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Take a picture of it, it will take you to my website
(if you reading this your already there) try anyway
Do you have a camera phone? Get an app to read it or make your own QR Codes,
Try QuickMark $0.99 iTunes or ScanLife (free) iTunes
Both available for most smart phones.
**UPDATE** a day after I first posted this I got a link in my RSS reader for an article on this stuff that explains it better than I ever could. So instead of reading this post further get the info from a professional blogger, because we all know how awesome they are.
How to Make Your Personal QR Code via Lifehacker
Recently I have noticed these black and white square things popping up in a few places. I first noticed them in Esquire Magazine. What are they? they are bar codes that use software to read an image of code and initiate an action. Without getting to detailed you basically take a picture of the code with any camera that is running the 2D code reading software and it recognizes it as a set of instructions for what the computer should do. In Esquire Magazine they featured some of these codes alongside content. You had to download an application and use it to hold the code up to your web cam and the program would load interactive content supporting it. An example would be one of these codes in an advertisement for some product, hold it up to your web cam and it will open your browser and take you to the products website.
Most smart phones have apps you can download that will use your camera phone to read codes. These codes can hold all kinds of information, contact info or V cards, URLs, text, geo-location tags, computer scripts, the best analogy I’ve heard for these codes are that they are ” hyperlinks for print”.
I guess this stuff is big in Japan, and still only a novelty here in the US, but I decided that I am going to entertain the idea of using these 2D bar codes as part of my personal branding and identity. Will anybody even know what they are, if they do that’s great, but I’m hoping that it will intrigue someone to learn more about what it is, and if they do take the effort to download an app and take a picture with their phone and be whisked away to my website that they may ” that’s pretty neat” reaction.
I just discovered that the Brooklyn Brewery logo was designed by Milton Glaser; a well known graphic designer that also designed the I love (heart) NY logotype. I quite enjoy most of Brooklyn Brewery’s beers and to discover that their logo was designed by someone so important in my chosen field brings me joy. I will now enjoy my next Brooklyn Lager more than ever.
I just got a Google  Wave invite today and this is how I did it. Using Twitter I did a search for “wave invite” then waited until a user tweeted that they had invites to give away. I replied to that user tweeting “I want one” with my email address I used [a] instead of @ in my address to avoid getting spam from bots. I got a reply back shortly after saying they sent me an invite and it arrive in my e-mail today around 6:30pm. I requested it on Twitter yesterday afternoon. I logged in to Wave but have not done anything yet because I’m busy, but look forward to checking it out.
If you try this method of getting a Wave invite be careful about responding to tweets the request you go to some link, or to RT something, because some are just trying to get email addresses or worse spread a virus. All you should have to do is reply to a tweet with @username, with your email address and that’s it. One guy I know got his on E bay for $4, not bad but you can get it for free if you try.
Found some interesting info doing my chemistry homework I thought I’d share about how houseplants improve indoor air quality.
Plants not only convert CO2 into oxygen but also remove some air pollutants. Walking into a room with several plants you can immediately feel a perceived improvement in air quality. While the plants do in fact improve the air, the sight, smell, and ambiance of plant life also can have a psychophysiologic effect to improving your heath.
In the 1980’s NASA and ALCA spent two years testing 19 different common houseplants for their ability remove common pollutants from the air. Depending on the plant, or combination of plants, common air polluting chemicals such as Benzene, Trichloroethylene, and Formaldehyde can all be filtered through the plants process of photosynthesis.
A book written by B.C. Wolverton , the NASA scientist who conducted this experiment Is a good source for further reading if you would like to start filling your home up with plants.
It is called “How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 House Plants that Purify Your Home or Office”
http://www.amazon.com/How-Grow-Fresh-Air-Plants/dp/0140262431/
For some reason all of the links to the original study on NASA or other .gov sites are not available but an overview of it can be found on several sites.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h110Indoorair.html
http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/Spinoff2007/ps_3.html
http://www.cleanairgardening.com/houseplants.html
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/air-filtering-plants-indoors-air-quality-benzen-formaldehyde.php
 Ardabil Carpet The Ardabil Carpet is very deliberately designed to give the viewer a sense of paradise or Heaven and to be representative of Godly perfection. The geometric layout and pattern of visual elements creates an infinite and heavenly space to reflect God’s nature and invoke a divine presence. This was achieved by the use of color, pattern, perspective, and of a design which expands beyond the physical confines of the carpet itself. These aspects all combine to form an appropriate element of décor in the religious setting it was commissioned for.
Unique architectural styles of domed mosques and shrines, colorful patterned mosaics, and calligraphy are all common characteristics of Islamic art. Persian rugs or carpets are also another typical form of the Islamic arts, highly praised and sought after by westerners, perhaps due to their practical uses and exquisite designs. The most famous of Persian carpets are a twin pair knows as the Ardabil Carpets (Hillyer). William Morris, a notable designer from England’s Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th century, said of the Ardabil Carpet, “a remarkable work of art… the design is of singular perfection and its size and splendor as a piece of workmanship do full justice to the beauty and intellectual qualities of the design.” (Wearden, 61)
The Ardabil Carpets are named after the town of Ardabil in north western Iran, in which the carpets were ordered for the shrine of Shaykh Safi al-Din in that town and remained there for more than 300 years. The Shaykh was a Sufi leader of Islamic mysticism who died in 1334. In 1501, a descendant of his, Shah Isma’il, united Iran and founded the Safavid dynasty, and in the late 1530’s, his son and successor, Shah Tahmasp, enlarged the Safi al-Din shrine as well as commissioning the matching pair of carpets. (V&A Museum) …
Continue reading The Ardabil Carpet
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