Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein
2005, June 15
Mimulus guttatus
A photo presented with Zoomify.
Here is a photo of Mimulus guttatus from my garden Zoomified.
Click on it, drag around the picture, or use the navigation controls on the panel at the bottom of the picture to see the incredible detail of the Monkeyflower blossom, the red spots, the hairs, the wonderful color.
This is one of my favorite plants. The picture was taken with a Nikon Coolpix 4500.
2005, June 14
Zoomify your photo
A photo presentation web application for all.
My daughter sent me a link to an article about a new-found Bach aria; in the article was a link to the Bach Archiv foundation.
Being interested in all things Bach and all things digital, I naturally went to the link to Bach digital under the Forschung | Projekte menu.
There were links to the individual parts of a section of the Cantata BWV 2 in Bach's manuscript presented with the application Zoomify.
On the Zoomify site, there are links to highlighted users' sites, one of which is the University of Wyoming's Digital Initiative. A large set of maps of Western Trails have been digitized and are presented with Zoomify.
Naturally, I was fascinated with the presentation. I immediately downloaded the free software for the Mac and tomorrow I will put up the results of my experiment.
2005, June 09
Schübler chorale 6, BWV 650
Come thou, Jesu, from heaven to earth (Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter)
This is the sixth Schübler chorale, BWV 650, based on the melody "Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter". This is a chorale based on a secular melody by an anonymous composer.
The chorale plays against a dance-like obligato.
| The music: | BWV 650 | The cantus firmus in the pedal. | |
| BWV 137.2 | Solo alto aria with violin obligato. | ||
| BWV 57.8 | A four part harmonization of the chorale melody. | ||
| BWV 137.1 | Chorale fantasia. | ||
| BWV 137.3 | Soprano and bass duet. | ||
| BWV 137.4 | Tenor aria with chorale in the trumpet part. | ||
| BWV 137.5 | A four part chorale with trumpets. |
MP3 files of these chorales are available. If you want one, leave me a note in a comment with your email address and I will send it. Unfortunately, the files are too large to put them on my ftp server for general distribution.
Some names under which this chorale is known:
Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter
Hast du denn, Jesu, dein Angesicht
Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren
Come thou, Jesu, from heaven to earth
Comest thou now, Jesu
Why hast thou hidden, Jesu
Praise him the highest, omnipotent King
Praise the almighty, our king and ruler
Praise the Lord, who rules over all
Discussion from the Bach Cantatas website
Discussion from the website of Emmanuel Music of Boston
The Organ Music of J.S. Bach, 2nd ed.
Peter Williams, Cambridge University Press 2003
2005, June 03
Schübler chorale 5, BWV 649
Lord Jesus Christ, with us abide (Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ)
This is the fifth Schübler chorale, BWV 649, based on the melody "Wo soll ich fliehen hin".
The chorale melody is by an anonymous composer. It is an old melody, Parvulus nobis nascitur, used as Alto part of four part setting by Seth Calvisius, in his hymnal Hymni sacri Latini et germanici, published in Erfurt in 1594.
The form of the organ chorale is A-chorale-A. This is one of my favorite Bach pieces.
| The music: | BWV 649 | The cantus firmus in the pedal. | |
| BWV 6.3 | A soprano aria from BWV 6. | ||
| BWV 253 | A four part harmonization of the chorale melody. | ||
| BWV 414 | A four part harmonization of the chorale melody. |
MP3 files of these chorales are available. If you want one, leave me a note in a comment with your email address and I will send it. Unfortunately, the files are too large to put them on my ftp server for general distribution.
Some names under which this chorale is known:
Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ
Danket dem Herrn heut und allzeit
Parvulus nobis nascitur
Uns ist ein Kindlein heut gebor'n
Lord Jesus Christ, with us abide
A child is born to us this day
Discussion from the Bach Cantatas website
Discussion from the website of Emmanuel Music of Boston
The Organ Music of J.S. Bach, 2nd ed.
Peter Williams, Cambridge University Press 2003
2005, May 28
Vacation
A short trip to San Luis Obispo County to visit my daughter's family.
This month I took a short trip through the Salinas valley which lies between the Bay area and San Luis Obispo. The valley is planted mostly with lettuce and grapevines.
While I was there we visited the Las Pilitas Nursery near Santa Margarita. I found a Navaho Blue Oak and two sticky monkey flowers, the Diplacus (Mimulus) rutilus and the Diplacus (Mimulus) puniceus.
This is my baby Navaho Blue Oak.
I spent some time with my granddaughter and am so impressed with how her parents are managing.
We went for a short walk to the nearby beach, where there were Cliff Swallows nesting. You can just see the heads of the chicks in the nest opening.
The Morro Bay area is famous for peaks and rock formations.
On the beach there are evidences of the motion of the coastal hills.
The coastal scrub is at its peak of May color.
2005, May 26
Summer Weather Pattern
For the San Francisco Bay area.
You know when it’s summer in the Bay Area, it’s chilly, foggy and windy. This morning that is exactly what we have. And it is summer, according to the old calendar Shakespeare used. Midsummer Night was June 21. The beginning of the season was halfway between the equinox and the solstice, so summer started about May 5.
I doubt the people in Massachusetts would agree.
2005, May 22
Folding at Home
Thanks to Kate at Cider Press Hill, I am now folding proteins.
The original deadline for completion of my first work unit was in July. But in 11 hours I am at 11%.
Current Work Unit
-----------------
Name: p1416_polyQ_beta-helix
Download time: May 22 14:40:04
Due time: July 26 14:40:04
Progress: 11% [|_________]
Now I don't feel guilty for having this beautiful expensive machine that I love so much, with more power and memory than I will ever use in my whole life, sitting around sleeping about 100 hours a week. Now I can feel justified.
Noah Johnson is folding and hosting a team website.2005, May 12
Web color tools
Having trouble deciding which color you should use on that web page?
Here are three web sites that, combined, will give you all the information you need for web color.
Color sliders for text, background
