Possible

upon reading the two aricles i felt a sense of satisfaction. a feeling that i had aquired some knew knowledge to look at things differently. the article by gershenfeld was very interesting in that it brought me to think about things in a different light. the ideas os man made versus machine made was a very interesting concept to grasp. under the world conditions that we live in, it seems that everything is machine made these days and no one seems to think about the things that must be man made. his discussion of fab labs was very interesting. the "...almost anything'" continuation of text i found to be very cool, the screambody sounds ridiculously cool.
i found the kahn article hard to relate to the gershenfeld article. i think i found this to be because the kahn article was more of an intense reading and the information was hard to grasp. i suppose the two articles relate in a sense of their analysis of things in existance today. in the kahn article, i found the analysis of the university very enjoyable to read but found that when trying to relate my feelings after reading the two articles together, i could not really relate them. also, i did not seem to understand the ending of kahn's article and how that was to tie the article together.

Continue reading "comparison" »

Posted by Kimberly Kantrud at 6:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

a technopoly is a considered a progressiive movement in technology that brings about infinately many positives and negatives to society. neil postman never stated that these technopolies are good nor bad, they just exist and will always exist because the world is progressing it's technology constantly. he goes into detail about the pros and cons that arise and never states that technology is good nor bad, but that it just exists and the world changes constantly with its progression.
among all of the advances in technology i could write about, i have decided to look at the progression of the recorded music. the advances from the radio to ipods have progressed rather quickly and changed music lovers everwhere.

the radio was once the only way that one could listen to music. listeners had no control over what was to be played unless the radio dj would allow listeners to submit requests.

the record player progressed into a direction that allowed the owners to play the record they felt like listening to. this progression brought about a positive for the music industy making more money. purchasing artist's records would help to boost the economy.

the record player soon progressed into the 8track player. although this progression seemed to be possitive in that the tapes were portable and were now available in the car, radios and records still seemed to donimate. the 8track now allowed users to record music of their choice of the radio.

the cassette tape took off once it was introduced. it was much more convienent than the record or 8track to carry around. it also allowed a more user friendly record option.

soon tapes became a thing of the past and compact discs took over. these cds advanced along with computers, allowing users to upload their music onto their computer, thus brining about the mp3, leading to portable mp3 players such as the ipod.

with this advancement came the computer music storage devices such as itunes and online download devices such as napster, limewire, and torrent.

the radio aspect of music has alos advanced to what is now sirius and xm radio.
these advances in the music industry have definately opened many doors for artists and the fans but many doors have been closed in the process. most would say these advances are good but what about the problems with downloading music now without copyrights. is this fair to the artist? is over charging for cds and concert tickets fair to the fans? as lance stated, "it is not how does it work, but what does it mean?" as with all technological advances, poeple are on both sides of the story for this. this technological advance has brought about many copy infringement lawsuits against fans who download their favorite artists illegally. where is too far to push this issue and where is too far to push these advances in music? if this is where we are now, what will be next?

Posted by Kimberly Kantrud at 5:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Continue reading "series of images that connect design and mathematics" »

Posted by Kimberly Kantrud at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

one major opposition that i face every day is the opposition of consuming animal meats. i have always been opposed to testing on animals but more recently have become more and more aware of the treatment of animals raised for slaughter. realizing that not all animals are mistreated, i have been rather back and forth on the issue. on one hand, its a major part of the life cycle. on the other hand in my mind it seems inhumane to eat these potential friends. who's to say that we can only be friends with humans? the obvious resolution to this would be to be vergetarian or vegan. for many people this may be too extreme of a life change, so avoiding animal tested products and fur/leather products would be another great resolution. one more would be to choose free range meats when shopping. this approach seems to be letting the opposition sculpt the lives of those who follow this diet.
another opposition i see everyday is on a slightly smaller scale, it is my roomate's opposition to eat anything unhealthy. her presonal resolution is to avoid all fast foods, eat fresh vegetables and fruits as snacks and choose everything fat free. by her approach, she is eliminating the opposition from her diet.
when looking at the world in general, there is typically an opposition to war. countries like to solve their differences in any other way possible than to kill others. this opposition may be more in my own opinion, but i feel it's typically true. some countries resolutions to the conflict can also turn into war, which would be a complete backfire, as it is the opposition i am proposing. other resolutions to such conflict would be creating treatys, agreements, or using no association with the oppositon.
one last personal opposition i face daily is my opposition to politics. i feel that by pressuring someone else to listen to my views i am in no way bettering myself. in fact, i feel that people who do such go about this in such a way they seem to strive to be offensive. my only resolution to this is to not get involved. although i do admit this is probably not the best resolution, it has so far worked to avoid awkward situations of debating personal choices.

Continue reading "oppositions and resolutions in my life" »

Posted by Kimberly Kantrud at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

one major opposition that i face every day is the opposition of consuming animal meats. i have always been opposed to testing on animals but more recently have become more and more aware of the treatment of animals raised for slaughter. realizing that not all animals are mistreated, i have been rather back and forth on the issue. on one hand, its a major part of the life cycle. on the other hand in my mind it seems inhumane to eat these potential friends. who's to say that we can only be friends with humans? the obvious resolution to this would be to be vergetarian or vegan. for many people this may be too extreme of a life change, so avoiding animal tested products and fur/leather products would be another great resolution. one more would be to choose free range meats when shopping. this approach seems to be letting the opposition sculpt the lives of those who follow this diet.
another opposition i see everyday is on a slightly smaller scale, it is my roomate's opposition to eat anything unhealthy. her presonal resolution is to avoid all fast foods, eat fresh vegetables and fruits as snacks and choose everything fat free. by her approach, she is eliminating the opposition from her diet.
when looking at the world in general, there is typically an opposition to war. countries like to solve their differences in any other way possible than to kill others. this opposition may be more in my own opinion, but i feel it's typically true. some countries resolutions to the conflict can also turn into war, which would be a complete backfire, as it is the opposition i am proposing. other resolutions to such conflict would be creating treatys, agreements, or using no association with the oppositon.
one last personal opposition i face daily is my opposition to politics. i feel that by pressuring someone else to listen to my views i am in no way bettering myself. in fact, i feel that people who do such go about this in such a way they seem to strive to be offensive. my only resolution to this is to not get involved. although i do admit this is probably not the best resolution, it has so far worked to avoid awkward situations of debating personal choices.

Posted by Kimberly Kantrud at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

after much consideration, i decided that a great phenomenon, in my mind, is the weather. not only can it be a beautiful 70 degrees and sunny one day, but two days later there is a high possibility that snow will be in the air. this is oddly enough quite a common occurance not only here in minnesota, but almost common to every season in my home state of north dakota. random snowstorms in late spring just seem to come out of the blue and take this area by surprise. not only in this area is the weather a powerful thing, obviously it is a powerful force all over the world. there are very many phenomena in the weather itself, from tsunamis to hurricanes to earthquakes and tornados, alll of these destructive forces are beautiful in their design and pathways. all over the world the weather and this earth creates a framework for how people must live their lives. maybe people must not live their lives in such fear of the weather, but the weather does provide a suggestive quality as to how to plan one's day. looking at the earth from satelite feed shows the beautiful patterns the weather systems make across the earth. cloud systems spiral and have a sense of pathway or clockwork it follows, such as the jet streams or the warm and cold air fronts. when witnessing smaller, less damaging thunder storms, common to this area, i am always in awe of the power of the storm's elegance. attached are pictures of this phenomena weather that i find inspiring.

Continue reading "phenomenon; things, frameworks, clockworks..." »

Posted by Kimberly Kantrud at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

when thinking about a place that i find meaningful several possibilities arose. places i liked to go to get away throughout childhood, places where i would hang out with friends during my teens, and places that reminded me of family all are very important places to me but i decided to write about a place that best fits me now. i decided on the witches hat. during my freshman year, my new friends and i would frequent this look out weekly. it was our way to take a step back from our busy lives in the city and just gaze upon the skyline's beauty. here, we would have many great conversations about our lives and the world. the 20 minute walk was always worth it, even in the winter. the spectacular view of the city always left us speechless upon our arrival no matter how many times we frequented the tower. this place has now become less of a hang out for my friends and me but the place is still very meaningful for what it was and what friendships it strengthened.

Continue reading "finding my genius loci" »

Posted by Kimberly Kantrud at 4:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

when the question of a social design issue was place upon me, i must admit i was unsure as to how to respond. i thought about many issues in the designed enviornment such as parking, building structures, empty lots, vacant buildings, ect. i wasnt exactly sure as to how to relate these with the social part of the problem and decided to go out on a limb and discuss airports and smoking. being a nonsmoker myself, this issue doesnt directly affect me but i see others deal with this problem. i am reffering to the problem that once passing through security one must stay inside the terminals and main lobby before boarding their flight. well, smokers often crave cigarettes in their several hour , oftern eventless wait. some airports have designated smoking ares inside the security for the smoker to go and use as necessary. i have realized that these smoking areas are few and far between, if even at all in the airport. my main concern is that although i feel smoking is wrong, i also think it is wrong to make a smoker, who has their right to smoke, go outside the security and then have to return through the quite often long lines of security to return to their gate and terminal. this can and has made travelers miss their flights. i suppose i am proposing that there be a better way to accomodate smokers in restricted areas, such as airports, because that have a constitutional right to smoke. i may be all wrong, but i feel this is a social design issue because it is dealing with a built enviornment and has to do with peoples rights.

Posted by Kimberly Kantrud at 6:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Upon entering the Midtown Public Market, a strong form of engery came over me. This energy was extremely positive and immediately put me into a laid back mood. Immediately, I took a few moments toobserve the happenings around me. This open building was a melting pot of cultures mingling and exhcanging views on life. Everyone in sight was enjoying their surroundings, whether it was by dancing, eating or any one of the many other activities in action around them. The musicians were amazing and set the pace for the happenings in their vincinity. The abundance of energy here was a great source for me and encouraged me to learn more about other cultures and even more about my own culture. This market has shown me that there are many other ways to think about aspects of life and culture. I will definately try to visit this market more often if not for the new cultural expierience, for the new found energy expierenced here.

Posted by Kimberly Kantrud at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)