Doop de doo...

A recording of a single whale’s songs, made by my brother...

Wed, 18 May 2011 22:53:01 -0700

A recording of a single whale’s songs, made by my brother near the Philippines in April, 2011.

A recording on January 5, 2011 from a dock in Burlington,...

Wed, 18 May 2011 22:42:00 -0700

A recording on January 5, 2011 from a dock in Burlington, Vermont on Lake Champlain. There are some photos at the end of this album.

A recording of a short hike that Andrea and I took on January 5,...

Wed, 18 May 2011 22:30:00 -0700

A recording of a short hike that Andrea and I took on January 5, 2011, in Vermont. There are also several photos we took that day.

Ada Lovelace Day

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:06:00 -0700

Today is Ada Lovelace Day, on which we all celebrate a woman in technology that we admire. Working at Google, I found it difficult to identify one woman to actually write about, as there are so many that I could easily dedicate an entire post to*.

However spoiled for choice I am at work, it’s actually a woman I know who doesn’t work in an obviously technology-related role who I want to really call out: Christina Green, a (tragically, recently laid-off) middle-school science teacher in the bay area. I admire her real dedication to introducing her students to technology in the classroom, helping them use online collaboration tools in assignments and even getting them all to produce podcasts. She’s described helping her students become familiar with computers who are starting from absolute zero — introducing them to the concept of a mouse — in light of which her achievements are particularly impressive.

An unfortunate roadblock that Ms. Green consistently runs into is other teachers’ hesistance to adopting technology, which sometimes verges on aggressive resistance. I’ve often been shocked to hear how computer-illiterate her colleagues are, and always wish her the best in her efforts.

There is a growing societal divide between those who can afford to have a computer in their home and those who cannot. Children raised in a household without exposure to computers and the internet will be severely disadvantaged in the coming decades. Christina is working to overcome that, bringing children who might otherwise be left behind back into our grand little sprint to progress, and is doing more good than I expect I ever will.

* Because I want to give them a shoutout, a short list, in no particular order: Melanie Colburn, Maricia Scott, Tina Huang, and Nori Heikkinen. They are all significantly more capable than I, and consistently astonish me with their talents.

Alamaailman Vasarat - Luiden Valossa, Naapurin Talossa Finnish...

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 10:57:19 -0800

Alamaailman Vasarat - Luiden Valossa, Naapurin Talossa

Finnish Klezmer Hammer Punk? You decide.

http://www.vasarat.com/

Also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-PlKlsOdZA

Radiohead really opened something up when they put out their...

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:35:00 -0800

Radiohead really opened something up when they put out their track masters for remixes. There was a lot of crap produced, but also some very delightful and serious stuff. Amplive has produced an album of quality remixes of 8 of Radiohead’s tracks from In Rainbows. 15 Stepz (feat. Codany Holiday), streamed here, is one of the more unusual ones. The mix starts off in a somewhat-typical remix riff, but then drops in a comforting, smooth blues-y voice track that takes it in a completely different direction. The main hard sound reminding you that the artist has their background in electronica is the original drum track, which was an excellent decision, maintaining a strong contrast with the new vocals.

The album also has a mix featuring Del the Funky Homosapien aka Deltron Zero aka Deltron 3030, one of my preferred hip hoppiters, and a bay area local. Other delightful appearances include Chali 2na, formerly of Jurassic 5.

Amplive Rainydayz Remixes, full album free for download: http://www.onesevensevensix.com/amplive/

Belleruche

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:44:06 -0800

Unfortunately I can’t give you an audio sample of the band I was obsessively playing during the recent holidays, as the only copies I have aren’t in mp3 format, but here’s a set of links:

http://www.belleruche.com/

http://hypem.com/search/belleruche/1/

http://www.last.fm/music/Belleruche

Belleruche, a pretty new British band, terms themselves “Turntable Soul Music,” which is pretty accurate. The singer has a terribly sexy voice in the Ella Fitzgerald smoky, gravelly tradition, and the supporting music has a downtempo DJ / Jazz Groove / Trip Hop quality that pulls in some big band samples. Veering sometimes into the Portishead arena, they have my heart.

Benny Sings - Get There (http://www.bennysings.com/) Second in...

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:27:28 -0800

Benny Sings - Get There (http://www.bennysings.com/)

Second in my Nu Jazz / Breakbeat kick is “Get There,” by Benny Sings. An excellent track for grooving down the street, with an ultra-catchy piano riff and some pleasantly repetitive sexy lyrics. Throw in a trumpet solo and you’ve got it. Yes, it, you have got.

Mr. Scruff - Get a move on (http://www.mrscruff.com/) “Get...

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:17:00 -0800

Mr. Scruff - Get a move on (http://www.mrscruff.com/)

“Get a move on” is one of my favorite songs in my new Nu Jazz / Breakbeat kick. Fuck, French Jazz + Modern DJs is my new favorite pony.

Google Suggest results for “how do you say”....

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:13:13 -0800

Google Suggest results for “how do you say”. Poignant.

This is serious. Watch this. Tokyo through a kaleidoscope.

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:47:15 -0800

This is serious. Watch this. Tokyo through a kaleidoscope.

livejamie: “Moon Music”

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 22:45:21 -0800

livejamie:

“Moon Music”

Ben Folds - You Don't Know Me (feat Regina Spektor)

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 22:44:48 -0800

Ben Folds - You Don't Know Me (feat Regina Spektor)

Insane tests

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:11:01 -0800

a thought: often, we programmers put sanity checks in our more complex tests to make sure the tests are doing what we expect them to (effectively: testing the tests). One should then expect that there is a class of, technically, insane tests (those failing their sanity checks).
and this has made my day.

Broadcast 2000

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:01:54 -0800

Delightful: http://hypem.com/track/600457/Broadcast+2000-GET+UP+AND+GO
Clever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKSec0k53qg
And very, very pretty: http://vimeo.com/2050356

I love space.

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 00:40:44 -0700

I love space.

via http://blog.sub-studio.com/

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 08:26:14 -0700

via http://blog.sub-studio.com/

"Now we all know Gov. Palin has a lot of foreign policy experience because from Alaska, she can see..."

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:03:06 -0700

“Now we all know Gov. Palin has a lot of foreign policy experience because from Alaska, she can see Russia. More to the point, Russia is on the other side of the international dateline from Alaska. It’s tomorrow there. So when Palin looks at it, she’s actually seeing the future.”

- Stephen Colbert

"Help NPR Fact-Check Tonight’s Debate Using Twitter: http://bit.ly/NWpDb During the VP debate,..."

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:48:17 -0700

“

Help NPR Fact-Check Tonight’s Debate Using Twitter: http://bit.ly/NWpDb

During the VP debate, you can research any questionable claims and tweet your findings with the tag #factcheck.

We’ll monitor your tweets, use them as we investigate the VP candidates’ claims, then publish results on our blog. http://tinyurl.com/3mxygf

”

- http://twitter.com/nprnews

100 Billion Dollar banknote.

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:19:16 -0700

Zimbabwe has introduced a 100-Billion-Dollar banknote, in response to an official inflation rate of 2,200,000%. That’s a lot, and is surely destroying the nation, but a billion dollar note’s gotta be a bit impressive. Can anyone find an image of it? Search though I may, the internets seem to be failing.