Oct 31
lindsayrgwattNYC drum and bass, ltj bukem, mc conrad, Music
Last night Rich and I went to see LTJ Bukem and MC Conrad at Club Love. It’s one of my favourite places to see a dj in NYC – a bit dive-y, great sound system and a totally unpretentious crowd:
The other great thing about Love is there light show. They’ve got human-powered lasers: a woman literally fires a laser through a set of prisms to create the visual effect she wants. Definitely a job that I never would have guessed existed:
Here are a couple more snaps:
Oct 19
lindsayrgwattProgramming, Technology arduino, hacking, nyc resistor
Yesterday I spent the afternoon at NYC Resistor making my own Arduino (technically a Freeduino) microcontroller. Say what? That basically means that I spent the day soldering together a bunch of pieces of electronics that let me connect my computer to the physical world.
Here’s what the darn thing looks like:
The best way to look at this board is to look at the narrow black slits at the bottom and the top on the right hand side: they’re pins that you can connect to external electronic components (e.g., lights, sensors, etc.). The big black chip controls the signals to those ’slits’ and ultimately connects to your computer via the silver piece on the upper left; you can alternatively plug the board right into the wall via the lower left.
The board itself will not do too much: it has four LEDs and you can blink one of them to make sure it’s working:
I’m going to play around with this some more and if I create anything interesting I’ll put some photos up.
Oct 11
lindsayrgwattFood, NYC
Do you have an alcoholic Russian (or Russian-loving friend) who is filthy rich and you’re struggling to find a gift for them? Maybe they own a football or basketball team and already have a chateau in the French countryside. Fortunately, the good folks at Astor Wines understand your challenges and offer Imperial Collection Faberge Egg:
This bit of conspicuous consumption/unnecessary luxury can be your for the astonishingly low price of $2,399.99 (note that they ran out of space for the last ‘9′ in the shot below):
Your oligarch awaits his gift.
Oct 09
lindsayrgwattNYC, Random memory, perception, reality
Last night there were fireworks over the harbour and Wen and I sat on our deck watching them. This morning I went for a run and almost bumped into a shackled prisoner going into the police station around the corner.
When I hit the bottom of Union, the Queen Mary 2 was parked in the cruise ship terminal and was glowing with all its lights turned on in in the pre-dawn light.
Upon my return, our corner had turned into the staging area for a SWAT team raid. Cops in body armour and machine guns prepped their shields and set up a convoy that also included an ambulance and a fire truck.
And now it’s evening. The last wisps of firework smoke drifted away hours ago. The accused has been processed and sent to Rikers. The Queen Mary has sailed and somebody who I’ll never know had one hell of a surprise this morning.
But if you were to visit my apartment today you’d never know that any of this ever happened.
Oct 08
lindsayrgwattNYC freedom
One thing about New Yorkers: they’re not ashamed to tell you what they’re thinking.
On Tuesday night I was at a movie and afterward their was an interview with the director. The interviewer wrapped it up by explaining that everyone was invited to a nearby bar where, “at midnight, to celebrate my birthday, I’ll do a body shot off of my pregnant wife’s belly.” Truly inspiring.
The next night I was at a concert where the singer was performing a Beatles tune. She sang the phrase “the wind is high” and then ad libbed “just like my daddy.” Once again, from nowhere comes more than I arguably needed to know.
It’s so refreshing to live in a city where people just throw it out there and frankly don’t give a sh!t what other people think…
Oct 07
lindsayrgwattScience electric cars, smart grid, variable pricing
There are big ideas and then there are big ideas. Reading this blog entry on Ford’s electric vehicles is mind expanding. Imagine an America with lots of electric cars. Now imagine a smart electric grid with variable pricing. Your car charges at night (when power cheap and interestingly most winds are strong enough). During the day, if it’s plugged in, it’s putting energy back into the grid – and you’re pocketing the difference. That’s a huge idea.
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