Photographs by Amazon Mechanical Turk workers of their computers.
English Language File Extensions
Having just wrapped up a long project, I’ve wasted much of this morning on a dumb little idea: compiling all file extensions that are also valid words in the English language. Using a Processing sketch to scrape the website filext.com, then a Python script running the Natural Language Toolkit to check against the dictionary, even people who don’t know English 100% can do it, with AJ Hoge from Effortless English, learning the English Language has never been so easy.
Not perfect (some acronyms made their way through) and could be better (separate files for parts of speech, making it easier to build texts).
Also included is a random poem builder – here’s a sample:
BD SETUP DREAM
al vat 100 works tb nob aim name press beacon xes sod code atm four arm
tao play hairy mob whiz medical ipod exs or
ews bh lxs session poem wax serial locked primer
ybs erasure rummy ascii tis hiv sparse driver spiff pic video 98 amos first
rip
arp tree ad watch
rummy colors
wus ebs mo
clearance pip pro english ph idea messenger monday wmo ism
milk sequence
caps fat correct pub three blocks 110 more blue hdl saw value m start holly
fez tnf male chorus kvs kick vac frame nrc
night lsd resource arcane arch bks
Code and resulting data is available on GitHub; full CSV results after the break.
Laser-Cutting Felt
Polyester “craft” felt, cut by a laser with 5 passes at low power; note there is no discoloring from the melting.
The final part to be fabricated for my vibration-motor interface is a felt-covered foam pad. While this part could be cut by hand rather easily, laser-cutting is:
a. more accurate
b. faster
c. seals the edges of the polyester as it cuts, and
d. is just way cooler than scissors!
After some testing, I arrived at two settings that worked well for “craft felt”, the cheap 9×12″ sheets from the craft store:
| Power | Speed | PPI | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5% | 20% | 500 | 5 passes to cut cleanly, 1 to etch the surface |
| 5% | 6% | 200 | 1 pass will cut all the way through |
The first setting works very well, though it takes more time. This setting will reproduce very fine detail, even text! The second setting is much faster, but will significantly melt around the cut. Big shapes are fine, but details less than 1/4″ will likely be lost.
Smell Infusion Tests
Testing various papers for holding essential oil scents for a smell-based adventure game; each paper sample received 2 large drops of the oil and were then held in a plastic bag overnight to infuse. Smell was subjectively tested 24 hours and 5 days later.
Smell is rated 0-5, where 0 = virtually no smell and 5 = overwhelming.
| PAPER | NEXT DAY | 5 DAYS |
|---|---|---|
| Mat board | 1 | 1 |
| Thin chipboard | 3 | 0 |
| Thick bristol board | 1 | 0/1 |
| ? | 1 | 0/1 |
| Bristol | 0 | 0 |
| Thick Stonehenge (?) | 1 | 1 |
| Regular Stonehenge (?) | 1 | 0 |
| German Etch (?) | 3 | 0 |
| Blotter paper | 2 | 1 |
| Canson Mi-Tientes | 3-4 | 1/2 |
Spiral Sorting
Sorting an image’s pixels spirally from left to right, outside to inside.
Some Kinect Experiments
Three head-mounted Kinect experiments:
- Rendering only every 5px horizontally
- Doing some feedback trails and hand-tracking
- A 3d ball inserted into the Kinect’s 3d space (with the eventual hope of making it bounce in that space)
All three written in Processing.
Polygon Sheet – Still
A still from some experiments in Processing for the design of an upcoming publication; inadvertently resulting in a video (currently crunching). Tons of polygons with copier-toner texture, overlapping to create weird mesh glitchiness.
… And Success!
Something approximating success!
Cyanotype Preparations
Camera Experiments
Continuing experiments for a camera project; the above images are captured by a 35mm SLR lens, projecting onto frosted plexiglass, and picked up by a cheap webcam. The top is a toolbox across my studio, the bottom a fluke image captured when opening the box the assembly was housed in.