Lee.org

Symphony of Science – Onward to the Edge!

local version:

Darn if this isn’t good music.

Went to Come Out And Play SF today. Great fun!

Sunday (tomorrow!) is the last day. I highly recommend you go out to play!

My upcoming Flame Effects class in LA topped BoingBoing.net on October 24th :-). Thanks to Mark Frauenfelder for posting and asking me to bring the class to LA in the first place. (The class)

This class has sold out. If you want to be alerted to future flame effects classes, please drop me an email at Lee at Lee dat org.

Learn several awesome things this weekend. Hang out with a coolio maker crowd in the Bay Area!

It’s 2 things: classes and hanging out between classes with people into learning and making. The format kinda reminds me of a science fiction convention.

Here’s the list of classes go look!
– Learn to Solder
– How to use the Arduino Tinker Kit
– Make a Tin Can 2-String / Intro to Instrument Making
– Sewing Circuits
– Build a Camping Stove
– Marble Roller Coasters
– Basic Electroluminescent Wire Workshop
– Flow-Wand
– An Introduction to Poi Spinning
– Going from Idea to Product for the Small Time Maker
– Beginning Web Development with PHP
– Wet Felted Flower Workshop
– Introduction to PCB Layout
– Fusing Plastic Fabric
– Conductive! Sew a Soft Circuit
– Spontaneous Magic
– The Internet & Computer Networks

Go trick or treating. Get candy. Eat it. Get that sugar buzz! Enjoy life.

Nobody has ever poisoned anybody with candy at Halloween. Really.

Read up:

Poisoned candy turns out to be a Halloween myth

Snopes: Halloween Poisonings (False)

Snopes: Pins and Needles (True but very very very rare)

I’ve been trying to use Google+, I really have. But here are a couple major reasons why it remains is irrelevant to me.

Here is a prime example. A friend of mine wrote on their Google Plus: (I have changed the text slightly to make it unsearchable and won’t post the name)

Sept 24th
After I changed the name on my other Google+ account, I got it back. However the people in my circles had been deleted. And the nickname I specified (in hopes people that knew me by that name could find it) doesn’t show up in my profile. To the extent I use Google+ at all (which looks dubious), it will be with this profile.

Sept 24th followup
Well, all my peeps on the other account mysteriously came back this afternoon. However, I still don’t think it useful to use that one, since no one would recognize me with the name that’s on it.

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Another major issue is that I keep getting Friend requests from people that I don’t believe I know. I’d like to write to them asking “Do I know you?” but there is no way for me to contact these people unless I join their circle and then publicly comment on one of their posts. That’s kinda dumb. Apparently Google+ doesn’t let you communicate one-on-one with people. It is only a one-to-many medium.

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Sifting though high volume vs low volume posters remains just as difficult as with Facebook. Some of my friends blog 3 times a day (“Had eggs for breakfast”), some once a month (“Got a new job”). I need an interface that lets me see the low volume posters!

(image credit)

Be there.

Nemo Gould, Eric Joyner, Mark Galt, Jeremy Mayer, Benjamin Cowden

Very cool event:

Kinetic Steam Works’ annual Roll Out event is coming up! Saturday, November 12th, from Noon to 10PM, come celebrate this autumnal steamy spectacular with us. There will be plenty of cottony cloud soft steam, food, beer/wine, a silent auction, mechanical entertainments mammoth and bijou, craft vendors, and a magnificent musical lineup including Lord Loves A Working Man, Beso Negro, Sour Mash Hug Band, Shovelman and others. Kinetic art and attractions include several wood fired steam engines including all 9-tons of “Hortense,” KSW’s lovingly restored 1923 traction engine, the Pumpkin Guillotine returns, steam powered abominable snow cones, Jon Sarriugarte’s “Serpent Twins,” Justin Gray’s jet-turbine powered “Robot Charlie,” Ben Cowden’s “Gathering” and “A Gentle Tugand,” and much more. We invite you to come on down and celebrate, you’ll be supporting Kinetic Steam Works, a unique nonprofit organization. $10 to $100 sliding scale. Kids under 12 get in free (they must be accompanied by an adult), the family rate is $20. Location Info: 2525 Mandela Parkway, Oakland, CA, 94607.

I didn’t feel the 4.0 earthquake in Berkeley yesterday at 3:15pm, but I did feel the 3.8 at 8:15pm. They were both really short, like 5 seconds.

These two earthquakes are obviously the earth readjusting itself after the news that Charlotte is moving from San Francisco to Seattle.

Charlotte tells me

1. Avoid ruminating/stop dwelling on a topic
2. Do good
3. Don’t sweat decisions (no looking back sorta things)
4. Spend well (people tend to be happier spending money on experiences//things no so very much)
5. Aim high
6. Be a joiner (being around people makes us happier)
7. Be grateful

.

And she relays (via):

The Seven Habits of Highly Happy People
By: Marc and Angel Hack Life
Highly happy people all share happy habits. It’s as simple as that. The happiest people I know share seven very obvious habits. If you’re looking to expand your general happiness, you may consider adopting these in your own life.
1. Be a part of something you believe in.
This could be anything. People may take an active role in their local city council, find refuge in religious faith, join a social club supporting causes they believe in, or find passion in their careers. In each case, the physiological outcome is the same. They engage themselves in something they strongly believe in. This engagement brings happiness and meaning into their lives.
2. Share time with friends and family.
A happy life is a life shared with friends and family. The stronger the personal relationships are and the higher the frequency of interaction, the happier a person will be.
3. Reflect on the good.
Quite often people concentrate too much of their attention on negative outcomes and leave no time to positively reflect on their successes. It’s natural for a person to want to correct undesirable circumstances and focus closely on doing so, but there must be a healthy balance in the allocation of personal awareness. It is important to mindfully reflect on the good while striving diligently to correct the bad. A continuous general awareness of your daily successes can have a noticeably positive affect on your overall emotional happiness.
4. Exploit the resources you DO have access to.
The average person is usually astonished when they see a physically handicapped person show intense signs of emotional happiness. How could someone in such a restricted physical state be so happy? The answer rests in how they use the resources they do have. Stevie Wonder couldn’t see, so he exploited his sense of hearing into a passion for music, and he now has twenty-five Grammy Awards to show for it.
5. Create happy endings whenever possible.
The power of endings is quite remarkable. The end of any experience has a profound impact on a person’s overall perception of the experience as a whole. Think about reading a well written, thought-provoking novel. Now imagine the ending totally sucks. Even if the story was captivating up until the ending, would you still be happy recommending the novel to a friend? People always remember the ending. If the ending is happy, the experience creates happiness. Always tie loose ends, leave things on a good note, and create happy endings in your life whenever possible.

6. Use personal strengths to get things done.
Everyone possesses unique personal strengths. We all have different talents and skill sets. Emotional happiness comes naturally to those who use their strengths to get things done. The state of completion always creates a sense of achievement. If this achievement is based exclusively on your own personal ability to get the job done, the physiological rewards are priceless.
7. Savor the natural joy of simple pleasures.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the best things in life are free. They come in the form of simple pleasures and they appear right in front of you at various locations and arbitrary times. They are governed by Mother Nature and situational circumstance and captured by mindful awareness. It’s all about taking a moment to notice the orange and pink sunset reflecting off the pond water as you hold hands with someone you love. Noticing these moments and taking part in them regularly will bring unpredictable bursts of happiness into your life.