Cryptochemocracy and the Hilton

During The Futurological Congress inside the Costa Rica Hilton, did Ijon Tichy meet the Paris?(Bwah-ha-ha!) Sorry, bad joke. However, it's not as if I just wanted an excuse to put some smut on here, I have a good point.

Check this. The plot summary of Observation On the Spot (I like that phrase!) by Stanislaw Lem, at the Wikipedia:

Kurdlandia's guiding ideology is "national mobilism", that is the vast majority of the population must live inside of the (live) kurdls, in their stomachs, various passages, and internal organs. Kurdls walk about the marshes, guided by drivers, and their inhabitants hence are able to explore the land of their wonderful country inside of their home kurdl, in the words of a patriotic individual the main character spoke to. Inhabitants of the kurdls may get out periodically (at least for 24 hours a year). Exceptions are largely confined to high government officials who live outside the marshes, on dry ground, in normal houses. Kurdlandia has no technology to speak of and is proud of it.

The other state, Luzania, constitutes the most significant treatment of the topic of an "ideal state" in Lem (and many would argue, in all science fiction). Their most prominent accomplishment is the creation of "ethicsphere" (compare "atmosphere"). They have produced huge numbers of molecular sized "shustrs" ("quickies" in English) that serve to control matter in the shustrated areas. The primary function of the shustrs is the enforcement of the laws of ethics as physical laws (hence the word ethicsphere). Hence, it is a physical law in Luzania that it is not possible to hurt an individual physically. If you try to strike your neighbor, your hand will be stopped by suddenly occurring air viscosity (but it would not hurt you either). If you try to drown, the water will push you out.

Gulp!

Lemembering Stanislaw Lem (RIP)

So the Jantar Mantar opens Monday night at IDC, IIT Powai. Yes, the same place Soum and Fad raided with AlgoKreeda during the TechFest last year. I'm posting the link to that 16MB video again. [LINK]

Let me rephrase that - Wheeee!

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Sadly, one more of the best players has finished his show and gone back home to the starmaker. Stanislaw Lem, scifictionist extraordinaire has been decommissioned from planet Earth. His job on earth was to document almost the entire 20th century: Stanislaw Lem, writer, was born on September 12, 1921. He died on March 27, 2006, aged 84.He leaves a widow and son.

Excerpt from a nice obituary in The Times of London:

Stanislaw Lem was born in Lwow, in the newly independent Poland (later to become Lvov, in the Soviet Union, now Lviv, Ukraine) in 1921. He was born into a doctor’s family, and at first intended to follow in his father’s footsteps. But his studies at Lwov University were interrupted in 1941 by the German invasion.

Thereafter he became a garage mechanic: “I learnt to damage German vehicles in such a way that it wouldn’t immediately be discovered,” he later said. Within a decade he would start doing something very similar, with his tales, to the hard-line communism which held his country in its grip after the end of the war.

Black Electronic, Goa Polymetric

Looks like Bombay doesn't have either the freedom or the audience for our shit. Thinking of hitting Goa, since we don't have much time left. Need to start the money-clock soon.

We are now reading "Roots & Wires" Erik Davis's paper on African rhythms and wondering, wondering...have we been honest enough with ourselves? Did we do the right thing by not taking up Debonair? (Oh, we're sure of that. Heh!) Doo-wop or zum-die, liebchien.. Nous-phere! The Ka-Ka-Ka-Ka-Nights of Nous! Deleuze! Deleuze!!!! Republik of Looz! Aka-aka-mooz? Kon-fooz. Mahfooz. Ba-ba-ba-ba-booz. A million platooz. Aks-aks-aks-Ex-kooz!! This shit is so quotable, even in it's quotes...we are reading the whole thing, AGAIN.

Want Jantar Mantar in Hindi? Boom/Chika/Boo/Chicka/Bhush

जन्तर मन्तर देख सिकन्दर

इस छोटे कमरे के अन्दर

खोपड़ी कि खिड़की खोल, बाहर झाँक!

कमरे मेँ बन्द, हम सब हेँ, बन्द आँखेँ चन्द

गाँन्धी के बन्दर, सुनो कहानी –

जन्तर मन्तर, भविश्यवानी

सब हो जाने के बाद,

सौ साल के बाद, भूल जानी तब तक

फिर सुनानी, दास्तान्-ए-गँगानाथ त्रियम्बक.

Flute Beatboxing a.k.a Tim Barsky

I'm going to try and pick up some BeatBoxing with the help of these stunning vid-toots by TyTe, E-in-C of the Human BeatBoxing website. I'm also quite impressed by Mr. Tim Barsky, or whatever I have seen of his flute-beatboxing (mp3 of solo) on his website. He also appears to have many similarities with my own show. Except that I use a laptop instead of a flute. It's not easy from the sound of it:

You regulate 3 streams of air- one through your mouth, and one through each nostril. By applying different airflows through the nose, mouth, nasal resonators, and chest cavity, it is possible to create an illusion of tandem instruments- a “bass” line that is separate from the “drum” or the “high-hat”, and vice versa (This is basic beatboxing- the innovation comes in integrating the flute). And you have to do it while maintaining proper embochure and air pressure for the flute.

The Tell-Tale Nebula

Someone's been doing the AlgoMantra and leaving helical trails. WOW! Don't believe me? Here's what the Professor said:

"Nobody has ever seen anything like that before in the cosmic realm. Most nebulae are either spiral galaxies full of stars or formless amorphous conglomerations of dust and gas - space weather. What we see indicates a high degree of order."

[Link]

Cage's Mesostic

This is related to the game of OrganicPoetry. The music pioneer John Cage also invented the mesostic, a kind of poem. It makes sense both sideways and vertically. More on this here.