Month: July 2008

Random Friday: What We Bake 5

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In this pita bread recipe, we use a stove for heating the bread instead of a hot oven. Our stove is at a better work level than the oven, is easier to access for the short cooking “baking” times without a door in the way, and tends to heat the kitchen less during summer. Low(er) … Read more

Garden Chime Contest

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Oddstrument Collection is having a contest for garden musical instruments: Things like wind chimes, outdoor gongs, bells, fountains, musical sculptures, “wind banjos”, etc. Think solar, wind, water powered and beyond. [via :Make] Related posts: Chime Variations, Building Wind Chimes

Solar Cricket

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(image courtesy Wikimedia Commons) Michael F. Zbyszynski describes how to modify a solar yard light to make cricket sounds in this article from Make: (PDF) [kudos Make: blog]  

Nature Recording Interview

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Bioacoustician Bernie Krause is interviewed by Jennifer Ouellette for NewScientist. His project Wild Sanctuary aims to archive nature soundscapes before they are lost to human development. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f21PNOdGdC0] video link [hat tip Cocktail Party Physics]

Early Copy Protection

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If you enjoyed Neal Stephenson’s geek-historical-fiction Quicksilver and haven’t discovered David Bodanis Passionate Minds, then run, don’t walk, to the nearest bookseller or library. This real-life account of the turbulent relationship between two premier minds of the Enlightenment is not to be missed. images c/o Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons The author gives an account of … Read more

Chime Variations

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Ranjit describes a sound sculpture using strings instead of chimes. [Video link] (hat tip Make) Furin are glass wind chimes, a sound of summer in Japan. PingMag [link no longer found] interviews furin craftsman Yoshiharu Shinohara, with marvelous photos. (kudos Dinosaurs and Robots)

ThreeD

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We have been experimenting with 3-D imaging, after viewing the rather impressive wiggle stereoscopy at cursivebuildings. The wiggle viewing method uses an animated GIF to alternate between left and right images, easy to view in a web browser with no additional hardware. Here is an example from Wikipedia Commons: We use a single camera on … Read more