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A Batman Christmas

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:41:00 -0700

Mr. Daniel posted a photo:

www.tineye.com/search/b40e9ef7ea2c6a8f2dec905d08fc88163c8...

A Certain Realism: 'The Known Unknowns' - 4 hours of continuous readings at Whitechapel Gallery

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:45:00 -0700

The Known Unknowns is a scheduled cycle of continuous readings running parallel to Volatile Dispersal: Festival of Art Writing, an evening organised by Maria Fusco and Book Works at Whitechapel Gallery. The festival reflects on the materialisation and dematerialisation of art writing through six newly commissioned works by Adam Chodzko, Ruth Ewan, Babak Ghazi, Beatrice Gibson, Nathaniel Mellors and Gail Pickering. The aim of The Known Unknowns is to gather an interesting number of contributors to publicly read extracts or entire sections of their own texts. The fluidity and the continuity of the act of reading-aloud will unveil a focus…

Whitechapel - Volatile Dispersal: Festival of Art Writing

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:43:00 -0700

Saturday 21 November, 6pm - 11pm Showcasing UK artists and writers, this parley-based event speculates on the materialisation and dematerialisation of art writing through newly commissioned works, together with readings drawn from open submission. The event is hosted by Maria Fusco with Book Works and structured around issue three of The Happy Hypocrite, themed ‘Volatile Dispersal: Speed and Reading’. A specially produced publication is available on the day, published by Book Works. New commissions include a lecture, readings, performances and installations by Adam Chodzko, Ruth Ewan, Babak Ghazi, Beatrice Gibson, Nathaniel Mellors, and Gail Pickering, together with The Known Unknowns,…

What happened to Second Life?

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:20:00 -0700

Not long ago Second Life was everywhere, with businesses opening branches and bands playing gigs in this virtual world. Today you'd be forgiven for asking if it's still going. Once upon a time Second Life had a Twitter level of hype. Even those without a cartoon version of themselves couldn't plead ignorance due to blanket coverage in newspapers and magazines. Second Life is a virtual world started by the US firm Linden Lab in 2003, in which users design an avatar to live their "second life" online. And everything about this world can be customised for a price - new…

Science Is Interesting

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:46:00 -0700

Volatile Dispersal at the Whitechapel Gallery tonight. Come to hear me read, come and hear me groan...

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:33:00 -0700

therourke: Volatile Dispersal at the Whitechapel Gallery tonight. Come to hear me read, come and hear me groan...

wildlife photographer

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:46:00 -0700

Mr. Daniel posted a photo:

spacecollective.org/RonaldFrederick/5306/The-Wildlife-pho...

Overhyped Placebos of Doom?

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:35:00 -0700

Let’s say a new drug appears to be effective in combating a condition like chronic anxiety and is the subject of popular news stories. When the drug enters clinical trials, patients who take the drug report significantly less anxiety. But so do patients who were given sugar pills. Because FDA regulations require that any proposed drug perform significantly better than a placebo, the drug isn’t approved, and the pharmaceutical company developing the drug must swallow millions in research expenses. The regulations make some sense: Why approve a new drug with potential side effects when a placebo works just as well?…

This Is Not Your Grade School Solar System

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:46:00 -0700

Pick up a 30-year-old astronomy textbook and you will find more illustrations of planets than actual pictures; Pluto still holds onto its full planet status and exoplanets are theoretical. In the intervening decades, new instruments and methods have acted together to form one giant, interdisciplinary zoom lens on our planetary companions in the solar system. We now not only have hi-res images of planets, we can also predict their weather, dig for water under their surfaces and send spacecraft through icy plumes on their moons. Planet by planet, here's a quick guide to how our vision of the solar system…

IMG MGMT: Hubris/Nemesis/Whatever

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:22:00 -0700

Another binary myth fundamental to Western culture is the eternally popular hubris/nemesis complex. According to this idea, those who transgress against the natural order always get their just desserts. Hubris is a Greek word, meaning, “an impious disregard of the limits governing human action in an orderly universe” (Encyclopedia Britannica 2006). The great and gifted are most susceptible to sin, and in Greek tragedy usually the hero suffers from this tragic flaw. Expressed in countless myths, ranging from the Tower of Babel to Jurassic Park, hubris applies to various breeds of arrogant and boastful behavior. Often it is an evil…

MachineMachine radio is live at 5pm GMT - listen at wiredradio.co.uk

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:31:00 -0700

therourke: MachineMachine radio is live at 5pm GMT - listen at wiredradio.co.uk

100% Magenta

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:40:00 -0700

Hear that crocus? A ripe alcove chock full of crooked Theremins. Inside is a Jekyll, your personal rejoinder to alkali: the bright and beautiful mother of a brutal shade. Because this breakthrough is not malignant the resultant effervescence is only 18% frenetic. It is a real live sports car. It is a thoroughly enjoyable smoke. It will keep bottle-fed babies strong and virile.

There’s a heaping crust of manganese here – enough for one or two backbones of amaranth. And as it ogles onwards a fuller sense of violence precipitates.…

keytweeter

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:26:00 -0700

A twitter user who logs and archives every key he presses on his computer keyboard: 39doc↵of↵↓↵↓↵↓↵ar↓↵it was runningoh ok↵this morning the code i was writing↵last night i mentioned it was running slow↵like 10 fps↵now it's 4 0 fps↵there thanks :)↵there was somethingthere was something i wforgot←→ to tweak↵so it wasn't approximating as many things as it could be↵:

The Unveiled Divide

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:50:00 -0700

The object holds within itself a series of meanings and values, both imminent and latent. The Berlin Wall, long standing as a symbol of closure, restriction and confinement, came down as a symbol of movement, release and freedom. The Berlin Wall embodies each and every one of these meanings, whilst latent within it stir the possibility of yet more, as now, unseen symbolic possibilities.

In Roman law objects belonging to the Gods were ascribed as sacred. Sacred objects exist removed from the world of…

you can't afford to be skinny

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:53:00 -0700

Mr. Daniel posted a photo:

i.imgur.com/SrW5N.jpg

A new profane triptych from Triptych Industries Inc. : hellograndad.com

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:39:00 -0700

therourke: A new profane triptych from Triptych Industries Inc. : http://hellograndad.com

A Common Nomenclature for Lego Families

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:01:00 -0700

Every family, it seems, has its own set of words for describing particular Lego pieces. No one uses the official names. “Dad, please could you pass me that Brick 2x2?” No. In our house, it’ll always be: “Dad, please could you pass me that four-er?” And I’ll pass it, because I know exactly which piece he means. Lego nomenclature is essential for family Lego building. “Dad, I’m building a roof for the medical pod, but I need a hinge-y bit to make it open up. You know, one of those four-er flat hinge-y bits.”

Simulating Kim Jong Il

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:28:00 -0700

Will the real Kim Jong Il please stand up?

The idea of Kim Jong Il has become commodity. There is a reality inside North Korea, and there is another outside. Which is real and which is simulation?

For the past half decade an excess of images, simulations and caricatures of the North Korean leader have bombarded us. The media of excess has repeated the mantra of simulation in bold headlines, in news-print and digital text : “Is…

First computer to sing - Daisy Bell

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:20:00 -0700

Kim Jong Il and?

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:18:00 -0700

Mr. Daniel posted a photo: