Saturday, July 26, 2003

Hmm introductions? Do we need them? Anyway, I'm a designer. Websites and record sleeves mostly.
posted by alex_tea , 7:20 PM Þ 

alex:

sorry, i sort of cheated and went back to clarify my post after i put it up. basically, i was an undergraduate student there, and as far as thursday goes, i was djing on the quad for this summer festival-type thing. i also work there, at the smart museum and at the music department. beyond that, i don't do very much, really.

how about yourself? time for introductions, perhaps.
posted by Ken , 6:26 PM Þ 

Ken, what did you do at University of Chicago last week? A lecture I presume, but in what field?

I hardly know what anyone here does. Maybe this is good, maybe it's bad.
posted by alex_tea , 6:11 PM Þ 

mary:

nice one. university of chicago represent! i just graduated from there a little over a month ago. physics is one of our strong suits (it was the place where nuclear energy was discovered).

Also:

http://www.uchicago.edu
http://home.uchicago.edu/~jkmeier/
posted by Ken , 5:59 PM Þ 
posted by mary13 , 3:03 AM Þ 


EARTH is your chinese symbol!


What Chinese Symbol Are You?
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posted by mary13 , 2:24 AM Þ 
Friday, July 25, 2003


FIRE is your chinese symbol!


What Chinese Symbol Are You?
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... but then again how can a quiz with only 6 questions be useful?
I demand a standard for at least 15 questions in all internet quizzes!!
posted by Barrie , 11:53 PM Þ 

posted by Mikkel , 4:15 PM Þ 

Christian Wolmars book - "Broken Rails - How Privatisation Wrecked Britain's Railways" is an excellent read about how the railways have been wrecked by successive govts due to mismanagement and underfunding.

Im currently halfway through his book on the privatisation of the tube ["down the tube - The Battle for London's Underground"].


WATER is your chinese symbol!


What Chinese Symbol Are You?
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posted by chriszanf , 1:51 PM Þ 

Ice!
ICE is your chinese symbol!


What Chinese Symbol Are You?
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posted by a hymn in g to nann , 1:45 PM Þ 

coward

One reason why England's railways are so bad. It seems ludicrous that anyone advising on our railways would call for money to be saved by stopping ACTUAL upgrade WORK. Far better to remove the bureaucrats and middle managers that contribute to "poor organisational effectiveness within the company, with weaknesses in planning and scheduling".
posted by meau meau , 1:16 PM Þ 


EARTH is your chinese symbol!
posted by meau meau , 10:35 AM Þ 


LOVE is your chinese symbol!


What Chinese Symbol Are You?
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La!
posted by captain davros , 9:59 AM Þ 

Huh huh bang bang omg we shot them! ROFL! DED!!!! 2DMAXX!!!!öö

Seriously, that was really good. Yeah, very. Also, Give me another fucking beer so I that might be able to forget how terrible this world is that I live in. I mean, holy shit. Not religious. Just using those words for emphasis. FUCK! Piss.
posted by Mikkel , 2:40 AM Þ 

On the killing of the brothers Hussein:

What the hell is the U.S. army thinking? This massive fuckup is obviously the fault of the gung-ho hunting party style of the military leaders of the Bush administration. Shoot first, get the most excitement, make a huge spectacle, THEN realize that what you just did was the completely WRONG approach.
a) The U.S. majors (or whoever was in charge of the shootout) probably thought it would be an impressive show of force and military power to have 200 soldiers attacking the four Iraqis. Instead, this could be taken as either hilariously pathetic on the part of the U.S. or raise the calibre of the Husseins to heroic warriors. Great fucking PR job there, troops. E for effort!
When I think of what the shootout must have been like, I think of the end of Scarface, the brothers being as coked up as Tony Montana.
b) Why in the name of YHWH did you kill these men? Yes, they were horrible awful people. Among the worst. But every person can be used and these men could have been used so well. You could have maybe starved them out, among other strategies, and put these guys on trial. What would it say to the Iraqi people to put the heirs of Saddam on trial under the rule of law? I'll tell you what, it would do way more than some pictures of two dead guys, which much of the Iraqi population must have trouble believing.
Also very good job in being completely hypocritical. "Don't show pictures of our soldiers in your custody - but we'll show you your dead heads of state. That works out right?"
Again, E for Effort, troops. Too bad you're fucking retarded. This is just another example of the war-trophy attitude of the good old Bush boys.

I wonder what really bad decision the U.S. will make next? The string is pretty damned long by now.
posted by Barrie , 2:33 AM Þ 

In theory, when the Earth's vibration reaches a constant 13.0 cycles per second we will have reached the 4th dimension prior to our ascension into the 5th

Odd. I've read quite a few different people talking about a similar sort of notion - a "big change in the earth" - and for different reasons. None of them say "right away" as for when it will happen either. Very weird. Some people will mention it as 2012, the end of the Mayan World. That site (fusion anomaly) actually is very good. Lots of interesting tidbits all over. Check out the page for Arthur C Clarke... cool stuff.
posted by Barrie , 12:36 AM Þ 
Thursday, July 24, 2003

The symbolic anatomical links have been mooted around West Kennet Longbarrow as well, but more...funkily.

Often attracting formations within its environs, the Kennet Longbarrow is the largest barrow in England, and the ground plan of its chambers resembles a pregnant squatting goddess. The principle function of the barrow was to provide a womb, in which the dead could be reborn.

I think if we are to apply 2003 to Stonehenge, then shurely it is a huge prehistoric weapon of mass destruction, which must be eliminated!
posted by captain davros , 12:32 PM Þ 
Wednesday, July 23, 2003

'The archaeologist Jacquetta Hawkes once said that every age gets the Stonehenge it deserves,' added Miles. 'For example, in the 1960s, at the dawn of the computing era, researchers argued that you could use Stonehenge as a giant calculating machine.' Later, in the more mystical New Age, it was argued that the monument was really a spaceport for aliens, while, in the Middle Ages, it was said Stonehenge was built by giants. 'By those standards, this latest idea seems to say something quite odd about the twentyfirst century.'

Vagina Power!

I think Dave needs to lighten up a bit. He sounds like a first-class dream-bashing bore!
posted by mary13 , 7:15 PM Þ 

From McSweeny's

The sentence "When she heard the good news, Jill picked up the phone ___________ brother" can be completed with the name "Ann Coulter," especially if you can say it out loud in a Philadelphia accent. Complete each of the following sentences with the name of a famous person.
1. Of all the Gibb Brothers, the artist ____________ often than he sketched Maurice.

2. "I can pay you in bricks or you can take your _____________."

3. Sign held on street median by down-on-his-luck metalworker: "______________ for food."

4. "You can either snag a petal, snatch a bud, _______________ for your pressed flower collection."

5. "Pots of ____________ made by boiling small cylinders with thine vegetables."

- - - -

Please note that this is a real quiz with real answers. Send your answers to carltondoby@hotmail.co before midnight June 26. The most successful entrants will have their names announced here and will receive a McSweeney's Books title of our choosing.


I'm guessing they meant July 26.

I've got 2 so far. hmm...
posted by alex_tea , 4:40 PM Þ 
posted by alex_tea , 4:23 PM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 3:03 PM Þ 
posted by meau meau , 2:54 PM Þ 

The specs say: 5.8" x 3.3" x .9"

Which is slightly smaller than my hand. This is the way of the future, to be continuously connnected, reachable, mediated. I can't say that I would buy this model, but I imagine when the sleek and sophisticated model appears, one will find its way into the house ...

Indulging my inner 7-year-old
posted by mary13 , 7:24 AM Þ 
Tuesday, July 22, 2003

silly wabbit

This is just silly, how big would that be? And is that keyboard usable?
posted by alex_tea , 10:01 PM Þ 

He skidded and rammed a truck travelling in front of him.

they really should have written "from behind".

hello i am seven years old.
posted by alex_tea , 8:28 PM Þ 
posted by captain davros , 5:44 PM Þ 

alex, you could check out snowflakes, or take a trip out to any moorland to look at the mass of ferns currently on display
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 12:50 PM Þ 

some number patterns here including le corbusier's modulor system - based on Fibonacci.

You might want to look at infinite series like the expansions of sin and cosine functions

maths
posted by meau meau , 10:58 AM Þ 

I know a very tiny bit about fractal formations in nature. Briggs and Peat were suggested to me as a starting point.

And I will read Jeff Noon. Needle in the Groove, you say?
posted by mary13 , 6:34 AM Þ 

iceland culture might be a good place to start, not sure about accomodation really though. i've been to Reykjavik a few times, but it's always been for work so accomodation has been sorted out for me. Usually it's in a guesthouse called Room with a View right on the main strip, Laugavegur, but it's very expensive, so I guess I am a lucky boy.

As for culture, I haven't really explored much of Reykjavik, having always been there for work. There are art museums and the like and the infamous Penis Museum but I've never been there so can't comment.

There are plenty of places to drink and get drunk though. Throughout the week Reykjavik is a pretty quiet place, much as you'd expect from a town with 140,000 population but come Friday night the place is heaving with drunken vikings. Personally I reccomend Sirkus, just round the corner from Hjomalind (a record shop) on Laugavegur. I think Sirkus is on Klappastigur. A pretty messy bar in which I've had some messy nights. People told me the devil worked there on my first visit, I don't doubt it. Kaffe Barin is good too although a bit more trendy, and even smaller. Seems to play a lot of hip hop and is full of very very hotttt girls. The corridor to the loo is tiny and you have to squeeze past to get there. Quite an experience.

There are some good vegetarian restaurants around as well. Ecstasy Heart Garden (!!) is pretty nice, although I prefer First Woman Restaurant which is on Klappastigur as well.

The coffee shops in Reykjavik are really nice as well, Kaffe Tal and Kaffe Mokka are my favourites. Check out the walls in Kaffe Mokka, there are shadows on the wood from where people have been sitting for there decades.

My whole experience of Iceland has been superflous to say the least, if you get the chance venture off into the countryside, something I've never done, but without it you haven't really been there.

I'll ask my friends about places to stay as well.
posted by alex_tea , 12:10 AM Þ 
Monday, July 21, 2003

I wonder if anyone here has any local information on Reykjavik. I am contemplating a weeklong stay there for the end of the summer and would love to rent an apartment/studio and maybe a car. In NYC we have an online listing service called Craig's List that is extremely helpful in finding these things... anything similar in Reykjavik? Also, anything -- cultural or historical or downright interesting -- to check out while there?
posted by Josh Carr , 7:42 PM Þ 

Does anyone know about patterns in mathematics and nature? I'm thinking about starting some experiments on generative patterns and I need to know where to start basically. Right now I'm reading up on Fiobnacci numbers and the Golden Section, and this is fascinating. I have a lot to read on this, but I'd like some pointers on anything else I should read. Also what artists should I look at who have explored stuff like this. Right now all I can think of is Bridget Riley and to some extent Modrian, although I'm not so sure if his art is very mathematical.

Any good books out there that discuss this as well? And any good digital art I should look at?
posted by alex_tea , 7:07 PM Þ 
posted by alex_tea , 5:12 PM Þ 
posted by meau meau , 2:53 PM Þ 

A suppository of useless information ...
posted by meau meau , 2:38 PM Þ 

Gott in Himmel, have I got this blog all to myself?
posted by captain davros , 2:08 PM Þ 

Wow, listening to Jaco Pastorius and Hiram Bullock live in NYC. Talk about soloing of pant-weeing ecstacy (eyes roll back in head)....!
posted by captain davros , 2:06 PM Þ 
Sunday, July 20, 2003

Barrie, take heart from Marcel Duchamp - his Great Glass (The Bride Stripped Bare by her Batchelors, even) wasn't considered "finished" by him until some workmen accidentally broke it in transit.
posted by captain davros , 10:35 PM Þ 

I am watching a film of the Canterbury Tales fom 1972 dubbed into Hungarian. It is mad as you like. I wonder if the Hungarian is all middle-englishy or if it's regular. I've never seen the original English version so I don't even know if that is authentic. But it does have Tom Baker in it, with a Tony Iommi moustache.
posted by captain davros , 10:33 PM Þ 

It's a pretty annoying feeling knowing that a piece you are submitting to exhibition is going to be unfinished... argh... guess I'll have to finish it AFTER I take it down... ARRRRGH. Art + Full-Time Job = Bad mix

Also: Best. Quiz. Ever.

hang-time
HANG-TIME


(results contain pictures) What kind of ANIME BOOBS do you have?
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posted by Barrie , 6:28 PM Þ 
posted by Ken , 2:10 AM Þ 
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