Monthly Archives: November 2014

Aesthetic Mapping: the Pitch

What route can influence people’s feeling by giving people a sense of beauty, quiet, happiness, history, and nature? These aspects of a route will impact people the way they think, and also influence their feeling while they all being busy with living. Being busy will always make people ignore surrounding area around them, so they continually taking the shortest route to their destination without a spirit of exploration. Taking a short detour from their destination will give people different feelings, and may also impact people’s innermost thoughts. The detour from Jay Street Metro station to City Tech will present aspects of nature and quiet. Walking from a brief detour can give people different experiences and influence people’s thoughts.

In society, stress is everywhere, and especially in a noisy city. New York is considered as one of the busiest city in the world, so people have to endure all the stress from work, school, and others. If people can slow down their mode of life, they may discover something they never expected before. While people taking a detour from Jay Street Metro station before going to City Tech, they will be inspired from Columbus Park. Before entering Columbus Park, people have to take a brief detour to get to the crossroad. While people standing on the crossroad, they can fully experience noise from this typical busy crossroad. Transportations coming and going, and pedestrians walking so fast before traffic light change signs. In addition, there are many tall buildings with numerous small square windows which the typical aesthetic design in a modern city. People can only experience the mode of being busy in life, however, this experience will affect people’s feeling later on by comparing aspects of Columbus Park. While they pass through this crossroad, there is a path waiting people to take. This path cars and buses can’t get in which is the entrance to Columbus Park.

When people slowly walking into Columbus Park, people will have a different experience. The path is wider than normal pedestrian routes, and trees from each side blocking noise from the city. While people moving deeply into Columbus Park, people can see there is a giant historical building, a garden with grass and flowers, and a fountain. These things are creating a sense of peaceful and quiet, because these things will help people forget they are living in one of the busiest city. If people have enough time, people can sit on the stairs of the historical building to give themselves a different feeling. The feeling will be totally different, because it is a peaceful place for people to slow down their life. Comparing with the train station and the crossroad, sitting inside of the Columbus Park is new way to experience quiet. And if people have any annoyance, it is a great moment to think about, because quiet can always help people relax their emotion and come up with different solutions.

While people continue moving toward the center of Columbus Park, people will see more trees are located on two sides, and the center is a statue of Columbus. In addition, while sunlight shining on trees, the beauty of nature is presented in Columbus Park. Furthermore, with a wide space, people won’t see other things except nature. The detour is a combination of nature and quiet which providing a new experience to people and may help people to get away from stress. While people can blend themselves with nature and quiet, they can always come out with a different idea of life. All the annoyance and stress will become smaller if people can relax themselves from this detour. Columbus Park won’t be considered as a scenic place, however, it is place that provides tranquility. Before getting into City Tech, taking a detour that passes through Columbus Park will inspire people to start a new day. After getting away from tranquility, people will be able to prepare themselves to encounter the challenges, because they have already been relaxed themselves in a serene place.

In the end, the detour from Jay Street Metro station to City Tech is mainly focus on quiet and part of nature. The main idea of taking the detour is not helping people to see a scenic place instead is providing a quiet place to influence the way of thinking. It is very important for all people to take the detour, because people need a space to relax themselves. The detour can provide unusual experiences if people can visit Columbus Park in different times of different seasons. It is a very simple action to take if people willing to change their attitude to life.

The Pitch

What can one really obtain from using the same quick path every day to and from City Tech? First, the person has to know that there is something you can get out of walking a different route to the subway or to City Tech. Downtown Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Heights area are neighborhoods one can simply learn more about just by taking a short detour and exploring their surroundings. Walking with someone can make the experience even better because everyone has different perspectives and you both can point out different things in sight. This route maximizes nature and will add about 10 minutes to one’s regular path.

After a long day at City Tech, a student may be exhausted and have to get ready for the commute home. Instead of walking to the train and going straight into the train station where the loud noise and crowd can add on to this student’s exhaustion, the student can simply take a walk. Specifically this student can walk to embrace quietness, nature and happiness on the route I chose. Taking this walk will make a person’s mind more at ease with getting on the train home from City Tech. Starting down Jay Street into the walkway/passageway- it has trees and benches where you can sit down and even charge your phone or whatever wireless device you have. Nature is around when settling down there but it may not be so quiet. If you wanted more quietness, Cadman Plaza Park would be the next stop.

Walking to Cadman Plaza is an extra five minutes, but it’s worth it. Upon entering the park you’ll come upon a neatly paved stone path that outlines the big green field of grass. The field has a statue of William Jay Gaynor, a Mayor of NYC from the 20th century. Now the scenery in the park is great no matter what time of day. When the sun is out you can see all the colors in the park- the red, yellow and brown leaves on the almost-bare trees, the crunchy leaves on the ground, the dulling green of the grass on the sides of the path, and the bright green of the open field of grass. The comfort of the colors and quietness of nature during the day can be a much better experience than taking the straight, simple, direct route to the train station. When the sun has set and the sky is a dark blue color, the park lights are on and everything looks illuminated- the trees, the ground and the walkway with the benches on either side. Also, near one corner in the park you can see the Empire State Building brightly lit up past other buildings and trees in the distance. This is another pleasant sight to see on your walk in the evening. It’s also quieter in the park in the evening since that’s the time everyone settles down and/or goes home. The cool fall-wintry air is just as refreshing as the summer evening air since it is all natural “park” air.

Leaving Cadman Plaza Park to get to the Borough Hall train station you’ll have to walk through another park- Columbus Park. Columbus Park isn’t as big or as attractive as Cadman Plaza, but it still is a park with trees and a few benches. Its plants are less prismatic, however this is the only form of nature that is nearest to the train station. It is wide and open spaced so there won’t be people in your way to distract you from taking a stroll through there. You can also sit down in this park even though there will be more people passing through because it is somewhat of a walkway, but not too many people for there to be a crowd.

Walking through the park or even sitting down in the park can be mind refreshing compared to leaving school and sitting down on a bench in the train station. It reduces stress and can help develop a sense of relaxation. There are a lot of benefits of walking in general. Studies say that brain fatigue can be eased with a walk in the park. Brain fatigue is basically caused from living the rushed, hectic city life and not taking your time. Changing a path is a small step that can be a big deal to how a person starts or ends their day. It can be that one small step that can lead to a feeling of happiness in that person’s day.

Consolidating

Consolidating - Verb

to join or combine together into one thing

Definition:
1:  to join together into one whole
2:  to make firm or secure
3:  to form into a compact mass

Source:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/consolidate

Encounter:
I was reading an article on the New York Times article on Obama extending the U.S. role on the Afghan combat  “The allies are expected to follow the American lead in consolidating and withdrawing their troops.” I had no idea what it meant, but now I understand that the allies meant to join their armies together into a whole and start retreating from Afghanistan. Instead of having ground wars they mean to use drones instead.

The Nations of The World

If need be, this will be removed…

This is unrelated to class, but one that I feel is worth mentioning. The flags of various countries of the world were showcased in the lobby of City Tech. I’m not exactly sure why. Strangely I couldn’t find our American flag. Many countries I recognised right away such as, Honduras, South Africa, Uruguay, Spain, Taiwan, Ghana, Costa Rica, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Croatia, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, China, Somalia, Ireland, Uganda, Mali, Australia, New Zealand, Palestine, North Korea, Ukraine, Germany, Algeria, Chile, Nigeria, Jamaica, Suriname, Singapore, Israel, Aruba, Japan, Mexico, Peru, and Argentina. A beautiful sight showing the wonderful designs of all these countries’ flags. I do hope they stay in the first floor.

The flag of the Netherlands
Though I am not a big fan of their football team for eliminating my teams, Mexico and Costa Rica during the 2014 FIFA World Cup: Brazil  last summer, I still like the design of flag of the Netherlands.

The Route

The quickest route for a person from the train station to City Tech (and vice versa) is always the busiest but most preferred. However having the option to go another route would only be ideal if the person gets something out of it, whether it be happiness, quietness, beauty, nature or history. The route I took with my best friend was from City Tech to the Borough Hall train station. What I was looking for on this route maximizes quietness and nature and is about an extra 10 minutes walking to the train station.

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Leaving City Tech, we start by going down Jay Street towards the Jay Street-Metro Tech subway station. Instead of going into the station before getting there we turn right- into the little passageway between the Marriott Hotel building and the MTA New York City Transit building. It’s a windy path with a courthouse building but has benches, outlets and neat arrangements of plants and trees all around until the end of the path which opens out to Adams Street. Cadman Plaza Park is our next destination as we make a right onto Adams Street and start walking towards Tillary Street. Making a left on Tillary Street we make a right into the park walking around and taking pictures. It has a big open green field of grass. Standing in the park you can see the United States Court House and the Empire State Building. This was around after 5:00pm so it was a little dark and the building was lit up. The park also has a pathway of tall trees that arch inward as you walk through. Exiting the park on Cadman Plaza West we see the Clark Street train station where the 2 train is. We walk back, to Borough Hall passing Columbus Park on Cadman Plaza East and Johnson Street. Columbus Park is less attractive than Cadman Plaza Park. It has trees bushes and grass that’s not so green and is surrounded by a bunch of buildings, some old, some new, all gray. Even though there’s some nature here, nature isn’t always attractive.

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Plummet

Ombudsmen - verb

Definition: to drop down; plunge

Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/plummet?s=t

Encounter: I encountered this word when I reading the article “AWF Launches Anti-poaching Fund” in November 21, 2014

Understand:  The word “plummet” has two different meanings, one is referring to a tool “plumb bob”, and another is referring to something that weights down. However, the word is used when the article said “The AWF said in the 1970s, Africa was home to more than 1.3 million elephants. That figure has plummeted to about 419,000 today” which using the word plummet as a verb. In the end, I have learned “plummet” not just a noun, it also can be used as a verb to mean to drop down.

The Pitch

Your route may never have shown you the advantages and opportunities that you could take hold of . This route offers many of the beautiful sights and businesses that Brooklyn heights has to offer. It also informs one more about the environment that they spend their time in every week. You could walk this route alone or with a group of people that you enjoy being around. That won’t take away from the new found experience that you could potentially find. This inspiring route maximizes the happiness one can experience on the way to the subway from City Tech by passing through the Metro Tech Center as well as the Fulton Street Mall. And one well known thing that can bring happiness to people is a nice meal from some of the best restaurants in the city. This a major attraction to people everywhere that will always be around.

At the end of a long day, an individual may  want something to eat to relax and tend to their hunger. This route is primarily lined with numerous restaurants that can be chosen from. Almost as soon as you begin the route through the Metro Tech Center, you are greeted by the pleasant scent from the Chipotle Mexican grill restaurant. This aroma is carried through the air by the same wind currents that whistle through the trees. You can see the fall season take effect on the environment as the trees are stripped of their coats and the brownish- yellow leaves sway past your view. You can hear the laughter and yelling of the young children interacting with each other in the park area. Then you can take a breather and relax on a park bench and observe the the art piece that is placed in the center grass portion of the park. One could also make a short stop at a local Starbucks to enjoy a nice creamy cup coffee while they stroll through the Fulton mall area. The warm cup will defrost your finger tips as you go on your way. As you continue on this route, you may decide that you want a lamb gyro from the Halal food stand at the corner. This route offers a significant amount of convenience to the point where most of the things a person may have a craving for is a simple few feet away.

As we all know, taking walks are a very effective way for people to clear their minds and actually take a moment to appreciate the very aspects of their city. Throughout this route you will be surrounded by many other people you don’t know. This is not a lonely path, and it puts you in the presence of others that make up the very culture of the city. While one continues on this route, they have the chance to see the breath taking view of the city on a sunny afternoon. On a normal route to the train, people don’t really give a second thought to the area because they are too focused on getting home. Many routes that people choose involve passing through back roads behind tall buildings that block the view of the city. As you enjoy a wholesome meal from one of the many restaurant options, you can take a breather on a park bench and take in the sights. The city sky line will have you in awe as the windows reflect the sun’s light as it begins to set. Many people prefer having something pleasant to look at while they eat. But what is better to look at while you rest, other than a cell phone, than the view of your surroundings. As you relax, you can watch the sun set in the distance.  You may even listen to music and picture the scene as something like a music video.

This route is ideally created to be taken around the time of 4 or 5pm. Around this time the sunset view will give off a calming vibe as the day concludes. This is something that is very helpful especially for individuals who are just ending a long work day. Taking walks is great way to relieve stress and gather thoughts. This will give them a chance to unwind and loosen up as they stroll. By the time you reach the 5 train station at the end of the route, you will feel satisfied and probably be ready for a hot shower and some sleep. But your mind will be at ease because you have taken the time to slow things down and relax for once. And the best part is, the course will only take approximately 15 minutes to complete which is worth the while. For this reason I would highly recommend that you consider this route for the upcoming Aesthetic mapping app.

Project 4: Prismatic Color

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In the last color experiment, prismatic color is the most easy color to recognize, because it is the most saturate color that will immediately stand out. Prismatic color should be stay as pure as possible, however, I believe I didn’t do well enough by mixing primary colors to create secondary colors. As a result, I guess people it not easy to understand the concept of prismatic color from my works.

 

Bioethanol

Bioethanol-Noun

Defintion: a biofuel based on alcohol which may be combined with petrol for usein vehicles.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bioethanol

The word was found in the New York Times Online Newspaper on Thursday November 25,2014. The word is used in the first and second paragraph  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/business/energy-environment/from-india-chemicals-for-cleaning-up.html?ref=international  The word is used in these sentence”Many of our activities are in the clean and green space. One of our most important activities that we have engaged in for the last 15 years is bioethanol, which is used as an additive with gasoline. We offer the technology and machinery to produce ethanol from green sources.”

I knew the word but I never looked it up to define the word however the word is used in the sentence to describe the situation. I knew the word but now know it clearly and fits the situations.