Friday, March 19, 2010

Incoming asteriod 2005 YU55

There is an asteroid that has been upgraded on the Torino Scale from a 0 to a 1. This is unusual, because usually as more observations are made as an object draws closer, impact likelihood is adjusted downward. It is the case that a "1" also indicates that after it is watched a little longer, it will become a "0".

The asteroid's size has been re-estimated, 140m diameter up from 130m, which is typical when an object gets closer, you can see it better. Here is an orbit diagram, Java applet.

If it were to be on a collision course, an object this size has a high probability of surviving entry mostly intact rather than exploding in the atmosphere, and of course it depends a lot on what it is made of and how dense.

A 0 Torino Scale rating means "will never hit us" where a 1 TS reading means "very very unlikely it will hit us and as we look at it more it will most likely turn out it will never hit us". So, it should be downgraded back to 0 in the next week or so-- unless it isn't, which would be very interesting.

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

because it was...

because they had made the world a game
it had no consequences
and because it had no consequences
it was not real
and because it was not real
it did not matter
and because it did not matter
it was of no effect
and because it was of no effect
it was harmless
and because it was harmless
it was blameless
and because it was blameless
it was nirvana
and because it was nirvana
it was transcendent
and because it was transcendent
it was surreal
and because it was surreal
it was beyond the scope of normality
and because it was beyond the scope of normality
it was abnormal
and because it was abnormal
it was out of control
and because it was out of control
it was unpredictable
and because it was unpredictable
it was without precedent
and because it was without precedent
it was unique
and because it was unique
it was singular
and because it was singular
it was one
and because it was one
it was whole
and because it was whole
it was indivisible
and because it was indivisible
it was elemental
and because it was elemental
it was basic
and because it was basic
it was a basis
and because it was a basis
it was a foundation
and because it was a foundation
it was firm
and because it was firm
it was resolute
and because it was resolute
it was final.

and so the game became real.

the formless is forming, plus i suck

You are only as good as your last performance. Someone said this, I think, and if they didn't then they should have.

My last performance was not my best.

I go to places to play music on my own, it is part of my adventure. I went to Baltimore again, to play at The Depot as part of a real time collaboration experiment that may occur on a monthly basis. The collaboration part went fairly well. A live electric guitarist joined, and that added a lot, we had a nice array of beats and sounds, although it made me feel lonely for my guitar.

Then some of the individual artists took turns playing. They were good, they had some tracks well planned out but they were also trying out some new things, you could tell.

Then I played. I was using my MIDI Guitron to play, and I had dared myself to play completely improvised, and had sketched out only the barest things ahead of time-- the patches/synths I'd be using. I picked some drum beats more or less at random, and unfortunately didn't like what I had selected. So i played along with that for a bit and it was sort of.... darkcore with stupid beats.

Then I chose a little more appealing beat, something with a groove, and added some effects. This was a little better. I played along with that, but my patches were too... heavy.

So it wasn't a very good showing, I'm afraid. But the guy who had organized the event seemed ok all around, and I'm hoping it will happen again this month.

I'm going to start putting together the tracks for the next assortment. It is going to be a very measured dose, that is my first intuition.