Cartoons: Say good-bye to Big Bird

If the federal budget as currently proposed passes, Big Bird, National Public Radio (NPR), and support for local art projects may go away: Trump's Budget Plan Cuts Funding For Arts, Humanities And Public Media. These aren't the only proposed cuts, but the ones that strike me hardest.

"Millions of Americans depend on their local public radio station for the fact-based, objective, public service journalism they need to stay informed about the world and about the news in their own communities. Public media serves the public interest with essential educational, news and cultural programming not found anywhere else, as well as vital information during local and regional emergencies. Federal funding is an essential ingredient to making this possible." -- NPR COO Loren Mayor 

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Gary Varvel, The Week 

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Speaking of strikes, Trump's hit a lot closer to home than Obama's did.

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Tom Toles, The Week

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So who's running the White House: Trump or Bannon?

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Drew Sheneman, The Week

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Am I being paranoid or is the aim of Trump's billionaire cabinet to take total and absolute control?

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Bill Day, The Week

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-- Marge

DIY: learning English

Phil Selby, the rut, English

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Earlier this week I stumbled across NPR's Goats and Soda, a blog with the byline "stories of life in a changing world." In the New Stuff section there are titles like "Help Wanted: Unlikely Geniuses To Solve Public Health Problems," "A $1 Microscope Folds From Paper With A Drop Of Glue," and "Don't Pop That Bubble Wrap! Scientists Turn Trash Into Test Tubes." All of them are about innovation and well worth reading.

But the one that really caught my attention was one about learning English: Take A New Test Aimed At The World's English-Language Learners. In an increasingly global world communication is more and more important, and English, in many cases, is becoming the default language.

Why English, you may ask. This excerpt from Wikipedia's article on world language touches on the reason why English is so widely spoken and approximates how many people speak it:

A world language is a language spoken internationally and which is learned by many people as a second language. A world language is not only characterized by the number of speakers (native or second language speakers), but also by its geographical distribution, international organizations and in diplomatic relations. In this respect, major world languages are dominated by languages of European origin. The historical reason for this is the period of expansionist European imperialism and colonialism.

The world's most widely used language is English which has over 1.8 billion users world wide...

The test NPR writes about is sponsored by Education First. You can access the test is at EF Standard English Test. It's free, can be taken over and over to assess your progress, is standardized, gives you an official score on the EF scale, and you can "post your EFSET results on your online profile as proof of your English skills to school admission officers, employers and friends." There are two types of EF tests: the quick one that take about an hour and the comprehensive one that takes about 2 hours. Both are free.


-- Marge

So what's so special about a blue LED?

Steve Woodward, Child studying by solar light, ABC.net.au

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One of this year's Nobel prizes was awarded to the Japanese inventors of the blue light-emitting diode (LED). NobelPrize.org explains that

by using blue LEDs, white light can be created in a new way. With the advent of LED lamps we now have more long-lasting and more efficient alternatives to older light sources.

Popular Science asked the same question I did--"Why A Blue LED Is Worth A Nobel Prize"--and went on to say:

LEDs are basically semiconductors that have been built so they emit light when they're activated. Different chemicals give different LEDs their colors. Engineers made the first LEDs in the 1950s and 60s. Early iterations included laser-emitting devices that worked only when bathed in liquid nitrogen. At the time, scientists developed LEDs that emitted everything from infrared light to green light… but they couldn't quite get to blue. That required chemicals, including carefully-created crystals, that they weren't yet able to make in the lab.

Once they did figure it out, however, the results were remarkable. A modern white LED lightblub converts more than 50 percent of the electricity it uses into light. Compare that to the 4 percent conversion rate for incandescent bulbs, and you have one efficient bulb. Besides saving money and electricity for all users, white LEDs' efficiency makes them appealing for getting lighting to folks living in regions without electricity supply. A solar installation can charge an LED lamp to last a long time, allowing kids to do homework at night and small businesses to continue working after dark.

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LEDs! 

PiccoloNamek on Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

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This NPR blog, Goats and Soda, calls LED lights a 'transformative technology' in the developing world, replacing kerosene with solar power. Lighting Global supports a burgeoning market for off-grid lighting.

Problem solved...mostly.

But what about the times and places when and where the sun doesn't shine so much? Researchers are working on it: "Artificial Photosynthesis: Saving Solar Energy for a Rainy Day." If you're interested in the topic of photovoltaics, you can sign up at The Optical Society (OSA) to get current and reliable information.

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Artificial photosynthesis graphic, OSA

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-- Marge

Digital art up for auction

A recent article in TIME Magazine, "Digital Art Clicks on the Auction Block (subscription needed to read the whole article)," clued me into a new phenomenon -- selling digital artwork as, well, art with a capital A. Curious, I checked out the artists and pieces mentioned.

Rafaël Rozendaal, who could be labelled 'internet denizen', does screensavers, web sites, haiku, and more.  'If no yes.com' is the site that was offered for auction (be sure to click on the page to see it interact).  Apparently the artist has been selling sites for a while: "Artist Rafael Rozendaal Sells Web Art Through Domains." And apparently 'If no yes.com' was purchased by Benjamin Palmer & Elizabeth Valleau.  You can find a report on this purchase and past exhibits of digital art at NPR. 

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Rafaël Rozendaal, ifnoyes.com, NPR

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More about the auction is on the Tumblr page for "Paddles On," where the other artists and their submissions are listed.

Another one of the pieces being offered is a YouTube video via webcam, titled "rgb, d-lay," by Petra Cortright.  According to the TIME article in the magazine, she

markets her work with an equation: video's current view count x amount per view = total current price. That encourages collectors to keep circulating the artwork online to increase its value.

The video is not available for showing here, but you can find it at YouTube.

An artist of note is Wade Guyton, who prints his digital art with an Epson ink-jet printer for showing in a gallery.  According to the Wikipedia article about him --

As of 2013, Guyton's works regularly sell for more than $1 million at auction and privately.  An untitled Epson UltraChrome inkjet on linen of 2005 established an auction record for the artist when it sold for $2.4 million at Christie's New York in 2013.

Here it is.

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Wade Guyton, untitled (2005), Petzel Gallery

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Now, if I can just convince myself that I can do art for money.

-- Marge