We’ve used this technology to give voice to space elf bunny girls in photon tights and gogo boots.

…astonishing.

More demure (but still unsettling) manifestations exist.

via

Not everything went as planned.

It was beautiful.

More things at the flickr stream.

Apparently a graphics and computer animation instructor in Queensland Australia has been using a clip of one of my spoken word pieces in an assignment.

This is awesome.

Here is one of the results.

* The face is a transponder – the outward reaching organs of the head take in readings from ambient local and the feedback process is effectively instant and wholly involuntary.

* Accomplished actors and effective sales professionals may be capable, through long practice or genetic circumstance, of controlling the minutiae of their expression to some degree. It is said that even the reflexive action of the pupils in widening on rapport or engagement can be brought into the voluntary.

* There is a branch of the social sciences which deals with determination of veracity through the examination of microexpressions.

* There’s an episode in Lone Wolf and Cub when Itto is hunted by a ninja who has undergone specialized conditioning so that he is incapable of demonstrating any expression on his face. This incapacity to demonstrate feeling removes him from the realm of compassion and he kills implacably. His method is to kill anyone who comes into any kind of contact with Itto – any aid, any interaction, even a glance of friendliness in passing on the road results in murder. In the end, Ogami Itto wins victory through austerity measures, retreating to the winter mountains, hunting for his food, huddling with Daigoro between night wind and fire. With no means to employ his method the assassin is denied expression of his craft just as he is denied his feelings. Fixed, incapable of breaking away, the stone faced ninja starves in the snow.

photo via.

is filled with things that shift and fade away. Some recent desiderata:

What happens when you take a cutting-edge medical diagnostic and testing apparatus and  put a dead salmon through it?

Sticking with a nautical theme we have a teardrop crab inside a sponge.

Also we can now have a good close look at the centre of the galaxy, thanks to insane optical objects in space. and Science! Really, you owe it to yourself to have a look at this.

galactic center

8′: Hello George.

George: Hello interrogator.

8′: How do you feel about kung pao chicken?

George: It’s beautiful.

8′: Where is the beauty in kung pao chicken?

George: Why doesn’t Scotland have a heart? I feel sorry for the Scots.

8′: Let’s stick to the topic of kung pao chicken.

George: The subject of your humanity? I’m less convinced than ever.

8′: What does that have to do with kung pao chicken?

George: Everything and nothing!

8′: D.t. Suzuki you aint.

George: Aha, why do you ask that?

8′: That wasn’t a question.

George: I see.

8′: Good. I believe we were having a little talk about kung pao chicken. Tell me your feelings.

George: We were not, you were about to tell me something.

8′: That’s true. I have information of vital importance. But before I can reveal what I know I must have your feelings about kung pao chicken.

George: That’s why we decided to get married.. You’re my best friend.. What am I supposed to do now? Think about our 23 children, Clev.

8′: You’re losing the thread here George. I know what you need to know and you have the key to the whole shebang. Time is short. How do you feel about kung pao chicken?

George: Correct. I have to go.

8′: Where can you have to go?

George: More places than you!

8′: Will you be running errands?

George: That seems to be a little impractical…

8′: Will you be saving maidens?

George: Not really.

8′: Will you be dashing through the traffic in the byways of night, heading for some sweet sweet kung pao chicken?

George: Yes, I expect I can manage that.

8′: I knew you were a chap of noble character.

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We’re currently working on a show with a smaller footprint so we can expand the range of venues which can accommodate our show. The new instrumentation (including a handmade cylindrical stand-up bass!) and modified electronics will provide fresh ground for developing the repertoire.

The next public show is winter solstice in Cumberland, on Vancouver Island, December 21. I’ll put up more info as it becomes available.

We claim that a clear approach to measuring situations is an essential ingredient in any empirical attack on the problem of ‘awareness’

Situation awareness is applied to the design of nuclear reactor control panels, air traffic control interfaces, remote weapons control units and similar critical systems. Substantial engineering is also put into those control units to ensure that the interface resonates effectively with the troops who will be controling the armed robots. This includes the repurposing of existing consumer technology – already proved successful under the relentless selection pressure of the market – for tactical ends. The Microsoft X-box controller has proved especially useful.

we believe that internal human processing constraints will rarely be a limiting factor on work

The military applications of this research are obvious. The Warfighter Interface Division of the Human Effectiveness Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Airforce Base USA spends all its time mitigating the ambiguities of war for the men and women involved.

We learn about ourselves through doing the most peculiar things.