Random Inflation
February 19, 2010 – 3:11 pm
January, the Labor Department said,
everything from rent to cigarettes —
downward trend: it fell 0.1 percent in
when to raise the crucial short-term
benchmark interest rate, for instance —
normalize lending! The cost of living
increasing only 0.2 percent! A closely
January, the first decrease since 1982.
scaling back emergency measures to
consumer prices suggested that
were still a way off! A report on
government data on Friday reinforced
food and fuel costs underscored the
extraordinarily low interest rates.
That should ease some of the pressure
watched measure that excludes volatile
inflation appeared to be largely in
with the price of a variety of goods —
tighten monetary policy — raising the
check, despite a period of
support the economy, the latest
the notion that more drastic efforts to
on Fed policy makers as they consider
in the United States remained steady in
While the Federal Reserve has begun
interest rate and take smaller steps to
Source text: U.S. Inflation Report Gives Fed Breathing Room on Rates, The New York Times
Python code:
import sys
import random
all_lines = list()
for line in sys.stdin:
line = line.strip()
line = line.replace('. ', '! ')
all_lines.append(line)
random.shuffle(all_lines)
for line in all_lines:
print line
Project Proposal
February 12, 2010 – 4:42 pm
I. Project Description
Rising above Queens as it stretches from the East River to Main Street, Flushing, the 7 train bisects a series of vibrant and diverse neighborhoods. Each stop along the way opens to different languages, histories, and vantages on the city. And yet, by nature of their location and juxtaposition, these are cultures in flux—origins that once may have been neatly traced are being obscured, with new roots being put down each and every day. This Sound and the City project responds to the transformative process that is relocation, urban coalescence, and media culture. Adopting a train car on the 7 as the site of an immersive sound installation, the composition will unfold in stages corresponding to areas the train passes through.
II. The Site
As a project that explores the nomadic condition and intermingling of cultures, the enclosed space of a train car on the 7 seems an appropriate site for this urban intervention. The train is constantly in motion as it offers a window onto the borough of Queens. Acoustically, waves will overlap within the metal, plastic, and glass chamber. It is also a relatively accessible space in which people are pressed together regardless of economic and cultural demographics. And finally, I know the 7. Having traveled its entire length almost every day of the week for the past few years, this is a project born of long observation and experience.
III. Technical Description
To deploy a location-aware sound installation, I will incorporate a GPS module whose coordinates will be fed into an audio programming environment. The sounds generated will be sent to speakers arranged throughout the car. Electrical power options for operating the speakers will need to be investigated, as well as the nature of their connection. Because there is a surreptitious aspect to the installation, sensitivity to time of day will also be necessary. This could mean the middle of the afternoon or the middle of the night. The important thing is that travelers be drawn into an unexpected space of evolving sound.
IV. Conclusion
Through this project, I seek to reflect on the dynamics and consequences of nomadism and the influence of proximity.
Stranger Interaction: Passing Through Times Square
February 7, 2010 – 6:27 pm
My wife and I are walking through the station beneath Times Square. It’s a cold Saturday evening and she’s just finished a full day of work. We’re not far from the turnstile through which we entered when a voice begins trailing us.
“Miss . . . ”
“Miss . . . ”
“Miss . . . ”
The third time fully enters into our consciousness as we look back to see a slender black man in casual winter clothing holding out the pocketbook my wife has inadvertently let fall to the ground.
“Thank you so much,” I say as my wife receives the item she now realizes slid past the compartment of her purse. He simply nods and proceeds in another direction.
As we continue on our way, the significance of this gesture—the generosity, the time we’ve been saved, the nature of our urban interdependence—begins to settle in and I turn back to find the man and reiterate our appreciation. He’s already disappeared into a stream of humanity.
Statefinder
February 5, 2010 – 2:42 pm
state so as to possess it in a
state as things which have become the exclusive value by their
state power personalizes itself as a
state power in mixed backward
state of
state power, foreseeing the reconstitution
state of affairs which is at the heart of the domination of the modern
state monopoly over
state would have to be kept from workers as well, which led to
state of siege
state and
state power it had built to emancipate itself, it
state power, in turn subdivided in the
state administration
state administration
state bureaucracy, its apathy must now be historically
state of the people?
state of affairs—and here all communication is joyously
Source text: Society of the Spectacle, Guy Debord
Python code:
import sys
for line in sys.stdin:
line = line.strip()
offset = line.find(" state ")
if offset != -1:
print line[offset+1:]
A Psychogeography of Flushing, Queens
February 4, 2010 – 9:27 pm
Flushing: A Psychogeography is the materialization of a sound walk through the town of Flushing, Queens. Elements of the arrangement were gathered in the course of my daily commute—sound as I moved from my apartment to the station, and ephemera as I returned home that evening. A series of seven collages made from found materials and imagery serve as links to each audio file in the sequence.
Variations on a Poem with Grep
January 29, 2010 – 4:24 pm
I.
September has been an empty m
Satchel in hand and bustling th
S
Rand
Punctuated by a n
Packed with y
I remember the m
Fl
Dev
And the industry
And the dead remains
And scattered papers.
A quarrel in August interrupted this
II.
your
remains
papers
of
normal
nod
mornings
and
an
August
III.
in
Flow of life
chel in hand and bus
ember has been an emp
h your papers
he dead remains of summer.
he indus
he mornings you came by,
he normal clu
imes s
inuous
ua
Original by Sachiko Clayton
Deep Listening Exercise: The High Line
January 24, 2010 – 8:47 pm
The High Line, New York City
2:30 p.m. Friday, January 22
Winter Afternoon on the High Line (audio recording, 2:00)
Voices left side and right, traffic horns
A plane is flying overhead—look to see a helicopter
Beep, beep, backing up and some kind of machinery in the distance
This park, above the city, only rises above so much of its sound.
Bell ringing, car wash seemingly inactive
“But there is nothing . . . ” fragment of a conversation
The ringing of machinery—sounds like a jack hammer—a power washer?
Two voices rise and walk in front of me, the conversation trails off and I’m hearing more air.
Waves of transportation and a kind of frequency
It’s like a pulsing sound, fades out . . .
A truck picks it back up
Not as windy here
Brakes squeak/footsteps/the pitch of the carwash resumes
Car horn/voices/and I heard a bird just chirp
Airplane travels by, helicopter travels by, bell rings, horn sounds, pressure wash voices, stream of traffic along the Hudson River
Camera winding, engine revving
Deep Listening Exercise: Classroom
January 24, 2010 – 6:16 pm
NYU Classroom, New York City
1:30 p.m. Thursday, January 21
Air moving through the ventilation system
• whistle
• hum of passage through ducts
• flow through gratesA soft hiss as from speakers not trying to make noise
Fabric moving against fabric, like corduroy
Voices outside
• conversation
• laughter
• walking awayAn email message tone, specific pitch
Stranger Interaction: Q34
January 21, 2010 – 11:23 pm
It’s happened before, on colder days than this one. Seldom, though, do I have an opportunity to confront the situation directly. On my way home from class I was waiting for a bus to take me from the station to my apartment. Standing by the shelter as a Q34 approached, I raised my hand to signal my intent only to watch the bus continue along Kissena Boulevard. The next stop was not far and a combination of brisk walking, passengers slowly disembarking, and a resolve born partly of frustration allowed me to address the driver face to face.
“Limited?” I ask, wanting to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“Local,” he replies.
“Is that not a stop back there?” I repeat the question he seems to be evading.
A pause.
“The bus is full,” the driver offers, looking out the window at his rearview mirror. I look back into the half empty cabin and my inclination to press him further fades.