Visual Science // An Animated Look At The Divided Brain

Today we bring you another great video from RSA Animate, the same folks that turned Sir Ken Robinson's "Changing Education Paradigms" into a mind-blowing animation. This time they've taken up their pens to illustrate "The Divided Brain," a lecture by psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist, author of The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World.

McGilchrist explores how the common perception of the brain being divided into to halves, with the left handling logic, reason and language and the right taking care of emotion, visual imagery and creativity, doesn't tell the whole story. The brain is indeed "profoundly divided," he says, and has become more so as humans have evolved, but the major difference between the two hemispheres is the right's capacity for broad sustainable awareness and the left's narrow focus and attention to detail, both of which are needed for reason and imagination.

An imbalance between these two hemispheres, with the left's "what" taking precedence over the right's "how", can be found at the root many problems in contemporary society, McGilchrist says, driving things home with a killer Einstein quote.

Hit play and give both sides of your brain a little exercise:

-- John Ruscher

Watch This Now // 3rd Ward & Member Launa Eddy Get a Visit from Bravo

Both 3rd Ward and our own extreme paper mache artist and teacher extraodinaire, Launa Eddy, were recently visited by Bravo's superstar producer, Andy Cohen and experienced some ultimate-reality TV exposure. Despite having the network's cameras on her, Eddy didn't engage in any hair-pulling or rabid-drink-throwing (like so many of Bravos's Housewives tend to do.) Instead, she helped Cohen fulfill an item on his "Leap List" by teaching him paper mache and helping create a fabulous one-of-a-kind wig. 

The Leap List--a cross-promotion for Guides by Bravo (the network's app featuring city guides) and Honda CRV's Leap List ad campaign--have Cohen and Top Chef judge Gail Simmons trying brand new experiences. For Cohen, one of those experiences was taking a class here at 3rd Ward. Now that we've been featured on Bravo, we're expecting our Emmy nomination any day now.

While we wait (patiently), you can watch the segment with Cohen and Eddy now:

--Layla Schlack

Your Daily Insight // As Told By: Stephen Hawking

I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined--and that we can do nothing to change it--look before they cross the road.

Call For Entries // Triple Canopy Seeks Proposals From Writers And Artists

Digital collage with hand-rendered elements from "Origin, Departure," by Alyssa Pheobus & Murad Khan Mumtaz, commissioned through Triple Canopy's 2010 call for proposals.

Interested in publishing your writing or art as something more than just another cookie-cutter web article or blog post? How about submitting a proposal to Triple Canopy, the innovative online journal that we highlighted back in the fall? They've issued their third annual call for proposals and will be accepting applications until February 13 at midnight.

Along with the chance to be featured in an exciting and cutting-edge cultural journal, accepted proposals will get 3-6 months of artistic, editorial and technical support, an honorarium of up to $300, the option of presenting the project in a reading, workshop or discussion, and the opportunity to be featured in Triple Canopy's annual print publication, Invalid Format.

Sounds great, you say? We agree--but you've got work to do. So figure out which of these six project areas your idea falls into and submit away:  

- Research Work: A place for research projects outside academia, such as this piece about former NYC mayor John Lindsay.

- Immaterial Literature: Creative writing such as Tan Lin's The Patio and the Index, Ish Klein's poem Like on the Subject of the Icebreak or Joshua Cohen's Thirty-Six Shades of Prussian Blue.

- Internet as Material: Artwork that uses the Internet as "raw or appropriated material, comparable to acrylic paint or magazine clippings," such as Ellie Ga's A Hole to See the Ocean Through.

- Thinking Through Images: Analysis of popular media and fine art "from nineteenth-century paintings to Internet memes to documentation of current events," such as Ed Park and Rachel Aviv's Only Connect.

- New Media Reporting: an outlet for in-depth multimedia journalism, such as Brian Rosa & Ben Phelps-Rohrs' Tours and Detours: Walking the Ninth Ward.

- New Programming: Exhibitions, panel discussions, performances, film screenings and other events "that examine the intersection of culture, politics, and technology," such as Group Theory's BARTLEBY. A Rereading.

-- John Ruscher

Wheels Up // Stay Safe And Know Your Rights As A NYC Cyclist

The NYC edition of the Bicyclist's Accident Report is in the works.Since cycling-related accidents are a serious problem in New York and many of you rely on bikes to make your way around the city, the Bicyclist’s Accident Report caught our eye right away.

The brainchild of Boston lawyer Josh Zisson, who specializes in bike law, and graphic designer Tim Jacques, this simple, well-designed card provides urban cyclists with visual diagrams demonstrating their rights and bike-related laws, as well as a form to remind them what information they should collect following an accident.

"My plan for the cards is to have a version in every state and every major biking city, along with a localized version of the Bike Safe Boston website that the cards will refer people to," Zisson says in his description of the project.

His goal is not only to help educate people about local laws and cycling rights, but also to help connect cyclists with lawyers who are experienced in bike law. "Too many people in the biking community have no way of knowing whether a lawyer is any good or not, so they end up going with the first one who finds their police report and sends them a letter," he says.

The Boston and California editions have already been printed and distributed, and the NYC edition is in the works.

Get your Biking Rules handbook here.That card isn't the only way to stay safe and informed, though. The fine folks at Transportations Alternatives have their own terrific site, Biking Rules, which provides heaps of helpful information for cyclists, including a list of "cycle savvy lawyers," rights and laws related to NYC cycling, a Biking Rules Street Code, a handbook that you can download for free in English, Spanish or Chinese, and a free badge to declare your support for safe cycling in NYC.

Now you've got all of the information you could possibly need. Strap on that helmet, cycle smart and stay safe.

-- John Ruscher

Your Daily Insight // As Told By: Chuck Palahniuk

The best way to waste your life is by taking notes. The easiest way to avoid living is to just watch. Look for the details. Report. Don't participate.

Call for Entries // Share Some Knowledge, Win a ShopBot

Instructables is a truly brilliant online DIY community where members share detailed instructions for projects ranging from jalapeno poppers to Lego helicopters to steampunk chandeliers. Photos of each step accompanied by in-depth written instructions make it simple to build just about anything. 

And if that wasn't enough to make us totally obsessed with the site, they're holding a pretty rad competition. They're looking to give away a ShopBot--one of those high-tech routers that can cut just about any shape in just about any sheet material based on your design files--as well as a copy of AutoCAD 2012 (to help you create the necessary design files.)

Here's how it works: Create an Instructable, the best one you can think of, something that really showcases what you're interested in. You've got until February 27 to publish it. Once it's up, the deadline is February 29 to enter it into the ShopBot Challenge. You'll have to explain why you should win and what you'll do with your ShopBot. A panel of judges will determine the winners.

So best of luck, makers of the world--and enjoy that Instructables wormhole you're about to fall into.

--Layla Schlack

Essential Event // Ready Your Stretchy Pants for Good Commons' Cookbook Cook-Off

Potlucking isn't normally a competitive event, but Good Commons--a Vermont retreat center--makes a compelling argument that maybe it should be. To celebrate the launch of their cookbook, owner Tesha Buss, chef Matthew Wexler, and sommelier Kristen Siebecker are hosting a cook-off at New York Vintners. 

Happening February 12, tickets are on sale now. If you buy a "tester" ticket for $25, you'll be sent a list of recipes, one of which you'll sign up for--and then you prepare the hell out of it. From there, it'll be judged against other folks' preparation of the same recipe.

If you're not so much into cooking, for $40 you can buy a "taster" ticket. This means you just eat and judge (our two favorite sports!) Good Commons will take care of wine pairings to create a four-seasons-of-Vermont experience right there in TriBeCa.

Now if they can figure out how to turn some of their other mild-mannered retreat activities, like knitting and yoga, competitive...

                                                                      --Layla Schlack 

Your Daily Insight // As Told By: Allen Ginsberg

The fact to which we have got to cling--as to a lifebelt--is that it is possible to be a normal decent person and yet, be fully alive.

Member Profile // Wesley Fruge: Multi-tasking, Theater-Modernizing Renaissance Man

When we (finally) caught up with Wesley Fruge, he was in the process of signing the lease on a new apartment, starting a new job, and running rehearsals for production of his play, Friend Andy. But then, the actor/singer/dancer/writer/director/producer/video editor/event planner is used to being that busy.

"I love performing," says the native Houstonian, "but I wanted to bring theater into the modern age. We don't need more Guys and Dolls. I mean, it's great, but it's been done." So: Friend Andy is about a blogger who goes viral overnight, almost unwittingly. It uses video projections to capture the kind of madcap media stimulation most of us experience every day (i.e. like how you may be reading this on your phone while watching a DVR'd New Girl and idly clicking around on your Macbook--though we truly hope not.)   "By using multimedia, we're giving the audience what they're used to," Fruge says.

If any 3rd Ward members have got anything you'd like to submit, Fruge is now welcoming video submissions. Though if you'd rather just watch, there will be a workshop production on February 7, and they are in the process of applying to New York Fringe.

All of this has put his party-planning crew, UnOfficial Presents temporarily on the backburner, but we've got a feeling it'll be back in action soon. 

Meanwhile, you can find Fruge at 3rd Ward editing video in the new coworking space and using studios for promotional shoots. Chances are--given his 10,000 interests and skills--you'll have something in common.

--Layla Schlack