more desk clearing

is this your favorite part of my blog? when i clear off my desk?

i have gotten so behind in these things and even when i clear tabs, i still have a ton left. the thing is that i have to look at a thing and play with it before i recommend it to you.

so. first up: a tilt-shift photo maker! this is an awesome little tool that you can use to play with photos. i've had it sitting on my desk because playing with it required finding a suitable photo and then taking the time to manipulate it. turns out you can manipulate a photo seven ways from sunday faster than i could find one i wanted to try it with.

so here's my first effort, a photo taken on a civil war battlefield:

i'm going to have to play with that some more. i think that if you're going to have real fun with it, you start to take pictures with the tilt-shift in mind.

if you like playing with photos, here's an excellent little tutorial on stereogram photos on the cheap. i have not tried it yet, but it's on my list. while i'm on the topic of disposable cameras, i'll briefly mention this project that caught my attention enough to tell you about.

back in the day i did a photo project at school and bought a bunch of disposable cameras and painted them white, like the white bicycles of amsterdam, and had people use them and leave them and pass them around. it was quite a slideshow in the end.

on my list is also an interesting little application that tracks you mouse movement and turns it into art. you have to download it, but i just have and while i'm writing this i'm using it and when i'm done i'll have a little graphic i can show you.

there's a super-cool fractal explorer that you can use if you have a web-GL (what the heck is that?) browser. if you haven't a clue who benoit mandelbot was, and can't remember your times tables, you can still get real happy looking at all the pretty pictures and flying around in them.

then, because i can't stay on any given topic too long, we're moving to the wonderful world of music! you love music, don't you? i do. and you love samba, right?

well, i'm not a big samba fan, but i have more than a passing interest in musical styles and what makes them tick, so i was deee-lighted to find this awesome (do i use that word way too often?) interactive animated website that shows how a batteria functions and lets you break it down, and it includes explanatory videos! imagine me stiing stock upright in my chair, eyes all squinty and tiny wildly vibrating fists raised chin level in paroxysms of joy.

because i like words, and apparently late in life i have developed an interest in counting things, or at least analyzing things so they can be represented graphically and maybe conclusions drawn or amusements drawn out, i'm finding the word count project interesting.

and while we're analyzing things, bård edlund has made an audio representation of the closing level of the dow.

today i applied for membership in this social network. the reason i gave (since you have to give a reason) is that i'm not very interested in being a part of it, but that i have a mild curiosity about it. the little screen that comes up after you send in your application says something to the effect of maybe they'll send me a response later if they feel like it.

if you have a desire to watch live streaming video (right now there's a broadcast of an eagle nest), you can go to ustream. eagles hatching is a kind of transitory event, but it's cool to watch and you never know what may be broadcasting on the other channels.

and i think you ought to go look at this art project.

i know i gave you an interactive tree of life last week, but here's another nice one. and here's a super resource on geologic time from the smithsonian.

ok, that clears almost everything except the big pile of nerdy map-related things that you KNOW is coming. later will be soon enough.