my son's b-day party today

My son Xul turned 11 today on July 7, 2007 and we had a party for him at this local small theme /game park called Haunted Trails here in Chicago's southwest side. Below are some pics.






His cousin Isaiah


His cousin Jasmine and friend from grammar school.



My father Adolfo.

My mother Soledad (Solitude in english)

view from our design department

My son the actor

My son Xul acted in a scene for an upcoming independent movie called "The Lower Circle" that deals with "Dante's Inferno"in a modern setting. I embedded the video trailer below.







Lower Circle Trailer

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Humphreys reunion

A few of us had lunch with some old time friends and ex-co-workers from Humphreys Inc. Humphreys Inc was bought by Randa in 2001 and then re-named Randa Accessories in 2006.


Jerry Wu and Maria Bink-Hennings
Sam Finlay and Scott Linde

Mark Young and Silvia Vega

Workings of an ancient computer

Scientists have uncovered the workings of an ancient computer called the Antikythera Mechanism. Built at the end of the second century B.C.E, the device was used to calculate and display moon phases and a luni-solar calendar. Its exact workings have been something of a mystery since it was first found in 1901 at the site of a Roman shipwreck. Now, researchers from the UK, Greece, and US report that high-resolution imaging have revealed the function of the gears and the partial inscriptions on the body of the machine. They report their findings in this week's issue of the scientific journal Nature.

From the New York Times:
They said their findings showed that the inscriptions related to lunar-solar motions and the gears were a mechanical representation of the irregularities of the Moon’s orbital course across the sky, as theorized by the astronomer Hipparchos. They established the date of the mechanism at 150-100 B.C...

Historians of technology think the instrument is technically more complex than any known device for at least a millennium afterward.

The mechanism, presumably used in preparing calendars for seasons of planting and harvesting and fixing religious festivals, had at least 30, possibly 37, hand-cut bronze gear-wheels, the researchers reported. An ingenious pin-and-slot device connecting two gear-wheels induced variations in the representation of lunar motions according to the Hipparchos model of the Moon’s elliptical orbit around Earth.

Link to NYT article, Link to abstract at Nature

This morning I took some photos while on my way to work. This is the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago.

Frank Lambert's experimental clock from 1878

check this out; the earliest form of recorded experimental music from 1878....where where you then???

http://www.pong-story.com/lambert/

George Bush visits Kansas after tornado

President George W. Bush joins townspeople in prayer Wednesday, May 9, 2007, as he toured a neighborhood in the tornado-ravaged community of Greensburg, Kansas. At least 10 people died in the Friday night storm that destroyed nearly 95 percent of the town. Yet during Katrina, he watches thru a window on airforce one down to New Orleans. Why does he react differently to both events? Is it racial?

my new art piece

exist within your timeline
braille engraved plastic sign
2007

Where where you before you were born? We are born on such a year and then die on such a year in linear time. Did our consciousness/soul exist before and will it exist after? Or are we limited to exist just in our designated timeline?
-mc, may 1, 2007

the artist project

below are images from friday's opening at the merchandise mart's "artist project". I'll post more tomorrow.




Jeremy Tubbs

the artist project

This morning I installed my work at the Merchandise Mart. The fair opens tomorrow and I took some photos after I finished. Below is more info about the show:

The Artist Project
April 27-30, 2007---FREE ADMISSION
350 West Mart Center Lobby

Running concurrently with Art Chicago™, The Artist Project™ is a new art exhibition and sale featuring original work from independent artists. Approximately 50 established and emerging fine artists were selected to present their work as part of Chicago's legendary art weekend. The Artist Project will be a great opportunity to discover and obtain interesting and affordable art directly from a uniquely talented group of artists.

Show Hours
Friday, April 27, 11 a.m.–7 p.m.
Saturday, April 28, 11 a.m.–7 p.m.
Sunday, April 29, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
Monday, April 30, 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

The Artist Project is part of Artopolis(http://www.merchandisemart.com/artropolis/) which includes the following art fairs at the Merchandise Mart this weekend:

Art Chicago: http://www.artchicago.com/
Bridge Art Fair: http://www.bridgeartfair.com/
Intuit Show: http://www.art.org/intuitshow/
The Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fair: http://www.merchandisemartantiques.com/

More Protests Coming After Federal Raid

U.S. Attorney's Office To Announce Charges In Alleged Fake ID Ring

(CBS) CHICAGO The U.S. Attorney's office is preparing to announce charges in the federal raid at a discount mall in the Little Village neighborhood.

Meanwhile, as CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports, activists plan to continue their protests that began on Tuesday after the raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs agents and representatives of several other agencies. Sixteen people were arrested in a suspected fake ID ring.

"We ask you to be with all of the families who've been agitated by this act of aggression in our community," an activist said during a protest on Tuesday.

Several dozen people stood together on Tuesday after the raid at the strip mall at 26th Street and Albany Avenue.

Federal agents said the target was a ring that counterfeits and sells immigration documents in the area. But many people complained that others who had nothing to do with counterfeiting were also arrested.

They took issue with the show of force, and they way they said they were treated."They came out here and they had these big guns and they were looking for people under cars and in the stores," said witness Jesus Figueroa.The local alderman also took issue with the methods used in the raid.

"It's a show of force. We believe it was done to intimidate this community. We can’t see it any other way," said Ald. George Cardenas (12th). "The number of people involved in this operation is just overwhelming."

Witnesses say up to 200 agents stormed the mall, locking it down and asking everyone inside and in the parking lot for IDs.Sources tell CBS 2 that 100 people or more have been detained. Ultimately, at least 16 were arrested on accusations of selling fraudulent documents to illegal immigrants."

(They were) selling illegal papers to immigrants so we can work, basically. That’s all we buy them for, is to work," said Little Village resident Luz Nolasco. "But apparently that’s against the law and God forbid we help America!"

One notification received by CBS 2 denounced the SWAT-style response team, and how agents locked the doors and sealed entrances and exits at the mall to make their arrests.That release also said, "Their actions are clear – (to) disrespect our community and children and to intimidate us."

The U.S. Attorney's office is expected to comment later Wednesday morning.

CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman contributed to this report.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

New 'super-Earth' found in space

Astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date, a world which could have water running on its surface.

The planet orbits the faint star Gliese 581, which is 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.

Scientists made the discovery using the Eso 3.6m Telescope in Chile.

They say the benign temperatures on the planet mean any water there could exist in liquid form, and this raises the chances it could also harbour life.

"We have estimated that the mean temperature of this 'super-Earth' lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, and water would thus be liquid," explained Stephane Udry of the Geneva Observatory, lead author of the scientific paper reporting the result.

'Is there life anywhere else?' is a fundamental question we all ask Alison Boyle London Science Museum

"Moreover, its radius should be only 1.5 times the Earth's radius, and models predict that the planet should be either rocky - like our Earth - or covered with oceans."

Xavier Delfosse, a member of the team from Grenoble University, added: "Liquid water is critical to life as we know it."

He believes the planet may now become a very important target for future space missions dedicated to the search for extra-terrestrial life.

These missions will put telescopes in space that can discern the tell-tale light "signatures" that might be associated with biological processes.

The observatories would seek to identify trace atmospheric gases such as methane, and even markers for chlorophyll, the pigment in Earth plants that plays a critical role in photosynthesis.
'Indirect' detection

The exoplanet - as astronomers call planets around a star other than the Sun - is the smallest yet found, and completes a full orbit of its parent star in just 13 days.

Indeed, it is 14 times closer to its star than the Earth is to our Sun.

However, given that the host star is smaller and colder than the Sun - and thus less luminous - the planet nevertheless lies in the "habitable zone", the region around a star where water could be liquid.

Gliese 581 was identified at the European Southern Observatory (Eso) facility at La Silla in the Atacama Desert.

To make their discovery, researchers used a very sensitive instrument that can measure tiny changes in the velocity of a star as it experiences the gravitational tug of a nearby planet.
Astronomers are stuck with such indirect methods of detection because current telescope technology struggles to image very distant and faint objects - especially when they orbit close to the glare of a star.

The Gliese 581 system has now yielded three planets: the new super-Earth, a 15 Earth-mass planet orbiting even closer to the parent star, and an eight Earth-mass planet that lies further out.
The latest discovery has created tremendous excitement among scientists.

Of the more than 200 exoplanets so far discovered, a great many are Jupiter-like gas giants that experience blazing temperatures because they orbit close to hot stars.

The Gliese 581 super-Earth is in what scientists call the "Goldilocks Zone" where temperatures "are just right" for life to have a chance to exist.

Commenting on the discovery, Alison Boyle, the curator of astronomy at London's Science Museum, said: "Of all the planets we've found around other stars, this is the one that looks as though it might have the right ingredients for life.

"It's 20 light-years away and so we won't be going there anytime soon, but with new kinds of propulsion technology that could change in the future. And obviously we'll be training some powerful telescopes on it to see what we can see," she told BBC News.

"'Is there life anywhere else?' is a fundamental question we all ask."

Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/6589157.stm
Published: 2007/04/25 01:00:18 GMT

my new camera!

My previous digi cam was a Sony and i dropped it/broke in Dallas 2 months ago. I finally got around to getting another and this time I took my chances with a Kodak 6megapixel cam. The quality is decent. Check it out. These are from today on the way to and from work.

Control Room documentary

This is a great documentary on AlJazeera and the Iraq War.

art opening tomorrow!!

**OPENING TOMORROW!**
The Emergency Show:
Kim Frieders
Miguel Cortez
Jaime Mendoza
Barbara Koenen

plus flatscreen DVD: CarianaCarianne

Opening Friday April 6 from 6pm-10pm
April 6 - April 28, 2007

http://polvo.org/april2007.html

polvo
1458 W. 18th St. 1R (entrance on Laflin)
Chicago,IL 60608
hours: saturdays from noon-5pm or by appointment









"Talking CCTVs"
Computer prints, 10" x 10" each
Miguel Cortez, 2007

my new series

Who is watching you? # 1
Digital print, dimensions variable
March 2007



Who is watching you? # 2
Digital print, dimensions variable
March 2007

surveillance cameras in England

from BBC News
'Talking' CCTV scolds offenders

"Talking" CCTV cameras that tell off people dropping litter or committing anti-social behaviour are to be extended to 20 areas across England.

They are already used in Middlesbrough where people seen misbehaving can be told to stop via a loudspeaker, controlled by control centre staff.

About £500,000 will be spent adding speaker facilities to existing cameras.

Shadow home affairs minister James Brokenshire said the government should be "very careful" over the cameras.

Home Secretary John Reid told BBC News there would be some people, "in the minority who will be more concerned about what they claim are civil liberties intrusions".

"But the vast majority of people find that their life is more upset by people who make their life a misery in the inner cities because they can't go out and feel safe and secure in a healthy, clean environment because of a minority of people," he added.

What really upsets people is their night out being destroyed or their environment being destroyed by a fairly small minority of people John Reid

The talking cameras did not constitute "secret surveillance", he said.

"It's very public, it's interactive."

Competitions would also be held at schools in many of the areas for children to become the voice of the cameras, Mr Reid said.

Downing Street's "respect tsar", Louise Casey, said the cameras "nipped problems in the bud" and reduced bureaucracy.

"It gets across the message, 'please don't litter our streets because someone else will have to pay to pick up that litter again'," she told BBC News.

"Half a billion pounds a year is spent picking up litter."

'Scarecrow policing'

Mr Brokenshire told the BBC he had a number of concerns about the use of the talking cameras.

"Whether this is moving down a track of almost 'scarecrow' policing rather than real policing - actually insuring that we have more bobbies on the beat - I think that's what we really want to see, albeit that an initiative like this may be an effective tool in certain circumstances.

"We need to be very careful about applying this more generally."

The talking cameras will be installed in Southwark, Barking and Dagenham, in London, Reading, Harlow, Norwich, Ipswich, Plymouth, Gloucester, Derby, Northampton, Mansfield, Nottingham, Coventry, Sandwell, Wirral, Blackpool, Salford, South Tyneside and Darlington.

In Middlesbrough, staff in a control centre monitor pictures from 12 talking cameras and can communicate directly with people on the street.

Local councillor Barry Coppinger says the scheme has prevented fights and criminal damage and cut litter levels.

"Generally, I think it has raised awareness that the town centre is a safe place to visit and also that we are keeping an eye open to make sure it is safe," he said.

But opponent and campaigner Steve Hills said: "Apart from being absurd, I think it's rather sad that we should have faceless cameras barking at us on orders from who? Who sets these cameras up?"

There are an estimated 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain.

A recent study by the government's privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner, warned that Britain was becoming a "surveillance society".