I like Ellie Goulding’s song Lights, which I found out about through the Bassnectar remix. It’s my favorite dubstep.

I just found out that HelloEnjoy created an interactive music video for Lights using Three.js and WebGL. They wrote up the technology here: http://www.netmagazine.com/features/behind-scenes-lights-latest-webgl-sensation

It’s a good read — there are details about how they chose visuals to go along with different sections of the music, how they created the terrain, challenges they ran into and how they solved them.

We used a tiny bit of Three.js for MobileGraffiti at AngelHack =)

DeCadence, my collegiate a cappella group, turns 20 this year. I was in it from 2001 to 2005 or so. DeCadence is doing phenomenally well — they sound better than ever, and just won ICCA quarterfinals a few months ago with an emotionally powerful set and really tight choreography.

Today they hosted a grand reunion party at Willard Park (yes, I did just make that localwiki page… if I keep this up, I’m never going to get this entry in time for iron blogger). DeCadence founder Mark Skandera came from across the country (he was able to schedule a talk for the math department at berkeley on Monday to coincide with the DeCadence renuion!) and gathered us around and told us again how DeCadence got started — how as an undergrad at Brown there were a few thousand students and 8 a cappella groups and how he’d never had the time to join one; then when he got to Berkeley for grad school there were tens of thousands of students and only 5 a cappella groups; how the lists of auditionees for the 3 that weren’t women-only were super-long; how he formed his first small group out of these lists and people he heard singing in the shower at i-house; how their first rehearsal spot was a closet under the stairs at i-house with an out-of-tune piano.

There are people in current DeCadence who hadn’t yet been born when Mark formed the group.

That blows my mind.

Current DeCadence got us a cake and organized sandwiches and songs to sing and everything. We stood in an enormous circle and sang “Like A Prayer”, which has got to be the longest-running arrangement in the group’s history, since they still sing it today.

It’s an amazing, talented group. Our alumni group Spot the Octopus turned out well today — we meet every Monday for rehearsal, and our only performance opportunity is when DeCadence invites us to open for them, which they did for their Thursday concert a few days ago =) We sang Sorry, Kraken, and debuted Always for them, Fritz’s first major solo =D And DeCadence was amazing. Really together in all ways. They sound great.

This year we also celebrate a few new DeCadence babies from across the country, and the first actual intra-DeCadence wedding coming soon (Alangela). We kicked a bouncy ball at each other and there were shenanigans. Lisa and Tom biked away with Watson in a pannier, which was pretty much the cutest thing ever.

It’s much warmer and sunnier in Berkeley than it is out here by the ocean, in the fog.

maiki and Emma came to visit a few days ago. Emma is growing up so fast. E smiled at me and tried to take my glasses. Their love is abundant.

From Marianne Williamson:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.’ We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

When I saw this quote, it was attributed to Nelson Mandela’s 1994 inaugural address. When I looked it up later, the internet told me that not only did he not write it, he didn’t even quote it in any speech. Williamson’s wikiquote page references this as a common misconception, and links to a page with the full text of both of Mandela’s 1994 inaugural speeches. It must have gotten passed around in email forwards until it became truth, which is amazing. Memes are incredible and display incredible resilience. I wonder if people like quotes more if they’re surrounded by the aura of someone famous and important, and how it makes people feel when they find out quotes are by someone else, or how bad I feel about judging someone as less famous and important because I’d heard of the first person but not the second.

But Williamson is organizing the effort to get us a Department of Peace!

I’ve also just watched this incredible Niel DeGrasse Tyson quote, via maiki. This is powerful.

In high school, I volunteered every other Sunday morning at the Tech Museum of San Jose. It was awesome. When I was applying to colleges, I asked my exhibit coordinator Gabrielle (an incredible, talented, energetic woman, I totally idolized her and now miss her and wonder what she’s up to) for a personal recommendation. She asked me, as an exercise, what I thought my strengths are. I had no idea and said something vague about scoring well on standardized tests, which I guess proved that I was smart, or how I played with the robot at the counter. She said, “let me tell you about what I think your biggest strength is. [Another volunteer] was always shy, but as soon as she was on shift with you, you welcomed her and made her come out of her shell. Now she’s a great volunteer who’s way less afraid to interact with people. That’s amazing.”

When I’m not afraid, I can help other people shine.