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Entries Tagged as 'Science'

Michaux’s Images du monde visionnaire

March 2nd, 2009 · 1 Comment

henri-michaux-images-visionnaire-compHenri Michaux (1899-1984), notes Wikipedia, “was a highly idiosyncratic Belgian poet, writer and painter who wrote in the French language. Michaux is best known for his esoteric books written in a highly accessible style, and his body of work includes poetry, travelogues, and art criticism. Michaux travelled widely, tried his hand at several careers, and experimented with drugs, the latter resulting in two of his most intriguing works, Miserable Miracle and The Major Ordeals of the Mind and the Countless Minor Ones.”…

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→ 1 Comment | Categories: Art · Film · Science

Chinese Space Administration’s Gilbert & George installation

February 26th, 2009 · No Comments

china-moon-mapI love this photograph, from a November 12, 2008 article on China View, China reveals its 1st full map of moon surface — the giant “page” of moon surface photos, which make the two clapping men look like they’re only a few inches tall, the marching banner across the top, the orange reveal curtain dropped and disheveled to the floor of the hall, and the hint of goldish-greige curtains in the background, all of it is pitch-perfect…

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→ No Comments | Categories: Art · Science · Space

Traveling through the Multiverse

February 24th, 2009 · No Comments

led-multiverseAmerican artist Leo Villareal created Multiverse, a move-through art installation in a 200-foot-long tunnel at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. using 41,000 LED nodes that flicker on and off in random, abstract patterns…

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Kipple drives out nonkipple

February 15th, 2009 · 3 Comments

Kipple is a word invented by the science fiction author Philip K. Dick for a concept similar to entropy. Here is the passage explaining kipple from Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which was made into the film Blade Runner:

Kipple is useless objects, like junk mail or match folders after you use the last match or gum wrappers or yesterday’s home page. When nobody’s around, kipple reproduces itself. For instance, if you to go bed leaving any kipple around your apartment, when you wake up there is twice as much of it. It always gets more and more.

The novel’s philosopher of kipple, J. R. Isidore (who became J. F. Sebastian in Blade Runner), explains…

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→ 3 Comments | Categories: Ideas · Kipple · Science

Fresh hot air from a Texas oil bazillionaire

February 8th, 2009 · No Comments

A top story on CNN.com from last July, Oil billionaire Pickens puts his money on wind power, is a breath of fresh air. First, T-Boone Pickens states the obvious (unless you’re a politician in the thrall of other Texas oil billionaires that only break wind): “Our dependence on imported oil is killing our economy. It [...]

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→ No Comments | Categories: Economy · Environment · Science