This is my weblog... clicky on the linkies

Instagram for Android is out, and I've got it.

I didn't think I would, but I like the square cropping. I've always found square cropping to be hard, its not easy to strike a balance between compositional solidity and fluidity. There is no horizontal space to traverse so its hard to set up tension. Mindlessly putting everything in the rule of thirds spot creates an effect that is simultaneously cramped and boring.

But, for whatever reason, I find cropping in instagram fun. I think what I am learning to do is discard all of the 35mm intellectualizing that has set itself up in my brain and concentrate on the photograph. My compositional brain is getting lazy with 35mm and this square cropping is a good workout for it.

The camera in the Motorola Atrix is a pile of poop. I mean, it's a pretty good camera for a cell phone, it could be a lot worse. But whatever Instagram is doing to the image really brings out the noise and blurriness.

Also, the filters. It is tedious wading through all of the very similar filters to find one that works well with an image. It's actually a bit infuriating, because most of the filters make the photos look worse, at least with my phone. At the very least I wish I had the ability to change the color cast which these Instagram filters apply to the image. Just a little slider to go from cyan to yellow, or green to magenta.

I've been working so hard getting ready for the Minne Maker Faire that I forgot to post an update! Everything is back to normal and I'm taking international orders again. In fact, i just shipped a package to Switzerland last week.

The Faire is going to be great! I'm going to have a booth, if you are in Minneapolis stop by and say Hello. I will have a number of different Stella amps that I have built as examples if you want to play around with one or see what they sound like in person. And I'll have kits and accessories for sale. No finished amps for sale, sorry! I was hoping to get some done but The Move sapped all my time.

I'll have a guitar, a bass, and a microphone to try things out with (the microphone that I have sounds great with a harmonica, you'll have to bring your own harmonica though). I also got an old iMac set up that will display pictures from the build process, I'm pretty excited about that too.

This is one of the fine amplifiers I'll have for you to take a look at.

Alright, we're moved in the new house. It went reasonably well, now we just need to finish unpacking.

Of course we still don't have internet because of some phone company shenanigans. And until we have internet, I cannot ship internationally because I cannot print out the customs forms on my printer without a connection to the internet.

I should be all connected and set up by March 16th. Feel free to order before then but don't expect anything to ship until then.

Thanks!

Beatles Hard Day's Night mystery chord solved with Fourier analysis (via dangerous meta)

David Gilmour guitar secret (reverse the wah!):

What is the probability that every day I'm shufflin'? (via Reddit)

Great Katamari Damacy hack! Turn any page into Katamari Damacy using CSS.

My family and I are moving to a new place in a couple of weeks! It's exciting and stressful and too much work all at once but what can be done. The new place is awesome, we'll have a backyard for the kids, with a tree house and a slide, and the folks we are renting from seem great.

Keeping orders going out the door, however, is going to be a bit of a logistics challenge, for obvious reasons. I mean, I don't even know when we're going to get internet at the new house yet. I've got a good plan for moving everything over to the new house, but even so, depending on when you make your order it may take a couple extra days to ship it. Also, I'm usually pretty good about packing up new kits when supplies run low, but I already boxed up and packed all of my spare kit parts, so what is in the store is in the store and I won't have a chance to bundle up new kits for a few weeks. If you want a Stella Amp kit, you'd better get one before I run out! (Or I might not run out, but don't say I didn't warn you.) I'll also be a little slower on the uptake when it comes to answering forum posts and support emails.

Alright, I gotta get packing.

I gotta hand it to Fender, these new amplifier designs are amazing:

I wouldn't mind building one of those for myself.

Just posted a tutorial on how to mount the pots and the LED for a cigar box Stella amp build. Let me know what you think!

Today Newt Gingrich was on the front page of the newspaper, and the front page of the business section had a picture of a man walking through airport security while still wearing his coat and shoes.

HELP SOMEONE HAS KIDNAPPED ME AND SENT ME BACK IN TIME TO THE 90s!

On the other hand, wait a minute! It's time to buy Apple stock at 7 bucks a share!

(Here's the Semisonic lyric I was thinking of when I wrote the title: "Closing time - time for you to go back to the places you will be from.")

I just put up a quick page on how to mount a speaker to a cigar box if you are making a cigar box amplifier. All you need is a drill, a couple of bits, a screwdriver, and pliers.

As you can see, you drill the holes in the box to make the speaker grille you want to have. Then mount the speaker to the box with machine screws and nuts.

(If you don't have any machine screws and nuts around the house, believe it or not Home Depot has half a wall of machine screws and nuts in little baggies, you just get the size you need. I got 1 inch screws so I knew there wouldn't be any problem with the length. These screws are 6-36 screws, if you are using a different diameter of screw then you would use a different diameter of drill bit for the screw holes.)

My web host recently moved my website over to a new server, and there were some issues with The Move. Sadly I didn't notice these issues until a week after it happened, which basically ruined any chance of turning this into a smooth recovery. In fact, I didn't even know A Move was taking place because I didn't check the e-mail account my host sent the notification to. My bad.

So Hello! This website is coming to you from exactly one week in the past!*

In all seriousness, I have all of the content that I added over the past week available to me, and I will be adding that back in as time allows. And if you have placed an order in the past week I have either already sent it or I will send it tomorrow.

I have, as far as I know, fixed all of the issues related to The Move. But if you come across anything weird or something you think should be fixed, or a missing page, or what have you, PLEASE let me know, right here in the comments. (If you do not see a link for posting comments, click on the title of this post and it should show up.)

Thanks!

[*] I can't wait to see who wins the big game on Saturday, the Bruins or the Canucks! (My money is on the Bruins.)