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Two great Beatles tracks for you to soak in, now that we are all studied up on Beatles recording technology, (i.e. For the music geeks):

I Want To Hold Your Hand (Offline)
Tomorrow Never Knows (Offline)

The prior was recorded using a 4-track in 1963, the latter was recorded three years down the road. Even if you've heard these tracks 1000s of times before, you should download and listen again.

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The news was delivered to me via their respective list-servs; A new stampete project; The winners of the dp light challenge; A server change and updates over at Ducan's place.

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Ed Leith Cretaceous Menagerie:


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Texture:


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Guest photos (Courtesy of my mum):


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I just finished reading A Trip To Mars, a short story by the infamous sci-fi author Kilgore Trout. The story takes place in the near future. The main character is a man who believes that he is the Son of God. There are many people who do not believe his claim, but there are some that do. After years of persecution he buys a rocket ship and moves all his followers (Neo-Christians) to the planet Mars.

This voyage distances the Neo-Christians from what they believe is a poisoned society. The main character, Jesus, was very worried about the eroding of strictly defined gender roles. Once settled on Mars, the men were encouraged to suppress their sadness and love. The women were taught to suppress anger and any aggressive tendencies they might have.

This suppression lead to the vicarious expression of emotions through the opposite sex; emotions by proxy. The men would find secret pleasure in the misery of the women who loved them. The women would find secret pleasure in the rage of the men they loved.

The society began to suffer for these reasons. Each night Jesus would pray to his father for help and guidance. His prayers went unanswered for many years. Then, one evening during an evening stroll, his father spoke to him. Taken back by the pure and honest beauty of his fathers words, he began to cry.

A group of male Neo-Christians came across Jesus in this state. Angered by his obvious lack of emotional restraint, they decided at once to kill him.

The following day the male Neo-Christian organized the funeral. The women wept.

The men and women were both secretly happy.

So it goes.


A portion of a neo-Christian hymn:

Every night I die again; in the morning I am reborn. Every night she cries, my friend; her salty tears keep me warm.

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I's comment on yesterday's post has got me thinking about the Beatles and the various recording techniques they pioneered. I have always loved all the hard panning on early Beatles recordings. Hard panning is an audio mixing term used when a vocal track, instrument, drum kit, etc, is mixed to play solely on either the left or right stereo channel. This technique can be heard on many old rock albums, (it's especially obvious when listening with headphones.) Back in the early days of rock and roll recording, the 4 track mixers used in the studio only had 3 pan positions: hard left, hard right and centre.

If you're a music nerd you might be saying: "Wait a second Wally! On that Beatles track you posted yesterday, the drums sound like they are panned to the left, but I can still hear them faintly in the right channel. That doesn't sounds like hard panning to me!" To which I answer: "Mic bleed, my son. Mic bleed." In other words, the sound from the drums was also picked up and recorded at a low level by the other microphones in the session.

Hard panning is the result of the producer/engineer/artist wanting to spread sounds across the stereo spectrum while being limited by the technology at hand. You'd be hard pressed to find any hard panning in today's commercial music. I've always enjoyed the effect. It comes with the added bonus of allowing me to isolate particular instruments or vocals when sampling a track for my own musical endeavors. (i.e. I can simply sample the two stereo channels separately.)

If you're interesting in learning more about the recording techniques used by the Beatles, I have some links:

The Evolution of Beatles' Recording Technology

Techinal advances on the album Revolver (pdf) - (My favourite Beatles album BTW)

The Beatles Recording Sessions

The Beatles Song Index - A reference to all the songs the Beatles have recorded and authorized for publication.

Imagine a career in music than spanned such a progression in recording, mixing and mastering technology. They started with a two track recorded and progress to tape delays, tape loops, vari-speed tape machines and more.

For the record, the very first album I can distinctly remember listening to as a child was a Beatles album. My parents would play me Sgt. Pepper to put me to sleep. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite, still makes me drowsy.

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Listen to the Iron Maiden elektro tribute album.

I love these SX-70 polaroid manipulations! Who needs photoshops when you can do all this with a polaroid and a wooden stick. (via things)

Edmund Dulac's illustrations are truly enchanting. (via cup of chica)

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Jeff Harris provides the pictures, you provide the journal entries.

Print your own (Monopoly) money.

Wonderful sculpted creatures.

Banksy decides to cuts out the middle man to get his art into the Tate. Also at the Tate: The Weather Project.

Green Chartreuse is the only liqueur in the world with a completely natural green colour.

I've always had a fascination with tiles. The floors and walls of public washrooms have captivated my attention since I was a young child. I wish Tile Designer v2.0 was more fun.

The song of the week is a Beatles track that I heard for the very first time last night: I'm So Tired (OFFLINE).

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We awoke this morning to the sound of alarms and the smell of smoke. Groggy and confused we proceeded to evacuate the building. Smoke billowed out from the basement and through the front door. It must have been a slow news day since A-Channel was there to record the action.

"After investigating the scene officials determined that three children, aged nine and ten, were playing with matches. The kids were setting pieces of paper on fire and the flames spread to some leaves near the back of the block."

A polaroid within a polaroid within a polaroid with a...

Pleix Films - Watch E-Baby.

Drawing power has a simple but ambitious aim - to get everyone drawing.

Andy Warhol time capsules.

The Neofiles, Life Enhancement?

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A few interesting Canadian/Winnipeg-ian political developments:

The right has united. Why don't all the parties unite and we can do away with voting altogether?

The Mayor's office has posted a tax calculator for Winnipeg's new tax deal. I understand that tax reform is needed, but I am less than impressed with this deal.

British Columbia has launched an experiment in direct democracy. I couldn't find any net-based info on this one so I'll quote from the Winnipeg Free Press:

"The government has banned politicians and experts from the process, and instead has empowered a citizens committee to look at ways in which the electoral system could be reformed so as to ensure the composition of the legislature better reflects the wishes of voters than often occurs in first-past-the-post systems. (...) It is expected that one year from now this committee, made up 158 ordinary people selected at random from the voters list and who are willing to take part, will propose some form of proportional representation, but perhaps not; the committee is not obliged to seek change."

Hmmm. Re-reading the above, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with taking this blog into the political discussion realm. I just don't have the time to properly research the topics at hand and provide well thought out commentary on the issues. Geez, that says a lot for democracy, doesn't it? Who really has the time to research and make informed political decisions these days? (Other than politicians...)

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Some photographs from Gimli, Manitoba:


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What can web designers learn from video games?

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Mike's photographs over at Sublimate have inspired me to start posting more images. (Oh the Internet... First name basis with someone I don't know... haha!) I will be posting new images here on the front page, instead of hidden away on in the images section. This site needs a re-design.

Reverse shoplifting of music: the droplift project. I had this idea about 6 months ago and naively assume it was quite original. This world wide network of knowledge is a double edge sword. On one edge lies inspiration. On the other lies apathy, the result of believing everything has already been done.

Journal 526 has returned home to the 1000 journals project. (Have I mentioned this before???) 1 down 999 to go.

Sam Brown of Explodingdog has Stupid Dreams.

Slow Wave - a collective dream diary authored by different people from around the world, and drawn as a comic strip by Jesse Reklaw.

Tomorrow (Tuesday the 14th of October) Kid Koala Presents: Short Attention Span Theater with very special guests at the Pyramid.

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I experienced sleep paralysis two nights ago. What a bizarre experience. My mind/body link was severed. Frozen in my bed with what sounded like screaming banshees dancing on my ear drums. My research on the subject explained that SP is often coupled with auditory and visual hallucinations. The visual component of my experience was the materialization of a mirror in which I could see my reflection and that of a shadowy figure behind me to my right. Time to balance my sleep schedule, (says I while updating my blog at 1am.)

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I realized today that I know very little about the political system here in Canada. Of course, ignorance cannot last long with the Internet at my finger tips. Increase your knowledge of Canada:

How Canadians Govern Themselves (En Fran�ais) - Senator Eugene Forsey's legacy, a 60 page introduction to the Canadian political system. "We cannot work or eat or drink; we cannot buy or sell or own anything; we cannot go to a ball game or a hockey game or watch TV without feeling the effects of government. We cannot marry or educate our children, cannot be sick, born or buried without the hand of government somewhere intervening."

Canada At A Glance 2003 (En Fran�ais) - Stats Canada's overview covers the demography, the economy, the justice system and more.

The CIA on Canada - Check out the CIA's World Factbook entry on Canada.

Canada has had 26 Prime Minister's from 1867 until the present day. Canada Speaks provides a chronological list of our Prime Ministers along with a database of speeches given by our PMs over the years.

If those weren't enough: Canadian Politics On The Web. The Keele Guide to Canadian Government and Politics. Canadiana.

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The Evolution of Alphabets.

Cabinets of Curiosity - For designers who collect, the cluttered workspace is a library of inspiration.

Daily dose of imagery, a photoblog from Toronto. You should really check out these two time lapse videos: 1 - 2.

Ghost Signs from Toronto - A collection of fading advertisements painted on the sides of buildings many years ago. This site includes a quote from Harper's magazine that I will reprint here:

Today, your brain is, as a matter of brute fact, full of stuff that was designed to affect you. As opposed to the scattered furniture of nature and history that people once registered just because it happened to be there... To get relief, you have to stumble into the Greyhound bus station in Albany, or some old side-street barbershop that time forgot, into someplace not yet subjected to the renovating ministrations of the International Red Brick and Iron Filigree Restoration Corporation. And "stumble" is the key concept here. Accidental places are the only real places left. - from "The Numbing of the American Mind", Thomas de Zengotita, Harper's, April 2002

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This won't come as a surprise to all you tortured artists out there, but it appears that scientists have discovered that creativity is linked to mental illness.

Fragment, a writing meme - The founder of the famous City Lights bookstore in San Fran sends out digital inspiration.

His canvas is the earth. His paintbrush is the flora. Stan Herd - Earth Works. (Via Fishbucket)

Matt Stuart has a knack for subtle humour. Check out his photographs.

Tim Davis has a trained eye. His macro photographs of freight trains are gorgeous. (Via Amberglow)

The Bass-Station is a mobile, visually loud, and funky 1980s Boom Box. Embedded within its shell is a modern computer and wireless networking components. (Via Sublimate)

Always in flux: Penny Dreadful.

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The final posts to streetart after this year's digicam street art round-up:

Bunny
Riel

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Today's posts to streetart:

the dark
slo-mo
gf doodles
no needles

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The next four graf shots posted to streetart:

gf viewing freight
Another freight
Little man hidden to the left
Collage

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A Crash Course On Complexity, Emergence and Collective Intelligence

"Put a hundred army ants on a flat surface and they will walk around in never decreasing circles until they die from exhaustion. Yet a colony of a million army ants becomes a sophisticated super-organism."

An anonymous 17th century poet wrote: "...and the thousands of fishes moved as a huge beast, piercing the water. They appeared united, inexorably bound to a common fate. How comes this unity?"

This is the science of emergence and complexity.

The Article, Emergence as a Construct (dead link) which appeared in Volume 1 of Emergence Magazine provides a detailed, although rather complex look at the subject. Better yet, a web-based project over at MIT allows you to explore emergence via the wonderful world of cellular automaton. (Remember Stephen Wolfram's ode to the cellular automaton, A New Kind of Science?) You can also use this piece of software to create interactive art pieces that use emergence to "provide the opportunity to explore the role of artificial life and human presence in the creation of an art form which includes the interactive experience."

I find that I am drawn to one particular subset of emergence known as Collective Intelligence. The Chef and I have spent many hours discussing this concept. You may have noticed that I've been linking to Wikipedia through-out this post. Wikipedia is great example of Collective Intelligence, it's a free encyclopedia made for and by the collective intelligence of the citizens of the internet.

The following projects are exploring this global net-based intelligence in some interesting and novel ways:

• Typophile : A Smaller Picture - Harnessing the collective intelligence to democratically draw the english alphabet. Make sure you try viewing the drawing/evolution process as an animation. (The one flaw I see in this project is that the collective intelligence will most likely end up drawing a copy of the font used on the site itself.)


• The World Map of the Mind - "Visitors to the project are presented with the map so far, a crude bitmap build out of green and blue blocks. Green blocks represent land, blue blocks water. One of the blocks is red. The visitor is then asked whether that block should be land or water." (The project appears to be offline at the moment due to a heavy user load.)


• Community based news and discussion sites like slashdot and kuro5in use the collective intelligence of their user-base to improve and moderate the quality of information, discussion and debate.


• The Collective Unconsciousness Project - Explore the connections that exist in the dreams of net users across the globe. Add your own dream experiences to the dreamscape. Navigation is quite dream-like.


• Site like daypop and blogdex allow us to track meme probagation across the blogsphere.


• The Open Mind Common Sense Project - "An attempt to make computers smarter by making it easy and fun for people all over the world to work together to give computers the millions of pieces of ordinary knowledge that constitute 'common-sense', all those aspects of the world that we all understand so well we take them for granted."

Further Reading:

• Kevin Kelly's take on the Hive Mind. If you read one link today make it this one! Part of Kelly's online book Out of Control - The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World. (Side note: I also enjoyed Kelly's online sketchbook Bicycle Haiku, a reproduction of a sketchbook he kept while he rode his bicycle across the US in 1979.)


• The Blog of Collective Intelligence - From what I can tell this blog stems from the Canada Research Chair on Collective Intelligence at the University of Ottawa.


• Imagine if you could shape businesses as streamlined pools of Collective Intelligence.


• Princeton's Global Consciousness Project


• A review of Steven Johnson book, Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Cities, Brains, and Software.

These are exciting times. We have an opportunity to watch and study the development of an emergent intelligence rooted deep within the interconnections of the net. The interconnections in this case, are not only the physical real-world network connections but also the interconnections within the web itself, the blogshere and the flow of human consciousness that "surfs" across the datascape.

Update: (21/02/06)

Since this post, Folksonomy and tagging have become all the rage. Services like Spurl, del.icio.us, Digg, and Reddit (to name just a few) harness online collective intelligence to categorize, and propagate websites. I discussed this last February in the Noosphere Snapshots section of my post on net-based search and discovery.

A few more relevant inks:

• Ask.Metafilter - Querying the hive mind
• SwarmSketch - Can the hive mind draw?
• Collective Intelligence in Social Insects
• Collective Intelligence 2.0
• The Metaweb: The Global Mind Just Got Smarter
• Will we comprehend supra-human emergence? - Some great comments here.
• Emergent Behaviour in Complex Systems

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