Floating Sheep

A common question we get is, "Why FloatingSheep.org?" Like many complex social phenomenon there is not one simple answer. Or actually, there is but we prefer to obscure the real reason behind an elaborate smokescreen of misdirection. So here are a number of reasons we have come up with. Simply put, "If we can float a sheep, we can do anything." The... Scottish biologist and urban/regional planner Patrick Geddes is reputed to have come up with the phrase "Sheep eat grass" as a concise summation of the key parts of any regional/geographic problem. In other words, a population (sheep) is engaged in an activity (eat) in a particular location (grass). Granted the grass part is a bit problematic as it is as much the object of the activity as a location but, sheep happens. Besides we're not even sure if Geddes actually made this analogy or not. In any case, it is a reference to sheep so that's good enough for us. Also Patrick Geddes in an eerily prescient observation (which we may have made up) anticipated the floating sheep phenomenon. "Just as clouds moving over the Scottish countryside shift hill and meadow into shadow and light, the sheep economy of the highlands floats over village and district, creating poverty and wealth." Cities in Evolution. 1915. Patrick Geddes This fascination for sheep and Patrick Geddes might have also led to the construction (out of plastic netting, white batting and helium filled marker balloons) of an actual much larger than life floating sheep in response to the out door theater known as " Dragon Day " in which architecture and engineering students celebrate the coming of spring at an obscure upstate New York agricultural college. Knowing that we could never compete in terms of actual style or construction, we decided that we should leverage our non-linear thinking and take command of the skies! We have noticed that the standard Google Map placemarks look a bit like floating sheep (albeit red ones without heads, legs, tails or much in the way of fleece) hovering over the countryside. ...Read More