Virtual, but permanent.
Count me among the many who discovered that the first computer bug was, in fact, an insect that disrupted a circuit in the first computer from an episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire a few years back. Original documentation like the one pictured below is simply priceless.
For the record, Wikipedia’s entry on logical bugs in mechanisms and algorithms specifically mentions that the date is 1947.
YouTube – Artist Portrait:Part One.
I love knowing such cool people.
This is a video whose release to the general public has been delayed far too long. The object of my affections is Bianca, my friend’s exceptionally friendly and cuddly miniature pomeranian dog. She is a female dog and, hence, a bitch.
The object of her affections is me, and as this video plainly demonstrates, the abundance of love between us is truly immeasurable.
This video evidence seems to contradict Wikipedia’s claims about the pomeranian’s behavior:
Pomeranians are typically very friendly, playful and active. The breed is very protective of their owners and love to be around them. They are very intelligent and are easily trained. They rank 23rd in Stanley Coren‘s The Intelligence of Dogs, being of excellent working/obedience intelligence. Pomeranians socialize well with other dogs, animals, and people. Pomeranians are extroverted and can develop the habit of barking excessively only if the behavior is rewarded (i.e. allowed to beg for food).
[ad]
DJ Hero confirmed for Wii, 360, ‘PlayStation’ – News at GameSpot.
Hyperreality has had many proponents in its short, illustrious and extremely controversial tenure as a philosophical concept, but Activision‘s DJ Hero may be the advent that may finally prove the validity, the truth contained in and the reality of hyperreality.
Hyperreality refers to the primacy of the simulation over the reality that it simulates. It is the acceptance and the perception of the simulation as the reality. The reality gave rise to the simulation is forgotten or is otherwise overwhelmed by the simulation that is based upon it. It is not just the original object that is forgotten, but the concept of originality.
What could possibly encapsulate this idea better than DJ Hero? Without a doubt, the modern disk jockey is a creative creature, but it is not a musician. She or he pretends to be a musician by assembling frequently digitized pieces produced by bona fide musicians into a pastiche that sounds somehow different, new and original. Yet the piece is neither different nor original. It differs only slightly in quantitative terms in sound (slightly faster rhythm, slightly different instrumentation), and it is in no way an original composition. DJ output is in every way an expression of the artist’s intent, but it only rarely constitutes an original composition that expands the musical lexicon. After all, the DJ doesn’t even play any real instruments or truly compose music by sitting down and writing notes (digitally or literally with ink and paper.
In fact, most modern DJs simply “play” a laptop computer. DJ software simulates turn tables on the computer, and the DJ uses the virtual controls of the DJ software to manipulate the digital sounds. In as much, DJs may arrange music, but one is hard pressed to call the process composition.
So, what is DJ Hero, in this light? It is a piece of software that allows one to be pretending to be manipulating a piece of software that allows one to be pretending to be making an original piece of music by mixing the original sound bites (and bytes) culled from highly digitized and stylized pieces of music recorded by a real musician under circumstances that were completely unrelated in context to the piece being assembled by the disk jockey.
The concept of musicianship is obliterated. It is so far removed from the concept of “music” in the context of the DJs labor that it is utterly invisible, imperceptible. Is this a case of hyperreality, or infinite regress? Certainly, it is a case that has nothing to do with music or musicianship as the concepts have been understood heretofore.
[ad]
Fusion tests set at new Livermore facility.
This will be awesome. Finally, big science returns to the US.
Whether this leads to fusion as source of energy or not, cool data is guaranteed.
[ad]
BBC NEWS | Health | Neanderthals ‘distinct from us’
The obvious joke here is that, yes, it is because of the FOXP2 that George W Bush can communicate with modern humans. And, yes, it was very kind of George W Bush to donate his DNA to this study.
In seriousness, however, this is a very provocative study. It evokes so many images of a wild Asian subcontinent (Europe) teeming with all varieties of humanoids who lived peacefully for some time until, perhaps, circumstances forced them to compete for resources.
One wonders if this competition is what finally ushered in the age of warfare. Absent a distinct advantage that would allow one race to annihilate the other, war was inevitable.
That may well explain why having a Neanderthal president for eight years nearly brought the United States close to the edge of annihilation.
[ad]