Wes Phillips

Apple has filed for a patent that will select music to match your activity level. Just think of your iPod as that guy beating the drum in the rear of the galley.

Should we be thankful that CD liner notes don't contain sentences such as, "Thanks go to the 'physiological studies in monkeys [that] suggest that roughness may be represented in the primary auditory cortex by oscillatory neuronal ensemble responses phase-locked to the amplitude-modulated temporal envelope of complex sounds.'"

Martin Wattenberg, an artist "whose work centers on the theme of mapping information," has posted a website that "draws musical patterns in the shape of transparent arches." Kind of interesting, but it reminds me of Robert Persig's comment that data without generalizations is just gossip. Wattenberg's maps show the repetitive nature of musical composition without informing us of anything. I look forward to his taking his technique to a deeper level.

Pretending he wasn't affected by this week's events, Huckleberry curls up in the comfy chair with a few good books. As a rule, he prefers to stay on top of contemporary literature, but he doesn't mind lying next to it in a pinch.

Regular readers will be aware that the semidetached brownstone next door caught fire this week and the Brooklyn FD battered down our door to make sure we were safe. One of the next door kitties is MIA, presumed dead.

Engadget has a nice tutorial on setting up a front-projection HT. It's pretty good, other than suggesting you DIY a cable set out of CAT5. OTOH, Engadget's suggestion that you create a cutout of the different aspect ratios is a brilliant idea I haven't seen anywhere else. For the price of a few pieces of cardboard, you can save yourself from making a costly screen mistake.

Mathematical proofs set to music. It's a fascinating idea in that wake-up-the-next-morning-and-saying-I-did-what? kind of way.