Victor and I at dinner at the Hotel George last night...

- mike lee

Cianna is dressed for a day of play with grandma. Her accessories are a colorful basket from Auntie Lily, and "I [heart] Social Security" and Tsunami relief rubber bracelets confiscated from her daddy.

- mike lee - langley park, md

To be continued...

Here are some views of Montreal's underground city as I walked back towards the Fairmont Hotel from the McGill [University] subway station. I didn't go outside at all, but I could glimpse light snow falling through a skylight. This part of the underground is basically two large underground shopping malls, Niveau and Place Ville Marie, connected by tunnels. I passed by the entrances to what looked like other mini-malls under adjacent office buildings. I think I probably walked about a mile of the 20 mile system. Now to the conference luncheon...

- mike lee - montreal

Today was the digital Snowflake-a-thon at the Media Lab, but I hope tonight's flight home won't turn into Snowflake-a-thon II--our flight is already an hour late due to snow delays. We should be boarding in a few minutes. The snow is coming down steadily here at Logan as I chat with Sandy about the day. Also attached is a "miss you daddy" photo (may or may not display) from my wife's Nokia.

- mike lee - boston logan

I brought my LEGO bricks and Pixelblocks together tonight to test the statement on the Pixelblocks web site that their product is compatible with "other" construction toys. Pixelblocks snap into LEGOs as you can see in the first photo! This means, for example, that Pixelblock sculptures can be built on top of LEGO baseplates. In making hybrid sculptures, a few Pixelblocks nested in a LEGO construction add a translucent crystaline accent. LEGOs in Pixelblock sculptures can provide some eye relief from the busy vertical texture that surrounds Pixelblocks. I love it when toys interoperate.

Also, in my holiday travels, I found another construction toy with pieces even smaller than Pixelblocks. The opaque Craft House Snap Art Beads come in 18 colors to Pixelblock's 20, cost less, and can be assembled in 2 and 3D. Though Snap Art Beads stack, the flat, puzzle piece design of the blocks doesn't lend itself well to interesting 3D constructions, and the packaging seems to concede this point by showcasing all 2D designs. Unfortunately, Snap Art Beads don't connect with LEGO bricks or Pixelblocks.

So I close this moblog post wondering what in this heirarchy of bricks, blocks and beads is larger than a brick and smaller than a bead?

- mike lee - langley park, md

Right after my coffee talk with Leigh Saturday afternoon, I walked over to the park in front of Palo Alto City Hall to compose the post of the photos I had taken that day.

I struck up a conversation with a sculptor named Sam Yates who was busy constructing a public art installation in the park. The Palo Alto weekly describes Sam's prior claim to fame:

The Sacramento native has some experience with world records, having created the Guinness-endorsed world's largest filing cabinet in 2000. For that project, known as "Minuet in MG," Yates shredded an MG sports car, flattened and measured all the pieces, and then placed them, from heaviest to smallest, inside the drawers of a 65 foot-tall filing cabinet.

What Sam is constructing in the park is a cube-shaped solar garage/office called The Color of Palo Alto Project (site not live yet) that will appear to visitors to have landed and raised its four sidewall solar panels. The panels open to reveal a transparent-walled room about 10x10 feet sqaure. Inside is a desk on a desk and a red scooter. Starting in January, Sam will systematically ride the electronics laden scooter across all of the city's GIS-mapped parcel locations and photograph them. Each photo will be stamped with GPS coordinates and a custom software application will average all the colors in the image into a single color. Sam thinks he'll end up with 20,000 photos. All of those will go onto an interactive map and then be averaged again to arrive at one ultimate signature color for the City of Palo Alto. The color will be offered as a brand element of the City. People will be able to buy the city color as a custom mix of housepaint. Sam will also sell poster collages of the photos and hang them as a giant mural on the facade of City Hall.

Until the site is up, you can read an article at the Palo Alto Weekly.

- mike lee - washington, dc

Over the weekend, I spotted these new retro-looking pattern projection lamps at IKEA. These are low power versions of the same kinds of graphic pattern projectors used in theatrical productions, museums, nightclubs and corporate offices. In both units, a high intensity halogen bulb shines through a special disc with a graphic pattern cut in it and a focusing lens. Both parts are adjustable and are held in place by screws down on two metal rails. The larger lamp (pic 3) is ISBRYTARE at $39.99 and the smaller one, is KORELIN (pic 1) is $19.99. Both come with an assortment of multi-colored pattern discs (pic 2). Of course, what you'd want to do is to make your own pattern discs, or what they call in the lighting biz, gobos. The pattern could be a piece of transparency film with inkjet graphics, or a hand cut piece of foil. Or you could have this company etch a custom pattern disc from brass for $50.

- mike lee - washington, dc

Via PhotonsBlog, I read an article about a new company called Konarka Technologies that is developing flexible solor panels and coated fibers that generate DC electricity from ambient or sunlight. Their first applications seem to be an obvious folding power plastic sheet panel to recharge laptops and cellphones. But their more advanced work is for the military building tents that generate their own power. Imagine in a couple years wearing a jacket or vest that converts light to recharge an iPod, PDA or phone while it's in your pocket. That'll be one juicy jacket!

- mike lee - baltimore