Chris Combs (he/him) / is on Nostr

I make art about technology: often interactive; my own circuit boards + software; metal, wood, found objects. In Washington, DC with a studio at Otis Street Arts Project in Mount Rainier, Md. https://chriscombs.net

Last Notes

2024-10-27 16:24:02

remembered a trick I had known once and forgotten--
screw extractors are neat and all, but you can also extract a screw by turning it into a slotted screw!
cut a slot for a flat-head screwdriver with a rotary tool cutoff disc. Wear safety goggles for this. Go deeper than you might think. done!
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonart/media_attachments/files/113/380/305/493/689/130/original/e2b94086baf635a0.jpg

2024-10-03 13:46:20

here's my latest, "Elysium."
Set in a case made from salvaged and partly-painted stud lumber, this LCD screen shows an endless loop of slow-motion waving grasses, which I filmed in a wildlife refuge in Wilmington, Delaware. The display, of a type often used in pinball machines, is obscured from the viewer with a gnarled hank of oft-repaired wire grid, through which a tree once grew.
#MastoArt
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonart/media_attachments/files/113/243/785/747/360/589/original/c85317a24302fef3.mp4

2024-08-16 21:14:43

one bit of Big Tech creepiness that I actually DO find useful as a user is Google's Location History. It's really cool to be able to correlate a mysterious timestamped photo with the exact place I took the photo.
... so of course they're killing it!
It's gonna be migrated to some crappy on-device, Maps-only encrypted storage that can't be accessed from any other device or synced among multiple devices. Manual import/export only.
Feels like going from Google Docs to WordPad or something.

2024-08-16 21:14:43

2024-08-15 22:20:37

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@npub1sfl…gczt The Limoncello is weirdly divisive among my social circles. The cilantro of seltzers

2024-08-05 20:47:44

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It blends together their text and may light with an eerie blue-green glow when you approach it. The box can be opened for a widescreen firehose experience.
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonart/media_attachments/files/112/911/370/027/541/162/original/2c25656a5ae34fe6.mp4

2024-07-21 03:18:08

Here's my latest artwork, an artcade machine named "Insert 25 Cents to Feel Something." If you pay up, it shows you a cat picture on its bulbous, flickering screen, and plays you a silly song with meowing.
#MastoArt #interactive #artcade
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonart/media_attachments/files/112/822/294/023/350/600/original/c3e317e569ea5c19.mp4

2024-07-04 03:27:02

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@npub1sfl…gczt agh that idea hadn't occurred to me!

2024-07-04 03:23:05

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look... if joe biden doesn't have to get out of bed to boil the water in his already-programmed 12-cup coffeemaker, then neither do I

2024-07-04 03:18:07

just having a normal one in the Nation's Capitol happy fourth everybody https://www.dcwater.com/about-dc-water/media/news/drinking-water-advisory-dc-water-issues-boil-water-advisory-all-customers
#InfrastructureWeek

2024-06-25 21:45:11

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@npub1zdp…vqv8 Ah! as an etymonerd, I was excited to read more about "nuthatch..." and it sounds like it might be "hatch" as in "hatchet"!
nutsplitter!
meatchopper!
acorn divider!
https://www.etymonline.com/word/nuthatch