Pasadena Pictures
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Zach Urbina
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Jessica Paré - New York Magazine by Zachary Scott, May 2012
Paré laughs easily and often, despite a case of extreme jet lag. Bali is fifteen hours...
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“MARLBORO” by:Dylan Silva on Flickr
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breadfast: the world’s coolest future toaster.
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12 posts tagged news
Lift-off for the Los Angeles Space Salon |
Last Wednesday night marked the first gathering of the Los Angeles Space Salon, at the Brewery Arts Complex in Lincoln Heights. Organizers Scott Norman (SpaceX), Simone Syed (BIL co-founder), and Michael Clive (XCOR) lured out an extensive cross section of the aerospace community, traveling from San Diego to Mojave, to engage in a vibrant dialogue that featured an opening talk from Virgin Galactic’s Will Pomerantz.
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A notable highlight of the evening was a light verbal skirmish between John Spencer of the Space Tourism Society, who argued that the primary offering to the public should be “the space experience.” Molly McCormick, who splits her time between Raytheon and Orbital Outfitters countered that, “There are real, productive reasons to want to go to space that will benefit everyone. Space is more than an experience; it is a resource. There are things we can do and make in the microgravity of space that are extremely difficult or even impossible to do or make on Earth: exotic materials, precision components, satellites, medicines, etc.” continue reading | Los Angeles I’m Yours | Zachary Urbina
The slogan of the war was, “In the name of God and our common liberty.”
“ Last year the Prix Goncourt was awarded to a superstar author, Michel Houellebecq, for his fifth novel, “La Carte et le Territoire”. He had been passed over for France’s top literary prize before, and it was widely thought that it was his due. This year, by contrast, the French are rather delighted that the prize, announced on November 2nd, has been awarded to a 48-year-old first-time novelist, Alexis Jenni, for “L’Art français de la Guerre”. A self-described “Sunday author”, Mr Jenni is a high-school biology teacher from Lyon who does most of his writing in local cafés.
The 630-page novel is part adventure, part reflection on the role war has played in shaping French national identity. The story, told by a war veteran to the anonymous narrator, explores the way France’s various colonial and post-colonial military campaigns, from Indo-China and Algeria to the first Gulf war, have battered the country’s sense of itself. This is not an easy book, as these are uncomfortable issues for the French. Bernard Pivot, a French critic and member of the Goncourt jury, called the novel “sublime”. Tahar Ben Jelloun, a Moroccon author well read in France and a member of the jury, described it as “a beautiful literary work that touches the history of France”.” continue reading | Prospero
“I was raised to be charming, not sincere.” - Stephen Sondheim
“Cuba announced Thursday it is allowing the purchase and sale of real estate for the first time since the early days of the revolution, the most important reform yet in a series of free-market changes ushered in by President Raul Castro.
…Castro has also allowed citizens to go into business for themselves in a number of approved jobs — everything from party clowns to food vendors to accountants — and has pledged to streamline the state-dominated economy by eliminating half a million government workers.
…Since no property market was allowed, the rules have meant that for decades Cubans could only exchange property through complicated barter arrangements, or through even murkier black-market deals.” continue reading | Mises Economic Blog
“Perhaps someday you can have one city as easy to see as Illusions and as hard to forget as Reality,” Milo remarked.
“ Search around for advice on how to commit to a goal and one commandment comes up again and again. Apparently you should make your goals public and this will increase your commitment to them.
In theory when you tell your friends that you intend to, say, dig over the garden, or quit smoking, or take up carpentry, it should increase your accountability. You’ve told a friend, so in theory you are more committed to it.
Also people like to remain self-consistent; it gives us a stronger sense of self. So if you didn’t stick to your publicly stated goal it would damage your sense of self.
All these things are true in theory but what about in practice?
Unfortunately the mind sometimes has a nasty habit of sabotaging our best attempts to control ourselves. Recent research by Gollwitzer et al. (2010) suggests that, in fact, making our goals public can have precisely the opposite effect from what we intend.
Across three experiments the link between making goals public and actually working towards them was tested. What they found in every study was that when participants had shared their goal with someone else, instead of increasing their commitment, it reduced it.
When they had shared their goals with another, participants put less effort into studying, trying to get a job and taking advantage of opportunities for advancement.” continue reading | PsyBlog
[title: The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster][image:Keaton Batmobile]
Best and the Brightest |
“ Police got a 911 call from inside a corn maze in Danvers, Massachusetts.
Thousands of people come to the seven-acre corn maze at Connor’s Farms annually to enjoy the trails and dead ends that the maze offers. But on Monday night, one family with two small children got lost.
“We received a phone call that someone was lost in the maze. We dispatched an officer,” said Sgt. Bob Bettencourt of the Danvers Police Department.
“Hi, I just called; I’m still stuck at Connor’s Farms. I don’t see anybody. I’m really scared. It’s really dark and we have a 3-week-old baby with us,” said the mother in the 911 call.
The dispatcher said, “Just relax. Calm down. Your husband’s with you, right?”
“Yes, but my baby!” the woman said.
“Police drove to the parking lot and said, ‘Gee, you got someone lost in the maze.’ And I said, ‘You’re kidding!’” said Rich Potter, of Connor’s Farms.
“They were actually yelling to the people because they were very close to getting out of the maze. They were approximately 25 feet in. They went to them and then escorted the family out of the maze,” said Bettencourt.” continue reading | whdh.com
[video: My Brightest Diamond - I Have Never Loved Someone (A Take Away Show by Blogotheque]
