I will freely admit that I have not paid a lot of attention to this, but now it has my attention (or at least more of my attention). Boulder is attempting to divest itself of its existing energy sources, replacing them with its own, for the purpose of reducing its environmental impact. A plan has been constructed which is not only viable for Boulder, but for other communities in the country. There’s a rather stirring video about it here. It’s worth watching even if you don’t live in the area. read more

Here’s a brief but interesting TED Talk about how sound affects us. The second half is less interesting than the first, but it does make me think about the times I’ve walked out of a store because they’re playing some sort of horrible music too loudly.

(Thanks to Ray Maxwell at Eventide for bringing this to my attention.)

That’s me amongst the flowers in the back yard, bracketed by bells we’ve brought back from Japan. The flowers in front of me bear some mention because they’re actually not supposed to be there. They sprouted from seeds which fell from potted plants on the deck above and they’re growing in what’s supposed to be plant-free gravel. If I was smart, I would have pulled them when they came up, because their roots are certainly damaging the landscaping cloth which is underneath the gravel. Indeed, I did pull a number of other plants that sprouted in the same area. However, I am fond of cosmos, and couldn’t bring myself to pull the little ones. So, now I have a small forest of them. I’ve been trying to cut the dead flowers before they go to seed, in hopes of not encouraging another forest next year, but we can all guess about my willpower to exterminate that forest when it’s young. read more

When Chris Randall (the other half of Audio Damage) tweeted the following video, he introduced it by saying, “I’m still convinced this is the best thing ever made in the history of ever.” Yes, Chris is prone to hyperbole, but there is something oddly compelling about it:

I suppose its allure has something to do with not expecting a rapper to be passionate about architecture, or not expecting anyone to draw parallels between house construction and sampling. Maybe it’s just the line, “1949 style, bitch!” Whatever the explanation, maybe it is one of the best things ever made. read more

Regular readers of this blog have almost certainly noticed a paucity of postings over about the last 12 months, even compared to my usual low level of activity here. The short version of the explanation is this: the last 13 months have been very difficult for Tracie, and–by association–for me as well. To put it bluntly, things have been so difficult that I haven’t particularly felt like writing about much of anything, most of the time.

Over the past month, I’ve mentally worked on a long version of the explanation. It involves two incurable illnesses, one excruciating nerve condition, more than half a dozen doctors, more appointments with doctors than I can count, many tough choices and several disappointments. The story isn’t all bad; there have been triumphs as well, and Tracie’s in good shape now. But it’s going to take some time to write, and I find myself avoiding the trip down memory lane, because that lane is really rough for the last year. read more

Some day in the not-too-distant future I’ll put up a post of some snapshots I took in Japan to illustrate that our vacation wasn’t all bad. However, given that it’s snowing again right now, my next post will probably be about snow. In the mean time, however, here’s a fun video recently shot in Tokyo:

My main reason for posting this, besides it being fun in itself, is that it was shot in Asakusa, the neighborhood we stay in while in Tokyo. All of the locations in this video are familiar, including the one where most of it takes place. read more

There’s a Kickstarter campaign here for funding the production of a video about Don Buchla. As that page says, either you’re now wondering why such a documentary hasn’t been created already, or you’re now wondering who Don Buchla is. If you fall into the latter category, the short answer is that Don Buchla should be as famous as Robert Moog for his contributions to the world of electronic music instruments. He and Moog started building synthesizers at roughly the same time but went in somewhat different directions. It’s not coincidental that Moog was on the East Coast and Buchla was in California. It’s also not coincidental that they have rather different personalities (or rather had, since Moog is deceased). Having met them both in person, it seemed pretty clear to me that Moog’s more outgoing nature had a lot to do with his name becoming synonymous with the synthesizer itself, despite Buchla’s equally significant developments of the instrument.
The campaign closes in a few days and has not yet reached its goal. It’s close, but it’s not there yet. Please consider kicking in a few bucks to help document the work of one of my icons.
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