Copying/pasting my own mailing-list email due to sheer laziness:
bad signal ME
For the artists in the audience, I’ve brought back the weeklyish REMAKE/REMODEL thread at Whitechapel. This week’s one should be kind of funny. All are welcome to play.
Someone posted this on Whitechapel earlier. I have no idea where it’s from, other than that it’s obviously supposed to be a capture from a Facebook page. Whoever "Shawna Van Ness" is, she/he is a genius.
Bank Holiday weekend here in the old country, which means I’ll be out Sunday and Monday, being Outside and Doing Things. Horrible. Apparently someone might let me do a bit of archery at some point. I haven’t drawn a longbow in a couple of years, so this could be funny.
Today I am trying to finish writing FREAKANGELS book 3. So here’s something to consider, while I’m at it, via Grinding:
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (BosNewsLife)- Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called on Muslims around the world to mobilize their troops alongside Iran against Israel and the United States to prepare for the coming of the “Mahdi” seen as “the savior of Islam“.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged all Islamic countries to unite in anticipation of Mahdd al-Montazar, Arabic for the “awaited one”, according to statements obtained by BosNewsLife Friday, August 28.
What do you do with that? Are BosNewsLife a gang of fiction-writing nutters like that supposed rogue journo who was writing all that mad shit at Mainichi WaiWai way back when? Has Khamenei really declared the imminence of Judgement Day? I have my doubts on all counts, but it’s an amusing little piece if you can get past the shitting fear.
Nokia Money - I’m trying to decide if this is interesting or not. On the one hand, Nokia seem to be trying to place themselves not as a bank, so much as an alternative to banking. On the other hand, I’ve been hearing about how we’re all going to buy shit with our magic mobile phones for fifteen years now, and my magic mobile phone can’t sustain a signal in the middle of the fucking Cotswolds.
Simply point your phone at real life objects and quickly find relevant content and services. With automated object recognition technology, utilizing an innovative visual interface Nokia Point & Find’s unique strength is its automatic object recognition, the service also recognizes bar codes, integrates GPS
…if your Nokia phone’s GPS has ever bloody worked. Or, being kind… if it’s ever taken less than fifteen minutes to tell you where you are. I love Nokia phones, I’ve used Nokia phones for ten years, but Nokia do seem to have reached a point where the idea is much more interesting to them than it actually working. Which I realise means I won’t be getting free Nokia phones any more. It was very kind of them to gift me phones and tablets, and I owe them a lot, but the horrible truth is that they’re getting less functional all the time.
Jan Chipchase and his team have been on a research tour in Asia, and making some fascinating posts along the way. I’d catch the last three weeks’ worth if I were you, but you can start with today’s:
A young Urumqi girl checks out a poster of rioters caught after the riot between the Uighur and Han Chinese population where 146+ people died… In such a highly charged environment they’ll likely be receiving a death sentence…
Facing down what’s supposed to be the first full day back at work. But I’m still on Normal Human Time from my holiday week, which means I’m waking before noon and sleeping before 2pm. Hence, I’m a bit dislocated, and I suspect the only serious work I’ll get done before dinner will involve reading, dredging up and dealing with the last of the inbox, and a bit of online stuff.
Jim Rossignol, fine human being and author of the excellent THIS GAMING LIFE, has a guest post on BLDGBLOG today. It has the brilliant title of "Procedural Destruction and the Algorithmic Fiction of the City," which ties back to the THRILLING WONDER STORIES gig we both participated in at the Architecture Association a few months back:
Antonov had noticed a few fundamental details about how the mid-nineteenth century neo-classical core of Paris had been constructed: big street-level floors, smaller attic spaces, complex chimney stacks. By increasing the emphasis on the lower floors, and stretching them out-and by emphasizing the height and complexity of the chimneys-Antonov was able to create a thematically consistent science fiction Paris…
Home from the wilds of England, and five days of doing things like standing in the middle of stone circles, drinking new and interesting whiskies, and peering very closely at Breughel the Younger paintings. Also, thinking a lot. And generally being Not Online, which is sometimes good for the processes.
I came home to a couple of wonderful surprises. Two packets of freshly-roasted organic coffee beans from the brilliant husband of brilliant novelist Cherie Priest, and an advance copy of a new compilation CD from Hyperdub, label of Kode9, home to Burial and Zomby among many others (and I’m listening to it right now, and I have to say Darkstar’s "Aidy’s Girl Is A Computer" is a bit of a revelation).
The recording moves steadily from feedback-laden irritants through soft elementary minimalism to its true sweet spot, a rough-hewn, moody shoegazer pop, thick with distorted chamber arrangements and haunting vocals.
New series of brilliant photographs by Dave Walsh, like this one:
Project Cybersyn — isn’t that just a wonderful name? — has been doing the rounds of the urban-design blogs while I’ve been gone, it seems. I tripped over it first at Eating Bark, who I guess tripped over it at the end of this piece from Adam Greenfield (with handy links at the bottom there), which cites this piece by Varnelis, but this is what you want:
In 1970, Dr. Salvador Allende was elected President of Chile… Allende was attracted to scientific methods and when Flores proposed a technocratic means of controlling the industry, he agreed, hiring on his recommendation British management guru/scientist/visionary Stafford Beer to create Project Cybersyn, a system with which to monitor the output of factories, the flow of materials, rates of absenteeism, and other indicators on a daily basis…
Look at the CYBERSYN CONTROL ROOM:
That right that? That’s my new office.
And, finally, Sara Gries has been making stuff again:
Garth’s birthday wishes to the venerable British comics institution that made us what we are, at Bleeding Cool:
Thank you for two Tyrannosaurs fighting to the death on the rim of a volcano; Bofors gunners shooting it out with UFOs; Old One Eye’s last and greatest kill; the only Bear on the CIA death list; “Quack-quack, Volg!”; the truly unstoppable Artie Gruber; Dan Dare at the battle of Jupiter; Conclusion: MACH One terminated. Now closing down transmission; the Space Fort’s final battle with the Starslayer Empire; I came into the apartment blasting. I’ve been at this game for forty years and there’s one thing I’ve learned- never give a robot an even break…
….you’re watching a film one night down at the cinema when you realize that there is no light coming through from the projector room behind you - because you are actually looking at bacteria, changing their colors, like living pixels, as they display the film for all to see.
Or: that’s not an iPod screen you’re watching, it’s a petri dish hooked up to YouTube.
The installation at Laurenn McCubbin’s forthcoming exhibition in Vegas:
Something I need to finish reading, as it seems related to the linkposts about Buddhism in Sri Lanka: Robert Kaplan on "Buddha’s Savage Peace":
President Rajapaksa came to Kandy a few days later, on May 23, to receive the blessings of the chief Buddhist monks at the Temple of the Tooth for winning the war. He expressed no apologies or remorse for the victims of the war, and he promised the monks, “Our motherland will never be divided [again].” He told them that there were only two types of Sri Lankans, those who love the motherland and those who don’t. Because he conceives of the motherland as primarily Buddhist, his words carried too little magnanimity.
I recently stood in front of a bunch of architecture types and described mega-engineering and megastructures as essentially a medieval pursuit. English Russia has some fascinating photographs of that Russian hydroelectric plant that suffered an explosion the other day. And this one just struck me as the summation of that thought. Tiny tiny people wandering around what looks like the collapse of the biggest tent in the world.
Apparently Russian authorities were warned in 1998 that the place was falling apart. It’s going to take two to four years to effect repairs, presuming the money can be found. Terrible quote:
Regional emergency official Dmitry Kudryavtsev told The Associated Press that nine workers remained missing after the latest bodies were found Saturday. "I am almost sure that the remaining missing will be found," he said
Authorities in West Africa have in the recent past fought running battles with cult members. On August 6, cult members shot and killed a policeman in Nigeria who was considered a threat to the cult’s activities in Adigbe area.
In the same country, 13 students were killed in clashes between cults calling themselves the Black Axe and the Black Eye, all said to be practising black magic. Some of their activities include killing, rape, extortion and theft.
Nigeria Police also clashed with the Boko Haram cult, killing 700 people and arresting hundreds of members of the group.
“We are investigating a cult which makes them [followers] take human blood periodically. It is a devil cult,” Binoga says of the Kampala cult.
“It is an open secret everyone is talking about it, they say if you don’t take blood, the wealth will go,” Binoga says.
And:
According to James Ongom, an investigating officer, 40 children have lost their lives to ritual killings this year alone. Out of these cases, 15 have so far been investigated, but no one has been convicted.
And, tying bottom to top, Bruce Sterling’s fairly giddy and joyful talk to Layar about augmented reality and basically how not to get fucked up by what is coming next:
There is much to do and to see in the next several days, so broadcasts will be few and far between. I probably won’t be on Twitter that much either. I have an animation project, a screenplay, a treatment and a few books to puzzle out.
People have been sending me this all week. Now I have to post it just to stop people sending it to me. There is apparently a thing on the webs called Fandom Secrets. And this week the following image was found on it.
Thank you, Fandom Secrets person, for making me laugh, and for making all my friends retch.
Is not the same as the EXCALIBUR remake Bryan Singer’s attached to. Hollywood Gang and I were using "Excalibur" as shorthand. But the treatment doc is still currently headed with Untitled Arthurian Project.
I wrote an introductory essay of sorts to SUPERGOD for Previews:
….there’s still that little scratchy voice in the middle of the night: I don’t want to be alone. I want there to be something bigger, something that moves in mysterious ways and wants only the best for us. And I will forgive it, the disgusting state of this world, and all the things in it that want to crush and kill me, and have faith that something incredible and invisible and unknowable will make things better. And so (in SUPERGOD), just to make sure, I will build it and keep it by me. I will pretend it’s a weapon, a defensive capability, a computing object or a construction machine - but really it is a Messiah.
A former university professor and his wife were attacked and killed by nearly a dozen starving feral dogs along a rural road in the US state of Georgia.
The Dog does not experience or comprehend remorse.
Look at it. "Send moar tasty humans. I has a hungry. DEATHLOL"
The Dog is the natural enemy of the Human.
You will never believe me. You will laugh at me. And then you will be eaten by dogs.
I held off mentioning this until it was over. But this is what Mer was doing last night: playing theremin at a WETA event. And I kind of love this flyer:
Last night, I was at the inauguration of BERG, the company that was Schulze and Webb.
I sort of accidentally named BERG. Because when Matt Jones laughingly asked me for company name suggestions, I said BRITISH EXPERIMENTAL ROCKET GROUP.
And I guess it kind of stuck.
Upon the announcement of the new company name, and the activation of the COMPLIMENTARY RE-ADJUSTMENT SEMINAR video projection, all principals of BERG donned blue lab coats with the BERG logo and their surname embroidered underneath. I like BERG because, if nothing else, they understand Mythic Resonance on their long Science-Factory Floor walk to the Future with mugs of tea in their hands.
(In attendance at the Schulze table: Rachael Gray, Gillen & McKelvie, Sheret, Lee Barnett. We were, I’m afraid, the loud people shouting at the skinny young folks from last.fm. In fact, I think we were just the loud people in general.)
Do you lack healthy boundaries? Are you guilty of the compulsive overshare? All-too-eager to share gory, palpating details with complete strangers that no one besides your own mother and/or proctologist would ever want to know?
Non-consensual rape anecdote telling. Tactical uterus hurling in lieu of real intimate contact. The “I wasn’t breast fed enough so now I need to publicly air my personal anguish to feel properly nurtured and validated” power point presentation. “Cry For Help” cutting (across the street, not down the road). Cloaking references to life-shattering trauma in Obfuscating Yet Ominous Faerie Singsong? (patented by Tori Amos). “Fuck You Daddy, I’m a Suicide Girl Now!” blog posts. Spontaneous primal scream therapy in the supermarket. If you have ever attempted one or more of these maneuvers, chance are, you’re a TMI Avenger.
Relax. You’re among friends. And you’re gonna loooove Body Memories. A squirm-inducing, low budget indie film directed by the same fella who brought us one of the most fabulous independent documentaries of the decade, Body Memories is…
…one man’s journey inward to find meaning in his life. He becomes an archeologist of the soul, digging through the layers of his past. Evocative images blend with a riveting performance that uncovers family secrets and buried traumas.
Every time an issue of the magazine goes to print, things somehow turn Highly Inappropriate here at Coilhouse. This is apparent to anyone who was there on Twitter during the hours of our finalrevisiondeadline last night. And it’s only going to get worse before Issue 04’s out.So to celebrate, a video of Miss Piggy singing “Fuck the Pain Away” by Peaches. It’s that kind of day.
It's long been my contention that Iraq was stabilized at an acceptable level of controlled chaos due to a happy accident by al Qaeda (in an attempt to expand/lead the loose insurgency in a new direction). What did they do? They blew up the Golden Mosque in Samara in 2006. This act of symbolic terrorism did indeed disrupt social networks as anticipated, however the consequences were ultimately disastrous for the Iraqi open source insurgency.
The reason for this is it broke the dynamics of the open source insurgency in ways the US and Iraqi government's COIN efforts could not. First, it created a permanent split between Sunni and Shiite insurgent groups/militias. Coopetition ended. Second, it motivated large Shiite militias to start an ethnic cleansing of Sunni areas. This put acute pressure on Sunni guerrilla groups who were too small (by design to avoid US counter-pressure) to defend themselves against large militias operating in the open. The result was an opening, very close to the one I described in my 2005 NYTimes OpEd, that allowed the US to convert Sunni guerrilla groups into militias that were not loyal to the central government (in direct contradiction to its COIN manual).
It's a nice example of the dynamics of many to many conflict, social network disruption, and the development open source counterinsurgency.
See this excellent description at the blog, "Musings on Iraq" for more detail on the ethnic cleansing operations. It also includes this money quote: "the majority of the Sunni insurgency gave up and switched sides to align with the Americans rather than face annihilation at the hands of the Shiite militias, Al Qaeda in Iraq, or the United States."
NOTE: it's pretty clear from the above that social network disruption (either through attacks on symbolic targets or blood and guts terrorism) is like playing horseshoes with live hand grenades. It's ultimately a losing strategy for advancing an open source insurgency. Social network disruption is very likely to break standing order 6: don't fork the insurgency.
RT @JHUniverse …On Black Friday, from 7:00am to 9:00 am at both JHU Locations, EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE will be 33% off! #
Depressing news of the morning: Jobless rate for African-American men is 17.1%. SEVENTEEN PERCENT. #
RT @mtvsplashpage: 'Wire' Star Idris Elba Joins 'Thor' Cast As Heimdall http://bit.ly/6NTSGc#
I want a lime green tablecloth, 120" rectangular and NOT PAPER. Why is that hard? #
@amosborne Yeah, or Hunter or Forest. But I want something a little more lively. Apple or Lime, I'm hoping. May just forgo it for a runner. in reply to amosborne#
@Karajo Yeah, it's for Thanksgiving dinner, so I'd rather something in actual fabric. in reply to Karajo#
@Karajo Ariana may have found one for me. I'm also told to check Crate & Barrel and Pier One. in reply to Karajo#
Vigilante militias in Rio are displacing the drug gangs -- favelas under the control of militias has grown from 108 in 2005 to 400 in 2008 (out of 965). Why? They have a better (albeit parasitic) conflict/business model than the drug gangs since they act as a substitute for missing public goods/services normally supplied by the government. First, they provide a minimal level of security and conflict adjudication. Second, they make more money than the drug gangs by "taxing" everything from propane to cable TV to the gray market.
US gray economy estimated at $1 Trillion (not including criminal, outside of the evasion of taxes and regulation, activities) and growing faster than the "legal" economy.
Somali pirates are expanding operations into the Indian ocean. The combination of positive feedback loops (maritime insurance + rapid payoffs by crisis negotiators) and legal ambiguity (the biggest fear of a western navy and governments is that they might arrest a pirate -- prompting a massive/expensive legal tussle with few certain penalties and the forced extension of a visa to the former pirate once he is released from his short incarceration). Is a franchise model for other locales possible?
A business group in Ciudad Juarez asks for UN peacekeepers. Hilarious. "Ciudad Juarez, population 1.5 million, has an average of seven homicides a day, with the total at 1,986 for this year through mid-October."
is the award-winning creator of graphic novels such as 
