Bacterial update: It was a good day for the scoby love. Two things happened. Steve and I went to the TenRen tea shop in Chinatown and I was able to taste a 10 year old Pu-Erh tea. It was delicious, smooth, sweet, and interesting. The woman serving us had asked if I wanted to taste the 10 or 20 year old tea. I decided on the 10 year old because I didn't think I wanted to spend the money on the 20 year old tea which was more than twice as much. But I became curious after tasting the 10 year old tea. I asked her what the difference is and she said it's sweeter and more complex. After some discussion I purchased the 20 year old tea and got the 10 year old for free. Who knows if it was a good deal. Bargaining is not a skill widely practiced in my usual circles. I got home and immediately brewed a cup of the 20 year old tea. It was as she described: a beautiful, smooth, complex taste of autumn in my mouth. It may now be my favourite tea.
The second thing that happened is that I did a final pH test on the kombucha that had been brewing for three weeks and it was at 3.3 which meant that it was ready for bottling - a minor miracle! Sometimes delays are forced patience for the good things in life. So I sterilized everything and bottled the kombucha. I filled six of the Grolsch bottles. They will now rest comfortably at room temperature for two days to promote carbonation. I'm not sure how much carbonation I'll get since it doesn't taste very sweet at this point. I thought about adding sugar but decided against it in the end.
I brewed a gallon of the 20 year old Pu-Erh and added a cup and a quarter of sugar. I'm just waiting for it to cool down before adding the scoby. I separated the old scoby into two and I'm preserving one just in case things don't work out.
The Kefir grains are doing ok. I had to remove some to bring the production down to something manageable. So far I can't bring myself to eat the spare grains but soon the question will need to be called. Either I eat them, give them, or flush them.
I came across a quite beautiful visualization of whale vocalization in the New Scientist. I wondered if it would be something worthy of the label Smart Graphic. The images are created through algorithmic means with an aim to clearer representation of the sounds. I suppose the visualization could be labelled smart because a more precise tool was used to transform a sound into an image, but I think only if that transformation is useful for a particular aim. Is beauty a sufficient aim? Are the images more beautiful than the sounds? Could the images provide a better way of classifying different types of whales like showing differences and similarities that would have been harder to identify with just the sound? Perhaps if beauty is the only aim, the conversation stops short, and so does the Smart in Smart Graphic.
A song for this post.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Anticipation (day 155)
I spent an hour this morning trying to plan my way through all the events at the Cultural Olympiad. So far I have tickets for Laurie Anderson, Robert Lepage, and K'NAAN. And plans for many openings including of course the CODE Live opening on February 4th. The painful part is that there are some overlaps where I have to miss something.
I'm looking forward to seeing Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's work, Vectorial Elevation. He is starting to install and I saw the lights moving tonight, near my apartment. It looks like I'll be able to see some of the effects of the lights from my balcony! He's installing big search lights on either side of English Bay which will light up the sky and water in patterns input by people through a web interface. I hate to say this, but I think I'm getting Olympic fever.
I stopped by to see the David Hoffos work at 560 Seymour. His work is always interesting. He does 3D video without resorting to 3D glasses or any binocular tricks. It was the biggest installation I've seen of his but I think I prefer his smaller work, especially the ones that integrate the viewer in the scene. The feeling of this work was one of detachment, like someone filming a scene...everyone having a role but nothing being real. Because I already felt detached from the vantage point of the sidewalk, the subject felt really far away. A very lonely feel overall. Still, very much worth seeing.
I'm also looking forward to seeing Ed Pien's work in person. I've only see pictures of his intricate paper cut-outs. Bonus, his exhibit is only steps from my place.
I feel so lucky to be able to see all this work in the city.
A song for this post.
I'm looking forward to seeing Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's work, Vectorial Elevation. He is starting to install and I saw the lights moving tonight, near my apartment. It looks like I'll be able to see some of the effects of the lights from my balcony! He's installing big search lights on either side of English Bay which will light up the sky and water in patterns input by people through a web interface. I hate to say this, but I think I'm getting Olympic fever.
I stopped by to see the David Hoffos work at 560 Seymour. His work is always interesting. He does 3D video without resorting to 3D glasses or any binocular tricks. It was the biggest installation I've seen of his but I think I prefer his smaller work, especially the ones that integrate the viewer in the scene. The feeling of this work was one of detachment, like someone filming a scene...everyone having a role but nothing being real. Because I already felt detached from the vantage point of the sidewalk, the subject felt really far away. A very lonely feel overall. Still, very much worth seeing.
I'm also looking forward to seeing Ed Pien's work in person. I've only see pictures of his intricate paper cut-outs. Bonus, his exhibit is only steps from my place.
I feel so lucky to be able to see all this work in the city.
A song for this post.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Brainful day (day 154)
There are so many worlds. The world of kombucha. The world of Pu-erh. The world of wine. You can immerse yourself in all those worlds and the nuances can be extremely enticing and confusing all at the same time. Opinions, jostles, all out flame-wars, friendships, eloquence, it's all there. I love to be seduced by all that. I love to feel the consensus of a group and see if I can experience what they mean even in my novice state.
After some research I now know that I have a young Pu-Erh and that I can expect a more mellow but also more pungent taste experience with the aged Pu-Erh. The consensus seems to be that 10 years is the minimum to be considered 'aged'. Vintage would be 30+ years. I am now intrigued enough to go back to the tea shop and buy a 10+ year old Pu-Erh (after I've tasted it). Tonight I experimented with the young Pu-Erh with a few steeps, and steep times. I'm not a big fan of the taste but only because it doesn't seem much different than green tea. And I've had better green teas.
There is some good news on the kombucha front. All the delays have permitted me to keep testing the pH of the current brew even though I had given up on it. Tonight I tested it and it is definitely edging away from 4.0. It would be a 3.7 probably. The taste is also different, less yeasty. Who knows, it may be salvaged yet.
Today at Emily Carr was a symposium called "Edge of Chaos" organized by Landon Mackenzie, a most enjoyable energetic talented artist/professor at Emily Carr. The topic was the brain, neuroscience to be exact. All the speakers were asked to speak about the relationship between art/culture and the brain. I attended the afternoon talks and thoroughly enjoyed it. Peter Reiner, professor at UBC and part of a national neuroethics group, proposed a thought experiment whereby he would switch nervous system with Landon, asking the question of what would happen to identity in that case. I didn't think he went far enough with his experiment. By chance I caught up with him in the cafeteria line-up and asked him to speculate on how long it would take for the Landon in him to become unrecognizable. The conversation was interesting and my curiosity was piqued when we hit upon the comparison of organ rejection, but in this case not by the physical body but by the social body. His body with Landon's nervous system would quickly be rejected by his wife, his friends, and his peers. That in itself would provoke massive changes in the brain. We also hit upon the clumsiness that would result from using his body with her learned behaviours.
Michael Krausz, a profession of psychiatry at UBC, spoke about art-making by individuals that are mentally compromised through trauma, addiction, or illness. I thought his talk was interesting from the point of view of language and how sometime verbal language can be too restrictive to express felt experience. The vocabulary of a language influences what can be said and how easily it can be said. Art-making is more fluid and a language can be invented or manipulated on the spot. It's definitely more error-prone in terms of dialogue but can also be a rich way into a dialogue that involves other communication methods. It occurred to me that this may be something to weave into the Smart Graphics talk in June.
A song for this post.
After some research I now know that I have a young Pu-Erh and that I can expect a more mellow but also more pungent taste experience with the aged Pu-Erh. The consensus seems to be that 10 years is the minimum to be considered 'aged'. Vintage would be 30+ years. I am now intrigued enough to go back to the tea shop and buy a 10+ year old Pu-Erh (after I've tasted it). Tonight I experimented with the young Pu-Erh with a few steeps, and steep times. I'm not a big fan of the taste but only because it doesn't seem much different than green tea. And I've had better green teas.
There is some good news on the kombucha front. All the delays have permitted me to keep testing the pH of the current brew even though I had given up on it. Tonight I tested it and it is definitely edging away from 4.0. It would be a 3.7 probably. The taste is also different, less yeasty. Who knows, it may be salvaged yet.
Today at Emily Carr was a symposium called "Edge of Chaos" organized by Landon Mackenzie, a most enjoyable energetic talented artist/professor at Emily Carr. The topic was the brain, neuroscience to be exact. All the speakers were asked to speak about the relationship between art/culture and the brain. I attended the afternoon talks and thoroughly enjoyed it. Peter Reiner, professor at UBC and part of a national neuroethics group, proposed a thought experiment whereby he would switch nervous system with Landon, asking the question of what would happen to identity in that case. I didn't think he went far enough with his experiment. By chance I caught up with him in the cafeteria line-up and asked him to speculate on how long it would take for the Landon in him to become unrecognizable. The conversation was interesting and my curiosity was piqued when we hit upon the comparison of organ rejection, but in this case not by the physical body but by the social body. His body with Landon's nervous system would quickly be rejected by his wife, his friends, and his peers. That in itself would provoke massive changes in the brain. We also hit upon the clumsiness that would result from using his body with her learned behaviours.
Michael Krausz, a profession of psychiatry at UBC, spoke about art-making by individuals that are mentally compromised through trauma, addiction, or illness. I thought his talk was interesting from the point of view of language and how sometime verbal language can be too restrictive to express felt experience. The vocabulary of a language influences what can be said and how easily it can be said. Art-making is more fluid and a language can be invented or manipulated on the spot. It's definitely more error-prone in terms of dialogue but can also be a rich way into a dialogue that involves other communication methods. It occurred to me that this may be something to weave into the Smart Graphics talk in June.
A song for this post.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Smart projections (day 153)
no real bacterial update today. I think the new kombucha start will need to happen on Sunday when I have a bit more time. It will give me some time to experiment with Pu-erh steeping times and amounts.
I'll be speaking at and on Smart Graphics in June. I'm starting to think about what might be interesting to share with the likely audience that will be there. No doubt there will be computer scientists working in computer graphics and interactivity. There will also be digital media artists. On the periphery, perhaps designers, ethnographers. I suspect many of the delegates will be scientists, if not the majority. Here is what the conference says about smart graphics:
A song for this post.
I'll be speaking at and on Smart Graphics in June. I'm starting to think about what might be interesting to share with the likely audience that will be there. No doubt there will be computer scientists working in computer graphics and interactivity. There will also be digital media artists. On the periphery, perhaps designers, ethnographers. I suspect many of the delegates will be scientists, if not the majority. Here is what the conference says about smart graphics:
Graphics become "Smart Graphics" when:What I get from that description is that we are getting more methodical at producing graphics with a particular intent. By knowing more about ourselves we fashion images that respond to us the way we expect and perhaps need. I think the dialogue aspects are important somehow. At one end, manipulation and influence, and at the other end adaptation and convergence. Maybe I'll make arbitrary categories and start thinking about the smart graphics that surround me. Making piles is always an interesting way to start.
- Their design incorporates (and sometimes informs) a deeper understanding of human perception, cognition, and action in the form of design praxis and/or cognitive science.
- Artificial intelligence drives the creation and interaction with graphics, often incorporating principles from graphic design and the cognitive science of visual representations.
- Graphics are designed to effectively support human cognition, communication, and collaboration, for example in the new field of visual analytics.
A song for this post.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Padding the bottom line (day 152)
bacterial update: not too much to report. I finally have Pu-erh tea in my hands. I tried to purchase some from the Granville Island Tea Company but they were out and counseled me to get it from Chinatown regardless. Apparently it's a specialty product that you don't want to just approach haphazardly. Steve went to fetch some for me in Chinatown this afternoon. The problem with Chinatown is that it's hard to know whether you're getting what you came for because of language and culture barriers. It's always an adventure and I bet if you did it every week you could build up the right relationships. What we acquired is a 4 year old raw pu-erh which I'm guessing is like buying a $20 bottle of wine. It came beautifully packaged as if it was going to be a gift which I suppose is the reason most people like us go into the shop. I did feel special holding the box and unwrapping the 'melon'. I brewed a cup and it tastes fine though I was expecting a stronger taste and a darker brew. It was pretty tough to flake off the tea leaves so perhaps I didn't use enough. It tastes like an earthy green tea. It's an odd feeling to not know whether you're drinking the real thing or not. Like entering a foreign land and hoping you're not mistaking their version of McDonald's for fine dining. I have a new goal to get myself to a tea shop that will serve genuine samples of Pu-erh tea. For now I'll use what I have and hope that it'll be drinkable kombucha. It's been said that a good Pu-erh can create the champagne of kombucha.
The Kefir grains are still dormant while I work my way through all the Kefir. I give it another two days.
I made a deal with Steve that I would get to bed before midnight today so I'm running out of time to write much more. But how about that iPad? It certainly is the talk of the town. I saw a funny article in the Onion where they portrayed Steve Jobs madly scrambling at the last minute to put together a tablet, finally deciding to just slap a bunch of iPhones together. I suppose why not keep going with a good thing. We were all expecting innovation in hardware but we may have received innovation in software and interaction. I'll have to try it and see. It's interesting that they didn't use e-ink technology. They may not have been aiming for the e-book market and in their promotional video they repeat 'web browsing' an awful lot.
A song for this post.
The Kefir grains are still dormant while I work my way through all the Kefir. I give it another two days.
I made a deal with Steve that I would get to bed before midnight today so I'm running out of time to write much more. But how about that iPad? It certainly is the talk of the town. I saw a funny article in the Onion where they portrayed Steve Jobs madly scrambling at the last minute to put together a tablet, finally deciding to just slap a bunch of iPhones together. I suppose why not keep going with a good thing. We were all expecting innovation in hardware but we may have received innovation in software and interaction. I'll have to try it and see. It's interesting that they didn't use e-ink technology. They may not have been aiming for the e-book market and in their promotional video they repeat 'web browsing' an awful lot.
A song for this post.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Too much and not enough (day 150)
bacterial update: the kombucha tea got a reprieve because the Granville Island market was closed today. It almost never closes but every Monday in January is a maintenance day. I'd say 90% of us forget and still head over there to be disappointed and slightly dunce-capped for forgetting yet again. I was saved the trouble by a friend who reminded me at the last moment. Tomorrow I'll get the tea I need from the Granville Island Tea Company and start the kombucha process in earnest. On a whim I tested the pH (never say die). It's still at 4.0. One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that the label on the store-bought kombucha says that it was brewed for 20 days. I had a moment of hope but it has pretty much faded. I've got my eyes on the Pu-erh tea and a new beginning now.
The Kefir grains continue to produce more quickly than is convenient. It's as if they've found new vigour and I'll have to adjust. It made practically no difference at all to switch to 3% milk, except for the luscious creaminess of the drink. When I came home at 8pm, it was very ready to strain. I am now overrun with Kefir so the grains will have to go dormant for a few days. When I've caught up, I'll decrease the volume of grains.
Not a very triumphant bacterial day I must say. But my momma said there'd be days like this.
Today I spent a full three hours catching up on email and I still didn't catch up. I determined that I can do about 50 emails in an hour. I even tried something new and said no to a few requests. Who knows, I might even get my workload down to something manageable where I can have a few moments to think before I hit send.
Sleep beckons...
A song for this post.
The Kefir grains continue to produce more quickly than is convenient. It's as if they've found new vigour and I'll have to adjust. It made practically no difference at all to switch to 3% milk, except for the luscious creaminess of the drink. When I came home at 8pm, it was very ready to strain. I am now overrun with Kefir so the grains will have to go dormant for a few days. When I've caught up, I'll decrease the volume of grains.
Not a very triumphant bacterial day I must say. But my momma said there'd be days like this.
Today I spent a full three hours catching up on email and I still didn't catch up. I determined that I can do about 50 emails in an hour. I even tried something new and said no to a few requests. Who knows, I might even get my workload down to something manageable where I can have a few moments to think before I hit send.
Sleep beckons...
A song for this post.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Seeing clearly (day 149)
bacterial update: I had great hope for the kombucha tea this morning. The pH reading was at 3.5 and I thought maybe just maybe I could get it down to 3 by evening. But it was not to be. It's hard to declare an ad-hoc experiment a failure because even if it had succeeded the amount of information gained would have been so low. Still, I'm disappointed. I even bought a bottle of commercial (live) kombucha to compare the pH. It had a perfect pH of 3 (not to mention a really seductive apple cider taste). Oh the sting. Tomorrow I will dump mine out, separate the new scoby from the mother, and start over. I've decided against the exotic sugars, and will just use regular old cane sugar. Might as well start with the basics. Here is some good news though. Steve and I went to the recycling depot today and he spotted some nice green Grolsch bottles that will be perfect for bottling the kombucha. There were eight of them. The seals were a bit old but the iPhone directed us to the nearest wine making supply store and we were able to buy new seals, some sanitizing chemicals, and a filler wand to go with the siphon hose we got from Canadian Tire.
Today's Kefir took about the same amount of time to finish fermenting as the last batch even with the extra milk which is puzzling. I ended up having to strain it at 8am. I'm wondering if the shorter fermentation is because I've been using 2% milk for the last two batches. Presumably it would have a higher proportion of sugar and could be causing more bacterial activity? To test this hypothesis I've bought 3% milk and hopefully we'll be back to the 24 hour schedule. Otherwise, there will be too much chaos in the straining times and I'll be unable to keep up. Adding more milk is not really feasible because I wouldn't be able to drink it fast enough. I could also decrease the volume of grains. One test at a time.
My friend Alex talks about FOMO, Fear Of Missing Out. I'm not sure if she coined the term but it wouldn't surprise me. She's clever that way. She talks about it in the context of the impulse to check RSS and twitter feeds which both trigger and remedy FOMO, and has some insights about information addiction. I see FOMO as a symptom of globalization. Our biological senses are not evolving quickly yet we somehow need to sense what is going on across the globe to react appropriately. The problem is that if we are not sensing at the appropriate graininess, we start to see patterns in randomness. Nassim Taleb talks about this in his answer to the question "how is the internet changing the way you think?" He talks about going on a "news diet" and seeing things more clearly. I love how he says at the end of his short essay "I can feel harmony with my genes; I feel I am growing again." It's worth a read. There are also lots of other thinkers that have weighed in on the question. If it's within your information diet, spend some time with this buffet of thoughts.
A song for this post.
Today's Kefir took about the same amount of time to finish fermenting as the last batch even with the extra milk which is puzzling. I ended up having to strain it at 8am. I'm wondering if the shorter fermentation is because I've been using 2% milk for the last two batches. Presumably it would have a higher proportion of sugar and could be causing more bacterial activity? To test this hypothesis I've bought 3% milk and hopefully we'll be back to the 24 hour schedule. Otherwise, there will be too much chaos in the straining times and I'll be unable to keep up. Adding more milk is not really feasible because I wouldn't be able to drink it fast enough. I could also decrease the volume of grains. One test at a time.
My friend Alex talks about FOMO, Fear Of Missing Out. I'm not sure if she coined the term but it wouldn't surprise me. She's clever that way. She talks about it in the context of the impulse to check RSS and twitter feeds which both trigger and remedy FOMO, and has some insights about information addiction. I see FOMO as a symptom of globalization. Our biological senses are not evolving quickly yet we somehow need to sense what is going on across the globe to react appropriately. The problem is that if we are not sensing at the appropriate graininess, we start to see patterns in randomness. Nassim Taleb talks about this in his answer to the question "how is the internet changing the way you think?" He talks about going on a "news diet" and seeing things more clearly. I love how he says at the end of his short essay "I can feel harmony with my genes; I feel I am growing again." It's worth a read. There are also lots of other thinkers that have weighed in on the question. If it's within your information diet, spend some time with this buffet of thoughts.
A song for this post.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Listen to the chattering (day 148)
bacterial update: I did manage to heat up the kombucha ferment with a hot water bottle and a cozy. It may be too hot and I have no way of testing the temperature. The only thermometer I have is a candy thermometer which will take forever to give me a temp and won't be accurate enough. It's interesting how much anxiety this tea is causing me. I'm paranoid about killing the scoby, contaminating it, having it at the proper temperature, etc. Too much information combined with a long testing time requires a lot of calm, patient waiting. I'm perplexed by the consensus that fermentation should take about eight days and mine has been fermenting for thirteen and is still nowhere near the pH it should be. Granted, I was not scientific with my starting proportion of tea/water/sugar but somehow I thought the process would be more robust. I'm now preparing for my next batch in which I will use Pu-erh tea, honey and malt, and spring water. I'm sticking with my deadline of tomorrow evening for proper pH for the currently brewing tea. I did read that a tall jar such as the one I'm using could have a longer brewing time simply because it is exposed to less oxygen. I will have better data with a measured start.
I ended up having to strain the Kefir at the 17 hour mark instead of the usual 24. This probably means it was too hot or I didn't have enough milk. Probably the latter. I added more milk to the next batch. The Kefir-Leban firmed up nicely. I jarred it and put it in the fridge to mature a bit. I'll taste it again in a few days. I noticed that I had mistakenly left some kefir grains in the kefiran. With some sorrow and a silent apology I ate the grains. There was not much taste to them and the texture was a bit rubbery. Not bad at all, just not what I would call a delicacy.
There has been some discussion lately about politics and social media. Recently, the Minister of Industry dismissed the Facebook group against the proroguing of parliament as being irrelevant and populated by the elite and chattering classes (heavily paraphrased). The upshot is that he does not want to use social media as a barometer for political sentiment in the country. I don't even know what the chattering class is or if I'm part of it but let's assume that both it and the elite class are composed of Canadians of voting age. On that basis alone neither should be dismissed by our representatives. In actual fact, polls show that the FB group is mostly older engaged Canadian voters. So again, no reason to dismiss. I think what we are looking at here is a symptom of social media being perceived as a diversion from real life, a place where only idle chatter takes place. "If the people are really upset, let them take to the streets or sign (physical) petitions" is the underlying premise. I admit I had internalized this message until very recently when I starting thinking about transparency and non-violent communication. As a Canadian, simply stating that I don't support prorogation should be enough. And stating it in electronic form should be enough. The Minister explained his statements later by saying that he was comparing it to the number of phone calls he received during the first and second prorogation. Again, phone calls being given a higher priority than other forms of communication. Escalating communication to protests is only needed because any 'easy' communication is dismissed as being 'too easy' to be meaningful. When the bar of communication is set so high, it produces frustration and confrontational styles of communication. I suggest that he broaden his views on how his constituents communicate. We could all be happier.
A song for this post.
I ended up having to strain the Kefir at the 17 hour mark instead of the usual 24. This probably means it was too hot or I didn't have enough milk. Probably the latter. I added more milk to the next batch. The Kefir-Leban firmed up nicely. I jarred it and put it in the fridge to mature a bit. I'll taste it again in a few days. I noticed that I had mistakenly left some kefir grains in the kefiran. With some sorrow and a silent apology I ate the grains. There was not much taste to them and the texture was a bit rubbery. Not bad at all, just not what I would call a delicacy.
There has been some discussion lately about politics and social media. Recently, the Minister of Industry dismissed the Facebook group against the proroguing of parliament as being irrelevant and populated by the elite and chattering classes (heavily paraphrased). The upshot is that he does not want to use social media as a barometer for political sentiment in the country. I don't even know what the chattering class is or if I'm part of it but let's assume that both it and the elite class are composed of Canadians of voting age. On that basis alone neither should be dismissed by our representatives. In actual fact, polls show that the FB group is mostly older engaged Canadian voters. So again, no reason to dismiss. I think what we are looking at here is a symptom of social media being perceived as a diversion from real life, a place where only idle chatter takes place. "If the people are really upset, let them take to the streets or sign (physical) petitions" is the underlying premise. I admit I had internalized this message until very recently when I starting thinking about transparency and non-violent communication. As a Canadian, simply stating that I don't support prorogation should be enough. And stating it in electronic form should be enough. The Minister explained his statements later by saying that he was comparing it to the number of phone calls he received during the first and second prorogation. Again, phone calls being given a higher priority than other forms of communication. Escalating communication to protests is only needed because any 'easy' communication is dismissed as being 'too easy' to be meaningful. When the bar of communication is set so high, it produces frustration and confrontational styles of communication. I suggest that he broaden his views on how his constituents communicate. We could all be happier.
A song for this post.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Go where the love is (day 147)
bacterial update: The kombucha scoby appears to have survived. I tested the pH and it decreased a little bit. I got a bit more brave (stupid?) and took the scoby out and added sugar. It foamed like yesterday but then reverted to a normal state. This is my last ditch effort at saving this batch. I'd say if by the end of the weekend it's not approaching a 3.5 pH, I'll let it go. I'm looking forward to starting from scratch. It would be a bonus if I could get some tea out of this batch though! I haven't even been optimistic enough to buy some bottles. Many kombucha tea brewers recommend getting a heating pad. I'm intrigued by this idea but I would rather do without mostly because I can't think of a location with a plug nearby that would also be appropriate for brewing tea. I may try putting a hot water bottle near the brewing container and see if that helps.
The Kefir grains woke up with a new zest for life and I knew I was in trouble when I saw the fermentation was almost done as I was leaving for work. There was no way I'd be back to strain it at the optimal time. And I wasn't. When I got home it had separated into a thick layer of curd with whey at the bottom. So I decided to make Kefir-Leban, the kefir equivalent of "if life gives you lemons, make lemonade". It's currently straining through cloth and should be ready in about 20 hours. It can then be used like cream-cheese, or made into a harder more mature cheese. I'm intrigued by cheese-making but not enough to make my apartment smell like a cheese factory.
I know that a few days ago I said that I would keep going to the Stereoscopic Displays and Applications conference. Now I'm not so sure. I did come away with some new insights about stereo technologies but considering the cost of attending, it doesn't seem like a good trade. For the same price I could go to SIGGRAPH and be much more satisfied. It dawned on me that my interest in stereoscopy centres around two topics: the art of making stereoscopic movies, animations and artwork; and the hardware and software people are using to create these on the cheap. In other words, I am interested in stereoscopy for artists and amateurs. I don't think this will ever be a central part of the SD&A conference. But it could be part of the new Stereoscopic 3D Centre currently being developed at Emily Carr in partnership with Kerner Optical. In fact, I will make sure it is. With that in mind, here is a piece of information I picked up at the conference. Colby Systems has created a relatively inexpensive stereo video camera that records at full HD resolution. The cost is $699 USD, plus an extra $99 for a camera stabilizer. I will purchase one for the Breath I/O project and put a review on this blog once I try it out.
A song for this post.
The Kefir grains woke up with a new zest for life and I knew I was in trouble when I saw the fermentation was almost done as I was leaving for work. There was no way I'd be back to strain it at the optimal time. And I wasn't. When I got home it had separated into a thick layer of curd with whey at the bottom. So I decided to make Kefir-Leban, the kefir equivalent of "if life gives you lemons, make lemonade". It's currently straining through cloth and should be ready in about 20 hours. It can then be used like cream-cheese, or made into a harder more mature cheese. I'm intrigued by cheese-making but not enough to make my apartment smell like a cheese factory.
I know that a few days ago I said that I would keep going to the Stereoscopic Displays and Applications conference. Now I'm not so sure. I did come away with some new insights about stereo technologies but considering the cost of attending, it doesn't seem like a good trade. For the same price I could go to SIGGRAPH and be much more satisfied. It dawned on me that my interest in stereoscopy centres around two topics: the art of making stereoscopic movies, animations and artwork; and the hardware and software people are using to create these on the cheap. In other words, I am interested in stereoscopy for artists and amateurs. I don't think this will ever be a central part of the SD&A conference. But it could be part of the new Stereoscopic 3D Centre currently being developed at Emily Carr in partnership with Kerner Optical. In fact, I will make sure it is. With that in mind, here is a piece of information I picked up at the conference. Colby Systems has created a relatively inexpensive stereo video camera that records at full HD resolution. The cost is $699 USD, plus an extra $99 for a camera stabilizer. I will purchase one for the Breath I/O project and put a review on this blog once I try it out.
A song for this post.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Rich life (day 146)
bacterial update: I've been away from the cultures for a while and in a way it was good for me to see the progress of the kombucha tea. The daughter is almost fully formed. While I was away the pH test strips arrived and I tested the pH this evening. It tested at about 4.2 which means it's still quite far from being done, though the timeline may not be linear. As I thought about this high pH I became paranoid about the sugar content not having been high enough which is quite possible because I basically just used 10 tablespoons which is just over half of what is recommended. I was following the directions of the person who gave me the culture. Now reading about other people's brewing methods, it all seems to point to me not having used enough sugar. Anyway, I added a bit of dissolved sugar to the brewing tea, very carefully, with a straw. This may have been a bad idea and it's still not nearly enough sugar. If I don't get punished harshly for this by the kombucha gods I swear I will never need to do it again. It would be a shame to have come this far and fall prey to my own impulsivity. I keep reminding myself of positive black swans...sometimes you get lucky with accidents. Though luck favours the experienced. If it looks bad for my scoby, I'll just start another brew with the right amount of sugar.
The Kefir grains are indeed dormant after being in the refrigerator. They seem to have done almost nothing in the six days I was away. I took them out and hopefully they'll come to life nicely by tomorrow evening.
Having had a harrowing day of travel (I will never book connecting flights in LAX again), I'm really happy to be home. Vancouver is warm and smells good. I walked to school for a talk happening in the IDS, listening to more of Lords of Finance, my latest auditory obsession. It was good to move after so much sitting and waiting. As I walked, the war ends and Germany's fate is being decided by a peace committee. Irrational behaviour prevails outrage at the treaty ensues, followed by general (expected) non-compliance by Germany. Keynes resigned from the committee. I was surprised to learn that he was part of it. Though he was largely shut out of the discussions about reparations. It's an interesting book full of little observations about the temperaments and characters at play. I'm intrigued by the social moors of the time, particularly in relation to the ruling class and bankers. I'm curious if it is similar today. I'm aware that besides Entertainment Tonight and The Enquirer I don't have much of a window into the ultra-rich or ever super-rich day to day living.
A song for this post.
The Kefir grains are indeed dormant after being in the refrigerator. They seem to have done almost nothing in the six days I was away. I took them out and hopefully they'll come to life nicely by tomorrow evening.
Having had a harrowing day of travel (I will never book connecting flights in LAX again), I'm really happy to be home. Vancouver is warm and smells good. I walked to school for a talk happening in the IDS, listening to more of Lords of Finance, my latest auditory obsession. It was good to move after so much sitting and waiting. As I walked, the war ends and Germany's fate is being decided by a peace committee. Irrational behaviour prevails outrage at the treaty ensues, followed by general (expected) non-compliance by Germany. Keynes resigned from the committee. I was surprised to learn that he was part of it. Though he was largely shut out of the discussions about reparations. It's an interesting book full of little observations about the temperaments and characters at play. I'm intrigued by the social moors of the time, particularly in relation to the ruling class and bankers. I'm curious if it is similar today. I'm aware that besides Entertainment Tonight and The Enquirer I don't have much of a window into the ultra-rich or ever super-rich day to day living.
A song for this post.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Tribal rivalry (day 145)
I took one look at the morning schedule for the Stereoscopic Displays and Applications and decided to crash one of the other conferences: Human Vision and Electronic Imaging. They were having a full session the high dynamic range (HDR) light in Ansel Adams photographs, capped with a tour of an Ansel Adams exhibit at the San Jose Museum of Art. It was a glorious morning and I remembered who my tribe is as soon as the lights went down and the pictures started talking. The exhibit was of Adams' early works and contained some old prints from the late 30s. I loved the pictures of more intricate subjects like grasses and roots. He could really make texture come alive just as he did majestic shots of landscapes.
I toured the rest of the exhibits and barely made it back in time to hear engineers talk about depth maps. I learned something.
A song for this post.
I toured the rest of the exhibits and barely made it back in time to hear engineers talk about depth maps. I learned something.
A song for this post.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Spectacled visions (day 144)
I'm a big fan of phantograms. Terry Wilson sells them at the Stereoscopic Displays and Applications conference. I always feel like buying way too many. Phantograms are stereoscopic images that appear to pop out of the page when positioned on a table and viewed at an angle (standing up). It can make things like bowls and flowers seem like they are really on the table. There is an art to creating and printing a phantogram. One of the biggest issues is getting accurate colours so the stereoscopic effect works well and the subject looks good. It can be hard to get good colour with anaglyphs (most phantograms are anaglyphs). This time I bought a book on phantograms. Like most things stereoscopic it's slightly tacky but I like it that way.
The other neat thing I saw today is a product called StereoJet. It prints stereo images onto polarized sheets which can then be laminated and framed. The images can be viewed with polarized glasses (similar to those used in 3D theatres). The left and right images are printed onto orthogonal linearly polarized sheets which are then superimposed. A third sheet adds a quarter wave retarder which create circular polarization.
I also saw a demo of Digimarc technology which embeds visual codes as watermarks into images. These can be detected by a camera and used to retrieve information about an image. Unlike other similar technologies, the marks are undetectable so they don't obscure or change the design of the picture. It's been used extensively to keep track of where images are being used and help protect copyright. But for me the use of the watermark to reveal related information from the image is more interesting than the copyright applications. I love the idea of getting out my camera to take a picture of something and being informed that there is more to this picture. Better yet, it would be great to be able to encode information into pictures I take with my cell phone. Things like voice, links to other pictures, links, etc.
A song for this post.
The other neat thing I saw today is a product called StereoJet. It prints stereo images onto polarized sheets which can then be laminated and framed. The images can be viewed with polarized glasses (similar to those used in 3D theatres). The left and right images are printed onto orthogonal linearly polarized sheets which are then superimposed. A third sheet adds a quarter wave retarder which create circular polarization.
I also saw a demo of Digimarc technology which embeds visual codes as watermarks into images. These can be detected by a camera and used to retrieve information about an image. Unlike other similar technologies, the marks are undetectable so they don't obscure or change the design of the picture. It's been used extensively to keep track of where images are being used and help protect copyright. But for me the use of the watermark to reveal related information from the image is more interesting than the copyright applications. I love the idea of getting out my camera to take a picture of something and being informed that there is more to this picture. Better yet, it would be great to be able to encode information into pictures I take with my cell phone. Things like voice, links to other pictures, links, etc.
A song for this post.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Not (yet) my tribe (day 143)
It's odd to be surrounded by thousands of people and feel alone. This is the second time I've attended this conference and I thought it would be different this year. But I'm starting to realize that there is a fundamental mismatch between the average SD&A attendee and me. I remember once sitting at Tim Horton's waiting for someone to pick me up. I wasn't eating the doughnuts but I was watching other people eat doughnuts. The atmosphere was ok and I was enjoying reading the paper. I think I might have been sipping coffee too. Anyway. At some point I looked around and I thought "If I hung out here all the time, eventually I would look like the people that come here regularly". The thought was sobering and I looked for my friend's car. I feel the same way about this conference. I look around and I think "I don't want this to be me in 10 years." Needless to say the feeling seems to be mutual. They can't see me becoming like them so they don't bother engaging in more than superficial conversation. The saving grace? Some pretty great content. And there are other sub-conferences happening so I can duck out and take in some other type of information when I've had enough. I will keep coming here because of the content and because I think eventually it will change. And if it doesn't, maybe I'll start my own regular stereo conference.
If I could change SD&A I would add some art tracks, change the venues to be smaller, and add some technical courses. Maybe change the management team to proportionally include fewer engineers.
BTW, Disney is converting the original Beauty and The Beast to stereoscopic. They showed a preview and it is beautiful. They said they aim to have it done (start to finish) in a year.
A song for this post.
If I could change SD&A I would add some art tracks, change the venues to be smaller, and add some technical courses. Maybe change the management team to proportionally include fewer engineers.
BTW, Disney is converting the original Beauty and The Beast to stereoscopic. They showed a preview and it is beautiful. They said they aim to have it done (start to finish) in a year.
A song for this post.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Belligerence will not be tolerated (day 141)
I arrived in San Jose a few hours ago. Walking in the warm(ish) night air was refreshing and familiar. I've been here a number of times before. I'm not a frequent traveler. As much as I like a change of environment, the indignities of air travel prevent me from looking to leave very often. Plus there's the cat to consider. Traveling by air is really only a short portion of the actual air travel experience. The airport is impersonal yet invades all personal space without apology. It's lures and rejects in a way that makes you want to stick to the middle of the runway halls. No chair is comfortable and sitting itself is an indignity when you are sitting to wait to sit some more. Healthy food is camouflaged amongst the bright colours of junk food that promise an immediate hit of comfort. It takes a will of steel to reach for the salad or the apple, harnessing faith that it's the fluorescent lights making them look so sickly and alien. Most of the time hunger is not the reason for eating.
Tomorrow an early start will continue the bizarro yet common experience that is conference attendance. A relentless streams of scheduled information dissemination will delight until it overwhelms and then guilt as it forces the memory of how rare a moment this is. I will eat more 85% chocolate and keep absorbing hoping the information won't get blurred out of existence overnight. Then I will have every good intention of using the new information, even disseminating far and wide with colleagues. At the very least I will remember the highlights and be grateful for renewed enthusiasm.
A song for this post.
Tomorrow an early start will continue the bizarro yet common experience that is conference attendance. A relentless streams of scheduled information dissemination will delight until it overwhelms and then guilt as it forces the memory of how rare a moment this is. I will eat more 85% chocolate and keep absorbing hoping the information won't get blurred out of existence overnight. Then I will have every good intention of using the new information, even disseminating far and wide with colleagues. At the very least I will remember the highlights and be grateful for renewed enthusiasm.
A song for this post.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Celebration of perfect events (day 140)
A very quick post today. I just got back from my friend Zeenat's Henna party leading up to her wedding on Monday. It's a very small wedding with just immediate family and this was a chance for all her friends to come and celebrate with her and Chris. My hand is henna'd and I'm exhausted. It was a bit of a relentless week and tomorrow I leave for San Jose for the Stereoscopic Displays and Applications conference. It will be a nice change of pace.
Bacterial update: yesterday's Kefir has ripened for 24 hours and I tasted it this evening. It had perfect taste and consistency. My version of perfect taste is sour like yogurt or a bit more, with nice tones of yeast. Consistency was like buttermilk...maybe a bit thicker. The fizz was minimal because I 'burped' it a lot while it was ripening. I wouldn't mind a bit more fizz but it was a fine fine Kefir. I added a little maple syrup and had a little piece of heaven in my belly. I will try to reproduce this result when I get back from San Jose. I've put the grains in milk and they will sit in the fridge for the week...hopefully go dormant in a pleasant way. To recap, the way that seems to work is to do a pretty strict 1:7 ratio of grains to milk, covered but not tightly, paper bag covering the jar, agitated after 8 hours, agitated again at the 20 hour mark or so (more if I happen to be around) and monitored until very small pockets of whey start to form, then strained and put in the fridge covered but not tightly, agitated and burped a few times in the next 24 hours.
The kombucha tea is still alive and well as far as I can tell.
A song for this post.
Bacterial update: yesterday's Kefir has ripened for 24 hours and I tasted it this evening. It had perfect taste and consistency. My version of perfect taste is sour like yogurt or a bit more, with nice tones of yeast. Consistency was like buttermilk...maybe a bit thicker. The fizz was minimal because I 'burped' it a lot while it was ripening. I wouldn't mind a bit more fizz but it was a fine fine Kefir. I added a little maple syrup and had a little piece of heaven in my belly. I will try to reproduce this result when I get back from San Jose. I've put the grains in milk and they will sit in the fridge for the week...hopefully go dormant in a pleasant way. To recap, the way that seems to work is to do a pretty strict 1:7 ratio of grains to milk, covered but not tightly, paper bag covering the jar, agitated after 8 hours, agitated again at the 20 hour mark or so (more if I happen to be around) and monitored until very small pockets of whey start to form, then strained and put in the fridge covered but not tightly, agitated and burped a few times in the next 24 hours.
The kombucha tea is still alive and well as far as I can tell.
A song for this post.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
This is not their war (day 139)
Bacterial update: the batch of Kefir I was so giddy about yesterday was indeed the best so far but after 'ripening' the milk kefir at room temperature for another 24 hours, it turned sour. I threw it out. In hindsight, given the amount of separation of curd and whey after being strained, it had fermented slightly too long. The batch I just strained this evening is again the best so far (better than yesterday's). This time I'm ripening it in the refrigerator for a day. So far the separation is minimal. Ripening is said to increase Vitamins B (folic acid in particular). It also changes the flavour. We'll see. The Kombucha scoby seems to be starting the creation of a daughter on its back. For some reason I thought it would be on the belly. When I get back from San Jose on Friday next week I'll have the pH testing strips to see how things are going. By that time the brewing should be almost done.
Steve and I have been watching the Lord of the Ring trilogy. We're almost done the third one now. It's quite an epic. Just like the first time, I can't help but feel sadness for the suffering of the animals in a battle that is not their own. While I know that these particular animals were not harmed, it does remind me that animals were and are harmed in battles. Horses seem to me such gentle animals. To use them in battle must have been tremendously traumatic. In the film they kill elephant-like animals as well as horses, dog-like creatures, and so on, merely for their supposed allegiance with evil. Indeed the animals are depicted as having a will to kill beyond their human riders.
I recently had a conversation with someone about the next big injustice to be noticed and righted. At the time we bandied lots of things about including, in partial jest, the injustice of a world made for early-risers. Since that time, because of various sources and acquaintances, I've come to realize that it may be animal rights that become a focus. Our inability to consider non-humans as having consciousness, worthy of freedom and respect no doubt stands in the way of us feeling compassion on much deeper level for the earth in general. Julie Andreyev, Carol Gigliotti, and Karolle Wall are all faculty members at Emily Carr working with animals and ethics as subject matter. Julie is currently building an interactive art piece (called *glisten) HIVE) for the Cultural Olympiad (Code Live exhibition) where text emphasizing evidence of animal consciousness will be rendered in real-time, responding to human actions in the space. She is actively seeking textual input for the piece using Twitter (@glisten_HIVE). You can tweet examples of how your animal companion shows their conscious relationship with the world. Example questions she asks are: "how do you know when your animal companion is sad/happy?", and "Is your animal companion ever conflicted?"
A song for this post.
Steve and I have been watching the Lord of the Ring trilogy. We're almost done the third one now. It's quite an epic. Just like the first time, I can't help but feel sadness for the suffering of the animals in a battle that is not their own. While I know that these particular animals were not harmed, it does remind me that animals were and are harmed in battles. Horses seem to me such gentle animals. To use them in battle must have been tremendously traumatic. In the film they kill elephant-like animals as well as horses, dog-like creatures, and so on, merely for their supposed allegiance with evil. Indeed the animals are depicted as having a will to kill beyond their human riders.
I recently had a conversation with someone about the next big injustice to be noticed and righted. At the time we bandied lots of things about including, in partial jest, the injustice of a world made for early-risers. Since that time, because of various sources and acquaintances, I've come to realize that it may be animal rights that become a focus. Our inability to consider non-humans as having consciousness, worthy of freedom and respect no doubt stands in the way of us feeling compassion on much deeper level for the earth in general. Julie Andreyev, Carol Gigliotti, and Karolle Wall are all faculty members at Emily Carr working with animals and ethics as subject matter. Julie is currently building an interactive art piece (called *glisten) HIVE) for the Cultural Olympiad (Code Live exhibition) where text emphasizing evidence of animal consciousness will be rendered in real-time, responding to human actions in the space. She is actively seeking textual input for the piece using Twitter (@glisten_HIVE). You can tweet examples of how your animal companion shows their conscious relationship with the world. Example questions she asks are: "how do you know when your animal companion is sad/happy?", and "Is your animal companion ever conflicted?"
A song for this post.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
May the light shine on Haiti (day 138)
Bacterial update: I think this Kefir batch is the one. The one that looks like the picture. I decreased the amount of milk and left the lid ajar. I also covered the jar for the last 5 hours of fermentation. I haven't strained it yet but I'm giddy with anticipation. My kombucha tea mother is not dead. This is a small victory that accumulates momentum every day. I bought some pH testing strip from a shop in Ontario. The shipping was more than the strips. I'll try to find a supply in Vancouver when I have some time. Is this a giant distraction? Yes, perhaps but sometimes following something thoroughly fascinating is a gateway for inspiration in other areas.
I took some time today to look at pictures of the damage in Haiti. It is much worse than I thought. I am so stunned by the symbolic destruction of the palace. It seemed so solid, so regal. My friend Jer posted a visualization of why this disaster is especially sad -- hiting a country already weakened. I donated to Architecture for Humanity. I like what they stand for and I find their rebuilding message hopeful. It may be too early to think in those terms but building better for the future is a worthy thing to be prepared for.
A song for this post.
I took some time today to look at pictures of the damage in Haiti. It is much worse than I thought. I am so stunned by the symbolic destruction of the palace. It seemed so solid, so regal. My friend Jer posted a visualization of why this disaster is especially sad -- hiting a country already weakened. I donated to Architecture for Humanity. I like what they stand for and I find their rebuilding message hopeful. It may be too early to think in those terms but building better for the future is a worthy thing to be prepared for.
A song for this post.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Why d'you do it, scorpion? (day 137)
No real change in bacterial life today. I am still on the hunt for pH testing strips so I can reassure myself of the Kombucha tea progress. I (foolishly?) thought it would be easy to find these testing strips at, say, a wine making store. Not so. I think the internet will have to come to the rescue this time. An initial search reveals the shipping is as expensive as the product...incentive to buy more.
The most interesting thing I heard about today is Google's sudden reversal of policy regarding search result censorship in China. Some will remember that a few years ago Google's reputation ('don't be evil' motto) took a significant hit when they moved into China and voluntarily censored search results as a condition of doing business. It was a stunning and calculated move on their part. The rhetoric was that of constructive engagement. Over time people forgot. The release of Android and the continued popularity of Google Apps helped.
In a maneuver reminiscent of the story of the frog and the scorpion, Google was recently the target of an attack on their servers coming from China. The stinger was that the attackers seemed to be targeting email accounts of suspected so-called Chinese dissidents. Surprisingly, Google's response was to publicly announce that they will no longer censor search results in China. They further qualify the response by acknowledging that this may mean the end of their business in the country. This goes a long way to redeem their initial reputation hit. Part of me wonders though if it's only one move in a significantly longer conversation with Chinese officials. I do appreciate the candor of the post - a rare display of ethical values by a company.
A song for this post.
The most interesting thing I heard about today is Google's sudden reversal of policy regarding search result censorship in China. Some will remember that a few years ago Google's reputation ('don't be evil' motto) took a significant hit when they moved into China and voluntarily censored search results as a condition of doing business. It was a stunning and calculated move on their part. The rhetoric was that of constructive engagement. Over time people forgot. The release of Android and the continued popularity of Google Apps helped.
In a maneuver reminiscent of the story of the frog and the scorpion, Google was recently the target of an attack on their servers coming from China. The stinger was that the attackers seemed to be targeting email accounts of suspected so-called Chinese dissidents. Surprisingly, Google's response was to publicly announce that they will no longer censor search results in China. They further qualify the response by acknowledging that this may mean the end of their business in the country. This goes a long way to redeem their initial reputation hit. Part of me wonders though if it's only one move in a significantly longer conversation with Chinese officials. I do appreciate the candor of the post - a rare display of ethical values by a company.
A song for this post.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Drink in culture (day 136)
I strained by first quart of Kefir today and it is quite delicious. I didn't find quite thick enough but that may be because I didn't stir it while it was culturing, or perhaps I didn't culture it long enough. I am making another quart which will be ready in a day and half. Apparently every batch is different. Different milk and fat content should help with that. Also slightly more grains than last time.
The kombucha scoby is not dead or moldy. I'm happy with that. I'll be getting some PH testing strips tomorrow to keep track of the progress. I'm curious.
So that's it for today - just a bacterial update. Actually here's a gem I came across today as well. It talks of serendipity and I find it quite charming.
A song for this post.
The kombucha scoby is not dead or moldy. I'm happy with that. I'll be getting some PH testing strips tomorrow to keep track of the progress. I'm curious.
So that's it for today - just a bacterial update. Actually here's a gem I came across today as well. It talks of serendipity and I find it quite charming.
A song for this post.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Scoby do (day 135)
I've stumbled onto culture, the bacterial kind. I now know what a scoby is and I am worried about mine. I hope I didn't kill it. A scoby is a symbiotic combination of yeast and bacteria. I have two types now: one for making Kefir and one for making Kombucha tea. Both were gifted by a kind soul in East Vancouver.
After being sick I started drinking probiotics to replenish my gut with good bacteria. But probiotic drinks are super expensive and knowing that all they are is fermented milk was bothering me. What could be easier than multiplying bacteria? I looked into making yogurt but the effort seemed to outweigh the returns. Then I came across Kefir, a drink originally from Russia which kind of tastes like yogurt but with some yeast tones and effervescence. An acquired taste to some maybe but I took to it right away. It's quite good with chocolate. Anyway, it too is expensive but unlike yogurt it is quite easy to make. It requires room temperature and a typical kefir will take 24-36 hours to make. The catch is that you need to know someone with the Kefir grains to start the process. Thankfully the gift culture of craigslist yielded a kind person who not only gave me some grains but also showed me his method of making Kefir.
As a bonus he also gave me a Kombucha tea mushroom (it's called a mushroom but it's not really a mushroom). I'd never had Kombucha tea but I was thrilled to get the scoby after tasting his tea. It's fresh tasting, a little bit like a cross between cider and beer. It only has 1% alcohol.
A big learning curve of an afternoon later, I have two things brewing: Kefir and Kombucha tea. The Kefir should be ready tomorrow night. The tea, perhaps in two weeks if I didn't kill the scoby with the wrong PH or an invasion of another bacteria or mold.
Who knew sickness could yield such treasures.
A song for this post.
After being sick I started drinking probiotics to replenish my gut with good bacteria. But probiotic drinks are super expensive and knowing that all they are is fermented milk was bothering me. What could be easier than multiplying bacteria? I looked into making yogurt but the effort seemed to outweigh the returns. Then I came across Kefir, a drink originally from Russia which kind of tastes like yogurt but with some yeast tones and effervescence. An acquired taste to some maybe but I took to it right away. It's quite good with chocolate. Anyway, it too is expensive but unlike yogurt it is quite easy to make. It requires room temperature and a typical kefir will take 24-36 hours to make. The catch is that you need to know someone with the Kefir grains to start the process. Thankfully the gift culture of craigslist yielded a kind person who not only gave me some grains but also showed me his method of making Kefir.
As a bonus he also gave me a Kombucha tea mushroom (it's called a mushroom but it's not really a mushroom). I'd never had Kombucha tea but I was thrilled to get the scoby after tasting his tea. It's fresh tasting, a little bit like a cross between cider and beer. It only has 1% alcohol.
A big learning curve of an afternoon later, I have two things brewing: Kefir and Kombucha tea. The Kefir should be ready tomorrow night. The tea, perhaps in two weeks if I didn't kill the scoby with the wrong PH or an invasion of another bacteria or mold.
Who knew sickness could yield such treasures.
A song for this post.
Saturday, January 09, 2010
On publicly being (day 134)
Being more public is apparently something that we are urged to do by the new norms of being online. Twice today it came up in things I was reading: the new generations are not so concerned with privacy. They will be used to sharing their lives online. My generation is at a disadvantage because we have to unlearn being private. I must admit that is not at all what I had in mind when I made my new year's resolution last year of being more public. I felt I had to contribute more, become a less passive participant in the information space. I am still ultra concerned with my public persona. Even this blog contains almost no personal details about my life in the sense of the high frequency of daily ups and downs. It's still somewhat surprising to see some of my earliest posts to newsgroups back in the early nineties. There's nothing there to be embarrassed about but I wonder if I'd been posting in my teens what I'd be regretting now.
The problem I see with the new generation being so unprivate is that their sense of decorum might not be developing in tandem with their online temerity. Their awareness of the archive may not be so keen now but it may be painfully so later. It's possible I'm only worried because my generation is more concerned with public image and the archive. It may be that future generations will build in a generous sense of forgiveness into the archive. A sort of 'what happened in facebook, stays in facebook' for the teen years...that is, until a bitter career fight or divorce proceeding. Who knows. If I had a kid I would talk to them about the inherent responsibility of being public. And I would educate myself about how to erase the archive, the legal issues related to that. Because if you can't control your information it's not really you being more public, it's whatever the applications want to take from you.
A song for this post.
The problem I see with the new generation being so unprivate is that their sense of decorum might not be developing in tandem with their online temerity. Their awareness of the archive may not be so keen now but it may be painfully so later. It's possible I'm only worried because my generation is more concerned with public image and the archive. It may be that future generations will build in a generous sense of forgiveness into the archive. A sort of 'what happened in facebook, stays in facebook' for the teen years...that is, until a bitter career fight or divorce proceeding. Who knows. If I had a kid I would talk to them about the inherent responsibility of being public. And I would educate myself about how to erase the archive, the legal issues related to that. Because if you can't control your information it's not really you being more public, it's whatever the applications want to take from you.
A song for this post.
Friday, January 08, 2010
Fresh interruptions (day 133)
I popped in to work today for the first time since the break. I loved it. There are so many smart, beautiful, interesting people there. I felt refreshed hearing about new developments from my students, a simulation and modeling project for emergency rooms, and general lab plans for the new year. It was a constant stream of interruptions and I welcomed each one as a pleasant surprise. I am grateful to work in a place that is constantly reinventing itself. There's always a sense of unbalance: just when you where starting to get comfortable, something changes. There are definitely some less desirable aspects to that state but overall it's kept me feeling alert and interested.
It's hard to remember now how tired I was at the end of term...and hard to believe how tired I'll be at the end of this term. For now, I relish the freshness in the air.
A song for this post.
It's hard to remember now how tired I was at the end of term...and hard to believe how tired I'll be at the end of this term. For now, I relish the freshness in the air.
A song for this post.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
I'm in my way (day 132)
Resentment is an interesting emotion -- feeling put upon by your own life.
"Always meditate on whatever provokes resentment" is a Lojong slogan. When I first heard it I didn't think I had a lot of resentment in my life. It seemed to me that resentment was a big sentiment like resenting being disrespected as a woman or resenting Stephen Harper's policies, things like that. It seemed like it was something that we feel when situations are beyond our control yet affect us.
Turns out the majority of resentment is much more subtle than that. It's much more about resisting life. Instead of joyfully acting in the world, we grudgingly act, as if someone is making us do it. It's a trick of the mind, where for whatever reason we create an other that makes us do things. And then we resent that other. When I first noticed this, I thought it was tragic and funny....and easily remedied. It's not actually that easy but it's as simple as getting strong abs. Repetition is key. Practicing taking responsibility for whatever I'm doing. Not easy when I'd rather be doing something else. I have my own slogan: "Anything worth doing well is worth doing over and over again."
Bigger resentment that is very specifically targeted at other people is somewhat easier to deal with. The antidote is related to another slogan "Be grateful to everyone".
So why am I writing about resentment? I've been feeling a lot of it lately. Partially it's circumstance: a vacation that didn't go as planned, projects getting in the way of other projects, people needing things I don't feel I can give, relentless feeds of information. It's like I wake up to a traffic jam. I'm working on it.
A song for this post.
"Always meditate on whatever provokes resentment" is a Lojong slogan. When I first heard it I didn't think I had a lot of resentment in my life. It seemed to me that resentment was a big sentiment like resenting being disrespected as a woman or resenting Stephen Harper's policies, things like that. It seemed like it was something that we feel when situations are beyond our control yet affect us.
Turns out the majority of resentment is much more subtle than that. It's much more about resisting life. Instead of joyfully acting in the world, we grudgingly act, as if someone is making us do it. It's a trick of the mind, where for whatever reason we create an other that makes us do things. And then we resent that other. When I first noticed this, I thought it was tragic and funny....and easily remedied. It's not actually that easy but it's as simple as getting strong abs. Repetition is key. Practicing taking responsibility for whatever I'm doing. Not easy when I'd rather be doing something else. I have my own slogan: "Anything worth doing well is worth doing over and over again."
Bigger resentment that is very specifically targeted at other people is somewhat easier to deal with. The antidote is related to another slogan "Be grateful to everyone".
So why am I writing about resentment? I've been feeling a lot of it lately. Partially it's circumstance: a vacation that didn't go as planned, projects getting in the way of other projects, people needing things I don't feel I can give, relentless feeds of information. It's like I wake up to a traffic jam. I'm working on it.
A song for this post.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
In praise of boredom (day 131)
I try to meditate every day for at least 10 minutes. These days because I'm still on semi-vacation I sit for 30-60 minutes. There is a special kind of boredom that develops while meditating. You see, at first meditating is extremely interesting - there is so much going on. Then it gets repetitive and frustrating. Then you kind of give up and it gets really really boring. I call it the grey zone. It's like feeling eternity or something. Apparently it's a good thing. If I could relax into the boredom there would be something else. I've had glimpses and I think it's worth staying with the program. Someone once told me "it's worth asking the questions, what or who is boring exactly? And, what or who is bored? There's no one else here after all."
Meditating is almost the exact opposite of being online. When I'm online if I wait long enough I will be entertained and if I'm bored it's my fingers' fault for not clicking fast enough. The days of 57 channels are over. So yes, asking the question of what or who is bored and boring is indeed worth asking especially when I'm bored online. We spend a lot of time making sure we are not considered boring, and are not bored. The state of boredom is so avoided it's suspicious.
Turns out boredom is empty space and feels a bit like standing a little too long on a suspension bridge - the possibilities are existentially frightening. The anxiety of not knowing where to click next for a byte of entertainment may force us to see what we're not looking at, not doing, not thinking about. We're not bored, we're scared.
Like disappointment, boredom has some good potential content.
A song for this post.
Meditating is almost the exact opposite of being online. When I'm online if I wait long enough I will be entertained and if I'm bored it's my fingers' fault for not clicking fast enough. The days of 57 channels are over. So yes, asking the question of what or who is bored and boring is indeed worth asking especially when I'm bored online. We spend a lot of time making sure we are not considered boring, and are not bored. The state of boredom is so avoided it's suspicious.
Turns out boredom is empty space and feels a bit like standing a little too long on a suspension bridge - the possibilities are existentially frightening. The anxiety of not knowing where to click next for a byte of entertainment may force us to see what we're not looking at, not doing, not thinking about. We're not bored, we're scared.
Like disappointment, boredom has some good potential content.
A song for this post.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
The almighty untethers us (day 130)
Something unusual happened today. I learned of a current news event from Twitter before I learned it from anywhere else. This is in part because I haven't been scanning my usual news sources and I've been at home but it's also because so many people twittered about it, in various forms. I eventually had to pay attention. My feeds, they are changing.
The ReadWriteWeb blog recently posted that RSS feeds were dead. A brave and controversial thing to write. Turns out I wasn't the only one that thought so. There were many many comments from people that still rely on RSS feeds. I was glad because when I first read the post I totally felt behind the times. "But I still love my RSS feeds!", I wimpered. It felt a little bit like coming back from sixth great summer break and finding out that my favourite game was now uncool. The memo hadn't reached me in time for me to avoid making a fool of myself. Thankfully RSS feeds are not dead and RWW had to capitulate.
The news that had people all atwitter is almost as exciting as my feeds changing - Google has announced the latest Android phone and it's not tied to a carrier. It's the last part that's amazing. That's right, you buy the phone and you can use it on any network!!! This should not be such a gift because it should have been the norm all along, but there it is - a gift from mother Google. I have no idea if any of this will be valid in Canada but it's only a matter of time. This means that my previous rant may be moot in a year or two when carriers will be forced to compete for my phone's attention. Take that Bell/Telus/Rogers.
A song for this post.
The ReadWriteWeb blog recently posted that RSS feeds were dead. A brave and controversial thing to write. Turns out I wasn't the only one that thought so. There were many many comments from people that still rely on RSS feeds. I was glad because when I first read the post I totally felt behind the times. "But I still love my RSS feeds!", I wimpered. It felt a little bit like coming back from sixth great summer break and finding out that my favourite game was now uncool. The memo hadn't reached me in time for me to avoid making a fool of myself. Thankfully RSS feeds are not dead and RWW had to capitulate.
The news that had people all atwitter is almost as exciting as my feeds changing - Google has announced the latest Android phone and it's not tied to a carrier. It's the last part that's amazing. That's right, you buy the phone and you can use it on any network!!! This should not be such a gift because it should have been the norm all along, but there it is - a gift from mother Google. I have no idea if any of this will be valid in Canada but it's only a matter of time. This means that my previous rant may be moot in a year or two when carriers will be forced to compete for my phone's attention. Take that Bell/Telus/Rogers.
A song for this post.
Monday, January 04, 2010
The limpics (day 129)
I don't think I've blogged about the Olympics yet. It's kind of the elephant in the room. The limpics. That's what it starts to sound like after a while. There is one wonderful thing about the limpics: The Cultural Olympiad. It's a somewhat grand title for a pile of events that showcase art and culture with a focus on Canada. It's not that I don't care about sports, I do. I love the idea of peak performance but I'm impressed by peak performance whenever and wherever I see it. There are many more people operating at an impressive level than are chosen for the Olympics (even without taking into account the limited choices of sports for the big O). The world coming to town is the event. The show we're putting on is the event.
So I am staying in town (the most frequently asked question), and not just because I have to. I'm staying in town to catch the shows, formal and informal. I don't have tickets to any sporting event (the second most frequently asked question) but I've thought about it. I am involved (the third most frequently asked question). Emily Carr is hosting part of the CODE (Culture Olympiad Digital Edition) Live Exhibition. And part of the Emily Carr exhibition will be in the Intersections Digital Studios (IDS). It will be amazing to have such world class artists so close. IDS is also hosting CodeLab, an artist-in-residence project which features work in the public realm by local artists and students. Lastly I'll be participating in the CODE dialogues which are a series of talks/interviews with the artists. If all goes according to plan, I'll be one of the hosts.
It's hard to follow China but someone told me that we'll be the fun and eclectic second act. I believe it.
A song for this post.
So I am staying in town (the most frequently asked question), and not just because I have to. I'm staying in town to catch the shows, formal and informal. I don't have tickets to any sporting event (the second most frequently asked question) but I've thought about it. I am involved (the third most frequently asked question). Emily Carr is hosting part of the CODE (Culture Olympiad Digital Edition) Live Exhibition. And part of the Emily Carr exhibition will be in the Intersections Digital Studios (IDS). It will be amazing to have such world class artists so close. IDS is also hosting CodeLab, an artist-in-residence project which features work in the public realm by local artists and students. Lastly I'll be participating in the CODE dialogues which are a series of talks/interviews with the artists. If all goes according to plan, I'll be one of the hosts.
It's hard to follow China but someone told me that we'll be the fun and eclectic second act. I believe it.
A song for this post.
Sunday, January 03, 2010
The earth needs a hero (day 128)
There are three times more people than there were in 1950. And we all have to have jobs, be fed, housed, and contribute something of value. I remember how the web made the world seem much more populated, but that was a perceptual awareness trick. The reality of tripling the population on the earth is staggering on a much deeper level. I picture the earth having to yield more crops, the fresh water having to hydrate those crops plus all the extra people, the cattle needing to be raised for meat eaters, the extra land for all that, etc. We are leaning pretty heavily on a very thin biosphere.
Someone recently said to me: "I'm not worried about oil depletion. We'll find another source of energy, perhaps even more powerful and renewable." I shudder at the thought. A lot of the population growth was fueled by oil. A more powerful source of energy would kill us. We'd get drunk and crash.
The climategate scandal and the Copenhagen talks illustrates two things for me: a) we desperately want to believe that the biosphere can sustain what we are doing and more, so we can keep doing it; and b) doing nothing until absolute proof that we need to something still seems like a sane approach. (side note: I prefer to think in terms of biosphere instead of earth, because the extremely thin biosphere is the part of the earth that is actively producing and supporting life) Climategate would be nothing more than a typical academic quarrel if we all agreed that this is a game of probability, not absolutes. The probability of the biosphere being able to support another tripling of the human population is low. The probability that we'll breathe easier in five years if we don't do anything different is extremely low. The probability that we will willingly give up something is also low. I didn't expect much from the Copenhagen talks but I secretly hoped for a hero to save the day.
A song for this post.
Someone recently said to me: "I'm not worried about oil depletion. We'll find another source of energy, perhaps even more powerful and renewable." I shudder at the thought. A lot of the population growth was fueled by oil. A more powerful source of energy would kill us. We'd get drunk and crash.
The climategate scandal and the Copenhagen talks illustrates two things for me: a) we desperately want to believe that the biosphere can sustain what we are doing and more, so we can keep doing it; and b) doing nothing until absolute proof that we need to something still seems like a sane approach. (side note: I prefer to think in terms of biosphere instead of earth, because the extremely thin biosphere is the part of the earth that is actively producing and supporting life) Climategate would be nothing more than a typical academic quarrel if we all agreed that this is a game of probability, not absolutes. The probability of the biosphere being able to support another tripling of the human population is low. The probability that we'll breathe easier in five years if we don't do anything different is extremely low. The probability that we will willingly give up something is also low. I didn't expect much from the Copenhagen talks but I secretly hoped for a hero to save the day.
A song for this post.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Sanity is a triumph (day 127)
We apparently forget most of our day when we go to sleep. Only the most salient parts remain and even they are blurred into prior similar experiences. I've probably written about this in another blog post, in fact. I have a vague notion that I have but it's blurred enough that I'll assume it's acceptable to write about it again because presumably the memory will also be blurry in my reader's minds. How voluntary that nightly amnesia+blurring might be is, I suppose, a matter of definition. It is my being that is doing the forgetting after all. If I wanted to keep something in memory presumably I would and could take the necessary steps (all systems operating within normal parameters, assumed).
The forgetting that is annoying is more the short term forgetting. The distracted attention that comes from multiple threads competing for attention combined with lack of sleep, and...age. Yes age. I'm 38 and I think I can say this without eliciting laughs of derision from baby boomers. But who knows. In any case, I notice the difference...I think. The problem is that I don't have a clear memory of how my mind functioned when I was in my 20s. I remember not keeping a calendar because I could remember all my appointments in my head. But that may have been because I didn't have that many appointments and no one scheduled an appointment weeks in advance. I remember new facts being easy to remember. I kept all phone numbers in my head. Perhaps the most telltale sign of decline though is that I don't remember being anxious about forgetting at all.
But rather than think of it as a decline I choose to look at it as a triumph of organization. It is rather miraculous that sanity prevails in most of us given the accumulation of experiences and knowledge and the relentless progression of time. Think of the network and partitions needed to make all that (potentially contradictory) information stay together, and still allow you to utter things like "I need to do the dishes". Marvelous. The fact that I sometimes forget little things is forgiven in a flash of admiration.
But for those that are still worried, the NY Times says we can look for contrarians to keep our brains nimble. And I don't think they mean 2 years olds, though in my experience toddlers are a great source of brain scrambling experiences.
A song for this post.
The forgetting that is annoying is more the short term forgetting. The distracted attention that comes from multiple threads competing for attention combined with lack of sleep, and...age. Yes age. I'm 38 and I think I can say this without eliciting laughs of derision from baby boomers. But who knows. In any case, I notice the difference...I think. The problem is that I don't have a clear memory of how my mind functioned when I was in my 20s. I remember not keeping a calendar because I could remember all my appointments in my head. But that may have been because I didn't have that many appointments and no one scheduled an appointment weeks in advance. I remember new facts being easy to remember. I kept all phone numbers in my head. Perhaps the most telltale sign of decline though is that I don't remember being anxious about forgetting at all.
But rather than think of it as a decline I choose to look at it as a triumph of organization. It is rather miraculous that sanity prevails in most of us given the accumulation of experiences and knowledge and the relentless progression of time. Think of the network and partitions needed to make all that (potentially contradictory) information stay together, and still allow you to utter things like "I need to do the dishes". Marvelous. The fact that I sometimes forget little things is forgiven in a flash of admiration.
But for those that are still worried, the NY Times says we can look for contrarians to keep our brains nimble. And I don't think they mean 2 years olds, though in my experience toddlers are a great source of brain scrambling experiences.
A song for this post.
Friday, January 01, 2010
Steps to generosity (day 126)
I used to think New Year's resolutions were contrived and stupid, usually involving losing weight. An ex changed my mind about that, though his impact was not really felt until years later. He made serious resolutions with serious intent. On the one hand I found it pompous and self-important. On the other hand, I found it admirable and courageous. I was torn possibly because I didn't share his sensibilities -- his resolutions would not have been mine. Even though I secretly admired his courage, I did not mimic his actions. Sometimes the presence of an experienced resolutioner is enough to intimidate one away from practicing being a resolutioner.
Fast forward a few years and, no longer hampered by the long shadow of someone else's experience, I'm intrepidly eliciting resolutions of my own.
The resolution for this year: To be more generous.
I like this one because it can have so many interpretations. Being generous is related to being public which gives some continuity from last year. I'm not sure what form being more generous will take yet but I suspect I will work on creating more space for good communication with the people in my life. Maybe this means changing the way I communicate, inviting people for dinner, giving my time to projects that need it. In general, I think generosity means giving without fear.
If I lose weight from being more generous, awesome.
A song for this post.
Fast forward a few years and, no longer hampered by the long shadow of someone else's experience, I'm intrepidly eliciting resolutions of my own.
The resolution for this year: To be more generous.
I like this one because it can have so many interpretations. Being generous is related to being public which gives some continuity from last year. I'm not sure what form being more generous will take yet but I suspect I will work on creating more space for good communication with the people in my life. Maybe this means changing the way I communicate, inviting people for dinner, giving my time to projects that need it. In general, I think generosity means giving without fear.
If I lose weight from being more generous, awesome.
A song for this post.
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