Waves made solid

Wow, my last post was in March... Time flies - except that it felt like March, temperature-wise, up to not very long ago.

Never mind...

Here is a very succint post, whose sole purpose is to highlight the following website:
http://www.pierrecarreau.com/

Enjoy the watery geometries!

Clouds, stars and dreams

Modern art - do you like modern art?

How do you define modern art?

I'm not sure I feel like discussing this now.

Here is a link which I think provides a very good example of the modern art I like:

http://berndnaut.nl/works.htm

Enjoy! [Lucia, thanks for the link! ;) ]

Poetry - is it possible to understand poetry?

I often see it as cryptic and distant - yet sometimes a poem catches my attention, and it may happen that a line or two keep coming back to my memory.


Bright Star (J. Keats)

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art —
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like Nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors —
No — yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft swell and fall,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever — or else swoon to death

Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven (W. B. Yeats)

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym1M9vBVIYw (Yeats' Grave - The Cranberries) [I think there are a few mistakes and misspellings, but overall it's a nice video.]

ScienceCom #1 - What is out there

A while ago I was reading an Italian newspaper, "Repubblica" - I was browsing various articles when a title in small prints caught my eye: the article mentioned the foundation of a new research centre to study the risk that humans destroy themselves by giving birth to a machine that eventually turns itself against its creator. Without further ado, here is the relevant link: http://www.cser.org/.

Pause.

This reminded me that a few months earlier I had bumped into an equally odd website: http://beyond.asu.edu/.

Another pause.

Continuing my journey through the resources of the internet, here is the most recent discovery (thank you, Rob!): http://storify.com/ingorohlfing/overly-honest-methods-in-science.

... Now what?

Let's start thinking about what such websites have in common - a certain vision of scientific research, perhaps.
My reaction when I read about the first project listed above may be described as a rapid sequence of thoughts along these lines:

- who are these people, and is there so much money out there that one can possibly spend on such nonsense? Clearly this is easily classified as a non-directional, superficial rant.

- no, but... Seriously? I can think of at least three alternative possible causes for the destruction of our race - and none of them includes a form of Artificial Intelligence (AI) turning into our terminator. Maybe I'm narrow-minded, though.

- why would someone come up with such an idea? Sometimes one hears people commenting on a silly proposal: "they had no more original thoughts to work on, hence their uninteresting latest idea". In this case it's the other way round, so to say. It seems like, oppressed by centuries and centuries of scientific debate and discoveries, and in a century - the current one - where the "Publish or Perish" principle has become deeply rooted into many researchers' brains... The focus on the identification of the most significant and meaningful priorities may be lost. Minds might start to wander freely, they may stumble on an idea or a hypothesis - and if they are not prompt enough in recognising it as a divertissement (an entertaining diversion), this may grow in size and eventually become a real entity like a centre or an institute.

The second link I copied above generated analogous considerations, except that here the centre is not "newly born"... It's up, running and, to be frank, I'm still debating within myself as to whether I find the whole structure trustworthy or not. Browsing the website there seems to be an equal amount of odd contents and stimulating talks and seminars.

The third website is probably the most interesting one; the first obvious reaction is laugh, of course - partly because many of the entries are just great, and partly because (especially if the reader is a scientist, or maybe-to-be-scientist too :) ) it is rather easy to spot a few comments that sound familiar and well-known. The second reaction comes as a question: why would anyone ridicule research? Perhaps the verb I chose is too strong, but I do feel like all the contributions to this web page subtract to science and scientific progress a share of its authority and reliability, not to mention its - supposed?! - rigour. Now, I know that such doubts arise every time one hears in the news that this or that paper (often published in a good journal) turned out to be an inventive creation of its authors, so to speak. The more I think about it, the more I feel like the point that strikes me here is the participation of young researchers and students. These "confessions of questionable scientific practice" belong to people who have just started to approach reseach or are still relatively new to the field - yet they all seem to have encountered a few examples of "bad science". And, more importantly, they are willing to share these experiences, wink and have a laugh about them.

I don't mean to sound intransigent or support censorship. This post is a mere collection of thoughts on the subject of what is out there, in terms of the scientific community and its views on itself and the world around it. Thank you for reading!

FolkRec - Now Is the Cool of the Day

... Yes, another recording - and another religious song, too! This one I learnt years ago - thanks to Mariano De Simone for teaching it to me. I think I memorised the lyrics gradually, and for a long time I didn't even own a printed copy of the words. The lyrics I refer to can be found here: http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=1331. There is a comment about another verse - true, the version I knew was indeed longer, but I personally decided to cut down one verse as I found it... less interesting (excuse my frankness). A recording of this tune that immediately comes to my mind is the one by Jean Ritchie (where she sings along with a choir whose size sounds... impressive!). I do believe that this song is religious - maybe this time it is also truly a Christian song.
On a general note, I am not a religious person - I am an agnostic, and a convinced one. Does it make sense then for me to venture into this kind of "belief-inspired repertoire", I wonder? I have asked myself this question many times, and I have never performed such songs in public (I do not perform in public very often anyway!). Now I posted two of them on this blog, so it may look like I finally found an answer to my question. Well, as much as it can sound trivial and superficial, I do believe that music is a universal language. There are songs that are deeply rooted in a specific culture or time in history, and these may therefore lose part of their potential "universality". On the other hand there are tunes, images and feelings that do cross boundaries, both cultural and temporal. And then one may end up humming a song that was originally sung by, say, workers in 19th-century North America or by English sailors at sea. Isn't this incredible?

FolkRec - Bright Morning Stars Are Rising

I only know two versions of this song - one is by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, the other one is by Anaïs Mitchell (who sings it with two other people whose names I don't know - apologies). I initially memorised the first verse - and would sing it in a sort of loop... ! The full lyrics are the following:

Bright morning stars are rising
Bright morning stars are rising
Bright morning stars are rising
Day is a-breaking in my soul

Oh where are our dear fathers
Oh where are our dear fathers
They’re down in the valley a-praying
Day is a-breaking in my soul

Oh where are our dear mothers
Oh where are our dear mothers
They’ve gone to heaven a-shouting
Day is a-breaking in my soul

Bright morning stars are rising
Bright morning stars are rising
Bright morning stars are rising
Day is a-breaking in my soul

I remember I was struck by this one verse, where "mothers have gone to heaven" shouting... I thought it was a strong image, and wondered about the origin and true meaning of it. At some point I convinced myself that it had to refer to mothers who would die after they gave birth to their child, but I admit it - it's an adventurous explanation. Also, I knew the song was American traditional - nothing more. I recently looked for additional information and found this web page: http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=89700. So, it looks like the song comes the Appalachian region in North America; there seems to be a lively debate as to how old it is, and an even more fervent discussion as to whether it is a Christian song or not (the somehow religious content is, I think, rather obvious, but I do agree with the people who claim that it doesn't really sound Christian). If you scroll down the wbe page, you'll also find alternative lyrics - I was particularly interested in one version where "mothers" are praying while "fathers" are in heaven! Oral tradition - you never know what to expect. ;)

Would it be possible to have a look around?

The title of this post is often my first line when visiting new places (including the ones I am not even sure I have access to) - usually it is useful it when, unavoidably, a porter of some kind appears, clearly eager to know the reason of my presence.

Here in Oxfordshire it turns out that it is possible to collect an astonishing number of different answers to this somewhat simple and harmless question - "I was wondering, is it possible to have a look around?". First, the sentence that leaves no alternative at all: "I am afraid not, miss". Fair enough - "private property" and "restricted access" - these expressions are part of our modern world... Whether one agrees or not. Then there are hybrid answers, with a range of relative intensities for the "yes" and "no" components: "Yes, it is possible to visit the premises - please go that way", or "Yes, the estate is open to visitors but I am afraid you can only access it on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10am to 5pm". Sometimes there is an interesting twist, an addendum to one of the above answers such as "... except for next Saturday, however, as the premises will be closed for a private event". Once again, fair enough.

To give a specific example, Oxford colleges can be quite puzzling; some of them seem as difficult to enter as a fortress. When one finally manages to go in, still one has to face the "Private" signs that appear here and there - sometimes closing the way to what look like the loveliest bits of the garden... Ah!

Besides the Oxonian collegiate system, a couple of recent episodes were the starting point for this post - I hope they may highlight less well-known sights of Oxford and its surroundings. About a month ago I was told that the Rhodes House, whose entrance is on Parks Road, can be visited quite easily if one shows a University Card (no great surprise here). Still its opening times are rather peculiar: Monday to Friday from 1pm until 4pm, if I remember rightly. A few days ago I took advantage of a sunny spell to have a quick lunch and then walk to the Rhodes House to have a look at the gardens, if possible. No problem at all - I showed my card and entered. A hint: have a look at the tapestry displayed in the corridor leading to the wooden door that gives access (finally!) to the garden: the drawing is by William Morris. :) I expected the gardens to be neat and flourishing, and so they are. There is nothing exceptionally distinctive about the Rhodes House, I would say; yet it is definitely worth a visit, if you chance to walk by it and are looking for a quiet and colourful place.

As I went back to the department after my short visit to the Rhodes House I glanced at the notice board of the Museum of Natural History. There was an advert which mentioned the Wytham Woods - I thought I had never heard of this place, and thus decided to find out more as soon as possible. So I did, and with great surprise I discovered that it is not possible to walk in and stroll around, as one would do when visiting the Botanic Garden or the Harcourt Arboretum. No - a permit is required. Precisely, a letter shall be sent to the conservator of Wytham Woods, if one has an interest in visiting the area. Which I did, of course - please refer to the photo above. In my life I have sent letters to relatives and friends the world over; I wrote to Santa Clause, to a couple of private companies and to a music band (well, I was sixteen...). Sending a letter to the conservator of an "area of ancient semi-natural woodland" in Oxfordshire is a completely different story!

A few links that might be of interest:

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris - William Morris on Wikipedia ;)

- http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/index.htm - Oxford University Museum of Natural History

- http://www.wytham.ox.ac.uk/index.php - Wytham Woods website

- http://wildcru.org/wytham/ - one of the first websites I found when I looked for information about the Wytham area

FolkRec - The Cuckoo

I have known this song for a while, and every time I sang it I either forgot a line, misplaced words, ... - all the kinds of mistakes one would really like not to make while singing, especially when it is not even the length of the song that may be responsible for poor concentration! In fact, I learnt the tune from a recording by Anne Briggs, but my version is much shorter. I decided to omit a few verses as I found them somehow "fake", as if they were added later yet hardly fit the opening lines... If you are curious to read about this song and have a look at the lyrics of some expanded versions, I think the best place is http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/shirley.collins/songs/thecuckoo.html.

Now, to check the above link I briefly skimmed through the webpage, and found the answer to a question I asked myself earlier today (well, yesterday, given the time), when I started a search that led me - by pure chance - to an interesting discovery.

Let me go back a few steps. Some days ago I wrote an email to a friend, and I happened to mention a round I learnt recently: "In summer the flowers wilt, the flowers wilt, the streams run dry, I pray for rain, pray for rain, I pray for rain"... A side note: I suggest you do not hum nor sing this until this endless sort-of-spring-with-bits-of-autumn goes away and lets us enjoy the summer. Apologies, I digress. I used the term "round" and - since this friend of mine knows Italian - improvised its translation as "filastrocca". Then I sent the email. Seconds after I asked myself: why didn't I check the meaning of the word "round" before attempting to translate it? [And also, why on earth do I keep on using English words of which I presume to know the definition?]

Hence I promptly looked for this word on Wikipedia: clearly, "round" does not mean "filastrocca". I believe it means "canone". Before the non-Italian speakers fall asleep, let me unveil why the reading of the article on rounds (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_(music)) proved to be interesting: the reason is that it cites the very first example - that arrived to us - of a round. Its title is "Sumer Is Icumen In": of course there is a Wikipedia entry on this ancient song too (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumer_Is_Icumen_In). This article in turn reports the lyrics of the medieval round: the opening lines are (in Wessex dialect)

Sumer is icumen in

Lhude sing cuccu!

which mean (in modern English)

Summer has come in

Loudly sing cuckoo!

Then the song continues - roughly - with its description of the summer season. Still my attention had been caught by this reference to the cuckoo - is it me, or there is indeed a striking similarity between "The Cuckoo" that I have known for years and this very old round dating back to the thirteenth century? Yet why then none of the singers, collectors whose comments and notes I read seem to acknowledge the connection? I have listened to a few audio files and I must say, the melody of the round differs from the one I sing - but there exist many, many tunes to which "The Cuckoo" (or variations of this title) is sung. Hmm... The beauty of research. :)

Lastly, since I ended up spending some time reading about the round as a musical composition I came across this wee website: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~msmiller/rounds.html. Buon ascolto!

Flowchart #2 - I decide to write about writing

As you may have guessed from my previous post, I am quite fond of everything that is related to typefaces and letterforms - with a special interest in handwriting - both in their standard and more creative expressions.

When it comes to calligraphy, it turns out that there are a few websites one may be curious to explore: for instance,

- http://www.calligraphyonline.org/index.html -- click and learn about the "Society of Scribes and Illuminators"... With such a name for their society the website deserves at least a visit, don't you think?

- http://www.clas.co.uk/index.html -- a recent discovery, hence I cannot say much about it; their summer course looks interesting...

- http://www.freehandwriting.net/ -- probably one of the first websites I found out about; I have never met Monica Dengo, but I had a chance to attend a short workshop run by one of her students and thought it was brilliant! Also, at least one of Monica Dengo's classes takes place in Venice... Not a bad location, huh?

Some days ago I thought of a connection I hadn't considered before. Penmanship as it is presented in the few above-listed websites stems from a rather specific - almost élite? - point of view on the matter: here writing by hand is not seen as a necessary skill allowing to communicate and express oneself, but rather as a more abstract activity - where sometimes one may even wonder whether the aesthetics became more relevant than the content. Thus it presupposes, by definition, that one learnt how to write in the first place, from the alphabet up to entire sentences and paragraphs, distinguishing between upper, lower case letters and so on. Have you ever asked yourself this question: how did I learn to write? How long was this process, and what was the evolution of my handwriting up to its present form?

I then decided I would look into this matter. With a scientific approach, of course.

And eventually, I drew the flowchart that is shown below.

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light...

This is Berlin - again! This time the photos shown here come from an entirely different source: they were taken at the Buchstaben Museum (http://www.buchstabenmuseum.de/), which is a tiny yet meaningful (and playful) display of... Neon lights - precisely. Except that the point is not their being glowing. The aim of the museum is to preserve and document letterforms, as written on their homepage, as well as to plan "events designed to develop an appreciation for typography and for the items on display".
What I found very interesting is the opportunity to see various "fonts" applied to specific, real-life examples (a fishmonger's shop, a café and so on), with styles and "tricks" that change in time: the three photos below, for instance, the light with the glowing "W" comes from the thirties or the forties, if I am not mistaken. I love the "r" and "t" in the first photo, the way they are linked - it is a very peculiar graphic solution; and I found the "G" in the third picture very smooth and... Gentle.

The remaining two photos were taken with a more "scientific" approach in mind: here one learns how it is actually possible to fabricate such neon lights... Or at least, how this was done up to the invention and success of LEDs, I suppose. It is then almost natural, I think, to realise that this museum and its collection are not only about aesthetics; there is a true interplay of art and science/technology. The perspective might thus change, as a particularly smooth and curly typeface is not only nice to look at, but also likely to have been quite a challenge to produce as the neon light that is displayed right in front of you. :)

I imagine that it did make sense to gradually switch to LEDs - perhaps we (as a civilisation) should even rethink critically this sort of "glittery and 'must be eye-catching' culture of signs and messages".
I believe it is important that places like the Buchstaben Museum exist, because they do act as a "memorandum" of a few examples of virtuous human creativity and ingeniosity, all of which are aspects to respect and treasure.

A note -- While I was visiting the museum I happened to glance at a pile of small leaflets, each one with a big green "M" on it - I took one with me, and discovered this website: http://www.motaitalic.com/. It is not a very easy task to define what "Mota Italic" truly is - it is a gallery/shop in Berlin, but I think it is fair to say that it is mainly a proper type foundry. This means that if you visit their website and fancy one of their typefaces, you can purchase them and start using them when you write a document on your laptop, for example. I then had a relatively extensive look at the website itself: one page that caught my attention was http://www.motaitalic.com/typefoundry/fonts/gemma/rotalics - do not get me wrong, I love standard italics, but this "rotalics" does look interesting, too!

A second note, as important as the first -- If you don't know (or forgot) where the title of this post comes from, I suggest you check this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvsX03LOMhI. ;) [I am not entirely sure about all the words as they are shown in this video, but most of them seem right to me!]

Random links

If you have one minute of free time, go to http://www.thetravellingbarn.co.uk/

All right, the website is clearly under construction, but one question arises naturally: what are these people doing, and what is their aim?

Let us consider the known data: "build a barn", "the vision", "hire us" (menu bar). My personal (partial) conclusion was the following: these folks have some experience in wood carving and construction, and they will build a barn with a given shape and size. Then they will "put themselves on the market", so that if someone desires to get a barn for a festival, for a wedding... or just because they got bored with their 8th floor flat with a wee view on a tube station, well, there you go, call "The Travelling Barn"!

Now, what do you think? Posts most welcome. :)
For something completely different, I went bookshopping today and saw a couple of books about clouds. Hmm, interesting, I thought. I thus discovered the "Cloud Appreciation Society": http://cloudappreciationsociety.org/
Oddly interesting.

Unexpected events

Happy St Patrick's Day! I am not sure I want to go to the pub tonight - I like to talk to people, and being forced to shout at them because the place is so crowded that there is a "wall of noise" hardly bearable may not be my cup of tea. This said, yesterday evening I went to the Folk Club on Abingdon Road; it was a lovely evening, and part of my way of celebrating St Patrick's Day!

Yesterday I also bumped into a very interesting series of YouTube videos. Initially I was driven to the first one because of this odd title: "Tiny Desk Concert"... I started with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, and ended up listening to about ten of these short concerts all set in the same place - an office. Brilliant! I am so glad I discovered this new source of interesting music. For this reason I prompty added the corresponding "official" website of the radio station (NPR) among the few ones listed in the side menu bar. :)

On a different note, today I went for a walk with my camera and ended up birdwatching: I spotted a wee tit (great tit or blue tit? Not sure...) on a beautiful almond tree (prunus dulcis). Who knows if one of the many attempts to take a picture of it was successful?

Manifesto?

"Et dans dix ans je m'en irai dis au pied d'un rosier, au pied d'une rose

Au pied d'un rosier, mon cœur s'y repose..."

Tri Yann

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyHjhUSaSPM 

I do not like the Google empire very much. Yet here I am - with more to come. Why? Because coherence is good, but there is no need to be a monolithic rock. :)