We understand least
what we hold closest.

Cup contains, water resists.
Thirst: a lineage of cups

with no trust in the future.
What wakes you up in the night

mouth empty, sheets blank
might be the faucet’s dumb neck

arched with a brassy assurance
that you have not yet learned to tap.

__________

“Poem for Hannah” by Matthew Zapruder

The tiny bee on its mission
died before it felt a thing. Its
body rested for a moment
on the railing of my sunny
porch in California. Then
wind took it away. You
are an older sister now so
it’s true the world owes you
massive reparations. Also
you have special alarm
pheromones implanted
in your nose that explode
with phacelia distans
i.e. wild heliotrope each time
what they say will happen
turns out to be a compendium
of what can never exactly
be. Today the electric bus
full of humans listening
through tiny flesh-colored
earbuds to the music news
or literature perfectly calibrated
to their needs kneels before
the young man in his gleaming
black wheelchair. Inside
green laboratories experiments
in the realm of tiny particles
are being for our vast benefit
completed. Already I can see
the same little wrinkle I have
appearing on your brow.
You were born to feel a way
you don’t have a word for.

___________________

‘Red Bird Explains Himself’ by Mary Oliver

“Yes, I was the brilliance floating over the snow
and I was the song in the summer leaves, but this was
only the first trick
I had hold of among my other mythologies,
for I also knew obedience: bring sticks to the nest,
food to the young, kisses to my bride.

But don’t stop there, stay with me: listen.

If I was the song that entered your heart
then I was the music of your heart, that you wanted and needed,
and thus wilderness bloomed that, with all its
followers: gardeners, lovers, people who weep
for the death of rivers.

And this was my true task, to be the
music of the body.  Do you understand? for truly the body needs
a song, a spirit, a soul.  And no less, to make this work,
the soul has need of a body,
and I am both of the earth and I am of the inexplicable
beauty of heaven
where I fly so easily, so welcome, yes,
and this is why I have been sent, to teach this to your heart.”

“Videos were selected based on the presence
of a target female performing an individual foraging event,
as well as on the following designated video acceptance
criteria: (a) the individuals were identifiable; (b) it was
possible to identify the beginning and end of the chase
sequence; (c) the prey was visible, or if the prey was not
completely visible, it was possible to identify the position
of the prey based on the behavior of the dolphin; (d) if the
calf was present, the calf was in a nearby position (within a
proximity of two body lengths) from which it was capable
of observing its mother; and (e) if the calf was present, it
was possible to identify the position of the calf relative to
the mother during the foraging event.”

From Bender, C.E., Herzing, D.L., and D.F. Bjorklund (2008). Evidence of teaching in atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) by mother dolphins foraging in the presence of their calves. Animal Cognition.

Livescribe to release major new features just in time for Thanksgiving

OAKLAND, Calif.– November 17, 2008 – Just in time for the holidays, Livescribe Inc. (www.livescribe.com) announced today the public beta of its native Mac desktop application – Livescribe Desktop for Mac. Livescribe also announced key new features for its Pulse smartpen, including handwriting to text transcription software and the ability for consumers to print dot paper notepads for free

I’m here attending the 11th ACS meeting on “Whales in a Changing World.” The group is different then the one I’m generally attracted to. I decided the difference is that they study “population dynamics,” rather than “social dynamics.” Anyways, I summarized the day and posted it online - there for your perusing should you desire! (…pictures to come?)

ACS 2008: Day 1

In the next week, I’ll be asking these users to review segments of video and identify their own from a set of video segments, as well as reviewing some relevant literature.

I conducted a preliminary search of the literature, which enabled me to situate the question in what’s been done already, as well as to identify the key search phrases for this body of work. It seems like this is relative to a few people’s work right now, so I listed the publications I found here. The articles should be easily retreivable on scholar.google.com, but if you want an article that you can’t find, email me (whitney.friedman@gmail.com).
Best,
Whitney

If anyone else has a suggestion of where we might go for the weekend, I’ll be happy to follow up on it. This is disappointing, but it’s the company, not the setting, that’s going to make this a great weekend, so I’m sure it will be terrific where ever we end up going!

cheers
Chris

Overnight accommodations at are provided at Trailfinders Lodge and include 6 bedrooms for up to 25 persons; great room for dining and meetings; kitchen with four burner stove and two refrigerators; 2 bathrooms with showers; wood stove and gas heating; campfire ring, outdoor barbecues, tent camping area can accommodate 10 persons; weather station; remote sensing lab and databases; vertebrate study skins, herbarium, insect collection; workshop; and trail system.

Please follow the link below to take a brief (6 question) survey about your planned participation at the Dcog-HCI Lab Retreat. This is so that we can make sure we have the correct reservations and can plan food accordingly.

James Reserve Retreat Survey

Thanks!