‘He touched a nerve’: how the first piece of AI music was born in 1956 Long before Auto-Tune and deepfake compositions, university professor Lejaren Hiller premiered a concert recital composed by a computer and became an overnight celebrity The Guardian Electronic music Jeff Gage Tue 7 Dec 2021 Illiac Suite
Humboldt Times, 13 October 1883 A Life of Terror. Rochester Herald. The Ford brothers have been starring through the country as murderers, but just at the present they are not happy. The acquittal of Frank James, brother of Jesse, whom one of the boys treach- erously shot from behind his back, as well as the … [Read more…]
I can’t believe I didn’t post about this back in 2016 when I was following it, getting updates often and hoping for the success of the voyage. http://www.seacharger.com/ SeaCharger completed its voyage from California to Hawaii on July 22, 2016! Distance: 2413 miles Time at sea: 41.4 days Average speed: 58.3 miles per day, 2.43 … [Read more…]
In the Atlantic, James Fallows reports on the Ancient Rome and Modern American analogies. Now, chapter four: crossing the Rubicon. Schnurer argues that this is more than just a familiar phrase. And he says that a U.S. Rubicon moment is in view—which would be triggered by a possible indictment of Donald Trump. At the end … [Read more…]
In today’s Guardian, an article about the recent spate of encounters between small sail boats and Orca’s off the coast of Spain.
Over on spaceweather.com is this interesting recap of the impact of Starfish Prime, a 1962 low orbit nuclear test.
In the NY Times: Roberto Calasso, Renaissance Man of Letters, Dies at 80 A Florentine by birth, he was a polymath as an author and publisher (Kafka, Verdic philosophy, Greek mythology) who reached a wide international readership. In “The Art of the Publisher,” his reflections on his decades in publishing, Mr. Calasso was diffident about … [Read more…]
In the Guardian, Yep, it’s bleak, says expert who tested 1970s end-of-the-world prediction, A controversial MIT study from 1972 forecast the collapse of civilization – and Gaya Herrington is here to deliver the bad news
Chad Kalepa Baybayan Seafarer Who Sailed Using the Stars, Dies at 64 He was a torchbearer for the celestial navigation art known as wayfinding, which ancestral Polynesian sailors used to navigate the Pacific Ocean. From a NYT obituary, May 15,2021
Over at Ars-Technia, an interesting view on “Chamise is kind of a crystal ball for understanding how badly California might burn. ” And nothing scares a fire weather scientist quite like a year with dehydrated chamise. If it’s dry, then that’s a good indicator that everything is dry. “Right now, these are the lowest April … [Read more…]