Random Connections – Page 121 – A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.

Not Quite Normal

March 3, 2011 Tom No Comments

EdTech, Internet

Some time ago I had a teacher ask me about Xtranormal as a possibility for digital storytelling. I took a brief look at it, and it appeared fairly simple and easy to use. You type in some text, and animated characters act and read what you typed in a mechanical voice. It seemed fairly simplistic, … Read More “Not Quite Normal” »

Pawn Wars

March 2, 2011 Tom 2 Comments

Entertainment

A couple of months ago I mentioned that there seem to be a plethora of auction/evaluation shows on TV now days. Well, even more seem to be cropping up, and these seem to be taking a much uglier turn.

Perhaps it’s a sign of today’s economy. Rather than finding some hidden treasure of extravagant value, these new shows seem to focus more on desperation. Some of the shows are based on abandonment, and some are based on folks so down on their luck that they are willing to sell anything.

First up are the storage shed shows, and there are two of these hitting the cable networks. Both are set in California and are based on a law in that state which says that if the rent on a storage locker is unpaid for three months, the contents of that locker can be sold at auction. In other words, some poor folks couldn’t make their rent for whatever reason, had to abandon their stuff, and the guys on these shows get to make money off of it.

Both shows follow a similar premise. Buyers are not allowed a close inspection of the storage unit. They are allowed only five minutes to view what they can from the door. Upon that quick inspection they have to decide how high to bid. It could be a big pay-off with hidden treasure, or a bust.

Contra Dancing

February 26, 2011 Tom No Comments

Entertainment

Friday night was a busy night. Laura wanted to go to her favorite restaurant, the Lazy Goat, and I wanted to go dancing. We did both.

Many years ago Laura and I were very active with the Harvest Moon Folk Society, which sponsored a contra dance once a month. We started dancing with them when they were just getting started at the Stone Center at McPherson Park, moved with them when they started at Slater Hall, and continued when they finally found their home at the River Falls Lodge up near Jones Gap. For whatever reason, we stopped going to the dances. Perhaps it was because River Falls was a bit further away, or perhaps it was just because we got out of the habit. Regardless, it’s been probably twelve years since we’ve been to a dance.

Which brings us to the present day…

Slave Songs of the United States

February 25, 2011 Tom 2 Comments

History and Genealogy, Music

This past week one of the ETV channels was rerunning an episode of History Detectives. This particular episode had been produced to air during Black History Month, and featured stories about African American history. It originally aired in 2008, and I remember seeing it once before.

In the first segment investigator Wes Cowan visited Avery Clayton, president of the Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum in Culver City, California. Clayton had found an old song book from 1867 entitled “Slave Songs of the United States,” and wanted to know if it might be the first collection of slave spirituals. The rest of the segment involved Cowan’s investigations into the origins of this collection.

Given my interest in old hymnals, this segment really caught my attention. There were other connections, as well – the investigations took them to Cal State Dominguez Hills, where Laura did her undergrad work, and to the sea islands of South Carolina.

Fun with Anaglyphs – Part 4

February 23, 2011 Tom No Comments

General Technology, Internet, Photography

In the previous parts of this series I looked at ways of creating anaglyphs with Photoshop, both from old stereoscopic images and from a set of two images shot with a hand held camera. But what if you’ve already got a photograph and want to “fake” a 3D image? Well, I think I’ve worked out a method of doing that, too.

So far I haven’t found any tutorials online for creating fake anaglyphs in Photoshop. I did find Jim Long, who has done an excellent job of converting 2D images into 3D cyan-red anaglyphs. Jim as quite the gallery not just photographs, but also of classical art rendered both as stereoscopic images and as anaglyphs. Here’s his version of Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa:

I don’t know what process Jim is using, but he manages to maintain color on the images very well. He also has a link to a supplier of 3D glasses with one of the most extensive inventories I’ve seen.

Fun with Anaglyphs – Part 3

February 23, 2011 Tom No Comments

Photography

In the first part of this series I was stumped because I didn’t even have a pair of 3D glasses. This time I was stumped because I didn’t have a 3D camera set-up. In Part 2 I had mastered converting existing sterographic images into 3D anaglyphs using Photoshop, and now I wanted to try my … Read More “Fun with Anaglyphs – Part 3” »

Fun with Anaglyphs – Part 2

February 23, 2011 Tom No Comments

General Technology, Photography

In my last post I talked about discovering that the South Carolina Digital Library has a new collection of 3D images. They have taken old stereographs from the Civil War era and have converted them to anaglyphs so that they can be viewed using 3D glasses. As I was thinking about how they did this, … Read More “Fun with Anaglyphs – Part 2” »

Fun with Anaglyphs – Part 1

February 22, 2011 Tom No Comments

History and Genealogy, Photography

This week I was looking for some resources on the South Carolina Digital Library (www.scmemory.org) when I saw that they have a new collection online. The collection is from the USC library, and is a collection of stereoscopic images of South Carolina.

The images were taken with a twin lens stereographic camera during and just after the Civil War. Most of these are of the Charleston area, and many show the devastation of the war, with ruined buildings seeming to be a favorite topic.

These images were meant to be viewed with a stereograph viewer, similar to the one seen below:

The image card would be placed in the holder, and the off-set images merged into a 3D view in the viewer. When I was growing up we had one of these antiques and a collection of cards, and I loved looking through them.

Wolfram Tones

February 22, 2011 Tom 1 Comment

Internet, Music

I’ve not had much chance to play around with Wolfram Alpha. I know it’s an amazing computational engine, and can solve math and many other types of problems. I just haven’t had much need for it, although I can see that it would be a fantastic tool for students. I have, however, spent a few minutes looking at Wolfram Tones. It’s a pretty cool online music composition toy that can kill a bit of time.

The tonal patterns are based on a computational formula developed by Stephen Wolfram in the 1980’s. As such, they tend to be fairly random. There is a degree of control over the sound, however. You can pick a style from a list as follows:

Chorale Chamber Ensemble Winter 2011 Concert

February 22, 2011 Tom No Comments

Music

This past weekend was a concert weekend for the Greenville Chorale Chamber Ensemble, so I wasn’t able to get much blogging done. We had rehearsals, then the concert itself Sunday afternoon in Daniel Chapel at Furman University. This year we did the Rutter Requiem, accompanied by a small ensemble that included organ, harp, flute, oboe, … Read More “Chorale Chamber Ensemble Winter 2011 Concert” »

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