“We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are.”
~ Anaïs Nin
March, 2010
9
Mar 10
Sci-Fi Western Short Film: “Connected”
Each year, the Academy Awards (mutual masturbation and all) awaken my dormant love for short film, and I begin concocting my own hair-brained plots and script ideas only to have them die slowly over the next few months.
GeekTyrant.com featured this project on their website, and it’s a great example of what you can do with the short format. The cinematography is excellent. The concept is simple along with the theme and resists the temptation to cram too much subtext into seven minutes. All in all, Connected simply works and may remind you that pursuing that idea for a short you’ve had in your brain for the past five years might not be such a bad move.
8
Mar 10
A Congress without Paper
I (admittedly) don’t pop over to OpenCongress as often as I should, but their post on the STOP the OverPrinting Act (H.R. 4640) caught my eye. Introduced by Rep. Chris Lee [R, NY-26], the bill, if passed, would make print copies of Congressional bills available only upon request. More information along with the full text of the bill is available via the link provided.
Over the past few years, I’ve taken great pains to cut down as much as possible on my own printing, and so far, I’ve whittled it down to about five pages per week in the office. I’ve disconnected my printer at home and stowed it away. I’m sure it’ll make a lovely museum piece one day.
If there is one thing that rankles me about working in an office, it’s the amount of information that should have been passed along to me in electronic form but was printed out and placed in my mailbox instead. Aside from being wasteful, document handling is easier and more efficient on a computer. I realize that there is a learning curve for those who didn’t grow up with computers, but all efforts should be made to handle information electronically. As long as files are backed up properly and in multiple locations, the advantages to using a printer become fewer and fewer.
As for the bill, I think this one passes the sniff test. Of course, there are an endless number of things to be said about decreasing our energy usage and making electronic devices in general more efficient, but any step toward decreasing paper usage is probably a good one.
(Maybe we’ll get into the transition from printed to electronic books too. However, that is a matter for another time.)
7
Mar 10
Crime Maps
I’m preparing to do a talk about different ways that Social Workers could use technology to improve their practice, and I happened upon these three web based crime reporting services.
- The first is using the EveryBlock service’s ability to grab information about crime in Chicago.
- The second is called ClearMap, and it is based on GIS technology.
- The third is called StopCrime, which is something which appears to run on top of Google maps, and reports crimes in an area.
The reason I’m going to talk about these things in my presentation is because social workers often go to their client’s homes, which are sometimes in areas that are considered “not so good”. I figure that these services could, at the very least, give a social worker (or any other professional do-gooder) some information about where they are going. Forewarned being forarmed and all of that.
In addition to this social workers who are dealing with residentially placed clients can get a better picture of the neighborhoods that their clients will be returning to upon discharge.
6
Mar 10
Techno-Hockey! (episode 001)
The first episode of the Foolish Humans Podcast.
On this episode the following is discussed:
- Kids growing up with really powerful technology and how that effects the ways said kids perceive new advances.
- The rivalry between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Vancover Canucks.
- The tradition of fans going totally nuts during the singing of the national anthem at Blackhawks games.