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It matters how you approach your work and life. Take the test and see which direction you see the dancer spinning -- I see see her moving mostly clockwise but can also see her spin left. That means I'm mostly right brained. I bet my husband is left-brained. (link thanks to left-brained Lauri).
Do you think you could predict the way your family and friends could see the dancer spin?
The week's best economy art is the cover for this week's Economist. The illustration is for the cover story, The Panic About the Dollar. The dollar's George Washington, goggled and descending a la Red Baron, with flames, and that sardonic smile, leading us to worry about... a crash? Great graphic to capture a jittery time. I like the fact that Washington's hair stays in place.
Next best: Patrick Thomas' illustration for the NYTimes this week. His Recession graphic for the grey lady's story, The U.S. Economy: Trying to Guess What Happens Next
was the most dynamic art in the Sunday paper. The lettering, in red -- the most attention-getting color, is immediately impactful. Tanking down to the right, in the same visual descending motion as George Washington's dollar illustration, shows the idea of submerging, the idea of something that could sink beneath, tilt to disappear. Using the dollar signs for the letters, right at the point of loss, is a great artistic design. The uneven use of ink reminds one of the rubber stamps...
When a penny cost more than one cent to produce, well... spend a penny in British idiom means to urninate. Count your pennies... Dollars and cents. Art and sense. An illustration is worth a thousand words.
Remember when inventor Dean Kamen rolled out his Segway scooter in 2001 with a fanfare of publicity and ideas that this could eventually be the thing in personal transportation? Perhaps the scooter market has more traction when it is the two-wheel kind, like the Vespas, at the moment. When Segways run between $5,000 - $6,000, Vespa Flys can be had for under $2,000. I have continued thinking about this after writing about sexy scooters earlier.
Sometimes it takes a confluence of factors to create the right timing for product ideas. High gas prices, an aging population and a desire for a smaller transportation footprint and...seeing them used as rentals... might just be that mixture of ideas & usage that lead to purchases.
Vespa-type scooters are legal on most roads and Segways have been banned from many sidewalks and roads and their promotional and sales information even advises buyers/users to know the state-by-state scooter/motor vehicle regulations.
Disney in California just started offering Segway tours. Renting Segways might be the way usage will increase as it is less expensive and offers people a chance to try them out. Perhaps a toe-hold will be gained by tour operators since even with financing tools to increase sales, they aren't becoming more publicly visible as individually owned scooters.
In May it was announced that the Koreans had developed their own Segway-like scooter, the Hubo-way, which promises to be much less expensive.
Unlike scooters that are considered allowable on sidewalks as medical devices, like those at left ($589 Zip'r at scooter.com), Segways can't get that status which has inhibited its use on sidewalks.
Our cities have more sprawl and less sidewalky, people-friendly public places. You don't see a lot of elders out ambling about with canes as you might in the English countryside villages, for example. We're a nation ripe for scootin'. Perhaps these scooters will all gain more traction as we think about smaller transportation footprints.
Segways on golfcourses? It started being used on courses in Scottsdale, Arizona. I bet you'll see them more and more after their use last fall at the Ritz Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Florida's #1 golf resort course. People on vacation are more open to trying new things and the hospitality industry has stories of how staff is promoting their use. Golf clubs are using them as perks and enticements, and they are being promoted as ways to speed up the play. The Gold Creek Club (Chris Dare, the pro, demostrates one at right) in Dawsonville, Georgia, promotes its use: "Unlike power carts each golfer goes directly to their own golf ball,
speeding up play. The all electric unit costs around $2 to charge and
is significantly less expensive than gas or traditional electric carts
for the golf course to field."
I would bet that riding on soft grass rather than harsh concrete would get more tryers and guyers which might lead to more buyers... Still, my bet is on the rental market to make the inroads.
Young guys use them for urban play and off-roading...the next market? More on the flip...
photo credit: Dean Kamen, by Jared C. Benedict, released under GNU license
The plan to ad zip codes to letters was announced by the Postmaster General today in 1962, to go into effect in July of 1963. I was just old enough to write letters (having written one of my first to Caroline Kennedy, a condolence letter on the death of her dad and that didn't have to have any address but "The White House in Washington, D.C.").
I have old family letters in my archive that only listed names, cities and states -- no street or street address. Now even with all the zip code numerals, mostly what I get is junk mail and other people's mail wrongly delivered to my box (about 2 a day on average). Some days we don't get mail at all. I guess the mailman likes to take off to go fish or something. Sometimes we get letters delivered months past when you'd think it should be delivered. I wonder what mail I'm not getting, with this sort of delivery system. They do say living in Santa Fe is like living in a Third World Country. I've not gotten wedding invitations and wonder what bills I'm not getting as well. I never could get NYTimes delivery but since I read it online, I quit bothering.
Old Goat Road is in Santa Fe county, not far from the old hippie town Madrid, New Mexico (Madrid is anglicized, rhyming with bad rid but most likely named by the Spanish after the Spanish City). How places get their names can be an interesting road to to follow...I've no history on this dirt street to offer up; I'm still exploring.
Would you want to live on Old Goat Road?
Is anyone ever really too old to enjoy Santa? Radio City's Santa is divine -- isn't he precious? Maybe he's the best ever. What a way to start the holiday season -- at Rockefeller Center, the day after Thanksgiving, in NYC. Some people believe Santa is too commercial. Actually, he's a very historical actual spiritual santo -- a holy icon and the idea behind gifts given without strings.
In the country now known as Turkey, there once was a Christan Bishop who put coins into the shoes of girls who, for whatever circumstances, couldn't afford a dowry. Hence the origin of Santa Claus. Santa is banned from the home of one of my smart blog friends, KChristyH. I wondered when my children were young if this was too commercial, too fable-like, too untrue to foster, too unreal to perpetuate. However, I love cultural traditions, history and all of the soupy sappy mix shared with loved ones. My first memories of Santa -- a stuffed one with a tiny bottle of coke in his hand. The epitomy of the brand - the Santa as the apex of consumerism. The commercial flood of Christmas makes me gasp for spiritual breath and feel the pressure to give something truly special on a timeline.
When we return to Santa Fe, Santa the Man/Saint is not as important as other traditions. Farolitos on Christmas Eve and poinsettas, that original Mexican flower, will be the main festivity along with the big midnight services at the Cathedral in the center of the town and the merriment of the bonfires, carols and crowds up and down Canyon Road. Santa of course here, is the spanish for Holy. Santa Fe... the city of Holy Faith.
What makes you grow and change? As I arranged these leaves on the ground, to capture them in an artistic manner, I thought about how beautiful old things are, yet how important it is that we let go and let some things fall away and wither and dry up. We'd never have the creative energy for new things if we didn't move with nature's cycles and shed what we must.
Like these leaves, some things need to float away, untethered. Energy for other future plans must be contained, internalized, kept through the winter season and ready for new energy, new life, new growth.
Being planted in a new place can force changes. Being rooted in a place can make change harder. Finding the balance between both is a life process...
NYC has them. I guess I shouldn't be concerned. Should I. Bedbugs aren't just a problem in NYC. But latest bedbug advice in New York Magazine is to keep luggage off the ground, away from beds, when traveling. "Check your bags for any signs of bugs when you get home... Seal your clothes in a plastic bag and launder them before
returning them to your dresser; you might even want to consider getting
luggage you can throw directly in the laundry (e.g., duffel bags)."
I thought it was a new thing mainly in NY, a return of the bloody suckers (eradicated in the 1950s with DDT) but they are now in all 50 states. If they are popping up in Ralph Lauren offices on Madison Avenue, that just shows you they have no discrimination. Infestations can be a real problem in hotels. There is now a bedbug registry. You can check to see if there are bedbugs reported where you are planning to stay, for example, in Manhattan. There is also a bedbug map by city. When we checked into the hotel, I asked if this had been a problem...
Kicking off Christmas! With the Broadway strike on and our tickets to Cyrano useless, we were lucky to get a few of the last tickets to the Radio City 75th Christmas Show at Rockefeller Center, thanks to my husband's quick acting. The high kicking dancers from Kilgore, Texas, the Rangerettes, formed in 1939, will also be attending the show this week. Both of these performing groups were the inspiration behind the precision dancing squads formed to entertain sports crowds.
As tourists, this should be a grand event - something we've never
seen. Why we didn't do this during our NYC sabbatical, I don't know. I'm thrilled. I'm sure my two youngest children will have a blast and it will
be unforgettable. Most of this week they are off seeing friends and not wanting to be with Mom and Dad. After years of the Nutcracker, this will be...special. A real holiday kick.
Nothing like a big parade on NYC streets. Especially when a turkey isn't in our oven but in SaraBeth's. The drum beat of the holiday, Macy's, kicking off the holiday season, ka-ching, ka-ching. In the world's capital of commerce, I'll be having a look-see.
My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving... mainly because it is just a time to be thankful and enjoy friends and family and it isn't flooded with commercialism.
