serendipityoucity

Lately, I have really been thinking of a People’s History of the United States (Even though I have yet to read it!), a book that I got for my birthday, When Computers Were Human and infrastructural and technological artefacts and exhibits of the material world of science, cartography and census taking.

This week I called the Museum of Science and Technology to find out if they had in their collections the old computers and adding machines that would have been used at Statistics Canada (and its previous institutional permutations) for the last 150 or so years and if they had any of the Natural Resources Canada (and its previous incarnations) map making equipment. Previously, I discovered their Communications displaywhich I also hope to go and see.

I have been reading old Census administrative reports from 1861 to the present, within which I found references to their budgets and material acquisitions which list the tools used but also the number of temporary staff hired to conduct the census. I will be doing the same for NRCan, in particular in reference to the creation of the Atlas of Canada from 1906 til the present.

Not much is written about our counting and map making institutions, and when there is writing, very little is said about the thousands of people who enumerated, printed forms, stacked them, created punch cards, etched plates, rubber sheeted layers, rolled paper maps, made the map sheets, wrote place names, and surveyed. There is also very little said about the people who studiously tabulated the results onto paper from the schedules submitted by enumerators, nor about the enumerators who went door to door to do the counts. In the 19th century, that usually meant just after the Christmas holidays, dead of winter in rural and remote sparsely populated Canada, because, that was when the census takers were assured that most people would be home. There were also people who took those data and re-tabulated these for analysis and did the complex cross-tabulations.

Bref, I want to know less about the chief statisticians and ministers and more about the culture of these institutions across time, particularly about the people did the work. I want to know less about the key map makers, chief geographers (when we had them), but about the people who created the maps for dissemination. In fact I am trying to know more about the map and census disseminators, which is a hard call! I eagerly am awaiting the time where I will read my new Men and Meridian acquisition to know more about these folks, I hope.

But today, I want to go to Yale University to see the Compass & Rule: Architecture as Mathematical Practice in England, 1500-1750. (Scroll down to see the communique).

Compass and Rule examines the role of mathematics in the transformation of both architectural design and the role of the architect. Architecture was identified as a branch of practical mathematics through its dependence on the practical skills of drawing and its need for measurement, calculation, and proportion. Ranging from medieval masons’ drawings on stone to the precise delineation and delicate washes of eighteenth-century draftsmanship, the objects in the exhibition present innovations in the world of design to demonstrate how geometry changed the way architects worked and what they built.

I just looks like such a cool exhibit! And I want to go and see the Diego Rivera murals in detroit.

Once a working class girl always a working class girl, but, alas, with a bit of style, a taste for good wine and cognac, education and a sense of aesthetics I wanna know about my peeps, what they did, few seem to talk about them, and fewer are able and try to curate their artefacts!

Via: It Took Tools to Build a Revolution

CanCon regulation

gave us — in parody form — Bob and Doug McKenzie commenting on beer, and late-night airings of Canadian arcana derided as “Beaver Hours.” Anne Murray’s “Snowbird,” a song that could force Guantanamo detainees to talk, is always being played somewhere across the world’s second largest country.

I like ridiculous cancon, keeps me humble and does not let me take myself to seriously. The article wonderfully praises Canada.

From: NY Times Allez Canada!

We live in interesting times.

We advocate choice, but if we choose a certain way, we upset people, cause confusion, and inspire the most ridiculous and often mean spirited attitudes. But hey, it is our own fault, we chose and deserve what we get! We won right?

I have two wonderful rascally boyz. One big one doing desert training as part of the Canadian Forces in California. His choice. I am a peace activist. He explained it succinctly, “mom, sometimes people have to put their bodies on the line for what they believe in, I believe in justice, and at the moment, this is the only way I know how to bring it about”. He followed this up with “you know mom, the Dalai Lama has body guards!” Right then. I love him and respect him no less for his choice.

My second, a handsome rascal, born at a very difficult time in my life. But I chose him. To this day, my journey of motherhood has been fraught with isolation, lack of financial resources, being busy, no boyfriends, tons of judgement, limited choices as to where I want to live and do with my time, few friends around during the most difficult times, and so many nights alone, so alone. But I chose him. Not the grief that came as a result of it. Some say it was all my own fault. I could/should not have chosen him. You obviously do not have the means. You deserve what you got. My favourite was a Reform party member telling me I should have aborted! The irony. Why should the system support you? Sitting on the bus with groceries, 2 kids, no wedding band, telling stories, people looking, often reluctant to give up the seat at the front, cuz, well, I do not deserve it. The multitudes of little punishments to remind you of your choice. I am the scourge! Harris, remember him? At every turn, there was the Common Sense Revolution, pushing me more and more at the margins, to the edge my back slammed against the wall. Fortunately, I was too busy with the rascals & school to think about it all the time. But, when the kids were asleep, and I too tired to work, and unable to sleep, there was incredible despair. So I pay because I chose? That is the price of choice. Ah Freedom! The individual chooses and the society punishes.

Is that what we fought for? Individual rights but no collective responsibility? No wonder so many women do not choose children. We support the gal who leaves the abortion clinic, as we should, but it is an easy kind of support. You take her home, make her tea, console her and after a week or so, she is back at the gym and we all move on. But if she chooses a child, then, well, people are busy, they will babysit once or twice, no one visits, the cab driver taking you home from the grocery store does not bother to help you pack your stuff, cuz, well, you are just another single mother, there are no more party invitations, no more dates, you are not welcome in public spaces with the kids, in my case I could not afford to go out anyway. So I studied and worked.

Oh! yeah! we were talking about freedom and choice.

Today I read this article, about a mother with a down syndrome child who was asked by other mothers, why she didn’t get prenatal testing. In other words, why did you not find out and then abort him, and now, why on earth are you imposing his imperfection upon us, why does he have to be in my kids kindergarten class and more so why are expecting us to care, be inclusive and understanding. Can you imagine!

The cost of freedom and choice. We think we are in a free country, yet we remain trapped in conformity. We scorn the Hijab but have no issues with 12 year olds wearing spiked heals and mini skirts and g-strings! Cuz, well, it is her choice. Pole dancing to liberation. Asthma rates are incredibly high in Ottawa, one of my neighbours died a couple of years ago on a poor air quality day, yet we are free to idle our cars, drive gas guzzles and divest in transit, cuz we are free. And so on!

Where did compassion, empathy, and love go. Is this social eugenics in action? We cannot institutionalise it, instead, we shun, push people to choose or to pay for the choices they make. Purifying the gene pool as we go along.

Sure we choose, hey we won the right to, and I am glad we did. But often, the alternate choice, the choice to have a child is economic, cultural and social suicide. Dammed if you do and scorned if you don’t. So we choose, but it is not really a free choice.

There’s no such thing as the perfect child

A parent asked why I didn’t get prenatal testing. My son is the same as other kids. He just happens to have Down syndrome

Listening In on a Pay Phone in Queens

I use pay phones. Even when the price went up to 50 cents. Sometimes I curse if I do not have 2 quarters on me. I use them during out of town visits, so mostly in train or bus stations. I do not plan on getting a cell phone anytime soon and I think many people actually need public phones. We do not have public wireless yet so, best we can do is keep making the public phones available.

I just read this great article in Miller-McCune, Why Have Women Magicians Vanished?.

My interest was peaked, not just because I am a womyn but also because recently finished reading a great book about Jasper Maskelyne, the British WWII magician that outwitted the nazi desert fox. My interest in the Maskelyine story was aroused when I was advised that my perception of the accuracy and reliability of air photos and satellite images should be tempered. Bref, one can trick the cameras! Which is precisely what Maskelyne did to deceive, trick and mislead German recognisance missions. His illusions, installations and camouflage techniques moved the city of Alexandria, concealed the Suez Canal, made armies look way bigger than they actually were, disguised ships, tanks and submaries and he set up completely fake army bases inclusive of dummies looking like soldiers.

While reading Maskelyne’s story, I kept flashing back to articles and books I read about cryptographers, scientists, inventors, and the geek groups I know and love. Maskelyne’s war magician team seemed to exhibit the same sort of traits: perfectionism, extreme attention to detail, control, power, a history of hacking/tinkering with technology, ability and love of working under extreme conditions, incredible amounts of stored knowledge, indefatigable, tunnel vision, camaraderie, and inspiration derived by seemingly insurmountable problems and lost without such problems and large egos or wanting to be the best (e.g. best code, application, solution).

The Miller-McCune article lists the same issues I have observed, encountered and read about the lack of and in some cases declining participation of women in things data, science and technology. In fact, just replace the word magic in the article with the words engineer, physicist, or computer scientists and it pretty much sums up the arguments I have heard time and again. The

Working magicians conjure up rationales — both beneficial and baneful — for why so few women perform magic.

and the women and technology articles I have read, like this one, miss the lack of critical reflexivity of male group norms that manifest time and again in long standing and well established men’s professions. I have only seen 2 episodes of Mad Men, and it pretty much sums it up. Except, that many of the geeks I have met are not misogynist just oblivious to their culture and unreflexive about the social/cultural aspects of what they do and how they do it.

Also, what does it mean when one group has had more than a couple thousands years of assumed dominance, superiority and attention when it comes to learning how to manipulate the material world into form (e.g. infrastructure, architecture, invention, ship building, etc.) while the other half was excluded from those spaces and was relegated to the toil of managing the material wares of the home, cooking for the smart men and wiping their kids boogers and bums. Also, what does it mean for a whole section of the population to culturally adjust to a system they have been excluded from for more than a couple thousands years? Is it just nurture?

I have been auditing a great course called Globalization and Technology taught by my friend Dale Armstrong who is an expert in the geotechnological politics of the satellite industry and space war. So far we have studies the race for a wired world in the early days of transatlantic cables, phones, radio, (e.g. Marconi, Bell, Western Telegraph, etc.). We then looked at the control of the skies such as the regulation of air travel and how it usurped rail and sea travel, followed by the eyes in the sky - satellites, the race to create the perfect clocks for seafarers, atomic clocks in the sky and the Internet as a global clock. I all cases it seems like the same stories repeat themselves. Super focussed inventors, monopolies, empire building both corporate and political, cut throat competition, control, greed, power, fear, war mentalities, wanting technological strategic advantage, technological inferiority complexes (e.g. Sputnik, Galileo), regulation to control technology, its spread and its development, for geopolitical reasons but also very often to buy time to develop locally to compete internationally. In all cases all men, and in all cases not cooperative except at the moment, regarding the control of the skies mostly because it is getting harder to hide.

As I read these articles, I see these patterns, and wonder if the way of thinking about science and technology will ever change. The impetus is never about sharing but always about winning. What if…

I like that the oldest words so far is image (1440), map (1527), fact (-1539), followed by geography (1542). Infrastructure does not appear as a word, statistics shows up in the 18th century and Canada in its first official incarnation not until 19th century. According to the dictionary that is… The first known statistics on Canada were 1666, shortly after the word data comes into usage, and the first map? Certainly Canada was first imagined way before 1666 so there must be some early representations. to be continued… The definition for Canada however, and the etymology of that word is best described in the Canadian Encyclopedia.

The following definitions are from: Onions, C. T. ed. 1957, Oxford International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Toronto: Leland Publishing Company.

Data, Infrastructures and Geographic Imagination: Mapping Data Access Discourses in Canada

notes: 1st date is the first occurrence, -date the latest limit of an obsolete word, ad.=derived by adaptation, t = obsolete, dist=distinguished, Arch.= from architecture, ME.=middle English, f. = formed on, L.=Latin, F.=French, Gr.=German, cf.=compare, transf.=in transferred and figurative use., exc.=except, onf.=old northern french,

Datum - PL. data, 1646, [L., neut, pa. pple. of dare] A thing given or granted; something known or assumed as fact, and made the basis of reasoning or calculation. Out of what Data arises the knowledge T. H. [Hale]. p.455

Fact - 1539, [ad. L. factum thing done, , f. facere. See also Feat]. 1. A thing done or performed: t a. an action, deed. Also in general-1815, t b. An exploit; a feat -1730, c. an evil deed , a crime. Now obs. exc. in after, before the f. etc. 1539 td. An action cognizable in Law Bacon. t2. The making, doing, or performing - 1808. 3. Something that has already occurred or is the case; hence, a datum of experience, a dist. from conclusion 1632. 4. Loosely, Something that is alleged to be, or might be, a ‘fact’ 1729, 5. (Without a and pl.) The circumstance and incidents of a case, as dist. from their legal bearing. p.667

Infrastructure - not in this dictionary!

Geographic - 1610 [ad. GR. Cf. F. geographique] A. adj. Of or pertaining to geography; of the nature of geography. Now rare. B. Geographics (rare), geographical science; t. a treatise on this 1610. p.787

Geography - 1542, [a. F. geographie, ad. L. a. Gr. Geo (earth)-+writing]. 1. The science that describes the earth’s surface, its form and physical features, its natural and political divisions, its climates, productions, etc. Also transf. b. The subject-matter of geography; the range or extent of what is known geographically 1737., 2. A treatise on this science 1559. p.787

Geographer - 1542, One who is versed in, or writes upon, geography. p.787

Image - sb. ME. [a.F. image, earlier imagene, ad. L. imago, imaginene; app. f, same root as imitari to imitate]. 1. An artificial imitation or representation of the external form of any object, esp. of a person a. A statue, effigy, sculptured figure. (often applied to figures as objects of worship.). b. (less usually) A likeness, portrait, picture, carving or the like. (now rare or obs. exc, in allusion to Matt. xxii. 20). t c. applied to the constellations as figures etc., -1674, d. fig. 1548. 3. abstractly. Appearance, form;, semblance, likeness (Now only with reference to biblical language exp. Gen. 1. 26, 27). ME. Also concr. (Obs. pr arcj.). 1530 4. A counterpart copy, ME. A symbol, emblem, representation 1566, a type, typical example, embodiment 1548, 5. A mental representation of something, a mental acute or impression : an idea, concept ME. 6. A vivid or graphic description 1522. 7. rhet. A simile, metaphor, or figure of speech 1676.

Image - v. 1440, [f. Image sb. earlier a. F. Imager]. 1. trans. To make an image of; to represent by an image, to figure, portray, delineate. Also fig. 1790 2. To reflect, mirror 1792. 3. To copy (rare) 1611; to represent (rare) 1701. 4. t a. to devise, plan -1460, b. to imagine, represent to oneslef 1708., 5. To describe (esp. vividly, graphically) 1628. 6. To symbolize, typify 1816.

Imagination - ME. [a.F. ad. L. imaginationem.]. 1, The action of imagining, or forming a mental concept of what is not actuall present to the senses (cf. sense 3.); the result of this, a mental image or idea (freq. characterized as cain, false, etc.). t2.The mental consideration of actions or events not yet in existence. a. scheming or devising; a device, scheme, plot; a fanciful project. Obs. exc. as a biblical archaism. ME. b. expectation, anticipation -1654, 3. That faculty of the mind by which we conceive the absent as ig it were present (feq. including memory); the ‘productive imagination’ ME. 4. The power which the mind has of forming concepts beyond those derived from external objects; the ‘productive imagination’. a. Fancy ME. b. The creative faculty; poetic genius, 1509, 5. The operation of the mind, thinking; thought, opinion. Now rare or obs. ME. p.958

Map - sb. 1527. [ad. L. mappa in class L. table-cloth, napkin, but in med. L. used transf. in mappa mundi Mappemonde.]. 1. A representation of the earth’s surface or a part of it, its physical and political features, etc. or of the heavens, delineated on a flat surface of paper. etc. according to a definite scale of projection. 2. fig. A detailed representation in epitome; a circumstantial account of a state of things. Now rare or obs. 1586. tb. The very picture (of virtue, vice, character, etc.). (so sp. mapa.)-1698 p.1204

Map - v. Onf. mapped, mapping, 1586. [Map sb.]. I. Trans. to make a map of; to represent on a map 1602. Also, transf. and fig. 2. M.Out a. To represent in detail on a map 1656, b.fig. to record minutely 1619; to plan out (a course of conduct, one’s time, etc.) 1883. c. To divide (a country) into districts, as by lines on a map 1860.

Cartography - also Charto-,1863, [f. F. carte, or L. charta, carta+Gr.] The drawing of charts or maps. p.269

Statistic - a. and sb. 1789 [as. G. statistik sb., statistisch adj. ad. mod.L. statiscus, f. *statista Statist] A. Adj. I.=next. Now rare. 2. O or pertaining to status 1871, b. sb.I.=statistics I rare 1796 2.=statistician 1804. p. 2007

Statistics - 1787 [pl. of statistic] 1. Construed as sing. In early use, that branch of political science dealing with the collection, classification, and discussion of facts bearing on the condition of a state or community. In recent use, the department of study that has for its object the collection and arrangement of numerical facts or data, whether relating to human affairs or to natural phenomena. 2. Construed as p. numerical facts or data collected and classified 1837. p. 2007

Statistical - a. 1787. [f.prec.+-AL I.] Of or pertaining to statistics, esp. with reference to economic, sanitary, and vital conditions. b. Of a writer, etc.: dealing with statistics 1787. The moral and s. features of the period 1841. b. some respectable s. writers 1787. Hence Statistically.p. 2007

Statistician - 1825, [f. Statistic+-ian.] One versed in or engaged in collecting and tabulating statistics. p. 2007

Access - ME. [In sense 4 a. Fr. acces; in other senses, direct f. L. accessus. Access is now usual]. 1. Approaching or being approached in various senses (see Quots). ME. 2. A way or means of approach/ lit. and fig. 1605. 3. A coming as an addition (replaced by accession0 1576. 4. A (sudden) coming illness, anger, etc. a fit ME. t.spec. in ague fit -1751.p.10-11

Accessible - a. 1610. [a.Fr.; see accede.]. 1. Capable of being used as an access (to). 2. Capable of being entered or reached; get-a-ble 1642; fig., open to the influence of (const. to), 1818. p.11

Discourse - sb. ME. [a.F. discours, ad. L. discursus, f. discurs-, ppl. stem of discurrence; see next]. t 1. onward course;=Course -1612, t 2. ‘The act of the understanding, by which it passes from premises to consequences’ (J.); reasoning, rationcination; reason, rationality. (obs. or arch). ME. 3. Communication of thought by speech; talk, conversation (arch.) 1559, t b. the faculty of conversing -1641, c. (with a and pl.) A talk; a conversation (arch.) 1632. t. 4. Narration; a narrative -1647. 5. A spoken or written treatment of a subject at length; a dissertation, treatise, sermon or the like. (The prevailing sense) 1581. t6. Familiar intercourse 1602. tb. Conversancy (in) 1604. p.522

Discourse - v. 1547. [f. Discourse sb.; prob. affected by F. discourir to discourse of]. t 1.intr. to run or travel of a space, region, etc, transf. to extend -1555 t 2. To pass from premises to conclusions (J.); to reason, -1700, Also ttrans. 3. intr. to hold discourse, to talk, converse, to discuss a matter, confer 1559. 4. intr, To speak or write a length on a subject 1564. 5. trans. To go through in speech; to treat of in speech or writing to talk over, to talk of to tell 1563. b. to utter 1602 6. To converse with; to talk to to discuss a matter with, to address. (obs. or arch) 1677. p.522

Canada - The name of a British dominion in N. America, used attrib. in names of plants, animals, products, etc. p.255

Canada (Canadian Encyclopedia) -

Canada, a name derived from the Huron-Iroquoian kanata, meaning a village or settlement. On 13 August 1535, as Jacques CARTIER was nearing Île d’Anticosti, 2 Indian youths he was bringing back from France informed him that the route to Canada (”chemin de Canada”) lay to the south of the island. By Canada they meant the village of Stadacona, on the future site of QUÉBEC CITY. Cartier used the word in that sense, but also referred to “the province of Canada,” meaning the area subject to DONNACONA, chief at Stadacona. The name was soon applied to a much larger region. The “Harleian” world map of c 1547, the first to show the discoveries made on Cartier’s second voyage, applied it to an area north of the gulf and river St Lawrence, and by 1550 maps were also placing the name south of the river.

Canadian - 1805 adj. Of or belonging to Canada or its people. sb. A native or inhabitant of Canada. p.255

Dominion - ME. [a. obs. F., L. Type * dominionem, deriv of dominium, f, dominus]. 1. The power or right of governing and controlling; sovereign authority; sovereignty; rule; control. Also fig. 2. The domains of a feudal lord. b. The territory subject to a king or a ruler, or under a particular government control. Oftern in pl. 1512. Also fig. 3. Law, ownership, property; right of possession. 1651. 4. Domination 1611. Applied to countries outside England or Great Britain under the sovereignty or suzerainty of the English crown. Designating the larger self-governing British Dominions. Name given by the British to Canada in 1867 and New Zealand in 1907. In the statute of Westminster (1931) the term includes the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, The Irish Free State, and Newfoundland. p.551

Vancouver artist Pamela Masik has painted 69 three meter high portraits of women who disappeared from the city’s Downtown Eastside. All of them will be exhibited together for the first time at MOA (formerly known as the Museum of Anthropology) for a show in February, 2011.

Finally, it is about the women: the left behind; the uncared for; the ones the system refused to acknowledge; the ones it was designed not to see; the ones it abandoned and then forgot.

VanMag: Lost and Found

She’s working on a surprise 70th portrait: herself. Why? “When one woman is violated, all women are. It could have been me.” Did she consider painting Robert Pickton, the serial killer charged with 20 of their deaths? She smiled wearily: “He’s already a kind of celebrity. A lot of people want to point the finger at Pickton and say he was the reason this happened. But these women were forgotten before they went missing.” Visitors often break down at Masik’s studio, perhaps because the work, displayed in a city overrun by Olympic boosterism, is unblinkingly insistent: this, too, happened here. One meaning of “to remember” is to reconstitute that which has been dismembered. Many of Masik’s subjects had limbs severed from their bodies. The attempt to put them back together with paint, to make them whole again, is both wrenching and heroic.

G & M: Paintings of Vancouver’s disappeared women given full exhibition Shameless: Paintings depicting Vancouver’s missing women