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Scurry Streak (2006, 464KB, 2 sec loop)

Portrait of the Video Loop as an Artist (2006, 528KB, 7 sec loop)
Sometimes I play the drums too.

Brain Hayes explores the meaning of one of most famous stories in mathematics.

Let me tell you a story, although it’s such a well-worn nugget of mathematical lore that you’ve probably heard it already:

e 1780s a provincial German schoolmaster gave his class the tedious assignment of summing the first 100 integers. The teacher’s aim was to keep the kids quiet for half an hour, but one young pupil almost immediately produced an answer: 1 + 2 + 3 + … + 98 + 99 + 100 = 5,050. The smart aleck was Carl Friedrich Gauss, who would go on to join the short list of candidates for greatest mathematician ever. Gauss was not a calculating prodigy who added up all those numbers in his head. He had a deeper insight: If you “fold” the series of numbers in the middle and add them in pairs—1 + 100, 2 + 99, 3 + 98, and so on—all the pairs sum to 101. There are 50 such pairs, and so the grand total is simply 50×101. The more general formula, for a list of consecutive numbers from 1 through n, is n(n + 1)/2.

The paragraph above is my own rendition of this anecdote, written a few months ago for another project. I say it’s my own, and yet I make no claim of originality. The same tale has been told in much the same way by hundreds of others before me. I’ve been hearing about Gauss’s schoolboy triumph since I was a schoolboy myself.

The story was familiar, but until I wrote it out in my own words, I had never thought carefully about the events in that long-ago classroom. Now doubts and questions began to nag at me. For example: How did the teacher verify that Gauss’s answer was correct? If the schoolmaster already knew the formula for summing an arithmetic series, that would somewhat diminish the drama of the moment. If the teacher didn’t know, wouldn’t he be spending his interlude of peace and quiet doing the same mindless exercise as his pupils?

(Hat tip: Dan Balis)

Originally by Robin Varghese from 3quarksdaily on April 19, 2006, 11:45am

Sacha Baron Cohen’s Ali G interviews Noam Chomsky on language.

You can watch it here. (Hat tip: Linta Varghese.)

Via 3quarksdaily

Originally by Robin Varghese from 3quarksdaily on April 20, 2006, 9:11am

Conservative American columnist Daniel Pipes concludes a recent article for the New York Sun on Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with the following words: “The most dangerous leaders in modern history are those… equipped with… a mystical belief in their own mission. That, combined with his expected nuclear arsenal, makes him an adversary who must be stopped, and urgently.” As evidence of Ahmadinejad’s mysticism Pipes cites the fact that he believes in Mahdaviat, the ‘second coming’ of the ‘Mahdi’, an Islamic version of the Messiah. Such radical religious beliefs, held by the leader of a powerful nuclear state, Pipes argues, will have ominous consequences. No doubt he is right. But if Pipes is concerned about the rise of powerful nuclear-armed men who believe in the second coming, he might have looked a little closer to home. Forget Iran. The mainstay of religious radicalism and mainstream occultism, is the United States, and America already has the bomb. More than one.

Consider these statistics: 95 per cent of Americans believe in God; 86 per cent believe in Heaven; 78 per cent believe in life after death; 72 per cent believe in angels; 71 per cent believe in Hell; 65 per cent believe in the Devil; 34 per cent believe that the Bible is inerrant. But then again only 40 per cent believe they have actually had contact with the dead (source Kosmin and Lachman and The Economist).

e New Humanist here.

Originally by Morgan Meis from 3quarksdaily on April 20, 2006, 9:41am

For me, two of the most pungent, original works of the 1920s — if one has to single out works that epitomize its contradictory artistic concerns — are Max Ernst’s Oedipus Rex (1922) and Otto Dix’s 1924 portfolio of 50 engravings dealing with War in all its stunning terror. On the one hand, we have a painting whose meaning is somewhat obscure — but not entirely, for Oedipus Rex is the hero of Sophocles’ tragedy — and on the other hand we have an avalanche of images whose meaning is horrifically clear. Dix surrounds us with the violence of war — the trench warfare of the First World War, in which he served, and whose brutality he witnessed first-hand. His images are as fantastic as they are factual — expressionistically fierce and journalistically precise — making them all the more nightmarish. There is an air of uncanniness to Dix’s pictures that makes them more than records of an inhumane event. He takes us behind the scene of war — the parades and speeches and rationalizations — putting us right in the trenches, where the obscene ugliness of battle becomes self-evident. We are attacked by storm troopers wearing gas masks, encounter corpses, almost become entangled in barbed wire, and sit knee-deep in mud and filth: “you are there, whether or not you want to be,” Dix’s confrontational, morbid images shout. They document a highly contagious social pathology which can claim us as its victim at any moment. The gloom of his scenes — they are marvels of black and white, and above all acid gray — conveys a hopeless state of mind as well as the atmosphere of a society bent on destroying itself.

more from artnet magazine here.

Originally by Morgan Meis from 3quarksdaily on April 21, 2006, 8:30am

There is a paradox about the current bout of media atheism. It is producing a great deal of sound and fury, but most ordinary, fair-minded people I talk to find it increasingly lacking credibility. Richard Dawkins has produced two films suggesting that religion, not the love of money, is the root of all evil and he has a new book on the subject out later in the year. Daniel Dennett has been touring the broadcasting studios plugging his book, Breaking the Spell, about the evolutionary origins and purpose of religion, and Lewis Wolpert has just written a book about believing six impossible things before breakfast.

Yet for all the polemic and literary fireworks, all this remains a show to watch rather than a serious engagement with the truth. This is because of four fundamental failures.

e Observer here.

Originally by Morgan Meis from 3quarksdaily on April 21, 2006, 8:44am

[Image: Steven Holl's Simmons Hall, MIT; photographed under construction by Stanley Greenberg. Greenberg was the focus of a recent BLDGBLOG post on the underground constellations of drainage known as New York City's water system, with its secret valve chambers; Greenberg's new show at Candace Dwan Gallery, NYC, is worth a visit – it's open till 20 May 06].

Originally from BLDGBLOG on April 19, 2006, 9:22pm

[Image: A false-color "enhanced thematic map" of the involuted deltaic coastline of Guinea-Bissau; check out the fractal self-looping madness of NASA's incredible 4.6MB version].

Originally from BLDGBLOG on April 20, 2006, 10:48am

Xeni Jardin:

I don’t know the story behind this kooky/pervy morsel. If appearances are true, it’s a Japanese instructional video that teaches English phrases for picking up gaijin hotties. It could also be an excuse to drool over chicks clad in teacher and schoolgirl uniforms who say dirty words in lo-res. Perhaps one of our Japanese-speaking readers can clue us in. Link

Reader comment: Anonymous Japanese speaker says,

I think it’s the intro gimmick from some porn. Check out the extremely cautious mosaicing when the girl reveals her panty-clad cockpit to Taro. I’ve got 1000 yen right here that says that after they move onto standard porn sex (maybe with some forced English cries of pleasure). The other proof is the “nukenagara manaberu” that the main teacher says at the start — “you can learn while jerking off”. It’s not at all uncommon for Japanese porn videos to be that direct about helping the viewer masturbate. I dunno about overseas.

Also, the reason “omanko” (cockpit) is censored and “ochinchin” isn’t because “omanko” is a stronger word than “ochinchin”. “Ochinchin” is more like “willy” than “dick”, but “omanko” really is like “pussy”, or maybe even “cunt”.

Reader comment: NH says,

This *does* appear to be an instructional video on talking dirty in English. I’ve only studied Japanese for a little while now but I gather that the female host is telling the audience (”mina-san“) that she and the women behind her are “sexy teachers” (”watashi-tachi sexy sensei ga“) and that they are glad to meet you. Before holding up a giant cue-card spelling out “dick” she explains that they’ll begin with “simple study” (”kantana-kara-no-benkyoushimashou“). Following that, but before the totally hot conversation (or train wreck of words, but who’s counting?) they go from “simple study” to…. “not-simple study.” You wish I was kidding. If you’re baffled by what the symptoms of a nasty case of taro could involve, you should see a doctor immediately.

Reader comment: Alex Waters, who presumably speaks Japanese and is not just pulling our cockpit, says:

It’s indeed an instructional video on talking dirty in English, and it’s HILARIOUS. But they encourage you to drool as well - the viewer is offered a choice of studying either conversation or “masterbation” [sic]. After the teachers introduce themselves, they inform us that in order to learn to converse, we must first study some basic vocabulary. (Note to readers: Are you SURE you know the definition of “cockpit”?) As an interesting aside, it’s acceptable to talk about dicks, but all the instances of “manko” - “pussy” in Japanese - are bleeped out, and one character is censored when it’s written onscreen as well.

After finishing up with vocabulary, the “Sexy Senseis” move on to real world applications - the conversation lesson! It simply must be seen to be believed. Luckily for the English speakers out there, the conversation lesson is all in English, and subtitled in both English and Japanese.

I can’t WAIT to try out my new conversation skills and see if they work.

font> Rachel says,

font> Mark Malamud says,

Originally by Xeni Jardin from Boing Boing on April 19, 2006, 8:28pm

agnus dei.v06 (2006, 11.8MB, 2:53 min.)

José Carlos Casado - Agnus Dei.
OK, a species of satire, clearly,
but such dream-beautiful satire.

Originally by doron from DVblog on April 21, 2006, 12:00am

Dance (2006, 9.8MB, 2:24 min.)

Travelogue (2006, 14.6MB, 1:21 min.)

This Spartan Life is a talk show set in the multi-user
combat game Halo 2 featuring actual interviews with
guests in the live game online.
These two “music videos” are made using material from the game.

Originally by editorial from DVblog on April 20, 2006, 12:00am

#3 (2006, 0.3MB, 4 sec)

#5 (2006, 0.3MB, 7 sec)

#6 (2006, 1.9MB, 4 sec)

Says Tom Moody:
“ Recommended: Guthrie Lonergan’s 9 Short Music Videos.
Reminiscent of BEIGE’s cheesy blue (green?) screen vids,
each is built around some corporate sound
(ringtone, Microsoft boot-up noise, DVD intro)
that craps up our daily lives. Also good:

Bricks (2006, 5.9MB, 1:12 min)”

Originally by editorial from DVblog on April 19, 2006, 12:00am

Xeni Jardin:
Snip from NASA announcement:

According to Einstein’s math, when two massive black holes merge, all of space jiggles like a bowl of Jell-O as gravitational waves race out from the collision at light speed. Previous simulations had been plagued by computer crashes. The necessary equations, based on Einstein’s theory of general relativity, were far too complex. But scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., have found a method to translate Einstein’s math in a way that computers can understand

Link, and space-o-licious MPEG video here: link. (Thanks, John Parres)

trippy! –SZ

Originally posted by Xeni Jardin from Boing Boing Blog, ReBlogged by sonia zjawinski on Apr 20, 2006 at 10:53 PM

Originally from Eyebeam reBlog on April 20, 2006, 10:53pm

Filed under: PC, Action, First Person Shooters

src="http://www.joystiq.com/media/2006/04/crysis-face_render.jpg" alt="Crysis" />

IGN has posted 19 new
screenshots of Crytek’s target="_blank">Crysis. The game utilizes the new CryENGINE 2 technology and advanced DirectX 10
architecture, making for some [insert expletive] mad crazy visuals, yo. If these scenes don’t impress you, you’re just
a cold, heartless gamer…

[Via target="_blank">Digg]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

oh shit! oh shit! oh shit!!!!! I never thought gaming would get this far in my lifetime. –SZ

Originally posted by James Ransom-Wiley from Joystiq, ReBlogged by sonia zjawinski on Apr 20, 2006 at 10:46 PM

Originally from Eyebeam reBlog on April 20, 2006, 10:46pm

Cobi van Tonder, author of the brilliant Ephemeral Gumboots, has been commissioned a new work for ISEA2006.

The project, Skatesonic, uses the motions and sounds of skateboards and explores their inherent ambient rhythm to create music. In a way, each move translates to musical parameters and the rider ends up skating through a landscape of music (which s/he influences over time).

Skatesonic will work in both solo and group situation. The system “listens” to space through movement, which it maps out and translates into music. Each of the four boards will map to a unique sound and structural parameters, so if there are 4 riders they will be able to jam like a band.

For example, Skatesonic will allow skaters to buffer through a sound file in Max, meaning that as they rolls over a certain distance it is as if they have a record needle under the board, and every inch of movement progresses the sound. The live microphone input also reveals information about the texture of surface under the board and intensity of movement.

From an interview of the artist by Sylvie Parent.

Originally from we make money not art, ReBlogged by sonia zjawinski on Apr 20, 2006 at 11:07 PM

Originally from Eyebeam reBlog on April 20, 2006, 11:07pm

a physical representation of wireless internet traffic using a flower which senses someone breathing across it, ‘filters’ the bytes of data flowing around the space, & ‘releases’ the data in a more human-comprehensible form. a piezo breath sensor registers the breath, while a microcontroller attached to the plant converts these signals & the network traffic captured through the computer’s wireless card. see also emotion flower.
[grographics.com|via rhizome.org]

Originally from information aesthetics on April 18, 2006, 8:10pm

One of many incidental pleasures for Google users is the way Dennis Hwang produces special logos to celebrate various events, such as the Olympics or Einstein’s birthday. The work of numerous artists has also been celebrated including, yesterday, Joan Miro….

you can’t even honor someone without dealing with a legal headache. –SZ

Originally from Guardian Unlimited: Onlineblog, ReBlogged by sonia zjawinski on Apr 21, 2006 at 07:01 AM

Originally from Eyebeam reBlog on April 21, 2006, 7:01am

Artist Makoto Ishiwata newest piece: Vacuum Packing!: Heartbeat, a polyhedron-shaped giant capsule, vacuum packs its inhabitant from all sides in rubber and a rhythmic soundscape. Ishiwata intentions were to create a space for self-reflection and meditation. The heartbeat also encouraging the sense of internal space

“I can feel like an individual in the midst of humanity, through the image of something internal such as a cell, an atom, or a fetus. Keeping in mind the insignificance of humanity, as I shrink ever smaller, it may be possible to confirm my existence in the universe on an electronic level. Or this work may simply serve as a space to meditate. The heartbeat is the very first rhythm humans feel. I believe all music has the heartbeat as its source. The moment that human beings connect to the heartbeat that flows within us, the music that we hear starts to sound right.”

via wmmna

Originally by Ruairi from Interactive Architecture dot Org on April 18, 2006, 7:16pm

a series of stools that are conceptually designed by spinning each letter of the alphabet around its own axis. made from handwritten typography, the stools contain an element of personality, & could be arranged to spell out a cryptic message.
[estherermers.nl]

Originally from information aesthetics on April 21, 2006, 12:02am