Thoughts from the Lodger

I'm not a math-lete by any stretch of the word. I exist in the grey nether region of the social sciences, the touchy feely artists, and dirty archaeologists (the dirt comes from digging, not from being crazy or perverted, although they do drink a lot, and that can lead to all sorts of behavior). So here's my first post.

At Culture24, homes of all things museums related in the UK, an article announced the shortlist for some award from the Guardian for the best family friendly museums in the UK. Needless to say, my museum, lets just call it The Hall (it's a medieval Hall in case you don't know) was not on the shortlist (for this award, anyways!) One quote from the article really amused me:

“To be family friendly no longer means having to have plastic Viking helmets for kids to dress up in or rows of Egyptian mummies. We’ve made too many presumptions in the past about what kids like. They can appreciate fine art as well as finger painting.”

It made me laugh because I know exactly what museum they're talking about with the Viking Helmets (doesn't everyone?) And I am pretty intimately aquainted with it now, short of working there, because I pal around with its founder, who is a trustee at The Hall. Nice. The aforementioned museum does get a lot of flak for those helmets and the like, but damn is it popular! It's now kind of like the Starbucks-McD's-Walmart of museums, I think. There's a whole field of study on this type of heritage consumerism (also see Williamsburg). I find it very interesting. But its what museums have to do now to survive- we're in competition with every other form of entertainment out there for families/kids.

Picture of the Moment II

Is it just me or does Sundblom Santa look a little bit like Marx? Maybe he had a cutting sense of irony...

Critical Mass 2: I Bike MCR

It was a dark and stormy night...and yet there was still a considerable turnout for Manchester's Critical Mass. Yesterday marked the start of the I Bike MCR festival which for the next month celebrates cycling in and around Manchester. Critical mass has a long standing policy of trying to keep the whole ride as one throughout. Of course, this becomes more than slightly problematic at traffic lights where the right might be severed by a light changing to red. Critical mass therefore has a policy of 'corking' roads. This basically means that if the light changes as the ride passes, some cyclists will block relevant traffic until the remainder of the ride has passed. As far as I know, this is illegal. I must admit to feeling slightly uneasy at the prospect of corking roads - especially since the ride is supposed to simply by a collection of people cycling in the same direction with no particular agenda or affiliation. In any case, Critical Mass is certainly worthwhile, if only to promote cycling in cities. Over the next month, a variety of different activities will take place as part of the I Bike MCR festival. Looking over the programme, I noticed that there is to be an Alleycat in Manchester. In fact this is not the first Alleycat to take place in Manchester, just the first of which I've been aware. Alleycats are bicycle messenger races. Various checkpoints are chosen through a city, the object being to be the first to arrive at the final checkpoint. There is no set route and so winning the race depends as much upon shortcuts as brute speed. Alleycats are of course quite dangerous. In order to win, participants have little choice but to break traffic rules and ignore lights. As such, these races are not without their casualties. This is Lucas Brunelle's video of a (ridiculously fast) London alleycat:

Maybe one day I'll pluck up the courage to join these folks... In the mean time, here's a video from the I Bike MCR website showing some of last year's less crazy events:

Have a look at the I Bike MCR website to find out about the when and wheres of the events this year.

Fashion Obsession

Fashion photographer Scott Schuman, alias "The Sartorialist", is the man responsible for my fashion obsession. His blog has become one of my top priority lunch break activities: eating, checking emails, looking at new updates on The Sartorialist...

Unlike his counterparts who photograph top models in studios, the Sart goes out in New York, Paris and Milan to see what "real" people "really" wear. The subject of his images may be the elites of the fashion industry, eccentric artists or simply image-conscious people.

Verdict: worth checking out. Although it can make you strangely addictive and can make you wonder where these men and women find the time and money to spend on their image.

(Pictures taken from Wikipedia and The Sartorialist)

Dot Matrices

Remember those old screetchy printers and the paper with the holes in the edges? Well they seem to be making something of a comeback, albeit in various guises. A couple of years ago I stumbled upon a great project involving dot matrix printers used as synthesisers. Moving the head at different speeds produces different frequencies, so the idea is to computer control a printer to play electronic sounding music. Here's a video with a push-button controller

Thank goodness someone finally harnessed the onerous noise-making capacity of dot matrix printers for good.

Dot matrix printers have also found their way into the world of protest and art in various new forms. In 2004 at the time of the Republican National Convention in New York, a student came up with a mobile dot matrix street writer mounted on a bicycle. The idea was to have people from all over the world write thought proviking slogans on the website and have them instantly written on the pavement somewhere in New York. This "Bike against Bush" was kitted out with a laptop, phone and some sort of GPS device as well as the custom chalk sprayers that made up the printer.

I remember seeing this at the time and decided to check up on the project to see what had happened since. I found the following video about the triumph of American free speech. It turned out that the Feds (or NYPD or someone...well let's just say the man) had been tracking any signs of dissident activity from militant anarchists to church groups and anti-war protesters for a long time before with the intention of apprehending them before they had a chance to protest. Ah, it's the world's favourite democracy in all its characteristic glory.

The latest incarnation of dot matrix printers I've seen recently is Bit.fall by German artist Julius Popp. It's a dot matrix printer for rain! The principle is the same as Bikes against Bush with a whole load of water jets with electronically controlled taps connected to a computer. Perhaps the artist could explain it better himself:

I suppose it's all part of some sort of 80s revival...

Here are some links:

• Dot Matrix Music
• Bikes against Bush
• Bit.fall

Sleeping with sleepy kittens

How many times have you woken up at night, unable to fall back asleep, plagued by anxiety? “Wouldn’t it be nice”, you thought to yourself “if I could watch sleepy kittens”.

Taxing Water

I've never quite understood the point of bottled water. I'm told that it tastes an awful lot nicer but I suspect my sense of taste isn't quite up to telling the difference. In Manchester and London in particular, various urban legends about the provenance of tap water circulate constantly. Not so in San Fransisco whose mayor in a Newsweek interview boasted:

"Our water in San Francisco comes from the Hetch Hetchy [reservoir] and is some of the most pristine water on the planet."

As such he as made it public policy for no ("single portions of") bottled water to be bought for government offices/functions etc. After all, surely water provided by the state government for the average person ought to be good enough for the government itself. How much of an impact this really makes remains to be seen - it seems something of a publicity stunt rather than anything substantial. Seattle government has followed suit in order to regain the faith of it's populus after a recent Associated Press study in the US revealed that various pharmaceuticals were present in tap water. Again, how much impact this really makes in any way remains to be seen. Chicago has (in my opinion) a more sensible policy of taxing bottled water. The Mayor insists that the tax is not on the water but on the bottles. After all, the city pays for the disposal of discarded bottles, for policies to cut emmisions (which are produced in the manufacturing process) and a whole raft of other costs associated with the manufacture and distribution of bottled water: why shouldn't people have to pay for the slightly dubious pleasure of drinking water which has in the US a forty percent chance of being tapwater? Rock on Chicago.

Picture of the Moment

Not many people realise that Kitchener was inspired by Wittgenstein.

Early morning ethics

Philonous says (05:06): are you still awake? Archie says (05:06): yep Philonous says (05:07): just updated the blog Archie says (05:07): awesome man Philonous says (05:08): see if you recognise the pictures... Archie says (05:11): i cant say i do! Philonous says (05:11): oh, well the guy on the left is Baudrillard and the guy on the right is Grothendieck. Archie says (05:12): i see! ive only ever seen the guardian obituary picture of baudrillard Philonous says (05:12): yeah, I don't think it looks a whole lot like the other photos I've seen, but hey... so whadya think? Philonous says (05:13): sweet as pie? Archie says (05:14): about the pictures? i like them! i just need something interesting to write Philonous says (05:14): woah! that hasn't stopped me I've asked Le Fox to write something when she gets the chance she was going to write something on 'The Sartorialist' Philonous says (05:15): hey, do you know much about ethics? Archie says (05:16): well i only know the fundamental positions of certain philosophers and, of course, my own position why? Philonous says (05:16): I was just reading about consequentialism Philonous says (05:17): as opposed to deontological ethics Archie says (05:17): ultimately they all rest on a ridiculous idea Philonous says (05:17): say what?? Archie says (05:17): namely that you can measure an "outcome" Philonous says (05:17): mmm no not really Archie says (05:17): even an idea like "positive" Philonous says (05:17): deontological arguments are to do with duty and obligation Philonous says (05:18): well ok but the point is, they're a personal framework Archie says (05:18): of course Philonous says (05:18): so all you have to do is to be able to make personal judgements on these sorts of things Archie says (05:18): i have my own completely arbitrary ethical code Philonous says (05:18): mmm there's another position again are you a moral relativist? Archie says (05:19): i get called that a lot in debates Philonous says (05:19): mmm It is sort of an ivory tower of a position Archie says (05:19): yep but, so what? is there anything wrong with that? Philonous says (05:19): well yeah Archie says (05:19): "" Philonous says (05:20): I think that moral philosophy should be about trying to fit some axiomatic system to the every day process of making moral judgements so that when you find that your intuition fails you, you try and derive something concrete from your framework to help you out... Archie says (05:20): of course you think that - youre a mathematician whereas i think it should be based on an arbitrary set of values which is how it DOES function Philonous says (05:20): well yeah sure Philonous says (05:21): but those arbitrary values are exactly these axioms (if you're a relativist) Archie says (05:21): which was my point earlier if you are going to have "consequentialism", you might as well have "Archiecentricism" too Philonous says (05:21): well no, not really but if you're some sort of moral relativist then it's hardly conducive to the solution of conflicts Archie says (05:22): who said i wanted to solve conflicts? Philonous says (05:22): oh yeah, I forgot - you're a nihilist Archie says (05:22): not really Philonous says (05:22): hedonist? (and moral relativist) Archie says (05:22): i just find definitions of the virtue of these things of ideas a bit shakey at the very least, worth questioning Philonous says (05:23): agreed ok, so if you're going to get relativist on my ass, then you can climb back up into your ivory tower of theory Archie says (05:24): well hey, im not saying that i dont have a functioning ethical world view which values certain actions as "good" and others as "bad" that doesnt mean that im ready to reduce the patterns into fundamental axioms and call the whole thing a success Philonous says (05:24): ok, so your world view is essentially that there is no coherent axiomatic world view Philonous says (05:24): it's a 'take it as it comes' kinda thing Archie says (05:25): well theres obviously a philosophical sentiment and a seperate practical one Philonous says (05:25): hmm Archie says (05:25): which is where you might think im an idiot Philonous says (05:26): see I don't get it. I figure philosophy ought to be a little bit practical: I should be able to live by some world view which philosophy can provide (and if philosophy can't provide it, then by definition, my 'philosophy' is my world view) Archie says (05:26): im pretty sure you can - the only real question is why you dont... Philonous says (05:27): well I think it's either because language isn't complicated enough to capture what goes on in our heads (Wittgenstein can go suck an egg) or because we're not eloquent enough to be able to phrase it. Archie says (05:28): sure why not Philonous says (05:28): It sorta leads to the question - Is moral philosophy doomed? Philonous says (05:29): it seems like any personal moral philosophy has to be derived from someone's personal 'common sense'. But then maybe that's all there is to moral philosophy. Archie says (05:29): well thats my conclusion! Philonous says (05:29): hmmmm Philonous says (05:30): I don't like it Archie says (05:30): yeah its not a nice thought... Philonous says (05:31): So... I hear there's a black guy running for president...

Critical Mass

At 6pm on the last Friday of every month, a motley crew of cyclists gather in front of the main city library in Manchester to...cycle. The tradition of massing critically began in San Fransisco in 1992 with a handful of commuters cycling together for solidarity. 16 years later, there are critical mass events in most major cities ranging from tens to hundreds of people. Notably most of these gatherings have no official agenda and are publicised as 'organised coincidence' rather than any form of protest or activism. Cycling around Manchester is in general a very stressful experience. Although the council claims to be taking environmental pollution seriously, there seems to be no great effort for the most part to renew cycle lanes or to think of provision for cyclists. Where cycle lanes do exist, they are exceedingly badly planned and maintained, pockmarked by potholes and drain covers. Furthermore, motorists seem to have almost no awareness of cyclists whatsoever. Having cycled in Manchester for two and a half years, I can recall only one occasion where a motorist actually looked in his mirror and stopped before turning left through a cycle lane. This being the norm in most places, cyclists often feel somewhat disenfranchised as road users. Critical mass gives a much needed feeling of solidarity and safety in a domain which is, more often than not, distinctly hostile. Here's a video of Manchester critical mass last May: Last month I decided that having known about it for long enough, it was now time to finally gain some personal experience of critical mass - more than anything else, to sample the prevailing atmosphere. It definitely was a very peculiar feeling. There is no fixed route, the mass of cyclists simply whoever happens to be at the front. I was definitely not disappointed. The thing that struck me most, apart from the novelty of greatly outnumbering cars was the totally relaxed vibe. Being surrounded by cyclists rather than cars leads to enough of a noise reduction to be able to hold conversations with other cyclists in the middle of roads. The usual feeling of being more than slightly harried by passing motorists was replaced by complete relaxation and well-being. Come along next week at 6pm 28th March in front of the Main Library in St Peter's Square.

Umbrella-ella-ella

Ok. I hated the song. But where does the word 'umbrella' come from? Well `umbra' is latin for shadow so umbrella presumably means something that creates a little shadow. But then what is the difference between `parasol' and `umbrella'? Well 'para' on the front of anything seems to mean `almost but a bit less' (paramedic, paramilitary, parambulator, paracompact(!)...) so `parasol' ought to mean something like `less sun'. Technically, then there is perhaps no difference between the two. Maybe the French have got it right with 'parapluie' which I guess means `less rain'...

Loop sampling

Over the past little while, I've noticed a couple of quite cool videos involving one person making a whole lot of live music using a loop sampler. Here are some examples... This is a guy called Foy Vance on a BBC Northern Ireland music show. Initially, I thought he had a drummer and some guitarist in the background - that is until I saw him sampling his voice. This is a guy called Shlomo who's a UK beatboxer performing on the BBC's Glastonbury coverage. It's amazing how quickly he builds up the layers of sound. Somehow having this as a voicemail answer message doesn't seem to do it justice...