If time stood still for Lightning in a Bottle, then it’s been going at Warp Speed ever since – there simply aren’t enough hours in the day, days in the week and weeks in the month to accomplish everything I want! There are lists upon lists of things to accomplish, meals to cook and conquer, hikes to go on, museum exhibits to attend, festivals to cover and friends to hang out with – and then there are all the things I wind up doing instead of making plans; isn’t that life, though?I’ve been a little – well – spread thin as of late; with great power, comes great responsibility.  First, thanks to the fact I’m on Best Buy – my role within the Disney organization has been kicked up a bit;there’s simply more visibility from the EVP’s on down. Not that I’m complaining – it’s just become more imperative that I stay the course, finish deadlines with a healthy time cushion so I can double check my work and it requires me to be a ‘self starter’. Knowing how big of a procrastinator I used to be, I guarantee it’s something my parents probably laugh at every now and again.  And then, there’s my work for The DJ List.  A year and a half ago, I was a lowly editor – and now, I’m a Senior Editor, Senior Publicist, PR Specialist and the 3rd from the top.  Not to toot my own horn, but 100 articles, 2 major festivals and 10 shows later – it feels like I’ve gone from having a hand in the cookie jar to a foot in the door; and I can’t even explain how blessed it makes me feel.  So, juggling two jobs, a relationship, cats and friends – it’s pretty simple to see that life is what happens when I’m busy making other plans, and I’m so very okay with that.   The great news – which I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, is that it’s hump day (finally!). What better way to get over the Wednesday hump than some awesome watercooler talking points; so, without further ado – let’s get down to business!

The Garden Grows Up

The ‘Vertical Farming Initiative’ is headed by Dr. Despommier – a professor at Columbia University in Public Health and Environmental Science, and why this hasn’t been considered before is almost beyond me; especially in high rise cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Hong Kong and Shanghai. It purports that there’s a large amount of untapped resources and open space at our disposal that gets gregarious amounts of light, enough light to house a variety of herbs and plants – enough to ensure communities don’t go hungry. And similar to a tree, the structure also gets it’s energy from the sun; the sun’s rays are stored in Photovoltaic cells and used at night time for heat as well as light.

Genius!

A/S/L/OS? The First Supercomputer Passes the Turing Test

Though it’s considered an incredibly remedial, outdated test from over 60 years ago – the Turing Test, created by Alan Turing, was developed in 1950 as a mechanism to quantify a computer’s ability to exhibit intelligent behaviour at par with human intelligence.  While it’s debatable just how valid this test even is, and how intelligent this new ‘Super Computer’ is that actually only tricked 33% of participants into thinking it’s a 13 year old boy, the long and short of it is that we’re still in the process of developing automated computers that contain learning algorithms; and the future we’re building is drawing more parallel’s from ‘The Island’, ‘Terminator’ and Isaac Asimov’s ‘iRobot’.  This computer, eh – least of our worries; but the fact that we’re putting weight into this technology isn’t something to scoff at, or glaze over.  We’re at an era of greatness in science and technology, but my fear is that by pushing for Artificial Intelligence – we’re refusing responsibility for community and social intelligence, and it could be the disintegration of society as we know it.  But, for now, that’s just my opinion, man. 

Is that a Nebula in your gem – or are you just happy to see me?

I’m not usually one to go gaga over geological formations – but the second I laid my eyes on this Contraluz Opal, I was in lust.  Discovered up in Opal Butte, Oregon – this stunning stone is going for a pretty penny (20,000,000 of them to be exact).  Sold last may through the Bonhams aution house, the piece has a ‘botryoidal jasper formation which forms a unique inclusion’.  I’m still not exactly sure what this means, except that I want it.

The Vindication of the Valley Girls

I’m a writer – and the great thing about writing, is you have the entire breadth of the English language at your disposal to play with, manipulate and use as you see fit; if I don’t like the way a word works out, I can rearrange my sentence or find a suitable substitute.  Unfortunately, this doesn’t translate into speaking prowess very easily – I used to slip a ‘like’ every now and again, but over time and some speech classes, I’ve substituted the ‘like’ for an ‘um’ or solid pause to collect my thoughts and get to the point of what I was actually trying to say.  Well, thanks to a study released today – it sounds like the world’s been stigmatizing us all wrong. Yeaaahhhh; way harsh, Tai!

“While slipping more “likes” into your daily vocabulary is not going to make you a more conscientious person, the study suggests that the word and those who use it may have been unfairly maligned. Though filler words are often considered hallmarks of vapidity, they could actually signal a speaker taking the time to listen and respond deliberately. Rather than blurting out whatever is on their mind, they’re trying to find the right word or analogy.“

Last but not least, the folks at Lightning in a Bottle have thrown together quite the recap video from the other weekend and in the best way, it makes me incredibly home sick.  Take a gander for a menagerie of the magic, mayhem and memories that was LIB’14