Christmas number ones are back in the news. Well, here's the best one ever. Takes me back a few years and then some.
Hmmm, is there a better song? Maybe this one.
One more, for good luck.
Merry Christmas x
ps - East 17 played in the dance tent at Glastonbury last year. seriously.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Sheriffs for students
There was a time when porters in oxbridge acted as a sort of police force for the students of those reverend institutions. They still are nominally in charge of keeping the peace as such, but now only the most anti-authoritarian would call them a police force. Here, there is a campus police force. Real police, real guns, real authority. Real shiny motorbikes being driven slowly past you on campus, tall leather boots and polished badge, aviators for eyes and a sense that if this man thought he was any more cool he might just damn explode. They have a station on campus which I often walk past - there is always a line of cop cars out front, complete with front end reinforced bumpers for slamming people off the road in a chase scenario.
Real guns.
Now, there is a purpose for them being there, there always is. They are there to ensure our safety and to ensure that no laws are broken. Considerations of our safety are much appreciated; we are after all only a few miles from the center of gun crime in America, the infamous Oakland. Considerations of our law abidingness are not so appreciated. There is type of law in particular that they really, really concentrate on, and to my surprise it is not those relating to controlled substances. In fact, their attitude to cannabis is probably more laid back than back home, despite the penalties for having illegal cannabis being harsher. I do mean illegal cannabis, remember that cannabis 'for medicinal purposes' is legal here. Anyway, I am being sidetracked. The real stickler is alcohol. Underage drinking of, supply of, outdoor consumption of...
Recall that this was a county that less than 100 years ago enforced PROHIBITION. The powers that be actually BANNED ALCOHOL. Can you imagine such a thing? Well yes I guess: Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc. But really, banning alcohol? It turns out that quite a few countries did this in the early part of the 20th century, but attitudes quickly reverted to sanity everywhere else. Here, some sort of pervading belief in the evils of that most timeless intoxicant remain, and so the might of the police falls heavily on anyone who dares to drink it. Let me provide you with a series of examples that demonstrate the sheer insanity:
1) So I knew that it was illegal to drink on the streets, but I didn't realise how far that rule went. Any open container with alcohol in it cannot be on the streets. So if you open your bottle of whiskey in one place, and wish to venture on to a new location, well you'd better just finish it off first. Two friends of mine (Alex, who has already been introduced, and George, who is also Scottish and who i have just moved in with - more on that some other time) were walking with a carafe of wine, reclosed, when suddenly a van stopped next to them and three burly policemen jumped out at them. They tried to give them a ticket, but Alex and George protested ignorance, and claimed they were Scottish tourists with no knowledge of the (insane) local laws. They let them go, but one of the police said "that's not the only stupid thing the Scottish have done recently". This was just after the Lockerbie bomber had been released...
2) There was a party in I-house, in the main hall, and drinks were being served in the cafe nextdoor. Now, the cafe is still part of I-House, but the corridor that connects the two is for some bizarre reason public property (which means that we do get the occasional homeless guy hanging out there). That meant that drinks could not be taken into the main hall, and there were police on hand to enforce this. Alex tried to leave the cafe with a glass of water. Yep, good old non-alcoholic water. The policeman at the door was so intent on keeping the laws kept that he would not let Alex pass with the glass of water. Perhaps he should have dessicated himself before heading off the main hall?
3) So far, no arrests. This is about to get a whole lot worse. I was on my way to a party at one of the co-ops (not a mid-sized convenience store that seems to have Cambridge surrounded, but a cooperative living arrangement in a large house) and stopped at the local liquor store to get some, well, liquor. There were two people outside, a guy and a girl, who looked about my age. They asked if I would be able to go in and get them a can of Bud. I told them that it wasn't worth the risk for me, what with my visa situation being so delicate and all. Unfortunately, a friend of mine, Benjy, was on his way to the same party about 10 minutes later, and he was not so cautious. Feeling philanthropic, he bought the beer for them. As he walked away, two police came for him, gave him a ticket for supplying alcohol to minors and told him that he would make a court appearance in a few days. He was set up. That is legal here. He was put in a situation where doing something nice for someone would ultimately kick him in the ass. The two people outside the shop were not even under 21, which is the ridiculous thing. It is illegal to supply anyone alcohol that you do not know for sure is 21+.
Needless to say, we couldn't fucking believe it. There were a lot of angry people that night. But it gets worse. The party, like the majority of parties I have been to here were underage people are present, was shut down before midnight. Not only that, the police confiscated the takings on the door becsuse there was alcohol being served inside, and they claimed that the entrance fee was essentially purchase of alcohol.
Lets review. The police were waiting for people to go to the party and setting them up to commit crimes so that they could give them a ticket. Then they came into the party, decided they didn't like it and shut it down whilst stealing the money.
4) The I-house had another party, before the one I mentioned earlier. This one was entirely in the cafe. Unfortunately nobody told the police that this party was happening. They turned up because there was some trouble on the door with some kids from Oakland trying to get in but not being allowed because it was for students only. They saw a crowded bar type situation and someone throwing up outside. They called for back up and pretty soon there were THREE police cars and a fire truck. They came in, turned off the music and told the organisers that they had exceeded the legal number of people allowed in the cafe. The party was not allowed to restart with less people, it was simply shut down. About five police cleared people out the cafe. One even had the gall to say to one of the organisers "look how much resources your wasting". Lets not forget, there are real and dangerous crimes being committed as I type not far from here, and yet three police cars and a fire truck were sent to deal with some drunk students having a pre-planned party in a cafe with an alcohol license.
5) So what happens to all these people being given tickets? Justice is dispensed wild-west style - people arrive at court and are assigned a judge who arbitrarily decides how much the person should be fined. Two different people from I-House went to court on the same day for the same offense (open container violation), which they committed together and were caught doing together. One was fined $75. The other was fined $250.
The whole fucking thing is like being subject to the whims of some power mad sheriff in the 1800's. 'Fuck the police' has real meaning here. At home, the police force was set up, to be a servant of the people. I believe it still is today for the most part, despite some notable exceptions. Police cannot perform arbitrary beatings, police can be spoken to without fear, police will be helpful as far as possible. Sadly, when it comes to the police America feels more like the USSR than the UK. People being set up, complete authority, guns, fear, rudeness. It is a police state. Fuck the police.
Real guns.
Now, there is a purpose for them being there, there always is. They are there to ensure our safety and to ensure that no laws are broken. Considerations of our safety are much appreciated; we are after all only a few miles from the center of gun crime in America, the infamous Oakland. Considerations of our law abidingness are not so appreciated. There is type of law in particular that they really, really concentrate on, and to my surprise it is not those relating to controlled substances. In fact, their attitude to cannabis is probably more laid back than back home, despite the penalties for having illegal cannabis being harsher. I do mean illegal cannabis, remember that cannabis 'for medicinal purposes' is legal here. Anyway, I am being sidetracked. The real stickler is alcohol. Underage drinking of, supply of, outdoor consumption of...
Recall that this was a county that less than 100 years ago enforced PROHIBITION. The powers that be actually BANNED ALCOHOL. Can you imagine such a thing? Well yes I guess: Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc. But really, banning alcohol? It turns out that quite a few countries did this in the early part of the 20th century, but attitudes quickly reverted to sanity everywhere else. Here, some sort of pervading belief in the evils of that most timeless intoxicant remain, and so the might of the police falls heavily on anyone who dares to drink it. Let me provide you with a series of examples that demonstrate the sheer insanity:
1) So I knew that it was illegal to drink on the streets, but I didn't realise how far that rule went. Any open container with alcohol in it cannot be on the streets. So if you open your bottle of whiskey in one place, and wish to venture on to a new location, well you'd better just finish it off first. Two friends of mine (Alex, who has already been introduced, and George, who is also Scottish and who i have just moved in with - more on that some other time) were walking with a carafe of wine, reclosed, when suddenly a van stopped next to them and three burly policemen jumped out at them. They tried to give them a ticket, but Alex and George protested ignorance, and claimed they were Scottish tourists with no knowledge of the (insane) local laws. They let them go, but one of the police said "that's not the only stupid thing the Scottish have done recently". This was just after the Lockerbie bomber had been released...
2) There was a party in I-house, in the main hall, and drinks were being served in the cafe nextdoor. Now, the cafe is still part of I-House, but the corridor that connects the two is for some bizarre reason public property (which means that we do get the occasional homeless guy hanging out there). That meant that drinks could not be taken into the main hall, and there were police on hand to enforce this. Alex tried to leave the cafe with a glass of water. Yep, good old non-alcoholic water. The policeman at the door was so intent on keeping the laws kept that he would not let Alex pass with the glass of water. Perhaps he should have dessicated himself before heading off the main hall?
3) So far, no arrests. This is about to get a whole lot worse. I was on my way to a party at one of the co-ops (not a mid-sized convenience store that seems to have Cambridge surrounded, but a cooperative living arrangement in a large house) and stopped at the local liquor store to get some, well, liquor. There were two people outside, a guy and a girl, who looked about my age. They asked if I would be able to go in and get them a can of Bud. I told them that it wasn't worth the risk for me, what with my visa situation being so delicate and all. Unfortunately, a friend of mine, Benjy, was on his way to the same party about 10 minutes later, and he was not so cautious. Feeling philanthropic, he bought the beer for them. As he walked away, two police came for him, gave him a ticket for supplying alcohol to minors and told him that he would make a court appearance in a few days. He was set up. That is legal here. He was put in a situation where doing something nice for someone would ultimately kick him in the ass. The two people outside the shop were not even under 21, which is the ridiculous thing. It is illegal to supply anyone alcohol that you do not know for sure is 21+.
Needless to say, we couldn't fucking believe it. There were a lot of angry people that night. But it gets worse. The party, like the majority of parties I have been to here were underage people are present, was shut down before midnight. Not only that, the police confiscated the takings on the door becsuse there was alcohol being served inside, and they claimed that the entrance fee was essentially purchase of alcohol.
Lets review. The police were waiting for people to go to the party and setting them up to commit crimes so that they could give them a ticket. Then they came into the party, decided they didn't like it and shut it down whilst stealing the money.
4) The I-house had another party, before the one I mentioned earlier. This one was entirely in the cafe. Unfortunately nobody told the police that this party was happening. They turned up because there was some trouble on the door with some kids from Oakland trying to get in but not being allowed because it was for students only. They saw a crowded bar type situation and someone throwing up outside. They called for back up and pretty soon there were THREE police cars and a fire truck. They came in, turned off the music and told the organisers that they had exceeded the legal number of people allowed in the cafe. The party was not allowed to restart with less people, it was simply shut down. About five police cleared people out the cafe. One even had the gall to say to one of the organisers "look how much resources your wasting". Lets not forget, there are real and dangerous crimes being committed as I type not far from here, and yet three police cars and a fire truck were sent to deal with some drunk students having a pre-planned party in a cafe with an alcohol license.
5) So what happens to all these people being given tickets? Justice is dispensed wild-west style - people arrive at court and are assigned a judge who arbitrarily decides how much the person should be fined. Two different people from I-House went to court on the same day for the same offense (open container violation), which they committed together and were caught doing together. One was fined $75. The other was fined $250.
The whole fucking thing is like being subject to the whims of some power mad sheriff in the 1800's. 'Fuck the police' has real meaning here. At home, the police force was set up, to be a servant of the people. I believe it still is today for the most part, despite some notable exceptions. Police cannot perform arbitrary beatings, police can be spoken to without fear, police will be helpful as far as possible. Sadly, when it comes to the police America feels more like the USSR than the UK. People being set up, complete authority, guns, fear, rudeness. It is a police state. Fuck the police.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Accessorize
As soon as I felt comfortable enough, I thought I should shake things up a bit. I now have an a mohawk kinda thing (it goes all the way down the back, kinda mullet like):
and an earing (in the left ear this time):
x
and an earing (in the left ear this time):
x
Thanksdrinking
Wow, its been almost a month since I last wrote - I guess the pace of change here is slowing down. I also feel a lot more comfortable, so I guess I have less need to reach out to you all. I've also been spending a lot of my spare time making mixes instead of writing this. If you haven't checked them out already, there are now three, all of which can be found at mixcloud.com. Its great to have an outlet for my tracks - I still haven't played any real gigs here, and I'm not meeting the right people to do so at the moment so I don't envisage playing any for a while.
So I mentioned that I'm feeling a lot more comfortable now, and a big part of that has to do with the fact that I now know that the future of my department is secure. For those of you that didn't know, there were rumours that nearly all the big probability professors were going to leave at the end of year and go there separate ways, leaving me up the proverbial creek without the proverbial paddle. However, I spoke to a professor about the future of the probability department and was told that 'rumours of the immanent demise of the berkeley probability department have been greatly exaggerated'. So it appears that the rumours were just rumours.
I have begun to do some reading for that professor - it's pretty scary - he wrote almost all the papers on this particular subject and is a giant in the field. Exciting too though. It's hard stuff, but that makes it remarkably interesting. The professor also has an awesome beard.
In addition to concerns about my particular subject area, everyone in Berkeley has had to deal with growing budgetary concerns. Berkeley and the University of California in general is at the moment mega fucked. The state government dropped their funding by hundreds of millions of dollars (maybe 700?) and as a result every department is facing a 15-30% permanent budget cut, with the arts departments being worst affected. Worse than that, student fees are being raised to over $10,000 a year. Only 6 years ago they were a third of that. There are serious protests - student occupied a building on campus and had to be ejected by riot police after a eight hour siege that made the front page of CNN - I stood around there for a while along with hundreds of other students that were forming a wall to protect the building - it was pretty crazy - true berkeley style. As a graduate student, all this doesn't effect me too much, but it does mean that money is very tight in the department and I can't expect there to be any cash bonuses, which is a shame as money is quite tight, although a proper spending review should fix that. And by a proper spending review I mean not buying drinks in bars. Yay home drinking.
On a different note, it was Thanksgiving yesterday - I had no idea it was such a big deal! It's like Christmas a month early; everybody goes back to their families, you get two days off work (making a super long four day weekend which I really need to catch up with my reading), and everybody eats turkey. I went to the house of a couple who are friends of Alex's and it was fantastic. They had an open bar and an open stash. All round good times.
That's probably enough for now. I plan to do a more anthropological and less personal entry next time (edit: turns out the next entry was all about me again. the one after will not be.)
Truk no keepon.
x
So I mentioned that I'm feeling a lot more comfortable now, and a big part of that has to do with the fact that I now know that the future of my department is secure. For those of you that didn't know, there were rumours that nearly all the big probability professors were going to leave at the end of year and go there separate ways, leaving me up the proverbial creek without the proverbial paddle. However, I spoke to a professor about the future of the probability department and was told that 'rumours of the immanent demise of the berkeley probability department have been greatly exaggerated'. So it appears that the rumours were just rumours.
I have begun to do some reading for that professor - it's pretty scary - he wrote almost all the papers on this particular subject and is a giant in the field. Exciting too though. It's hard stuff, but that makes it remarkably interesting. The professor also has an awesome beard.
In addition to concerns about my particular subject area, everyone in Berkeley has had to deal with growing budgetary concerns. Berkeley and the University of California in general is at the moment mega fucked. The state government dropped their funding by hundreds of millions of dollars (maybe 700?) and as a result every department is facing a 15-30% permanent budget cut, with the arts departments being worst affected. Worse than that, student fees are being raised to over $10,000 a year. Only 6 years ago they were a third of that. There are serious protests - student occupied a building on campus and had to be ejected by riot police after a eight hour siege that made the front page of CNN - I stood around there for a while along with hundreds of other students that were forming a wall to protect the building - it was pretty crazy - true berkeley style. As a graduate student, all this doesn't effect me too much, but it does mean that money is very tight in the department and I can't expect there to be any cash bonuses, which is a shame as money is quite tight, although a proper spending review should fix that. And by a proper spending review I mean not buying drinks in bars. Yay home drinking.
On a different note, it was Thanksgiving yesterday - I had no idea it was such a big deal! It's like Christmas a month early; everybody goes back to their families, you get two days off work (making a super long four day weekend which I really need to catch up with my reading), and everybody eats turkey. I went to the house of a couple who are friends of Alex's and it was fantastic. They had an open bar and an open stash. All round good times.
That's probably enough for now. I plan to do a more anthropological and less personal entry next time (edit: turns out the next entry was all about me again. the one after will not be.)
Truk no keepon.
x
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Halloween audio visual extravobonanza
To celebrate halloween, I present to you the funniest 90 seconds of your month (drunkenness is as ever probably a prerequisite for the humor). It's the stupid ending of Lord of the Rings Voiced over by some Swedish guys.
Whilst your at it, check out this, this and this.
Possibly the greatest benefit of meeting new people in the Web 2.0 age is that you get to find out about this sorta shit. It used to be that you'd find out about new music, or new authors, or new ideas, but now its just virals.
Happy Halloween x
Whilst your at it, check out this, this and this.
Possibly the greatest benefit of meeting new people in the Web 2.0 age is that you get to find out about this sorta shit. It used to be that you'd find out about new music, or new authors, or new ideas, but now its just virals.
Happy Halloween x
Mirror
I can see my father there,
standing upright on a beach in the sun. A thick mustache
adorns his lip.
Here is a man in his prime. Mid 20's, freshly qualified, newly married, toned and tanned. I can see my father there, 30 years ago, childless but in love. Behind him on the table top another photo, black and white this time, a man standing next to an old fashioned push bike.
Its my father again, but from 80 years ago.
The same mustache, the same chin.
I feel at once connected to the grand cycle.
I feel the history echoing back, centuries of fathers, standing upright, eyes focused on the distance.
Forward!
For a while, my head is empty. I am standing as an animal, my existence is everything and there are no questions.
**********************
I look like my father when I have a mustache. I shaved it off straight way though, so no pictures this time. But it does look good, and if wasn't the beginning of 'no shave November' I would have kept it - the rule is you can't shave or trim, and you have to be clean shaven at the beginning. A simple game, but good male bonding. Expect to see a mustache in the years to come.
x
**********************
standing upright on a beach in the sun. A thick mustache
adorns his lip.
Here is a man in his prime. Mid 20's, freshly qualified, newly married, toned and tanned. I can see my father there, 30 years ago, childless but in love. Behind him on the table top another photo, black and white this time, a man standing next to an old fashioned push bike.
Its my father again, but from 80 years ago.
The same mustache, the same chin.
I feel at once connected to the grand cycle.
I feel the history echoing back, centuries of fathers, standing upright, eyes focused on the distance.
Forward!
For a while, my head is empty. I am standing as an animal, my existence is everything and there are no questions.
**********************
I look like my father when I have a mustache. I shaved it off straight way though, so no pictures this time. But it does look good, and if wasn't the beginning of 'no shave November' I would have kept it - the rule is you can't shave or trim, and you have to be clean shaven at the beginning. A simple game, but good male bonding. Expect to see a mustache in the years to come.
x
**********************
Sunday, October 25, 2009
This is an article about Prof. El Karoui from way back in March 2006:
Lately, Ms. El Karoui has been vocal in warning students to use derivatives carefully. She says she is perturbed that an instrument that began primarily as a hedge for banks and financial firms against market risk is increasingly being used as a way to make a profit. Investors can profit, for example, by betting that the prices of stocks or bonds will increase. Ms. El Karoui worries that those looking for quick speculative gains could ramp up their bets on derivatives, but lose sight of the underlying financial instruments on which they're based, actually increasing their risk exposure.
"Some clients aren't mature enough to understand the risks of products that are too complex," she says. "It's better to do business with those people responsibly, either taking the time to teach them or selling them a less complex product."
Her daughter is an assistant professor in the department here - hopefully her course on empirical processes and non-parametric statistics in the spring will be as insightful as her mother is!
x
Lately, Ms. El Karoui has been vocal in warning students to use derivatives carefully. She says she is perturbed that an instrument that began primarily as a hedge for banks and financial firms against market risk is increasingly being used as a way to make a profit. Investors can profit, for example, by betting that the prices of stocks or bonds will increase. Ms. El Karoui worries that those looking for quick speculative gains could ramp up their bets on derivatives, but lose sight of the underlying financial instruments on which they're based, actually increasing their risk exposure.
"Some clients aren't mature enough to understand the risks of products that are too complex," she says. "It's better to do business with those people responsibly, either taking the time to teach them or selling them a less complex product."
Her daughter is an assistant professor in the department here - hopefully her course on empirical processes and non-parametric statistics in the spring will be as insightful as her mother is!
x
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Smug
Hiya, your homework for this week is to watch this, its very relevant. Please note that this is probably the last weekly update - I'm gonna switch to fortnightly updating after this.
I went to a day long music festival thing yesterday, much like some of the one day london festivals that happen. Highlights include watching a washed up Mike Skinner miserably failing to work the U.S. crowd whilst completely fucked on coke and really stoned, discovering the amazing Dan Deacon, and meeting the most retarded American so far. The following conversation took place after him guessing that I was from Australia:
RETARD: (to my friend) Oh, so your from Norway - do they, like, all have blond hair there?
I point to her clearly brown hair.
RETARD: Oh, okay, except for her.
NON-RETARD (person next to us): Yeh, like when we go to Europe and people ask us if Americans are all fat.
ME: Fair enough.
RETARD: Yeh, its like that steriotype that everyone in Portland is a lesbian.
ME: Is that a district in San Francisco - because there really are a lot of lesbians here you know.
RETARD: (looking outraged) WHAT! You don't know where Portland is? Its in Oregon. You do know where Oregon is don' you?
ME: Er, yeh, its near here right?
RETARD: (interupting me telling him that its just north of California) It's just North of California dude! How thew FUCK could you not know that? I learnt that in second grade! God, you retard.
ME: Er, okay, do you know where Manchester and Liverpool are?
RETARD: I DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOUR INSIGNIFICANT SHITTY LITTLE ISLAND!
He's definately letting the side down. Most people I've met have been quite bright, and very welcoming, and do not fit the steriotype that americans assume their county is by far and away the most important thing in the world, so that if they learnt all the states is second grade, so must everyone else have.
Anyway, on a personal note, I've had a lot of fun this week (mainly laughing at Alex who cracked his rib in a drunken play fight with his scottish friend, but also going to bars and such, and meeting some people from outside of the now claustrophobic I-House), and I am just about beginning to feel at home.
Truck on keepin'
x
I went to a day long music festival thing yesterday, much like some of the one day london festivals that happen. Highlights include watching a washed up Mike Skinner miserably failing to work the U.S. crowd whilst completely fucked on coke and really stoned, discovering the amazing Dan Deacon, and meeting the most retarded American so far. The following conversation took place after him guessing that I was from Australia:
RETARD: (to my friend) Oh, so your from Norway - do they, like, all have blond hair there?
I point to her clearly brown hair.
RETARD: Oh, okay, except for her.
NON-RETARD (person next to us): Yeh, like when we go to Europe and people ask us if Americans are all fat.
ME: Fair enough.
RETARD: Yeh, its like that steriotype that everyone in Portland is a lesbian.
ME: Is that a district in San Francisco - because there really are a lot of lesbians here you know.
RETARD: (looking outraged) WHAT! You don't know where Portland is? Its in Oregon. You do know where Oregon is don' you?
ME: Er, yeh, its near here right?
RETARD: (interupting me telling him that its just north of California) It's just North of California dude! How thew FUCK could you not know that? I learnt that in second grade! God, you retard.
ME: Er, okay, do you know where Manchester and Liverpool are?
RETARD: I DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOUR INSIGNIFICANT SHITTY LITTLE ISLAND!
He's definately letting the side down. Most people I've met have been quite bright, and very welcoming, and do not fit the steriotype that americans assume their county is by far and away the most important thing in the world, so that if they learnt all the states is second grade, so must everyone else have.
Anyway, on a personal note, I've had a lot of fun this week (mainly laughing at Alex who cracked his rib in a drunken play fight with his scottish friend, but also going to bars and such, and meeting some people from outside of the now claustrophobic I-House), and I am just about beginning to feel at home.
Truck on keepin'
x
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Okay, as promised here is a feast of audio visual entertainment:
It's not as good as on a boat, but it has a catchy main quote: Like a Boss.
Space greatness. No explanation needed.
Nest up, do you remember that song Cotton Eye Joe? (Here's a quick reminder if you don't). Well, ever wonder what they did next? A massive artistic step forward for sure.
Whilst we're thinking about 90's classics, how about this one?
Okay, now some science. Have you heard of the Mandelbrot Set? It is a picture constructed using an incredibly simple rule, and yet this picture is infinitely complex. The rule is, take any point c in the 2 dimensional plane (i.e. a flat surface with some point designated as zero), then square it (according to complex multiplication - don't worry, it isn't actually 'complex' in the normal sense) and add on c. Do the same with the new number, then again, then again, and so on. Give a colour to that point according on how fast this moves off to infinity, or whether it stays finite. You get the following thing!
That gives you an idea of the general structure, now this should show you how deeply complex this shape is - this video is always zooming in, even when it looks like it is zooming out. By the time it finishes, if the original shape was drawn on the final scale, it would probably be way larger than the universe. Watch it here.
Now think for a minute. What does this tell you? Infinite, beautiful and varied complexity. Form beyond imagination and the symmetry of the gods. All from a one mind blowingly simple equation. It is fundamentally awesome.
One last thing, if you didn't watch this yet, do. Even if you did watch it last week, the latest version is in HD.
x
It's not as good as on a boat, but it has a catchy main quote: Like a Boss.
Space greatness. No explanation needed.
Nest up, do you remember that song Cotton Eye Joe? (Here's a quick reminder if you don't). Well, ever wonder what they did next? A massive artistic step forward for sure.
Whilst we're thinking about 90's classics, how about this one?
Okay, now some science. Have you heard of the Mandelbrot Set? It is a picture constructed using an incredibly simple rule, and yet this picture is infinitely complex. The rule is, take any point c in the 2 dimensional plane (i.e. a flat surface with some point designated as zero), then square it (according to complex multiplication - don't worry, it isn't actually 'complex' in the normal sense) and add on c. Do the same with the new number, then again, then again, and so on. Give a colour to that point according on how fast this moves off to infinity, or whether it stays finite. You get the following thing!
That gives you an idea of the general structure, now this should show you how deeply complex this shape is - this video is always zooming in, even when it looks like it is zooming out. By the time it finishes, if the original shape was drawn on the final scale, it would probably be way larger than the universe. Watch it here.
Now think for a minute. What does this tell you? Infinite, beautiful and varied complexity. Form beyond imagination and the symmetry of the gods. All from a one mind blowingly simple equation. It is fundamentally awesome.
One last thing, if you didn't watch this yet, do. Even if you did watch it last week, the latest version is in HD.
x
Monday, October 5, 2009
A Birthday Present
It's my birthday, and I have a present for all of you.
Please be as mash-up as possible before watching this. Then watch it. Repeatedly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_ICcz6kXP0
x
Please be as mash-up as possible before watching this. Then watch it. Repeatedly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_ICcz6kXP0
x
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Liber und liber
It's rare to say right or left wing here, mostly people are categorised as liberal or conservative, and The Bay Area (San Francisco and its environs) is the liberal capital of America. I don't need to tell the history - the beat poets, the acid waves, the student riots, the gay culture, and so on - it is the history of our time, the time of freedom.
People here care passionately about liberal values - I was at the physio the other day to try and get some exercises for my back, and the first conversation she struck up whilst investigating the inner workig of my spine was about healthcare and climate change. It took me aback a bit, politics is not even for the dinner table let alone the doctors office.
It's not just the residents though - you have to consider the type of people that Berkeley attracts (yes, including me). A short anecdote should illustrate this: one sunny Sunday I went to sit outside and have brunch. I joined a table of people, most of whom I had met before, and all of whom were continental European (tight jeans, nice scarfs, crossed legs, etc.). It emerged that they were talking about 9/11. Fully 5 out of 7 people there thought that there was more to it than just Al Qaeda, with various reasons (I was not one of the 6). There was a political science student who said that it was come up with in a think tank. There was an architecture student whose professor had said that they couldn't believe that the buildings would have collapsed in the way they did without explosives. Some thought that Bush was involved, others not. Thankfully another statistician arrived after a few minutes and started to back up my argument that the probability of everyone involved keeping it secret was almost zero. Anyway, that tells you what we're dealing with here.
The university campus is open to the public because it is in effect owned by the public. This means that on the main 'street' you get lots of crazy preachers rabbiting on about loads of shit, and this definitely includes anti-capitalist nutjobs. What makes them so crazy is that everyone only every hears one or two sentences of their two hour shpeil. They are not, however, as crazy as this guy, who I am yet to see in real life but apparently he is there pretty regularly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J94_C-8Q9ao
There was the LoveFest yesterday, which rammed home this liberal thing - a dance music party in the middle of the city, in front of the civic centre, with tens of thousands of people and twenty different stages. Huge volumes of extacy and lots of nudity. Imagine the notting hill carnival but in trafalgar square and better music. That makes it sound like London is as liberal as here for allowing the carnival, but the attitude here is different - it feels like the city supports it, wants it, loves it. There were no policemen inside, and when the queue at the gates got too busy, they started letting people in for free. The atmosphere was, as the name suggests, full of love (the actual name was Lovelution, but I prefer the original name).
I am yet to visit Haight-Ashbury, but it has definitely left its mark - there is no taboo to start talking about psychedelics with the locals, they seem to be part of the fabric of growing up here.
One last thing - the student body is still very active. Last week, in protest to recent fee increases and funding cuts, thousands of students marched through campus and tried to get the governing powers to reconsider their approach to higher education - the claim being that the ideals of public education were being destroyed. They were not alone, most of the faculty and university staff went on strike as well, and very few classes took place. The whole university became connected, and for one day everyone was talking about the same thing - how to save the University of California. This may effect me too... watch this space.
Well done if you made it to the end of this, next time it'll be more fun, I'm gonna do some visual media hits.
Keep on truckin'
x
People here care passionately about liberal values - I was at the physio the other day to try and get some exercises for my back, and the first conversation she struck up whilst investigating the inner workig of my spine was about healthcare and climate change. It took me aback a bit, politics is not even for the dinner table let alone the doctors office.
It's not just the residents though - you have to consider the type of people that Berkeley attracts (yes, including me). A short anecdote should illustrate this: one sunny Sunday I went to sit outside and have brunch. I joined a table of people, most of whom I had met before, and all of whom were continental European (tight jeans, nice scarfs, crossed legs, etc.). It emerged that they were talking about 9/11. Fully 5 out of 7 people there thought that there was more to it than just Al Qaeda, with various reasons (I was not one of the 6). There was a political science student who said that it was come up with in a think tank. There was an architecture student whose professor had said that they couldn't believe that the buildings would have collapsed in the way they did without explosives. Some thought that Bush was involved, others not. Thankfully another statistician arrived after a few minutes and started to back up my argument that the probability of everyone involved keeping it secret was almost zero. Anyway, that tells you what we're dealing with here.
The university campus is open to the public because it is in effect owned by the public. This means that on the main 'street' you get lots of crazy preachers rabbiting on about loads of shit, and this definitely includes anti-capitalist nutjobs. What makes them so crazy is that everyone only every hears one or two sentences of their two hour shpeil. They are not, however, as crazy as this guy, who I am yet to see in real life but apparently he is there pretty regularly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J94_C-8Q9ao
There was the LoveFest yesterday, which rammed home this liberal thing - a dance music party in the middle of the city, in front of the civic centre, with tens of thousands of people and twenty different stages. Huge volumes of extacy and lots of nudity. Imagine the notting hill carnival but in trafalgar square and better music. That makes it sound like London is as liberal as here for allowing the carnival, but the attitude here is different - it feels like the city supports it, wants it, loves it. There were no policemen inside, and when the queue at the gates got too busy, they started letting people in for free. The atmosphere was, as the name suggests, full of love (the actual name was Lovelution, but I prefer the original name).
I am yet to visit Haight-Ashbury, but it has definitely left its mark - there is no taboo to start talking about psychedelics with the locals, they seem to be part of the fabric of growing up here.
One last thing - the student body is still very active. Last week, in protest to recent fee increases and funding cuts, thousands of students marched through campus and tried to get the governing powers to reconsider their approach to higher education - the claim being that the ideals of public education were being destroyed. They were not alone, most of the faculty and university staff went on strike as well, and very few classes took place. The whole university became connected, and for one day everyone was talking about the same thing - how to save the University of California. This may effect me too... watch this space.
Well done if you made it to the end of this, next time it'll be more fun, I'm gonna do some visual media hits.
Keep on truckin'
x
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Our own will to nothingness
"The quest is to be liberated from the negative, which is really our own will to nothingness. And, once having said yes to the instant, the affirmation is contagious. It bursts into a chain of affirmations that knows no limit. To say yes to one instant, is to say yes to all of existence."
- Waking Life -
The phrase "our own will to nothingness" often floats into my conscious stream of thought, and must linger ever present behind that. It means different things at different times, but right now it is all about blissful abandon, a state of being so fully in the present that there is nothing else, no thought, just love. The ego removed, the layers stripped away until there is nothing but your soul standing there, naked and bare.
In other words, I got drunk last night.
There was what I can only describe as a bop in the I-House cafe, followed by an afterparty in the games room. Both had huge speakers and incredibly good electro house. Everyone was in their finest neon outfits, there were red cups a plenty, and the good times rolled. I had to lend out my room to someone for some nefarious purpose and whilst waiting for them to finish and get out I fell asleep in the corridor and had to be woken up by someone at about 6am suggesting that maybe I should go to bed. I also woke up this morning to discover that I had completely fucked my ankle. It was all very classy. Not quite as classy as one of the first parties here when I dropped an almost full bottle of wine so that it smashed and most of it went over the jeans of a very unimpressed girl.
Drinking is different here. The majority of English university students would be classed as alcoholics - drinking every day is a strange and scary notion to most at I-House, and probably rightly so. I might be getting a skewed view, I'm sure the frats are a different story. Under 21s can't go to bars so they go to frats and get older people to buy the drinks, but it means that a lot of people are pretty new to proper boozing. There is something puritan still about the states, even here in California. It is one of the main contributors to the feeling that despite being an incredibly advanced country, these guys are 50 years behind us. Take healthcare for example. Our battle for universal healthcare took place 50 years ago. Theirs is being fought right now. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONKxGko-JNI - So different from anything you will ever see in UK politics. Also note how at some point Obama throws in the idea of the social state and makes it so apparent that it is the only reasonable option. It really is a big deal what he's doing here.)
More things that are fucking archaic: banks charge you to use their cash machines if your account is not with them; pay as you go phones are only just getting popular; you have to pay to receive texts as well as send them; electric kettles are a rarity - most people just have coffee brewing machines; and techno is minimal here (in terms of how many people have heard of it as a distinct thing from house).
There is a latin party downstairs tonight. And no, not the kind where we sit around and conjugate.
"We are nihilists. We believe in nothing, Lebowski. Nothing."
x
- Waking Life -
The phrase "our own will to nothingness" often floats into my conscious stream of thought, and must linger ever present behind that. It means different things at different times, but right now it is all about blissful abandon, a state of being so fully in the present that there is nothing else, no thought, just love. The ego removed, the layers stripped away until there is nothing but your soul standing there, naked and bare.
In other words, I got drunk last night.
There was what I can only describe as a bop in the I-House cafe, followed by an afterparty in the games room. Both had huge speakers and incredibly good electro house. Everyone was in their finest neon outfits, there were red cups a plenty, and the good times rolled. I had to lend out my room to someone for some nefarious purpose and whilst waiting for them to finish and get out I fell asleep in the corridor and had to be woken up by someone at about 6am suggesting that maybe I should go to bed. I also woke up this morning to discover that I had completely fucked my ankle. It was all very classy. Not quite as classy as one of the first parties here when I dropped an almost full bottle of wine so that it smashed and most of it went over the jeans of a very unimpressed girl.
Drinking is different here. The majority of English university students would be classed as alcoholics - drinking every day is a strange and scary notion to most at I-House, and probably rightly so. I might be getting a skewed view, I'm sure the frats are a different story. Under 21s can't go to bars so they go to frats and get older people to buy the drinks, but it means that a lot of people are pretty new to proper boozing. There is something puritan still about the states, even here in California. It is one of the main contributors to the feeling that despite being an incredibly advanced country, these guys are 50 years behind us. Take healthcare for example. Our battle for universal healthcare took place 50 years ago. Theirs is being fought right now. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONKxGko-JNI - So different from anything you will ever see in UK politics. Also note how at some point Obama throws in the idea of the social state and makes it so apparent that it is the only reasonable option. It really is a big deal what he's doing here.)
More things that are fucking archaic: banks charge you to use their cash machines if your account is not with them; pay as you go phones are only just getting popular; you have to pay to receive texts as well as send them; electric kettles are a rarity - most people just have coffee brewing machines; and techno is minimal here (in terms of how many people have heard of it as a distinct thing from house).
There is a latin party downstairs tonight. And no, not the kind where we sit around and conjugate.
"We are nihilists. We believe in nothing, Lebowski. Nothing."
x
Saturday, September 12, 2009
I'm gonna have been rapping for about 4 years, I won't write my stuff anymore, I'll just kick it from my head
It's the first rainy day since I got here. It began yesterday with a thunderstorm just on the far side of the bay - it was 4am and I was walking home alone, which isn't all that safe in a country rife with guns and a city only a handful of blocks away from Oakland, centre of gun crime in the states (which reminds me that my route to school used to take me through the centre of gun crime in the UK... maybe I'm destined to join an armed gang, its definitely my style). So it was 4am and then there's this giant flash followed by a peal of thunder so epic that its almost brown pants time. I managed to get home just before the rain begun.
I'd been out in 'the city', San Francisco, to a huge club with a pretty decent (although not fabric level) soundsystem. Four rooms of mainly bass orientated stuff, with a prog house room thrown in for good measure. The highlight has to be a garage mix of Manderin Girl. Hats off to that guy. The night was pretty crazy because it was filled with people coming back from Burning Man. Hippies, goths and crazies of all shapes and sizes. An ingathering of the tribes so epic that it takes a 4x4 mile city to accommodate everyone.
Gurps, Amit, Ferhana, Mike and Willy had all just got back and seeing them followed by dubstep made me feel like I was home (no K though, so not quite at home). Sadly, they already had plans to go to a different club with some friends from the Burn, and as I had arranged for loads of people to go to the dubstep place I couldn't join them. Musically, I've been very impressed by SF so far, and there's more to come, with Boize Noize and the Fuck Buttons both visiting pretty soon. Also, someone at I-House is setting up an electronic night in our cafe/bar, which I am desperately trying to play the warm up slot for (for those interested I have new gear - a Numark 'Total Control' controller and Numark DJ I/O sound thingy).
So, life continues apace, but seeing everyone from London yesterday drove home for the first time just how long I'm going to be here for.
4 y e a r s
\\\\\its gonna be strange.
I'd been out in 'the city', San Francisco, to a huge club with a pretty decent (although not fabric level) soundsystem. Four rooms of mainly bass orientated stuff, with a prog house room thrown in for good measure. The highlight has to be a garage mix of Manderin Girl. Hats off to that guy. The night was pretty crazy because it was filled with people coming back from Burning Man. Hippies, goths and crazies of all shapes and sizes. An ingathering of the tribes so epic that it takes a 4x4 mile city to accommodate everyone.
Gurps, Amit, Ferhana, Mike and Willy had all just got back and seeing them followed by dubstep made me feel like I was home (no K though, so not quite at home). Sadly, they already had plans to go to a different club with some friends from the Burn, and as I had arranged for loads of people to go to the dubstep place I couldn't join them. Musically, I've been very impressed by SF so far, and there's more to come, with Boize Noize and the Fuck Buttons both visiting pretty soon. Also, someone at I-House is setting up an electronic night in our cafe/bar, which I am desperately trying to play the warm up slot for (for those interested I have new gear - a Numark 'Total Control' controller and Numark DJ I/O sound thingy).
So, life continues apace, but seeing everyone from London yesterday drove home for the first time just how long I'm going to be here for.
4 y e a r s
\\\\\its gonna be strange.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Fuckface
"Hello fuckface."
"Hello cuntdodger."
Alex, despite his English accent (thrust upon him by his English born parents), is as Scottish as a haggis. So, having recently been on an International House retreat where one was supposed to learn about other cultures, and how to partake in them, I gracefully join in with the traditional Scottish mode of greeting a friend.
Alex has had a pretty rough time of it since arriving a year ago, but the long story short is that he split up with his wife, who after a six month trial separation period left only a week or two before I arrived. She was still in the states when I arrived in fact, but on the East coast, doing some sightseeing before she went back to her job.
I stayed with him for the first 5 days before my residency at I-House started and he was very good to me - his professorial salary is ample and he had very little to do before term started. It's good to see that academics can still live the life, at least for a few weeks at a time. I may at some point lay out his fundamental views about mathematics in detail, but suffice to say they are inspiring and the main message is that the answer to the question,
'Why is maths so good at describing the way the physical world works?'
is
'Because the physical world is mathematics.'
Much in the same way humus and falafel go so well together because they are made out of the same thing (chickpee), the world is made out of mathematics, and hence mathematics describes it perfectly. The reasoning lies in the links between number theory and incredibly crazy physics. (string theory, quantum, etc.).
In more mundane news, I've started teaching - it's a course for graduate students, but it's designed for students in soft engineering areas or social sciences who need some basic knowledge of probability to do their research. Quite time consuming but very enjoyable when it goes well. And of course, an important source of income. I think I will do okay for money here, but its hard to tell so far.
So, there we go, I managed to write a sensible post. I expect I'll leave it for a while now.
x
"Hello cuntdodger."
Alex, despite his English accent (thrust upon him by his English born parents), is as Scottish as a haggis. So, having recently been on an International House retreat where one was supposed to learn about other cultures, and how to partake in them, I gracefully join in with the traditional Scottish mode of greeting a friend.
Alex has had a pretty rough time of it since arriving a year ago, but the long story short is that he split up with his wife, who after a six month trial separation period left only a week or two before I arrived. She was still in the states when I arrived in fact, but on the East coast, doing some sightseeing before she went back to her job.
I stayed with him for the first 5 days before my residency at I-House started and he was very good to me - his professorial salary is ample and he had very little to do before term started. It's good to see that academics can still live the life, at least for a few weeks at a time. I may at some point lay out his fundamental views about mathematics in detail, but suffice to say they are inspiring and the main message is that the answer to the question,
'Why is maths so good at describing the way the physical world works?'
is
'Because the physical world is mathematics.'
Much in the same way humus and falafel go so well together because they are made out of the same thing (chickpee), the world is made out of mathematics, and hence mathematics describes it perfectly. The reasoning lies in the links between number theory and incredibly crazy physics. (string theory, quantum, etc.).
In more mundane news, I've started teaching - it's a course for graduate students, but it's designed for students in soft engineering areas or social sciences who need some basic knowledge of probability to do their research. Quite time consuming but very enjoyable when it goes well. And of course, an important source of income. I think I will do okay for money here, but its hard to tell so far.
So, there we go, I managed to write a sensible post. I expect I'll leave it for a while now.
x
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Fog
It was foggy this morning, but just like every other day, by 11am there was blazing sunshine. Not just California sun, Berkeley sun. Sun that leaves it at a perfect 26, that leaves the air dry. Not too hot, but hot enough to sunbathe.
It was foggy this morning, my head. Still integrating duvets and dreaming of foreplay, lounging and hiding, holding on till the last moment of possibility. Fuzzy sets are real things you know.
It was foggy this morning, and in the morning cool I trotted off to class. Is this why I'm here? Rumor has it that most of the probability faculty will leave soon... do I care? Why am I here? With no staff there would just be the town, and the yanks, and the frats, and the co-ops. And me.
It was foggy this morning, when I left my halls of residence: International House. Half foreign half American, half undergrad half grad, half Cripps half Docket. So many people here are just in Berkeley for a semester or two, forming blips in the four year path, temporary friends like the woman on the plane who arrived here in '69.
It was foggy this morning, not like London fog hugging the streets, but far overhead. Not like London at all with its pervading nihilism, the party to end the world. Here the history is not long enough to create an identity, so the identity comes from the Dream for the future, not the horror of the past. The fog here means that you can't see the bay down the hill and it looks like you are on a floating island, far above everything. I am back in a bubble town.
It was foggy this morning, but just like every other day, by 11am there was blazing sunshine. Every glorious fucking day.
more sensible posts will follow
but I need time
x
It was foggy this morning, my head. Still integrating duvets and dreaming of foreplay, lounging and hiding, holding on till the last moment of possibility. Fuzzy sets are real things you know.
It was foggy this morning, and in the morning cool I trotted off to class. Is this why I'm here? Rumor has it that most of the probability faculty will leave soon... do I care? Why am I here? With no staff there would just be the town, and the yanks, and the frats, and the co-ops. And me.
It was foggy this morning, when I left my halls of residence: International House. Half foreign half American, half undergrad half grad, half Cripps half Docket. So many people here are just in Berkeley for a semester or two, forming blips in the four year path, temporary friends like the woman on the plane who arrived here in '69.
It was foggy this morning, not like London fog hugging the streets, but far overhead. Not like London at all with its pervading nihilism, the party to end the world. Here the history is not long enough to create an identity, so the identity comes from the Dream for the future, not the horror of the past. The fog here means that you can't see the bay down the hill and it looks like you are on a floating island, far above everything. I am back in a bubble town.
It was foggy this morning, but just like every other day, by 11am there was blazing sunshine. Every glorious fucking day.
more sensible posts will follow
but I need time
x
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