Capturing History with Technology of the Future.

One thing that I admire about Obama is his embrace of science and technology.  In my opinion, the Internet has been the most socially equalizing developments in the history of Mankind.  It is refreshing to hear him talk about a return to science and engineering.  From his campaign to his inauguration, he has used technology to it’s greatest potential.  Despite watching the inauguration and thoroughly enjoying it, I feel ill-equipped to describe that which has been seen by most anyone who would be reading this.  Instead I share  a new tool that illustrates how technology can make history come alive.  My Grandfather Moment displayed in 3D.

If you’ve been watching CNN, you may have heard talk about Microsoft Photosynth.  CNN encouraged people at the event to take pictures of  “the Moment” from wherever they were of the scene.  Photosynth, using nothing but a bunch of random pictures of the event, creates a 3D collage that allows visitors to view the area in a kind of 3d panorama.  The software literally looks at each picture and figures out the common elements, and builds a 3D spatial map of it.  CNN has created a set of “photosynths” of today’s historic event.

In order to view the images, you need to install Microsoft Silverlight.   It’s worth the short time it takes to install and will not cause your computer to burst into flames.   As you surf the photosynth, more pictures are incorporated as they are downloaded, creating a more detailed 3D model.  Click on this link to view “The Moment” Barack Obama was sworm in at President.

http://photosynth.net/embed.aspx?cid=c28cbbae-5986-4ae1-baa3-e219bf1906a7

Remember. All of this was created using hundreds of photos taken by different people, with different cameras. It baffles me how the program is able to build such an impressive 3D collage out of 2D pictures, seemingly knowing what position, angle and perspective each shot is at. This is possibly the only truly geek-worthy piece of software Microsoft has ever created.

What’s equally amazing is that the software for creating photosynths is freely available.  I downlaoded the software and selected a bunch of pictures I took.   For best results,  a large number of photos (50-75) is recommended.    Lucky for me,  I recently went to St. Kitts and took tons of photos.  I selected 39 photos that I had  taken from Timothy Hill, looking out to the Southeast Peninsula.   I was awe struck when i saw the final result.

http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=c20c1719-9aad-4c78-bb23-b96f87f2f73e#

Try it yourself.  Microsoft’s www.photosynth.net site gives you free space to showcase your own photosynths.  You can browse creations of pther people as well.  I’ll definitely be experimenting with this in the future.

We have Fallen off the Horizon.

Imagine if you will, the people of Spain as they watched the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria depart from their docks and head off into the abyss. Imagine the debates about what would happen when he got to the end of the ocean.  Imagine how curious minds looked out to sea and watched three ships fall off the horizon.

Fast-forward to this day.  A day much like that day in Spain, where we watched The United States of America do what was once the stuff of drunken bar jokes and “what if” conjecture.  Those that shrugged off the idea of a black predisent never thought it could happen so quickly.  America, with it’s history of enduring racism has voted for Barack Obama.  Just when I thought America had had sold it’s soul to the devil, it has showed remakable faith.

Imagine if you will, in Spain, the moments after the last ship slipped into oblivion.  Imagine the naysayers and the hopefuls standing at the docks looking out at nothing but blue on blue wondering. . .what now?

Imagine Christopher Columbus, on his ship, looking back, watching the old world disappear. Imagine the moments after the last glimpse of the world he knew, disappeared behind blue on blue.

It took only 40 years from the time when black people were allowed to vote, till white, black, asian, indian, and arab alike, have voted for a black man to lead America.I have seen America change. I saw the America of Clinton. A happy America, a prosperous America. And I have watched it turn into a vampire. Sucking the black blood of other countries under Bush. A Tragic character in this most epic story.

The people have spoken. Finally, I have seen Democracy work the way I had been told it should. The People have laid out a carpet of blue on blue. The Presidency and the Senate like sky and ocean. And here we are, watching the old, familiar world disappear beyond history’s horizon.

Imagine if you will, the men on those Spanish ships, having been led to this moment, as they look out to the unknown, realising that they had not slipped off the Earth, but were still on it. Realising that they had thought so much about “what if”, that upon reaching this moment they must ask, “what now?”

We are those men. We never thought it would happen. We remained skeptical of the possibility despite ernest hope that we were wrong. Could a Black man really become President? We have crossed over into a new world. The entire planet is resonating with the significance of this time. A new time. A time when conventional wisdom no longer works. Where experience means stagnation, and innovation must come from the young. We have thought so much about reaching this point in history, that upon reaching it, we must ask, “What now?” as we look out to a future unknown.

We didn’t expect someone like Barack Obama to come along. What could have made this possible? I now know that there is at least one thing that means more to Americans than race. It’s money. As the American economy suffers, People have realised that A war hero and a hockey mom won’t cut it.

The youth, having been marginalised by politics, have experienced a quickening. Alive and sentient, they have not waited to inherit the future. But have risen and taken the world owed to them by their parents, now. The old way just won’t work anymore.

This election was less about race, and more about Age vs Youth and the nature of wisdom. Is the old man, armed with history and experience wiser than the young, intuitive and creative? As we look out at the blue sky on blue sea we need a leader that has shown the intelligence to take us through these unchartered waters. Not the man who is an expert on Spain.

We have fallen off the Horizon. Welcome to a new era. Where a black man is now the most powerful man in the world and the people look to a future, blue on blue, asking themselves, what now?”

To Catch a Hummingbird

Hummingbird

Originally uploaded by TheSexyGeek

About two years ago I bought myself a nice little camera. A Kodak EasyShare with a 10x optical zoom. I began experimenting with photography and found myself going out on the weekends just to find shots. The hobby would be short lived. Alas, my camera was stolen and I had to say goodbye to photography for a while. I decided that my next camera would be a better one. After waiting and saving, It has finally arrived. The Canon PowerShot SX10 IS.

This weekend I happened to catch an overflowing gully. I have now learned to take my camera with me everywhere. Today, as I pulled into the parking lot at work, I saw this hummingbird.

I wasted about 2.73 seconds admiring it, then suddenly realised that I HAVE A CAMERA!!! I was hoping that I could catch him before he flew away, which could be ANY SECOND! It was darting all over the place. I took 7 whole seconds fumbling (with great care!) to take the camera out of the bag. PRESS “ON!” . . . Another 1.4 seconds for the camera to be ready to shoot (yeah, I read the specs 🙂 and Voila!

As soon as I took the shot and looked up from the camera, it was gone. My luckiest shot ever. Please enjoy and comment.

I have created an account on Flickr. It’s a wonderful site for organizing and sharing pictures. Click on the photo to visit my Flickr page.

Rain in Kingston

When one mentions Jamaica, it immediately invokes images of pristine beaches and perpetual sun.  But there is a reason why this is called “Land of Wood and Water.”  The island is covered in rain forests with good reason.  It’s been rainy all week, but yesterday we had a downpour that lasted almost two days.

While driving, I came across a big gully in Kingston.  Luckily I had my brand new camera with me.  Here are a few shots, plus my first YouTube video.

A Grandfather Moment

As a child, I grew up with a vague but respectful sense of history.  I found the subject boring in school, mainly because I hated memorizing names and dates.  But I liked the stories.  The events.  I would imagine what it was like to have lived in the time of the Vietnam War, or in the time of Martin Luther King.

I remember hearing my mother recall the time when Man had landed on the Moon.  During that time, she would look at the moon, amazed by the reality that there were actual people on it.  I have read diaries written by my father in Jamaica 1969.  The Civil Rights Act had been signed just a year ago in the USA.  I read personal stories that brought home the significance of that moment in history.   I felt a strange type of envy, wishing I could have a moment like that of my own.  A Grandfather Moment.

9/11 was my first of these moments for me.  The shock of it all put me in a fit of depression.  But the time we are in now may eclipse everything else. I can already imagine telling my future grandchildren about a history making figure called Barack Obama.  Never before have I felt like I am witnessing a paradigm shift in the making.

It’s not just Barack Obama and his potential to be the first black president of the USA.  It’s the fact that all of this is happening in a time of war.  In a time when “money” is evaporating into thin air.  The ‘new’ great depression may be upon us.  It’s the grandmother of grandfather moments.  To watch the news is to watch a most alarming spectacle: The presidential race.  Never before have I seen a more unifying candidate or a more divisive candidate.  Never before have I seen such petty debate amidst such grave circumstances.  Never before have I seen common sense battle rhetoric so keenly.  The Tiger Woods of politics has arrived.

This is MY Grandfather moment, and it’s all happening now!.  Regardless of the result of this election, there is no doubt in my mind that the world will not be the same in the days to come.  What will today’s history reveal next?  Stay tuned.

Glass Bead Network

It’s not that often that an online game intrigues me this much. My web host e-mailed me to tell me, among other things, that one of their employees had a pet project called The Glass Bead Network. What I found was a really interesting, fun and rewarding game.

It is a social game. Players join or create a game and play against other people online. Players are given glass beads that contain different objects, things, concepts. Beads like. . .”Austria”, “Spiders”, “War and Peace”, “Pumpkin”, “The Taj Mahal” are given to you and you must place them on a grid.

The goal is to get rid of your beads by linking them in some meaningful way. This is the fun part. The game allows you to link directly to a Wikipedia article, search Google for information about it or look at linkages that other people have made in other games. You might link “Pumpkin” and “Spider” by saying. . .”Both Pumpkins and Spiders are associated with Halloween”. Your link must be approved by the other players before it is permanent. Players can discuss the play and allow the player to defend his play. It really is fun to play. And by doing all this searching on the web, I have learned a great deal about Don Quixote, The Black Sea and The 3 Stooges, among other things.

Your linkages can be rated by the other players for creativity. Winning isn’t the only way. Being witty and creative and playing with other witty and creative people is what will increase your ranking.

I think it should be promoted heavily in schools. Tournaments can be set up to pit teams against each other. The kids would learn a great deal just by searching and finding relationships between all the topics they will encounter.

I encourage everyone to try it. And spread the word.
http://glassbead.net/
Click on Frequently Asked Questions and take some time to absorb the concept. Then try playing. (note: You have to register on the site to play.)

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The Art of Numbers

Allow me to geek-out for a bit.

Science and Art have always shared intimate space within my brain. Although I wasn’t particularly fond of doing mathematics, I found the subject worthy of interest. (That is until I hit ‘Calculus II’ in college. ouch!) I had always liked physics because it was mathematics that had a point. I liked the idea of being able to use abstract logic to predict the behavior of the real world. Physics is my favorite science because it seeks to understand the fundamental fabric of reality. But while physics explores the patterns of the universe, mathematics delves much deeper.

1+1=2 is where it all starts and somehow, from there, we’re now plotting the trajectory of planets. Much of mathematics seems to exist for it’s own sake. How does the proof that there are an infinite number of prime numbers affect my life? Well, every time you go to a “secure” website, prime numbers are keeping your credit card numbers out of sight.

There is an interesting branch of mathematics called fractal geometry. The basic premise is that very simple formulas, when repeated over and over, produce infinitely complex shapes. The most famous of these is The Mandelbrot set. It is the simplest possible formula of it’s kind (almost as simple as 1+1=2) And it produces a shape so complex that mankind could explore it for eternity and never see all of it. It has earned the nickname, God’s Thumb Print. Here’s a picture.

Not exactly a work of art. . . . until you apply colours to the numbers that lead to this shape. Then you get something like this. . . . . .

And through the wonders of computers, we can zoom in on this image by calculating the shape to more and more precision. You can do this until human beings evolve a new limb. But, the deeper you go, the more number crunching the computer has to do. There are scientists using supercomputers to explore the deepest reachable realms of the Mandelbrot set. It’s just numbers, but it is beautiful. See those weird jagged edges and tendrils? There is a VAST array of patterns, shapes and colours that keeps getting more complex the deeper you go. Here’s a video of a zoom into a tiny part of the set.

Click-here.

Notice that there are little mini-Mandelbrot sets inside. Each of them is just as infinite as the big one, and each one is slightly different. The decorations surrounding them are all different. And there are an infinite number of them too. It boggles the mind.

With a fractal program you can explore many different parts of the set, confident that as you go really really deep, you’re probably looking at a part of the set that no human has ever seen, or will ever see between now and the death of the universe. It’s that big. Here’s a compilation of deep explorations of the Mandelbrot set.

Click Here.

All of this art is the actual mathematical result of the formula Z = z² + c when it’s fed back into itself over and over, ad infinitum. It’s ALL just numbers. Proof that Art and Science are one and the same.  Here is one more video showing an extremely deep dive into the relatively featureless tip of the set.  The set zooms to a size larger than the known universe.

Click here.

Dancehall Music

While I can appreciate almost any genre of music, my favorite genre is dancehall reggae. Without going into a lengthy history, Dancehall music is the modern off-shoot of Reggae music. Dancehall, like reggae, is a Jamaican creation.

The Genre

Wheras Reggae music emphasises live, acoustic sounding instruments, Dancehall is primarily a sequenced, sampled, computer-based sound, much like modern day hip-hop. Dancehall is considered by some to be the Caribbean version of hip-hop (or vice versa). However, there are many differences between the two. Primarily, what makes a song a dancehall song is a Jamaican dancehall performer. Take a hip-hop beat and put a dancehall singer on it and it qualifies. But there is much more to the genre than that.

Unlike Hip-Hop where each song is recorded on it’s own Instrumental track, Dancehall producers create a ‘riddim’, and many artists perform different songs for the same instrumental. This makes dancehall some of the best club-music in the world. A DJ can seamlessly mix between songs on the same riddim. The result is a live DJ medley that flows from one song to the next. Have you ever been in a club and a song comes on with a wicked beat, and before you know it, it’s gone? Not so with dancehall. The riddim plays on while the selector juggles songs. Aspring artists that have a song on a hit riddim get more exposure than someone just making singles.

The Sound

Dancehall is a very experimental sound. Because the accent and style of the singer is so important to difining the genre, the riddims vary wildly. Precussion is the basis of most Dancehall riddims and it maintains a characteristic off-beat timing that I can only describe as Africanized. This deeply rooted sense of rhythm is translated to digital synths, samplers and drum machines. Some musical purists may say that dancehall is not art. Simple, repeating melodies and basslines are the norm. There is little use of live instruments, except when used as a sample. But the art is in the sum of the parts. The African beat is given new instruments, new forms of expression. For fans of beat-driven music, dancehall offers a huge creative pallet.

There are dancehall riddims that sound like fast reggae. Some that sound like Salsa. Some that sound like Techno, RnB or Hip-Hip. Some that borrow from rock, country/western. Some that incorporate African drums as well as Asian and Middle Eastern musicial styles and instruments. Yet somehow, there is a vibe in the rhythm that is still dancehall.

My Musical Journey

As a child, my first exposure to music was Bob Marley. Even before I had a real appreciation for music in general, Bob Marley’s songs played in our house often. My father was at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica when Bob Marley was a young singer who used to perform on campus. My dad said that boy would make it big. He then proceeded to collect several Bob Marley albums over the years.

The first songs that I remember listening to over and over again were “Axel F” (the theme of the Movie Beverly Hills Cop) and “Bad Boy Tune” (An early dancehall/dub song). Axel F is a techno instrumental with an infectious melody and ‘Bad Boy Tune’ had a futuristic, synthetic sound that I liked. As a teenager, I went on to listen to C & C Music Factory, Black Box, Snap, and other such techno/hip-hop groups as well as dancehall greats like Shabba Ranks, Cutty Ranks, Buju Banton, Super Cat, Tiger, Papa San, etc.

Around that time, we were able to get a decent computer to replace the decaying one, and I ordered a sound-card for it. In my deep explorations of free shareware software (not pirated. . .free), I came across .mod files. These were songs created by using instrument samples and note sequence data. Before long, I had downloaded a .mod creator program and I started playing around. It’s not easy to compose music by numbers, but my expereience with computers made it less of a chore. I created all kinds of weird, dark, techno-ish creations. It remained a hobby for years to come.

In college, I picked up the habit again due to the amount of young rappers on campus. Every so-often I’d come across a group of guys ‘free-styling’ on the corner. Rapping without written lyrics. I played around with making hip-hop beats for a while, but school and the other responsibilities of life made the phase a short-lived one.

Lyrics

Much later I moved back to St. Kitts and out of sheer boredom, I started playing around with the latest software. I found a program called ‘Fruity loops’. It was like a .mod program on steroids! I made mostly Hip-hop beats, but found that they strayed from the genre often. Some friends and I decided to get together with the young, aspiring artists of St. Kitts. I realised that making authentic sounding hip-hop in the Caribbean was an uphill battle, so I decided to switch to making Dancehall riddims. I studied the genre carefully, listening more to Jamaican dancehall instrumentals than the songs produced on them.

We formed SoundCore Entertainment in the hopes of making something of our talents. Within our small island, we did a lot of work. We released a few songs on the local radio stations one of which “Sen it On” became a big hit on the island. We did an album for a talented local artist (Bamboo B) who became well known on the Island following it’s release. After a couple of years though, it became apparent to me that there was little to come of our work outside of St. Kitts. My career in network engineering was finally taking off, and I was unable to continue working on music.

The Jamaican Music Industry

Now that I am in Jamaica, the bug is biting again. While my job demands most of my time, it is difficult to listen to the radio and hear a new riddim every day and not want to create. Although Jamaica is the home of dancehall music, getting into the industry can be very difficult. There are so many aspiring artists and producers here that it boggles the mind. It is described as cut-throat and very competitive. I’ve been asking around about the industry, and have learned a great deal so far. I have seen many big dancehall artists in passing around Jamaica. I Just need to know the right people. I don’t know anybody yet, but time will tell.

Rainy Season.

It has been raining in Kingston all week. I haven’t been watching the weather reports, but something big is sitting over Jamaica. At first the rain was nice. Soothing. The kind of rain that is best enjoyed with company. The kind of rain that people write hit songs about. The kind of rain that you wish would never stop. . . . . . . .your wish is granted.

What was a nice weekend shower turned into a work-week downpour. New Kingston has very poor drainage so the streets turn into gullys.  At one point, a coworker and I coming from lunch, could not find a way to get from the block we were on to the block where our offices were. The street was impassable. Men helped to carry women over the dreadful rapids. The water was flooding the sidewalks.

Late into rush-hour traffic was total gridlock. People got less wet on the sidewalk if they  pointed their umbrella at the road.  Else, the cars and buses would drench them when they got to move.  It’s unavoidable.

The News today reported that Bog Walk (a road on the wall of a beautiful river valley) is under water. When I drove to Ocho Rios the first time, I was told that in the rainy season the river sometimes rises and covers the entire road, including the miniscule single lane bridge that hovers a few feet above the water. The experience of driving over it is harrowing. Today the river flooded and vehicles were trapped on the bridge, unable to move and fighting against the rising water. Helicopters were the only vehicles capable of getting there to rescue the people. As far as I’ve heard everyone is okay.

Ok. I’m done talking about the weather. The rain has become depressing. Sunshine would be great right about now, until it gets too hot and we call for rain again. The grass is always greener on the other side.

Home Hunting.

The lease on my apartment is up on Sept 11 (Coincidence? I think not!). I had done a bit of apartment looking, but this was crunch time. Today I went apartment hunting! On the advice of everyone I talked to, I got up early, got a copy of the Sunday Gleaner and extracted the classifieds. I had the help of a good friend who has experience in the art and science of Jamaican home hunting. We circled attractive looking ads and started calling.

There was one in particular that was in a nice area and was just below my budget. I wanted it! It was a spacious studio with separate kitchen and bathroom. Just enough. There were lots of people viewing and I wondered if I would be selected. I expressed my strong interest and gave the lady in charge my information. I even offered to pay a bit more. She said she’d let us know. We went back to the car and started calling again. While we were still there, the landlady called us back and asked a few more questions. I figured it was a good sign. I went back to the car and to my utter dismay, the keys were locked inside.

Introducing the Auto Lock anti-theft mechanism. If unattended, the doors lock automatically after a minute or so. I had always dreaded the day when I would leave the keys on the seat and have them locked inside. I didn’t leave them on the seat. I left them in the ignition (off position). However, this had an unintended positive effect. While we were waiting for the locksmith, the other people viewing were leaving after giving their info, but we were waiting!

She called us back again and asked more questions.  Some excerpts: “We’re Christians. . . . ” – “You’re a decent guy right?” – “One viewer had a shirt that said ‘Don’t smoke crack, smoke weed’. haha! We would never rent to someone like that!” Ok whatever. She agreed to give me the apartment and asked me to bring the deposit ASAP. “You sure? Don’t change your mind on us,” they said. I told them that we were waiting for a locksmith for the car and that we’d get it as soon as he arrived.

I was happy! I had found a nice place, I fought for it and won! All I had to do is get her the money and I’d be done with it. We waited. The lady kept saying that people were calling her about the apartment, as if the locksmith could hear her and drive faster. Another lady pulled up, went in and about two minutes later, the landlady told me her “colleague” wants the apartment and that she’s giving it to her.

“But I thought we made an agreement.” I said.

She offered: “It’s not in writing”, “This is my colleague”, “I didn’t know she was looking for an apartment”, “I have people hounding me” and other assorted flavours of bullshit. Needless to say I was pissed! And this is what constantly disappoints me about some people who profess Christianity. What is it to judge someone when your own word is worthless? I continued my hunt but didn’t see anything suitable. I left my contact info with each of them. We decided to check out a place that seemed to fit the bill, although not in the area I preferred.

The price was within my budget, it was very well furnished and pretty much enclosed in an iron cage. The only thing I need is a TV and I’m set! I had someone else look at the place and advise me about the area. He knew someone who lived nearby and said that there had been no break-ins or other trouble in the neighborhood. It was the most comfy apartment I’d seen so far. I decided to take it. I will still be looking at other places even after I move in. I can get a deal in the area of choice with some patience. I’m just glad I won’t be homeless on the streets of Kingston come Sept 12th!