A couple of weeks ago I ran across a fun little program that evolves to recreate an image out of overlapping transparent algorithms.  Although not IMO really genetic, it mutates it’s “DNA” over many generations to reproduce a source image.  I’m still having fun with it, trying to figure out if it could be adapted to glass.  Here are a couple of samples:

Check out Roger’s gallery too.

Our Christmas tradition is to enjoy the (so far) inevitable few days of gorgeous California Christmas weather to scour the American River canyon for trash and bring back as much as we can carry.  We have no problem finding plenty of cans, bottles, towels, flip-flops and sunglasses.

The light in the canyon was amazing this year – here’s a quick panorama I took.  Dare you to find any trash in there ;-).

It’s been a busy fall – not much time for taking pictures.  Or uploading them promptly!  Now that we’re in vacation mode, I’m looking through some of this falls photos.  Here’s a small set from a hike with family members up to Donner Peak in early September.  Some amazing rock formations…

Watching the clouds pattern the hills with softly rolling patches. Recorded 27 December 2008.

 

 Cloud Patches: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Funniest thing I saw all week ;-).  Is this a parting shot at Bush, or is Bush giving the American people a nasty parting shot?  A bit of viewer discretion is advised (uptight conservatives have been warned.)

Tomorrow night, Dec 19th, at Pachamama’s, Jason and I will be playing again 6:30-9PM.  Improvisations of a little Christmas music mixed in with our usual fare.  Join us!

How does one compete with Google’s home page?  It has a definite design center – absolutely minimal, fast loading, with ample white space.  Microsoft had quite a challenge, and I find the new live.com intriguing.  Keep the minimal aspects, but instead of white space integrate the search box into a gorgeous daily-changing image, from somewhere in the world.  Add a few hidden roll-over nuggets explaining the image and suggesting related searches to find out more.  Simple idea, executed smoothly in all the details (e.g. page is completely useful while the image downloads).

What do I find so great about this?  The daily images are really intriguing, reminding me daily that there’s a wider world out there. It marries the richness of art with the utility of the interface.  It competes with the increasingly-monopolistic Google, but not on Google’s terms. And the implication of exploration of the world reinforces the theme of exploration of the internet in a way that I find, dare I say, kind of uplifting.

I set this as my home page several weeks ago, breaking my longstanding preference for about:blank, and sometimes I even launch up the browser just to see what the image of the day is.  Refreshing job, Microsoft!

Raindrop-inspired live performance (chruch offertory) on 11/30.

 

 Rain Offertory [2:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I have been greatly enjoying the weekly Slate Political Gabfest podcast – it’s both informative and informal, gets deeper than the sound bites but still moves right along, and while fairly journalistic (Slate is part of the Washington Post) has a liberal bent without being unquestioning.

One thing I especially enjoy is the “Cocktail Chatter”, where each of the gabbers (regulars are Emily Bazelon, David Plotz, and John Dickerson) highlight something that grabbed their interest during the week that would make interesting conversation during weekend parties.  While I don’t go to many parties on the weekend, the idea is a great one, promoting the one thing, brilliant or perplexing, that most stood out for the week among the tweets, feeds, email, podcasts, searches, and so forth.

So my first choice for weekly chatter has to be the Slate Political Gabfest itself.  Kudos on an entertaining and informative show!