Clever:
From April, 2003 until August, 2006, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope watched four parts of the sky as often as possible. Armed with the largest digital camera in the known universe, CFHT monitored these four fields for a special type of supernova (called Type Ia) which are created by the thermonuclear detonation of one or more white-dwarf stars. These explosions are extremely energetic, and can be seen across vast distances in space.
The resulting 241 Type 1a supernova which were documented were then assigned a musical note, according to distance, duration, and intensity. A delightful little ‘sonata’ was the result:
It may seem a bit silly to do this, assigning an arbitrary note to such data. But I think it helps non-scientists appreciate some aspect of the research and what it means. No, don’t take the whole thing literally, or even very seriously – but rejoice in this artistic interpretation of the wonder of the universe.
Jim Downey
My wife and I have been doing some work for a friend who has put together a miscellany – a collection of texts and images which he finds worthy, and which all inter-relate in some interesting ways. It’s been a fun project, working to design the layout and format of the final book, doing editing and so forth. It’s been a project which has been some months in the making.
Just now I finished running through a printer’s proof, showing how all the pages go together in the proper sequence so the thing can be properly sewn in sections, then bound – work I will take joy in doing. This is a fairly straight-forward matter, but you do have to check it, page by page and section by section, to make sure it was done correctly. It was, and now the proof is back off to the printer.
And it was wonderful to hold that proto-book in my hands. Wonderful, and a little wistful.
Wonderful, because while most of the actual work has been done already, it just didn’t seem entirely “real” until I had those pages in my hands, was able to flip through them, handle the physical artifact. It’s another example of turning a dream into a reality.
Wistful, because of the frustrating delays in getting my novel to the same point. And something of the sense that the caregiving book will not seem entirely real when it is just in an electronic format. I’m a bookbinder, used to handling books as artifacts, some of them centuries old, so I suppose it goes with the territory. A bias in my reality.
Jim Downey
About a month ago, I wrote about the delightful crazy man who made a machete-shooting slingshot. Well, he’s now got a Gatling-gun style slingshot which is brilliant:
Jim Downey
Being something of an obsessive-compulsive lunatic myself, I always admire this trait in others. Here is a delightful example of what I mean:
Jim Downey
Via MeFi.
It’s been a while since I posted any photos of my book conservation work. So I thought I’d take some snaps of this 1668 legal text I was rebinding in full Moroccan goatskin.
Here’s the first image, of the front of the skin. It’s been mounted to the boards and a spine liner, then shaped to fit over the raised bands on which the text block is sewn:
The second image is on the inside, showing the position of the boards and spine liner, with the overhang of leather which will be turned-in to finish the edge:
The third image shows a detail of that turned-in leather strip. It’s hard to tell, but the very edge of the leather had been pared down so that it would create a bevel to finish nicely:
The next image is another detail, showing one way to make a finished corner. I like this method, because it finishes off clean yet still gives additional protection. The little tab wraps around the corner of the board, then the two flaps come around the edge:
Then there’s an image of the cover with heavy cords wrapped around the re-dampened leather. This helps to shape the leather over the raised bands on the spine, since as the leather dries, it pulls tight and holds that shape:
The next image shows what the spine looks like once it has dried and the cords are removed:
Then a detail that shows what the spine looks like after simple blind tooling to accentuate the bands:
And lastly, a shot of the finished book, after gold-stamped labels have been mounted:
Not bad, eh? I’m pretty happy with the finished product. And I am glad to be done with this – it was part of a project I started last summer before becoming so ill with the pneumonia and all the related problems which have still plagued me since. Because of these health problems, I lost 50% of my income . . . and spent fully a third of the remainder on medical bills. Wrapping up this project, and getting the books back to the client, is something of a turning point for me.
Jim Downey
Oh, this is really quite delightful:
Ah – sorry, evidently it was pulled. But you can see the trailer, and lots of information about the project, on the artist’s site. Evidently it is also now available on DVD though NetFlix doesn’t have it listed.
Jim Downey
This is *very* clever, and really quite wonderful:
More info about the whole project here: Immaterials: Light painting WiFi
Jim Downey
High speed photography, explosions, art, music. Wow:
Jim Downey
Via BB.
Filed under: Art, Augmented Reality, Bipolar, Blade Runner, Comics, Health, Humor, movies, Science Fiction, Writing stuff, YouTube
You know, this whole thing made a lot more sense at 3:43 this morning.
To quote from a favorite character*: “Let me ‘splain. [pause] No, there is too much. Let me sum up.”
I recently gave an example of the . . . creative froth, let’s call it . . . that I always live with. I think particularly when I am in the middle of a creative endeavor this stuff is a lot closer to the surface, as I am now with working out all the characters, setting, plot, et cetera for the prequel to Communion of Dreams. It’s like the barrier between the conscious and subconscious parts of my brain becomes . . . thinner. Connections become easier.
Here’s an example of what I mean:
A number of my friends are or were cops. Last week I was amused by the video going around which was a fan-made movie of an oddball webcomic called “Axe Cop.” Here it is:
Bizarre, eh? Most of my friends thought so. I thought it was hilarious.
Anyway, at about 3:42 this morning I woke up from a dream. Just *Boom* – wide awake. It’s the damned Prednisone (I’m taking another course of it for ongoing efforts with my rib/lung pain) – a common side effect, and one which seems to be hitting me harder this time around than previously.
I had been dreaming. About an “accidental cop.” Someone who had been a cop previously, but then had moved on. The situation developed that he was drafted back into being a cop. Think Rick Deckard being convinced to resume detective work in Blade Runner.
Well, upon waking, in just a few short moments, I developed a whole backstory to the dream, ideas on characters, plot for future development, et cetera. I toyed for a moment with the idea of pitching it as a screenplay, perhaps TV pilot.
Madness, of course. And I realized that when I woke up more completely. But thinking it through, I came to the conclusion that what happened was something of this kind of progression:
- Cop.
- Ex-cop.
- Axe Cop.
- Accidental Cop.
I blame the Prednisone. And a strong manic swing.
Jim Downey
*Inigo, of course, whom I have discussed previously in relation to my own history.
Communion Of Dreams 