Bringing wireless to the mongolians take ~2

For some reason the one I posted yesterday doesn't work today. So I am putting two of them up on the Blog.

This is Valerie and I am going to show you a video about the technology transfer of wireless electricity. Mongolia is a developing country that has a unique problem of a large nomadic population. The methodology I am using is to bring the technology of wireless electricity to them and help them install it. How will this be done. I propose that other developed countries bring in the technology and with low interest loans and expert assistance physically set up the electric power grid. Although wireless means no wire, you still need a place to transmit the energy from. Problems will be to set up the grid, money to maintain the grid and further advancement of the technology to better improve wireless technology. Other more developed countries will help with set up and maintenance and the country of Mongolia will also need to levy taxes or have special funding to help to defray the costs. The ability to have a movable electric system will help the nomadic tribes advance to a better lifestyle and still maintain their traditions and love of the range. Their advancement into the 21st century will be less problematic if they are not forced to make permanent settlements.

Other wireless information and more about the Mongolian nomads.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/132/brilliant.html

http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/09/02/2043912.aspx

Bringing wireless to the Mongolian nomads

This is Valerie and I am going to show you a video about the technology transfer of wireless electricity. Mongolia is a developing country that has a unique problem of a large nomadic population. The methodology I am using is to bring the technology of wireless electricity to them and help them install it. How will this be done. I propose that other developed countries bring in the technology and with low interest loans and expert assistance physically set up the electric power grid. Although wireless means no wire, you still need a place to transmit the energy from. Problems will be to set up the grid, money to maintain the grid and further advancement of the technology to better improve wireless technology. Other more developed countries will help with set up and maintenance and the country of Mongolia will also need to levy taxes or have special funding to help to defray the costs. The ability to have a movable electric system will help the nomadic tribes advance to a better lifestyle and still maintain their traditions and love of the range. Their advancement into the 21st century will be less problematic if they are not forced to make permanent settlements.

Other wireless information and more about the Mongolian nomads.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/132/brilliant.html

http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/09/02/2043912.aspx

Morning

I remember waking up in the morning and feeling the sun warm the earth and greet my mind. If there is a more earthly feeling I am not sure what it would be. This picture is taken in Minnesota about 5:30 in the morning. The grass was damp and there was fog in a lot of the small valleys and across the lakes.

As I prepare to leave my summer home and go back to my semi-metropolitan life I find that my mind is starting to shift to a different place. Maybe a physical place or maybe a psychological place. I have spent most of my summer here in Minnesota, in a hundred year old house on a beautiful lake. A lot of my day is filled with tending the (large) garden, preparing food, visiting with the parents and multitude of relations and friends. Every evening I set aside time to go fishing and generally relaxing in the boat on the lake. Gently swaying side to side in a boat in the warm air with the smell of lake water and small waves hitting the side is such an amazing way to relax. When you start to be in your head too long the rhythmic popping of snapping Turtles or the gentle calling of the Loons bring you back to the 'Now'. It is all so soothing you can almost feel the tension leave your muscles.

Gallery Show

Last week I had a piece in a gallery show. I have been working recently with 'out of focus' images and identity. I have found that working with focus controls is a lot more effective in camera as opposed to trying to reproduce it in Photoshop. The two silver panes are mirrors so you can focus on your own identity. The piece is 8' tall and 3' wide. All dirt and rust included.

Artist Statement
I have always been fascinated at how peoples Identity’s are formed. Identity is the product of how we view ourselves and how the world views us.
We look through subjective lenses, which are cluttered with the debris of different stereotypes and generalizations. Sometimes the way we focus is not always representative of who that person is, maybe it is a reflection of our own wishes, dreams and aspiration, maybe our own fears surfacing, reminding us of who we do not want to be, or want to become.
How we focus our lens on other people also gives us a sampling of how we in turn might be viewed ourselves.
But we do not know for sure, maybe the focus stays somewhat “out-of-focus”.

Little Contessa Consuela

Yes, finals and the end of the semester are driving us nuts. As a result of pressue, Contessa Consuela came into play. She started as a lump of clothes, a pile of bones, a cosmetology head and was in desperate need of a rebirth.

Consuela now has an existence and a history. Here is the beginning of her story as told by Katy.

"Long, long, ago,.... in a galaxy far, far away..........there lived a poor Mexican peasant family in the dusty, barren poverty-stricken confines of the mountainside villages of Mexico. It was in such a trailer park of a village that Corazon Constipatio, and his new bride Conchita, made their humble home. They worked long laborious hours, for mere pennies a day, just to keep Doritos and Pepsi on the table. ...In fact they didn't even own a table, they kept their measly rations in a sack on the floor. A sack that dear Conchita made with her own two hands, with remnants from her wedding dress. Ah yes.... the very dress that became tattered and soiled from their journey over the mountainside. Frugality was not an uncommon trait amongst these settlers, and the neighboring villagers would welcome the many more sacks that Conchita would sell door to door, in her off hours, all made from the same beloved dress. Always a little on the hefty side.....Conchita had planned to join Jenny Craig prior to the wedding, but became disenchanted with the program when America Ferrera didn't become the company's new spokesmodel. Never a true Valerie BertinellI fan, she opted out, and decided to just pack on a few more pounditos. Alas, despite the enormous success of her wedding bag sales, Corazon & Conchita struggled to make ends meet. Barely making ends meet, the couple scrounged for most of their meals and supplies. Tension mounted in their humble abode. Bickering , endless arguments, and nasty text messaging filled their long hard days on the mountain. Corazon tried to remedy the financial burden by working longer hours, and finding good deals on e-bay,... but to no avail.......they would just have to learn to cut back their budget in other ways........ It was Conchita who persuaded him to bid on that defective case of condoms from that guy in El Paso. As fate would have it, Fed Ex actually did detect a cross street for the village, and dropped the box at the village outskirts......... it was only a matter of time before disaster would strike. Despite his best efforts, Corazon was unable to use the damaged goods. Conchita suggested he seek help from some of the more virile neighbor-men in the village........ To this day, paternity suits still flood the tiny stone courthouse in the village...... Villagers still fight, each trying to stake their claim of fatherhood for the one who made their village famous, the one, the only.............Contessa Consuela....... Born on a hot and humid day, little Consuela.............

Ice Racing

Ice racing is an interesting sport. You put a car, usually a little banged up, on a track of ice and see how fast it can get to the finish. If you have ever driven on ice then you know that it is not a matter of just hitting the gas pedal. That could just send you into a spin. You also have to take into account that the other cars could be sliding your way and to get out of the way is a tricky business. All in all the cars were not moving very fast and often they were going slow forwards and faster sideways! There was a lot of ice vs. car finessing going on. I was also impressed that there seemed to be a very diverse set of drivers. Women, men, boy, girls, old, young. I didn't get a picture but I thought it quite amusing to see a man with a long beard, farmer overalls, and John Deer cap as one of the drivers :)