Xeeban's Musings

Ben and Jerry's to Chill Ice Cream with Sound

Some links today on several sites about thermoacoustic cooling. Seems Ben and Jerry's is planning to use this technology to cool ice cream in an environmentally friendly way and, along with Unilever, are sponsoring the project. Very neat!

The BBC also have an article about this.

Riemenschneider #73

I've just uploaded Riemenschneider #73 to the resources area. Enjoy and happy choraling!

Book Review - Butlerian Jihad

The Butlerian Jihad (Dune Series) by Kevin J. Anderson, Brian Herbert

Not a book in the same great company as Frank Herbert's Dune series, this book by his son and Kevin Anderson still does a good job of entertaining. Since its a prequel book, its dealing with events that are historical (maybe even mythical) in the Dune series. Here we see the Machines who control the majority of mankind and the struggles of those who seek to overthrow their oppressors.

I must admit that I am a Dune fan. I started reading Frank Herbert's Dune series when I was still a teenager. I've read the book several times each and love the rich detail and story that spans so many generations. Its a great story. So it was with some excitement that I leaned of his son and Kevin Anderson were writing prequel books. Their books on the events leading right up to the starting pages of Dune were very fun and it was nice to see some more of the background for the story.

The Butlerian Jihad starts a new series of stories in the Dune universe. Only this time, we are taken ten thousand years into the past, when mankind is still enslaved by thinking machines. There were questions raised in the original series, such as why no one used computers even though everything else was so advanced. Mentats and Gene Gesserits developed the human body to peak levels of performance and shunned what are daily companions in our own world. Why? Humanity seemed to be ruled by a type of monarchy with Emperors, Dukes, etc. Why?

This new series aims to answer these questions by taking us back into the dim past where events unfolded that shaped the original Dune universe. We see the beginnings of the Noble Houses. Two characters we meet are husband and wife, and each seems to be the seed of great powers in the original books. Here we see the beginnings of the Bene Gesserit and the first fortunes made that will become CHAOM.

We meet the exiled Zensunni who discovers how to ride the great sandworms. We see the first interest in the spice Melange. We see the invention of devices like the personal shield belt, floating glow lamps and visions of instantaneous travel between stars.

Its a book that seeks to set the foundation of things to come. Sometimes it feels a bit odd that so many of the things that form the background of the Dune series are founded, invented or discovered almost at the same time. Ten thousand years of history and the most important things occur in the span of days.

But overlooking that, its a nice story that fills in a lot of the history of Dune. Recommended for Dune fanatics who want to learn more about that universe of Frank Herbert. Others might enjoy the story, but its not as good as the original stories.

Scientists accomplish "Virgin" birth in labs - Men Obsolete!

http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,63203,00.html

Last week, Japanese researchers created a fatherless mouse using only female eggs, and turned the reproduction world on its head. The word on the street was men's role in baby making might one day be obsolete.

Okay I seriously doubt we'll vanish into a single sex race (we're too useful for the non-reproductive parts of the process...), but its pretty cool that they've managed to reproduce mice through parthenogenesis.

Riemenschneider #72

I just uploaded the MP3s for Riemenschneider #72. Again, only tenor emphasis, tho the second MP3 has all parts. If anyone out there wants the other parts with emphasis, just let me know and I'll produce it.

New Song - Clockwork Progression

I've uploaded an intial version of a new song to Soundclick. Its called Clockwork Progression and is a little different from my other stuff. Hope you like it!

Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind MP3 uploaded

I've uploaded the MP3 for Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind in the Resources -> Chorales section. Its has only emphasis for the tenor part as I don't have time to be nice and do all of them.

Army Scientists and Engineers Develop Liquid Body Armor

Army scientists and engineers have developed a liquid body armor.

The key component of liquid armor is a shear thickening fluid. STF is composed of hard particles suspended in a liquid. The liquid, polyethylene glycol, is non-toxic, and can withstand a wide range of temperatures. Hard, nano-particles of silica are the other components of STF. This combination of flowable and hard components results in a material with unusual properties.

"During normal handling, the STF is very deformable and flows like a liquid. However, once a bullet or frag hits the vest, it transitions to a rigid material, which prevents the projectile from penetrating the Soldier's body," said Dr. Eric Wetzel, a mechanical engineer from the Weapons and Materials Research Directorate who heads the project team.

Reminds me of when I was a little kid playing with water and corn starch. The paste poured and your finger sank into it if you did it slowly. But fast movement made the stuff pretty rigid. Looks like the same concept here, but much more advanced.

Some links to scientific articles about this:

• Advanced Body Armor Utilizing Shear Thickening Fluids
• The ballistic impact characteristics of Kevlar woven fabrics impregnated with colliodal sheer thickening fluid

iPod Cases

Apple's iPod has reached a cult like status amongst quality-conscious consumers. Something about it just screams quality and must have. But its a delicate device that is easilly scratched. To answer that problem, a bunch of companies have come out with nice cases for this device.

Recently I've bought a case from Vaja Cases a merchant in Buenos Aires that makes some sexy iPod cases. So far I am very happy with it. Its very well designed and built. It fits the iPod very snuggly, so it won't slip out. Even without the iPod inserted, its very rigid and sturdy. And its got a great leather smell. They must be popular. The price went up 20% in the last few days...

Gucci even makes a case... Someone else will have to review this one tho.

Rollercoaster Simulation

No Limits, a german website has a program that simulates rollercoasters. People from all over the world have used this program to simulate almost all of the worlds rollercoasters in every detail. Want to know what the ride in Disney's California Adventure is like? Load it up and take a ride! Its very cool, and kind of scary how much content people have produced for it.

Demo Scene

The Demo Scene (link may not work) has always facinated me. Programmers gather to produce very compact, very cool programs that show off graphics and music in as little code as possible. The stuff produced is often less than 64k in size, but has enormous amounts of content. Its mind blowing when you see it and realize that there is only 64k of code running these things.

This group has some pretty impressive demos. They have recently released a First Person Shooter (ala Quake) that runs on less than 100k of code. Damn.

MySQL clusters!

MySQL AB, developer of the world's most popular open source database, today launched MySQL Cluster, a new open source database clustering technology for applications requiring continuous availability. MySQL Cluster combines the MySQL® database with a clustering architecture to deliver 99.999 percent availability to mission-critical database applications. It is the first affordable, enterprise-scale database clustering software.

This is very cool! Five 9s reliability in an open source database. Great for those "mission-critical" hobbies =) It looks like its released under a dual license, one open source and one commercial license for software vendors and commercial MySQL customers.

Full press release here.
MySQL Cluster FAQ

Big Quake in So. Cal Predicted

This article is a news item about a scientist who is predicting a large earthquake in southern California sometime before September 5th.

A US geophysicist has set the scientific world ablaze by claiming to have cracked a holy grail: accurate earthquake prediction, and warning that a big one will soon hit southern California.

Its both scary and good news rolled into one. A big quake in a heavily populated are will not be a good thing, but if the science behind it is valid, then we have a new method of predicting earthquakes months ahead of time. That will save a lot of lives if used properly.

Tax Time Cometh

I spent a few hours this weekend finishing up my taxes. I am always suprised each year at how much a pain in the butt the whole process is. Luckilly I've been using Turbo Tax for the web. Its saved me literally hours of frustration and hassle. Its a nifty web-based program that pretty much walks you through all the details of doing your taxes. It even checks for errors, gives suggestions for missed deductions, and is all around a very cool thing to use.

It just takes a few minutes to get all the various W2, 1099 and other forms you have, log into the website, and a while later you're all done. Highly recommended. Even better, you can then file electronically and ask that any refunds be sent via direct deposit. No fuss, no mess. We live in glorious times that even tax time is easier.

A Manifesto for Collaborative Tools

There is an interesting link via Slashdot this morning called A Manifesto for Collaborative Tools.

This essay is a manifesto about software for collaboration -- why the world's future depends on it, why the current crop of tools isn't good enough, and what programmers can and must do about it.

The article talks about the need for the evolution of collaborative software. We have blogs and wikis and instant messaging. I think that these are the first steps into true collaboration space. The article talks about backlinks and the importance of knowing who is referencing you to get a full circle of feedback. Blogs with "Trackbacks" are a good step in this direction, and a necessary feature if we want to analyze how an article or idea spreads throughout the mind space of the Internet.

I have a particular interest in making traditionally standalone applications incorporate collaborative features. One area of particular interest is programming IDEs (Integrated Development Environments) as developing one is my day job.

Largely, IDEs and development tools have reached a temporary plateau. All the leading IDEs contain largely the same features. Recent fads like refactoring and unit testing have filtered through the various IDEs and most support a rich set of features to support those concepts. The high degree of competition has propelled these products to the same pinnacle where one looks very much like the other. On top of that, IDEs are becoming more and more commoditized with Open Source projects like Eclipse effectively competing with commercial offerings. You can now have all the features for free, to the shock and horror of the commercial companies.

I believe that the next evolution of these tools is to add collaboration features. If commercial products want to stay competitive, they must differentiate and add more value than the Open Source alternatives. But will they clue in to the emerging needs of collaboration?

Programmers are rarely creating a solo project. They are more often just one member of a larger team combining their skills to produce a product. Because of this, IDEs seem to be a natural environment to implement better collaboration tools. Imbed the instant messaging to have instant communication for questions or answers to problems. Imbed document sharing so two or more developers can share files outside of the normal version control system. Imbed the shared wiki for gathering requirements and creating specs. Imbed a blog so developers can keep a running diary of their work, ideas and problems. By making these tools more collaborative, you make it easier to share information, coordinate deliverables and maintain valuable up-to-date communications.

Its a natural evolution. IDEs will become more collaborative. It will be the next race between commercial and open source products.

Internet's Top 100 Sci-fi/Fantasy

I've found a neat list of the Internet's top 100 sci-fi and fantasy books. I am currently working my way down the list and reading those books I have not yet read. Lots of great reading for the summer =) I'll update my book list as I get them.

G Major / G Minor Triads

I've posted MP3s for G Major and G Minor. These are for solfege practice. There two MP3s with just the arpeggiated notes, one at a slow tempo and another slightly faster. The other two MP3s are blocked with chords to sing the arpeggiated solfege against, one slow and one fast.

G Major
G Minor

The progressions are the root and 1st inversions. These in major and minor form one of the cornerstones of your harmonic grid.

Ringworld Mini-series!

The Sci-fi channel is making a mini-series on Larry Niven's Ringworld!

RINGWORLD: Based on Larry Niven's RINGWORLD series of novels, a four-hour mini-series is in development. In the future four explorers crash on an artificial structure in deep space, a mammoth ring that circles a distant star. Exploring this strange place, the humans discover that there is life here and secrets that could change the universe forever.

Link to source here.

Solfege Progressions

I've added two new harmonic progressions to the solfege page in the resources area. Progression 1 is an ascending progression. Progression 2 is a descending progression. I've included two MP3s for each. One at 80 bpm and faster one at 100 bpm. The solfege for the progressions is indicated below the MP3 links.

The progressions are:

Progression 1: i - ii73 - V6/III (VII) - III - i6 - V6/iv (I6) - iv - i6 - ii73 - vii6 - i
Progression 2: i V6 - v6 - IV6 - iv6 - i64 - V4-3 - V - V6 - i

Enjoy.

Google's Real Power

A lot of noise is being made about Google's new web mail service, GMail. But here is a blog entry that talks about the real power of Google and why they are going to dominate the next decade of the Web.

A quote from the blog:

Google has taken the last 10 years of systems software research out of university labs, and built their own proprietary, production quality system. What is this platform that Google is building? It's a distributed computing platform that can manage web-scale datasets on 100,000 node server clusters. It includes a petabyte, distributed, fault tolerant filesystem, distributed RPC code, probably network shared memory and process migration. And a datacenter management system which lets a handful of ops engineers effectively run 100,000 servers. Any of these projects could be the sole focus of a startup.

Daylight Savings

Did you remember to set your clock forward an hour? I've always hated Daylight Savings time. I lose an hour of sleep! Grrr.

New Sony Ericsson Phones

I am drooling over these new phones from Sony Ericsson. I just got my new T-610 phone and am very happy with it, but these new phones are so much more drool worthy.

The K700
The S700

Soccer Robots!

Okay, this is one of the coolest things I've seen in a while. Robots that can play soccer. No just the basic game, but they can do things like hand stands, get up from the ground, hang their heads in shame. Take a look at the little movies that are on the site. Sweet stuff!

Here is a sample: one of the robots doing a handstand.

Solfege Tutorial

This was in my old blog, and it is important enough, I wanted to make sure it was here. I've run across some neat tutorials on solfege that are a great introduction to the whys and hows of it all. Read them here:

Introduction to Solfege
Solfege - Part 2
Solfege - Part 3

Solfege resources rebuilt

I've reconstructed the solfege section in the Resources area. I'll be adding more to it in the coming days, but the basic files are back. I'll try to add some more tutorial materials as well to make it more complete. Enjoy.

Polyphasic Sleep

A while back, several friends and I started blogging about an experiment we did regarding our sleep. We attempted something called polyphasic sleep, or "Uberman Sleep" as its known on the net. You can read my blog about it from the link labeled "Polyphasic Sleep".

Its been a while since I updated that blog, so I'll use this one to post any new developments. One question that I get frequently is if I am still on it. The short answer is "not really."

Why? Read on.

After about 100 days of living a polyphasic lifestyle, I decided to quit. While I did find that it was a useful tool to get extra waking hours in the day, it was too much of an effort. Being polyphasic in a predominantly monophasic world is hard. Not physically hard, as your body adjusts after a while. It was psychologically hard, in the sense that I do not live in a social vacuum and fitting in with other people's lives takes a certain amount of compromise. Slipping off to take my naps was novel at first, but towards the end, it was too much of a chore to maintain and make excuses at the same time every day. And for polyphasic sleep to work, you have to stick to a rigid schedule. For some people, it might work great, but for me, it was just too hard to stick to as my life is not completely predictable.

But you can see, I did not answer with a stright, "No." That is because I do go back to polyphasic patterns now and then when my life is overdemanding of my time. For instance, right now I am back in school 8 hours a week with 3 hours of lab and about 10 hours of homework. Add to that a full time programming job and I've got very little time to pursue other things.

So right now I average about 5-6 hours of sleep a night, and I supplement that with a nap in the afternoons. Its what I would call the very lightest of polyphasic sleep schedules. If my sleep drops to less than that, I will start a regular nap schedule to compensate. But right now, a single nap around 3pm when I am the most tired seems to do the trick. Since its a single nap, I can sneak it in at random times sometime during the afternoon. There is no rigid schedule to stick to and its not so akward.

But if there is no pressing need to be polyphasic, I will switch back to a monophasic sleep schedule just because its easier and fits in better with the schedules most other people have.

For stories and examples of a more extreme polyphasic schedule, see my other blog.

Studio pictures are back

I've dug deep into my browser's on-disk cache and discovered that I has some JPEGs of my studio there, and a quick search of Google recovered my old studio page. So with those two serendipitous events, I've been able to reconstruct my studio page. Enjoy!

Fresh Start

Here I am with a brand spankin' new site. Why, you may ask? Well... its a painful story of how a stupid person picked the wrong hosting company and basically lost everything to a hard drive crash. My provider was doing a "routine" upgrade of hardware when there was a problem... then my web site went "black" (off-line, down, buh-bye) for 5 days without a single response to several frantic support tickets. Then on the 5th day, the bad news. Really bad news. They lost a hard drive. A score of customers were affected in some way. A handful lost everything. And, oops, sorry, we don't have any backups. Yes, I was one of those unlucky few to loose it all. Poof, digital oblivion.

So here I am. New provider (that does regular backups!), new blogging software. Let's hope that this time I stay around for a while... =)