October 29, 2004
Almost got doored today
On my way to work, while passing an otherwise inconspicuous car, I suddenly had to hit the brakes as hard as I could, because the passenger decided to get out without looking first.
The most remarkable thing about the car was a huge yellow ribbon, if not the same, then very similar to
this one
Note to the driver/passenger: If you're so concerned about people's safety, in stead of slapping on slogans, try looking around you before rushing out.
I'm not the only one who thinks that slapping a magnet with a meaningless slogan on your car is stupid.
October 28, 2004
October 26, 2004
Thinking Machine
Thinking Machine 4 explores the invisible, elusive nature of thought. Play chess against a transparent intelligence, its evolving thought process visible on the board before you.
The artwork is an artificial intelligence program, ready to play chess with the viewer. If the viewer confronts the program, the computer's thought process is sketched on screen as it plays. A map is created from the traces of literally thousands of possible futures as the program tries to decide its best move. Those traces become a key to the invisible lines of force in the game as well as a window into the spirit of a thinking machine.
Thinking Machine 4: Play the Game
October 25, 2004
Interior
This is the home of Hank Jones, pianist.
October 22, 2004
life's lessons applied to software use
If someone gives you an elegant solution for a problem you had, say:
"Thanks! I knew it had to be really simple"!
The world is flat
It's not surprizing that people from the religious right believe things that are irrational, illogical even, but would they believe things that are patently untrue?
Yes.
Bush supporters believe things that are absolutely untrue.
Why do Bush supporters show such resistance to dissonant information, the report's authors wonder. "Dissonant information"? No wonder they don't want to hear it. It's time to start calling it by it's name; truth, reality, fact.
The beliefs held by the Bush supporters meet the three criteria that Karl Jaspers used to describe delusions: certainty, incorrigibility and impossibility.
The world is flat
It's not surprizing that people from the religious right believe things that are irrational, illogical even, but would they believe things that are patently untrue?
Yes.
Bush supporters believe things that are absolutely untrue.
Why do Bush supporters show such resistance to dissonant information, the report's authors wonder. "Dissonant information"? No wonder they don't want to hear it. It's time to start calling it by it's name; truth, reality, fact.
The beliefs held by the Bush supporters meet the three criteria that Karl Jaspers used to delusions: certainty, incorrigibility and impossibility.
October 20, 2004
Can't find anything
I'm one of those people who installed google desktop and loved it, but...
I make images, and only a part of the stuff I need to store and retrieve is text. Google images is fun to play with, but completely useless for retrieving archived images on your own machine, and even it suitability for use on the web is questionable. I wrote about alternatives before.
For a while now, I've trying to work like a librarian. After all, librarians are professional store - and retrieve people. I've organized part of my my harddrive according to the Dewey Decimal Classification.
Does it work? Errrrmmm... no. One of the problems is that many of the classes are much too broad. All mammals for example, need to fit into 599, which is at the same level as onychophores 572. Now I know that onychophres have their own phylum, which mammals don't, but that would put humans in some even smaller decimal, because we'd have to organize it more like this:
590 Animalia
591 Metazoa
591.1 Onychophora
591.2 Bilateria
591.21 Deuterostomia
591.211 Chordata
591.2111 Craniata
591.21111 Vertebrata
591.211111 Mammalia
591.2111111 Primates
591.21111111 Haplorhini
591.211111111 Hominoidea
591.2111111111 Hominoids
591.21111111111 Homo
To work well, each number should take up approximately the same amount of data, and there is just no way that I can see the onychophora take up 10.000.000.000 times as much space as humans. Not on my harddrive anyway.
The Dewey Decimal Classification, unfortunately, is something you need to buy or get a subscription for, and it's $225/year. The abridged version, which would suit my library of books just fine (I have less than 20.000), is $65/year, but wouldn 't work for my files (I have hundreds of thousands). The four-volume DCC2 is $375. Ouch! The only classes you tend to find for free on the web are in the integer range. How am I supposed to know that bears belong in 599.78 and giraffes are 599.638 if these numbers are available to professional librarians only? Do I need to run to the library everytime I need to check on something? I mean, it's not as if I couldn't look it up anyway, but I keep thinking that there has got to be an easier way.
The new system has to break up everything into nicely manageable, equally sized, hierarchically structrured chunks. Or maybe not. What would Google Desktop do if I created index pages in all the directories with properly annotated links to the to-be indexed files? And could we create those index files on the fly? Of course we could. More about that next time.
October 19, 2004
Life's lessons applied to software use
If something fails... persist. Ignore all warnings and keep trying the same thing over and over again.
October 18, 2004
On having children
In an interview from 1998, Elfriede Jellinek says that she doesn't know of any important female artists that have children.
NRC Handelsblad - Kunst: Ik ken geen belangrijke kunstenaressen met kinderen
There aren't many, but I was just reminded of one hinke | suds and soda | notes on art: Louise Bourgeois of 'die rastlose Grande Dame'
One of her sons is quite interesting. I read an interview with him in this summer's edition of The Walrus
October 17, 2004
Depth (or lack thereof)
Freek de Jonge in De vergrijzing: "Als ik alles kan zeggen ... verliest mijn taal ... aan zeggingskracht". That translates to "If I can say anything ... my language looses ... eloquence ". Eloquence isn't quite right though. Zeggingskracht is also power of expression, expressiveness, vigor. It's the kind of word that committees that judge art contests like to use.
It's just one sentence. But this happens so often, just one sentence. They slip through so easily, these single sentences. They add a sense of depth, give meaning. Or so it seems. To people who don't read, to people who don't look, to people who don't listen. If you don't know anything, emptyness is easily mistaken for depth.
Lorelei II
Michiel (the other Michiel) and Tjarda finally have their websites up http://www.michielvijselaar.nl and http://www.tjardasixma.nl.
And just because we're so fond her, here she is again, the Lorelei: vijselaar en sixma
October 16, 2004
interview
5 Questions With...: Arnon Grunberg
animatielog
Vandervlies has started an animation blog. If you can read dutch (that rules out 99.7% of the world's polulation) and you're interested in animation (that rules out 99.7% of the dutch readers, but it leaves approximately 63.000 people that are potentially interested), than this is for you:
Animatielog.nl
October 15, 2004
Homework
RAM, my favorite Dutch TV program on the arts has a new format and a new presenter, the writer Arnon Grunberg. He has given us homework to prepare for for next week's program:
Read Guy de Maupassants' story "Voyage de noce", and try to figure out for youself how long happiness lasted. One month, or more? Less? Explain.
"Quand je rentrai dans Marseille après ce mois passé dans le bleu, une inexplicable tristesse m'envahit. Je sentais vaguement que c'était fini ; que j'avais fait le tour du bonheur."
maupassant_contes_divers_1882.pdf (application/pdf Object)
October 14, 2004
animaris rhinoceros transport
Theo Jansen uses plastic tubes to build walking creatures.
The videos are fun.
October 13, 2004
post debate
Much more fun than the debate itself are the comments from viewers, calling to let us know who they thought won the debate, that I'm watching now. Kerry is being praised for being articulate and intelligent, Bush receives praise for being a down-to-earth man of faith. The callers are mostly singing their own praise, the Kerry supporters speak in coherent sentences and are able to explain themselves, the Bush supporters are mostly stuttering, unable to answer questions. Favorite quote: "The man is an abomination to America" ( about Kerry)
Oh wait, another one just came in: "He stresses that he's against homosex" (about Kerry changing his position on issues whenever it's politically convenient.)
October 12, 2004
Die Holland, Die!
The Dutch are having an election too: "the greatest Dutchman".
Among the contestants: a soccer player, two politicians, two painters, a schoolgirl, a writer, a salesman, a marine and a prince.
:::: De Grootste Nederlander ::::
If you're too indecisive or just too plain ignorant they'll even help you vote. Stemwijzer
The mere nomination of Pim Fortuyn is enough to bring tears to my eyes, but good grief! Is this all they could come up with? I wish the entire country would just sink back into the waves from which it emerged. Where's global warming when you need it?
I'll take a bet. The only person worthy of it, Geert Geertsen, the bastard son of a priest, will not win the election.
October 10, 2004
for my mother
Die Loreley
Ich weiß nicht was soll es bedeuten
Daß ich so traurig bin;
Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten,
Das kommt mir nicht aus dem Sinn.
Die Luft ist kühl und es dunkelt,
Und ruhig fließt der Rhein;
Der Gipfel des Berges funkelt
Im Abendsonnenschein.
Die schönste Jungfrau sitzet
Dort oben wunderbar;
Ihr goldnes Geschmeide blitzet,
Sie kämmt ihr goldenes Haar.
Sie kämmt es mit goldenem Kamme
Und singt ein Lied dabei;
Das hat eine wundersame,
Gewaltige Melodei.
Den Schiffer im kleinen Schiffe
Er greift es mit wildem Weh;
Er schaut nicht die Felsenriffe,
Es schaut nur hinauf in die Höh'.
Ich glaube, die Wellen verschlingen
Am Ende Schiffer und Kahn;
Und das hat mit ihrem Singen
Die Lore-Ley getan.
The empty north
During the Kerry-Bush debate last Thursday, Bush provided an exciting new insight into the question of the empty north. Just why does he think so few people live above the 49th parallel? They're all DEAD! Killed by cheap Canadian Drugs.
Q. Mr. President, why did you block the reimportation of safer and inexpensive drugs from Canada, which would have cut 40 to 60 percent off of the cost?
Mr. Bush I haven't yet. Just want to make sure they're safe. When a drug comes in from Canada I want to make sure it cures you and doesn't kill you. [] And my worry is, is that, you know, it looks like it's from Canada and it might be from a Third World.
October 01, 2004
What are you going to do about this?
I called up the bank, and asked them what they were going to do about this.
Their answer: We're not going to do anthing about this.
Well, that's it then. Goodbye. Can anyone recommend a good bank? One that doesn't hand over your private records to government agencies of foreign countries?
TheStar.com - U.S. law could open millions of Canadian Visa records
confused
Of course we're after Saddam Hussein -- I mean bin Laden.
Debate #1
It doesn't matter if you're wrong, just as long as you're consistently wrong.
