Space Program overview
An excellent review of Space Elements Vol. II, and also an overview of the Space Program (so far), by Jesse Goin, at Crow With No Mouth.
Highly recommended (his whole blog, i mean).
One of João Paulo Feliciano's collages from the series I Dream of Cities in Colors, that Jesse Goin took from his website (this one is not being used). There are six projected albums in the Space Elements series, all of them featuring collages from this series.
Joe Morris writing on Sei Miguel
"New jazz has emerged in an unexpected place. This time Lisbon is where it's at."
Joe Morris reviewed Sei Miguel's "Esfíngico" on his blog.
Worth reading!
The iPad is for Everyone but Us
© Apple
I first thought "i have an iPhone and a MacBook, i don't need this fancy toy" - but looking in perspective, the iPad has the revolutionary potential to bring computing to everyone. I'm getting one for my 80-year-old mom who never touched a computer. This is far bigger that it seems. The future is coming. We (computer users) may not see much use to the iPad, but our children, parents and grand-parents, as well as non-tech minded people, have been waiting for it!
Yes - The iPad Is For Everyone But Us - which is a lot of people!
On iPads, Grandmas and Game-changing
And a clever insight about Old World and New World computing
The Teabagger Socialist-Free Purity Pledge
I, ________________________, do solemnly swear to uphold the principles of a socialism-free society and heretofore pledge my word that I shall strictly adhere to the following:
I will complain about the destruction of 1st Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly being allowed to exercise my 1st Amendment Rights.
I will complain about the destruction of my 2nd Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly being allowed to exercise my 2nd Amendment rights by legally but brazenly brandishing unconcealed firearms in public.
I will foreswear the time-honored principles of fairness, decency, and respect by screaming unintelligible platitudes regarding tyranny, Nazi-ism, and socialism at public town halls. Also.
I pledge to eliminate all government intervention in my life. I will abstain from the use of and participation in any socialist goods and services including but not limited to the following:
- Social Security
- Medicare/Medicaid
- State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP)
- Police, Fire, and Emergency Services
- US Postal Service
- Roads and Highways
- Air Travel (regulated by the socialist FAA)
- The US Railway System
- Public Subways and Metro Systems
- Public Bus and Lightrail Systems
- Rest Areas on Highways
- Sidewalks
- All Government-Funded Local/State Projects (e.g., see Iowa 2009 federal senate appropriations)
- Public Water and Sewer Services (goodbye socialist toilet, shower, dishwasher, kitchen sink, outdoor hose!)
- Public and State Universities and Colleges
- Public Primary and Secondary Schools
- Sesame Street
- Publicly Funded Anti-Drug Use Education for Children
- Public Museums
- Libraries
- Public Parks and Beaches
- State and National Parks
- Public Zoos
- Unemployment Insurance
- Municipal Garbage and Recycling Services
- Treatment at Any Hospital or Clinic That Ever Received Funding From Local, State or Federal Government (pretty much all of them)
- Medical Services and Medications That Were Created or Derived From Any Government Grant or Research Funding (again, pretty much all of them)
- Socialist Byproducts of Government Investment Such as Duct Tape and Velcro (Nazi-NASA Inventions)
- Use of the Internets, email, and networked computers, as the DoD's ARPANET was the basis for subsequent computer networking
- Foodstuffs, Meats, Produce and Crops That Were Grown With, Fed With, Raised With or That Contain Inputs From Crops Grown With Government Subsidies
- Clothing Made from Crops (e.g. cotton) That Were Grown With or That Contain Inputs From Government Subsidies
If a veteran of the government-run socialist US military, I will forego my VA benefits and insist on paying for my own medical care
I will not tour socialist government buildings like the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
I pledge to never take myself, my family, or my children on a tour of the following types of socialist locations, including but not limited to:
- Smithsonian Museums such as the Air and Space Museum or Museum of American History
- The socialist Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson Monuments
- The government-operated Statue of Liberty
- The Grand Canyon
- The socialist World War II and Vietnam Veterans Memorials
- The government-run socialist-propaganda location known as Arlington National Cemetery
- All other public-funded socialist sites, whether it be in my state or in Washington, DC
I will urge my Member of Congress and Senators to forego their government salary and government-provided healthcare.
I will oppose and condemn the government-funded and therefore socialist military of the United States of America.
I will boycott the products of socialist defense contractors such as GE, Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Humana, FedEx, General Motors, Honeywell, and hundreds of others that are paid by our socialist government to produce goods for our socialist army.
I will protest socialist security departments such as the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, TSA, Department of Justice and their socialist employees.
Upon reaching eligible retirement age, I will tear up my socialist Social Security checks.
Upon reaching age 65, I will forego Medicare and pay for my own private health insurance until I die.
SWORN ON A BIBLE AND SIGNED THIS DAY OF __________ IN THE YEAR ___.
_____________ _________________________
Signed Printed Name/Town and State
From dailykos.com
Wireless Electricity
Eric Giler wants to untangle our wired lives with cable-free electric power. Here, he covers what this sci-fi tech offers, and demos MIT's breakthrough version, WiTricity -- a near-to-market invention that may soon recharge your cell phone, car, pacemaker.
The Singing Ringing Tree
The Singing Ringing Tree up Crown Point in Burnley, Lancashire, England.
Amazing work, beautiful design.
Desmond Tutu - Find your bing
"When Desmond Tutu starts talking you may not have a clue where he’s headed this time ...untill he get’s there. Then all of a sudden his enlightened brilliance puts a cheek to cheek smile on your face. And may just touch a chord. In this case, no matter how small a role you play. You are significant!
If you have the time, watch the entire one hour closing session of the economic forum. With Desmond Tutu, John Bryant and Pekka Himanen"
Check the post ans see the full video at Fresh Creation website
GOOD
GOOD is a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward.
Since 2006 we've been making a magazine, videos, and events for people who give a damn.
This website is an ongoing exploration of what GOOD is and what it can be.
Please join us in defining what comes next.
(This month's issue is about water - lots of thought-provoking articles.)
The Vice Guide to North Korea
Impressive documentary by an American who got into North Korea as a tourist.
It's 14 short episodes (more like "chapters"), this is the first (the rest are there):
http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=1438428757
Review of EMPAC performance
Sonic Contortionist
Rafael Toral — EMPAC, May 8
To most performers, audio feedback is an unruly hobgoblin that can rear its head without warning and spoil an otherwise pristine musical moment. Even for those (many) rock guitarists who deliberately conjure feedback, it exists as a chaotic, elemental force just outside of human control. This is why it’s raw, exciting, and blew so many minds in the early ’60s. For Rafael Toral, who works in a genre he’s calling “post-free jazz electronic music,” feedback is a musical language like any other. His performance at EMPAC proved his mastery of the tongue.
Unlike most contemporary electronic performers who rely on mechanized tools (turntables, samplers, sequencers, laptops) that by their nature hide the musical process in knob-controlled boxes, Toral has invented a number of instruments that demand physical technique—a technique that Toral has likewise had to invent. Onstage, Toral’s body movements constitute a visual corollary to the sounds his instruments produce, not only making for a more engaging performance, but for a brand of electronic music far more visceral and emotive than that of his cerebral peers.
The first piece in his ongoing “Space Program” featured Toral, backlit by a sterile blue screen, with a tiny portable amplifier in his left hand. With his right hand, he manipulated a microphone-mounted photocell (ostensibly a flashlight) over the amplifier’s speaker. Depending on the angle of the microphone and its proximity to the amp, a range of precisely controlled feedback was generated. With gestures that seemed to evoke sewing, writing and, at their most dramatic, swordplay, Toral was able to play the device like a tiny synthesizer. With rapid motions, the device would squabble in a voice akin to R2D2. With longer, subtle gestures, Toral could manipulate oscillations in the pitch and create wailing drones. As with the Theremin, a sort of invisible grid describing pitch and volume eventually became apparent to the audience as Toral’s technique became familiar.
While his improvisations were decidedly atonal, Toral’s motifs were always broken into lyrical phrases that bore a conversational quality. It’s this methodology that legitimately places Toral’s work in the realm of jazz. The tongue may be one of Toral’s invention, but it speaks in real time, striving to communicate something from that musical locus called “soul.”
In another piece, Toral played what appeared to be a slinky dangling from a guitar stand by striking the higher rings and letting the open cylinder vibrate. This time, the sound mimicked the structure of the instrument more than the actions of the person playing it. In yet another, he produced a simple gray box bearing a single green LED light. By rubbing his thumbs and fingers across the top panel, he produced deep, clean sine waves that had the classic burble and squonk of early sci-fi soundtracks. As he throttled the box, one couldn’t help but be reminded of either an overzealous Gameboy player or someone trying to keep an angry bat inside a shoebox.
It’s unlikely that these analogies are entirely incidental. In approaching electronic music with an unprecedented degree of control and physicality, Toral seems to be encouraging a new ethos for the technological age. The motions required to play his amp/photo-cell call to mind the Blackberry, but rather than retreating into a simulated, digital world, Toral suggests we can use our gadgetry to engage one another in real time (and space). Similar to the practice of circuit bending, it’s a domestic sort of futurism that encourages us to learn the alien languages of common and even archaic tools, and so become more present in the ordinary actions of our lives.
—Josh Potter, Metroland
Carl Stone's palindromes
I'm a fan of Carl Stone's palindromes (or palindromes in general), they're endlessly fascinating... daily on Twitter.
Story of stuff
This is a thought-provoking explanation of how in our society our expected role is "consumers". As we know, consuming is essential for "economic growth", but what "grows" is never the consumer's bank account... only a few bank accounts grow in the process, and they grow a lot.
International version (subtitled in other languages)