so big that it was really quite moving to see. Such a mundane food item, as a sandwich, would seem like gold to someone who lives on nothing.

 

Bill Haney’s The Price of Sugar could do without its close-ups of sugar being poured onto a spoon, and would benefit from providing more information about the United States’s close relationship with the Dominican Republic’s sugar trade, which this eye-opening doc vividly illustrates is predicated on ruthless slavery. Nonetheless, the director’s investigation has a clear-sighted persuasiveness, as well as a formidable, complex central figure in the person of Father Christopher Hartley, the son of Spanish aristocrats who—after years working with Mother Theresa in Calcutta—moved to the Caribbean island and promptly began upsetting his parish’s wealthy and powerful sugar barons, the Vicinis. Tagging along with Hartley, the film (narrated by Paul Newman) captures sights of concentration camp-level subjugation and abuse suffered by Haitians whom the Vicinis (and their industry brethren) illegally import, imprison at filthy outposts known as bateys, and force to work until their deaths. Hartley’s aggressive efforts to bring these heinous practices to light is given vivid life by Haney’s inquisitive camera, as is the priest’s staunch conviction in the face of mounting Vicini-sponsored smear campaigns aimed at compelling him to leave the country. An authentically benevolent man of the cloth (and people), Hartley nonetheless also proves politically cunning, organizing strikes within the bateys and bringing American doctors and media to his parish’s overworked, malnourished Haitian cane workers. However, he’s perhaps not quite as cunning as the Vicinis themselves, whose response to Hartley’s tactics involves effectively stirring up Dominican nationalistic (read: racist) hatred for the “poorer and blacker” illegal immigrants, and then blaming their presence in the country on Hartley. The Price of Sugar‘s motive is to open American eyes by illustrating where domestic sugar originates, yet the efficacy of such intentions are somewhat weakened by the director’s focus on Hartley rather than the close commercial ties binding the two nations. Nonetheless, as an exposé of corporate and state exploitation of the poor, his doc is nothing short of blistering. source of text

 

Tattwas – Sanskrit language of shapes and designs

My current inspiration is the Tattwas:

Tattwa are geometric images from India. they are  symbols  that can be used in mandala.  One of the most traditional symbol sets and one considered to have innate power to effect realization is by using  Tattwa. These simple geometric symbols can be used in  meditation.

 Tattwa is a Sanskrit word meaning energy. Tattwas are  five geometric symbols which represent the five universal energies.  Each Tattwas symbolizes unique energies with specific properties, potentials and frequencies. In varying combinations, these five energies make up the sum totality of everything in our physical and spiritual universe. These five basic symbols are combined to create symbols of many different kinds.
 The  tattwa symbols are the ovoid, the triangle, the half-moon, the circle, and the square. These definitions are minimal and in no way represent the totality of the symbol.  Source: http://pjentoft.com/on-Tattwa.html

These would make an interesting language. For example the Circle represents air, and we could have all words associated with the element of air. The prominent shape in the mandala would represent the main theme of what is being expressed. So if we are talking about miscommunication, we would probably have a large circle, in orange. As that is the complimentary color of blue (opposite). So a plain orange circle would mean no communication.

If we were talking about something about selling something like a house, the prominent shape would be yellow square it is represents Earth. Earth is all things materialistic. It would be paired with a smaller blue circle since blue circles represent thought and communication, etc.

They [the shapes] would be layered on top of each other above to create a geometrical story…

Alternative Energy Concept Car

So last night when I was supposed to be doing an assignment for my sociology class I got hit with some inspiration and an idea/concept for alternative energy car.

I like to think about things like this, and while I don’t have the engineering background, I definitely have the design background as well as the ideas…

SO like most people this past week, I saw this video

and it got me thinking.

First question that came to my mind… how can we take this idea and use the technique to create a piece of practical technology from it?

Second question that came to my mind… how can we easily obtain liquid nitrogen?

While LN may be cheap, its not that easily obtainable and you have to be certified to handle it.
So I go on google and search for a ‘kitchen’ or ‘hobby’ science substitute. I find this substitute:

Its’ not liquid nitrogen. But you can make a cryo-fluid having -110F temperature. (Liquid nitrogen is more like -320F.) A -110F liquid can perform most of the Liquid Nitrogen demonstrations.

Poor man’s “Liquid Nitrogen” is made out of dry ice and 99% rubbing alchohol.

Do you know what dry ice is made out of? It’s a condensed solid form of CO2. That’s right, the gas that’s in our air and what is said to cause global warming and pollution. And from my research as it melts it turns into gas again, but its not the same kind of CO2 that is from the air, its as delicate as what is used to make carbonated drinks.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Levitation created by LN which can be substituted with a cryo-fluid having -110F temperature which is said to reproduce the same kind of LN demonstrations. But the question then is, can it reproduce the same kind of superconductor effects?

Since we’re using dry ice, as product of a green-house gas, we’re taking our problem and turning it into a solution.

Loreena and the Forgotten War

I have been listening to Corteo by Cirque Du Soleil since junior year of high school. During the car ride home from the Cape I have thought up an awesome story line that goes with the music as well as being an animated film.

(this is mostly completely made up)

My story takes place in 16th/17th century Italy. Italy was overthrown by the french monarchy after the Thirty Year’s War. The Royal Italian family was banished to the streets leaving its heritage to die. One by one the heirs of the family died from poverty. The youngest Princess, Loreena was left to fend for herself. Her family had separated and she was determined to find who was still alive. Eventually she finds a street rat by the name of Guido who is in trouble with the French-Italian monarchy for stealing his work in Apothecarism and Western Alchemy from the Royal Library. Loreena finds out that Guido is her brother and a heir to the throne. Guido is eventually caught and is given the death penalty. The French-Italian monarchy wanted to work with the Vatican and burn all ancient wisdom teachings from human consciousness since they aimed to revolutionize the Western World with a world view that is validated by science rather than by religion or tradition. In order for Italy to survive, the Royal Italian family must gain back their claim to the throne. Loreena finds out that Guido is dead and steals the knowledge again from the Royal Library, she eventually escapes from the Monarchy and is determined to find an Apothecarist to help her save the Royal Italian Family. She eventually finds herself in 17th century Moravia and is kidnapped by a middle-eastern man named Abdur-Rahman. Loreena tells Rahman her story and asks he she could help her. After a few days of studying the knowledge Loreena carried with her to Moravia, Rahman learns that there’s enough knowledge to build a time machine that will transport Loreena back a few months before Guido convinces himself to steal the knowledge. Loreena must be convincing so Guido will believe her that he is the heir to the Royal Italian Family throne. However, Gold is expensive, but the ingredients from the alchemical transmutation process from are not but rare. Being poor herself, Loreena almost gives up but Abdur-Rahman offers Loreena an unthinkable idea. For payment, Loreena will give Rahman, her first born to be his own personal heir of Abdur-Rahman’s work and family lineage. Not only her first born, but her virginity as well. Loreena eventually agrees. Years later Rahman successfully builds the time machine and during this time the French-Italian Monarchy has ordered a pure italian blood genocide. The night the genocide was called, Rahman and Loreena have sex. The next day, Rahman and Loreena have sex again, and that night Loreena leaves. She successfully is transported back to the night Guido convinces himself to steal his knowledge from the Royal Library. She saves Guido from death and tells him that he must gather an army and take back the Royal Italian throne. Loreena returns to the night of the ordered genocide and instead of being a genocide it is a war to take back the italian throne, lead by Guido himself. By changing history, she found that she had never stolen the knowledge and travelled to Moravia and she never had made that deal with Abdur-Rahman. Somehow Rahman, found her and he remembered the deal. Angry, with her and her clever plan, he kidnapped her again and raped her to make sure she got pregnant. Guido, now a general, found Abdur-Rahman and sentenced him to death. Italy won the war and became its’ own nation once again.

What is the world coming to?
Rumors of the world ending delivered to us via false prophets and true prophets. A sense of uncertainty has overcome humanity I think. With the world’s economical system in the dumps and little hope for a positive future, I don’t blame humanity for thinking the world may end. I have become very interested in humanities destiny because I am sensitive to foretelling future events. Although I would never call myself a prophet. No one should, why? Because time doesn’t exist. Time is a physical law of this dimension. A psychic reads the current energy and if the energy changes; time changes, the outcome changes. One doesn’t need a PHD in astrophysics to determine that time is caused by motion which is the fourth axis. We only need to observe the rotation of the earth’s axis to determine planetary time. Time is evolutionary, it evolves from morning to midday to evening to night. Time isn’t instant, hardly anything in life is instant.

Pablo Picasso once said, “Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.”

As an art student my professors have stressed numerous laws and rules that we should follow during our own processes. My professors have also stressed the difference between art and design. The major difference is that art establishes the strongest emotional bond between the artist and their audience. On the other hand, the designer’s job isn’t to invent something new, but to communicate something that already exists, for a purpose. Good art sends a different message to everyone. Good design sends the SAME message to everyone. Within design there are specific principles that should be paid attention to, in art such principles are more likely to not exist.

In design its’ principles are; balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, proportion, space and unity. Essentially all design disciplines follow the same principles. In mysticism, the physical universe is seen as architecture. The secret societies especially the Freemasons call the God concept the Great Architect of the Universe. Here is where I plead my case; once one learns the principles of design of one design discipline he can then apply them to other design disciplines, including architecture and therefore the physical world.

The universe, with both physical and spiritual, is the completed composition, that which expresses the design principle of unity and oneness. In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus once said to his disciples, ‎”On the day when you were one, you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?” Within this divine composition we face contrast and the struggle to keep balance. Contrast expresses the positive and negative magnetism that holds the physical shell together. Without contrast, or opposites our bodies and the physical world cannot function. Movement or motion creates the illusion of time and therefore change. The Law of Motion changes not, but all things change in motion. For motion is the force that holds events separate, each in its own proper place. Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Motion is time, to stop time, to end it creates stillness, oneness. Although modern physicists usually consider it, with motion, to be part of the boundless four-dimensional continuum known as space-time. Harmonic Proportion is essential to keeping the building of physical reality in balance. In the Vedic civilization of the Far East, the Vedas delivered the science of architecture, or Vastu. Vastu is a system of design based on directional alignments. Vastu shastra prescribes desirable characteristics for sites and buildings based on flow of energy (prana in Sanskrit). Many of the rules are attributed to cosmological considerations – the sun’s path, the rotation of the earth, magnetic field, etc. The harmonic proportions, human proportions, cosmological/astronomical proportions and orientations, and various aspects of sacred geometry (the vesica piscis), pentagram, golden ratio, and small whole-number ratios were all applied as part of the practice of architectural design. The rule of emphasis is seen as synchronistic events. Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events, that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance, that are observed to occur together in a meaningful manner. Synchronistic events reveal an underlying pattern, a conceptual framework that encompasses, but is larger than, any of the systems that display the synchronicity.

“Papier Mache” Clay

Easy Homemade clay, all you need is newspaper and wallpaper paste.

This is the easiest and cheapest recipe for paper clay.

Steps:

1. Get your newspaper
2. Soak it in water.
3. Tear it into strips. Into a bucket
4. Put more water in it so it just barely covers the paper.
5. Stir it up using a dremmel tool blender, food processor or regular blender.
6. Blend it into a pulp
7. Transfer some pulp into another bucket. Poor more water into the 1st bucket and stir more.
8. Get a cotton (or mesh) bag and put pulp in it and strain it.
9. Take strained pulp and put into the 2nd bucket.
10. Take some wallpaper paste and sprinkle it onto pulp.
11. Stomp/Kneed pulp into a clay.

This technique has been the only technique that uses very little glue.

According to www.wallpaperinstaller.com Cellulose is common binder for a substitute for natural gums and a stabilizer in emulsions as well as a thickening agent. It can be simply created using NaOH (Sodium hydroxide) which dissolves the wood or cotton with an alkali.

Cellulose
“Cellulose methyl ether, produced by treating cellulose from wood or cotton with an alkali, such as sodium hydroxide, followed by methyl chloride. The resulting product is a white granular solid, soluble in cold water but insoluble in hot water. In addition to being used as an adhesive, it is used as a thickening agent, as a substitute for natural gums, and as a stabilizer in emulsions.”
-from Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books Dictionary from the Conservation On-Line (COOL) website

“Methyl cellulose occurs as practically odorless and tasteless, white to yellowish-white granules or powder. The pH of a 1% w/v solution is in the range of 5.5 to 8.0. Its angle of repose is about 40 degrees to 50 degrees and it is hygroscopic. It swells and disperses slowly in cold water to form a clear-to-opalescent, viscous, colloidal dispersion. The viscosity is increased with increased concentrations. The viscosity decreases with increased temperatures to about 50 degrees to 60 degrees Celsius, where gel formation occurs. The thermogelation is reversible when the viscous solution reforms upon cooling.”
-from Wade A., Weller P.J. (eds) Handbook of Pharmaceutical Compounding.

In paperhanging, cellulose has the highest water content of any paste in general use (around 97%). It usually comes in a small box and is packaged as a white powder. It is mixed with cold water on the job and can be used with a variety of lightweight materials such as porous papers, grasscloth and silk. It’s adhesion is mostly of the mechanical type. It leaves very little solids behind and is not suitable for many wallcoverings which require greater amounts of initial tack and holding power.

Rug out of old t-shirts

What does it take to transform a pile of old T-shirts into spectacular works of woven art? Just a spare hula hoop or embroidery hoop and the techniques we’ll show you here. The oversize looms and easy-to-use loops of T-shirt fabric make these projects particularly appealing to beginning weavers. Learn the basic hoop weaving technique by crafting a colorful accent rug to brighten up a room. And if you want to take the weaving a little further, check out our basket and chair pad weaves

Before you begin, some terms you need to know: the warp is the material you string on the hoop, the weft is the material you weave with.
Source: http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/hula-hoop-rug-995304/print/