Storm Witness

Extreme Instability writes:

May 24, Chester Nebraska Tornadoes

There were a ton of tornadoes with this supercell, but most were small. At one point there were 3 on the ground at once, other times 2 at once. I included a brief bit of the early ones, then concentrated the rest of this segment on the main tornado from this storm. At two points it was pretty cool, early in a v shape with a wide vigorous dust whirl at the ground, then towards the end when all the sudden dust around the tornado is let loose and falls away. About 3 and a half minutes for this one.

link: Instability Released DVD

Roni Horn: The Library of Water

JOURNEY TO THE LIBRARY OF WATER

JAMES LINGWOOD
CO-DIRECTOR, ARTANGEL

My first experience of Roni Horn’s work was through her books of photographs and drawings and writings made in Iceland. And my first experience of Iceland was through these books.

I came across the first of these books in 1994. Pooling Waters has two companion volumes, one with a sequence of photographs of hot pots and swimming pools from around the island, and the other an extensive collection of writings inspired by the artist’s experiences in different parts of Iceland. Then I found a copy of Verne’s Journey, published a year later. The book begins with aerial photographs of a glacier, Snæfelsjökull, where Verne’s travellers began their journey to the centre of the earth, and eventually immerses the reader in the fury of a maelstrom.

The books are part of an ongoing work, sometimes called an encyclopedia, To Place. Each successive volume has the same cloth binding, embossed with the name of the place and the name of the artist:

Ísland . Roni Horn

The books bring proximity to a distant place. They convey the quiet intensity and subtle energies of a long communion between an elemental island and a singular and passionate mind. They have something of the quality of a secular devotional, made by someone deeply committed to the uniqueness of the island, its geography and geology, climate and culture. They embody a relationship to the place that is both intimate and selfless – the very same qualities that lie at the heart of Roni Horn’s approach to VATNASAFN/LIBRARY OF WATER.

VATNASAFN/LIBRARY OF WATER by Roni Horn, Stykkishólmur, Iceland

History of the Bookmark

Rotating disc bookmark made of vellum indicating the column on the page | around 1500 courtesy of Antiquarian Bookstore Steinbeisser

link: A Brief History of Bookmarks

Cracked: The Jefferson Code

For more than 200 years, buried deep within Thomas Jefferson's correspondence and papers, there lay a mysterious cipher -- a coded message that appears to have remained unsolved. Until now.

The cryptic message was sent to President Jefferson in December 1801 by his friend and frequent correspondent, Robert Patterson, a mathematics professor at the University of Pennsylvania. President Jefferson and Mr. Patterson were both officials at the American Philosophical Society -- a group that promoted scholarly research in the sciences and humanities -- and were enthusiasts of ciphers and other codes, regularly exchanging letters about them.

In this message, Mr. Patterson set out to show the president and primary author of the Declaration of Independence what he deemed to be a nearly flawless cipher. "The art of secret writing," or writing in cipher, has "engaged the attention both of the states-man & philosopher for many ages," Mr. Patterson wrote. But, he added, most ciphers fall "far short of perfection."

link: Disinfo.com - Two Centuries On, a Cryptologist Cracks a Presidential Code

Difficult Mahler Symphony No. 8

Performances of Gustave Mahler's Symphony No. 8 (the “Symphony of a Thousand”) never quite add up. Perhaps the work is too technically unwieldy, or maybe its meaning is too obtuse. (After he finished the symphony, Mahler wrote his wife in 1909 that “it is all an allegory to convey something that, no matter what form it is given, can never be adequately expressed.”) Whatever the reason, it is a work that demands attention. Mahler’s largest creation--and one of few that were well received in his lifetime--premiered in 1910. Nearly 90 years later, New York City played host to not one but two performances of this massive and rarely mounted symphony.

link: WHAT WAS MAHLER THINKING? | More Intelligent Life

Africa's First Female Elected Head of State Faces Ban

A Liberian war commission has called for Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the country's president, to be banned from office, accusing her of backing a rebellion 20 years ago.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission included Johnson-Sirleaf's name on a list of high-profile figures it accused of supporting a rebellion led by Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president.

"They should be banned from occupying public office for 30 years beginning the day of the passage of the report at the parliament," the commission said in a report.

Johnson-Sirleaf has yet to respond to the commission's allegations, but her spokesman, Cyrus Badio, said on Tuesday that she would study the report, the Reuters news agency said.

Africa's first democratically-elected female head of state, Johnson-Sirleaf, has previously admitted giving money to a rebel group led by Taylor, but said it was meant for humanitarian services.

link: Al Jazeera English - Africa - Liberian president faces ban call

That Ain't No Point-And-Shoot, Toto: 1915 Photo Op

Circa 1915. "Harris & Ewing. Posing Cliff Berryman." Political cartoonist Clifford Berryman at the Washington, D.C., photo studio founded in 1905 by George Harris and Martha Ewing. Harris & Ewing glass negative.

link: Say Cheese: 1915 | Shorpy Photo Archive

Complicity in Chinese Human Rights Abuses

In China, Moslems called the Uighurs are fighting to be free of rule by Han Chinese. It figures that they want liberty, just like the other captive nations the Han now rule, Tibet the largest, but their expectations aren't likely to be met.

The Han call freedom fighters in both places terrorists, and almost certainly will win by force of arms and fists, but no one cares about these Asians here in the west, because we fear our vital trade relations might suffer, with a loss of our prosperity, and let the Chinese use their terror in both East Turkestan, Tibet, committing a grave error based on our need to save the dollar from falling, which it might if we grew hot beneath the collar, declaring might ain't right.

It seems we need Han Chinese more than they need us, and so we can't show them that we feel sore about the Uighurs' woe. By contrast, since we need much oil, with Dreyfusard "J'accuse" we may, when Jews protect their soil, hurl at them our abuse.

link: Gershon Hepner: uighurs, tibetans, jews

How To Judge: Golden Age of Book Design

Wherever you stand on the future of the book – doomed to oblivion by the Kindle, or an indestructible part of our cultural life – there's no doubt that recent years have seen a golden age of book design. There are of course whole bookshop shelves full of cheap, dull, generic products, but for those who know where to look, books have rarely been more interesting to look at, hold and open.

Partly this is a case of big publishers relying on brilliant design to make their goods stand out in an increasingly difficult market; but partly, too, it's a case of small, independent publishers springing up to provide a certain kind of reader with what they want, more than ever: the book as beautiful, covetable, keep-able object.

link: The art of book cover design - Features, Books - The Independent

California: IOUs Blues

California "IOU" recipients can turn to credit unions and check-cashing storefronts if a state budget deal does not appear by Friday and if three major banks refuse to accepting the notes beyond Friday as planned, analysts said on Tuesday.

The willingness of the smaller institutions to take IOUs from the cash-strapped state should also stop the development of a secondary market for trading them, although individuals could end up paying hefty fees to get their hands on cash.

The state government of California, the world's eighth largest economy, is experiencing a severe revenue slump brought on by recession, rising unemployment and the lengthy housing downturn, forcing it to issue IOUs in lieu of some payments.

link: California IOU holders may turn to check cashers | U.S. | Reuters

Sticking to the Union: New Strategies for New Hard Times

Labor unions are poised for a return to prominence, according to the likely next leader of the largest U.S. labor federation who promises to employ an aggressive and innovative strategy to promote workers' agenda.

Richard Trumka, the secretary-treasurer of the 11 million-member AFL-CIO, would not divulge in an interview with Reuters what specific tactics he may use, saying he did not want to lose the element of surprise.

"Here's the deal," the 59-year-old Trumka said. "For employers who want to work with us and want to work with workers, we'll be the best friend they ever had. For those that want to abuse people, take benefits away, jettison retirees, then we are going to do everything in our power to stop that from happening.

"And we will use innovative techniques."

link: Next leader of large U.S. union may be more militant | U.S. | Reuters

Mortgage Fraud Skyrockets

U.S. mortgage fraud reports jumped 36 percent last year as desperate homeowners and industry professionals tried to maintain their standard of living from the boom years, the FBI said on Tuesday.

Suspicious activity reports rose to 63,713 in fiscal year 2008, which ended last September, from 46,717 the year before. California and Florida, centers of the housing bust, had the highest numbers of suspicious reports as foreclosures jumped, the stock market dropped and credit dried up.

link: U.S. mortgage fraud rampant and growing: FBI | U.S. | Reuters

What's Owed on a Grecian Urn: Hot Pot Goes Home

Italy’s biggest prize in the war against looting antiquities went on view recently at the Villa Giulia in Rome.

Italians didn’t seem to care much.

The prize is the notorious, magnificent sixth-century B.C. red-figure krater by the Greek artist Euphronios, which the Metropolitan Museum of Art lately returned: the “hot pot,” as Thomas Hoving, the former Met director who bought it in 1972, mischievously took to calling it. A show of recovered spoils at the Quirinale in Rome last year became the pot’s homecoming party, after which it was rushed, like a freshly anointed Miss Italy, off to an exhibition in Mantua, appropriately enough about beauty.

Now it’s ensconced at the villa, its new permanent home, in a bulky glass case with odd little Christmas lights. Maybe overexposure explains why this didn’t strike Italians as particularly big news. The media mostly gave the event a pass. The gallery was empty the other afternoon.

link: Abroad - Stolen Beauty - Euphronios Urn’s Long Trip Back to Rome - NYTimes.com

Damned If You Do: Europe Wary of Obama's Climate Policy

The United States, long a laggard in international efforts to reduce global warming pollution, will arrive at the meeting of the world’s major powers in Italy this week carrying a newly assertive message on the dangers of climate change and the steps needed to address it.

The European hosts of the Group of 8 summit meeting welcome the shift. But the new stance also worries them, in part because they fear that the United States is working toward an independent deal with China outside the global negotiating framework.

link: As U.S. Shifts on Climate, Qualms in Europe Remain - NYTimes.com

Everyone, And Especially Journalists, Please Take Note (This Means You, Katie Couric)

What is "Begging the Question?"

"Begging the question" is a form of logical fallacy in which a statement or claim is assumed to be true without evidence other than the statement or claim itself. When one begs the question, the initial assumption of a statement is treated as already proven without any logic to show why the statement is true in the first place.

A simple example would be "I think he is unattractive because he is ugly." The adjective "ugly" does not explain why the subject is "unattractive" -- they virtually amount to the same subjective meaning, and the proof is merely a restatement of the premise. The sentence has begged the question.

What is it Not?

To beg the question does not mean "to raise the question." (e.g. "It begs the question, why is he so dumb?") This is a common error of usage made by those who mistake the word "question" in the phrase to refer to a literal question. Sadly, the error has grown more and more common with time, such that even journalists, advertisers, and major mass media entities have fallen prey to "BTQ Abuse." While descriptivists and other such laissez-faire linguists are content to allow the misconception to fall into the vernacular, it cannot be denied that logic and philosophy stand to lose an important conceptual label should the meaning of BTQ become diluted to the point that we must constantly distinguish between the traditional usage and the erroneous "modern" usage. This is why we fight.

link: Beg The Question // Get it right.

Commandeered Billboards

For the most part, billboards are already an eyesore, so why not take the ones which say nothing (or that have been neglected) and make them say something! Like these trompe’loeil billboards in Europe. The illusion of spatial depth using highlights, shadow and dark space created by this artist is truly remarkable—beautiful tricks of the eye. Add to that the fact that the audiences of these billboards are usually driving past in their automobiles, and the illusion is even harder to process. What’s left is: “what did I just see? I must go back and see that again!”

link: accidental mysteries

Cara Phillips -- Ultraviolet Beauties

picture-1.jpg (JPEG Image, 1338x610 pixels)

On My Current Plan, Adds Up To Billions and Billions of Unused Minutes

Depicts 426,000 cell phones, equal to the number of cell phones retired in the US every day.

link: current work

Beatrix Reinhardt: Coca-Cola Houses in India

Beatrix Reinhardt

Girl of the Lao Huay Tribe, Laos

Girl of the Lao Huay tribe, Ban Nam Sang village. Laos

link: Picture/Photo: Girl of the Lao Huay tribe, Ban Nam Sang village. Laos

Sources: The Chaldean Chronicles

At the summit of the divine hierarchy, the alleged 'Chaldaeans' seem to have conceived a 'transcendental first Fire'. They call this 'Fire' the 'Father' or 'Hypercosmic Paternal Abyss'. This father 'has created all things in perfection': he has conceived them in the intelligible world. But this supreme God is a 'triadic monad'. He is simultaneously 'one and threefold', like the God of the Christians. In fact, he dominates the triad which he forms with a second Intellect and an intermediary 'Power', that the Oracles call Hecate. The second Intellect is the 'craftsman of the igneous world', a kind of demiurge of the Empyrean.

The scheme of this 'Father-Power-Intellect' triad which is typically Chaldaean but of philosophical origin, recurs frequently in the argumentation of the Neoplatonists. The 'Power' of Hecate both unites and dissociates the first and second Fires, which the oracles seem to identify respectively with the 'transcendentally One' (hapax epekeina) and the 'transcendentally Two' (dis epekeina), although Psellos in his Summary Outline of the ancient beliefs accepted 'among the Chaldaeans' places this triad after many others, taking his inspiration from an infinitely more complex theology, ascribable to Proclus and perhaps already reconstructed by Iamblichus. There is not even unanimity on the translation itself of the mysterious hapax and dis epekeina!

link: The Chaldaean Oracles

Universe Fundamentally Self-Destructive?

Did dark matter destroy the universe? You might be looking around at the way things "exist" and thinking "No", but we're talking about ancient history. Three hundred million years after the start of the universe, things had finally cooled down enough to form hydrogen atoms out of all the protons and electrons that were zipping around - only to have them all ripped up again around the one billion year mark. Why?

Most believe that the first quasars, active galaxies whose central black holes are the cosmic-ray equivalent of a firehose, provided the breakup energy, but some Fermilab scientists have another idea. Dan Hooper and Alexander Belikov posit that invisible, self-destructing dark matter may have blown up every atom in the universe. At least it's plausible in that if we wanted to ionize an entire universe, we'd want something that sounded that awesome.

Dark matter is a candidate for providing ionizing radiation because, if it exists at all, it's its own antiparticle: if two dark matter particles hit each other they can blow up. Insane as it sounds, the theory predicts that despite making up most of everything the particles themselves are so tiny, and so terribly fussy about colliding, that they can form huge structures without destroying themselves. Positron emissions which may be an indication of exactly this kind of self-destruction have been observed by the European PAMELA satellite currently orbiting the Earth.

link: Was Universe 1.0 Destroyed by Dark Matter?

Stephen Hawking: New Phase of Human Evolution

"I think it is legitimate to take a broader view, and include externally transmitted information, as well as DNA, in the evolution of the human race," Hawking said.

In the last ten thousand years the human species has been in what Hawking calls, "an external transmission phase," where the internal record of information, handed down to succeeding generations in DNA, has not changed significantly. "But the external record, in books, and other long lasting forms of storage," Hawking says, "has grown enormously. Some people would use the term, evolution, only for the internally transmitted genetic material, and would object to it being applied to information handed down externally. But I think that is too narrow a view. We are more than just our genes."

The time scale for evolution, in the external transmission period, has collapsed to about 50 years, or less.

Meanwhile, Hawking observes, our human brains "with which we process this information have evolved only on the Darwinian time scale, of hundreds of thousands of years. This is beginning to cause problems. In the 18th century, there was said to be a man who had read every book written. But nowadays, if you read one book a day, it would take you about 15,000 years to read through the books in a national Library. By which time, many more books would have been written."

link: Stephen Hawking: "Humans Have Entered a New Stage of Evolution"

Snow White: The Sequel

These works place Fairy Tale characters in modern day scenarios. In all of the images the Princess is placed in an environment that articulates her conflict. The '...happily ever after' is replaced with a realistic outcome and addresses current issues.

link: Disinfo.com - Check Out These Fairy Tales: Fallen Princesses

Dept. of Clubs that Would Have Me as a Member: Racist Masons

There is much about Freemasonry that remains shrouded in mystery to the outside world. But a group of members in the US state of Georgia appear to have clarified one thing - the supreme being in which all Masons are required to believe is not likely to be black.

Freemasonry lodges in Georgia are at loggerheads over the admission of a "non-white" member to an organisation that was founded on the principles of the Enlightenment but which is apparently still struggling to catch up with the latter part of the 20th century.

Now the issue is headed for a Masonic trial and the state courts after some lodges in Georgia sought to revoke the charter of one in Atlanta for admitting Victor Marshall, a 26-year-old African-American army reservist, last autumn.

The Atlanta lodge has fought back in the state courts by seeking to block the move on the grounds that is based on "racial animosity and hatred".

link: Georgia freemasons at loggerheads over admission of black man to lodge | World news | guardian.co.uk

Dept. of Clubs that Would Have Me as a Member: Exclusive Brethren, Religion of Love and Tolerance

A FAMILY Court judge has denied a father any role in the parenting of his Exclusive Brethren children, in part because of his "continuing criticism" of the controversial Christian sect.

In the judgment, judge Sally Brown ruled that, while there was a legal presumption that both parents should share parenting, this was "contrary to the children's best interests" in this case.

The father, who cannot be identified because of restrictions on reporting of Family Court cases, is "devastated", particularly as a previous court judgment had awarded him frequent access to two of his eight children. Justice Brown's judgment means he has no right to see or even communicate with the children, in a reversal of those previous court orders.

"I am a broken man -- I've lost so much that I am totally beaten," he told The Australian. "I've got to accept that I'll never see my children again. What have I done wrong? I've lost the children because I've left the church. They (the Brethren, supporting the mother) had two Melbourne QCs, an assisting lawyer and a junior counsel. I was representing myself. I trusted the legal process, but this has cost me $100,000 and I can't afford to appeal."

The man separated from his wife in 2003 and left the sect, which has a history of bitterly shunning ex-members.

His ex-wife, the mother of his eight children, remains in the church, which bars members from socialising or even eating with non-members, including family members.

link: Father loses access to his Brethren children | The Australian

Dept. of Clubs that Would Have Me as a Member: Positively No Admittance

October 1910. Washington, Missouri. "Some of the boys working in Phoenix American Cob Pipe Factory. Smallest boy is Joe Krummel. See sign: 'Wanted -- Men and Boys.' Around corner was a sign, 'Girls Wanted.' Couldn't get any photos of girls." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine.

link: Members Only: 1910 | Shorpy Photo Archive

Dept. of the Hive Mind: Other People Wear You Out

Mentally simulating another person’s efforts to use self-control may trick your brain’s “fuel gauge” into mistakenly thinking that your own resources have been depleted, a new study suggests. “We’re not as individual as we might like to think,” says Yale University psychologist Joshua Ackerman. “Often how we understand the world is by relying on the understanding of other people.”

If your friend scratches her eyebrow or crosses her arms, studies suggest, odds are you’ll unthinkingly mimic the gesture. In the same way, research has shown, goals are also contagious: seeing another person pursue a goal—say, thwarting the urge to have one more Girl Scout cookie—automatically activates the same goal in one’s own mind. And neuroimaging studies indicate that mentally simulating another person’s experience triggers the same sensory and emotional brain pathways that are activated when one actually performs the action. For example, watching a video of someone about to cut her finger with a kitchen knife triggers brain areas involved in pain perception.

Ackerman and his colleagues reasoned that if we are wired to treat others’ actions as though they are our own, then stepping into the shoes of someone who is exerting self-control should deplete one’s own mental resources, just as exerting willpower oneself does. They found that sub­jects who took the perspective of a hungry restaurant waiter who had to resist the temptation to eat on the job were more vulnerable to impulse spending than subjects who merely read about the waiter.

link: Observing Others' Self-Control Can Sap Your Own: Scientific American

Dept. of Juxtaposition: Prize-Winning Photo and Auto Accident

"It was a memorable moment because I had a road accident at that location. I had seen the 'English garden' hoarding before, but always on grey days, and had thought to myself that I would stop sometime when it was sunny.

"That day (a year ago this week) I was driving past and saw the cumulus clouds and blue sky - so I indicated and filtered into the right turn lane. Suddenly a white delivery van hurtled over the slight hill behind me and came smashing into the back of my car, shunting me along the street and causing quite a bit of damage to my vehicle.

"After the exchange of details, and having photographed the accident as evidence (it was his fault by the way) I decided to stay a while and photograph the view across the road.

"I saw the jogger coming into view so put on a polarizing filter and took the picture shown, all the while standing next to my damaged car by the pavement. I waited a while and took others but this was the best frame. If I hadn't been in slight shock from the RTA I might have stuck around longer!

"The effect of the polarizing filter added to the surreal hoarding image with repeating topiary garden pattern makes it look like a composite Photoshop image - it isn't!"

link: BBC - Viewfinder: A memorable moment

Whales Evolved from Water-Loving Deer?

If you startled a deer, you might not expect it to jump into the nearest pond and submerge itself for minutes.

But that is exactly what two species of mouse-deer in Asia do when confronted by predators, scientists have found.

One other African mouse-deer species is known to do the same thing, but the new discovery suggests all ruminants may once have had an affinity with water.

It also lends support to the idea that whales evolved from water-loving creatures that looked like small deer.

link: BBC - Earth News - Aquatic deer and ancient whales

Poponomics: Charity and Truth

Pope Benedict XVI criticized the world's economic systems today and called for a new global structure based on social responsibility, concern for the dignity of the worker and a respect for ethics.

"Today's international economic scene, marked by grave deviations and failures, requires a profoundly new way of understanding human enterprise," Benedict wrote in his latest encyclical, which is the most authoritative document a pope can issue. "Without doubt, one of the greatest risks for business is that they are almost exclusively answerable to their investors, thereby limited in their social value."

In the sweeping document, Benedict denounced the private sector and blamed "badly managed and largely speculative financial dealing" for causing the current economic meltdown. He said that the primary capital to be safeguarded is people, and cautioned that economic systems need to be guided by charity and truth.

link: Pope Calls for New Economic Structure - washingtonpost.com

Your Computer is Trying to Kill You

Computer users are afflicted with more than back pain and carpal tunnel syndrome. People are also winding up in emergency rooms with cuts, bruises, sprains and fractures caused by computers and computer accessories. More than 90 percent of the injuries occur at home.

link: Vital Statistics - More Computers, Many More Injuries - NYTimes.com

Iraq: "No one can be openly gay and alive."

A new report by the BBC looks at the “deteriorating conditions for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people” in Iraq. In fact, all the LGBT Iraqis the team interviewed said that “life was easier for them when Saddam Hussein was in power, from 1979 to 2003. Some spoke fondly of an underground gay culture that flourished before the war in Baghdad.” Recent stories of violence include an Iraqi LGBT leader being gunned down and Iraqi militias gluing anuses of gay men and inducing diarrhea to cause death. “Homosexuality was generally tolerated under Saddam,” Hali, founder of Iraqi LGBT, said in 2007, adding, “Life in Iraq now is hell for all LGBT people; no one can be openly gay and alive.”

link: Think Progress » Home Page

Officials Accuse Taliban of Buying and Selling Children for Suicide Bombing

A top Taliban leader in Pakistan is buying and selling children for suicide bombings, Pakistani and U.S. officials said.

Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud has been increasingly using the children in attacks, the officials said. A video released by Pakistan's military shows the children training for the task.

In the video of a training camp, children can be seen killing and going through exercises.

Mehsud has been selling the children, once trained, to other Taliban officials for $6,000 to $12,000, Pakistani military officials said.

link: Pakistan: Taliban buying children for suicide attacks - CNN.com

Hmm -- How Much is That REALLY?

Depicts 28,000 42-gallon barrels, the amount of oil consumed in the United States every two minutes (equal to the flow of a medium-sized river).

link: current work

Burka-Filtered View of Afganistan

Afganistan seen through a woman's burka, by Aina-trained photojournalist Farzana Wahidy.

link: RESOLVE — the liveBooks photo blog » Afghanistan

Mousavi Defiant But Will Pursue Protest "Within the Framework of the Law"

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, appearing in public for the first time in nearly three weeks, vowed Monday that protests against the disputed reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "will not end" and predicted that the new government would encounter problems because it lacks legitimacy.

But the former presidential candidate, who maintains he was denied victory in the June 12 election by massive vote-rigging on behalf of Ahmadinejad, stopped short of calling for new street demonstrations, which the government has declared illegal and largely crushed in a massive crackdown. Instead, Mousavi indicated that the opposition would adopt new tactics, pursuing protest "within the framework of the law."

link: Mousavi Promises Protests Over Iran's Election Will Continue - washingtonpost.com