The scenes here were photographed this morning. I’m posting this at about 7pm. After just one warm sunny afternoon, the view has become dramatically more colorful and green. Even the soundscape has changed (more on that later!) These photos captured a fleeting moment when the colors were just starting to come out against a lavender backdrop of naked tree branches.

A recent project that got a lot of attention for Pachube involved it being used for citizen geiger counter readings in Japan, after the earthquake there on March 11, 2011.

Here’s a link to those geiger readings.

Here’s a link to the interview on Spark.

Here’s more about Pachube:

Pachube (“patch-bay”) connects people to devices, applications, and the Internet of Things. As a web-based service built to manage the world’s real-time data, Pachube gives people the power to share, collaborate, and make use of information generated from the world around them.

Pachube

Join in, if you like, and play the “Name that Ringtone” contest. Can you think of a name for this ringtone?

Just this afternoon while shopping for parts at SparkFun I came across  this video from that very 2009 Maker Faire  – you have to check out this video for its pure fun, geekiness and display of active imaginations:

In other sound news, through Vermont Makers, we connected with a few local artists and technologists who work in max/MSP. Plans are coming together to offer max/MSP workshops in Burlington in the late fall of 2012. It is thrilling to meet and hopefully work with other max/MSP – arduino enthusiasts here in rural Vermont! We’ll keep you posted and if you are interested in attending the workshops, please go over to the Vermont Makers site and sign up for their mailing list.

Speaking of Vermont Makers, don’t miss our event this Tuesday night April 3 Blinkies, the Quadcopter, Thing-O-Matic and more!

10,000 Year Clock concept by Eddie Sottto

We are huge fans of The Long Now foundation‘s 10,000 Year Clock. The Long Now Foundation as an organization “hopes to provide a counterpoint to today’s accelerating culture and help make long-term thinking more common.” This is the idea behind the 10,000 Year Clock, as it will keep time for 10,000 years and therefor provide some girth (time and place) for the concept of long-term thinking. Naturally, it’s taking a really long time to build it (the project started in 1989). Those of us who are interested in long-term thinking really enjoy the process and gradual unfolding of the endeavor – watching its measured, smart and steady progress.

The project began with an observation and idea by computer scientist Daniel Hillis :

“When I was a child, people used to talk about what would happen by the year 02000. For the next thirty years they kept talking about what would happen by the year 02000, and now no one mentions a future date at all. The future has been shrinking by one year per year for my entire life. I think it is time for us to start a long-term project that gets people thinking past the mental barrier of an ever-shortening future. I would like to propose a large (think Stonehenge) mechanical clock, powered by seasonal temperature changes. It ticks once a year, bongs once a century, and the cuckoo comes out every millennium.”

Here’s a recent update:

Clock One – Raise Bore from The Long Now Foundation on Vimeo.

More information is available here: 10000yearclock.net

The Long Now Foundation also hosts a very thought provoking seminar series in San Francisco. If you become a member, you get access to live  audio broadcasts, no matter where you are.  We are members of The Long Now and encourage you to join to! The more of us exploring long-term thinking, the better.

*All quotations in this post were taken from longnow.org