There’s no hexup next week, on account of I’ll be in Rochester surrounded by balloons and artists. That’s a thing. In the meantime, we’ve got some cool links, everything from phone sounds to music hacking!
Balloon Manor
Airigami’s air-filled undersea adventure opens next weekend
, and we’ll be down there making videos, making balloons, and having fun. Here are some photos from last year’s Jack and the Beanstalk build!
Space noises
As cool as it sounds. NASA has a sets of mp3’s and m4r files of old radio conversations and launch recordings, so you can have an incredible space phone. Also, your phone will almost certainly actually work on the International Space Station.
Rolling stones
A blast from the past, I found this comic from Ryan Consell at Mad Art Lab that describes activism and social justice movements in a nifty way. it’s not predictable, it’s not one way or the other, and it’s a lot harder than it looks.
Solar bird flares
So Nevada’s Solar Tower project is going well. It’s generating lots of power, using land that wasn’t good for anything else, and is one of those mad, awesome human being things. But it’s also burning up birds, an estimated 1500 a year, when they fly in the danger zone and literally catch fire. It is both incredible and tragic. Mostly tragic, probably.
Glitch music hack
Last week, people in New York gathered together to hack chiptunes and collaborate on mixing tech and music in all kinds of ways. The focus was circuit-bending, whcih uses electronics to insert random sequences into music, and relies on complex programs to introduce interesting randomness. It is weird and glorious.
Phil Plait talks telescopes
Also, a quick video. On Crash Course this week, Phil Plait talks about telescopes.
