Archive for 02009-02

I was waiting for a review before I was going to order the DVD. I read and laughed and ordered the movie.

Guys Who Cut Their Own Hair | Blog | Detail | I See saId THe blInd Man As He reacHed For hIs Hammer And Saw
Eventually I got sleepy and paused the film so I could continue it later with a fresh eye, but I can say without reservation that anyone who has ever thrown a leg over a track bike, or better yet, knows the dizzying sensation of turning left in a pursuit of triumph should absolutely procure of copy of this themselves to bare witness to the originators of the craft.

As one who enjoys the abuse of substances, I was taken with the stories of performance enhancing supplements such as a blend of Cognack, sugar water and Ether to aid in the participant’s quest for domination. As a matter of fact, just so I could fully enjoy the experience of the film, I mixed up that very concoction for myself, but before long got distracted and found myself in the corner of my living room attempting to gnaw through a garbage can lid.
At any rate, I whole heartedly recommend any and all lovers of the two wheels and the fixed cog to get this movie if for no other reason than to see first hand where they came from.

Read the whole review here.

Related: Six Days

the thank you finger tap on Flickr – Photo Sharing!
how to say “thanks” quietly at the dining table.

“When someone is pouring tea, you will often see the recipient tap the table with three fingers three times. This is a polite form of saying thank you and has its origin in an incident from Chinese history.

Legend says that during the Qing Dynastyan emperor wanted to see how the common people really lived and decided to inspect his lands by going incognito and pretending to be an ordinary traveler. While visiting South China, he once went into a teahouse with his companions and in order not to arouse suspicion to his special status, took his turn pouring tea for his courtiers.

His shocked companions wanted to kowtow (ritual bow) to him for the great honor he was doing them, but this would reveal his identity. Therefore, the emperor told them to discretely tap three fingers on the table. One finger represented the bowed head and the other two the prostrate arms. This is the origin for the custom of discreetly ‘tapping-your-thanks’ whenever someone pours you a cup of tea. Likewise, when offering a match or light for someone’s cigarette they may tap the back of your wrist also signifying thanks.” www.chinastrategies.com/cbeexcerpt.htm

Spotify – A world of music. Instant, simple and free

A new music service out of Sweden, home of The Pirate Bay. Hm, I generally think we can get two out of those three. If it’s instant and simple then it isn’t free. If it’s simple and free, it ain’t instant. And if it’s free and instant, it won’t be simple… But, we’ll know more when the service comes state-side. I have noticed some positive reviews on the interwebs.

The name sounds ugly, doesn’t it? Like a disease, or something Charles Bukowski came up with.

the music of sound » No mind
“The river has no shape, but it takes on the boundaries which it carves out for itself,
so is the mind boundless, until it creates a prison for its own thoughts.”

Can’t find the original source of that quote, but it’s a good one.

Why Iggy’s not covered
But why not insure Iggy? “It’s a very common to take occupation into account when assessing risk,” says Tina Shortle, marketing director at Swiftcover. “We won’t insure people in the entertainment industry, because historically the cost of [injury] claims is much higher among that group.” Other exclusions include models, professional sports people, gamblers, bailiffs and bodyguards.
(Via Guardian Unlimited Music)

Copenhagenize.com – The Copenhagen Bike Culture Blog: Copenhagenizing Copenhagen & Denmark
While the U.S. Congress debated whether to include less than $1 billion in funding for Amtrak in the stimulus package, the Danish parliament has put all its economic stimulus eggs in one basket: transportation. The small Nordic country of 5.4 million people will spend 94 billion kroner, or about $16 billion, by 2020 to improve transportation. Two-thirds of that money will be used to make public transit even better than it already is.

The government will invest billions in high-speed intercity trains that will cut travel between northern Jutland and Copenhagen by a third, install light rail systems, expand the Copenhagen Metro, and widen and
lengthen city bike lanes.

“We are making public transit a lot more attractive with massive investments to increase capacity, improve on-time performance and lay brand-new railroads. We are also making the biggest push to promote cycling in recent memory,” said Transport Minister Lars Barfoed.

For Copenhagen, already one of the world’s most bicycle-oriented cities, that is a very tall order. The oil shocks of the 1970s inspired Denmark to build a vast network of bike lanes in the hope that Danes would start driving less and biking more. Three decades later, the strategy has borne fruit in Copenhagen, where a third of the inhabitants, or more than 500,000 people, now bike to work every day.

Related:
Walk, Baby, Walk,
Cycling for Everyone

Seed: The Amazing Race
The Linguists depicts a round-the-world race to make audio recordings of dying languages, giving us a glimpse of how technology can promote language diversity.

For M.C.

Since the last post was about formulae…

40% new quintet.
And, 50% of the new members played with us before… years ago.

Recipe for Disaster: The Formula That Killed Wall Street
David X. Li, it’s safe to say, won’t be getting that Nobel anytime soon. One result of the collapse has been the end of financial economics as something to be celebrated rather than feared. And Li’s Gaussian copula formula will go down in history as instrumental in causing the unfathomable losses that brought the world financial system to its knees.
(Via William Gibson)

Matthew Schoening performs his composition “Emotional Clockwork” live. Sam Roden captured the live performance, and layered the images in accordance with the sonic layer…

You can find Matthew’s music in our ListeningLounge.

Thanks Y.

Edge 275
In this EdgeVideo, evolutionary biologist Armand Leroi reports on his art/science conversation and collaboration with musician Brian Eno which began when the two sat next to each other an an Edge dinner in London. The dinner discussion began with evolution and music, proceeded to the evolution of music, and led to the following question: has anybody attempted to reconstruct the history of human song? People around the world sing in different ways. Is it possible to retrieve that history. Can we do for songs what we’ve done for genes, for language?

Cycling for Everyone | Momentum – The Magazine For Self Propelled People!
In spite of their affluence and high rates of car ownership, countries in northern Europe have achieved a high overall rate of bike shares in their urban travel; ranging from almost ten per cent of trips in Belgium and Germany to about 20 per cent in Denmark, and 30 per cent in the Netherlands. What is equally impressive is Northern European women cycle as often as men, and all age groups make a considerable percentage of their daily trips by bike. That is quite a contrast to Canada and the United States, where only about one per cent of trips are by bike, and most cyclists are young men. Two important aims of cycling policies in North America should be to raise the overall bike share of trips while simultaneously making cycling safe, convenient, and feasible for women as well as men, and for all age groups.

Read the whole story. And then there is this news item. Maybe we can connect the dots. Bikes are healthier than cars. I would think it is in the best interest of health-insurance companies to assist in creating the infrastructure that will make more people want to cycle. One beer company is already promoting bicycles: one and two.

Collecting ideas for videos.

Twitter / ottmar
There are works of art (music, books, paintings) that I don’t enjoy, but where the experience is nevertheless very rewarding.

Watched this talk on my iPhone last night.

Upaya Newsletter for 2/23/2009
Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions.
All life is an experiment.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Guys Who Cut Their Own Hair | A Film Of stAggering Genius
…a documentary had actually been made called Six Day Bicycle Race- America’s Jazz Age Sport.

My dad took me to several six day bicycle races in Köln. They were always scheduled at the end of the year when school was on break. I thought it was very exciting. I remember the riders relaxing (because their partners had taken over from them) and talking to one another with one foot in the clip and the other one on the handle bar, steering the bike. Might have to order the DVD – Netflix doesn’t have it.

Ran into a friend of mine yesterday and he showed me an article in a magazine called World Watch. Very interesting read. After studying the ecology of forests for decades the interviewee is applying some of the knowledge gained to civilization.

Our Panarchic Future | Worldwatch Institute
A theory that explains the evolution of ecosystems may apply to civilizations as well-and it says we’re approaching a critical phase.

The Long Now Blog » We are programmed to be interrupted.
Wired has a great interview with an author named Maggie Jackson who has written a book about the neurobiological basis of attention and how it is affected by all the “lovely distractions” modern society provides. Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age describes three types of attention – orientation, a general sense of awareness, and executive. Her concern is that our modern technological culture is constantly distracting us – and that we like it. Scientific American just ran an article about a study with similar findings:

Results suggested that thinking fast made participants feel more elated, creative and, to a lesser degree, energetic and powerful.

That would seem another good reason for a person to meditate as a way to balance this distraction.

Groceries √
Gasoline 0
Excercise √
Health Club Fees 0

That sunset happened on the fifth, the Mariachi Bullitt was photographed minutes ago, when I returned from having breakfast with Jon and grocery shopping.