Another week passes

Monday and Tuesday - Fargo
Wed, Thursday, Friday - Roseville

Days go really quick when you keep busy all day, I havent been able to go to a lake or a beach or even a mall.
I did manage to go to Trader Joe's and eat some nepalese food at Gorkha Palace, I also visited the CVS minute clinic, which was interesting. Oh and I got a massage, much needed one..shiatsu, pressure points.. after the WII boxing, I think I needed one.. still hurting after that one!

Few unscripted questions:
Only flying creature that doesnt lay eggs? Bats
Only bird that can fly backwards? Hummingbird
What creature can see behind themselves? Rabbits

There's a condo complex by university called Cobalt which has a million dollar penthouse.. that price is unheard of in minneapolis... its a glass building, with a grocery store on the first floor and they are charging a premium for it, I am not I want a grocery store in my building.



Planning my next few trips for August this week.. 

Artists this week

I am back in Hotel Donaldson, this week staying at two different rooms with two different artists.

Yesterday's artist: Leo Kim

Leo Kim came to North Dakota in a round about sort of way. He was born in Shanghai, China, to Korean parents. His father died shortly before his birth. The Kim family, mother and four children, moved to the Portuguese colony of Macao and later Hong Kong. After the death of his mother, Leo Kim moved to Austria to live with a sister and study art history at the University of Vienna.

In 1969, Kim decided to study architecture in the United States. He chose the program at North Dakota State University, in no small part because of the lower cost.

Something special has happened between Leo Kim and North Dakota when he arrived in the state.

After attending the university, he worked as a photo journalist in the state until 1985, when he moved to Minneapolis, where he continues to live and work. He has received the Gold Award for excellence in corporate photography from Photo/Design Magazine. His work has been featured in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, International Photo Magazine, New York and Format.

Read more: http://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/article_21dd14a6-a8c9-57c0-adbb-08df8b9bdf92.html#ixzz1TB3p2qWr


Today's room has another artist: Carl Oltvedt

" I am moved to begin drawing or painting by the power of form suggested through a subject in a particular light, and formatted to a shape specific to the needs of my expressive intent. This is an emotive state, where the subject carries meaning beyond what it is as a person, a dog, a bicycle, and so on. It is very similar to the experience of an individual being moved to a particular emotional state by the relationship of notes/sounds in a piece of music. Embracing this aesthetic feeling is imperative in creating a work of art, which transcends the material, and sincerely reflects my most intimate feelings about life.

I carry on from that initial impulse in starting a dialogue with the subject, as I work to place the shapes, values, textures (both imitation and the actual texture of the drawing/painting materials), and rhythms sensed in the relationships of the individual components experienced as a whole on the picture plane. Color as a consideration of hue and intensity, begins to play a role early in this process, as does opacity and transparency, following the layout of a basic skeletal structure on the surface."

Tonight I have been listening to Brooks West all evening, its really soothing and nice..

"Brooks West is a Fargo North Dakota native that has  written over one hundred songs, blending elements of contemporary folk, country, and pop. The son of a mortician and a school teacher, Brooks has a unique outlook on life that shapes his repertoire. His songs cover subjects ranging from death and destruction to love and hope and even the occasional ballad to office supplies."
It feels so nice supporting the arts!

TUC-PHX-MSP-FAR

On the road again, I got to Minneapolis after a stop in Phoenix on Sunday and Flew out again Sunday night to Fargo..

here;s the unscripted question from yesterday: My taxi drive was from Sudan, and belonged to the Nubian tribe, the ones that built the pyramids, he was so proud that I knew that, ofcourse having been to King Tut exhibit this was fresh in my mind!

here;s my research:
"The Nubians (Arabic: نوبي‎, Nuubi) are an ethnic group originally from northern Sudan, and southern Egypt now inhabiting East Africa and some parts of Northeast Africa. The Nubian people in Sudan inhabit the region between Wadi Halfa in the north and Aldaba in the south. The main Nubian groups from north to south are the Halfaweyen, Sikut, Mahas, and Danagla. They speak different dialects of the Nubian language.

In ancient times Nubians were depicted by Egyptians as having very dark skin, often shown with hooped earrings and with braided or extended hair.^[1] Ancient Nubians were famous for their vast wealth, their trade between Central Africa and the lower Nile valley civilizations, including Egypt, their skill and precision with the bow, their 23-letter alphabet, the use of deadly poison on the heads of their arrows, their great military, their advanced civilization, and their century-long rule over the united upper and lower Egyptian kingdoms.^[2]"

Historic Downtown and Biosphere 2

We toured downtown tuscon on a segway, my first tour on a segway, I always though it was cool but too expensive and since our friend had already paid for it.. we were forced to go.. and it was so much fun. So there is no accelerator on these machines, its all run by a gyroscope below the feet and it really responds to the foot movement.. to go forward, backward and stop. After a while it became very natural, such an easy way to get lazy!



"The Segway PT is a two-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicle invented by Dean Kamen. It is produced by Segway Inc. of New Hampshire, USA. The name "Segway" (/ˈsɛɡwej/) is a homophone of "segue" (/ˈsɛɡweɪ/) (a smooth transition, literally Italian for "follows") while "PT" denotes personal transporter.

Computers and motors in the base of the device keep the Segway PT upright when powered on with balancing enabled. A user commands the Segway to go forward by shifting his weight forward on the platform, and backward by shifting his weight backward. The Segway notices, as it balances, the change in its center of mass, and first establishes and then maintains a corresponding speed, forward or backward.Gyroscopic sensors and fluid-based leveling sensors are used to detect the shifting weight. To turn, the user manipulates the handlebar left or right.

Segway PTs are driven by electric motors and can go up to 12.5 miles per hour (20.1 km/h)."

here;s some unscripted question: Do you know how the segway owner died?
Answer: "Jimi Heselden, the man who purchased the Segway company from inventor Dean Kamen, died in a Segway accident yesterday.

The 62-year-old Heselden was apparently riding a rugged Segway x2 Adventure model (above photo) around his property when the accident occurred, according to The Independent.

Police believe that Heselden's Segway drove off a cliff into the River Wharfe, which is located in Yorkshire, England. A spokesman for the West Yorkshire police department said, "Police have named James William Heselden as the 62-year-old local man who was pronounced dead yesterday after being pulled from the River Wharfe near to Leys Lane at Boston Spa."" More

Some highlights from the tour: The company we toured with was run by a husband and wife, former was a retired IBM programmer and latter was someone who used a segway for personal use. Really nice couple, their company is called Roll with it

What we did was called the Presidio Trail

The Presidio Trail: A Historical Guided Segway Tour of Downtown Tucson.Presented in cooperation with the Tucson Presidio Trust. 

Climb aboard a self-balancing, battery-powered Segway PT for an unparalleled sightseeing experience! With insightful commentary provided by a professional guide, you'll glide right up alongside Tucson's greatest landmarks!

After graduating from training, you'll head out to the unique sites of Downtown Tucson, including:

• Historic Fourth Avenue shopping district - six blocks of gorgeous window displays and over one hundred shops, specializing in everything from antiques to custom-made furniture to Mexican imports
• The Historic Railroad Depot where a life-size sculpture of Wyatt Earp and "Doc" Holiday marks the 1882 incident ending in the death of Frank Stilwell near the first depot
• Unforgettable views of "A" Mountain
• Presidio San Agustin de Tucson - the adobe fort which was the beginning of Tucson
• Barrio Viejo Streetscape - adobe buildings built in the Sonoran row-house style in the late 1800s
  

After a wondeful lunch at Delectables we headed over to Biosphere 2, where we learnt more about the Earth's eco system and this failed experiment that was an engineering marvel, scientific failure but a great learning experience in human co-existence. 

"Biosphere 2 is a 3.14-acre (12,700 m²)^[1] structure originally built to be an artificial, materially-closed ecological system in Oracle, Arizona (USA) by Space Biosphere Ventures, a joint venture whose principal officers were John P. Allen, inventor and Executive Director, and Margret Augustine, CEO. Constructed between 1987 and 1991, it was used to explore the complex web of interactions within life systems in a structure that included five areas based on natural biomes and an agricultural area and human living/working space to study the interactions between humans, farming and technology with the rest of nature.^[2] It also explored the possible use of closed biospheres in space colonization, and allowed the study and manipulation of a biosphere without harming Earth's. The name comes from Earth's biosphere, Biosphere 1. Earth's life system is the only biosphere currently known. Funding for the project came primarily from the joint venture's financial partner, Ed Bass' Decisions Investment, and cost $200 million from 1985 to 2007, including land, support research greenhouses, test module and staff facilities."

We learnt a lot about the engineering systems that were run to make this possible, to create eco systems with desert, rainforest, tropical all within one enclosed space.. there was an ocean and a waterfall.. 

here's a little about the first mission: 

"

First mission

The first closed mission lasted from September 26, 1991 to September 26, 1993. The crew were: medical doctor and researcher Roy Walford, Jane Poynter, Taber MacCallum, Mark Nelson, Sally Silverstone, Abigail Alling (a late replacement for Silke Schneider), Mark Van Thillo and Linda Leigh.

The agricultural system produced 83% of the total diet, which included a wide variety of crops including bananas, papayas, sweet potatoes, beets, peanuts, lablab and cowpea beans, rice, and wheat.^[11] No toxic chemicals could be used, since they would quickly impact health. During the first year the eight inhabitants experienced hunger as they adapted. During the second year, the crew produced over a ton more food, average caloric intake increased, and they regained some weight lost during the first year.

They consumed the same low-calorie, nutrient-dense diet which Roy Walford had extensively studied in his research on extending lifespan through diet. ^[12] Medical markers indicated the health of the crew during the two years was excellent. Strikingly, they showed the same improvement in health indices such as lowering of blood cholesterol, blood pressure, enhancement of immune system. They lost an average of 16% of their pre-entry body weight before stabilizing and regaining some weight during their second year.^[13] Subsequent studies showed that the biospherians' metabolism became more efficient at extracting nutrients from their food as an adaptation to the low-calorie, high nutrient diet.^[14]

Some of the domestic animals that were planned for the agricultural area during the first mission include four pygmy goats and one billy goat from the plateau region of Nigeria, 35 hens and three roosters (a mix of Indian jungle fowl or gallus gallus, Japanese silky bantam, and a hybrid of these), two sows and one boar pig (feral), as well as tilapia fish grown in a rice and azolla pond system originating millennia ago in China.^[15]

A strategy of "species-packing" was practiced to ensure that food webs and ecological function could be maintained if some species did not survive. The fog desert area became morechaparral due to condensation from the space frame. The savannah was seasonally active; its biomass was cut and stored by the crew as part of their management of carbon dioxide. Rainforest pioneer species grew rapidly, but trees there and in the savannah suffered from etiolation and weakness caused by lack of stress wood, normally created in response to winds in natural conditions. Corals reproduced in the ocean area and crew helped maintain ocean system health by hand-harvesting algae from the corals, manipulating calcium carbonate and pH levels to prevent the ocean becoming too acidic, and by installing an improved protein skimmer to supplement the algae turf scrubber system originally installed to remove excess nutrients.^[16] The mangrove area developed rapidly but with less understory than a typical wetland possibly because of reduced light levels.^[17]

Biosphere 2 suffered from CO₂ levels that "fluctuated wildly" and most of the vertebrate species and all of the pollinating insects died.^[18] Insect pests, like cockroaches, boomed. In practice, ants, a companion to one of the tree species (Cecropia) in the Rain Forest, had been introduced. By 1993 the tramp ant species Paratrechina longicornis, local to the area had been unintentionally sealed in and had come to dominate.^{[citation needed]} Galagos reproduced in Biosphere 2, but a number of pollinating insects were lost to ant predation and several bird species were lost. However, many of the pollinating duties were performed by those ants and cockroaches."

I am about to start on the book Human experience, that is written by one of the biosphere-eans.. what an incredible experience..! 

Tucson - packed Itinerary

Its been 2 packed days in Tucson with a bunch of friends from San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle, Tucson.. all of us meeting at our friends in Tucson who had a packed itinerary for us.. so exciting!

First up Kartchner Caverns: Our bags didnt come in, so we decided to either cancel or change this till our mexican historian cab driver convinced us otherwise... he apparently helped us understand the entire history of the italian missionary that travelled from mexico all the way through california and denied the spanish royalty recognition and settled in mexico for his last days. They recently excavated his grave in mexico and my cab driver was very proud of this person.



He suggested that getting into Kartcher caves was really difficult and if we had a reservation we shouldnt miss it. So next day we went to airport, picked up our bags and went straight to the caverns. It was a pretty amazing experience, I have never been to caves that are so well preserved and also very easy to navigate. The light and sound show at the end was very impressive. Our tour guide, park ranger was extremely knowledgeable and really into this whole thing.

"Kartchner Caverns State Park is a state park of Arizona, USA, featuring a show cave with 2.4 miles (3.9 km) of passages.^[1] The park is located 9 miles (14 km) south of the town of Benson and west of the north-flowing San Pedro River.

The park encompasses most of a down-dropped block of Palaeozoic rocks on the east flank of the Whetstone Mountains. The caverns are carved out of limestone and filled with spectacular speleothems which have been growing for 50,000 years or longer, and are still growing due to careful and technical cave state park development and maintenance.^[2]"

Here's a few things we saw: Stalagmites, Stalacite, Soda Straws, Bacon, Ossified Bat Poop, Butter Scotch, columns.. among a few names that I remember. We were in the Rotunda Room, we also saw Kubla Khan!

Stalagmites:A stalagmite (UK: /ˈstæləɡmaɪt/, US: /stəˈlæɡmaɪt/; from the Greek Σταλαγμίτης stalagmitês), "drop" or "drip") is a type of speleothem that rises from the floor of a limestone cave due to the dripping of mineralized solutions and the deposition of calcium carbonate. This stalagmite formation occurs only under certain pH conditions within the underground cavern.^[1] The corresponding formation on the ceiling of a cave is known as a stalactite. If these formations grow together, the result is known as a column.


Soda Straw: Every stalactite begins with a single mineral-laden drop of water. When the drop falls, it deposits the thinnest ring of calcite. Each subsequent drop that forms and falls deposits another calcite ring. Eventually, these rings form a very narrow (0.5 mm), hollow tube commonly known as a "soda straw" stalactite. Soda straws can grow quite long, but are very fragile. If they become plugged by debris, water begins flowing over the outside, depositing more calcite and creating the more familiar cone-shaped stalactite. 





Cave Bacon: The deposits may grade into thin sheets called "draperies" or "curtains" where they go over overhanging portions of the wall. Some draperies are translucent, and some have brown and beige layers that look much like bacon (often termed "cave bacon").

Though flowstones are among the largest of speleothems, they can still be damaged by a single touch. The oil from human fingers causes the water to avoid the area, which then dries out. Flowstones are also good identifiers of periods of past droughts, since they need some form of water to precipitate, the lack of that water for long periods of time can leave traces in the rock record via flowstones.^[1]

At right in the Throne Room, the massive column known as the Kubla Khan stands over 58 feet tall!

As you enter the cave, you pass through a series of hermetically sealed doors. Each rear door is closed before opening the forward door. The idea is to keep the dry desert air out of the humid (98%) cave. The are also misting systems within the cave. The trail is designed to keep human hands away from the more delicate formations.

The first tour stop is the Rotunda Room where you will see spectacular soda straw formations . These are hollow calcium carbonate tubes which are formed when mineralized water drips through their centers. They grow at the rate of perhaps one inch per century. Their paper-thin walls can be broken with a touch. Kartchner is home to the second longest soda straw in the world, measuring an unbelievable 21 feet, 2 inches!

Its absolutely amazing to see mountains after this, grey stones without any trees.. now have a special significance for me... 

Days keep flying by

I cant believe its been 3 days since the last post, where did my days disappear?

Only interesting thing we did last 2 days was go to Guthrie last night to see God of Carnage, unscripted question of the day:

Who is Yasmin Reza?
Yasmina Reza (born 1 May 1959 or 1960^[1] in Paris) is a French playwright, actress, novelist and screenwriter. Her parents were both of Jewish origin, her father Iranian, her motherHungarian.^[2


And why should I care about her?

In 1995, 'Art' premiered in Paris and went on to win the Molière Award for Best Author. Since then it has been produced worldwide and translated and performed in over 30 languages. TheLondon production, produced by David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers, received the 1996-97 Laurence Olivier Award and Evening Standard Award. It also won the Tony Award for Best Play....

On 24 November 2007 her play Le Dieu du Carnage, (The God of Carnage) directed by Jürgen Gosch and performed first in Zürich, received the Viennese Nestroy-Theatreprize for the best German-language performance of the season. It opened in London in March 2008, directed by Matthew Warchus in a translation by Christopher Hampton starring Ralph Fiennes,Tamsin Greig, Janet McTeer and Ken Stott.^[4] It was produced once again by David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers. The London production won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, which Hampton accepted on her behalf. Hampton told the audience that Reza would be thrilled by the win.^[5] The play premiered on Broadway with an opening night cast ofJames Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels, Marcia Gay Harden, and Hope Davis. God of Carnage won Best Play at the 2009 Tony Awards.

-----------

We saw ART at Steppenwolf in Chicago and loved it.. and yesterday we saw God of Carnage and that was pretty awesome too.

Here;s some details about the play:
"Before the play begins, two 11-year-old children, Ferdinand Reille and Bruno Vallon (Benjamin and Henry in the Broadway production), get involved in argument because Bruno refuses to let Ferdinand join his 'gang'. Ferdinand knocks out two of Bruno's teeth with a stick. That night, the parents of both children meet to discuss the matter. Ferdinand's father, Alain (Alan in the Broadway production), is a lawyer who is never off his mobile phone. Ferdinand's mother, Annette is in "wealth management" (her husband's wealth, to be precise), and consistently wears good shoes. Bruno's father, Michel (Michael in the Broadway production), is a self-made wholesaler with an unwell mother. Bruno's mother, Véronique (Veronica in the Broadway production), is writing a book about Darfur.

As the evening goes on, the meeting degenerates into the four getting into irrational arguments, and their discussion falls into the loaded topics of misogyny, racial prejudice and homophobia.^[4][5] One of the central dramatic moments of the play occurs when Annette vomitsonstage, all over the coffee table and books."

There are moments in the play that all of us relate to, its really fun.

Also the location of Guthrie and the building itself is beautiful, suspended over a dam overlooking the river.. they have something called an endless bridge, very modern looking with interesting lighting and 3 restaurants and a lounge in the building. 

"The Guthrie Theater is a Tony Award winning center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis,Minnesota. It is the result of the desire of Sir Tyrone Guthrie, Oliver Rea, and Peter Zeisler to create a resident acting company that would produce and perform the classics in an atmosphere removed from the commercial pressures of Broadway.

The Guthrie Theater has performed in two main-stage facilities. The first building was designed by architect Ralph Rapson and included a 1,441-seat thrust stage designed by Tanya Moiseiwitsch, which was active from 1963-2006. After closing its 2005-2006 season, the theater moved to its current facility designed by French architect Jean Nouvel."

Rest of the day has flown by, unpacking from Fargo and packing for Tuscon, AZ. We leave later tonight, I am excited to see my friends and a new part of the country.. little about tuscon:

"Tucson ( /ˈtuːsɒn/ too-son) is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is ^[1] located 118 miles (188 km) southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles (98 km) north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 ^[2] with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200. In 2009, Tucson ranked as the 32^nd largest city and 52^ndlargest metropolitan area in the United States. A major city in the Arizona Sun Corridor, Tucson is the largest city in southern Arizona, the second largest in the state after Phoenix. It is also the largest city in the area of the Gadsden Purchase. Tucson is home to theUniversity of Arizona. Roughly 150 Tucson companies are involved in the design and manufacture of optics and optoelectronics systems, earning Tucson the nickname Optics Valley."