Aku Aku

Google Fabric of the Universe

Last night I had this great dream. I was hanging out in some weird but fancy hotel with my friend Irene and a bunch of other people. The scene seemed a bit like a dream sequence from Satoshi Kon's Paprika right on the threshold of where it gets weird. Irene (who works for Google) started showing me this new thing she'd been working on that I think she called Google Fabric of the Universe™. And then she started pointing at objects in the room and suddenly a floating overlay of scripting code would popup between us and the object and she would start manipulating it. It was a bit like the Javascript console in Firebug, except it was shimmering half opacity entire multiline blocks of code. In fact the code looked like Javascript, which I found annoying. Surely the fabric of the universe source code should be
something designed for concurrency like Erlang.

Anyhow, she started adding methods on objects and dispatching events. I guess it looked a little like Second Life except with an interactive console and hella better graphics. Tables started floating in the air, a toy fish started swimming around us. She showed me how to access the console (unfortunately I don't remember that part now) and I started experimenting. It was like being Neo from The Matrix. I was doing things like adding speech modules to the toy fish, connecting motion drivers to the callback delegates on people's shoes and making the wallpaper start to play YouTube videos. It was fun. It turned a bit darker when someone else started playing and they spawned a succubus that I spent most of the rest of the dream fending off. I made physical shields out of other objects in the room and brought in a flood and spawned a kayak to escape. Not sure what happened to Irene, but I'm sure she was OK. She works for Google.

p.s I've been hacking a lot lately, in case that wasn't obvious.

45 of 52: F*ck Oil

This one was a very expensive thing to produce, but here it goes:

F*ck Oil from Dav Yaginuma on Vimeo.

F*ck Oil

F*ck Oil from Dav Yaginuma on Vimeo.

F*ck Oil

Space Underpants!

Throw away those 20th century boxers with holes in them, time for some 21st Century Space Underwear (from Japan naturally): designed to kill bacteria, absorb water, insulate the body, dry quickly, resist flames and do away with that pressing concern of modern fashion — static cling. They're also comfy and stylish.

Smell wars: Japanese astronaut testing stink-free underwear

In space, no one can hear you scream, "Change your shorts!" So, in the name of odor-free orbiting, the first Japanese astronaut to live on the International Space Station is the guinea pig for some new high-tech underwear developed at Japan Women's University, Reuters tells us.

Koichi Wakata's zero-gravity "J-ware" is designed to kill bacteria, absorb water, insulate the body, dry quickly, resist flames and do away with that pressing concern of modern fashion — static cling. They're also comfy and stylish.

"He can wear his trunks more than a week," said Koji Yanagawa, an official with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Another Japanese astronaut gave the clothes a dry run last year during a shuttle mission. "The other astronauts become very sweaty, but he doesn't have any sweat. He didn't need to hang his clothes to dry," Yanagawa added.

The new space skivvies are likely to cut down on the amount of clothing sent to the ISS, which lacks a laundry room.

Once development is finished, the Japanese space agency plans to make the clothes available to NASA and its other space station partners. After that, look for them at your local mall.

Surely they'll also have the anti-skid mark, auto-tweeting and self-shaking options by the time it hits the mall.

Wikirank: Three Crises Faceoff

Climate change, Peak oil, and Financial crisis on Wikirank

Wikirank: Climate Change vs Peak Oil vs Economic Crisis

12 Albums That Changed Your Life

Another one of those Facebook tagged notes things. This one from my long lost pal Jeff. Jeff, as it turns out, had a big impact on the music portion of my life, so I have to respond to this one.

I am taking the title of this literally, so these are not necessarily my favorite albums, although many of them fit that as well, but ones that had an impact on the course of my life. They are more or less in chronological order.

The Clash - Combat Rock
At age 14.5 I got a NC Work Permit and took on a part time job as a dishwasher in a local seafood restaurant. Three weeks later I cashed my first paycheck and bought a boombox and this cassette tape. I didn't really know anything about The Clash. I think I had just heard Should I Stay or Should I Go Now on the radio. But I ended up loving this whole album. It was my introduction to anarchopunk, leanings although they remained under the surface for many years afterward, as I never went for the punk uniform or hung out much in the punk scene. Know your rights!

Jethro Tull - Living in the Past
Most of my friends give a strange look when I start to exclaim my respect for Jethro Tull. Motherfuckers rock out on songs featuring a flute and 5/4 time signature! That takes talent. My HS friends Jeff and Chris had the best record collections. This was one of Jeff's. He was a huge JT fan and introduced me to a lot of music along this vein. He was also a talented musician himself on percussion anf keyboard. Anyhow, it's tough for me to nail down a particular Jethro Tull album, but I believe this one was a sort of hits compilation so it's probably a good one to go with.

Yes - Classic Yes
This one I got introduced to by Chris. It is also a hits album, but it's one I still listen to on a regular basis to this day. Just like Jethro Tull, this was a band nerd's sort of rock group. The songs were technical, dynamic and innovative. The lyrics were poetic. I would put on headphones and trip out to this years before I ever went to college and actually tried psychedelics. Yes didn't transition well to the new era but the classic stuff remains forever Classic to me.

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
I went to this concert film at a completely empty theater and spent much of the film dancing around by myself. It's still one of my favorite music related memories.

Pressure Boys- Krandlebanum Monumentus
As mentioned in a previous post, this was the first indie rock band I ever saw, and they blew me away. The album had a great cover and they were rocking the ska-punk sound years before the ska thing ever got national air play. In fact when groups like Mighty Mighty Bosstones started popping up I always thought they sucked becuase I was comparing them to the Pressure Boys. I can tell you what was missing: the punk part. I'm very bummed to have just learned I missed their reunion show last year back in NC.

Poi Dog Pondering - Wishing Like a Mountain and Thinking Like the Sea
This was the first band that zero of my friends liked but I couldn't care less. I bought every album. As far as I knew I was their only fan in North Carolina until a girlfriend got me tickets to a gig up in Chapel Hill and I discovered a packed house with some of the best crowd energy I've ever seen at a show. I sing my daughter one of their songs at bedtime often (Spending the Day in the Shirt That You Wore.

Steve Miller Band - Greatest Hits
This album mostly had an affect on my life because around 1990 I traded this CD for a futon, and I slept on that futon up until my wife made me throw it away and get a tempurpedic in 2005. Still, I'm ok with Steve Miller. I've got a live album that totally rocks.

Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust
Hey check it out. Electronica doesn't have to suck! This album freed me from the guilt of enjoying electronica music even though I knew it kind of sucked. Thanks. I drove with some friends from NC to Chicago to see the Chemical Brothers and it was so damn loud that I lost hearing in one ear for 24 hours and suffered some permanent hearing loss.

DJ Z-Trip & Radar -  Live at Future Primitive Sound Vol II
This album gave me a new appreciation for DJs. It starts off a little slow, but by midway it completely throws down, mixing classic rock and hiphop in a way that was fresh at its time. Exposure to this album and the subsequent following of the Future Primitive activites here in San Francisco probably had the effect of pushing my appreciation of street art to a higher level.

Nick Drake - Pink Moon
A girlfriend turned me on to him in the late 90s. I thought his music was raw, ethereal and haunting. His personal story of suffering and suicide only added to the poignancy of each song. Later his music resurfaced in public consciousness via the splash of the title track being used in a popular Volkswagen TV commercial. For several years my alarm clock was a series of three songs that played each morning; two Drake tracks: Black Eyed Dog and Northern Sky, followed by Sonic Youth's Superstar.

Whiskeytown - Faithless Street
Yeah I know Ryan Adams is apparently a total ass, but this album brought back my appreciation of good country which had been under exercised after moving to San Francisco. It didn't hurt that on first listen the song lyrics reminded me of my hometown, and eventually I found out he actually -was- from my hometown. I ended up getting back in touch with my inner redneck because of this album.

Dungen - Ta Det Lugnt
Although I guess techincally psych-rock, it brought back my early prog rock years with a vengance. After listening to this probably 20 times in a row I started putting my languishing Jethro Tull and Yes tracks back in heavy rotation.  Their San Francisco show for this album tour was the best concert I went to that year. Phenomenal.

10 Perfect Concerts

• Crash Worship @ The Brewery, Raleigh NC, early 90s; I caught a glimpse of a bacchanalian future in the leather flasks the band was passing around the audience. The show ended when the venue was so filled with smoke people had to crawl out on their knees.
• Pine State w/ Her Majesty's Secret Cervix, Renelvis, et al; Duke Coffeehouse in the 90s. There was a guy in a gimp suit on a gurney, I passed out on the couch for one band, one of the drummers for Pine State pulled a knife on someone.
• Extra Action Marching Band @ NIMBY Fight Night. They were on the stage across from the boxing ring with 3 on 3 bouts going on. My brother's punk crew and the rest of us were moshing in the middle, motorcycles were pushing through the crowd, things were literally on fire along the edges.
• Nashville Pussy et al @ Local 506, Sleazefest 1997. Nobody had more fun that weekend than I did. When Sleazefest came to visit me in California I had to spend a night in jail. It was that kind of relationship.
  
• Pressure Boys free concert on the Quad at ECU fall of 1987. This was my introduction to indie rock, it was love at first exposure.
• My Bloody Valentine - San Francisco 2009; I wisely wore tarmac ear protectors and it was fabulous.
• Flaming Lips @ University of London late 90s; Words fail me.
• Chemical Brothers (Aragon Ballroom in Chacago) early 90s; I was deaf in one ear for 24 hours and suffered some permanent hearing loss. It was worth it.
• Ministry @ Lollapalooza. The sun had just set, the lightshow was blinding, the air  was filled with an eruption of intensity (identified flying objects).
• Hot Chip @ Coachella 2008. The Revenge of the Nerds band really rocks.

44 of 52: The switch

Our neighbors Michelle and Jeremy have this great self portrait hanging in their foyer. It was one of those accidental shots where they were setting up to pose for a holiday card photo and Michelle leaned forward to press the button mistakenly thinking the camera was on a timer. It came out well though, I always liked it. I also like that Jeremy had long hair in it (like me) even though he has always had very short hair since I've met him. So I had the idea to get Mie to help me recreate it.

I snapped a photo of it one day with my iPhone, then this weekend I displayed it on the living room TV (we have an iMac attached) so that one half of the screen showed the original and the other half of the screen was filled with PhotoBooth showing the iSight camera view. I had to set up lights to get the shadows right, but it wasn't too hard to closely match the poses with the side by side display. Mie clicked on the mouse to take our shot. I'm not really pleased with the photoshop work, but I didn't have a lot of time to perfect it.

Mie had the idea to print out our version and secretly put it in the frame in their foyer. I snuck over and gave it a shot, but unfortunately there was no easy way to replace the original in the frame so I had to resort to taping it onto the glass. They found it within 24 hours, but I think it could have gone for a week or more if I could have actually got it under the glass! Here's the two together (after they found it and we moved it):