Half a Brain, Whole Self

So, what happens when you put a mirror in a room filled with chimpanzees?

At first, they do what I do in the morning when confronted with a reflection of my true self: They attacked it. Then they put their butts on it. Then they realize, "Hey! That crazy chimp is merely doing exactly what I'm doing!"

But what happens when a chimp who has never seen a mirror before, spots a dab of red paint on its own forehead on the forehead of the chimp in the mirror? Just like me and you, without a moment's hesitation, the chimp wipes it off!

This leads to playing in front of the mirror, primping and soulful gazing into the reflection of their own eyes.

In a great show on the Brain and the Self, the host of Radio Lab stares into the mirror with Dr. Julian Keenan, reflects on the illusion of self-hood with British neurologist Paul Broks, and contemplates the evolution of consciousness with Dr. V. S. Ramachandran. Also, the story of woman who one day woke up as a completely different person--an old man in Vietnam.

from New York Public Radio
Radio Lab
Who Am I? Friday, February 04, 2005

Looking into a mirror as a young child, Steven Johnson wondered, "How is that me?" We try to find that part of the brain that recognizes ones self with Montclair State University Professor Julian Keenan. Turns out: only half of your brain really knows who you are. Also, Independent radio producer Hannah Palin tells about her mother, who, after suffering an aneurism, woke up with a completely different personality. She looks the same, and has the same memories, but where did her old mother go? One possible answer: Vietnam. Later, Paul Broks continues the discussion on the fragility of the self.

Cassini Images of the Fountains of Enceladus

Carolyn Porco is an amazing person whose eyes have seen the distant visions of the universe. She is the leader of the Imaging Science Team on the Cassini mission presently orbiting Saturn, and a lead imaging scientist on the New Horizons Pluto/Kuiper Belt mission to be launched in early 2006.

I met Carolyn at this year's PopTech conference, where I had the pleasure of illustrating her story of humankind's travel to Saturn and her surrounding moons [see painting].

She sends us this message of geologic activity in the outer solar system.

November 28, 2005
When, what to our wondering eyes should appear....

In one of the most thrilling moments we have enjoyed in a mission filled with thrilling moments, fountain-like plumes of small icy particles emanating from the south polar region of Enceladus have been seen in recently acquired Cassini images of the small Saturnian moon.

These spectacular images reveal in glorious detail an array of individual jets close to the surface, as well as the enormous and faint plume of material extending far above Enceladus. Not since Voyager's discovery of volcanoes on Jupiter's moon, Io, and geysers on Neptune's moon, Triton, have we seen such fabulous visual evidence of present-day geologic activity in the outer solar system.

Visit http://ciclops.org to see for yourself.

Porco is a veteran imaging scientist of the Voyager mission to the outer solar system in the 1980's. She received her PhD in 1983 from the California Institute of Technology.

Carolyn is the Director of the Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations (CICLOPS) at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, where Cassini images are collected, processed and released to the public, and an Adjunct Professor at both the University of Colorado and the University of Arizona. She is also the CEO of Diamond Sky Productions, a small company devoted to the scientific, as well as artful, use of planetary images and computer graphics for the presentation of science to the public.

"Please,I feed monkeys for my family, not for me!"

from NPR's All Things Considered, November 14, 2005; part of the This I Believe series

Forget the cake and presents. Listener Harold Taw has his own unique birthday tradition -- one prescribed by a Burmese monk. By faithfully following it, Taw believes he's helped his family to prosper.

Trained as an attorney, Harold Taw is taking a break from legal work to complete his first novel, Adventures of the Karaoke King. He and his wife live in Seattle where Harold has special arrangements with a local zoo to feed their Goeldi's monkey on his birthday this year.

“Our family has prospered in America. I believe that I have ensured this prosperity by observing our family ritual and feeding monkeys on my birthday. Do I believe that literally? Maybe.”

Workshop with the Pittsburgh Regional Knowledge Management Consortium

This was the second speaking engagement with the Pittsburgh Regional Knowledge Management Consortium (PRKMC).

[ download mindmap: 8x11 PDF | 11x17 PDF | 11x17 JPG ]

Participants included practitioners involved at all levels of knowledge management: from a VP from a national insurance company; to a data analyst from an international think tank; to start-ups focused on data mining, security, workforce development and human capital management..

The workshop focused on cerebral issues (literally!) around brain function, the definition on "mind", mental maps, collaboration and innovation.

We also covered manual skills such as mind mapping, graphic facilitation and the use of visual learning for strategic planning, problem solving and critical thinking (eg. how to be more effective facilitators and visual modelers of concepts and strategies).

For more detail about Alphachimp Workshops, contact us.

[see large view]

Workshop Outline:

• The Brain
  
  • Definition
    
    • storage device
    • determined by DNA
    • homeostasis
    • processor
    • distributed
    • complexity
    • connections
    • neurons
    • source of emotions
  • Exploration
    
    • Antonio Dimasio
      
      • Book: "The Feeling of What Happens"
• The Mind
  
  • definiton
    
    • higher functions
      
      • subjective consciousness
      • ethereal
      • intangible
      • distributed
      • complex
      • self-aware
    • source of feelings
      
      • environment
      • sensory input
      • data
      • emotion
      • thought
      • feelings
      • memory
      • knowledge
  
  
  • Maps
    
    • definition
      
      • representation of 3-D and 4-D data
      • navigation
      • limited
      • scaled
      • perception changes over history
    • examples
      
      • Nuremberg Chronicles
      • National Geographic
      • Rand-McNally
      • NASA satellite images
      • Google Earth
  • Tools
    
    • NovMind
    • MindJet
    • Inspiration
    • The Brain
    • OmniGraffle
      
      • OmniOutliner
  • Resources
    • Edward Tufte
      
    • The Center for Graphic Facilitation
      
    • Alphachimp Studio Blog
      
    • Visual Being
      

Studio Set-Ups, North and South

Most people who visit galleries and museums have no idea how the objects of interest were created; they are merely floating in a nice, clean, sterile space.

The reality is, however, that most works are created in an environment of rich chaos: half finished bits, photos of strangers and loved ones, reference materials strewn about, tools of the trade on every surface and shelf.

A working studio is as alive as a tidal pool, constantly churning with material and color, the final works are almost like cast off shells, beautiful, but removed from the environment that gave life to them.

Check out Nellie Durand's two studios--North in Michigan and South in Tennessee--as she describes the balanced chaos that contains the energy and passion she brings to her work.

From Nellie's blog:

When I reorganized a year ago, I took the doors off the storage cabinets and way too many books out of the bookcases. My friends and the local library benefited from that task. Now most of my fabric stash is visible. My philosophy is, " If I can't see it, I don't have it". The silks, wools, etc. are in clear storage boxes stacked under the cutting table and sewing desk. I don't use those often, but I can still see and get at them.

The futon is my major "designing tool". I lay there studying whatever piece is on the design board. It's amazing what can be seen or realized in those moments of waking up or falling to sleep. Although, I'm thinking of replacing the futon with a stratalounger chair so there will be space to set up a table area just for fabric painting.

The important thing to remember is the "studio trap": many creative people (and I am one) spend a great deal of time deluding themselves that they will only truly be creative once they sink enough time and money into designing and building the perfect space.

It is important to remember that consistency is more important than complexity: you need to show up at the same place at regular intervals and focus on your work.

My studio has taken many forms in cities and dwellings ranging from apartments in St. Louis and Chicago to office spaces in Chicago to a 6' by 6' room in a private house in Poland.

Currently, it resides in a brick firehouse on Pittsburgh's North Side. But more important than the space, is the habit.

The habit of showing up and getting down to the business of creating.

Below are some inspirational books on both the spaces and processes a selection of artists have evolved over the years. My favorite is the work of Dan Eldon, who turned his journal into a vibrant, raw studio in its own right while he traveled in Africa, Europe and the US.

Nellie responses:
I'm honored that you featured my studios in your blog. I'm pleased with my spaces and how workable they are. Of course, it's possible to work in any, or no space if the desire and urge are present to do so.

I wanted to remind you of Hundertwasser's philosophy about studios.

"I found that the bigger the studio is, the bigger the windows, the worse the painter and the paintings. The smaller the studio, the smaller the windows, the better the paintings. When you have big windows you tend to look outside, and if you have small windows you tend to look inside - which is better." - This from the Harry Rand book; page 155.

Trunk Monkey

Ever wish you didn't have to get your hands dirty in dealing with an irrate driver?

Do you need a new auto anti-theft service? How about a negotiator for those annoying state trooper conversations? Need help delivering a baby in the back seat of your sedan?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you might want to check out these on-line adds for Trunk Monkey.

[Thanks to Don Gould.]

A Rebel Yell for Yee Haw Industries

Congrats to our friends at Yee Haw Industrial Letterpress!

Knoxville, Tennessee artists Julie Belcher and Kevin Bradley of Yee Haw were awarded a Merit Award for their letterpress prints at the 2005 Kentuck Festival of the Arts in Northport, Alabama, October 15 and 16, 2005.

The Festival's showcase of 300 artists, musicians, and scores of food vendors drew thousands to the two-day outdoor event. Judges for this year's festival were Kim Cridler (Arts Coordinator for the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, WI) and Richard Gruber (Director of The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, University of New Orleans, and a member of the University of New Orleans faculty).