The Daily Render

A Digital Scrapbook for the Past, Present, and Future

middle east reflection
|| 10/30/2004 || 11:12 am || Comments Off on middle east reflection || ||

I am not too big of a fan of this rendering. Its nice, but nothing special :-\

DC Lenz #2
|| 10/19/2004 || 8:15 pm || Comments Off on DC Lenz #2 || ||

When I made this, I knew I made what I felt to be one of the most beautiful creations of my lifetime.

===Update 12/10/04===
Sold this print to my old professor Thomas Foggin

===Update 2/10/04===
Sold another copy of this print to my friend Adam Eidinger

===Update 3/14/07===
Featured in the Washington Post

to bizzy to blog
|| 10/15/2004 || 2:11 am || Comments Off on to bizzy to blog || ||

With my new job I’ve been way to busy to post anything!

It sucks because the Lenz Project is still being worked on and I haven’t posted anything in a long while. When I get a moment, I am going to fill in some blog holes…

Congress Passes District’s Budget
|| 10/7/2004 || 10:46 pm || Comments Off on Congress Passes District’s Budget || ||

From the Washington Post:

â€œNorton said the change gives a bill to permanently free the District’s local budget from the requirement of a congressional vote a “very good chance of passage” next year.â€

Putting this quote in perspective.

The Bill in reference, H.R. 2472, has not moved in Congress since September 9th, 2003 when it was sent to the Subcommittee on the Legislative and Budget Process. Introduced only 3 months prior on June 6th with the bipartisan support of Tom Davis and Eleanor Holmes Norton, the “Budget Autonomy Act of 2003” basically says:

District of Columbia Budget Autonomy Act of 2003 – Amends the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to provide that the District of Columbia budget passed by the Council of the District of Columbia shall be enacted without referral to the President or approval by the Congress, unless it is the budget for a fiscal year which is a control year. Prohibits the Mayor of the District during a control year from transmitting the budget, or amendments or supplements thereto, to the President until the completion of the budget procedures contained in this Act and the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Act of 1995.

After reading the actual bill a few times, I feel as if I need the other legislation it references to really grasp the context of the legislation. I want to better understand what a “control year” is and how it affects the budget.

However, at the end of the bill, I prefer Section 7, lines 19 through 21– I really like:

The amendments made by this Act shall apply to budgets of the District of Columbia for fiscal years beginning on or after October 1, 2004.

Simply because on October 1st, 2004, myself and a group of DC residents lobbied 25 congressional offices for this exact bill and a week later Congress passes DC’s budget. In all honesty I don’t think its because of our efforts, but I’d like to think that Congress didn’t want what happened last year to repeat.

Regardless, I look forward to helping Eleanor Holmes Norton next year lobby for this same bill.

Oh yeah, I turn 24 this weekend. More on that later.

###Update###

Even though we were not able to meet with Hastert on B.A.D. Day, Adam was able to get a few words in at a book signing:

In the October 28th printing of the Washington Post, this photograph is mentioned in the article “Few Fireworks Evident In Council, Citywide Races”

It’s Official….
|| 10/5/2004 || 10:32 am || Comments Off on It’s Official…. || ||

So its official. Before it was unofficial, but now its official. I have officially become a second-class citizen of the United States of America. By registering to vote in Washington, DC I became a de facto resident of the last colony in the continental United States. I gave up the ability to vote in the swing state of Missouri to be able to vote for my friend Adam Eidinger. (Why work hours and hours on a campaign when I am not going to be able to vote for the person I feel is the most qualified for the job?)

On Friday I realized that I was lobbying for DC and not for Missouri, and I had a subtle epiphany that my convictions were here in DC, and not in my home state of Missouri. I thought to myself, “why pretend any longer to be a Missourian when I’ve graduated to become a Washingtonian.” Although my second-class citizenship status sucks, I realized that instead of losing my two senators and representative (all staunch republicans anyways), I gained 535 congress men & women including my old ones. Pretty good deal if you think about it in a skewed perspective of living in tyranny.

Until congress removes it’s DC oversight, I get the pleasure of being a nonvoting constituent of every state of the union. Granted my delegate might not be able to vote in congress, but at least I feel empowered enough to do something about it. Friday, B.A.D. Day, sealed the deal for me, and I’m happy about being a DC resident and I’m comfortable becoming a second-class citizen. However, I will be even more happy when DC gets the equality it deserves, and I plan on working toward that. Its good to have a goal, albeit one that is going to take some legwork.

In the Daily Render News…
The last 3 renderings have been a new variation in the old template. I’m calling it the “Cube series of the Lenz Project.” Instead of using an embedded 2D satellite image I am now using a satellite image as a texture over a 3D cube that has been rotated. The spherical glass lenz remains the same, but the torus has now been reduced in size and the texture has been randomized which allows for more of the “satellite cube” to be seen better. I also made the renderings using only one satellite image for the entire rendering. This means the background, torus, and the cube are all variations of the same satellite image. The backgrounds are a pyramid on its side facing the viewer. I did this to create a sense of depth (not quite achieved!). Nonetheless, I am happy with how these are turning out. I think the next step is to manually construct a cube using 6 pyramids (check this animation to see what I mean), and have each pyramid be one satellite image. Yet since the viewer can only see 3 sides of the cube at once it should be easy to put together, and will look pretty awesome. Oh the fun of passively making satellite art. I really can’t wait to get some of these printed out as posters!

its a happy bomb
|| 10/4/2004 || 6:52 pm || Comments Off on its a happy bomb || ||

From AFP via Yahoo News:

BRISBANE, Australia, (AFP) – Hundreds of airline passengers suffered disruption to their travel plans when a major regional airport was shut down for an hour after a humming and vibrating adult sex toy was mistaken for a bomb.

The vibrator was discovered at 9:15 am (2315 GMT Sunday) by a security officer who checked out a suspicious package inside a rubbish bin at the terminal cafeteria of Mackay Airport in the northeastern state of Queensland, a police spokeswoman said.
…
She said in retrospect the humming sounded exactly like a vibrator – but it was better to be safe then sorry.
“You can’t afford to take chances,” she added.

You can definitely afford to leave your vibrator at home or at least make sure the batteries are taken out.

I think it would be funny / very interesting to have a day when there are vibrators going off in nearly every airport. That would be one of the best Culture Jams ever. Hmmmmm, Buy Nothing Day is coming up…

1,000 Coffins
|| 10/3/2004 || 6:16 pm || Comments Off on 1,000 Coffins || ||

Today there was a procession / march / rally /non-violent direct action at Arlington National Cemetary & the Elipse. I did sound with Adam at the Ellipse portion of the event. It was amazing. The procession began at Arlington National Cemetary and over a 100 more coffins made their way to the Ellipse. In the end there were over a thousand coffins sprawled over the Ellipse drapped in black fabric (which represented dead Iraqi civilians) and American flags (fallen soldiers). The speakers really touched my heart. They included Lila Lipscomb (of Fahrenheit 9/11 fame), Michael Berg (father of decapitated Nick Berg), Mike Hoffman (founded Iraq War Vets Against the War), Arun Ghandi (grandson of Mohatma Ghandi), and numerous parents of dead soldiers. Listening to some of the mothers talk about what happened to their children and how their lives have changed touched me. I found myself crying along with the speakers and audience. It was so moving. I really hope that C-Span rebroadcasts the footage this week.

a Great B.A.D. Day
|| 10/2/2004 || 6:06 pm || Comments Off on a Great B.A.D. Day || ||

B.A.D. Day was a success. 25 congressional office visits. One overarching goal: Budget Autonomy for the District.

The whole experience was great. I learned my way around the Canon, Longworth, and Rayburn office buildings quickly. Yet, I found them to be rather dull on in the inside. There needed some art! I’d like to see paintings & murals from around the various congressional districts in the hallways of these massive buildings. Maybe I can introduce a Capitol Hill beautification bill :-)

Some of the offices had USGS maps of their districts, and man some districts are very gerrymandered! I couldn’t believe it that there were districts shaped as horseshoes! I believe the districts should be done strictly by Census data, not by wealth or political affiliation.

The actual office visits were a mixed bag. They broke down party lines for the most part, with the Democrats basically saying that they’d do whatever Norton wanted and Republicans either being completely indifferent or in the case of Dan Burton’s office, being somewhat open to the notion of Statehood.

In the office of Elijah E. Cummings, I obtained the actual text of the bill, H.R. 2472. And found that it has been pretty much buried in the Republican controlled Rules Committee.

We went to Hastert’s office later in the day. The site where seven of my friends were arrested last year for redressing their grievances to congress. There was a cop posted nearby and the door was locked. I did snap a picture of the staff member refusing to let us in. We ended up signing the guestbook. The next step is to get people in his district aware of the plight of DC residents and/or confront him before enters his office.

After all the visits, it seemed that Norton had not been promoting the bill as much as she should have. I plan on making some more visits in the next congressional session advocating this bill. Its not statehood, but its a start.

All in all, Friday was one of the most memorable days in my five years here in DC. I even got tons of souvenirs- little congressional business cards! The best one was from Shadow Senator Paul Strauss office, above the bald eagle there is a star with 51 inside. I ended up running out of the business cards I had brought with me on Friday! Something I’ll definitely bring more of next time.

B.A.D. Day Schedule
|| 10/1/2004 || 4:53 am || Comments Off on B.A.D. Day Schedule || ||

After the rally at the Capitol South Metro, we are going to go to meet with the legislative assistants & congresmembers in these congressional offices:

10:30am
Edward L. Schrock (R-VA) â€“ LA Kate Michael â€“ meeting at #322 Canon
Phone: 202.225.4215 / Fax: 202.225.4218 / kate.Michael@mail.house.gov

Jim Cooper (D-TN) â€“ LA Brian Newkirk – meeting at #1536 Longworth
Phone: 202.225.4311 / Fax:202.226.1035 / bryan.newkirk@house.mail.gov

Linda T. Sanchez (D-CA) – LA Clint Carte meeting at #1007 Longworth
Phone: 202.225.6676 / Fax: 226-1012 / clint.carte@mail.house.gov

Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD) â€“ LA Jolanda Williams at #1632 Longworth
Phone: 202.225.4741 Fax:202.225.3178 / jolanda.williams@mail.house.gov

John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-TN) â€“ LA Aaron Tallent at #2267 Rayburn
Phone: 202.225.5435 / Fax:202.225.6440 / aaron.tallent@mail.house.gov

11:00am
Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) – LA Rodney Vacigalupo at #509 Canon
Phone: 202.225.2811 / Fax: 202.225.3004 / rodney.vacigalupo@mail.house.gov

Mike Turner (R-OH) â€“ LA Mike Wiehe at #1740 Longworth
Phone: 202.225.6465 / Fax: 202.225.6754 / mike.wiehe@mail.house.gov

Nathan Deal (R-GA) â€“ LA Ansley Davis at #2437 Longworth
Phone: 202.225.5211 / Fax: 202.225.8272 / ansley.davis@mail.house.gov

Tom Lantos (D-CA) â€“ LA Jason Rosenstock at #2413 Rayburn
Phone: 202.225.3531 / No Fax Listed / jason.rosenstock@mail.house.gov

Dan Burton (R-IN) â€“ LA Bryan Falls at #B371C Rayburn
Phone: 202.225.2276 / Fax: 202.225.0016 / brian.falls@mail.house.gov

11:30am
Ron Lewis (R-KY) â€“LA Josh Nacey at #2418 Rayburn
Phone:202-225-3501 / Fax: 202-226-2019 / josh.nacey@mail.house.gov

John L. Mica (R-FL) â€“ LA Brian Waldip at #2445 Rayburn
Phone: 202-225-4035 / Fax: 202-226-0821 / brian.waldip@mail.house.gov

Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) â€“LA Anna Cielinski at #2331 Rayburn
Phone: 202-225-7944 / Fax: 202-225-4709 / anna.cielinski@mail.house.gov

Danny Davis (D-IL) â€“ LA Spoke with LA Caleb Gilchrist #1222 Longworth
Phone: 202.225.5006 / Fax: 202.225.5641 / caleb.gilchrist@mail.house.gov

12:00pm
Betty McCollum (D-MN) â€“ LA Chad Lord #1029 Longworth
Phone: 202.225.6631 / Fax: 202.225.1968 / chad.lord@mail.house.gov

John Carter (R-TX) â€“ LA Sivey Paup at #408 Canon
Phone: 202.225.3864 / Fax: 202.225.5886 / sivey.paup@mail.house.gov

1pm
Todd R. Platts (R-PA) â€“ LA Nate Sloan at #1032 Longworth
Phone: 202.225.5836 / Fax: 202.226.1000 / nate.sloan@mail.house.gov

Thomas M. Davis, III (R-VA) â€“ LA Chris Lopez at #2348 Rayburn
Phone: 202.225.1492 / Fax: 202.225.3071 / chris.lopez@mail.house.gov

1:30pm
Christopher Van Hollen, Jr. (D-MD) â€“ LA Ken Cummings at #1419 Longworth
Phone: 202.225.5341 / Fax: 202.225.0375 / ken.cummings@mail.house.gov

Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) at 2136 Rayburn
Phone: 202.225.8050 / Fax: 202.225.3002

2pm
Diane Watson (D-CA) – LA GregoryAdams Phone: 202-225-7084 Canon 125

2:30pm
Christopher Shays (R-CT) Ask for Legislative Assistant #1126 Longworth
Phone: 202.225.5541 / Fax: 202.225.9629

Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) â€œRanking memberâ€ â€“ LA Becky Claster at #2204 Rayburn
Phone: 202.225.3976 / Fax: 202.225.4099 / becky.claster@mail.house.gov

3:15pm Dennis Hastert (R-IL) â€“ Anthony Reed No Appointment 235 Cannon

3:30pm
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) No Appointment 1730 Longworth

4:30pm Wrap – UP

If you are interested in coming to an appointment, or have any questions about the lobbying, please call Adam (202-744-2671) or Zoe (202-253-2990).

Today will be all about Democracy In Action!

The Daily Render By

A Digital Scrapbook for the Past, Present, and Future.

::LAST 51 POSTS::

Fair Use

40 queries. 1.857 seconds.
Powered by WordPress

Nikolas Schiller is a second-class American citizen living in America's last colony, Washington, DC. This blog is my on-line repository of what I have created or found on-line since May of 2004. If you have any questions or comments, please contact: