Welcome to day 17 of the 100 Days in the news project. For 83 more days I will be pulling news stories from my Google reader and making artwork about it!

Today’s inspirations is:

Stealing beauty

Yes, fine friends some of you may have noticed a slowness in my posting and it’s time to fess up and make amends. I have had a touch of the flu over the past few weeks and while I completed a number of projects, at the end of the day I was too pooped to post.

The whole experience made me question whether or not I should press on with the “consecutive” part of the 100 days project. I’ve decided to stick with it though- realizing that I am a creature who needs structure:)

It has been very meaningful to read the news to know I need to respond to the material at hand. I am more alive in my reading now. Hopefully I will acquire this disposition permanently.

Here we go with a barrage of posts! Each will be posted to the day it’s inspirational articles are drawn from.

Welcome to day 13 of the 100 Days in the news project. For 87 more days I will be pulling news stories from my Google reader and making artwork about it!

Today’s news inspirations are:

from Tree Hugger:

One Small Step Away from Extinction: Polar Bears to be Granted ‘Critical Habitat’ by Department of the Interior

by Matthew McDermott, Brooklyn, NY on 10. 7.08

from boingboing:

One in four mammals facing extinction

Posted by David Pescovitz, October 7, 2008 9:30 AM

and from Born Rich:

Too Hot To Handle: Diamond Encrusted Earplugs

Atul | 16 hr. ago 10.7.2008

In the face of hardship nature must adapt. With two articles in one day warning about the not so bright future our four-legged friends face it’s time to talk strategy. Fluff and whiskers just isn’t cutting it anymore. This year’s cute and furry is Bling Natural. Keep an eye out for squirrels burying designer acorns: platinum and emerald with sapphire-topped white oak acorns;perfect squirrels with modern, elite tastes- or bronze and sliver acorns topped with diamonds for winter snacks that last “forever”.

total amount of time spent: 2hrs.

cost of materials: $0

amount of fun had: $10!!!! Yee Haw! I love these things.

Welcome to day 11 of the 100 Days in the news project. For 89 more days I will be pulling news stories from my Google reader and making artwork about it!

Today’s inspiration comes from the Psychology Today blog:

The power of yard signs I: Goal contagion

Welcome to day 8 of the 100 Days in the news project. For 92 more days I will be pulling news stories from my Google reader and making artwork about it!

Following yesterday’s post I had some pretty good responses from friends about the snappy concept of the Not So Obsolete project that I’m now renaming the Floppy Flash!

Skimming today’s news I just couldn’t let go of the idea that everything about today might be a message to modify yesterday’s attempt at a cool crafty way to house my boring flash drive!! How to keep to my new project a day requirement?  Beginning grad school several years ago I wrote an essay after my first theory class extolling the virtue and necessity of PLAY as a means to not only learn but to be refreshed as well. I proposed that through play we find space in our lives to not only be creative, but to re-create things which seem fixed and resolved in the world around us. So today’s project is a yesterday’s project with a more informed twist- an effort not to just make something but show how it is made!

Today’s project is inspired by:

The Varieties of Play Match the Requirements of Human Existence

Today you have the opportunity to make your very own Floppy Flash!!

You will need:

A flash drive that’s easily opened. I used a 4GB Lexar flash.

Black foam core.

Shiny silver, white, and orange paper.

Glue

Set of keys- err.. you really only need one key.

An x-acto knife- useful for cutting materials, opening flash drive, and hollowing out space in foam core.

LET’S GET STARTED!!!

*Just to help you out I suggest looking at the real 3.5 floppy as you do this or pulling up an image of it as a visual aid yo help you as you work.

Step 1:Crack open that Flash Drive! It feels really good to have the sensation of breaking something when you’re really not. That naked little Flash Drive body is pretty amazing…

Step 2: Cut a 3.5 x 3.5 square out of black foam core. I rounded my corners with an x-acto knife and sanded the edges for smoothness. Measure the body of your naked flash drive and let that tell you how far you want to cut into your square for the part of the Floppy Flash that will be hidden under the faux metal part of the disc.

Step 3: This is where you get to use those keys! I started hollowing out a space in the foam core (carefully!) with an x-acto knife and then finish by pressing down some of the hardest to reach foam with a key. This worked great for me and made sure that the path was clear so my flash drive could slip right in. Start with hollowing out the space for the flash in the small cut-away part of the foam core that will house your flash body.

Step 4: Take small plug-in of your flash drive and push it in to larger part before you begin to cut a place for it. This will help you make sure to put the hole in the right spot. Remember to press down the foam with the key before shoving in your flash- you don’t want to get a bunch of foam up in your flash drive!

Step 5: Now for the fun part. Cut and glue on a fake label for your Floppy Flash. Cut and Add the “metal part” at the top and the certifiably real metal circle of the  back of your floppy disc. Yea! It’s looking really swank at this point!! Write something witty on the label part like “Floppy Flash” or ” Not Obsolete”

Step 6: leave it on your desk and wait for the fun to begin.  Someone wanders by and asks

” Whoa- are you still using these?”

At which point you crack that puppy open and show them the relevant data storage inside!!! Blam!!!

Total Time Spent: 2hrs.

Total Cost of Material: $0

Amount of Fun had: 9!

Day 7 of the 100 Days in the news project. For 93 more days I will be pulling news stories from my Google reader and making artwork about it!

FAQ: Are you making work for 100 consecutive days?

A: Yes! 100 days! Back to back!

Today’s news sources are:

From Gizmo Watch:

Alpheus

Today’s idea came to me rather quickly as I skimmed the news. Gizmo Watch posted yet another modification on the flash drive which has been housed in a variety of unlikely ways in the past several months. Following an inspiring lecture by Stephanie Syjuco who incorporated fake 3.5 floppy discs into an art project of hers, I was reminded of how quickly data storage devices become obsolete and I started wondering when the flash drive would bite the dust. There seems to be some irony in housing the flash drive in unusual outfits. It’s almost as though we can’t wait for the next mutation.

…and so without further delay today’s project: Not So Obsolete

Total time spent: 30 min. Gees!!!

Total Material cost: $10

Total fun had: 9!!!

Day 6 of the 100 Days in the news project. For 94 more days I will be pulling news stories from my Google reader and making artwork about it!

Today’s news sources are:

From Google News:

Asia Markets Brief
Asia Stocks Fall Apart Despite U.S. Bailout Progress
Vivian Wai-yin Kwok, 09.29.08, 2:02 AM ET

From Boingboing:

Interview With Crafter/Toy Designer Amy Jenkins

Day 5 of the 100 Days in the news project. For 95 more days I will be pulling news stories from my Google reader and making artwork about it!

Today’s news sources are:

Barbie: Manufactured by Mattel, designed by evolution V

Company will apply green spraypaint to dead brown lawns of foreclosed homes

Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, September 27, 2008 8:55 PM | permalink

and

Top 10 Wired Reader Macro Photos, Decided by You

By Wired.com Photo Department

Today’s readings had me thinking about fecundity: a word which finds it’s roots in the French fécond or Latin fecundus  meaning “fruitful”. In the midst of searching for the line of work I am really after (art professor but I often wonder if a career in design of some sort would not absolutely please me), I am struck by how important it has proven to be to make apparent to others that progress of one form or another is being made; that beyond the university my art career continues to be productive. There is a strong sense in terms

of career that like attracts like: if you are working and making you are offered more chances to work and make things.

In reading about theories as to how men know how best to choose a “productive” mate, how realestate agencies are spraying lawns of foreclosed homes with a green dye so that they continue to seem as though they are flourishing,  I started wondering about the ways in  which people search for confirmation of  some sort in visual signifiers that may or may not be on track with the true attribute that will lead to their satisfaction. In the case of the foreclosed homes a green lawn stands as a cosmetic pleasure to decorate what is by far more important: the actual home a person might choose to live in.

Today’s post comes as an excellent follow up to some of the “surface appeal” that was in yesterday’s article postings.

Let us assume for one minute that the “attractiveness” our eyes have come to enjoy are simply preferences of the occipital lobe and are not grounded in any solid reasoning.Today’s project Fecundity Report is a response to the idea that solid information about a person’s “productive” nature can be easily totaled up from bodily characteristics.

Total amount of time spent: 1hr

Total Materials Cost: $0

Total amount of fun had (scale of 1-10): 6

Day 4 of the 100 Days in the news project. For 96 more days I will be pulling news stories from my Google reader and making artwork about it!

Today’s News Sources are:

from Psychology Today (which is becoming a favorite):

McCain-Obama and 10 Rounds to a Draw…Sorta

Day 3 of the 100 Days in the news project. For 97 more days I will be pulling news stories from my Google reader and making artwork about it!

Today’s News Sources are:

From Google News:

ISPs: We Swear, We Won’t Watch Your Every Move

By Michele Masterson, ChannelWeb
12:41 PM EDT Fri. Sep. 26, 2008

and

from BoingBoing:

Britain will make foreigners carry RFID identity cards and will put us in a huge, Orwellian database: the rest of Britain will be next