When nature and technology come together...

YEARS from Bartholomäus Traubeck on Vimeo.


A record player that plays tree slices. According to the site, 

A tree’s year rings are analysed for their strength, thickness and rate of growth. This data serves as basis for a generative process that outputs piano music. It is mapped to a scale which is again defined by the overall appearance of the wood (ranging from dark to light and from strong texture to light texture). The foundation for the music is certainly found in the defined ruleset of programming and hardware setup, but the data acquired from every tree interprets this ruleset very differently.

I may have given it up a while ago, but science it really fucking cool sometimes.

Someday I'm going to find a field of wildflowers

not a metaphorical field of flowers, but an actual field bursting with glorious color, along the side of a random road somewhere, and make whoever's driving me pull over and run with me into the hues. I have wanted pictures of my hair amongst the flowers for a long time, but this photograph has reawakened the desire.

Reblogged from 18° 15' N, 77° 30' W

This also makes me want to start experimenting with scarves...

It's almost my favorite season!

"If winter is slumber and spring is birth, and summer is life, then autumn rounds out to be reflection." -- Mitchell Burgess

I have always loved the Fall. As the summer winds down, it becomes time for back to school shopping: new clothes! (Sweaters, boots, jeans, scarves, hats!) new school supplies! (I got these liquid graphite pencils...writes like a pen, erases like a pencil, but becomes permanent after 24 hours so you could use it on official forms and stuff. THE COOLEST.) Then we actually go back to school, see friends we haven't seen in a while, generally get our normal social lives back. A nerd through and through, I like being intellectually stimulated and having academic work to do, so that too is always a plus for a little while, at least. 

But there's more to it than that. There's something about autumn itself. The world gets cool and crisp and beautiful. Nature shows its true colors. I often find myself bending down to pick up a particularly ravishing leaf before it gets trampled, and I love the satisfying crunch of walking over discarded leaves as well. It all seems so refreshing to me, though I suppose Spring is supposed to inspire that feeling more than Fall. Fall seems to be about cooling off, getting comfortable, snuggling into places to get ready for the Winter. So, in light of the above quote, I want to make sure I'm comfortable with myself this Fall, snuggled into a place I want to be throughout this Winter and the forseeable future.  

I believe many of us--too many of us--don't take enough time out of our lives to appreciate the simple things. I was reading an article for class yesterday, in which someone said he "abhors the dull routine of existence." I didn't realize how much that struck me, until today I was walking home from lunch and, for no real reason, I glanced up at the sun as it cut jagged little patches of light through the reddening trees. I was overcome with a realization of the true beauty of this place I nonchalantly call home, and instantaneously upset with myself for ever having forgotten it. So I beg you, the next time you're out and about taking a walk, no matter your destination, take a short moment to really look at your surroundings. Remember why where you are is where you have chosen to be, and why you have chosen it. Remember that we are products of our surroundings, and do your best to reflect the beauty that surrounds you.

Sometimes I still marvel at the fact that this is a building I have class in. It makes me feel rather classy overall...

I'll leave you with a song: