Author Archives: thomas

Dual Parented Child

By thomas | Published: February 8, 2010
I’d like to share here the origins of the header image of this weblog, and give others a chance to play with a small toy I have enjoyed both making and interacting with. The application was created in the waning days of September 2009, in the midst of a difficult project at work, and has [...]
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95 percent

By thomas | Published: February 4, 2010
Over the last month or two, the number of unpublished posts on this weblog have burgeoned into a small crowd of pieces of writing left near 90 or 95% done. I end up sharing nothing. The reasons for this are manyfold– often times each idea leads back to another and another [...]
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a glance toward audio

By thomas | Published: January 10, 2010
I’ve been wanting to work on this stuff for a long time, and finally found some hours to play with it. mozAudioEvent an initial examination of the question here: http://philosophy.modern-carpentry.com/2009/12/a-bug-report-for-mozilla-or-the-importance-of-randomness-and-sound/ and we are called to its first answer: http://vocamus.net/dave/?p=914 and Mr. F1LT3R. chimes in: http://weblog.bocoup.com/javascript-fft-audio-sampling-in-firefox The current patch for Firefox, developed by humphd, does much more than what this video demonstrates. F1LT3R has [...]
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to serve as a witness or signatory

By thomas | Published: January 10, 2010
On the 31st of December I woke in the bedroom of my adolescence, in my parent’s home, after a night of carousing with my younger brothers. It was already 9 am and I wanted to get back home to Minneapolis for the New Year. Upstairs for coffee, and my parents had woken [...]
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I have chosen not to be with her, and she laughs

By thomas | Published: January 1, 2010
I cannot tell you not to believe her lies When by hand she takes you among back-corner bookshelves But I’d never hope to carry Philosophy outside the library in my arms kissing- My mind, sometimes, I hear her voice. If A, then B, A so always B proving and reproving to me the [...]
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On Snow Shoveling

By thomas | Published: December 24, 2009
So, beware. You will encounter spreadsheets that make no sense. You will also encounter spreadsheets that make sense, but require a large portion of your attention to understand. Be careful to not confuse the two. You will be asked to perform hacks and tricks. Your duty is that of [...]
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Where is the bleeding edge of the internet?

By thomas | Published: December 12, 2009
An interesting question by Metafilter[1] user Pastabagel [2], “Where do you people find the things you post to the “blue”, and how do you consistently find them before the rest of us? I should note that Metafilter’s main goal is to be a log of the best of the internet; the main site ( [...]
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a bug report for mozilla, or the importance of randomness and sound

By thomas | Published: December 5, 2009
Because I have found sound data so interesting, and also useful in my attempts to create natural motion and shapes, I have filed a bug with the Mozilla Firefox browser in regards to their audio tag. The current HTML5 audio tag does not give us the capability to analyze sound on the fly. I am confident that, if this feature is regarded as important enough, it will be implemented, and I look forward to the day when I can begin using Javascript rather than Actionscript in my efforts to build instruments.
Posted in Robert K Merton, investigation, reflection | 6 Comments

No one sees the barn

By thomas | Published: November 25, 2009
After reading a post [1] about watching the American Music Awards, I am reminded of a great passage from a book of the late 20th century White Noise by Don Delillo. [2] [3] We drove 22 miles into the country around Farmington. There were meadows and apple orchards. White fences trailed through the rolling fields. [...]
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notes on methodology

By thomas | Published: November 15, 2009
Before beginning any serious efforts as to the questions of Who was Socrates?, and, further, What is Philosophy?, I think it may be necessary to share a few thoughts I’ve recently had about how we share information online. I think it prudent to consider the aims of writing for online consumption, and also the [...]
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