Uncategorized – Page 17 – Kristen Baumlier

Category: Uncategorized

Make your own Snow Machine

Posted on December 19, 2011December 19, 2011 by Kbaumlier

Want to cover your yard with white fluffy snow?

On the DIY website, Instructables, there is instructions on how to build your own snow machine that will make a unit you can hook up to your hose and make powdery white snow as long as the weather is cold enough to keep the snow from melting on impact.

To build your own, you only need around $100 dollars and a trip to the hardware store. The machine works by mixing air and water together – which is then blasted through nozzels, turning the water into snow.

The directions are available through the website instructables.com, where users create and share DIY projects, and there are weekly challenges.

Image Source:
MakeSnow

Links:

Make a Snowmaker – on instructables.com

Snowmaker Plans

Were you passed on your morning bike commute? CAT 6 Racing

Posted on December 18, 2011December 17, 2011 by Kbaumlier

Cyclists have a joke about “racing in CAT 6” which is not exactly a race or an official category of cyclists. CAT 6 is a term for commuter cyclists who race to work as a sport.

Also sometimes called “the commuter race” and “hipster racing,” CAT-6 racing is the unspoken urban tradition of trying to go faster than, and not get passed by, a stranger on your bike. A CAT 6 race starts when a stranger riding a bike tries to pass another cyclist and the other cyclist speeds up rather than let them pass. This creates an impromptu race. Sometimes the race is started by gender battles (a girl passing a guy for example), competitiveness, and also just for fun.

I’ll admit, I have started a CAT 6 race before (but didn’t know it had a name.) I often will pass someone on my bike and continue to ride faster so that the biker I passed would stay in my dust.

When I spent a summer in the Headlands near Sausalito, CA, I would ride once a week over to San Francisco, and would cross the Golden Gate bridge. While riding across the bridge I had to avoid the tourists who were walking, and also find your spot within the cyclists. It always felt like a race – a sort of pass or be passed feeling.

Did you pass someone today on your bike, or try to pass someone who passed you first lately? If so – you might be a CAT 6 rider.

DOCUMERICA: Images of America in Crisis in the 1970s

Posted on December 10, 2011December 10, 2011 by Kbaumlier

At the end of the 1960’s, the rapid development of industry and the unchecked land development began to take a noticeable toll on the environment. Air, noise, and water pollution seemed to be on the rise, and people began to call for action.

In November 1971, the newly created Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched a massive photo documentary project to record these changes. Called DOCUMERICA, more than 100 photographers were hired to document specific environmental issues, to capture images of everyday life, and to show that moment in history. By 1974, more than 80,000 photographs had been produced. The images framed environmental problems such as noise, water and air pollution, but also health problems and social decay.
The project also collected images of American making changes and creating positive change in their surroundings.

The project was the United States first serious examination of the decay of the natural environment Gifford Hampshire was the EPA Project director for DOCUMERICA and described the inspiration of the project as, “It was an exciting time. The public was expecting results.” Hampshire wrote in his memoir that the EPA had worked to close down the big offenders of industrial pollution, but that it became clear that ordinary people were responsible for many pollution issues.

The project was geographic in nature, with photographers working in one area of the U.S. usually where they lived and worked as professional photographers. Exhibits of the images were shown at EPA facilities and other small venues until the early 1980s.

The images are really eye-opening today. Images of cities with smog, subways with graffiti, a town with 4 nuclear reactors in the background – paint a picture of the environment as it was in the 1970s. Looking at them today also shows that we have made some progress in terms of protecting the environment, and in dealing with pollution.

The images can be seen on the Documerica Catalogue website, and there is also a great selection of 46 images on the Atlantic’s website.

Image Source:
DOCUMERICA Project

Links:

DOCUMERICA Images of Crisis and Cure in the 1970s

Archival Research Catalogue – Documerica

46 selected pictures on The Atlantic DOCUMERICA: Images of America in Crisis in the 1970s

The Worst Dressed Princesses in the World

Posted on November 11, 2011November 12, 2011 by Kbaumlier

Where can you see the worst dressed princesses in the world wearing dresses that are two sizes too big, Crocs and tennis shoes, crooked tiaras on their heads, and with t-shirts hanging out from under their dresses? In a world inside a world – Disneyworld in Orlando, FL.

Individual princesses have been part of the Disney scene since Snow White first was on screen in 1937. The Disneyworld experience has always included opportunities to meet Snow White and Cinderella, but today “becoming a princess” has become standard fair at Disneyworld.

The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique opened in 2006, which extends the princess experience for young girls. The boutique is a princess hair salon where girls age 3 to 12 can choose from 3 hair styles—Fairytale Princess, Disney Diva and Pop Princess—as well as multiple hair styles, nail color, make-up and a total package including Disney Princess costume and photographs. Prices range from $45 to $280.

Enter as a girl – exit as a young princess. Pixie dust, hair spray, makeup, and nail polish are all used at the salon – in order to transform the girls into their favorite princess character.

The Disney Princess franchise was born in early 1999, when a new executive at Disney attended his first Disney on Ice show. While waiting in line, he found himself surrounded by young girls dressed as princesses – wearing generic princess products. Soon after realizing the demand, the Disney Princess line was formed. Sales at Disney Consumer Products rose from $300 million in 2001 to $3 billion in 2006.

In 2000, Disney Consumer Products brought all of Disney’s heroines — Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, Mulan, Pocahontas, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White — together into the Disney Princess brand. The princesses have grossed over $4 billion in global retail sales and more than 142 million books, 81 million sticker packs and 16 million Disney Princess magazines have been sold.

The Disney franchise writes about the power of the princess stating on its website, “For a little girl, the desire to feel special is more powerful than a magic wand. She dreams of a place where clothes are spun of silk and gold, where balls are held in her honor and where princes fall in love at first sight. It is a world Disney has created — full of fantasy and romance — where a girl can feel as special as a princess. Disney Princess – where dreams begin.” [1]

On December 24, 2006, Peggy Orenstein published, “What’s Wrong With Cinderella?” in the New York Times. Orenstein discussed her concerns about the effects of princess figures on young girls. Orenstein used the Disney Princesses to present many of her points. Other sources have also voiced concern that the franchise could give young girls the wrong message. However, other parents say that young girls would eventually grow out of this phase.

Is it your turn to become a princess? If so – come on down to Disneyworld – but please leave your Crocs at home and ask your mom to straighten your crown before you head out to the castle to meet the prince.

Links:

Videos of Princess Transformations:

What’s Wrong with Cinderella? NY Times article

Sources:

{1}https://www.disneyconsumerproducts.com/Home/display.jsp?contentId=dcp_home_ourfranchises_disney_princess_us&forPrint=false&language=en&preview=false&imageShow=0&pressRoom=US&translationOf=null&region=0

The power of smell: Aroma Jockey Odo7

Posted on November 10, 2011November 10, 2011 by Kbaumlier

Most festivals, live performances, theater and cinema use sight and sound – but what if the use of smell was used? Aroma Jockey Odo7 has created a form of “aroma illustration” or “aroma jockeying” that he does for events and groups.

Researchers say that the sense of smell is by far the most powerful of all our senses and that it is a “direct extension of the brain.” Its direct contact means we get a very quick, very intensive reaction to odor. Smells have a relationship to emotions, sounds, colors, and culture. Odo7 explores how the chemical and biological can be presented within an atmosphere that renews itself through the use of 7 main groups of aromatic elements.

Odo7 who is currently living in Amsterdam, Netherlands has established the conscious use of scents in entertainment scenting. In 2002, Odo7 worked with a “civelrevoltage” artist group to create a visual and sound experience. He has worked with Isabella Rosselini on a project in Amsterdam, and his other clients include J.P. Gaultier and Tommy Hilfiger.

His website presents some of the history and the value of aroma and scent – and can be seen at hwww.odo7.com.

LINKS:

Odo7’s site – www.odo7.com

Article on the Power of Smell – BBC article