April 2012 – Page 4 – Kristen Baumlier

Month: April 2012

Vegetare is an Official Selection in the Santa Cruz Film Festival

Posted on April 9, 2012April 9, 2012 by Kbaumlier

It’s official! On Friday night the official announcements were made for which films will screen at the upcoming Santa Cruz Film Festival.
My animation short Vegetare will be screening at the film festival which occurs in Santa Cruz, CA on May 10-19, 2012.

Vegetare is screening with 2 other films, To Make a Farm (Steve Suderman) and 10,000 Trees (Sarah Ginsburg, Sarah Berkovich.)

There are two screenings which are scheduled for: 4:00 pm on Friday May 11 and 1:00 pm on Saturday May 12.

Links:

santacruzfilmfestival.org/

PieLab (Pie + Conversation = Change)

Posted on April 8, 2012April 9, 2012 by Kbaumlier

Apple, cherry, or pumpkin? Who doesn’t like pie? PieLab, located in Greensboro, Alabama, is a café/meeting space that was created not just to serve pie, but also to create a place for the community to come to a space for conversation and connections.

The project was started by Project M, which was a group of designers who shared an interest in using design to “do good.” Pielab started as a project called Free Pie Day, during which Project M members stood on a street corner and handed out slices of pecan, pumpkin and apple pie to individuals walking by. The idea was to spur community and conversation with each slice of pie. Out of this event, the group got inspired to create a place where pie and conversation could occur in a “town hall atmosphere.”

The space was designed to be a neutral environment where people from every race and class are welcome to sit together and talk. There are fresh pies made every day, as well as some other food items that were added to the menu. Blueberry, peach, coconut, and even Taco are some of the pie flavors on the menu listed on the website.

Since PieLab opened, it got a lot of press which inspired others to create similar spaces in other states including Texas and Oregon. Pie, conversation, optimism and design all in one place? Pielab and other community café are places where you can find all of the above.

Image Source:
www.fastcompany.com

Links:
Pielab.org

Solving Puzzles for Science – FoldIt

Posted on April 7, 2012April 9, 2012 by Kbaumlier

Do you play puzzles? Want to help contribute to science research? Foldit is a free online puzzle video game about protein folding which is part of an experimental research project developed by the University of Washington’s Center for Game Science and the Department of Biochemistry. The developers felt that human game-players could figure out the combinations of proteins faster than a computer and created FoldIt which launched in 2008.

To play Foldit, players work to fold the structure of selected proteins, which has been described as a “biochemical game of Twister.” The highest scoring solutions are analyzed by researchers, who determine whether or not there is a structure that can be applied to real world proteins. The game allows scientists to get more solutions to real issues which includes targeting and eradicating diseases, as well as creating biological innovations.

Since the game started, it has over 240,000 registered players. The work that players are doing in examining models of proteins can be used to various diseases including HIV/AIDS, Cancer and Alzheimer’s. This information can also be used to find new proteins in plants that could be converted to biofuel more efficiently.

The latest puzzle on the site is a Flu Puzzle, in which players do what is called “hot spot hashing” which translates to gameplay similar to trying to find a good hold on a wall by finding the good holes to put your fingers into. Players are working to examine proteins, and find the best spots.

If you are in the mood to play a game and help science – checkout foldit on fold.it.

Image Source:
http://fold.it

Links:

http://fold.it

FoldIt – Nature News article in Nature Biotechnology in January 2012

Mapping Main Street: A Collaborative Documentary Project

Posted on April 4, 2012April 4, 2012 by Kbaumlier

Hey, did I see you on Main Street the other day? Maybe. Maybe not.

There are more than 10,466 streets named Main in the United States. The collaborative project Mapping Main Street has a goal to get photo, video, and stories to document all the Main Streets that exist. The idea is to collect this in order to tell real stories about Main Street – whether it is an abandoned street, a main thoroughfare, where we work, or where we live.

The project started in 2009 and is still going strong. To start the project some of the team behind the project went on a 12,000 mile road trip to visit Main Streets. Some bands were commissioned to write songs for the project.

Recent posts on the site include some videos made on Main Street in Louisville by 29 student journalists, and on the Flickr photo site there are photos from Main streets in North Carolina and Vermont.

The project is produced supported by Maker’s Quest 2.0, an initiative between the Association of Independents in Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

Been to main street? Head on back and contribute a story, photo, or video of the project. To date there are 881 Main streets documented – and over 9,000 to go.

Image Source:
www.mappingmainstreet.org/

Links:

www.mappingmainstreet.org/

The Bay vs. The Bag

Posted on April 3, 2012April 3, 2012 by Kbaumlier

With no snow and lots of wind, at this time of the year it is common to see plastic bags stuck in trees, bushes, and blowing down the road. Some cities like San Francisco have been working to ban plastic bag use. San Francisco has prohibited the use of plastic bags at large supermarkets and chain pharmacies since 2007 and a new law has now expanded this ban on plastic bags to all retailers citywide. Instead of the plastic bag, the stores may distribute BPI certified compostable bags, paper bags made with a minimum 40% post consumer recycled content, or reusable bags.

A video was made by Free Range Studios that used stop motion animation to show how bags can affect natural areas like the San Francisco Bay. The short piece shows a woman who gets overwhelmed by a tidal wave of bags. The video got attention of ABC news and Youtube, who featured it on the front page. The video later was credited as having a huge impact on the bag ban in the Bay area.

Crabs, birds, and an ocean are made of plastic bags in the piece which ends with a call to action of “Stand up to plastic bag pollution.” The video is viewable on Vimeo, and also on Free Range’s website.

Image Source:
Bay vs. The Bag – Video on Vimeo

Links:

Bay vs. The Bag – Video on Vimeo