If I could choose the circumstances of an alternative life I might very well choose to be born in Bali at a time before modern Western influences. Bali, where "we have no art – everything we do is art", perfected a sustainable agriculture centuries ago; the people satisfied all their material needs with only three or four hours of work a day, and used the remainder of their time for creative endeavors and interactions with family and friends. Among the extraordinary achievements of the Balinese is their music, one form of which is the gamelan orchestra. I embraced this music wholeheartedly upon first hearing, as have many others, including Western musicians whose compositions were influenced by the gamelan.
Here is an image of a gamelan orchestra. Every gamelan is a set of matched instruments, in tune and in tone with one another. There are a number of amateur ensembles in the U.S. and I wish to someday have the opportunity to play with one of them.
Iran Hacked US Navy Computers The cyberwars are well underway, and since the U.S. has declared the Internet a free-fire zone I don't think we can expect any nation to play nice.
Qawwali is a form of Sufi devotional music that has manifested as a type of popular music centered in Pakistan but which has spread across Asia. It is exemplified by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan who is widely considered to have been one of the best singers the human race has ever produced. Here's a little Nusrat to make your heart beam.
The Residents – Eyes Scream (1990) (video) "This irreverent pseudo-documentary about the band The Residents blends
comedy with live clips, music videos, interviews and documentary
footage. Spanning the years 1972 to 1990, and including clips from the
recent album The King and Eye and fragments of the band's 'media
mercenary' work, the program romps through established notions of pop
culture, the music industry and the nature of musical invention,
replacing them with the iconoclastic vision of The Residents.
Director: John Sanborn. With: Penn & Teller. Producer: Debbie
Lepsinger. Produced by The Cryptic Corporation." The Residents – Twenty Twisted Questions (1972-1991) (video) "Twenty Twisted Questions is a 1992 Laserdisc by American avant-garde
group 'The Residents'. It is a compilation of the band's history up to
Freak Show, their then multimedia project." Laurie Anderson – Aive From Off Center – Episode J (September 1, 1986) (video) "Late Show" from 'Home of the Brave' and "What Do You Mean We?"
From IMDB: "For generations, Mel Blanc was one of the most famous Hollywood voice
actors with his myriad of voices for classic animated characters like
Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and scores of others. However, animation was only
one of the fields where Blanc shone through in his long career. This
film covers the life of this amazingly talented and big hearted actor,
comedian and musician as he became one of the performing greats from the
golden ages of American animation and radio through to the 1980s."
Motivated Numeracy and Enlightened Self-Government One reason democracy is so difficult. In this study, the “Science Comprehension Thesis”, which identifies defects in the public’s knowledge and reasoning capacities as the source of such controversies was refuted, while the “Identity-protective Cognition Thesis”, which treats cultural conflict as disabling the faculties that members of the public use to make sense of decision-relevant science, was supported. When confronted with scientific data that are at odds with their political biases, even highly numerate persons reject the data and retain their biases. Gun retailers strongly support expanded criteria for denying gun purchases, UC Davis survey finds "The survey is believed to be the first of its kind to gather the
views of federally licensed firearms dealers and pawnbrokers on
important social issues and the firearms business itself."
No detectable association between frequency of marijuana use and health or healthcare utilization "Researchers from Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University
School of Medicine (BUSM) have found frequency of marijuana use was not
significantly associated with health services utilization or health
status. These findings currently appear online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine."
Online time can hobble brain’s important work "Erik Fransén, whose research focuses on short-term memory and ways to
treat diseased neurons, says that a brain exposed to a typical session
of social media browsing can easily become hobbled by information
overload. The result is that less information gets filed away in your
memory."
The Pursuit of Hopefulness in Entertainment Media "Participants were assigned to one of three media groups - underdog
narrative, comedy, and nature scenes - or a no-media control group.
Those in the media groups were assigned to view one 5-minute video clip
per day for five consecutive days. Following this period, those in the
underdog narrative group felt more hopeful and reported greater
motivation to pursue their own goals than those in other conditions.
And, partially consistent with Prestin’s second hypothesis, the emotional
experience of hope was durable, with hopefulness remaining at elevated
levels up to three days after the final media exposure."
A new index of happiness based on migratory flows and not on subjective answers to surveys "The first places in this ranking are occupied by countries like Hong
Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, Norway, Israel, South Korea,
Sweden, Canada and Australia. Bolivia, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Cameroon,
Senegal, Kenya, Nigeria, Afghanistan, South Africa and China are at the
bottom of the list."
Mysterious, beautiful, achingly poignant short from experimental filmmaker Nick Abrahams set to music by Icelandic ambient rockers Sigur Rós:
This three-part documentary on the life and work of Carl Jung is full of rich information, not least of which is the exposure of science and technology as the central myth of modern life, and its new religion.
From one of my favorite guerrilla ontologists, Rob Brezsny:
WHAT IS PRONOIA?
OBJECTIVE: To explore the secrets of becoming a wildly disciplined, fiercely tender, ironically sincere, scrupulously curious, aggressively sensitive, blasphemously reverent, lyrically logical, lustfully compassionate Master of Rowdy Bliss.
DEFINITION: Pronoia is the antidote for paranoia. It's the understanding that the universe is fundamentally friendly. It's a mode of training your senses and intellect so you're able to perceive the fact that life always gives you exactly what you need, exactly when you need it.
HYPOTHESES: Evil is boring. Cynicism is idiotic. Fear is a bad habit. Despair is lazy. Joy is fascinating. Love is an act of heroic genius. Pleasure is your birthright. Receptivity is a superpower.
PROCEDURE: Act as if the universe is a prodigious miracle created for your amusement and illumination. Assume that secret helpers are working behind the scenes to assist you in turning into the gorgeous masterpiece you were born to be. Join the conspiracy to shower all of creation with blessings.
GUIDING QUESTION: "The secret of life," said sculptor Henry Moore to poet Donald Hall, "is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for your whole life. And the most important thing is — it must be something you cannot possibly do." What is that task for you?
UNDIGNIFIED MEDITATIONS TO KEEP YOU HONEST: Brag about what you can't do and don't have. Confess profound secrets to people who aren't particularly interested. Pray for the success of your enemies while you're making love. Change your name every day for a thousand days.
Points in Space Critically acclaimed collaboration for the screen by choreographer Merce Cunningham, composer John Cage, and filmmaker Elliot Caplan. If you have any affinity at all for modern dance, this is a must-see. And if you do not, this just may change your mind.
Philosophers at work Tenth graders in Madison, Wisconsin were asked to make drawings of a philosopher at work.
Antibiotic resistance threats in the US 2013 Centers for Disease Control (pdf) "...the potentially catastrophic consequences of inaction... Estimates vary but have ranged as high as $20 billion in excess direct healthcare costs, with additional costs to society for lost productivity as high as $35 billion a year... The use of antibiotics is the single most important factor leading to antibiotic resistance around the world... up to 50% of all the antibiotics prescribed for people are not needed or are not optimally effective as prescribed. Antibiotics are also commonly used in food animals to prevent, control, and treat disease, and to promote the growth of food-producing animals. The use of antibiotics for promoting growth is not necessary, and the practice should be phased out..."
US nearly detonated atomic bomb over North Carolina in 1961 "Using freedom of information, Schlosser discovered that at least 700 'significant' accidents and incidents involving 1,250 nuclear weapons
were recorded between 1950 and 1968 alone."
A recent discovery for me, this remarkable progressive rock concept album from 1971 by Serge Gainsbourg. As Josh, my partner in The Main Sequence, said, "I love the contrast between the cool acid rock and Gainsbourg's louche recitations." Some additional context here.
What they're sailing in the America's Cup this year. The very rich have some nice toys.
Toxoplasma infected mice lose their fear of cats "New research by graduate student Wendy Ingram at the University of
California, Berkeley, reveals a scary twist to this scenario: the
parasite’s effect seem to be permanent. The fearless behavior in mice
persists long after the mouse recovers from the flu-like symptoms of
toxoplasmosis, and for months after the parasitic infection is cleared
from the body."
How Toxoplasma Gets Into Human Brain and Influences Human Behavior "A number of studies confirm that mental diseases like
schizophrenia, depression and anxiety syndrome are more common in people
with toxoplasmosis, while others suggest that toxoplasmosis can
influence how extroverted, aggressive or risk-inclined an individual's
behaviour is."
“Guns Do Not Make a Nation Safer,” Say Doctors Data examined for 27 developed countries. Any calm discussion of violence in the US must, at the least, distinguish between Second Amendment issues and gun culture issues.
Mobility is key to healthy aging "Mobility limitations are the edge of that slippery slope that leads
to loss of function," said Brown. "A decline in mobility seems to
quickly lead to an across-the-board decline, including the routine
activities of daily living. Mobility is a sort of barometer for how well
an older person ages."
The piano as a typewriter "Saarbrücken researchers transferred skill in piano playing to text
entry by developing a computational approach that assigns words and
letters to notes and chords. In this way experienced as well as
hobby-pianists can enter text as fast professional typists."
There is no dark side of the moon, as shown by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
************************
Glimpses of our robot infested future:
Emotional attachment to robots could affect outcome on battlefield "Soldiers acknowledged they felt a range of emotions such as
frustration, anger and even sadness when their field robot was destroyed. What if they “care” too much about the robot to send it into a dangerous situation?"
The several local family groups of wild turkeys have flocked together in recent weeks and I've seen quite a bit of them, in the woods and fields and even around the house as they pass through on foot, snapping constantly at something – insects? grass and weed seeds? They're notoriously wary creatures, so it's been a rare pleasure to have so many up-close viewing experiences.
The hens lay large clutches of eggs, as shown in this image of a nest I stumbled upon last spring, but evidently not many survive.
The flock at the largest I've seen lately consists of four hens, nine juveniles, and a tom.
They roost high above in old growth hickory and oak trees. Beneath these trees, and in lesser numbers along the trails in the woods and around the fields, I've found lots of feathers and have been assembling these into a totem at one of the lane gate posts.
Speaking of rare experiences, yesterday I came upon a whitetail doe resting in tall grass in a clearing in the woods that did not startle until I was just ten feet away. She bounded off but only to a distance of about 60 feet, then turned and came several steps back toward me. We considered one another for about five minutes in which time she came forward several more steps before finally turning aside to be lost from view behind a bramble of blackberries.
Flame amplification and a better hi-fi loudspeaker? A Popular Electronics article from 1968. "Flame which behaves physically and electrically like a high-fidelity
loudspeaker ... and has inherent amplification besides," explains Dr. A. G.
Cattaneo, manager of United Technology Center's Sunnyvale, Calif., Physical
Sciences Laboratory, and one of flame amplification's three co-discoverers. h/t JH
A world of machine-driven alphas and lesser beings Truthdig. Tyler Cowen's Average Is Over – "It might be called the age of the genius machines, and it will be
the people who work with them that will rise. One day soon we will look
back and see that we have produced two nations—a fantastically
successful nation, working in the technologically dynamic sectors, and
everyone else. Average is over."
Wide-Faced Men Make Others Act Selfishly "Two assistant professors of management at the University of
California, Riverside and several other researchers have previously
shown that men with wider faces are more aggressive, less trustworthy
and more prone to engaging in deception. Now, in a just-published paper, they have shown, in a series of four
studies, that individuals behave more selfishly when interacting with
men with wider faces and this selfish behavior elicits selfish behavior
in others."
Exposure to Pig Farms and Manure Fertilizers Associated with MRSA Infections "Researchers from Geisinger’s Henry Hood Center for Health Research and
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have for the first time
found an association between living in proximity to high-density
livestock production and community-acquired infections with
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as MRSA."
Lifestyle Changes May Lengthen Telomeres, A Measure of Cell Aging UC San Francisco. "A small pilot study shows for the first time that changes in diet,
exercise, stress management and social support may result in longer
telomeres, the parts of chromosomes that affect aging. It is the first controlled trial to show that any intervention might lengthen telomeres over time."
Kelly McGonigal: How to make stress your friend TED Talk. "New research suggests that stress may only be bad for you if you believe
that to be the case. Psychologist Kelly McGonigal urges us to see
stress as a positive, and introduces us to an unsung mechanism for
stress reduction: reaching out to others."
I spent a very enjoyable Saturday on Labor Day weekend at the 2013 Midwest Old Threshers Reunion in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, a celebration of farm power from the early days of mechanization. The main attractions for me were the steamers – traction engines, locomotives, and stationary engines – but there was much else of interest...
...including this carousel powered by a stationary steam engine and accompanied by music from a Wurlitzer mechanical military band. You might want to let the following video play while you scroll through the rest of the photos.
I arrived shortly after the gates opened, early enough to wander around while the steam traction engine (precursors to today's tractors) and locomotive crews were firing up their equipment for the day. The fireboxes are fueled with wood or oil to raise stream in the boilers that power the pistons.
Most of the farm engines were rated in the 25-40 horsepower range, but this giant Case was 110 horsepower, with drive wheels four-feet wide and eight-feet diameter.
This is a Kelly Springfield roller for road construction, beautifully restored.
The reunion grounds are a permanent museum surrounded by narrow gauge railroad tracks, and there is an excellent collection of locomotives and rolling stock. This locomotive is wood fired.
This locomotive is oil fired.
This is the famous Westinghouse air brake unit that revolutionized railroad safety by "failing on".
At the height of the steam railroad era, all sorts of curious vehicles were made to travel the rails, including this hack of a Ford Model A.
Most of the uses to which farm traction engines were put involved driving accessory equipment, such as this lumber mill, with belts from power take-offs.
This Advance-Rumely was powering the mill.
These are images from the big parade by many of the more than 900 tractors on display, including about 80 steamers.
I attended the tractor pull competition, which involves pulling a special sled that continuously adds effective weight to the tractor's drawbar, to see how far it can go. This recording captures a remarkable bit of work by a traction engine operator as he changes gears on the fly to win the event.
Here's a larger image of competitors lining up for the tractor pull.
During the steam era, stationary engines had many uses, from generating electricity to pumping water to air blowing to driving line shafts that could run an entire machine shop. The steam for all the engines in this building is provided by a central boiler.
This next set of images is from the threshing exhibition, separating feed grains from the surrounding chaff and attached straw.
This is a traction engine-driven veneer mill that shaves long layers just a few millimeters thick from rolling butts of timber.
Steam power never completely replaced horse power on the farm; that didn't occur until gasoline, diesel, and electricity became ubiquitous in the 1940s and '50s. This is a well drilling rig from about 1910. It can bore a 36-inch diameter well to a depth of 120 feet. The horse in this exhibition amazed me for being so attuned to his human partner operating the rig. The man was giving a running commentary to the audience as he and his assistant lowered and raised the bucket, attached and detached drill shafts, emptied and cleaned the bucket. Amidst his patter he would issue one-word commands to the horse who responded instantly and without error; he knew exactly what speech was for him and what was for others. Working animal partners have almost vanished today; we live in a thoroughly human-focused world.
