Feet...

The foot as a unit of measure was used in most Western cultures and was usually divided into 12 or sometimes 10 inches/thumbs, or into 16 fingers/digits. The popular belief is that the original standard was the length of a man's foot. In rural regions and without calibrated rulers, many units of measurement were in fact based on the length of some part of body of the person measuring (or for example the area that could be ploughed in a day). In that sense, the human foot was no doubt the origin of the measuring unit called a "foot" and was also for a long time the definition of its length. To prevent discord and enable trade, many towns decided on a standard length and displayed this publicly

Some believe that the original measurement of the English foot was from King Henry I, who had a foot 12 inches long; he wished to standardize the unit of measurement in England. However this is unlikely, because there are records of the word being used approximately 70 years before his birth. This of course does not exclude the possibility that this old standard was redefined ("calibrated") according to the ruler's foot. In fact, there is evidence that this sort of process was common before standardization. A new, important ruler could try to impose a new standard for an existing unit, but it is unlikely that any king's foot was ever as long as the modern unit of measurement.
The average foot length is about 9.4 inches (240 mm) for current Europeans. Approximately 99.6% of British men have a foot that is less than 12 inches long. One attempt to "explain" the "missing" inches is that the measure did not refer to a naked foot, but to the length of footwear which could theoretically add an inch or two to the naked foot's length. This is consistent with the measure being convenient for practical uses such as building sites. People almost always pace out lengths while wearing shoes or boots, rather than removing them and pacing barefoot.
There are however historical records of definitions of the inch based on the width (not length) of a man's thumb that are very precise for the standards of the time. One of these was based on an average calculated using three men of different size, thereby enabling surprising accuracy and uniformity throughout a country even without calibrated rulers.(Source: "trusty" Wiki)

Oooh!! Bike parts!

In spite of the perils of biking in the city, there are many who would pick no other way to travel. Inspiring tales of cross-country trips and rides through the European countryside abound. Sylvia, my 1970's Raleigh 3-speed cruiser feels like my "trusty steed" as I navigate the bumby terrain that is Philadelphia's streets.....and I can always rely on Janusz, the Jamus to get me home after a late night in Center City minus the sore behind...

The 7th annual bike part art show is upon us and I took it....um...upon myself to make a sculpture for the show. I descended into the musty, moldy Neighborhood Bike Works basement and selected some odds and ends that I felt had some "potential"....

It was my first foray into the world of sculpture of any kind. For some reason, it was quite difficult to connect with a welder, in spite of numerous emails and phone calls, so I settled for some Gorrila Glue in the end due to a looming deadline. According to a friend, the end result looks a lot like my paintings. Since I am a self-taught artist, I am often tickled to see that there is a consistent, strong thread/aesthetic that informs my work despite the disparate media I employ....

Mission to create a (what I hope is an aesthetically-pleasing-yet-visually-compelling) piece for the Bike Part Art Show? Accomplished!

Come to the opening extravaganza of food, live music, raffle for a Fuji track bike and visual pleasures on September 18th: http://www.neighborhoodbikeworks.org/BikeArt/index.html

on the subject of helmets....

Ah....helmets.........How useful you are, such unassuming, obedient objects.......Perching on the homo sapien head in a delicate, often sweaty embrace.......Content to merely perform your function of protecting our medullas oblongatas from the dreaded urban cyclist plagues: au.tomo.biles, le concrete, el tar and the ubiquitous les car doors........I hereby take it upon my humble shoulders to grant thee some vibrancy, life, color and......gasp! STYLE.

Jewel cases are....a girl's best friend

Compact disc "jewel" cases.....

In the digital-mechanical-age of electronic music media, what shall become of the lowly jewel case? Flash drives, mp3 players, phones that hold millions of gigabytes of music are rendering the compact disc obsolete.

So...what's a girl to do? Make "jewel"ry and body sculpture out of these pesky, ill-made polystyrene objects of course!!

Although, polystyrene can be recycled, and has the number "6" as its recycling symbol, I have chosen to NOT sacrifice all my cases to the blue-gallon-recycle-fairy and rather, try to glean some new meaning for its thus far, one-dimensional existence! I am on a mission to convert all manner of man-made objects into items of whimsy, delight and play with my dancing, lacy, organic, seductive linework......

According to Wikipedia, MY most trusted research source (please note that this is an attempt at sarcasm, not a statement of fact):

A jewel cd case is the original compact disc case that has been used since the compact disc was first released in 1982. It is a three-piece plastic case, measuring 142 mm × 125 mm × 10 mm (5.59 in x 4.92 in x 0.39 in), which usually contains a compact disc along with the liner notes and a back card. Two opposing tranparent halves are hinged together to form the casing, the back half holding a media tray that grips the disc by its hole. All three parts are made of injection-molded polystrene.

The front lid contains two, four, or six opposing tabs to keep any liner notes in place. The liner notes typically will be a 120 mm × 120 mm (4.72 in x 4.72 in) booklet, or a single 242 mm × 120 mm (9.53 in x 4.72 in) leaf folded in half. In addition, there is usually a back card, 150 mm × 118 mm (5.9 in x 4.65 in), underneath the media tray and visible through the clear back, often listing the track names, studio and copyright data and other information. The back card is folded into a flattened "U" shape, with the sides being visible along the ends (often referred to as the spine) of the case. The ends usually have the name of the release and the artist, and often label or catalog information printed on them, and are designed to be visible when the case is stored vertically, 'book-style'.
The back media tray snaps into the back cover, and is responsible for securing the disk. In its center is a circular hub of teeth which grip the disc by its hole. This effectively suspends the disk in the middle of the container, preventing the recording surface from being scratched. Originally, the media tray was constructed of a flexible black polystyrene, but many newer trays use a more fragile transparent polystyrene. Jewel cases are occasionally used for DVDs as well as CDs, but generally not for those that contain major film releases. The success of the CD jewel case design stems, in part, from its common form factor. Given the restriction to a common form, manufacturers have sought to compete on cost (rather than via product variation). A form of destructive competition has followed. Although the original 1980s and 1990s CD jewel case were of a higher quality and stiffer design, most jewel cases on the market today are considerably lighter and less durable than the original design. In part, this has been to cater to automated packing machines that prefer lighter boxes. In the worst cases, the rear cover is so spongy, it may be easily bent by hand. Dissatisfaction with lower quality cases provided by recording companies has produced a market for higher quality replacement cases.

Origin of the name
According to publications from Philips, the name reflects either the generally high quality of the case design compared to initial attempts, or its appearance. According to one publication. Initial attempts at packaging for CDs were unsatisfactory. When the new design, by Peter Doodson, was found to be "virtually perfect" it was dubbed the "jewel case". Another publication, quotes Doodson describing that he "specified polished ribs as they pick up the light and shine" and states that the resulting appearance led to the name.

Weaknesses
The original jewel case structure has a weakness in that the case is hinged on two brittle plastic arms, which often break if the case receives shock or stress. The teeth of the hub holding the disc are also prone to failure by snapping. An opposite problem is the tabs ("half-moons") which hold the liner notes in place; sometimes, especially with larger booklets, the tabs grip the booklet too tightly, leading to tearing. Likewise, when replacing the booklet it can get snagged and crumple or rip. As noted above some CD releases have only two tabs, which allows the booklet to be easily removed and replaced (at the small cost of the booklet sometimes falling out if held the wrong way).