The Phantom of Language

A story caught my eye a few weeks ago about the discovery & analysis of a old type of medium called a "Phonautograph" from 1860.

It is basically a piece of paper with markings that were recorded from sound. The remarkable thing is that the researchers were able to translate the recordings back into sound. The resulting audio is on the New York Times website and it is fascinating & also creepy as hell.

Playing the song feels like you are opening a portal that closes the gap in space & time between the long-gone person whose voice now magically reaches our ears. Of course, sensory-recording media is omnipresent today, but the pre-audio age of this particular find is what gives it a mysterious quality.

The other amazing thing about the recording was that the inventor had not even conceived of a way to play the audio back!!! The imprint of the waveform created by the singer's vocal cords was 'frozen' in an abstract state for over a century with no one ever hearing it played! This use of current technology to unlock the data is a testament to the ingenious foresight of the inventor- Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville.

This is all fascinating to me, & it made me think about the ephemeral nature of human communication, in all its forms. Mankind is just a quick flash in one of the Universe's brain cells, but as a species we strive so hard to achieve the absurd notion of immortality. We are continually trying to create a lasting presence through art, architecture, sciences, stories, and all types of cosmically futile efforts.
*Why even bother with such "trivial" pursuits, then???
*The answer is as simple as it is all-encompassing and unerringly correct:
"We are humans and that's what we do."

Language defines our experience in all its forms. The craving for connections that people are perpetually seeking can span moments, lifetimes, and generations through language. Animals communicate, too, but we can just guess what aspects of consciousness they are perpetuating.

One of our "cosmically futile" (but sociologically noble) pursuits is the preservation of dying languages threatened with vanishing due to the disappearance of the cultures that used them.
It must be incredibly lonely to be the last person to speak an extinct tongue, knowing that untold legacies will also go with you. This compulsion for preservation of knowledge is especially evident right now, as the internet and other media are used non-stop to cache more and more of the human experience each passing minute.

"Saving Dying Languages"

Hopefully these efforts will prove to be cosmically futile much, much later than sooner.

"Bumbot": Harbinger of Robo-fascism?

One one of the many things that have the potential to do both great service & also great harm to the human race is robotics.

We've already taken a huge ethical leap towards the negative with the creation of military robots. I've lamented the apparent future Robot Army that is on a subtle, yet unstoppable, path that should concern all protoplasmic beings.

The Colbert Report featured "Bumbot," created by a US Defense worker-turned-bar owner to keep derelicts off the street after dark. It is equipped with lights, loudspeaker, & water cannon to disperse local homeless and vagabonds.

It's almost humorous... as long I'm not the shady character this heartless enforcer is soaking on a chilly night. At least it can't be equipped w/ a taser & flame-thrower, like it's creator would prefer! I think it's just a little too soon for robots with lethal force to be patrolling our streets. Once we see how successful they are in Iraq, though, I'm sure neighborhoods everywhere will be looking forward to weapon-wielding machines guarding our every move...

Difference Makers: Bumbot

Tila Time

Intelligent thought must
now completely stop for the night-

as it is approaching time for the season premiere of
my worst vice:

Shot at Love 2 -w- Tila Tequila

Obama: Won't Enslave the White Race!!!

Jon Stewart on the Daily Show has been giving a so-so performance lately. It seems like he expects unfunny things to be funny just because he's saying it. It's a stark contrast to Stephen Colbert's sharp character-driven wit. Both shows are great in their own way, though.

However, the iconic Mr. Stewart made up for any recent mediocrity with the single most absurdly poignant question of the campaign to Barack Obama, that comes toward the end of the 1st part of the interview. He exposes the ridiculous undercurrent of perceived racial implications of a non-white person leading the country.

JS: Sir, we are concerned that ultimately, at the end of the day, if you are fortunate enough to get the Democratic nomination, fortunate enough to become President of the United States, will you pull a ‘bait and switch’, sir, and enslave the white race? Is that your plan? And if it is your plan, be honest, tell us now.

BO:That is not our plan, Jon. But I think your paranoia might make you suitable as a debate moderator.

The Daily Show w/ Barack Obama

Where the interview completely fails is
1) his request for Obama to "add hope" to stupid phrases.
I could absolutely write better segments than that.
2) Stewart's obnoxiously self-indulgent recommendation of some unknown restaurant near Pittsburg. wtf cares?

Sen. Obama was also on the Colbert Report where he acknowledged "The #1 Threat to America"...

Colbert Report w/ Barack Obama

Sacred Geometry 101

To offset the insanity presented by my last few posts,
I'm posting what could be considered a primer in the knowledge of Sacred Geometry. This is one of the concepts behind the strategy game I created, Da Vinci's Challenge.

Using such tools 3D computer programs, I've gained a greater awareness of the geometric nature of the universe we perceive. How such form arises in our minds out of the quantum soup
is the mystery of the ages.

I found this picture in an interesting set of images on Flickr by "Mirahorian".

Great Women in US Elections

It's hard to find someone whose folly approaches the legendary status of 2004 Bush supporter Pat Peale. She is the nitwit that's remembered (probably by nobody except me) for wearing a Purple Heart Band-aid mocking John Kerry at the GOP convention.

Being a moron in that big ol' ship of fools was understandable.


Unfortunately, ABC found the Democratic counterpart to the lovely Ms. Peale. Thanks to the power of the Internets, saying something incredibly retarded on TV freezes your foolishness in time forever. Therefore, Nash McCabe will be forever remembered as the "Flag Pin Lady" because of her profoundly idiotic question to Barack Obama about if he loves the flag.



Obama (like 99.9 percent of Americans) has the nerve not wear some crappy, imported lapel pin of an abstract symbol representing an abstract concept - the flag of the United States.

This was by far the worst moment of ABC's disaster of a debate on Wed. night.

I'm sure Mrs. McCabe is a fine person, but posing a question of that level of mind-numbing stupidity is bound to attract the ire of thinking people everywhere.

She has done the country a positive service, though, by showing that this type of childish thinking is not acceptable in serious discourse concerning the issues of the nation.

Of course, ABC's producers are a bunch of jackasses for allowing this garbage to enter the debate.

"Mr. Obama,

Why did you send those bad terrorists
to attack America on 9/11?!?"

Can Evil Be Funny?

I might have to answer 'yes' to that.

Why? Because I found myself laughing (much to my own horror) at some of the lines delivered by The Evil One himself during the Radio Correspondent's Dinner.

Perhaps my mind was so terrified of the sneering Beast-Man who has wreaked havoc upon the world, that I was laughing due to some subconscious defense mechanism.

That is how I have to rationalize it...
...or I would feel as disgusting & guilty as if I was sitting at a banquet w/ Vlad the Impaler - having a chuckle while bodies on spikes were writhing around me.

Jon Stewart Interviews Pres. Bush!

Ok, so it's actually Will Ferrell... but it's funny stuff, especialy considering how hard it is to outdo the ridiculous antics of the real Dubya.

How a Monkey Greets God's Emissary

It seems like it's been a while since our "Leader" has made me cringe. I thought I was either becoming numb to his lunacy- or it's just been overshadowed lately by other news.

Tonight, though, The Daily Show made me feel that good ol' cringing feeling once again - with a clip of Dubya artfully greeting the fabulously glamorous, yet still creepy, old man in lavish garb who everyone pretends is divinely important...

NBC 10
"Bush Thanks Pontiff at White House"

Is it January 2009 yet?

After the Daily Show, I watched the Pope giving a speech in English on CSpan for a little bit - but The Colbert Report is more important, of course. If Joey the Rat's accent wasn't so bad, or there were subtitles, I may have watched a tiny bit longer.

As I was wathing the news earlier, I also realized it really pisses me off that the Pope drives around in a bulletproof Pope Mobile. It proves that he doesn't believe he's really in some kind of special rapport with an all-powerful deity. He's a mortal man in a position of enormous earthly power. And he's the total icon of humility with all the robes, fur, & glitz.

I'm sure "Peter the Roman" will be much cooler than the current Emperor Palpatine lookalike.

Warning:
Clicking on this picture
will enlarge the image.

Watch out for the Force Lightning!!!

Molecular Cloud or Galactus?

I saw an image of what is considered a "dark molecular cloud" of cosmic dust. Seeing this picture, I couldn't help thinking... what if the dark mass was actually an immense extraterrestrial swarm of nano-machines? It would be amazing & terrifying at the same time.

Molecular Cloud Barnard 68

This sentient cloud would be similar to the form that the Marvel character Galactus has been portrayed in Marvel Ultimate comics & the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer movie.

This precursors of interstellar nanotechnology are already being explored here on Earth.
• NASA is experimenting with tetrahedral forms in a primitive version of autonomous swarm technology.
• The University of Glasgow is taking it closer to the molecular scale by designing interacting devices comparable to dust particles, only millimeters across.

Innocent dust cloud or world-devouring hive mind?...
Hopefully we never have to find out.

Hairy Wannabe Terrorist Troll-Man

Ebaum's World gives me countless reasons to be ashamed of my own species.

The picture I linked to below is so disturbing that I don't even want to post it, but it a compelling vision of the state of the human race. I am so eternally grateful that I am not this wacko...

I am not responsible
if you click here
& lose all hope for mankind.

Queen Kong

I saw this gem on the wonderful Neatorama...

This ridiculous trailer is so bad that it actually transcends "bad" - & ends up just being hysterical.

As entertaining as the trailer is, I think sitting through the whole movie would be unbearable. On the other hand, it might be really amusing...

I've found alot of cool monkey stuff, but nothing compares to the lost classic,

Queen Kong

Monkey Buddha Optical Design

After posting the designs with hidden optical messages, I decided to try to replicate the effect in Photoshop to create my own phantom message.

It took me about 30min of experimenting to get a decent result... I could briefly explain the process, but I really don't feel like it. Besides, anyone who is fluent in Photoshop should be able to figure out a method.

Click on the image for the full size,
which creates the optimum effect:

Obama: The Graphic Designer's Candidate

I was watching reruns of the saliva-monster Chris Matthews interview Barack Obama on the "Hardball College Tour".

"Barack Obama on Hardball
College Tour"

I've been mostly for Obama since John Edwards dropped out... but tonight "Osama-bama" sealed the deal for me. He had the good sense to pander to the creative engine of the American marketplace - the graphic designers!

While discussing the need to provide schoolkids with mentoring for future careers, Sen. Obama used the example of a student interested in art that could learn from a professional graphic designer.

Bravo, Senator!
His preacher can go bananas for all I care, he's the first presidential candidate I've heard acknowledge America's design industry.

Art is an important intellectual aspect of any culture & it's a vital resource that cannot be outsourced. To have a President intelligent enough to even recognize that fact alone would be a godsend.

Hidden Optical Design

I usually browse the first page of FFFFOUND! for a dose of visual inspiration each day.

I saw these awesome optical illusion/designs that look like a field of dots or lines. It appears they are album sleeves for a band called Soulwax.

I would have passed right by it, but I usually stare at optical designs for at least a few seconds to observe what prolonged visual effects there are. As I was looking at it I must've briefly blurred my eyes, because I was surprised to see words appear for a second. This is a pretty crazy effect that can be seen a few different ways:

• squint your eyes
• make your vision blurry by ''flexing' your eyes
• cross your eyes just a little bit
• raise your eyebrows & stretch your eyes tight
• you get the idea

I think these are perfect examples of the ephemeral nature of language & ideas...

Mad Magazine Fold-ins

When I was a kid in school, I wisely spent alot of allowance money on Mad & Cracked magazines. They taught me about realities and absurdities of the world that you can't find in a textbook.

I've seen alot of funny stuff linked lately from the Cracked.com site. It's cool to see that sort of deranged sort of creative publication can successfully adapt to the Internet Age.

Anyway, a cool digital application of the classic Mad Magazine folding back cover is being featured on the NY Times site. It's an interactive slideshow where you can 'fold' the illustrations by Al Jaffee that have graced the back overs of Mad since the 60's. Even if I didn't buy a magazine back in the day, I would take one off the rack & try to at least bend the cover enough to find out what the folded picture was.

I always thought those covers were really ingenious, but being a designer has given me more appreciation for the work that goes into each one.

NY Times
"Fold-Ins, Past and Present"

There's also an interview with Al Jaffee w/ great photos of his creative process:

NY Times
"A Veteran MAD Man Remains in the Fold"

Lo & behold, I went to the Mad Magazine website & their next issue is The Monkey Issue! I saw this banner for it, & had no choice but to click it:


You can download medium-resolution sample pages, including the cover featuring an office full of stock photo primates. It's good to see the monkeys of the world getting the attention they deserve...

Ultra-cool Sci-fi Info-graphics

I'm going to really let my 'inner nerd' shine through.

Although I've been a fan of mainly Star Wars since I was young, I've also picked up on bits of other Sci-fi knowledge, too. I think science fiction is fascinating in the sense that it's like a conceptual nursery for the future possibilities of humanity.

Searching through "Google Images" as I sometimes do, I came across these great charts. The first one is a comparison of everything from (comparatively tiny) earth-bound vessels from history to Darth Vader's mile-long intersellar craft, the Executor-class Star Destroyer.

The second chart is a map of all the planets in the Star Wars galaxy.
"The galaxy is filled with over 400 billion stars, around which circle over a million inhabitable planets that are home to over 20 million intelligent species."

*I also found this website that takes it to yet another level, including everything from the scale of humans & Ewoks to the Death Star to structures like the "Dyson Sphere" that encompass an entire solar system!

Starship Dimensions

One thing that nobody has thought of yet is the "Monkeybuddhasphere™" which is a spaceship, the size of the entire Universe. The control system for this complex vehicle is already in operation- your own brain!

click to enlarge

The Nature of Empire

I was reading this article which argues the British Empire still exists & actually dominates world affairs through "it's" influence in the realms of finances, politics, & natural resources.

"Largest Empire
in the History of the World"

Supposedly "it" just isn't called "The British Empire" anymore. Well, that made me question the very nature of the collective entities that we call empires & nation-states.

A 'nation' is basically an abstract concept of organization that people mutually accept or are usually forced to accept. It's interesting (for me, anyway) to consider the rise and fall of social structures throughout history. Despite its ephemeral nature, the nation-state is a useful organizing principle for the chaotic swarm known as 'the human race'. I just think it's good to keep a perspective on the actual reality of powerful institutions such as nations, banks, religions, sports teams- that we take for granted as 'real' things with a individual existence unto themselves. This, of course, is an illusion.

These videos from Maps of War shows what I've called the amoeba-like quality to the interaction of these political & religious movements throughout time.

Imperial History of the Middle East



History of Religion

Monkey on a Motorbike

That an 'animal' can operate technology as complex as a vehicle
should prove that the difference between 'man' & 'beast'
is a division that only exists in the human mind.

It should also further prove that
monkeys are hysterical.


Monkey Motorcycles! - The best home videos are here

The Brick Testament

I'm not what you would call a Bible Literalist by any means. Although I have a fair amount of scriptural knowledge, I have cultivated an interest in the myriad religious philosophies that have existed throughout history.

I discovered the best way to read about the socio-theology of ancient desert people... is with illustrations using Legos. The fact that someone took the time to create something like this completely astounds me.

Of course, the Bible has stories of sex, violence, intrigue... so some of these Lego scenes contain 'mature' content. These scenes are, of course, the most interesting.

The Brick Testament

The Booze Test

Neatorama & Mentalfloss have tests that I really get a kick out of.
The Booze Test proved that I'm definitely not an "Alcoholic".

With my liquor knowledge at 86%, I am merely a "Drunkard."
My Mom will be proud...

"The Booze Test"

The Fate of Oppression

One of the basic tenets of Buddhism is that 'suffering' is an unavoidable consequence of mortal existence.

However, another basic idea is that our individual & collective negativity can be transformed through right practice & awareness.

As long as we all have bodies of flesh, misery of every kind is to be expected. Therefore, it is tough for a skeptic like me to believe we can even make a tiny dent in the unfathomable behemoth that is human suffering.

Right now, the instant reporting of events is possible anywhere a person has a camera & internet access. In spite of this, the world's most powerful national bodies continue to flaunt their technologically superior, but morally inferior, methods of brutality. The civilian leadership of the US and their neo-con puppetmasters used our military and our financial resources to viciously decimate inferior nations. Russia continues to try exerting control over its satellite states to ward off American influence. Israel continues to propagate the fantasy of security through cultural segregation. China continues a senseless quest for domination over the people of Tibet, a nation of monks & villagers. The Chinese government's characterization of the Dalai Lama and his Tibetan followers would be laughable if it wasn't such a tragic situation.

These huge movements of Oppression vs. Dissension could be an indication of a tipping point for a collective rejection of all the paradigms we've been culturally brainwashed into accepting as inevitable reality. Such a drastic shift could have tremendous positive results, but also tremendously negative consequences. Will the result be an apocalyptic wasteland or a harmonious utopia? Probably.... neither.

I'd like to think that we are capable of creating a more positive reality for as many people on this planet as possible. Perhaps the people of the world will eventually reject the idea of subjugating other humans and finally unite as a global force of infinite diversity & productivity.

Unfortunately, I'm no starry-eyed optimist. It easily as possible that justified dissent will continue to be crushed in more efficient and widespread ways. There seems to be unlimited power in the soulless entities such as nations and super-national corporations that seem to feed off ever-increasing control of human beings. From the rise of ubiquitous surveillance to the growing Doomsday Robot Army, there are plenty of reasons to think everything in our future is not going to be all rainbows & jelly beans.

That is, unless the military robots are going to spray psychedelic colors and shoot out candy to overwhelm the world with joy...

Two Visions of the Future:

Choice #1:
Choice #2:

Choose Wisely!

His Holiness Saint Peter Rabbit

This wonderful season of the vernal equinox and the Resurrection of Life. Like all institutions, the holiday we celebrate as Easter has had a very interesting evolution which I've posted about before.

What most people don't realize is the hidden truth behind the Mysteries of Easter. Luckily, the masters of crazy wisdom at South Park have cracked the code:

Dreamlines

I forget where I saw this really cool website called Dreamlines.

http://solaas.com.ar/dreamlines/

"Dreaming in Images"

You type in a word or phrase and it uses images from the Web to form phantom images in realtime, using abstract brushtrokes, that eventually coalesce into recognizable forms.

I can just sit back & watch Dreamlines be created into ethereal images that meld into one another over & over. It can really be a mesmerizing non-linear visual experience. Wooah, dude.

I typed in "Da Vinci's Challenge" & took some screenshots of the resulting images that formed:

The Genius of Arthur C. Clarke

The "magic" Google News aggregation software has transmitted to my eyes the news that the visionary legend Arthur C. Clarke has passed from his mortal shell, back into the infinity of the universe.

Arthur C. Clarke,
Premier Science Fiction Writer,
Dies at 90

He was a generally inspiring personality, but here are the 3 particular things from the brilliant Sir Arthur that have influenced me the most.

Future Monkey & Past Monkey
are One.

• "2001: A Space Odyssey"

If you don't find this classic movie to be an aesthetic & conceptual masterpiece, then you are really no better off than the ape-man tossing a femur bone into the sky.

I read somewhere that the black monolith (which appears during each of man's 3 quantum leaps of consiousness) had measurements equal to the dimensions of an actual movie screen. The implication is that the movie itself, and art in general, were vehicles for the evolution of the soul/psyche.

Alchemical Kubrick

Unfortunately, the world has been overwhelmingly influenced by the violence of tyrants, the unbridled greed of faceless institutions, and man's own infinitely chaotic nature - all which prevent the human race from achieving exactly what Clarke envisioned. Therefore, the movie's optimistic projection of 21st century technology hasn't come to fruition.. yet. This hasn't stopped "2001" from being a continual source of admiration & interpretation now that the iconic year as come and gone.


• "Clarke's 3 Laws"

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Last, but certainly not least...

• "Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World"

Absolutely one of my favorite TV shows of all time. I used to watch it back in the day when there was nothing else like it on. From his jungle home in Sri Lanka, Arthur C. Clarke assured my young mind that our world was, in fact, as completely weird & crazy as I thought it was!

Sir Arthur engaged imaginations around the world with ideas that revealed the mysteries and the endless potential of the human race.

Tim-ta-tion

I saw the awesome photo below on Google Images as I was searching for random images.

The website is for a bible ministry of some sort. Therefore, I can only imagine, judging by the name of the photo, "tim-ta-tion", that this character is some kind of freakish acid-head puppet who is supposed to scare kids about the "tim-ta-tion-s" & effects of psychedelic substances.

Personally, I think just looking at this picture qualifies as a "psychedelic" experience!

Visualizing History

As a student, I could say without a doubt that the subject I always hated the most was history.

The funny thing is that, nowadays, I'm completely fascinated by the past. I always check out The History Channel & I've posted about historical stuff alot on this blog. I'm always reading at least one book and they're often about ancient cultures or some historical theme.

I think the reason history turned me off so much when I was younger was that there was very little visual stimulation & mental interactivity involved in the lessons. From what I remember, the emphasis was on cold facts: names, events, & dates. The truly interesting aspects of society, however, are the arts, the myths, the living situations- the 'human' details that really put us into the experience of that culture.

I've found that the most invaluable tools for learning are 3D visualizations that are now possible using ever-improving rendering software. Seeing a visual representation of ancient Rome, or watching a movie like Apocalypto that's set in an ancient Mayan city gives a strikingly clear view of life in that time period. This is simply not achievable by reading words about it in a book.

One of my favorite shows is "Engineering an Empire" because of the quality of the show's 3D renderings of both art & architecture that have been lost to time.

Here are some great links I've found to sites about the virtual re-creation of historic places:

Digital-Archaeology.com
"3D-Visualisation"

Archaeology.org:
"Why do Virtual Heritage?"

Scientific American:
"Restoring Virtual Ruins"

Monkey Kick Off

"Monkey Kick Off"

Continuing on my "Monkey" train-of-thought from my last post...

I started playing this wonderfully stupid game, Monkey Kick Off. The only objective is to kick the ball as far you can by tapping an arrow key at the right time.

I got hooked for a little while, and ended up booting a couple 5000+ Monkey Meter whoppers.
It has to bounce once every 1200+ meters to get this far... fun stuff.

Beppo - Superman's Monkey

On Neatorama there was a post about Superman's Kryptonian chimp, Beppo, who I would think would be a horrifying menace to the general population.

Actually- according to their post,
"Because it’s from Krypton, Beppo the monkey had super powers … that it used for mischief! Superboy had to lead the super monkey into deep space and left him there."

Man, that's pretty messed up! What's even more messed up is that once in deep space, Beppo found Curious George in Space... and showed him that despite the vast reaches of the universe, there's only room for one Space Monkey.

I took a few minutes to re-create the grisly encounter as accurately as I could:


Anyway, this cover is so great & shows exactly what a pain-in-the-ass a Super-powered monkey would be...


DC Comics' store actually has a plush version of this super-powered primate.

The doll's cuteness betrays the actual horror Beppo has the potential to release upon mankind.

Learning to See

"Bionic Eye that Restores Sight to the Blind"

"High-tech retinal implant:
How it works, how it’s evolved"

"MIT study shows
those who once were blind can learn to see"

I was watching a TV show about a person who was blind from when they were very young. Retinal implants actually restored the sense of vision that had been missing from that person's mind. This in itself is an astounding story.

What I thought was really interesting was the guy's description of being able to finally see for the first time. He explained that, at first, all he saw were blobs of light & dark, and spots of color. His mind had to learn to 'see' what he was looking at.

Our vision is not like a TV or monitor, which assembles a picture as soon as you hit the 'on' switch. I imagine that as neurons are stimulated, more patterns and connections are made, & the increasing visual processing in our brain allows sight to develop at higher resolutions over time, like adding pixels to a screen.

This was all on my mind when I ran across this Wired article whose title hints at the huge part that the idea of language plays in the consciousness, regardless of what senses are present:

"Babies See Pure Color,
but Adults Peer Through Prism of Language"

The idea of losing my sight is probably one of the worse things I can imagine. As a designer my entire world is dependent on vision. However, it's good to know that brilliant technical minds out there are working to solve such complex problems as blindness & the endless number of other difficulties that human beings must face.

Super-Tough Art Quiz

I saw this quiz on mental_floss. It is a test on a variety of artists & their work that they have featured over 5 months.

Being the art history buff that I am, I figured I'd try taking the quiz cold turkey (having not followed this particular feature on their blog).

It turned out to be pretty tough. I only answered a measley 8 out of 20 correct. The answers I did get I managed to figure out mostly by looking at the painting accompanying the question & recognizing an artist's style!

Attempt it if you dare....

Feel Art Again: The Exam

Giordano Bruno: Flower of Life Woodcut

When looking up the link for Giordano Bruno that I used in my last post, I came across this interesting image below. (Interesting to me, anyway.)

It is a woodcut of geometric studies apparently done by the great philosopher. What caught my eye was the use of patterns created by the overlapping circles that create the Flower of Life symbol. This is the symbol that forms the basis of the strategy game I created, "Da Vinci's Challenge".

Being such a unique pattern, it instantly grabs my attention when I see it or its myriad variations. I would be really interested to find out what the great 'heretic' & proponent of the infinite world system was studying in these figures...

CLICK HERE TO
BUY "DA VINCI'S CHALLENGE" ONLINE

Brahma Breath: The Cyclical Universe

Both the religious dogma of the biblical Genesis & the scientific dogma of the singular Big Bang always seemed equally absurd to me, in the sense that the entire universe supposedly began at a certain 'discernible' point.

I always struggled with what existed before, which had to be- nothing! Then, the question is how everything came from- nothing! There is really no adequate explanation that our monkey grunts can properly convey. We can say "God did it." or "There was the singularity" but these are just phrases that help us box up The Unimaginable in a comfortably managed package. We try to intellectually deal with the infinite nature of the universe... as long as it's confined inside definite, finite parameters!

The human mind, trying to imagine the state of reality before the beginning of the universe, is easily overwhelmed by this incomprehensible and eternal mystery.

I am definitely of the school of Giordano Bruno who accepted that, as far as human perception is concerned, the infinite worlds inhabiting infinite space. Outside of human perception, however, I am not qualified to speculate - being that I'm only human.

What I find endlessly interesting is the continuing correlation between modern scientific interpretations of the cosmos with ancient metaphysical concepts. I read this Wired interview with physicist Neil Turok in which he makes the following case:

"...the Big Bang represents just one stage
in an infinitely repeated cycle
of universal expansion and contraction.
Turok theorizes that neither time
nor the universe has a beginning or end. "

The further explanation he gave, no matter how scientific, is really just weaving a story around this central concept. Ultimately, Mr. Turok makes yet another excellent point when he says "I feel that the main role for these scenarios of the early universe is to stimulate our thinking. I don't necessarily believe any of them."

Reading these theories about the cyclical nature of reality reminded me of the Hindu idea of the cosmos as going infinite cycle of inward & outward "breaths" that are quite literally the fractal fluctuations of an infinitely complex reality:

Carl Sagan on Hindu Cosmology:

"It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond, no doubt, by accident, to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of Brahma 8.64 billion years long. Longer than the age of the earth or the sun and about half of the time since the big bang. And there are much longer time scales still.

There is the deep and the appealing notion that the universe is but the dream of the god who after a 100 Brahma years… dissolves himself into a dreamless sleep… and the universe dissolves with him… until after another Brahma century… he starts… recomposes himself and begins again the dream… the great cosmic lotus dream."

Cosmic Simulations

A while ago I ran across The Millenium Simulation project that uses supercomputers to process 3D visualizations of the large scale universe. The structure & distribution of galaxies and dark matter can be explored using this model that also has great aesthetic value. Because the link above uses a movie format I can't view, I could only appreciate the still pictures.

Boingboing.com linked to a website for a DVD called Galaxy Dynamics.
The menu has very cool Quicktime animations of cosmic processes enhanced with trippy soundtracks. It's the closest thing to having your own rave-powered spaceship.

Galaxy Dynamics.com

Nokia Morph

E-paper & ultrathin displays are going to be the source of all kinds of amazing applications. I'm looking forward to the day when I can design motion graphics for e-packaging & other surfaces that will use this emerging technology.

I saw this awesome concept called Nokia Morph on a couple different websites. It is a glimpse into the exciting & innovative creations that are just around the corner. Everything is cool about this - the styling of it, the translucent green, the interface visualizations... it's like the iPhone of the future.

There is really no reason why this device can't exist right now. It's only the misuse and waste of our collective resources and potential that prevents the realization of such inventions.

Nokia - The Morph Concept

Youtube:
Nokia Morph Concept

Gizmondo -
"Flexible Cellphone: Nokia Morph"

The Meaning of Life

Having now finished my third decade in this amazing world, I have spent alot of time observing and contemplating the human experience.

It seems about time that I recorded the ultimate consequence of years of accumulating knowledge and Crazy Wisdom:
The Meaning and Purpose of Existence.

I have contained all the transcendent truths and esoteric revelations that I have discovered over the course of a lifetime within the action of a single click....

The link below will truly set you free.

"The Meaning of Life"

The link ain't broke, this is not a joke
One day soon, we all must croak
Click all night, and click all day
What is 'Meaning' anyway?

Unlocking the Holographic Universe

I've always been interested in holograms and their relationship to the nature of our universe. Reality and our integrated human minds experiencing & existing within it have been shown to possess holographic qualities that are still barely understood.

I've noticed a few articles on the progression of holographic display & data storage technologies. I really think that we're getting to the point that almost anything the human mind can visualize can be either represented virtually or actually created in the physical world. Holograms, like fractals, are one of those topics that make less 'sense' the more you really try to understand them.

"Life Size Holograms"

"How Holograms Work"

"Rewritable Holograms Promise 3D Displays"

"Holography Takes Big Step Forward"

Surprise! Cable News Sucks

Besides getting real-time poll numbers for the current races, Presidential Primary coverage on the cable news networks is almost unwatchable. It's like there is a deliberate plan to keep all discussion of actual issues and their possible solutions completely out of the picture. Wait... Nah, can't be!

Instead of critical examination of the obstacles our country faces and the answers needed to overcome them, the hours are filled with insane jibber-jabber about:

• who's getting the vote of old/young/white/black/latino/male/female/rural/urban/blah/blah/blah

• why the above groups are voting as the completely uniform hive minds that they apparently are,

• what provocative verbal barbs are being slung, and what the response is, etc.

• which campaign has the most money and who's donating,

The only truly useful information that comes out of these shows are the poll numbers and when the next debate is, so maybe you can get some time to hear what the candidate say what they actually stand for

The complete irony of hearing the army of "experts" saying that Barack Obama has lacked substance (before tonight's speech, anyway) is off the charts. You could have CNN, MSNBC, & Fox News running simultaneously, and you will hear nothing but horserace talk.

I'd support Hillary if she was the nominee, but I think Obama would be a great President & a positive force that would be a healthy dose of sanity and insight after the Bush/Cheney Dark Ages. Hell, I even think John McCain would be a better, more competent leader than The War Monkey. Unfortunately, McCain represents a political party in Washington that, for all its talk of righteousness, has proven to be completely bankrupt of moral integrity. I think Obama/McCain debates would be a fascinating dynamic, whereas I see him and Hillary having a much less interesting interaction. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know.

All I know is Presidential Paintball kicks ass:

	Presidential Paintball Game
	Description: Hillary, Obama, Giuliani & more play paintball for the USA Presidency!Instructions:Use…
More Games

Monkey Poo Fight Game

I'll try pretty much any monkey-themed game,
but there is something extra special about using monkey poo to hit another chimp.

Monkey Poo Fight

Profound Valentine Cards

In honor of the most romantic of holidays,
I wanted to post some of my favorite Valentine Cards
that would make any woman's heart flutter:

Click to see larger image



Ralph Wiggum's classic
card to Lisa Simpson:


what appears to be
a young Don Magic Juan: