proce55ing

I've been messing around with Processing recently. It's a programming language and environment built for the electronic arts and visual design communities. It's currently in beta, but I haven't used it enough to encounter any bugs yet.

Lenna and the teapot

People who are aware of work being done in computer graphics will probably have seen a picture of a woman in a hat used in various examples of compression formats and other imaging algorithms. Her name is Lenna and there is actually a history of the usage of her image.
Lenna was used for 2D imaging. The 3D equivalent would be a teapot. It has been used in many examples of 3D rendering. It also has a history.

Christopher Dresser and Owen Jones

I was at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum this past Saturday to see the Christopher Dresser show. He worked from the middle to the end of the 19th century and was considered one of the first industrial designers.

His work really captures the zeitgeist of that period without seeming like it was created during that period. Seeing his work makes one think of the retro design that is popular now. Though comparing retro design to his designs is like comparing suburban homes with Greek columns to the architecture of the Parthenon.

I'm also reading Grammar of Ornament by Owen Jones. It's a beautiful book written in 1856 detailing different ornamental styles with Jones' philosophy regarding their usage.

stop blasting your crappy music

If you're walking down the street in New York City there's a good chance that you'll be bombarded by the noise coming from the car speakers of some tool who feels he needs to share his bad musical taste with the world. If only there was a nice passive aggressive way to put an end it. Well I think there might be a way at least if they're listening to regular radio.