Thursday, July 30, 2009

Edmund Husserl



Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (German pronunciation: [ˈhʊsɛrl]; April 8, 1859, Prostějov, Moravia, Austrian Empire – April 26, 1938, Freiburg, Germany) was a philosopher who is deemed the founder of phenomenology. He broke with the positivist orientation of the science and philosophy of his day, believing that experience is the source of all knowledge, while at the same time he elaborated critiques of psychologism and historicism.

Born into a Moravian Jewish family, he was baptized as a Lutheran in 1887. Husserl studied mathematics under Karl Weierstrass, completing a Ph.D. under Leo Königsberger, and studied philosophy under Franz Brentano and Carl Stumpf. Husserl taught philosophy, as a Privatdozent at Halle from 1887, then as professor, first at Göttingen from 1901, then at Freiburg im Breisgau from 1916 until his 1928 retirement.

Husserl's teaching and writing influenced, among others, Hans Blumenberg, Ludwig Landgrebe, Eugen Fink, Max Scheler, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Emmanuel Levinas, Rudolf Carnap, Hermann Weyl, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Alfred Schütz, Pierre Bourdieu, Paul Ricœur, Jacques Derrida, Jan Patočka, Roman Ingarden, Dietrich von Hildebrand, Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross), Francisco Varela and Pope John Paul II.


I came across this gent in a discussion of audio visual synchronization, the phenomenology tie-in makes sense. Interesting gent.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

The Future




And may I also suggest reading this
http://hci.ucsd.edu/hutchins/citw.html

Also I came across the idea of Crowdsourcing, which has been an interesting read.

Aardvark



Luke Thomas Taylor curated the first in his series of concerts that assault the animal kingdoms monopoly on New Music. For this event I journeyed to Goleta CA and performed several minutes worth of improvised electronic music. To accomplish this task I employed electricity which I amplified with a mixer and shaped with an equalizer. The output of this was captured and manipulated by a Max MSP patch.


Improv Audio Capture








Friday, July 17, 2009

Floodtide


Sonification of natural processes. From the limited musical examples the scale choice seems to shape the experience and does not seem to derive from the aquatic data, but then it is hard to say.

electropology



Here are a number of short samples from 7 different improvisations over the last week. The longer versions are 15-35 minutes.
1.1







1.2







1.3









2.1







2.2







2.3








3.1







3.2







3.3








4.1







4.2







4.3









5.1







5.2







5.3








6.1







6.2







6.3








7.1










Space Frontier



So it appears that on July 20, 2009, we will be celebrating 40 years since the first manned landing on the moon. It would have been nice to have scene this footage when it happened, but, it is even nicer to live in an age where people are discussing taking a ride in space for fun and are not looked at like they are insane.


It does make me think about those little green men and all that they have meant to the popular psyche. Having not read much about this subject before I started here and really enjoyed the read. It is interesting to me how much of the jargon was familiar, having just completed a Star Trek marathon in our household.


This is a great diagram of the Space Race, which it seems ended the year that I was born. Would that make me the prize for the winners? Possibly, possibly not.




On the more domestic side of space...

I love looking through this 1957 conception of now to see what is and is not there. The styling of the interior is fabulous. Some things are dead on; father is watching a TV (flat screen wall mount) that proudly displays the channel number and what appears to be an advert or atleast a product placement, gotta love advertising. The daughter is discussing clothing on what appears to be an IMAC. The layout of the room is so squared off and the floor plan is almost exactly that of our last apartment. Oh, and the large blue bag on the floor in the kitchen, it has a little green bag sticking out of the top and the lettering appears to read "D##t"..... DIET?


Oh, and moving in space? Yeah, if I go to the moon I will likely bring my sofa.


Thursday, July 16, 2009

opera


She comes off as "a bit much," but in the end, there is something that I find quite interesting here. There is a timeless element and a decidedly of the time element.




This is quite nice. But what I really like is that the google add at the top of the page says I can order groceries from home. Are they tracking me? Do they know that I have not left the house in days?

videos of worth







Tuesday, July 14, 2009

more glitch


I was looking online at something or another, probably when moving and street view got stuck in this spin. It was better in real life, as this has little glitches, but still it is quite nice.

Monday, July 13, 2009

No wonder...


I was wondering why I thought there were many gods


Sunday, July 12, 2009

Note to Self



I sometime find notes from myself, to myself that I have left in obscure corners of my memory. Here is one

"The venerable and obfuscated character of great impo or tance."

Thursday, July 09, 2009

random glitch



I love when these sorts of things happen. Look at the stop button in Finale.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Today...



12:34:56 7/8/09 I love it when those moments happen.

I like clouds

Improv



I made a new max patch and ran it as part of a no input mixer loop. It is an interesting start in the solo improv direction. I think it is a bit to sustained, I would like to have more gestural control, but I am happy with the sounds.

The audio is here


I love the waveform display above. This is near the end of the improv.

Reflection


This video of Wonjun Park contemplating death is simply marvelous. The production is perfect.

Here is title to search out...

Nostalgia aside, I can imagine this would be a great gift for any young man heading off into the world.


Philippe Katerine - Excuse moi - réalisé par Moriceau & Mrzik


I really like how this is put together. I am sure tat it would be better if I knew more that 50% of the words, but just the visual and compositional choices are interesting. I kept noting how the producer would fall into a specific style of lettering then bang a subtle shift. Of course, the timing is derived from the music, but there is a subtle push and pull.

I think one of my favorite features of our new apartment is that you can hear squirrels run across the roof. It is flat and apparently rather thin so as they run it sounds like, well.... a small furry animal.

I found an article on how to arpeggiate on a piano on the wikiHow.com There s something interesting about this notion of a wiki on how to do things things that are generally taught or learned through trial and error.

How to Arpeggiate on Piano


from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

An arpeggio is a series of notes played in quick sequence, compared to a block or one-by-one. It adds a quick, fresh feel to any song and is much easier than most people think it out to be. This will show you how to perform an arpeggio on the piano using the notes C,E,G, Which is a C Major chord.

Steps


  1. Place your hands on low and middle C.
  2. Play C,E,G in your right hand as a block chord (C Major). Now, instead of playing them in one block, play them .successively and quickly to make a sort of harp sound.
  3. Keep repeating until you are able to play it quickly, evenly, smoothly, and [insert adverb of your choice].
  4. Change notes to something different, such as E,G,B (E Minor); A,C,E (A Minor); G,B,D (G Major). To add notes to it and make it longer, use your other hand and arpeggiate with them both. Make sure to keep them together, as to make one, long harp sound.
  5. Practice to learn it .


Tips


  • Be as fluent as possible.
  • Keep your fingers light and loose on the keys.
  • It should sound like a "brrring"
  • Learning new chords and progressions can also liven up your music.


Warnings


  • Keep it stringed together and smooth.


Related wikiHows





Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Arpeggiate on Piano. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.



My favorite is that the advert to the far left on this page entitled "how to defecate in the outdoors" is how to sanitize your toothbrush. That is what I call product placement.


Tuesday, July 07, 2009

The Universal Language Project



Brian Chin and I have known each other since New Years Eve of 1999. Brian is a great trumpet player who moved out to Seattle when he completed his Undergrad to take on the principle trumpet of Tacoma Symphony role. He now teaches at Seattle Pacific University.

Three years ago I wrote a piece for his DMA recital (University of Washington). Now Brian is putting together a recording project and has asked me to rework the piece for that. The project is called The Universal Language Project. What I love about this is that he is challenging me to think about the convergence of pop and art music, something that I have not thought about in years as I have been busy making.

I am looking forward to telling you all about it when it is done. For now, you can know that it is happening and check the site for updates.

Internet Goodness







I love these images from this times story Kisho Kurokawa’s historic Nakagin Capsule Tower.

And on the domestic front.....

Make sure to praise Jesus until you fall on the floor.



If you keep buying computer programs, they are going to keep making videos like this with that money.



And if you want to drive from Tokyo to Japan, just use Google maps directions.

Note steps 26 and 42.


Driving directions to Unalaska, AK
16,386 km – about 38 days 3 hours
Suggested routes



Tokyo
Japan
1. Head north
0.3 km
2. Turn left at 都庁北(交差点)
0.1 km
3. Turn left at 新宿中央公園北(交差点)
0.6 km
4. Take the ramp onto 首都高速4号新宿線
Toll road

5.4 km
5. Take exit 三宅坂JCT toward 銀座
Toll road

0.7 km
6. Merge onto 首都高速都心環状線
Toll road

3.6 km
7. Take exit 江戸橋JCT toward 向島・湾岸線・箱崎
Toll road

0.7 km
8. Merge onto 首都高速6号向島線
Toll road

8.7 km
9. Take exit 堀切JCT toward 大宮・東北道・三郷
Toll road

0.5 km
10. Merge onto 首都高速中央環状線
Toll road

0.7 km
11. Take exit 小菅JCT on the right toward 常磐道・三郷
Toll road

0.6 km
12. Merge onto 首都高速6号三郷線
Toll road

9.4 km
13. Take exit 三郷JCT toward 常磐道・水戸
Toll road

1.1 km
14. Merge onto 常磐自動車道
Toll road

37.7 km
15. Take exit 高速桜土浦IC toward 国道354号線
Toll road

0.9 km
16. Keep right at the fork, follow signs for 土浦・霞ヶ浦 and merge onto 国道354号線
Partial toll road

2.1 km
17. Turn left at 中村陸橋下(交差点) to stay on 国道354号線
3.3 km
18. Slight left at 千束町(交差点) to stay on 国道354号線
0.6 km
19. Turn right at 亀城公園北(交差点) onto 国道125号線
0.7 km
20. Turn left at 県道263号線
0.5 km
21. Turn right to stay on 県道263号線
0.5 km
22. Turn left
0.3 km
23. Turn right
0.3 km
24. Turn right
56 m
25. Turn left
0.4 km
26. Kayak across the Pacific Ocean
Entering United States (Hawaii)


6,243 km
27. Turn right at Kalakaua Ave
0.5 km
28. Turn left at Kapahulu Ave
2.4 km
29. Slight left to stay on Kapahulu Ave
74 m
30. Continue on Waialae Ave
0.4 km
31. Slight right to merge onto I-H1 W
8.5 km
32. Slight left at I-H201 W (signs for Aiea/I-H201)
6.3 km
33. Take the I-H1/I-1 exit toward Pearl City
1.3 km
34. Merge onto I-H1 W
6.5 km
35. Take exit 8A to merge onto I-H2 N toward Wahiawa/Mililani
12.8 km
36. Take exit 8 toward Wahiawa
0.3 km
37. Merge onto HI-80/HI-99/Kamehameha Hwy
Continue to follow Kamehameha Hwy

13.7 km
38. Continue on Joseph P Leong Hwy
3.2 km
39. Continue on HI-83/Kamehameha Hwy
16.7 km
40. Turn left at Kuilima Dr
0.8 km
41. Turn right at Turtle Bay Hilton
0.2 km
42. Kayak across the Pacific Ocean
Entering Washington


4,436 km
43. Sharp right at N Northlake Way
1.8 km
44. Turn right at NE Pacific St
0.1 km
45. Turn left at 7th Ave NE
0.5 km
46. Slight left to stay on 7th Ave NE
0.1 km
47. Take the ramp onto I-5 N
137 km
48. Take exit 255 for WA-542/Sunset Dr
0.3 km
49. Turn right at E Sunset Dr/WA-542 (signs for WA-542)
Continue to follow WA-542

15.9 km
50. Turn left at Lawrence Rd/WA-9
Continue to follow WA-9

10.1 km
51. Turn left at Nooksack Rd/WA-9
90 m
52. Turn right at Nooksack Ave/WA-9
5.3 km
53. Turn right at E Badger Rd/WA-9
Continue to follow WA-9
Entering Canada (British Columbia)

6.7 km
54. Continue on Sumas Way
3.2 km
55. Take the ramp to TC-1/Hope
0.6 km
56. Merge onto HWY-1 E
77.7 km
57. Take exit 170 for TC-1
0.2 km
58. Turn left at Flood Hope Rd
0.3 km
59. Continue on Water Ave E
1.1 km
60. Slight right at HWY-1
192 km
61. Continue straight onto Cariboo Hwy/HWY 97
Continue to follow Cariboo Hwy

80.0 km
62. Continue on Cariboo Hwy 97 S/HWY 97
Continue to follow HWY 97

123 km
63. Turn right at Cariboo Hwy 97 N
1.6 km
64. Continue on Cariboo Hwy/HWY 97
Continue to follow HWY 97

118 km
65. Turn right at Front St
1.6 km
66. Slight left at HWY 97
521 km
67. Turn left at Alaska Hwy
354 km
68. Continue on Alaska Hwy/HWY 97
Continue to follow HWY 97
Entering Yukon Territory

611 km
69. Continue on Alaska Hwy/HWY 1
Passing through British Columbia
Entering Yukon Territory

590 km
70. Turn right to stay on Alaska Hwy/HWY 1
Entering United States (Alaska)

323 km
71. Continue on AK-2/Alaska Hwy
12.4 km
72. Turn right to stay on AK-2/Alaska Hwy
14.3 km
73. Turn right to stay on AK-2/Alaska Hwy
34.5 km
74. Turn right to stay on AK-2/Alaska Hwy
83.4 km
75. Turn left at AK-1/Glenn Hwy Tok Cutoff
0.2 km
76. Turn left to stay on AK-1/Glenn Hwy Tok Cutoff
47 m
77. Turn right to stay on AK-1/Glenn Hwy Tok Cutoff
50.8 km
78. Turn right to stay on AK-1/Glenn Hwy Tok Cutoff
112 km
79. Turn left to stay on AK-1/Glenn Hwy Tok Cutoff
4.2 km
80. Turn left to stay on AK-1/Glenn Hwy Tok Cutoff
9.2 km
81. Turn left to stay on AK-1/Glenn Hwy Tok Cutoff
1.5 km
82. Turn right to stay on AK-1/Glenn Hwy Tok Cutoff
Continue to follow AK-1

226 km
83. Turn right at AK-1/Glenn Hwy
107 km
84. Turn left at AK-1/Gambell St
Continue to follow AK-1

106 km
85. Turn right toward AK-1/Seward Hwy
1.7 km
86. Slight left at AK-1/Seward Hwy
Continue to follow Seward Hwy

95.5 km
87. Turn left at AK-9/Washington St
93 m
88. Turn right at 4th Ave/AK-9
0.2 km
89. Take the Seward-Alaska Marine Hwy ferry to Sand Point
976 km
90. Continue straight onto Chichagos Rd
0.1 km
91. Turn left to stay on Chichagos Rd
0.3 km
92. Turn left at Sand Point Ave
1.7 km
93. Continue on Sand Point Airport
3.0 km
94. Make a U-turn
3.0 km
95. Continue on Sand Point Ave
1.7 km
96. Turn right at Chichagos Rd
0.3 km
97. Turn right to stay on Chichagos Rd
95 m
98. Take the Alaska Marine Hwy ferry to King Cove
169 km
99. Continue straight onto Ferry Terminal
0.3 km
100. Turn right at Rams Creek Rd
1.4 km
101. Turn right at Squirrel Rd
61 m
102. Turn left to stay on Squirrel Rd
0.6 km
103. Turn left at Rams Creek Rd
1.4 km
104. Turn left at Ferry Terminal
0.3 km
105. Take the Alaska Marine Hwy ferry to Unalaska
356 km
106. Continue straight onto Ballyhoo Rd
3.3 km

Unalaska, AK

Monday, July 06, 2009

Blood Music


So, people often talk about what a wonderful life it must be, being a composer and married to a doctor. My life is wonderful, but not for those reasons. Yesterday I was elected to help my dearest in her pursuit to make your patient experience more enjoyable. I became the practice patient for setting an IV.

Before the fun stuff I will note that this was certainly not the first time that I had a needle stuck in my arm for the sake of mankind. When I was living with Christine in Alaska and Seattle after my Masters at New England Conservatory, I needed to raise funds for graduate school applications. It turns out that people are not likely to hire you if you are moving every month or so and you don't have a permanent address that is not a PO BOX. So, I donated blood to pay for my applications to PhD programs. Fortunately it was only for eight school (I had applied to 28 for my Masters!) so it only took a couple of months worth of submitting to the Vampire to make it happen. I was reminded of this time yesterday when I again became a human pin cushion. Fortunately for me, the person putting the needle in now is a medical professional.



"Hello, I am your friendly doctor."


"These are my tools."


"Universal precautions mandate clean hands."



"Now you won't be able to get away."


"We'll try here." My vains tend to roll around so it took two tries. And note the used sterile wipe on the counter.


"Got it!"


"I'll save you!"


"Remnants for the sharps container."




Oh and I should note before you invite you over for dinner that we indeed did disinfect the counter.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Sunday Morning



I can not think of the last time I had one of there, a classic SUNDAY MORNING. I was up early and had a scone and coffee and sat down to read and watch the morning clouds burn off, this was at 7AM, wow. Here is what I was reading. I think it is quite good.

So now I have moved out to the porch and perched on the top of the tomatoe cage is a humming bird and in the crook of the tree across the way is a black squirel. It turns out that they are black (in Palo Alto and Princeton is where I have scene them) because of a genetic malfunction, just like albino's are white.

Oh, and my new goal, experiment and publish. If I do not experiment with it, it is an object that is keeping me and it is best to lighten the load. Although, I certainly like to make art from junk, I shall have to find a way to resolve this. Oh and I have been imagining what steam punk music would be. Steam punk marries fantasy of the late twentieth century with steam era mechanics through the DIY wizardry of the home shop.

Boredom, remember that? It was what we did before the internet.

Should have....



If only I had known, I don't have to suffer smooth jazz being interupted by banal television programming. Here it is!

What a picture, it says so much without even trying. I wish I lived on the set where this was created.

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Goleta to Alaska to Palo Alto


So begins summer 2009...

Cabin time is relaxing and really a great way to consider life. Note the coffee press, it is wonderful to have great coffee no matter where you are.

Arriving at Mulcahy View Cabin and the Float Plane we flew in.

The Island.

and....

We flew on the Salmon Thirty Salmon. There was even a mechanical problem which meant we landed in Kodiak with every fire engine on the island present.

I finally got back to life yesterday, after unpacking most of the boxes I began to play with some ideas I had had on various projects. No results yet, but it is nice to be back at work. I went over to University Ave in our new home, Palo Alto, in order to get a hair cut. Now I knew that it would be hard to top the barber shop that I had been going to in Old Town Goleta, but even so, I was blown away. I ended up getting a hair cut and a lecture from the barber (an x body builder whose main aspiration had been to be a Greek God) about the fact that hair is dead and the cut that I asked for was not going to work. So e proceeded to give me an average (I mean I could have gone to some chain and got this cut) for $20. This seems a bit steep when I compare it to the cut I used to get in Old Town, where they cut as I asked (and it worked) and they finished it off with a straight razor around the edges.

This all got me thinking about careers and aspirations. The guy who cut my hair here in Palo Alto (who lives in San Jose) is your run of the mill person existing by meeting the minimum requirements and never aspiring to really pursue a dream. (well maybe he had a dream, but it certainly wasn't evident). I began to consider how he has likely wandered through life never going to hard after any one thing and happy to keep existing. I started to contrast this perception of him, after all I am only projecting and hypothesizing, with my own way of life. I think I have been fortunate to encounter people during my lifetime thus far who have challenged me to dream and to achieve those dreams. Each time I reach a new level of success (such as my recent passing of my qualifying exams) I begin to notice the infinite new realm of possible goals and possibilities. Being ABD, this has meant new library privileges, it doesn't get much better than that! Oh and I am living some place where they are broadcasting a Long Now lecture on public radio!

In a related realization, it is summer! Funny, but being in Alaska for a couple weeks and yes it was amazing, I had lost touch with time and place. Add to that detachment the fact that we moved 4 days before leaving and returned to a house of boxes and piles of our belongings. So today, I spent the afternoon unpacking some more and hanging pictures on the Alaska Wall (sorry the picture sucks, built in camera on the computer) while listening to NPR. They sort of hinted all day about a holiday, turns out July 4th is in 2 days, it took a long time to register! So, in honor of summer I made Cole Slaw today and that helped me to confirm that summer is really here.

Also, I just saw this video on a paint on conductive material. Seems like an interesting idea, although I can see in some of the pictures that it does crack as it dries, but still, it could be quite fabulous.


Also one of the comments notes ...
if you all want to try this yourself its fundamentally carbon black (get it from paint shops) and liquid latex super loaded so the carbon forms a conductive path.
There you have it DIY.