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Archive for 2009

Roanoke Times

Monday, December 28th, 2009

I was quoted in today’s Roanoke times, in an article on computer-generated puzzles. Roanoke Times Link For more information about algorithmic puzzle construction, check out this article I wrote for MungBeing magazine.

Powers of Ten

Friday, November 20th, 2009

An oldie-but-goodie – the film “Powers of Ten” by Charles and Ray Eames.

Incremental Drift on the Riemann Sphere

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

A Whitney Music Box mathematical mash-up from Daniel Piker. He describes it as follows: “Take 1 large ‘Whitney Music Box’ and whisk together with ‘Mobius transformations revealed’. Add a sprinkle of ‘Indras Pearls’, the juice of a fresh Riemann Sphere, and stereographically project at 200C until crispy…” link

Perpetuum Jazzile

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

A remarkable choir from Slovenia.

The Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity

Friday, October 16th, 2009

From Marc Andreessen comes this excellent short guide to personal productivity. Following Mark’s advice, I’m buying one of those cool fisher space pens right now, as a form of structured procrastination. Oh, I love that term.

Indoor Autonomous Helicopter

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

An indoor autonomous helicopter from MIT. Can the remotely piloted dragonfly from Danny Dunn, Invisible Boy be far behind?

The Fun Theory

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

I found these amusing Volkswagen ads on the excellent Laughing Squid:

It will be sunny one day

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

On this rainy Los Angeles day, I thought I’d post a link to this wonderful letter from actor Stephen Fry, to a depressed fan. Here’s an excerpt: I’ve found that it’s of some help to think of one’s moods and feelings about the world as being similar to weather: Here are some obvious things about […]

I am a ______, ask me anything.

Saturday, October 10th, 2009

I’ve found the IAmA section on Reddit to be an endless source of fascination the past couple of weeks. It’s essentially a 21st century version of “True Confessions” magazine. Some recent entries: I am a male stripper. Ask me anything. My blog is my principal source of income. Ask me anything. I worked at a […]

Musical Chess

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

Beth Block shot and edited this video excerpt of my piece ‘Kasparov vs. Deep Blue’ at last June’s concert in Eagle Rock. In this piece, a computer-chess engine produces music in real-time as actors recreate a famous chess match on a chess board which is wired to the computer. The music is a very literal […]