Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Thoughts’

The answer to a recent Wordle was “ramen,” which brought me back to after-school second lunches and some of my first creative attempts at cooking. Ramen is salty and delicious and while I don’t eat the instant version much anymore, the memories remain fond.

If you also enjoy ramen, may I suggest this interactive idea generator:

Inspiration Wheel | Shin Wheel

* * *

Photo by Nguyen Phuong NGUYEN on Pexels.com

Read Full Post »

* * *

Photo by Andrew Ruiz on Unsplash

Read Full Post »

“A problem is a chance for you to do your best.”

— Duke Ellington

* * *

Photo by Matteo Kutufa on Unsplash

Read Full Post »

Lions Teeth

My lawn is lovely, with white and purple and yellow flowers. The dandelions are going gangbusters, as they do. And I’ve just been out front tidying them up in the hopes that my neighbors won’t get too stressed out about our lawn’s diversity.

In that vein, I give you a brief history of that underrated flower, the dandelion.

* * *

Photo by Jeff Rodgers on Unsplash

Read Full Post »

I find myself wanting to try out a new project. I don’t have time and have no idea where my watercolors ended up, but this tutorial caught my eye. Perhaps it will inspire you, too.

Painting whimsical watercolor birds, a tutorial | The Kid Should See This

* * *

Photo by Fuu J on Unsplash

Read Full Post »

Today’s post is brought to you by fiber optic cable, the innovation currently being inserted into my lawn.

In a discussion about grass vs. clover lawns today, I mentioned that our neighborhood is being wired for fiber internet. For weeks, we’ve had orange-vested dudes (and they’re all dudes) roaming in packs, hauling giant spools of multi-colored cables, digging up driveways and yards (and reseeding with industrial-strength grass seed), and generally doing their best to drag our 1990s development into the modern era.

Now we’ve got cable ends sticking up everywhere, a new panel in the grass looking like a secret bunker entrance, and neighbors wondering whether all this fuss is worth it. 

It also led to the question, how do fiber optics work, exactly?

Answer: I have a layman’s understanding of the technology (data becomes light and zoom zooms down a shiny glass tube) but yeah, better look that up:)

* * *

Here’s a quick backgrounder about fiber optics from the folks who invented it.

Educational Resources | Optical Fiber | Optical Communications | Corning

Corning scientists Dr. Robert Maurer, Dr. Peter Schultz, and Dr. Donald Keck invented the first low-loss optical fiber in 1970. Inspired by their belief that information could be transmitted through light, Drs. Maurer, Schultz, and Keck spent four years experimenting with different properties of glass until they succeeded, creating the first low-loss optical fiber for telecommunications use.

How does it work?

Encoded into a pattern of light waves, information travels through each optical fiber by a process of internal reflection. The waves move through the fiber from a given source to a destination such as a cable box where it is then decoded.

(So is it a little like a super sophisticated version of an Aldis signal lamp? I guess that’s one way to think about it.)

For more (and more scientific) details, check out this excellent video:

And just for fun, how do they connect North America to Africa to Asia, and everywhere else?

* * *

Photo by Umberto on Unsplash

Read Full Post »

As it is Tuesday (and even worse, Tuesday after a holiday), my to do list is… extensive. Please enjoy a random post and some entertaining ostriches.

* * *

Roll the dice for a random post: Click this link or the image below.

Photo by Timothy Dykes on Unsplash

* * *

Read Full Post »

I like crafting in general, I like weaving in particular, and I like the freeing nature of creative constraints, so this “sheep to shawl” competition is right up my alley.

In a Sheep to Shawl competition, you have 5 people, 1 sheep, and 3 hours – NPR

Each team is made up of one sheep and five people: one shearer, three spinners, and a weaver. The team has three hours to shear the sheep, card the wool, spin the wool into yarn, and then weave that yarn into an award-winning shawl.

It’s not exactly the same as NaNoWriMo or drabbles or the 24-hour story challenge we recently did at Writers of the Future (crazy, fun, and not nearly as bad as I thought it would be:) but it’s in the same vein.

Here’s to artists exploring boundaries everywhere.

* * *

Photo by Sam Carter on Unsplash

Read Full Post »

“It was not really Saturday night, at least it may have been, for they had long lost count of the days; but always if they wanted to do anything special they said this was Saturday night, and then they did it.”

― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

* * *

Photo by Bob Coyne on Unsplash

Read Full Post »

Like many of you, I love libraries. Like, a lot:

Run, Don’t Walk | J.R. Johnson

Passport to Wonders | J.R. Johnson

Keys to the Universe | J.R. Johnson

Inquiring Minds Want to Know | J.R. Johnson

Books Neverending | J.R. Johnson

Keys to the Universe | J.R. Johnson

Lovely Libraries | J.R. Johnson

What Now? Check Out a Ukulele at the Library | J.R. Johnson

I don’t love that some people are trying to control what others can read in libraries. If this is happening in your neighborhood, what can you do?

How to Protect Your Local Library From Book Ban Campaigns – Bloomberg

Library boards, school boards and legislatures are becoming battlegrounds in a push to censor books. Communities are fighting back.

I was also glad to see this policy on Intellectual Freedom And Controversial Material at my childhood library: 

The libraries have a responsibility to serve all segments of the county. Materials useful to some may be objectionable to others.  Selections are based solely on the merits of the work in relation to building the collections and to serving the interests of readers. The libraries attempt to represent all sides of controversial issues. Their function is to provide information, not to advocate specific points of view.

Reading preferences are a purely individual matter; while anyone is free to personally reject books and other materials, this right cannot be exercised to restrict the freedom to others.

Library materials will not be marked or identified to show approval or disapproval of the contents, and no cataloged item will be placed on closed shelves, except for the express purpose of protecting it from injury or theft. Items may be placed on temporary reserve for specific class assignment or projects.

Responsibility for what children and young adults read and view rests with their parents’ and/or legal guardians. Selections will not be inhibited by the possibility that controversial materials may come into the possession of children or young adults.

* * *

Photo by Marissa Daeger on Unsplash

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »