Stuff . . .

Had a great weekend. Looking forward to this and looking for Norwegian language courses in the area. Also, I considering putting WordPress into play and getting away from the static page stuff. No more static pages. Must by an iPhone and a new laptop . . . stuff for research, etc.

jg

Oh, come on!

Apparently the Grammys have dropped the polka music category.

BBC, Brock Broadcasting Company

My buddy Brock and his Brockenspiel were featured on the Beeb this week. In this episode, the Arduino.

Grow up.

As graduation has just completed and all have matriculated along to bigger and better things, I wanted to leave you with this . . . and also use this to gear up for the next semester. I wish someone would have sat me down and delivered this direct sermon to me when I was 25, alas . . .

Excerpted from Tomato Nation, do read the entire post, it gets better and better:

If you have reached the age of 25, I have a bit of bad news for you, to wit: it is time, if you have not already done so, for you to emerge from your cocoon of post-adolescent dithering and self-absorption and join the rest of us in the world. Past the quarter-century mark, you see, certain actions, attitudes, and behaviors will simply no longer do, and while it might seem unpleasant to feign a maturity and solicitousness towards others that you may not genuinely feel, it is not only appreciated by others but necessary for your continued survival. Continuing to insist past that point that good manners, thoughtfulness, and grooming oppress you in some way is inappropriate and irritating.

Grow up.

And when I instruct you to grow up, I do not mean that you must read up on mortgage rates, put aside candy necklaces, or desist from substituting the word "poo" for crucial syllables of movie titles. Silliness is not only still permitted but actively encouraged. You must, however, stop viewing carelessness, tardiness, helplessness, or any other quality better suited to a child as either charming or somehow beyond your control. A certain grace period for the development of basic consideration and self-sufficiency is assumed, but once you have turned 25, the grace period is over, and starring in a film in your head in which you walk the earth alone is no longer considered a valid lifestyle choice, but rather grounds for exclusion from social occasions.

And now, for those of you who might have misplaced them, marching orders for everyone born before 1980.

Good stuff for kids of any age.

Cube Project 2009

Hey, what can I say, some days you wake up with a silly idea and then all of a sudden you realize that you are going to have to buy all the components and make the damn thing. Ah, prototyping by fire. I present, Cube Project 2009, to show up May 15th at Columbia College Chicago . . . bite . . . chewing . . . too much!

With students Laura Thompson (I want to build things . . .) and Gary Krupcek (I am really wanting to look into this Pure Data thing) we are building 3 to 6 three-dimensional objects, presently mainly cubes, roughly 5 x 5 x 5 inches . . . or about the size of a CD case, but cubed . . . get it. The cubes are equipped with tilt switches and an on-board PIC microcontroller (very small computer), so the cube 'knows' what side it is on at any given time. For this project we are using the Arduino model of chip (specifically, the Arduino Pro).

The switch information (the orientation of the cube) is being sent via wireless (XBee Radio) to a computer running Pure Data. In turn, Pure Data orchestrates an ever-changing sound design enveloping a table where these cubes sit.

As 'interactors' change the orientation of the cubes, the sound design changes. Also, the cubes provide a visual feedback by glowing and pulsing at different rates and colors (in tandem with the sound design) as they are being manipulated. Right?

Here are some pictures of the third prototype (this one done in pizza box cardboard, it's free):


First, we take a side of the cube and secure four tilt switches. The switches are placed at 45° angles so they are forced to be either tilted ON or OFF. If they were lying flat, the little bearing inside might just get stuck in a horizontal position and not read correctly (especially if all four are oriented on the bottom. So the little pitch forces an either ON or OFF orientation.


Next, we put in a ground loop for all four sensors.


In that little section of cardboard are four resistors, attached to the incoming +5 volt, uh . . . voltage. The resistors are needed to control the voltage, so the microcontroller can read it as either ON (+5, High) or OFF (+0, Low).


Here, the resistors have been hooked up to the other lead of the sensors, and then a separate wire will come off the sensors and go into the digital input pins of the microcontroller. Why did we not take a photo of this last step, I have no idea.


And here is the final Protoype #3. See, we have two sensor arrays, and I have just realized, we only need one sensor array to make this work. Yippie, less fabrication!

So, next week, wireless modem programming and PCB etching. Look, I made a smaller (2 x 2 inch board) for the sensors.


We will make them this week . . . etching copper with acid, fun. We will let you know how things work out. Thanks to Laura for the photos.

jg

Happy Birthday FUTURISM!!!

100 Years ago today, F T Marinetti published a copy of his Futurist Manifesto on the front page of Le Figaro in Italy, kicking off a frantic wave of manifesto production which has yet to let up to this day where we find ourselves awash in a sea of -isms: Futurism, Surrealism, Cubism, Dadaism, etc.-ism.

Happy Birthday, comrades.

jg

James "Jim" Murphy RIP

I received an email from his wife that Jim Murphy passed away on December 16th, 2008. Jim was probably one of my oldest friends in Chicago. He worked in the finance department at Lyric Opera Chicago (he started there as an Assistant Stage Manager) and ended up putting his business savvy to good use monitoring stocks for the Opera's endowment. Over the years we had formed a strong bond, and we kept in contact. When Angela and I returned from Ireland/France, he was the first person I contacted. He and I go way back.

Jim was a great saxophone player and he used to bring over his Music-Minus-One CD's and hand me the trombone part to play on my euphonium. I was not a jazzer, but Jim was. Jim was also a Band-In-The-Box fanatic, using this software to recreate charts and record himself playing along. Eventually he moved over to the tin whistle (he said he was getting tired of carry the alto around . . . "It's a hell of alot lighter!" he'd say and then flash that cheezy grin.) He was a brother, a buddy, a friend. He encouraged me and I will never forget that.

He always drank Lite beer (he never wanted anything too fancy . . . OK, maybe a Guinness once or twice). In 98 to 99 we hung around alot (more after I left Lyric). He used to come over to my apartment and we would record and goof around. He contributed a great deal to the score for the Anatomical Theatre's swing-inspired work "Jack Black and Bessie Blue," providing the alto sax samples and pushing me in the right direction.

One of my fondest memories was walking down Chicago Avenue on a warm summer night looking for a bar to have a few beers. The windowless Star Lounge beckoned for some reason. A Puerto Rican bar we assumed. (You had to buzz to get in!) We were the only fair-skinned people in the place, but Jim didn't seem to mind. I remember how he commented on how clean the place was . . . from the outside it looked quite dodgy . . . but inside a family bar with children, soccer on the televisions, and not a word of English spoken . . . except to us, of course. If it is still there, I am going to go back and have a few Lites in his memory.

There are more stories and I will tell them later. Ask me about the performance piece we did with Steve Dumbacher in 1996-97. We dressed up as a lounge act and did amorphic music. Silly, very silly.

He loved his wife Ro deeply and always was sure to get home and not make it too long a night. Jim exhibited a type of sarcasm and dead-end humor that made him so dear to us all. He was unassuming and pure, always true to himself and to those around him.

He was a friend.

Obituary follows:

BROOKFIELD - James Patrick Murphy, 49, of Brookfield, formerly of Springfield, passed away suddenly of cardiac arrest on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2008, at Adventist Hospital. He was affectionately known as "Jim" to his friends and family.

Jim was born on May 8, 1959, in Decatur, the son of R. Richard Murphy and Eleanor Edith Rimini Murphy. He married Rosemary Lynch of Oak Park in 1996.

He graduated from Quincy College (now Quincy University) with a bachelor's degree in music business. He graduated from Griffin High School in Springfield in 1977.

He was employed as an accountant for the Lyric Opera Company of Chicago where he had worked for more than 20 years and where he found and met his loving wife, Rosemary.

Jim was an accomplished jazz musician who played saxophone with various ensembles in Chicago and in his early career was part of a band that recorded with a major studio in New York. He had also recently begun an exploration of his Celtic roots playing the Irish whistle in several traditional Celtic bands in the Chicago area.

He was an avid cross country skier and had recently taken up the sport of bowhunting. This latter activity allowed for frequent return trips to central Illinois and was just beginning to provide the opportunity to reconnect with family and friends in his hometown.

He is survived by his wife, Rosemary Lynch of Brookfield; a brother, Michael (wife, Jean) Murphy and a sister, Michelle (husband, Mark) McHenry of Springfield; and numerous nieces and nephews who hold him in fond regard.

Family will receive friends for a visitation on Friday, Dec. 19, 2008, from 4 to 8 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 20, 2008, at 10 a.m. until time of prayer service at 11 a.m. at Drechsler, Brown & Williams Funeral Home, 203 S. Marion St., Oak Park. Information at (708) 383-3191. Internment services at Queen of Heaven Cemetery.

A memorial fund is being established in his name at the Lyric Opera Company of Chicago.