Diary of a Mad Natural Historian

I’ve been going to the NH Media Makers meetups for a while now (almost a year!) and wanted to give the Media Makers meetup idea and especially the New Hampshire instantiation of same a big appreciative shout out. Interesting, personable, creative people doing wicked awesome pissah stuff – what’s not to love? I’ve made great connections and been inspired; it’s a great way to spend a Sunday morning.

A polaroid print developing at my table:

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David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.

Via peacay.

BibliOdyssey: The War Book.

I am a DFH at heart, so I was ecstatic to fall over scans of both Domebook 2 and How to Build Your Own Living Structures on the new-to-me and awesome Public Collectors site.  Thanks, Greg Allen.

I’ve been doing a lot of vivarium work – I plan on posting construction details within a month.

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And quite a bit of dog training – Dinah’s retrieve work is coming along.

Additionally some (heterogeneous) reading:

Categorize this, NSA!

In the on deck circle – refreshing my soldering skills (is it true that US English is the only variant not to pronounce the ‘l’?). Component to printed circuit board soldering, that is.

Social insects.

• Six Legs Better – a history of myrmecology.
• The Superorganism – group-level evo strategies.
• Slant – social insects, info theory and echoes of Brunner’s great Stand on Zanzibar.

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Tepuis.

• Lost Worlds of the Guiana Highlands. Outstanding – geology, history, biology and lots of gorgeous pictures.
• Climb to the Lost World – I need to read this. Among other things, it may stop me from thinking ‘Ben Nevis’ as soon as I hear Dr. MacInnes’ name (it’s a hell of a thing to be type-cast).
• The Lost World – the original trip to Maple White Land.

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The Ottoman Empire (and the world to its west).

• The Snake Stone (or The Janissary Tree or The Bellini Card) – great very-late Ottoman mystery.
• The Siege – on it’s way to me from #amazonfail (current events Twitter-joke).
• The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Hurray for the Sultan’s cannons – I want one.

Via Adam Greenfield’s Speedbird comes a link to the unbook.  Big quote for folks who do not wish to click through:

1. An unbook is never finished, but rather continually updated, based on feedback from users andtheir evolving needs.

2. An unbook is released in versions. As in open source software, version 1.0 of an unbook is a significant milestone, indicating that it is stable and reliable enough for use by the general public. The significance of a new release is indicated by the size of the gap: For example, the difference between 1.1 and 1.1.3 is minor, while the difference between 1.1 and 2.0 is major.

3. An unbook is supported by a community of users who share their experiences and best practices with each other, and help each other troubleshoot problems encountered in their practice areas. An unbook’s community is a very real part of the unbook’s development team. *

Implied by the unbook – though not necessary – is print on demand. The physical object is important, but fixed print runs aren’t and are likely counterproductive.

How does an unbook differ from a wiki?

4) A wiki does not have a linear narrative while an unbook does: Before a physical book can be printed the order of its pages must be determined.

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An unbook is a narrative object: a developing narrative, a story that may change significantly over time, like a children’s story that is told and retold with additions and changes by multiple authors. Like a story an unbook has a clear beginning and end, although those things might change over time.

A wiki is a map object: a virtual space that can be searched, explored and navigated in various ways. A wiki, like a physical space, has many starting and ending points. You can enter a wiki many ways and there is no “end” to a wiki. *

For some interesting discussion of the concept – pro and con – see the comment thread on Warren Ellis’ post. [Web 'better practice' - checking the pingbacks from other blogs on posts like Mr. Gray's can lead you to good stuff.]

Down to Cambridge yesterday, to take in Rosamond Purcell’s Egg and Nest (pdf link) show at the HMNH, kick around a bit and attend Janet Browne’s lecture on ‘Darwin at 200′. Egg and Nest is stunning – incredible photographs beautifully hung. If you’re in the area – GO!

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After you’ve taken in the Purcell show, there’s all the rest of the HMNH to wander around in – the Sea Creatures in Glass will be on display until March 1 – time’s getting short.

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I took along some party favors for the post-lecture get together – a big thank you to Leighton Jones at Floating Point Digital Images for getting said favors to me as quickly as he did.

Three quick forward-looking links.

Crooked Timber is doing a Charlie Stross book event.

A New Year, a new Crooked Timber book event. But instead of one book, we’re covering a dozen or so, all written by Charlie Stross, exploring different forms of the SF genre from postcyberpunk to alternate history and beyond. For this we need an all star cast, and, in addition to several CT regulars (Henry, both Johns and Maria), we have contributions from Paul Krugman, Brad DeLong and Ken MacLeod. Between us, we’ve managed to cover nearly everything. Glaring exceptions include the Laundry series, which every fan of Len Deighton and HP Lovecraft should read, and Glasshouse. I’ve added an open thread at the end of the seminar, for those who want to discuss what we missed.

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Geoff Manaugh is getting close on the BLDGBLOG book.  Close enough, in fact, that he’s posted some Wordle word clouds – looks like it’s going to be an interesting read.

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At City of Sound, The Personal Well-Tempered Environment.

SUMMARY

• A real-time dashboard for buildings, neighbourhoods, and the city, focused on conveying the energy flow in and out of spaces, centred around the behaviour of individuals and groups within buildings.
• A form of ‘BIM 2.0′ that gives users of buildings both the real-time and longitudinal information they need to change their behaviour and thus use buildings, and energy, more effectively. An ongoing post-occupancy evaluation for the building, the neighbourhood and the city.
• A software service layer for connecting things together within and across buildings.
• As information increasingly becomes thought of a material within building, it makes sense to consider it holistically as part of the built fabric, as glass, steel, ETFE etc.

First – an excellent post – Hunting and Fishing Like Adults – over at Patrick’s place. Coincidentally, I recently watched the No Reservations ep where Frances Mallman talks about patience – an underrated virtue in today’s world.

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Second – S. Clay Wilson bashed his head (badly), got pneumonia and spent a bunch of time in ICU in November (via BB). He’s out now and there are some benefit concerts coming up for those on the west coast. If you don’t know his work already, Wilson is one of the greats of underground comix – his stuff is not for everyone – the amount of sex and violence is way high, but he’s a favorite of mine.

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Third – this map:

has been getting a lot of notice on the web (here, here and here). I find myself firmly in the pointing and laughing camp – New Hampshire and South Carolina? That’s beyond “he’s smoking something” and well into industrial strength CIA hallucinogen testing protocols. Georgia goes to Mexico? *shakes head*

From E, a link to Bungalow in a Box – nice little cottages suitable for a variety of things. I’m thinking on a ridge overlooking salt marsh up in Pembroke (ME).

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Via Bruce Sterling, some marvelous haecking.

Rhinoceros was used to create 3D interpretations of the sketches of Ernst Haeckel, a prominent German biologist, naturalist, and philosopher. The articulation of micro-surfaces related to the biological function of the organism was of particular importance in my work.

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My favorite part about the piece is that a viewers understanding changes dramatically based on distance.  From 10′ away, ones perceptual resolution is relatively low, thus the object appears as a chaotic mass.  From 5′ away, directional variations and a density patterns emerge.  From 2′ away, one can identify continuous lines tracing through the geometry and order becomes increasingly apparent.

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Finally (and saving best for last), this post on BB clued me to a new book by Klea McKenna.

The late psychedelic pioneer and ethnobotanist Terence McKenna was also an avid naturalist. His favorite specimens were his butterflies, more than two thousand of them netted in Indonesia and Columbia while McKenna was running from the law after a hashish bust forty years ago. Now, McKenna’s daughter Klea has photographed the collection and created an interactive gallery and limited edition artist book with the material.

More info about the book here – it looks fascinating. From McKenna’s web site:

It came today.

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Nice card!