Yoo hoooooo, paging Jiminy Cricket.



Harvard cracks DNA storage, crams 700 terabytes of data into a single gram.
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/134672-harvard-cracks-dna-storage-crams-700-terabytes-of-data-into-a-single-gram

Fart in the Parks
Mother forgive her, because I won't.
I am so steamed about the attitude of this n̶a̶r̶c̶i̶s̶s̶i̶s̶t̶i̶c̶ i̶d̶i̶o̶t̶ egocentric woman, I may change my contextual analysis topic to her wanton desecration of my temples, just so I can watch her crash and burn on social media (Mother forgive me). Read the original story here.

A fitting punishment would be lifetime banishment from all National Parks and wilderness areas—and 10 years community service in an inner-city area so she can study better artists and hopefully find appropriate canvas. I love great graffiti, but her work is a travesty that does great disservice to the genre.

Now she says she is going to start painting gravestones, because it will be “less controversial”—say what?  Worst of all, Casey Nocket compares herself to Banksy, and she calls herself a feminist.

Mother Nature would disagree.

Critical Analysis Subject

I am still making a final decision between the feminist driven "Pants to Church", "Ordain Women", and the LGBT support movements by members of the Mormon church as a way to show support for members on the fringe, and the gamergate controversy. If one of my classmates doesn't pick gamergate, I feel it should be addressed. I have an 18 year old son who is an avid gamer. While he has been raised by a single feminist mom, he is still very impressionable.

VOTR: The App

“VOTR lets you evaluate each and every candidate for the 36 open U.S. Senate seats, based on everything from education level and military experience to pet ownership and hairstyle.”

1963: I watch the Stars and Stripes flapping in a clear, bright blue desert sky, having just finished reciting the pledge with the rest of my grade school. The principal climbs up on the base of the flagpole (a first) and the whole school goes silent. With tears streaming down her face, she announces that President Kennedy has been shot.

That was the first time I truly felt fear for my country. Since then, I have seen politics devolve into the fiasco of mudslinging, money-laundering, power grubbing partisan electoral college hapless free-for-all it is today. Yes, things are very messed up.

The only way forward I can see is for the generation coming up, my son's generation, to take control. I see them using the internet like a power hose to blast the encrusted filth of politics off our lady, The Statue of Liberty, so that her light and justice can shine again. Before the Universe crushes us like a cockroach.Yes, I'm a very visual person.

Which is why I like this app. It may not be the answer—but if it can pull kids into politics and make them feel they can change things—It's a stab in the right direction.

Bucking the Broken System—

I came across this article in my facebook feed today. It seems to tie in with our discussion on education, so I thought I would share.

"Boy Genius Diagnosed With Autism Has IQ Higher than Einstein"

The Supreme Being Thing
The best argument for intelligent design is nature. I can look at a flower and see that the Universe knows what it is doing.



Yes, I grew up Mormon. I’ve tried to revisit my faith several times. I even donate Fast Offerings regularly, mostly because they are supposed to go directly to helping those in need (as opposed to building shopping malls). Each time I try, I am confronted with a belief system that tells me I will never make it to the top. As a single mom, I can never be good enough. I do not have the priesthood in my home, much less hold it myself. I am not endowed with anything more sacred than wide hips. My child is not baptised, nor will he go on a mission. It’s OK, though, he’s autistic, so he gets a “Go Directly to the Celestial Kingdom” pass. He'll have to come down a notch to see mom in the afterlife, though.

Now I call myself a pantheist. Everything out there has something I can learn from. All the flailing about of mankind is but a ripple in a much bigger pond. As the Grateful Dead said, “All I want to know, is, are you kind?”—that’s good enough for me.

I believe in supremely being.

Education vs. Learning

The first time I met Kenna, she was but a wee beastie. We were at the Zion Canyon Music Festival. Kenna was ignoring the chaos of an influx of hundreds of tourists. Her focus was intent on saving several giant zebra moths that were being chased and injured by less aware kids. She had tears in her eyes for their plight. Finding them on the ground, she would  tenderly place them up in trees, hoping to keep them from being trampled. She has a fierce love for animals, is totally vegan, and will challenge anyone who dares infringe on animal rights.

Yesterday, she rescued a bat. Seriously.

Kenna is a wild child. She grew up in Springdale, Utah, next to Zion National Park. The local grade school is one example of innovative public education. Kids there get to assist the rangers in the park, learn to rock climb, work with local artists and businesses, and in general have a much more open kind of learning. I know a few families whose kids are growing up in this town.

Alex Pelton, by Regina Pagles

One good example is Alex Pelton, entrepreneur, originator of the music festival, owner of the Bit and Spur (scene of the annual local's favorite Halloween extravaganza for decades, and frequent live music performances). He is also the past PTA president,  and father of two very free birds of his own. The residents in Springdale care and are actively participating in the structure of the grade school curriculum.



There is no secondary school in Springdale. Kids are bussed to public schools in Hurricane, where they are confronted with comparative restraint. Kenna’s wise-woman mother did not force this on her daughter. Instead, Kenna un-schooled, deciding what she wanted to learn about, with total support from her mother and much of their community which is nestled next to, and entwined with, one of the most popular National Parks in the world.





Kenna Sava (her chosen name) is the most mature, self-sufficient teen I know. Last summer, she went to Hawaii on her own and lived in a hammock and on the beach for a month. She grows her own food, and makes her own health and beauty products (this week: “100% Organic-Vegan-Coconut-Vanilla-Orange Shaving Cream”). She has also started several successful businesses.

She makes more money—spinning fire, a thing she loves to do and is very good at—in a couple of hours than I can make in a couple of weeks doing freelance design work. And she has way more fun doing it.
She has plans to be comepletely self-sufficient and able to live “off the grid” in the future.
If she chooses to, that is.

This is Kenna Sava now, at age sixteen. The world had better get ready. These "uneducated" kids are going to turn it upside down. And it’s about time.

Among interests and skills listed on her "Bio":

Goals: 
CHANGE

Radical un-schooling/fire spinning/slack-lining/

long-boarding/permaculture/gardening/hiking/running/
photography/pottery/sculptures/modeling/saving and raising animals

2009 Modeled for Chums catalog
2009 Began ‘Hippie Chick’ business selling eggs (registered business name) I had over 250 chickens.
2010 Began ‘Hip Bee Honey’ business selling honey
2010 Began ‘Poi-Zen’ fire spinning classes & events
2011 Have performed with The Shakers, Rising Lion, Yesouisi, Jazzy’s, Casa de Amigos, Whiptail Grill with the Marcia Ishalimar dance group, and Pamela Mortensen at the O.C. Tanner amphitheater
2011 Fire spinning for Zion Adventure Company’s 15^th anniversary party
2012 Fire spinning for Elan Women’s Magazine anniversary party
2013 Fire spinning for Ragnar Relay races video
2013 Began ‘Kenna Sava’ and ‘Sava’ photography
2012 Modeled for Chums (Japan) catalog
2013 Modeled for Chums (Japan) catalog
2013 Employed by a large permaculture farm
2005-2007 Sold sculptures with Kriston Mognett
Studies:
2005-2007- Studied under Jerry Anderson (bronze metal sculpture artist) Assisted on the life-size sculpture of ‘horses, carriage, cowboys’
2013-present Study under Eva Pelton (clay sculpture artist)
2012 Native American flute school (5 days) scholarship
2012 Shaman workshop (3 days) scholarship
2013 played guitar & sang with Glass Submarine at The Red Coyote for a benefit for starving children
2007 Biathlon in Bryce Canyon (archery and running)
2010 won first place in the ice-pick/crash pad hanging contest at O.R.
2013 Worked on a large permaculture project ($18/hr)

2012-present Street performer (fire spinning & guitar/harmonica)

It's Here…

Tesla's new automated driving system revealed.

"The idea is to change the relationship between human and machine."

The European Express Lane

"Heads Up"

The BMW i8 heads up display is here…

Some other useful future tech for cars…

Hackers gonna hack…

The self-driving Google car…
and why we need it.
This video is two years old, but well worth watching if you haven't seen it.

 How Silicon Valley is Creating

Extremely Mobile Devices