Webs on an autumn afternoon

It's been a rather pleasant October afternoon, warm, breezy, with a clear sky. The mobile sculpture Airborne catches both the wind and the waning October sun:

The garden plants are doing about as well as they have all year. Admist a recent burst of flowers, I noticed this rather impressive spider web:

…not to mention the rather impressive spider that inhabits it:

The peace of the backyard was briefly interrupted by the sound of cats fighting. More worrisome was the sound of an angry dog barking in response. After peeking over the fence to investigate, I was assured by a neighbor that it was “just some crazy cats.” One of the “crazy cats” wandered into view and I immediately recognized him as the friendly grey tabby that often visits my yard (I jokingly refer to him for a while as Luna's “boyfriend”). Foruntately, he seemed to be none the worse for wear.

Cats, or more specifically, cat allergies, have been much in the news this weekend. The New York Times featured an article on a California biotech company that is breeding hyperallergenic “no sneeze” kitties, two of which are pictured to the right. The market for the hypoallergenic cats, which the company says will cost about $4000 USD each, is people who love cats in spite of their allergies. It is certainly a high price tag, but I gather so are the medications for the most severe allergies. Those who seek a more affordable feline companion and want to continue to adopt shelter cats can take heart in a study supporting the theory that having pets cuts allergy risks. Finally, there is this story from Wales about a hospital fighting to keep their cat Tibs, who has chearing up patients for years. While I do my best to avoid hospitals, I know having a cat around would help me during a health crisis.

I had an opportunity last night to jam with some friends and acquaintances I have not seen in a while. I played keyboard, with primarily piano, electric piano and organ sounds, though I did add a Moogerfooger pedal to the mix. Musically, we did a mixture of jazz standards, some 12-bar and 16-bar “headless” jams, and several trippy free-jazz experiments with keyboard, guitar, bass and drums. The latter reminded me of how I would like to get together a standard “quartet” at some point that freely moves back and forther between jazz/funk and experimental improvisation. It would be quite a contrast to my recent performances, but still consistent with my musical vision and sensibilities…

…in another example of slipping back and forth between disparate musical styles, I was listening earlier to alternating tracks from Ethiopiques, which I described in an earlier article, and the rather dark, political, and vaguely Middle-Eastern electronic music of Muslimgauze. The two albums could not be more different in geography, style, production and social context, yet they seemed to work well together. The dark electronica of Muslimgauze worked for me, dispite an implicit political view I probably don't share, and the gritty funk of Ethiopiques brought me back to reality. Perhaps here is the seed of another musical project…

…or just idle thoughts on a warn autumn day…










Dissertation now (back) online

I have finally reposted my doctoral dissertation, this time in HTML format as well as PDF. The title is Perceptual Scheduling in Real-time Music and Audio Applications. I propose an algorithm for improving computational performance of expensive synthesis techniques, such as additive synthesis and resonance modeling that preserves audio quality, and measured both the improved CPU performance and the perceptual quality as measured by expert listeners in controlled experiments.

I think this actually a good time to review and reflect upon this work. Five years have passed since I graduated from UC Berkeley with my PhD. I probably have the only doctoral dissertation in Computer Science that includes James Brown as a citation. While I enjoyed working on the dissertation, including the formal experiments, the work I do now developing music software (and then using for my own composition and performance) is really a better match for who I am.

As discussed in an earlier post, I have had a sometimes challenging relationship with academic science. I have the technical and analytical “chops”, but I am too much of a creator and a romantic to find personal meaning and reward in rigorous experiments and analysis of data. I love the aesthetic appeal of science and mathematics, and especially look for unusal and serendipitous connections rather standard incremental results. Simply put, I am an artist, not a scientist, even when I'm working on software engineering projects.






Weekend Cat Blogging #70: Cat in a Box

This weekend's hosts, Boots, Tess and D at The Hidden Paw, have challenged us to produce Cat-in-a-Box submissions for WCB 70. That's not too hard for us, as Luna is quite fond of boxes:

In the photo above, she is caught in the act of chewing on pieces of her favorite box from Ikea. This is one of her guilty pleasures in life.

Here, we have Luna encountering an Amazon box in the hallway. I wonder how that got there…


Visit the round-up for more adorable pictures of cats in boxes, bags, and other sundry containers.








Musical robot composes, performs and teaches

I'm looking forward to seeing new music gear at the Audio Engineering Society (AES) convention in San Francisco this afternoon. However, I doubt I will see anything quite as innovative as this musical robot:

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — A professor of musical technology at Georgia Tech, Gil Weinberg, enlisted the support of graduate student Scott Driscoll to create Haile — the first truly robotic musician…
…Think of Haile (pronounced Hi-lee) as a robotic partner in the percussion form of dueling banjos. Although it has numerous musical algorithms programmed into it, Haile's basic function is to “listen” to what musicians are playing and play along with them…
…The robotic drummer is not only programmed with specific pieces but also with an understanding of countless pitches, rhythms and patterns, which are used during performances. Like a concert drum solo, Haile never quite plays the same thing twice, but plays off the creations of those performing around it.

We'll know we have truly created robotic musicians when they show up late to gigs and step into the alley between sets for a smoking break and other recreational intakes.

Actually, I did some research into computer programs that can “listen” to music and generate new material that is similar but not identical, way back in high school in 1990. Basically, it recorded MIDI input, created a decision tree of sorts, and generated new music from it. I had good time working on that project, and while my teachers and a few computer-music faculty I talked to at MIT and elsewhere seemed impressed, other “distinguished scientists” brought in to review our research projects largely pooh-pooh'ed this work as “not being science.” True, it was not a science experimental per se, but I've always been bothered by those in academic science that don't value innovative engineering. This happened in graduate school as well, where the computer science faculty wanted “science.” I wonder how they would have reacted to Weinberg's musical-robot project? I have always been more interested in making things than taking measurents and analyzing data, and thus have been mostly turned off from pursuing a career in scientific research.




California's Worst Representative

Seems I have politics on the brain this week, and no wonder considering the high stakes:

Click for electoral-vote dot com

Click for electoral-vote dot com

Not much excitement in my own district (or any other district in which I have resided during my time in California), but one does not have to go too far east to find California's Worst Representative.


Richard Pombo represents the 11th District, and is the chair of the House Resources Committee. Pombo hails from Tracy, a town that is a poster child for ugly exurban sprawl (and the butt of a lot of jokes when I was living in the East Bay). He has long been obsessed with dismantling the 1973 Endangered Species Act. In addition to being as old as I am, the Endangered Species Act protects a wide variety of plants and animals, including the San Joaquin Kit Fox that inhabits Pombo's district (pictured to the right).

From interviews and statements I've heard, on NPR and elsewhere, he seems to take pride in his work to weaken or eliminate environmental protection and sell land and resources from our National Park System and elsewhere to developers and speculators. He supports not only the oft-mentioned drilling proposal for the Artic Wildlife National Refuge, but also end the long-time ban on drilling of the California coast. His name surfaced again in recent reports about protecting the coast of Northern California (Mendocino, etc.). And, like most of his fellow conservative Republicans, all his efforts seem to be done with a sense that he is on some sort of righteous crusade.

He has also been implicated in several of the trendy Republican scandals, but that's the least of his faults.

You can read more, a lot more, at PomboWatch and Say No To Pombo. Oh, and it might be worth visiting his opponent's website, too. This is turning out to be a competitive race, so any interest and support may help send Pombo back to Tracy, and help some of our endangered friends in the process:

UPDATE: The Stockton Record covers the CA-11 debate last night between Pombo and McNerney.





Clown is running for mayor of Alameda

From an AP article

ALAMEDA, Calif. – A real clown is running for mayor of Alameda, and even his sister won't vote for him.

Kenneth Kahn, 41, a professional joker known as “Kenny the Clown,” admits he's running a long-shot campaign for City Hall's top spot. Kahn has not previously run for an elected position and has never sat on a public board.

“People ask me, 'Do we really want to elect a clown for mayor of the city?'” he said. “I say, 'That's an excellent question.'”

Kahn's mother, Barbara, said her son doesn't have a chance, and Sylvia Kahn, a teacher, said her brother's candidacy is a “mockery of our system.”

“I don't think it makes any sense, because, to me, running for mayor is not where you start as far as community involvement goes,” she said.

In November, the funnyman who graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, faces incumbent Beverly Johnson and City Councilman Doug deHaan.

Hey, why not a clown for mayor? It seems to be a major qualification for national leadership:





Day of Atonement

Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement has ended with the setting sun (which actually appeared out there for a moment this evening). Most people know this holiday as the time when their Jewish friends fast or disappear altogether. As someone who is not religious or all that observant, I have fasted only a fraction of the 33 times this holiday has come around, and then primarily for “tribal” and identity reasons. Fasting is only a part of the holiday, the primary focus being the reflection upon and owning up to the good and bad from the past year, letting go, and resolving to do better for the next year. For the most holy day of a major religion, this is remarkably reasonable and realistic, and something worth doing.

However, this year it is the idea of “fasting” itself that perhaps suggests my atonement for the next year. I didn't really think about fasting per se when I ate nothing except a small bowl of cereal Sunday morning, before going out on a major hike in the Santa Cruz mountains in the afternoon.

The hike was a wonderful experience, physically, aesthetically and socially. I left ready to enjoy and quiet, restful and reflective evening. However, on the drive back I started to feel quite nauseous, and then noticed my limbs shaking, and soon found myself in tremendous pain, unable to drive or do anything except complain about my situation. Fortunately, my friend was able to drive the rest of the way, and also recognize the symptoms of extreme low blood sugar among other issues – and eventually I made it home safe but quite ashamed and embarrassed. Needless to say, I did not fast between sundown yesterday and today – indeed, I have found myself eating even more than usual and feeling merely sated.

If such breaking of fast is met with scorn by the more orthodox, I really don't care, because it has been an opportunity to explore the deeper concepts of holiday. This experience in retrospect seems like a serious wake-up call, a “Katrina moment” if I may wax popular-media for a moment. I have considered myself healthy, and indeed in increasingly better shape in mind and body over the past couple of years, but there is clearly a lot of work to be, and indeed I've probably slipped a bit in recent months.

Thus, it seems a renewed focus on body and mind are in order for this new year 5657. I expect such a focus to not only allow me to get in better shape and enjoy improved health, but to spill over into the other areas of life in which I usually spend my energy, such as music and creativity, work, and my relationships with the people and animals important in my life.

I think it is quite fitting that Luna is here sitting on my chest and purring as I type this piece.


Weekend Cat Blogging #69

WCB 69 is being hosted by the crew over at The House of (Mostly) Black Cats. We at catsynth heartily approve of the black-cat concept, and encourage readers to check it out.

Meanwhile, things continue to be foggy, grey and a bit chilly on the California coast, but that doesn't keep Luna from surveying her domain:

I have another gig coming up tonight that I need to prepare for, with electronics and simple acoustic instruments. Luna of course is in the studio to help with the equipment: