Cuore

More Speculation From Authors Who Speculate

From an Interview with Hannu Rajaniemi author of The Quantum Theif:

Q: One of the most brilliant conceits of The Quantum Thief is how you’re able to advance a classic a mystery story in a world of ubiquitous information technology. Was it a challenge to work this out in post-singularity world?

A: That was the challenge or the contradiction (always good for any creative process) that drove both the story and the worldbuilding. At first I had a vague idea about wanting to write a story about a gentleman thief in a post-singularity setting. That immediately begged the question of what is actually worthwhile stealing in a world without material scarcity, where everything can be copied. The answer to that turned out to be quantum information. A gentleman thief also needs an adversary, a detective: but being a detective in a world with ubiquitous computing and sensing where everything is recorded would be meaningless. So that led to the idea of the Oubliette, a society where privacy and control of personal information is the most fundamental value of all.

St. Vincent is good, no?

Gainsbourg and Jean Claude Vannier

Paul St. John - Spaceship Lover

Great House

Here are photos of a simple, compact, well designed house from Dwell. It's from Dwell so of course you have to see people in the photos. I covet this house.

Ada Lovelace

From the Wiki:

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852), born Augusta Ada Byron, was an English writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine. Her notes on the engine include what is recognised as the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine; as such she is sometimes considered the "World's First Computer Programmer"

She was the only legitimate child of the poet Lord Byron (with Anne Isabella Milbanke). She had no relationship with her father, who died when she was nine. As a young adult she took an interest in mathematics, and in particular Babbage's work on the analytical engine. Between 1842 and 1843 she translated an article by Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea on the engine, which she supplemented with a set of notes of her own. These notes contain what is considered the first computer program—that is, an algorithm encoded for processing by a machine. Though Babbage's engine was not built until nearly 150 years later in 1989–91, Lovelace's notes are important in the early history of computers. She also foresaw the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching while others, including Babbage himself, focused only on these capabilities.

What Technology Wants

From What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly:

There's an old story about the long reach of early choices that is basically true: Ordinary Roman carts were constructed to match the width of imperial Roman war chariots because it was easier to follow the ruts in the road left by the war chariots. The chariots were sized to accommodate the width of two large warhorses, which translates into our English measurement of 4' 8.5". Roads throughout the vast Roman Empire were built to this specification. When the legions of Rome marched into Britain, they constructed long-distance imperial roads 4' 8.5" wide. When the English started building tramways, they used the same width so the same horse carriages could be used. And when they started building railways with horseless carriages, naturally the rails were 4' 8.5" wide. Imported laborers from the British Isles built the first railways in the Americas using the same tools and jigs they were used to. Fast-forward to the U.S. space shuttle, which is built in parts around the country and assembled in Florida. Because the two large solid-fuel rocket engines on the side of the launch shuttle were sent by railroad from Utah, and that line traversed a tunnel not much wider than the standard track, the rockets themselves could not be much wider in diameter than 4' 8.5". As one wag concluded: "So, a major design feature of what is arguably the worlds most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of two horses' arse." More or less, this is how technology constrains itself over time.

Orélie-Antoine De Tounens roi de Patagonie

Orélie Antoine de Tounens

From Wikipedia:

November 17, 1860 he signed a declaration of Araucanían independence in the farm of French settler F. Desfontaine, who became his "foreign minister". And with an assembly of the chieftains of the various tribes of the territory known as "Araucanía" was voted a constitutional monarch by the tribal leaders. He created a national hymn, a flag, wrote a constitution, appointed ministers of agriculture, education, and defense (among other offices), and had coins minted for his kingdom. Later, a tribal leader from Patagonia approached him with the desire to become part of the kingdom. Patagonia was therefore united to his kingdom as well. He sent copies of the constitution to Chilean newspapers and El Mercurio published a portion of it on December 29, 1860. De Tounens returned to Valparaíso to wait for the representatives of the Chilean government. They primarily ignored him. He also attempted to involve the French government in his idea, but the French consul, after making some inquiries, came to the conclusion that Tounens was insane.

This guy had determination. He was either deported or forced back to France four separate times. Someone needs to write alternate reality historical fiction in this kingdom. It seems his heirs still lay claim to the throne.

Bold, Brilliant, Necessary

http://www.pegasusglobalholdings.com/press-releases/center-for-innovation-testing-and-evaluation-010911.html

“The idea for The Center was born out of our own company’s challenges in trying to test new and emerging technologies beyond the confines of a sterile lab environment,” Robert H. Brumley, Pegasus Global’s CEO said. “As entrepreneurs, we saw a global need and stepped up to address it. The Center will allow private companies, not for profits, educational institutions and government agencies to test in a unique facility with real world infrastructure, allowing them to better understand the cost and potential limitations of new technologies prior to introduction."

Pegasus Holdings is building a 20 square mile test city in the desert of New Mexico. This is not Celebration, Florida or Brazilia, this is a private Apollo program. The kind ambitious undertaking that seems to reside in the past. It feels like a vestige of the ambition and future oriented thinking of the 60's. You can imagine a James Bond movie unfolding in a similar venue. The city is the greatest and most fruitful human invention and even if this enterprise is flawed, it is just the kind of bold forward-thinking we need. We live in economically depressing times. Gains from trade are exploited, science is eeking out only small improvements, and we face at best interesting times climatically. We should rejoice in this kind of daring. Plus, if it fails, it will make one hell of a place to explore.

Asadoya Yunta

One of my favorite Okinawan Folk Songs.

Cities of Gold

Summer's Over

Chateau Marmont - Solar Apex

Made me smile

The European Space agency is planning a probe to test the possibility of deflecting potential earth destroying asteroids. The name they are giving this probe is Don Quixote. Cheers to that.

Bjork

Bjork, you always, always deliver.

London Velodrome

Gorgeous velodrome built for the 2012 games in London:






Gorgeous velodrome built for the 2012 games in London:

Peeking into the brains of science fiction authors

Here's John Meaney

G Major

Santa Fe--LOL

Tra la la la la

It just makes all that angsty stuff seem like such pussy shit. I mean, you know?

Quote from Mo regarding Einsturzende Neubauten....

New Music I'm Coming Round To

John Maus



Peaking Lights

Peaking Lights - Tiger Eyes (Laid Back) from Know Phase on Vimeo.

Both of these came from knowphase.com

The Trinity Site and the Very Large Array

You'd expect the trinity site to be a moving, awe-filled experience but overweight tourists in american flag t-shirts walking dogs really somehow take you out of it. Still kind of amazing. The Very Large Array, however, delivered in every way.

The Very Large Array










McDonald Ranch House and Trinity Site

Ha

After hearing about "tiger blood" all week....

I decided to watch the Charlie Sheen interview and I'm left wondering...

What do ABC and its viewers see in George Stephanapolous? I get putting him on the politics beat, but beyond that, I'm at a loss.

Yojimbo

Liked the movie, loved the music.

From Tyler Cowen's The Great Stagnation:

Everyone of a certain age thinks of the 1969 moon landing as a symbolic dividing line between the new technological era and the old. At the time, the moon landing occasioned great excitement and it was heralded as the beginning of a new age. But it's more properly seen as the culmination of some older technological developments.

This is meant literally in a usefultohumanitytechnological sense but damn if it doesn't feel right in a spiritual sense too. How inward our ambition, will, and dreams seem to be.

Lectures on electricity

In all ages the thunder of heaven has contributed more powerfully to promote the cause of imposture and tyranny. By the science of electricity, however, the future possibility may be exterminated of renewing these frauds. It has enabled the most common artificer to avert every danger of attending a thunderstorm. It teaches the vulgar mind to smile at a thousand religious ceremonies.

--George Cadogan Morgan