Imagine you’re the frontman of a grunge band in Seattle in 1993. You’ve finished three studio albums; you’re deep in a fourth. Your producer walks in and challenges you to write with more integrity—not to lean toward what you think the fans want. You chew on that.

One day you leave the studio. On the drive home, a song starts to assemble in your head. Somewhere in the noise, you catch a phrase from the radio: Black Hole Sun. You start to wonder what a song with that title would even sound like. By the time you reach your destination 30–45 minutes later, you have the song.

That’s the story that’s been told of Chris Cornell and this track. There are people who believe you can brute-force a song, and people who believe songs are channeled—that the artist is a conduit. This one lands for me in the second camp. It feels as if Cornell had been opened by the challenge, and in that openness he heard something new and materialized it.

Black Hole Sun is a special song by any measure. Superunknown was the first full-length album I owned—on cassette. I listened to it on repeat, alone in my room, until I’d steeped myself in it and brought it to a boil. I can only hope some of that magic seeped in.

The song itself is bizarre; I’m not sure what to compare it to. It opens with something you didn’t hear much from Seattle grunge bands around then—a slide guitar. Kim Thayil had a hard time with it; he gravitated toward riff-heavy parts, and this felt too delicate. The compromise made history. Next to hits that leaned on heavy gain and big chords, Black Hole Sun was operating in negative space—gigantic without the band playing gigantic. If this isn’t my favorite song of all time, it’s very close. That something so beautiful came from a group willing to be stretched doesn’t surprise me.

This song broke my definition of rock. It’s unmistakably rock as a whole, but when you take it apart it feels like it shouldn’t have worked—like the band’s own expansion in writing, it expands the listener into a vessel better equipped to explore the depth of what could be.

Black Hole Sun expanded my universe.

Official video:

References

1. Wikipedia, “Black Hole Sun” (Soundgarden song) — release 13 May 1994, third Superunknown single, chart history; Chris Cornell sole songwriter; Michael Beinhorn and Soundgarden credited as producers; recording at Bad Animals (Seattle); Cornell origin quote: commute from Bear Creek, misheard TV line, Dictaphone. (Community-maintained—spot-check contentious claims.)
2. Uncut (Peter Watts), “Chris Cornell and Soundgarden remember ‘Black Hole Sun’” — feature first in August 2014 (Uncut); this URL republished 19 May 2017; Cornell on the drive home and misheard phrase.
3. Rolling Stone (Kory Grow), “Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell on ‘Superunknown,’ Depression and Kurt Cobain” — 19 May 2017 oral-history-style interview tying Superunknown era to Cornell’s headspace (depression, Cobain).
4. Martin Kielty, How Soundgarden Producer Told Chris Cornell to Write Better Songs, Ultimate Classic Rock — 20 Dec 2023 piece summarizing producer Michael Beinhorn (via Rick Beato interview) on demos, “second‑rate Soundgarden” material, fan‑service songwriting, Beatles/Cream prompt, reaction to “Black Hole Sun” demo.
5. Rachel Roberts, Kim Thayil on why Chris Cornell played guitar on “Black Hole Sun”, Guitar.com, 25 Mar 2024 — web article quoting Guitar Player; Leslie cabinet, verse arpeggios, Cornell tracking delicate parts.
6. Soundgarden (YouTube), “Black Hole Sun” (official music video) — longstanding upload by the band’s channel; iframe above uses youtube-nocookie with the same video ID (3mbBbFH9fAg).
7. Scott Munro, Original Superunknown cover photo revealed, Louder / Classic Rock (19 June 2017) — identifies photographer Kevin Westenberg and the pre‑warp‑filter “screaming elf” sitting; hero JPEG in this theme from that story’s CDN image; © Westenberg via publication—local /images/soundgarden-superunknown-westenberg-hero.jpg for build only.

In 1994, three teenagers in Australia, between the ages of 14 and 15, submitted their demo tape with two songs to a demo contest held nationally. One of the songs was called Tomorrow. The other was called Pick Me. The band at the time was called Innocent Criminals. Tomorrow ended up winning that demo contest. The prizes included studio recording at Triple J and a recording contract. Innocent Criminals changed their name to Silverchair. They got a professional recording of Tomorrow and finished the entire Frogstomp album by 1995. Frogstomp was also released in the United States, and Tomorrow peaked on the US charts in 1995. That is when the song Tomorrow found me.

I love the song because it checked all the boxes for me at the time. For alternative rock, it had that light verse, heavy chorus shape that bands before them had already staked out like the Pixies. It had a killer guitar solo. The song was big and anthemic. It was singable. It met me exactly where I was. The lyrics feel cryptic, and to this day I have no idea what it’s about, but it didn’t matter. The track felt like home.

I was 13 years old. The band was merely three years older than me. I was playing guitar and making music too. There’s a lot to be said about representation. Knowing how young the band was showed me something I didn’t know was possible. I could do it too. And if I wanted to be on par with these guys, I only had three more years to do it. I’m not alone either. Kids the world over were suddenly empowered seeing Silverchair explode out of nowhere onto a global stage with one song.

Ultimately, for me as a musician and as a human, it gave me permission to try and write music and to do it my own way. It also gave me vision. I saw myself in Daniel Johns. The idea of living a life devoted to music was something I realized that I wanted.

The video below is the US official upload on YouTube. The Australian official video is here.

References

1. Wikipedia, “Tomorrow” (Silverchair song) — Pick Me / Nomad national competition, Triple J recording and ABC-filmed video as part of the prize, release of the Tomorrow EP, charting, US modern rock success and second (Pellington) video for the American market; Innocent Criminals as the pre–Silverchair name.
2. Wikipedia, Frogstomp (album) — 1995 album, including US release timing.
3. Silverchair (official via YouTube), “Tomorrow” (US version, official video).
4. Silverchair (official via YouTube), “Tomorrow” (Australian version, official video).
5. Hero image — Nick Hasted, Silverchair: Frogstomp review, Louder / Classic Rock, Future plc, published 12 June 2015 — original CDN JPEG https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/7bjhF2P2cdGP9Nj5UdmgGh.jpg; this site hosts a resized WebP derivative at /images/silverchair-frogstomp-louder-hero.webp for performance. © Future plc / the photographer as credited on Loudersound; attribution is not an implied licence beyond personal use.
6. Wikipedia, Pixies (band) — context for the quiet‑loud / soft‑verse‑loud‑chorus dynamic often discussed in 1990s alternative rock (comparison is mine, not theirs).

The drive up north along the mountains to the west was absolutely beautiful. Red Rocks is a gorgeous preservation of what nature can be. Even the parking lot was beautiful.

Donis and I took a short walk through the park to explore for a bit and then enter the venue. We provided our proof of vaccinations, waited in line for a bit, and found our seats.

The opening act was provocative and the venue was everything I had hoped it to be. The moment came for the main act. It was hilarious to see the band come out to a track from Disturbed. A good candidate for the antithesis of her music.

Each song was like a painting. The background visuals changed as well as the soundscapes. It was quite the contrast to listen to such soft melancholy music in such a gigantic venue, which seemed to call for arena rock bands smashing drums and spitting blood.

Sometimes there is music that resonates with your circumstances. The COVID experience is many things to many people and I know I’m not alone in that experience invoking a reevaluation of life. I felt stuck in Iowa. I was ready for a fresh start elsewhere. A new adventure. Phoebe’s music amplified that feeling. Specifically the song Halloween. The lyrics saying “baby it’s Halloween, we can be anything” to me were an anthem about freedom, self-expression, and making yourself. I wanted that freedom and we made the move. A rushed, last minute, move to Colorado Springs.

Now fast forward almost a year and I’ve made the move and now I’m sitting in this venue that I’ve always wanted to visit watching that very artist perform the song. It was surreal. The prophecy was fulfilled.

Even crazier is that Phoebe performed a new hit single called Sidelines. Like every other song the background changed to give the soundscape a visual theme. The song took on the theme of a rodeo with horses and cowboys and gates in the background. Donis pointed out to me in the background she saw the word Austin. This is exactly where she and I were looking to move that summer. Again the music and now the performance associated with it seemed to provide direction in the moment that I needed it.

I do recognize that you have to be careful with things like this. It’s often true that we see what we want to see. For me it makes for a better more romantic story. And I like it. It’s Halloween.

It was the convergence of two things. Des Moines had been working on a public skatepark for over ten years. It wasn’t just any park. It was designed by California Skateparks and finished being the largest park in the US. With that, they attracted one of the most prominent skateboarding competitions: The Dew Tour. I’ve enjoyed watching competitions over the years but never thought I would witness one in my backyard. Riders, the world over, trickled into the capital city of Iowa to compete and score points for potential Olympic qualification.

Tickets were free as long as they lasted. I scored two days of qualifying and the finals. Qualifiers were expectedly low-key. Much of my attention was drawn to what you don’t see on television. The competition crews and their interaction with the athletes. Some of the crew seemed to know the athletes. It made me wonder whether that familiarity was unique to the Dew Tour or whether this crew also worked other events. Either way, it showed a side of skateboarding I had not seen. It became a common theme over the weekend. The competition was less about competing and more about the progression of the sport.

It was visible in how the athletes responded to each other’s accomplishments as well as the crew, the commentators, and the crowd. It was a celebration of skateboarding which is something that all were included in and could play a role in. Such a contrast to rivalries in other professional sports often leads to physical violence. Don’t get me wrong. Those rivalries are an exciting part of those sports, but it’s not the spirit of skateboarding.

Seeing these athletes I’d watch on YouTube for years warming up 10 feet away from me was a thrill. Watching them ollie was a rich lesson. I was a willing student.

When the finals came, I loaded up the family to show them this new world. It ended up being a hot day with not much breeze and they took off early, but I was happy for them to experience something of the event that had me reeling.

I stood through the finals, watched some amazing athletes, and let the experience marinate in my mind. There was a lot that I had missed: The nightlife and the semi-finals. That aside, I was still a part of something special. Seeing many legends with my own eyes, observing the spirit of the sport glue so many people together, and witnessing epic moments of the competition. In four days, I watched Des Moines become a skate city.

The sun shines spotty and the stream is calling here in Kansas.

For my second annual week of seclusion, I wanted to go someplace different. My guiding criteria were to trim down the 7-hour drive that I took the previous year. I found an “artists” cabin in Kansas. Since songwriting was one of my intentions, I was sold.

I started down listening to a bunch of song exploder podcasts to get into a creative mindset. I felt like I had many ideas going. It was getting me in the right headspace.

My arrival was met with slight discouragement. The cabin was visible to the host’s home. Something more secluded was the ideal. On a positive note, the structure was a tiny home complete with a quirky host to match. She noticed my unpacking and gave some instructions from afar. She wore a hat that gave her fox-like ears and had flaps that covered her cheeks.

Getting in required opening a fence and led to a bridge over a creek. The fence held a horse and pony. The cabin came with surprises. I stepped onto the covered porch and through the door. It had been augmented over the years with a bunch of different DIY homemaking materials and techniques. Down below were a fully functional kitchen, shower, and a little cove to sleep. Up top was for kids to sleep and play. Out towards the front was a sitting and reading space.

Once I got everything inside, I immediately picked up my guitar and started writing. I observed my environment and channeled that into the content. What rang loud to me was the sound of the water outside, the wildlife, and the cabin. It was the sound of spring. I was practicing a technique I had learned from another writer. To listen to the world like you’re listening to a record. It was symphonic. That became the central theme of the song.

As the lyrics progressed, they got more personal. Being alone has this way of reminding you who means the most. As Jeff Tweedy says, “Distance has a way of making love understandable.” I was thoroughly enjoying the moment and wanted to share it with another. That other was my wife.

Lyrics

Verse 1
The sun shines spotty
and the stream is calling
Here in Kansas

I put a fire in the stove
and unpack all that I brought

The wet earth walks soft
and the cardinals talk
Here in Kansas

Paper to pen giving everything I got
Giving everything I got

Chorus
Spring seems like a symphony
I’m just joining in
to all its got to say
are you listening ?
The sound builds like an avalanche
busting through the trees
filling my heart again
and I’m remembering
All I have is memory

Verse 2
The rains turn loose
but I’m warm in my shoes
Here in Kansas

Pages turn easy
As I’m getting out of my head

The spider strings silently
Building its web
Here in Kansas

I watch her work quiet
as my body finds its bed
As my body finds its bed

Imagine traveling to a foreign country and hiring a guide to give you a tour. Without them, you are helpless. They enable you to navigate this new world, and along the way, you see a bit of their personality. Perhaps you even make a friend.

Your web browser is not unlike the guide: the Internet, the foreign country. Not only is your browser your means of travel, but you also develop a relatively intimate relationship. Who else would you allow to manage your name, date of birth, social security number, cell phone, credit card information, maybe even your every other thought? Yet, all that information passes through your browser and lands in the cloud.

Looking at it this way, do you trust your browser? There are plenty to pick from: Chrome by Google, Safari by Apple, Edge by Microsoft, Opera by well, Opera, Brave, and Firefox by Mozilla, among many others.

A great follow-up question is, “what is the vendor’s purpose?” for making a browser. Browsers are not easy to build. As the Internet evolves, so does the browser. A company would need a good reason to do it.

Why does Microsoft make Edge?

Microsoft is a software company. They created Internet Explorer in 1995 to compete with Netscape Navigator. As the Internet took off, it was an obvious value add to Windows to include its own built-in browser. Recently, it has been rebranded as Edge.

Why does Apple make Safari?

Apple’s primary income source is selling phones, laptops, and other devices. These devices run their own Macintosh operating system. It competes against Microsoft Windows, and Safari is its alternative default browser.

Why does Google make Chrome?

Google’s primary source of revenue is online advertising. Chrome entered the market to “speed up” our online experience. Keeping a user’s attention keeps them engaged and exposes them to more advertising.

Why does Opera make Opera?

Opera was created in Norway and released in 1995. Opera ASA was formed as a company to support it. It originally got its money from advertising, then from Google, since it adopted Google Search engine, and has since diversified. Opera is subject to Europe’s digital data protection and privacy legislation (GDPR).

Why was the Brave browser created?

Brave was created as a business venture to turn the tables on traditional advertising models and pay users for the ads they see. Brave keeps 30%.

Why does Mozilla make Firefox?

Firefox was created in 1998 when Netscape Navigator’s source code was released. It was an open-source project contributed to by many all over the world, thanks to the Internet. In 2003 an independent non-profit organization called the Mozilla Foundation was created to support Firefox and organize donations for its funding. Firefox is made by people for people.

Clearly, Mozilla has the most integrity when it comes to trust. They’re not trying to make money from your data. They are not trying to sell you something. They are trying to provide an open and free browser option so that we are not stuck with only browsers with agendas.

While this mission has always resonated with me, I had failed to make the switch. Performance, lack of features, and a poor mobile experience held me back. But this year is different; Firefox has made huge strides. Its desktop performance is comparable to Chrome. Features like container tabs, which are not in Chrome, set it apart. It released a completely revamped mobile browser.

Trust is a novelty in 2021. If you find yourself skeptical of where your guide is taking you, meet my friend Firefox.

The problem

The internet has provided unprecedented access to information and the ability to add your voice into the mix. Most people now consume their news online. Given the variety of services that provide this, it becomes confusing as to what is a reliable source or not. There currently exist many intermediaries online that feed people news rather than consuming directly from a source. All of this has led to the misinformation age.

The solution

Misinformation is not new. It’s safe to say it has been used as a tool for as long as human beings have been communicating to manipulate people. Much can be said about how this, combined with our modern technology, has led to dire realities and despairing futures. I want to keep this post focused on empowering others to greater awareness and ultimately being a part of the solution.

1. Be aware of your own cognitive bias

Any real solution has to start with us. We can’t shake our finger at the world and expect it to change. We have to change. Are you aware that human beings have many baked-in biases? What about Anchor Bias, which is our tendency to believe the first piece of information we encounter? What about Confirmation Bias, which is our tendency to favor information that conforms to our existing beliefs? What about False-Consensus Bias, which is our tendency to overestimate how much people agree with us? Over 100 cognitive biases are hard-wired into us that we have to work against to find the truth. The best tool we have to counter it is awareness.

2. Identify bias in your current sources of news

The chart below is created by a company called Ad Fontes Media whose mission is “to make news consumers smarter and news media better.”

What are your favorite news sources? Are they in the Most Reliable, Mixed Reliability, Somewhat Reliable, or Unreliable categories?

3. Cut out the middle man

There are many news apps on the market for smartphones. For a while, I used the “Google News” app. The application was a news aggregate and contained “smarts” to tailor the news it showed me to my interests. These applications have unintended consequences. For example, an article may show up from Fox News or CNN, both of which have been criticized for media bias to the right and left. If I load one of those articles, Google news will show me more items like it. You can see where this is a slippery slope. A single click and down the rabbit hole you go of media bias to the right or left. Google News is what I referred to above as an intermediary. I was not going directly to a news source. I was letting it dictate what news coverage I received. I eventually had to stop using the app as I could tell my newsfeed had a negative impact. I was regularly exposed to articles that were written to invoke an emotional response rather than give me the facts. If you read news articles on Twitter, Facebook, or any other social media service, you receive news through an intermediary. Their technology is deciding what you see.

4. Get out of the echo chamber

Thanks to Confirmation Bias, noted above, we tend to create “echo chambers” with social media. An echo chamber is a group of people that you generally agree with. Echo chambers work in collaboration with biased news to give us an overwhelming confidence that “we are right” and “they are wrong”. If you are going to use social media I suggest purposefully following just as many people you don’t agree with as people that you do. Not only that, don’t penalize them for their own world view. Listen to them and learn. Speak with grace. Seek to understand. Demonizing and chastising will not change anyone’s mind and only pour gas on the fire of societal division.

5. Take control of your world view

Now it’s time to take control. Given the previous points, I changed my news feed to an application called “Feedly.” It allows me to select the news sources I want to read, and it organizes a news feed from those sources. The news sources that I chose all came from the “Most Reliable” box from the Media Bias Chart above. I have had a noticeable improvement in mental health, doing this as I am much less likely to read articles trying to elicit an emotional response. It’s just the data. While it doesn’t make the world look any less bleak, it cuts through much of the noise. I suggest using a news application that puts you in control of the sources you read. Pick as many from the Most Reliable category. As you read, compare and contrast their reporting.

6. Set a time to revisit change in media bias over time

Bias will change over time. It is the blessing and the curse of our free press. Hopefully, by cleaning up your news feed to only include trusted sources, media bias will start to stick out like a sore thumb. The Media Bias Chart is regularly updated so that you can refer back to that.

What is at stake?

What is the cost of doing nothing? Cognitive bias leads us to distorted thinking about ourselves and the world. Do we want fantasy or reality? Giving intermediaries the keys to defining our world view affects our mental health and our future. Echo chambers dilute what a true community should be. The radicalization and polarization caused by misinformation have destabilized families, cities, and countries. Truth matters. I hope that we all take a step back to invest in establishing a more objective view of ourselves and the world. The truth seems like the best place to start mending the wounds of recent history.

It’s election day 2020 in the United States of America. I had the idea to do my own version of Simon & Garfunkel’s classic “America”, released in 1968 on the Bookends album. The inspiration came from a book I’m reading by Daniel Levitin called The World in Six Songs. In the book he describes a song by Sting that challenged people’s thinking about their “enemies” during the Cold War. In the song he asks the listener to think about how much the “others” love their children as compared to themselves. In so doing, the listener is forced to humanize rather than demonize. It’s such a great example of how powerful music can be and I love the idea of helping people see themselves in the mirror rather than argue.

The song America has been said to be both literal and figurative. It’s based on a road trip Paul Simon took with his girlfriend, but listeners and, perhaps the intention of the writers, have stretched it to be so much more: an introspective journey into America’s collective identity. We find ourselves in that same place for this election. America is lost within, looking to re-establish something remotely resembling a self image.

My approach was to imagine what Paul, who is the narrator of the song, and his girlfriend would experience taking this same kind of road trip in 2020 and what kind of existential rabbit holes those experiences might send them down.

Verse 1

Let us be lovers, we’ll marry our fortunes together
I’ve got some real estate here in my bag
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner’s pies
And walked off to look for America

The first verse paints a scene of taking stock, getting supplies, and starting the trip to find America. I imagined them at a gas station getting a few things and swapped out Mrs. Wagner’s pies for a newspaper. It creates an opportunity to acknowledge our country’s struggle with disinformation, “Fake News”, and agreeing on basic facts. So the line becomes: “So we bought a pack of cigarettes and loose bound paper lies”.

Verse 2

Kathy, I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I’ve gone to look for America

Verse two gives us some geographic reference points. Pittsburgh stuck out to me as it has been one of many cities where protests erupted in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd. I wonder what Paul would have experienced in those protests. What if he was beaten? I can’t think of a more democratic exercise than speaking out. How would it shake his confidence in our democracy to be punished for participating? So I change the second and third lines to: “Democracy seems like a dream to me now. It took me four days to heal from speaking out”.

Bridge

Laughing on the bus, playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said, be careful, his bowtie is really a camera

The bridge is a scene on a bus and they are playing a game of pretending to know who their fellow passengers are. The word camera stuck out to me. I used it to comment on how, with the advent of smart phones having built in cameras, everything is recorded. So the last line becomes: “I said, be careful, all of our lives are on camera”.

Verse 3

Toss me a cigarette, I think there’s one in my raincoat
We smoked the last one an hour ago
So I looked at the scenery
She read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field

In verse three their game is over. Paul settles down to looking out the window and Kathy reads. What does Paul see out the window in 2020? I imagined some of the fires we’ve seen sweep California and Colorado, which are ultimately the effects of extreme weather brought about by climate change. The last becomes: “And the flames rose over an open field”.

Verse 4

Kathy, I’m lost, I said though I knew she was sleeping
And I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They’ve all come to look for America
All come to look for America
All come to look for America

Finally, verse four ends with Paul projecting his own search for America on a long string of cars. It’s a realization that we are all a part of this same journey to find America. I love the vulnerability of Paul saying he’s empty and aching. I see so much anxiety in everyone with this election. To me, on election day 2020, imagining millions of American citizens going to the ballot box is that same collective search. We are all looking for America. I changed third line to: “Voting lines stretch under New Jersey street lights”.

Summary

I really tried to be surgical, minimizing my changes to achieve the desired result. The narrative seems like it still works. It certainly becomes a much darker trip, but that is what 2020 has been. My hope for this version of such a classic song would be that it have a similar effect to the example I shared above. That it would act like a mirror for us as Americans helping us to understand that we are on this journey together. The toxicity I’ve seen on display over everything from toilet paper, to masks, to politics only takes us backwards. Moving forward is showing each other basic human dignity. It’s affording everyone the space and equality they deserve to pursue the life they see as worth living.

The Right Case

The Raspberry Pi camera module is pretty stripped down. It doesn’t come in its own case. My first case was a simple plastic around the camera lens. This was extremely fragile. Especially with kids and pets that inevitably bump into it.

Version 1

The second case was 3D printed to have an adjustable arm. While it’s great that the model was free, the arm didn’t have the stability that I needed. It was a step up from version 1, but still too fragile.

Version 2

Finally, I buckled down and purchased a case that not only had a solid enclosure for both the Raspberry Pi but also the camera module. The back of the case had a standard tripod mount, so I got a mount that had bendable legs.

Version 3

Conclusion

The final case has provided the stability needed to keep the camera focus on the feeder as well as a ton of flexibility, literally, with the bendable tripod legs. These will definitely come in handy when I place Leroy in more remote locations.

Resilience on Raspberry Pi

Currently, I’m running Leroy on a Raspberry Pi 3. The compute power needed for computer vision is demanding for a small device. I found there were many fail safes I needed to put in place to ensure Leroy would not crash and potentially miss visitations.

1. Ensure python properly handles exceptions.

Leroy’s computer vision code runs on python using the opencv library. The code runs an infinite loop capturing frames from a video stream and looking for birds using object detection and classification. I handle exceptions at the loop level to keep Leroy running in spite of issues during processing. I handle exceptions at the main program level as a catch all. Logging is key. With this heavy of a load on Raspberry Pi, it’s easy for it to crash. If you’re not logging then you are losing information you need to stabilize.

2. Check for adequate disk space before saving images

When a machine gets low on disk space it can become unusable. Leroy is designed to run offline, so there is no process, as of now, to sync photos to the cloud to maintain space locally. If left unchecked, Leroy could fill his own disk and crash. I put checks in his code every time he goes to save a photo to make sure disk space is less than 95%.

3. Optimizing Image Size

Leroy presents a dilemma when it comes to processing images. As a bird watcher, I want the highest resolution image I can get. As an engineer, I want the smallest. The smaller the photo the faster Leroy will be at detecting birds and less prone to crashing under the stress of data processing. PiCamera version 1 is a 5 megapixel camera. Version 2 is an 8 megapixel. At full resolution, this is way too much data to run through an object detection model. Believe me, I tried.

How do we get the best of both worlds?

Resizing. Leroy can now capture 8MP images while resizing the frame on-the-fly down to a 400px width for object detection. This took some serious trial and error.

I'm 64% sure this is Haemorhous mexicanus (House Finch) #ai #GoogleCoral pic.twitter.com/8Ushabf7Kh

— ProjectLeroy (@ProjectLeroy) September 27, 2020

How do you get a bounding box for a full-size image when its coordinates came from the resized image?

The bounding box is returned as a percentage of width and height. Simply taking that percentage and multiplying it by the width, if it’s an x coordinate, or height, if it’s a y coordinate, will translate the box to whatever size image you are working with. In order for this to work, you have to maintain aspect ratio. For PiCamera that is 4:3.

4. Run Leroy as a Linux service

Running Leroy as a registered Linux service allows me to configure the service to bounce back if it goes down. In the future, I hope to capture this same resilience using docker, which also has the ability to restart the container if it goes down.

Conclusion

All of these things put together allow Leroy to run 24/7 detecting and classifying birds, capturing 8MB stills completely offline until the disk is nearly complete. This opens up the possibility of running off of battery power in remote locations, which I plan to do.

Object detection versus classification

My first iteration of Project Leroy started with classification. Classification for Leroy was taking an entire frame from his camera’s video stream and trying to classify it as a type of bird. The results were very inconsistent.

I'm 91 percent sure this is a Male Northern Cardinal. #ai pic.twitter.com/xBhWZDFbzS

— ProjectLeroy (@ProjectLeroy) July 29, 2020

Once Leroy has detected an object, the results include the level of confidence and bounding box coordinates. With this information, I am able to set a threshold on when to proceed with actually capturing a photo. I’m constantly tweaking this, but for now 40% is pretty good. Once Leroy hits that threshold, he uses the bounding box to save only that part of the frame, like a cutout of the original photo. That cutout is what I run through classification. The results have been much more accurate.

I'm 78% sure I see a bird and 47% sure its Haemorhous mexicanus (House Finch) #ai #GoogleCoral pic.twitter.com/pxSW6JMTGj

— ProjectLeroy (@ProjectLeroy) August 26, 2020

The models I am using for object detection and classification respectively are:

1. ssd_mobilenet_v2_coco_quant_postprocess_edgetpu.tflite
2. mobilenet_v2_1.0_224_inat_bird_quant_edgetpu.tflite.

Both are provided by the Google Coral model page.

This is what I learned spending three days with my wife and kids living in a tent, cooking over the fire, far from the distractions of our regular routine.

We found a nest of Black Widows, played with Daddy long legs, heard wildlife in the night, and for all of these experiences my kids crafted contextual stories around them. They gave animals names and made up stories about what they were up to.

Most of our time was just exploring. We found a water hole, a freezing cold stream, and the kids loved it. It was our secret place to just be. A much needed break from screens and people.

I’ve had the idea for Project Leroy for some time. The pandemic has provided the time. The inspiration came from my Grandfather Leroy. He and my Grandmother loved birds. I remember visiting Grandma and Grandpa’s house and seeing bird-watching books by the window. Just outside was a collection of different feeders. They also enjoyed cuckoo clocks. They had one in their home that sang a different song every hour.

Project Leroy is applying Artificial Intelligence to bird watching. The goal is to be able to identify any bird species that comes to the feeder.

The first step was getting the hardware. I already had a Raspberry Pi 3 laying around for the main system. I picked up the Google Coral USB module for the model processing. Lucky enough, Google Coral had a bird feeder example project that became my starting point for the code. Last addition was the Raspberry camera module.

The second step was setting up the software. Upgrading the raspberry pi from python 2 to python 3. Installing the Google Coral example project and the like.

The third step was using a prebuilt model to see what I could identify. It came with the ability to identify 1000 different objects. I ran the program and watched the logs to see what it was picking up. I was able to verify birds using my kids stuffed animal in the shape of a chicken.

The fourth step was getting birds in front of the camera. I set up a feeder, but it takes time for birds to start using it. I tried moving the camera to place in my yard that had frequent bird visits, but it yielded nothing. I learned that for a bird to be recognized it had to be really close to the camera.

Sparrows started showing up at the feeder. While they were feeding I captured several hundred photos that I could use to train the model. I also took photos of the feeder with no birds on it so the model could tell the difference. This took some trial and error. The same photos at different times of day had different shadows and coloring that could fool the model. For example, if I only used feeder photos when the sun was overhead, a feeder with an afternoon shadow may be categorized as a bird. My training data eventually had the feeder and several bird feedings from throughout the day.

The fifth step was updating the code to only save the best photos. I settled on treating roughly 80% confidence for “sparrow” as marking a keeper photo. Even scores as high as 70% would still give me false positives. This will improve as I get better at tuning the model. My guess is that any bird will get categorized as a sparrow initially. But with each new species I can create a new category with its own training data and slowly expand to all species that use the feeder.

This is just the beginning, but I am excited. It will provide insights into the local bird ecosystem. When birds feed, what species are around, and what seasons certain species are more prevalent.

A final touch on my first iteration was to add a Twitter account. When I get a photo that registers with above 90% accuracy the code will autonomously post a photo to the Project Leroy twitter account.

You can find the Project Leroy code on Github.

I leave you with Project Leroy’s first autonomous tweet!

I'm 88 percent sure this is a Sparrow. #ai pic.twitter.com/YGpZsiHvC4

— ProjectLeroy (@ProjectLeroy) July 26, 2020

Baby, it’s Halloween. We can be anything.

I first heard of Phoebe Bridgers via Pitchfork’s Best New Albums feed and later discovered that I’d already been listening to her as part of Better Oblivion Community Center. Her latest album Punisher deserves the accolades that it’s been receiving.

Sometimes there is a song that hits you at just the right moment. The concept is simple: it’s Halloween, we can dress up as anyone. For me, it represents something deeper. Reinventing yourself and rediscovering life.

Maybe it’s the mid-life crisis talking but my wife and I are ripe for change. Everything we’ve been doing feels like old skin ready to molt. We are eager to pick up and do something different.

Halloween not only gives voice to that longing, but pours fuel on the fire. There is a freedom and hope tied into letting old things die and embracing what could be. Maybe we are over-romanticizing, but we can’t just let life happen. We don’t need control. We just want adventure.

New jobs, city, home, everything feels like the first breath of fresh air after wearing a mask.

I recognize there’s a high degree of privilege in being able to move. Many in the country are economically boxed in. Imprisoned in their own community without the means to leave. I want this kind of freedom for everyone and not just my family.

We have three barred rock hens and one Ayam Cemani. Thanks to our friends Wally and Lauren for helping us set everything up. We retrofitted an old shed that we were using as a kids clubhouse to be a chicken coop. The fenced area for them to walk around in is a repurposed dog run.

The next few days the kids will give them some space so that they will get comfortable and start laying eggs.

Eventually, we will need to run power to the shed to heat water for them in the winter. We also expect to have to dig the fence into the ground a bit to keep predators out.

There are several reasons we chose to get chickens: Donis grew up on a farm and has a strong desire to raise our kids on a farm, we want to be more self sustaining, and our kids love taking care of animals. So far it’s been a good time.

Stillness, quiet, natural beauty, and creating recharge me. The location could not have been more perfect. It was intimidating flying solo into the wilderness, but I adjusted. The same area in the summer would be amazing for hiking.

Cooking in the cabin took some planning, but was enjoyable. I’ll be better prepared next time.

The writing seemed natural. I tried following ideas as they came. I let go of trying to prove myself or writing to impress someone and just had fun.

The recording was a blast because I got to work with the environment. The natural reverb of the room. The sound of the river. The sound of stomping on the wood floor. The space left its mark on each song.

The time gave me perspective to look at life from a different vantage point. To get a grasp on where things lay and to start anticipating what is to come gave me vision.

This is something I’d like to do annually. It took discipline to stay all four days. I wrestled with guilt for being away from family. Routine has gravity. It’s a fight to truly break away, but it’s part of what I need to do to stay on top of perspective and not just let life happen to me.

The gift I walked away with was gratitude for life, family, and everything else. If that’s all that I ever gain, it’s worth the drive.

I’m a 90’s kid. Grunge, Alternative, and mainstream Punk all thrown in a pot and brought to a boil. It’s foundational. Weezer’s Blue Album, Green Day’s Dookie, Soundgarden’s Superunknown, Silverchair’s Frogstomp, the Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream, and Nirvana’s In Utero are not just great albums but inform my creations.

Letting Go comes from some of that. It’s a song that captures my eagerness to break away, seek release, have an outlet, and get it all out.

Lyrics

I’ve been scratching
For some space
To get my head
On the page

There’s only so much
That I can fit
Inside my head
Before it splits

Chorus
Feel the pressure
building up
Gotta get away
before I blow

Knock the arrow
Bend the bow
Feather to my cheek
I’m letting go

Verse 2
I’ve been Itching
For a place
To get my head
On the page

There’s only so much
I can take
Before bending
Before I break

Looking back over 2019, it was a rough year for many reasons. It forced us to decide if we wanted to live in a world where we were part of the problem or part of the solution. To leave the world better than how we found it. 2020 is no different. It has broken me in the best way.

This was what I was musing on when I picked up my guitar. I wasn’t anticipating writing We Can’t Back Down Now. It came to me. I found some chords that seem to give voice to the strain in my soul. I thought of my wife and how much we’ve gone through together. It was clear to me that this song was for her. It was a message of encouragement that while we’ve struggled, we can still enjoy the blessings and see others blessed along the way. These are healing words that came through tear-filled eyes.

Lyrics

This season’s been one poetic punch in our face
Our souls bending under the weight
When I see your eyes I know you feel the same

And life is unrelenting
Always feeling attacked
Always a fight to unpack
But you don’t hold the blame

Girl, our ship’s not sinking
We just gotta jettison the weight
All this negative freight
And set our sails

And who am I ? Just another jerk off the street
But I love you complete
And I know we can’t
back down
Back down
We can’t back down now

Please forgive my ignorant place in this mess
All of my fight I relent
At least towards you

But when it comes to all of this weight that we bear
I carry more than my share
To see that you smile

And know that this season will retreat like it came
But until we see through the rain
We can’t back down
We can’t back down
We can’t back down now

I rolled out of the upstairs loft, creaked down the steep wooden stairs, and made breakfast and coffee looking out through a long rectangular window out across a shallow river valley. It was completely covered with tall pine trees and a 20-inch snow base. I took my breakfast to the living area and threw out some suet for the birds to munch.

Sitting for a while, watching the world, and listening to the sound of the river, I picked up my guitar and started writing The Observer. All of the lyrics came out of what was unfolding on a beautiful mountain morning in Finland, Minnesota. The song is trying to take you, the listener, to that cabin morning to experience it. In the background is a recording of the river.

Lyrics

The sun is rising
The snow is falling
The world is waking
I’m just watching

The trees are reaching
The river’s flowing
My worries fading
Time is slowing

The trail is calling
The birds are feeding
My soul is singing
I’m just breathing

The forests growing
The snow is glistenin’
My heart is swelling
I’m just listenin’

Ever since making music gripped me, I’ve dreamed of stealing away to some remote studio to immerse myself in the writing process completely. To have all the tools I needed in the space that I needed them and, most important of all, the time to let the creative process happen. With life only getting more complicated, it seemed as good a time as any. But how do you find the right space?

I wanted something reasonably remote. The ability to be violently loud and not concern anyone, to cook, sleep, and some electricity to power my creative tools were necessary. An environment that spoke to me and set me on the right, artistic trajectory would be the cherry on top.

I happened upon a blog post that detailed the Most Wished-for Airbnb in Every State. There she was. Ms. Minnesota, 2020. With my family supporting me, I booked it. Seven hours in the car never looked so good.

To set the tone and burn my car time, I turned to a book that my friend and co-worker said he was reading. I took in six hours of narrated mysticism before pulling the plug. It was a net positive. I rolled up to the cabin at dusk, unpacked, and settled in with the truth that I was spending the night in the snow-covered woods filled with potentially dangerous wildlife far from home.

Welcome to the Finland Sessions.