virtualDavis

Apple iPad w/ Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. (Wikipedia)

“I wish you wouldn’t take your iPad to bed.”

“My dear, we’ve been through this before…”

“It’s not good to watch a backlit screen before bed. You’re not going to be able to fall asleep.”

“Except it doesn’t seem to bother me. Remember?”

Unless waking up early the following morning is the symptom, I don’t suffer from “iPad insomnia”. I read on my iPad. I turn off the light. I go to sleep. And usually I sleep solidly for 4-6 hours and wake up, ready to start a new day. Except when I’m super tired. Or sick. In other words, empirical evidence would suggest that I’m not susceptible to iPad insomnia. Unless it accounts for a lower-than-average sleep appetite.

A year or two ago I wouldn’t have believed that my pre-sleep reading preference would ever be an electronic gadget. Today, I honestly prefer my iPad before bed to most anything else. I love books, I mean, really love books, but my tired eyes love the iPad. And I can dim the screen or reverse the text so that the screen is black. Life is good.

And yet, it looks like the good folks down at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute‘s Lighting Research Center agree with my bride that backlit screens can suppress melatonin.

RPI found that looking at a backlit screen, like those on iPads and other tablets, can lead to sleeplessness.

“Our study shows that a two-hour exposure to light from self-luminous electronic displays can suppress melatonin by about 22 percent,” said Mariana Figueiro, the lead researcher.  “Stimulating the human circadian system to this level may affect sleep in those using the devices prior to bedtime.”

In the study, 13 subjects read, watched videos and played games on tablets with backlit displays for two hours. The subjects were equipped with devices to measure the light their eyes were receiving, and some wore goggles that filtered the light they saw. (latimes.com)

Aside from the itsy bitsy teeny weeny test group, it’s worth noting that the study was not limited to reading. Videos and interactive video games strike me as a much more likely to interrupt natural circadian rhythms. But videos and video games are not my daily nightcap, so I’m not terribly concerned. As for my Kindle Fire, my experience with pre-bed reading is similar to the iPad and ink-and-paper books. No experience reading the old school Kindles before bed, but I suspect they’d fall into the same group.

In short, iPad insomnia be damned! My melatonin loves the backlit screen.

Related articles

• Having Trouble Sleeping? Your Tablet or Smartphone Could Be to Blame (mashable.com)
• Insomnia? Your iPad Could Be The Culprit (cultofmac.com)
• Is your iPad keeping you up at night? (computerworld.co.nz)
• Light from Screens Delays Sleep (cryptogon.com)

Georgina Goodwin, Kenyan photographer

My bride and I met effervescent Nairobi, Kenya based photographer/journalist/adventurer Georgina Goodwin when we eloped in 2005. Sheer luck. She was the photographer we serendipitously hired to photograph our traditional Masai rites in the Mara bush. We were instant fans and friends, and our lives have been intertwined ever since.

Ms. Goodwin is singularly beguiling, and not just for those hazel eyes and winning smile. Her bold images are trumped only by the stories they tell.

My work on THE WORLD OF WOMEN looks at… the way women manage and balance the system despite oftentimes difficult and compromising situations. Being the only young white female Kenyan photojournalist in the world this makes my view of the stories I photograph unique, a bridge of understanding between worlds… I must do my best to honor them their stories. ~ Georgina Goodwin

Ms. Goodwin’s bravery and compassion inspire, awe and worry us again and again. Discover her photographs and connect with the woman behind the lens here:

• GeorginaGoodwin.com
• Georgina Goodwin on Facebook
• Georgina Goodwin on Twitter

Today is your final opportunity to help Ms. Goodwin win the One Life Photography Competition which would accelerate her already meteoric rise.

“This project is presented by Artists Wanted and PDN Magazine. Since 2007, Artists Wanted has distributed over $1.5 million in grants and awards to creatives like you, while PDN has been a leading photography publication for over 30 years.” (see.me)

If Georgina Goodwin wins the One Life Photography Competition she will receive a gallery exhibition in New York City; a showcase at PDN PhotoPlus Expo 2012; a $25,000 grant; a feature in PDN Magazine; and a photo essay in the One Life Catalog. And it will validate her fearless adventure. I sincerely hope that you’ll help propel her to winning the One Life Photography Competition. Thanks!

George Davis will bring his storytelling skills to the Depot Stage with stories about the Depot Theatre. Part of the Depot Theatre’s “Tonight Only!” series, “The Depot Stories,” will be an evening of oral and digital storytelling about the Depot Theatre’s 33 year long history and the quirky nature of a professional theatre set in an active train station.

“Since our historic walls can’t talk, we’re going to do that for them,” Davis said. “We’ve got stories from Depot performers, audience members, staff, and even Mo, the Depot Theatre cat.”

Tickets are $15 each and can be purchased online at depottheatre.org, or by calling the box office at 962-4449. (Source: Sun Community News)

Calm.com “A Place to Relax”

Sometimes (like this morning) I need a reminder to unplug, unwind, untether, and drift.

Mindfulness meditation. A bike ride. Windsurfing. Pruning fruit trees. Gardening. Walking. Alone. Maybe my dog. And whatever critters I happen upon.

But sometimes I push it back. Again. And again. Until I finish this project. This phone call. This email. This errand.

Calm? Relax? Are you kidding? When? Where? How?

Sometimes it’s challenging to leave time for calm. Time to relax. Time to drift…

A Place to Relax

There’s no longer any excuse. Two minutes. Or ten if you’re feeling decadent. That’s all it takes at calm.com, “a place to relax”.

Simple.

Try it now.  Find your calm.

Update

Curiosity got the better of me. Who are the good folks behind calm.com? No About Us page and no hint of a link to any company or person kind enough to help me uncrank. My dear friend, Twitter, offered some help where @calmdotcom is engaging in dialogue with fans including this exciting update.

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/paolo_roganti/status/226687393837748224″]

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/calmdotcom/status/236577626565795840″]

That’s good news indeed. Although twenty minutes is probably a bigger slice of time than most visitors will dedicate. Quick calm. Calm on demand. These are the sizzle in the steak for an online meditation coach. Twenty minutes is enough time to de-velcro my posterior from my desk chair and head out into real nature, birds, water flowing. But it’s nice nevertheless, if for no other reason than it shows they’ve been receiving positive feedback and encouragement to roll out a longer format meditation.

A few other recent accolades to pass along via Twitter to reinforce the good vibe before I ask an innocent question that might be perceived as cynical. It’s not, of course. ;-)

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/NationHahn/status/215451140760928257″]

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/nateknox/status/209689044702072834″]

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/K4tycakes/status/221735354733039617″]

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/VictorMathieux/status/200761731251843072″]

Hmmm… Lots of calm.com love. Now time for my question: Is there a connection to bcalm wellness drink? Not sure. A few suggestions, but no confirmation.

Mashable‘s Stephanie Haberman believes that calm.com is the most relaxing 2 minutes you’ll spend online:

In the frenetic, crazy, digital world we live in, sometimes it’s necessary to take a step back and smell the roses. Calm.com, a relaxation therapy website, gives the stressed-out masses a place to relax… Try it. Your sanity level will be glad you did. (Mashable)

And The Inquisitr ‘s James Johnson suggests that calm.com is designed to do almost nothing but offers a lukewarm review:

I actually did find the gentle music to be rather relaxing… Was I rejuvenated and ready to go about my day for another 10 hours? No. However I could definitely see where a writer stuck on a paragraph or a stressed out computer programmer could find solace in a few relaxing minutes involving a website that asked them to do absolutely nothing after making their selection. (The Inquisitr)

In short, calm.com is a clever idea. Well executed. Simply. Elegantly. With no shilling. And yet… I can’t help but wonder, is this a marketing concept for a consumable of some sort? Or is it the gift of a benevolent tech geek with a meditation habit? Either way, thanks. Great concept. I’m hooked.

There are days and there are dazed days, Mondays and weeks full of Mondays.

For times like these, when the burly blues blot out the best, I turn to Improv Everywhere for an emergency dose of sunshine. This morning’s synchronized swimming flashback was just what the doctor ordered!

Improv Everywhere performs a 16-person synchronized swimming routine in the fountain in Washington Square Park. Posing as the official New York City synchronized swimming team, the Olympic-hopefuls compete in three inches of dirty water in this unauthorized event. Will the judges reward their effort? (Improv Everywhere)

Although this is a digitally snazzified rerun from 2004, the London Olympics timing is perfect. And as good things often lead onto more good things, I couldn’t resist the temptation to wander from synchronized swimming to the Mini-Golf Open which smeared a grin across my mug so wide sunrise mistook it for the horizon. And I don’t even like golf! Well, not like golf anyway…

Thank you, Improv Everywhere.

Dauntless demolition derby driver

I haven’t been to the Essex County Fair yet. In fact, given the number of concurrently scheduled commitments, it’s likely I won’t make it at all this year.

It’s a pity. I love it. Less perhaps for the events themselves, and more for the top rate people watching. Good stuff. And I do have a weakness for fried dough and meditating on fuzzy baby ducks which — if I keep lobbying my bride — I may some day even get to raise myself. (So far she’s dismissed the idea as inhumane, basically raising coyote fodder.)

I’ve gotten excited about the idea of raising ducks. I did some research, found a catalog, ogled the pictures, read the descriptions, circled my favorites and told me wife. Emergency brake! “What? Raise ducklings so the coyotes and foxes can eat them? Are you crazy?” Needless to say, she’s not too keen on the idea. There’ve been a couple of heated conversations. I’ve demurred but repressed the desire. At least for now. (Rosslyn Redux.)

One of the most anticipated Essex County Fair events each year is the demolition derby competition. That should probably be all caps: Demolition Derby. It’s big.

I ruminated a bit on my love/hate relationship with the event over on the Essex on Lake Champlain community blog in an unimaginatively titled post, “Demolition Derby at the Essex County Fair“. I’ve paired it down even further for this post. Two powerful words. Destructive. Competitive. Celebratory. No need for fluff or drama on my part, “Demolition Derby” says it all!

Here’s the crux of my reflection, though it took me a little more beating around the bush to find what I really meant to say first time round. If you waited for the abridged version, you win.

It’s hard to imagine Elkanah Watson who first launched the fair in 1848 anticipating the demolition derby or the rollover show. Half a century before automobiles debuted, oxen and horse powered wagons and carriages would have been the rural Essex County equivalent to the gas powered vehicles that are now ubiquitous. Certainly there would have been little desire to smash or flip and effectively destroy horse drawn vehicles while risking life and limb in the process. And yet we are fascinated with the brazen competitors in their windowless jalopies sporting spray painted taunts, “Hit me hard!” and “Fear this!”

Although I admitted earlier that attending the demolition derby conjures all variety of highway horrors that I’d rather abandon in the dusty recesses of memory, I admit an almost morbid intrigue. I drive slowly by houses where demolition derby cars are being fine-tuned and decorated with war paint. I’ve spent hours talking to demolition derby veterans, trying to understand their experience. And I’ve stopped at the fairgrounds the day after the demolition derby more than once to snap photographs or to watch the crusher flattening the wrecked cars and stacking them on the bed of a tractor trailer for recycling. Morbid. (Essex on Lake Champlain)

I reread the post before publishing and realized a couple of things.

• I sound like a sissy.
• I sound like a major sissy!
• I sound like I’m being condescending or derisive even though it’s not the way I feel. Just perplexed. And conflicted.

I’m simultaneously intrigued and horrified by the demolition derby. Ever since I was a peach lipped lad, back when I called it the “Smash’em Up Derby” and attempted small-scale facsimiles in the driveway with my brother and sister on tricycles and Big Wheels, the demolition derby competition has provoked a complex reaction in me. The sort where a visceral cringe is immediately followed by a sneak peak.

In particular, I’m fascinated with the cars and drivers before the demolition derby. And then again afterward. The preparation for battle, and the detritus of battle. The howling engines and belching smoke and shuddering car carcasses and flames and sirens and medics trigger an irrepressible wave of adrenaline (good) followed by an equally irrepressible fight-or-flight response. So I skip the middle and savor the before and after!

What have you invented lately?

Ever since I was a wee lad (no, I’m not thinking pre-potty training… just after that) I’ve invented solutions, products, worlds, stories. Mostly in my head! At least when it comes to products…

I suspect that most people have done the same thing, spontaneously, accidentally, invented the perfect widget for solving one problem or another. Or maybe you just dream up cool $#&@ because, well, it’s cool. Or beautiful. Or fun.

If this sounds familiar, you need to watch the Quirky Manifesto above, and then you probably need to start submitting your own inventions.

Social Product Development

The folks at Quirky describe what they do as social product development. Accurate. Boring. The video better captures the totally simple idea and the totally complex infrastructure they’ve developed to make this totally simple idea work. Frankly, it’s genius. And a couple of centuries overdue. I know, I know, first you needed telecommunications and then interwebs and then social… blah, blah, blah.

Better late than never. Quirky is smart. Just. Plain. Smart.

Basically, social product development combines the power of global collaboration with the scalable capital, manufacturing, marketing and distribution advantages. Result? Great products that would otherwise have withered on the vine are born, produced and consumed.

Here’s how they describe what they do:

For centuries, becoming an “inventor” has been a hard gig to crack. Complexities relating to financing, engineering, distribution, and legalities have stood in the way of brilliant people executing on their great ideas.

Since launching in 2009, Quirky has rapidly changed the way the world thinks about product development.

We bring two brand new consumer products to market each week, by enabling a fluid conversation between a global community and Quirky’s expert product design staff.

The world influences our business in real-time, and we share our revenue directly with the people who helped us make successful decisions. (About Quirky)

That’s what they do. What do you do? Time to invent!

Related articles

• Quirky Unveils The App-Enabled Milk Jug Of The Future: The Milkmaid (techcrunch.com)
• Crowdsourced in the U.S.A. (businessweek.com)
• Have an invention? Launch It With Quirky (inc.com)
• Social-design site Quirky launches US-made product (usatoday.com)
• Quirky has done a amazing job and the Crate system they just… (jamessiminoff.com)

I’ve been a little more quiet than usual during the last month, and I hope that you’ll forgive the frequent ellipses. I’ve shifted gears to focus on a steady stream of Rosslyn programming over at the Rosslyn Redux blog. This has been a great way to funnel my blogging energy during the revision process…

Sally Lesh & Hyde Gate “One of the unanticipated joys of living at Rosslyn (aka Hyde Gate) has been discovering the property’s legacy… One recent reminder was the first chapter of All My Houses in which octogenarian Sally Lesh chronicles her itinerant life story by way of the many homes in which she has resided… Lesh opens the memoir with her birth on Janurary 19, 1921 in Boston, but the title of her first chapter and the origin of the journey she intends to chronicle is Hyde Gate, Essex, New York…”

Hail Storm & Apple Tree “An ancient and neglected apple tree… For six years I pruned and nourished the crab apple tree back to health… then the clouds erupted in a short but angry tantrum of driving rain, mothball-sized hail and driving wind. When the hail and rain stopped and the fog cleared, the crooked fruit tree had fallen, snapped off at her stem.” (video eulogy)

2011 Lake Champlain Flood Retrospective “Rosslyn boathouse is dry. Lake Champlain water levels are low. Our waterfront weathered winter — what winter there was — and spring without incurring the destructive flooding which tormented us a year ago… But all is not forgotten. Fully half of Rosslyn’s waterfront, maybe more, remains a boulder piled mess. Thousands of pounds of stone rip-rap installed last spring to stabilize NYS Rt. 22 buried two hundred year old cut stone retaining walls.”

Mary Wade’s Rosslyn “Each winter Essex residents celebrate the holidays early during a weekend-long event called Christmas in Essex. It was this tradition which connected me to Mary Wade, a folk artist who lives in Willsboro but runs a seasonal gallery in Essex each summer. She creates painted wooden models, silhouettes and paintings of historic buildings in Essex that are collected by her fans all around the world.”

Rosslyn Unplugged “Yesterday, Thursday, May 15, 2009 was windier than a subway median at rush hour. Lake Champlain wind blasts reached 50 mph. The forecast had threatened gusts up to 90 mph. The rain drizzled off and on all day, but the fellow building the stone wall near the mud room stuck it out and got the job done.”

Pinterest Interest? virtualDavis ponders Pinterest...

Are you on Pinterest? Still trying to resist the way you resisted Facebook?

Watch out, because it’s a slippery slope. When your invitation comes and you say, “Okay, well, maybe I’ll just try it out…”

You know, kick the tires, maybe even zip around the neighborhood with the roof down and the music blaring?

Don’t do it. You’ll get hooked. Pinterest. Is. Addictive.

And that’s why it’s exploding. In the good way. Out of start-up obscurity and into the gotta-be-on-it rocket that is flashing through the interwebs.

After being largely ignored for the first months of its existence, Pinterest is now being mentioned with increasing frequency… It is easy to see why Pinterest is attracting such a buzz. All measures of its growth are phenomenal. (Street Journal)

Phenomenal is the right word, but it lacks the necessary whizbang to accurately convey what’s happening with this rather straightforward social media concept

The premise behind Pinterest is for users to gather, organize, and share things they find on the Web, such as home decorations, clothing, and food. The end result is curated pinboards that are meant to help friends discover new items or get inspiration. (CNET News)

According to Mashable‘s Zoe Fox, Pinterest drives more online t than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn. Beginners’ luck? That’s pretty formidable competition.

[Pinterest] now beats YouTube, Reddit, Google+, LinkedIn and MySpace for percentage of total referral traffic in January… Pinterest accounted for 3.6% of referral traffic, while Twitter just barely edged ahead of the newcomer, accounting for 3.61% of referral traffic. (Mashable)

You know how long it took Twitter

to get traction? You know how long it’s taken to get to this point. I suspect that the quirky crew over at Facebook are getting whiplash responding to the ticklish breeze they keep feeling in their hair, like something sneaking up from behind. Can you sneak fast? Okay, so maybe Pinterest isn’t sneaking…

Facebook reigns king of referrals, accounting for more than one-quarter (26.4%) of traffic, 4.3% of which comes from Facebook Mobile. After Pinterest, Facebook is experiencing the most referral growth, gaining almost one percentage point in December. (Mashable)

So Facebook isn’t giving up ground just to swig down electrolytes, but Pinterest’s mad dash out of the starting gates is noteworthy. Whether or not they can sustain this pace for the endurathon is another matter.

Who’s propelling its rise? 18-34 year old upper income women from the American heartland. (TechCrunch)

Hmmm… So not just bored teenagers party shopping.

To get to the bottom of what motivates Pinterest’s throngs of users, you first have to realize who those users are… Female… women tend to like to shop more than men do. You could easily define Pinterest as a way for people to “window shop” for anything that interests them… It’s a social shopping experience, disguised as a website full of interests. (TheNextWeb.com)

Brad McCarty may be right, but in my experience, there are plenty of gents aboard the good rocket ship Pinterest and more and more every day. Maybe there are male window shoppers too? Or maybe McCarty’s oversimplifying.

At heart, many of us are collectors. Stickers. Friends. Hats. Wine. Cars…

And many of us are voyeurs, happy to peak over the fence at the neighbor’s backyard digging project only discover he was planting a persimmon tree, not installing a hot tub.

In short, we’re curious hoarders on the lookout for inspiration. Is it any wonder that Pinterest has become the next runaway favorite? And with news a little over a week ago that Pinterest has partnered with Flickr “improve photo attribution” it looks like the visual floodgates may be opening. Happy pinning!

Related articles

• Pinstagram: How Instagram Should Look On the Web (readwriteweb.com)
• Pinterest’s Traffic Data Reveals Its Biggest Weakness (businessinsider.com)
• Who Are the Top Retailers on Social Media? [INFOGRAPHIC] (mashable.com)
• A Marketer’s Guide to Pinterest [Video Infographic] (slideshare.net)
• A Marketer’s Guide To Pinterest (viralblog.com)
• 3 Reasons Why You Should be Using Pinterest (allseasonvirtualassist.wordpress.com)
• Using Pinterest To Supercharge Your Content Marketing (digitalsherpa.com)

With five days to go, Addison Mehr is soooo close to meeting his $15k goal to direct and produce Fort Apache. This is a thrilling opportunity to support an Adirondack artist with smarts, vision and follow-through. And did I mention he’s one heck of a swell guy? Show him you’re rooting for him, and he’ll dazzle you with cinematographic magic!

“Addison is an emerging filmmaker born and raised in the Adirondacks. His short film “FIRECRACKER!” was selected for NYU’s Showcase and screened at the Lake Placid Film Festival. Addison has worked on music videos for MGMT, Devendra Banhart, Norah Jones, and Wyclef Jean as well as working for Martin Scorsese. Currently, Addison is a senior at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and is dedicated to developing films that are unique, challenging, and promote change in our world.” (Kickstarter)

Fort Apache Preview

Here’s Addison’s Kickstarter video for Fort Apache:

Fort Apache Director’s Statement

I grew up in a really small town where the nearest movie theatre was over an hour away. For me, film has always been an escape- a way out, a way to transport myself into another world, and ultimately a way for me to reflect back on myself and make sense of the world around me.

While Fort Apache is a coming of age story, it’s also a story about injustice, social inequality, and the universal struggle to find your place. To me, the story is about pushing against boundaries and dealing with the frustrations, bitter disappointments, and ultimate realizations of growing up. It’s about escape and the deep desire to transcend ones place and time. By shooting in the places I grew up in I hope to bring the highest level of authenticity to the story while visualizing it to its full potential. ~ Addison Mehr (Kickstarter)

Help Fund Fort Apache

Addison Mehr is a personal friend, so I am biased, but he’s also a gifted and insanely focused/disciplined young artist. I am 100% confident that he will help shape the next chapter of movie making. This is your opportunity to propel Meh’s career forward, but it’s also a chance to connect before he’s out of reach! Please consider supporting Fort Apache. Thank you.

Fort Apache Update

Fort Apache is funded! They’ve sailed past their $15k goal with $17,115 pledged. Thank you for your support, and good luck, Addison.