Parrot's oratory stuns scientists
The bird, a captive African grey called N'kisi, has a vocabulary of 950 words, and shows signs of a sense of humour.This is incredible. Follow the link to read on.He invents his own words and phrases if he is confronted with novel ideas with which his existing repertoire cannot cope - just as a human child would do.
N'kisi's remarkable abilities, which are said to include telepathy, feature in the latest BBC Wildlife Magazine.
UPDATE: More info here.
A great thread:
The Rough Guide to...
Techstep
Italian Hip-Hop
New Orleans Brass Bands
Black Metal
Harpsichord Pop
The Dirty South
Indie-Dance
Krautrock
Italo-Disco
80'S DIGITISED SOUL
Grebo-fraggle-crusty (?)
The Legend of Zelda
....the list goes on and on.
Crazy bootleg/mashup mix by Strictly Kev of DJ Food. Pop culture in a blender.
Last February, Morgan Spurlock decided to become a gastronomical guinea pig.His mission: To eat three meals a day for 30 days at McDonald's and document the impact on his health.
Scores of cheeseburgers, hundreds of fries and dozens of chocolate shakes later, the formerly strapping 6-foot-2 New Yorker - who started out at a healthy 185 pounds - had packed on 25 pounds.
But his supersized shape was the least of his problems.
Within a few days of beginning his drive-through diet, Spurlock, 33, was vomiting out the window of his car, and doctors who examined him were shocked at how rapidly Spurlock's entire body deteriorated.
"It was really crazy - my body basically fell apart over the course of 30 days," Spurlock told The Post.
His liver became toxic, his cholesterol shot up from a low 165 to 230, his libido flagged and he suffered headaches and depression.
Frames trump facts.All of our concepts are organized into conceptual structures called "frames" (which may include images and metaphors) and all words are defined relative to those frames. Conventional frames are pretty much fixed in the neural structures of our brains. In order for a fact to be comprehended, it must fit the relevant frames. If the facts contradict the frames, the frames, being fixed in the brain, will be kept and the facts ignored.
Merck Radio <- Streaming every Merck Records release at random. Sweet.
Yet another Aphex Twin Interview
"It's kinda Zen - concentrating on things you're not good at rather than stuff you are good at. I've been doing that more and more recently. It's easy for us to do stuff that we're good at day-to-day, but concentrating on things I think I'm shit at is quite rewarding - ranging from really mundane kind of day-to-day things just to mainly musical things, like talking about the technicalities of music, concentrating on things I don't consider myself any good at, working on those areas."
Above all, listening to his old music provides James with ideas and prevents him from repeating himself. He's consistently been fluid - and unexpectedly fastidious. "It makes you realise what you have to do next," he says of his reviewing. "I'm always doing something new, I'm always changing the process of what I do, which is why my stuff sounds quite varied - 'cause I'm always changing the set-up. "That's what I get inspired from, doing that - it's having a new way to work. Basically, I do get bored with the same set-up, which is bad as well, 'cause sometimes I wish I would just keep the same set-up and then perfect it, but I never really leave it long enough to do that. I always have to change something - which kind of annoys me." (...)James has no problems with downloading - he does it himself - and, having secured his financial future, is contemplating disseminating his music for free. He doesn't see how paying for music benefits the art - besides creating an income for the artist. How would he make a living instead? He'd set himself up as an inventor. "I have had quite a few ideas." Indeed.
Some brilliant photologs:
Heather Champ
Shutterbug
Daily Dose of Imagery
SUPERLUMINOUS - Art and Music show
This is a huge event a bunch of old friends of mine are putting on. If you're in the NYC area, check it.
Open Labs NEKO 64. Whoa.
"I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones. Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding: it seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers."
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
(found on Abstract Dynamics)
BLEEP - Digital Downloads from Warp Records
UPDATE: Oh! Oh! I just noticed that they are previewing the new Squarepusher single. (I know, Mike probably had it a month ago.) ;) "Ultravisitor" sounds wicked good!
Winners of the 'Bush in 30 Seconds' ad contest
Logarithmic Maps of the Universe
Cattle Futures? by Michael Pollan
Announcing... William Fields Radio. Wee! Computers are fun.
Since it's now 2004, I figure I ought to put at least something up on the Music page from 2003. So, I've decided to make Beetle publicly available. Sonically and rhythmically, this is probably the most complex piece I've ever done. (Although Miss Waldron's Red Colobus ranks up there.) Enjoy.
p.s. I have written a good amount of music in 2003, but most of it has been for live performance, or I am saving it for a future official release.
Thanks to everyone who came out for the show in Philly last Wednesday. It was great to see you all. Big up Delaware posse!
I think it was a success. I was pretty happy with my set, Brandon's set was amazing (as usual), and there was a very decent turn-out. Rob mentioned that it was the best attendance in half a year. ...and that's on a night when it was around 10 degrees out. And of course, we shan't neglect to mention the quality gimleys that were flowing!
The complete set is available to download (or stream) from the live page. Thanks to Mr. Nintariman for recording it. There are also photos up there (thanks to Nick and Hunter).
Thanks to tbtmo and fuzzybox for hosting the event and having me play.
Good start to 2004 on the music front... may it continue to be non-crapped.
"In contrast to the flux and muddle of life, art is clarity and enduring presence. In the stream of life, few things are perceived clearly because few things stay put. Every mood or emotion is mixed or diluted by contrary and extraneous elements. The clarity of art—the precise evocation of mood in the novel, or of summer twilight in a painting—is like waking to a bright landscape after a long fitful slumber, or the fragrance of chicken soup after a week of head cold."
--Yi-Fu Tuan, Passing Strange and Wonderful: Aesthetics, Nature, and Culture
Techno hits basic beat: Musical analysis unveils a hierarchy of sophistication
A form of music known as Javanese Gamelan has won one of the top prizes for rhythmic complexity, according to a novel kind of musical analysis.I love Gamelan music. I used to play in Gamelan Lake of the Silver Bear.
Live at Hologram - Philadelphia, PA - 1/7/2004
Complete Live Set, 60 min 20 sec, 82.8MB
[Stream]
1. Build
2. Another
3. Slipp
4. BoKP
5. NtTest
6. Brechia
7. X-Song
8. Peace Piece
Photos here.