NE of Papua New Guinea

Update: Mine is the red hull racing virtually on the same course that I presume is somewhere near the current 6 wet sailing hulls competing in this leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. The No. 1 flag is my next way point off the north coast of Papua New Guinea where I predict the wind will be most favorable in 24 hours.

Post by Steve Bull.

Way point set south of Ngeaur Island, Palau

Post by Steve Bull.

Virtual Volvo Ocean Race

I just heard about this race and I have joined the others.
My current position

Virtual progress here: http://www.virtualregatta.com/
Wet crew reports found here: Volvo Ocean Race

Monetary National Income Analogue Computer

"MONIAC" by Kaihsu Tai - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

I discovered the MONIAC computer this morning in Chapter 1 of Take Back The Economy: An Ethical Guide for Transforming Our Communities by J. K. Gibson-Graham, Jenny Cameron and Stephen Healy. With the first one built in 1949, perhaps only fourteen copies of this water powered computers were made. Using water tanks, levers, opening/closing valves and pipes models of economic change could be "predicted." I recommend you check out this DIY book.

Here's a demonstration of a working MONIAC:

House of Literature, Paros, Greece

This is the afternoon view from House of Literature, Paros Greece. For two weeks I am a guest with Terese who got a residency here. I'm writing code for Preminder.co, Cellphonia and other projects.

Henry Nelson Bull looking at four brothers

Henry Nelson Bull was father of Steve and Jeff and graciously treated Jay and Ware as family too. Henry aka Hank was pleased to see us whenever we were around. This is a composite of two photos: the four brothers in Kaneohe, Hawaii, each preparing their own scrap book of youth photos, and Henry in Boulder, Colorado apparently looking at their activity.
L-to-R: Stephen Medaris Bull, Jay Craig Hartwell, Jefferson Lochridge Bull, Ware Blocker Hartwell, Henry Nelson Bull.

Frank W. Bull tells a whopper

In the mid-1950s, Frank W. Bull tells his grandsons Steve and Jeff about a big trout he caught in a Rocky Mountain stream. Frank was from Boulder, Colorado and the photo was taken in Shelter Island Heights, New York.
L-to-R: Frank W. Bull, Stephen Medaris Bull, Jefferson Lochridge Bull.
(1). www.archives.com/1940-census/frank-bull-co-923544

Dickson Jay Hartwell remembered on Father's Day

Dickson Jay Hartwell with all his sons in the late 1950's
L-to-R: Stephen Medaris Bull, Ware Blocker Hartwell, Jefferson Lochridge Bull, Kent Hartwell, Dickson Jay Hartwell holding Jay Craig Hartwell
The location was the front door steps at 120 Greenway South, Forest Hills NY
Thank you Jay in Vietnam for asking for the photo and thank you Jeff in Massachusetts for providing.

Cellphonia: Wave Farm

Three wok-mushroom transduced sonic objects inspired by David Tudor's Rain Forest
constructed for the Cellphonia: Wave Farm concert

Cellphonia: Wave Farm is about "Big Ag versus Bees" and you can listen at cellphonia.org/wavefarm/cellphonia_wavefarm.mp3 to hear the current ephemeral server version of this sound compost.

This is the end of my artist residency at Wave Farm Transmission Arts culminating in a live radio concert of Cellphonia: Wave Farm performed with five colleague musicians joining me and broadcasting on station WGXC Saturday, June 14, 2014 4-6pm, streaming available.

Before the concert, starting NOW, it would be ideal if esteemed and not-so-esteemed, vocal and guttural individuals were to telephone 518-512-0518 and when prompted "buzzzz" like a bee (3 seconds) and then name/chant a vegetable or fruit (3 seconds).

And if the spirits move you in the same call "press 2" and you can leave a longer message about your thoughts on any of the following: global warming, organic farming, list all your favorite vegetables, list all the veggies you hate, gardening tips, GMOs-yes-or-no or any reflections on the state of the world at the moment.

The radio concert version of Cellphonia: Wave Farm has three movements: 1. The relentless march onward of Big Ag including GMOs with angry bees, 2. The failure of technology to solve all problems by simply increasing productivity ending in super storms and chaos. 3. The annual return of spring, pleased bees, gardening tips shared and more sustainable agricultural practice.

Thank you Galen Joseph-Hunter and Tom Roe.

LDSD does NOT = UFO

This June 2014 flight test of NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) was delayed because of unfavorable weather conditions at the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range in Kauai, Hawaii. The complete story HERE. I am personally in favor of extra planetary exploration as it satisfies a human need to explore both in person and by remote contraption. Unwrapping the unknown is exciting as well as rewarding. The international space programs continue to deliver benefit to the general population and our collective future.

Alien invasion in Bogliasco

There was an outer space invasion in Bogliasco ITALY that got no news in the international press. The few that I saw assembled with their ray guns and swords ready to battle the local extras held back by a director's assistant.

I just discovered this curious draft (Saturday, March 31, 2012) and thought it was worthy enough to be included now.
- Steve, 2014-03-31, hmmmm 2 years later to the day.

NASA space photo of my farmland

Satellite Shows High Productivity from U.S. Corn Belt
and my dryland farm is much smaller than a pixel.

"Data from satellite sensors show that during the Northern Hemisphere's growing season, the Midwest region of the United States boasts more photosynthetic activity than any other spot on Earth, according to NASA and university scientists.

Healthy plants convert light to energy via photosynthesis, but chlorophyll also emits a fraction of absorbed light as a fluorescent glow that is invisible to the naked eye. The magnitude of the glow is an excellent indicator of the amount of photosynthesis, or gross productivity, of plants in a given region." more . . . I subscribe to NASA.

NEWS: I spoke to Brandon earlier today and he says the wheat survived the winter and he is planting the field peas now. My next call is to Scott to ask about my small grass-fed herd.

It's my birthday

It's my birthday

and family, so many friends, new acquaintances and Google send well wishes.

. . . more . . .greetings from Occidental College


Thank you.

Nebraska Cornhuskers win on January 1, 2014

I joined my father-in-law Frank Svoboda at the "Nebraska Society of New York" viewing the Nebraska Cornhuskers win against Georgia at the Hudson Station Bar & Grill. Frank is visiting NYC from Ogallala NE.

Natural Beef for sale November 7, 2013

Part of my income comes from a personal exploration of sustainable agriculture. I made this iPad video of our herd of 40 heifers in August 2013. Located in western Nebraska, the cattle have now gained more weight eating organic crop stubble, native grass buffer strips and clover.

On Thursday November 7, 2013 at the Ogallala Sale Barn I am selling most of the 650+ lb herd. Our supporting website is Ogallala Natural Beef. My brand is the 'lazy S backward B.' A link watch a real time video of the auction is found via cattleusa.com. You need to register with the sale barn to buy cattle online. I need to sell these beauties per the stipulations of my loan with Pinnacle Bank.

Depending on a favorable outcome at auction, next year I want to pursue a two year all natural organic grass fed cattle practice from birth to slaughter. These calves will be chipped to validate their genetic source that is a requirement for organic certification.

Suitcase farmer,
Steve

[HELP] How to tightly crop live video to VGA output

I am in Montreal providing video support for musician Terri Hron for her performance in 2 days, Friday 8pm. I want to take a live component video and crop out most of the moving image to present only a narrow horizontal rectangle of video for output VGA for the projector like the stand-in image above.

I've got an old MacBook and an old MacBookPro with VGA dongles out but they seem useless as I have no way to get the video in. I've got the loan of two nice Sony PMW EX1 cameras that I am just learning to use.

I think I am looking for a VJ switcher. If yes, then what are a few model names of those units I might find this evening in Montreal?

SCOUT, robot boat passes Mid-Atlantic 1000 mile mark

"Scout is a twelve foot long autonomous robotic boat designed to cross the Atlantic Ocean, relying only on prr-programmed commands and information that it can collect about its environment through sensors. It is built to deal with anything the ocean can throw at it, and its status will be reported live online." - http://gotransat.com/

Read a thoughtful article on Spectrum.IEEE.org site.
Live tracking
And following good DIY practice, the trolling motor was purchased at Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Last Day #HTB2013 of Hot Ephemerates

Today is the last day of my Hot Ephemerates at Hack The Barbican London residency #HTB2013. While I couldn't attend personally, the project gave me some insight and inspiration for new code work. Hey, launching an unlimited number of code sculptures in the Barbican is exposure!

Below are two views of No. 1, one of the six sculptures that visitors to the public hallway near the Curve exit have discovered. I modified my iPad settings so as I work in Greenport NY, the iPad thinks it's located in London.


The neighbor's house across the intersection in Greenport shows a corner of sculpture No. 1.


To the right of the sculpture is the top of sculpture No. 2.

I'm paying for comments and documentation images by visitors taking screenshots of the sculptures.

In the spirit of hacking and sharing, I'm publishing the code for Hot Ephemerates here. The other five sculptures in this location use the same code with different variable names so all the sculptural elements will show at the same time.

Seventy-three separate elements (35 .zip model files, 35 .jpg images, 3 .mov movies) were used to build these Hot Ephemerates. I wrote 533 lines of code which includes commenting. My tool set are SketchUp Pro to build the models, Adobe Photoshop CS4 to edit the images, Final Cut Pro v.7 to edit the movies, Junaio to provide AR specifications and free browser, SubEthaEdit to edit the PHP files, and Fetch to load the files to the internet server. 1and1 is the hosting company.

Image of two sculptures Flaneur Barbican

Screen shot today from iPad in Greenport NY of two sculptures from Flaneur Babican - Hot Ephemerates. This is hack, I put the local latitude and longitude coordinates of the #HTB2013 Barbican in London into my iPad to relocate the sculptures in the USA.
Hack The Barbican website: http://hackthebarbican.org
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/hackthebarbican
Twitter feed: @hackthebarbican
Flickr pool: http://www.flickr.com/groups/hackthebarbican/pool
Event page on Barbican website: http://barbican.org.uk/hack
Schedule on Lanyrd

Flaneur Barbican - Hot Ephemerates moves to London

"Flaneur Barbican - Hot Ephemerates" is public and live at the Hack The Barbican. Effectively, this means the installation is in technical trials until its opening on Monday, August 26th. More details available at installation page where visitors can download this Junaio channel by QR code method.


The installation begins in the Curve Exit Gallery 5B arcs around the crescent of the venue to give a pleasing perspective to the 3D sculptural elements. Additionally, three Doric columns are aligned along Beech Street. Each 3D column launches a different short video when the visitor touches the object on the screen.

I renamed the AR channel "Flaneur Barbican - Hot Ephemerates" - - my partner Terese Svoboda proposed the catchy Hot Ephemerates moniker. Here's the channel description,
"You, a wanderer at Hack The Barbican discover Hot Ephemerates automatically rendered 3D code sculpture.
- Walk into any sculpture.
- Share a screenshot with icon found on lower left hand corner of screen.
- Touch a street side column to see a short video."


For the curious in today's development, note in this screen grab of taken from the Junaio iPad-view browser interface, I was launching the channel from my studio in Greenport NY see the blue dot within the blue circle on the left. I will continue to tweak the installation in London until Sunday. Zooming in on the venue by the two finger iPad method produced the image at the top of this posting.