July 31, 2008
Time warp

Through the Quartz Composer work of Memo Akten:

Timestretching (Slit-scan) in Quartz Composer | memo.tv

I found this site:

An Informal Catalogue of Slit-Scan Video Artworks and Research - Golan Levin and Collaborators

Which included a link to this:

KHRONOS PROJECTOR - Alvaro Cassinelli

And this interactive sunset:

sketch_KHRONOS : Built with Processing

Posted by Dave at 11:42 AM
July 29, 2008
Quartz Composer tutorials

I'm over my head but I'm making progress. And they couldn't make it easier - tinker toy programming. Or Legos, for the under-50 set.

Working with Quartz Composer

Graphics & Imaging Quartz Guides

Quartz Composer: Lighting 3D Cubes and Moving them with Audio Input on Vimeo

Posted by Dave at 11:10 AM
July 28, 2008
Calamida Pública" por las lluvias

State of emergency in Guatemala due to the heavy rains.

:: EmisorasUnidas.com :: Decretan estado de "Calamidad Pública" en 8 departamentos

Posted by Dave at 02:52 PM
Howlers on NPR

Thanks to Elaine Schele for the link.

Sounds From The Wild: Noisy New World Monkeys : NPR

Posted by Dave at 10:18 AM
July 26, 2008
Storms and Flooding in the Frontera Maya

Deja tormenta tropical Dolly inundaciones en Chiapas - El Universal - Los Estados

Posted by Dave at 08:14 PM
Quartz Composer, Fisheye view plugin

I found a busy litlle hive of Quartz hackers working on just what I want to play with for dome projection. This and Paul Bourke's work should do it, if I can come up to speed.

Fisheye view plugin? | Kineme

The Kineme site has a wealth of Quartz plugins and patches. Christopher Wright of Kineme has posted tutorials on Vimeo. Here's the first that you'd need to use his Quartz plugins

How To Install 3rd Party Plug-Ins for Quartz Composer on Vimeo

From a link in that thread, this music-controlled graphics test is interesting:

Amoeba Dance - Caliper Remote | memo.tv

And as a side note - a realtime video manipulation program for the Mac (company based in Troy, New York)

VIDVOX

Posted by Dave at 12:02 PM
July 25, 2008
Domeview


We had a glimpse of this tool in Chicago this summer.

Domeview: A tool to preview and project dome content

Posted by Dave at 06:46 PM
July 24, 2008
More Immigrant problems on Guatemala border

Narcotraffickers are extorting and kidnapping travellers across the border into Mexico.

Selva Guatemala trae nuevos peligros para emigrantes hacia EEUU | América Latina | Reuters

Posted by Dave at 02:02 PM
July 23, 2008
Google opens Knol

Their version of Wikipedia.

Official Google Blog: Knol is open to everyone

Here are some knol-writing How-to's:

Basics of Writing Knols - a knol by Knol Help

Advanced Knol Techniques - a knol by Knol Help

Posted by Dave at 04:11 PM
Final Cut Studio, Server Tutorials

One of the best uses for the iPhone that I've found is storing and studying video tutorials. You will have to let the videos on the page below stream until completed, and you will need Quicktime Pro, but they are easily saved and loaded onto an iPhone or iPod.

Apple - Final Cut Studio 2 - Tutorials - Soundtrack Pro - Surround Sound Editing

Posted by Dave at 10:51 AM
July 22, 2008
People and Tools at Pixar

Fascinating interviews with the Wall-E team give insights into their working methods and custom tools. The tool article dates back a few years but describes a simple and elegant collaborative system they devised for The Incredibles.

adaptive path » blog » Peter Merholz » Conversation with Michael B. Johnson of Pixar - Part 1

Animation World Magazine - Hello, WALL•E!: Pixar Reaches for the Stars

Tool Time at Pixar

Posted by Dave at 11:24 AM
Going Solar

Good, detailed report on one family's installation of solar panels and the results obtained.

Going Solar: The Install - CPUs, Boards & Components by ExtremeTech

Going Solar Power: One Month Later - CPUs, Boards & Components by ExtremeTech

Posted by Dave at 11:11 AM
July 19, 2008
Zombie Astronaut

Part of my Canada research. Includes the Canadia 2056 unofficial podcast.

the Blog of the Zombie Astronaut

Posted by Dave at 01:03 AM
July 16, 2008
Solar Land Rush

Solar thermal rush to acquire land in the southwest.

Solar's hot real estate market - Jul. 8, 2008

Posted by Dave at 11:57 AM
Cern and High Speed Networks

Why I am scheming now.

The 15-petabyte network and the atom smasher - CNET News.com

Quote:

Andrew Sansum, tier one manager at RAL, said its connection with CERN is about 1,000 times faster than the download speeds on a home broadband connection.

It may be less than two decades before commercial networks catch up: "Video and other media services are going to push the speed of consumer network connections up as the demand is going to be huge," Sansum said. "We were at today's speed of about 10Mbps about 10 to 15 years ago, so you could take that as a precedent for how long it will take for the commercial networks to catch up with us today."

Posted by Dave at 11:44 AM
Distributed Energy Monitoring

Opening the APIs for a sytem to monitor energy-producing systems like solar panels.

Fat Spaniel: Distributed energy meets Web 2.0 | Green Tech - CNET News.com

Posted by Dave at 11:40 AM
July 15, 2008
Palm oil for fuel in Guatemala

Go south of the Lacandon forest, past the Lacantun river, past the Marques de Comillas, and cross the east-west running border into Guatemala - you arrive at Ixcan. This area is now receiving foreign investment to convert to African palm oil plantations. So the conversion of rainforest to small homesteaders' plts to cattle ranches takes the next step - to biodiesel.

elPeriódico de Guatemala » Economía » Auge de biocombustibles dispara demanda de tierras

Posted by Dave at 01:40 PM
July 14, 2008
July 12, 2008
Ponyboy's VR links page

Good source for tutorials and utilities.

Ponyboy's Web Pages - QTVR Links

Posted by Dave at 11:14 PM
Flickr Pool, Equirectangular images

Good source of images for viewing, experimenting.

Flickr: The Equirectangular Pool

Posted by Dave at 11:12 PM
July 11, 2008
Fermenting ethanol from wood chips

Fill your car for $1.10 a gallon? | Videos on ZDNet

Posted by Dave at 11:22 AM
July 10, 2008
$30 million to protect forest, sites

The Inter-American Development Bank has given US$30 million to Guatemala for use in rural development projects and for the protection of archaeological sites in southern Peten.

Prensa Libre - Ambiente: US$30 millones para Petén

Posted by Dave at 01:28 PM
Drug war in Peten continues


With 0ver 700 kilos of cocaine captured in 2007, 2000 in 2008. The photo above shows the back of the colonel who showed me the landing strips and crashed narcotraffickers' planes in 2006.

Siglo XXI - Aterrizan 30 avionetas con coca en 7 meses

Posted by Dave at 01:08 PM
July 08, 2008
MAN LAN

A "high performance exchange point in New York City" that I need to know more about. A presentation on Cinegrid at the Fulldome Summit led me to MAN LAN as the closest point that we might use to join in a high speed network of domes. Ask me about it in 2012.

MAN LAN

Posted by Dave at 10:45 PM
July 07, 2008
Set wider Field of View in SketchUp

Good tip from Dock James in the Fulldome list. Looking for a way to increase FOV past 120 degrees to 180 or more.

Official Google SketchUp Blog: Setting your field of view

Posted by Dave at 03:46 PM
July 06, 2008
Origami Canoe

canoesilo.jpg

You'll need to interpolate the seat from the photo (good luck) and the end details are a bit tricky, but it can be done with these online instructions - an origami canoe.

Adirondack Life, Inc. - July/August 2008: Paper Work

Posted by Dave at 10:33 PM
July 05, 2008
Hue's guide to Fulldome Production

200x250hue.jpg

I may have posted this before, but I met Hue at the Domefest in Chicago this week and saw more of her amazing work. I think I am ready now to start learning something new.

ARTS Lab - Tutorials - Hue's Beginner's Guide to Fulldome Production

And when I am really ready, I'll take the first step.

ARTS Lab - Tutorials - Making a Hemi-cubic 3D Camera in Maya

Where does Hue work?

ARTS Lab FACILITIES: The Fulldome

Posted by Dave at 11:15 AM