eugene sargent's orrery

the solar system has been around in one way, shape, or form for over 4. 6 billion years when it is believed to have formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud that coalesced into regions of overdensity after a series of supernovae explosions. comprised of eight planets, three dwarf planets, over 166 moons and billions of little bits and pieces of rock and dust, the solar system is to the universe as my neighbourhood is to the planet. a small but vibrant little microcosm that feels comfortable.

representations of our solar system have necessarily reflected both our knowledge of its constituent parts, as well as our technological ability to represent those parts. as we extend our ability and inclination to explore our neighbours, we are discovering more and more and so need to refine our models. this timeline gives a fairly up-to-date measure of the major discoveries.

mechanical representations of the solar system or orreries, have been around for centuries. by their very nature and in consideration for what it is they are representing, it is accepted that they will not be to scale but will give a sense of the simpler descriptors being relative scale, colour, and in the more sophisticated models, their orbits.

here’s a lovely example from the french clockmakers raingo freres. dating from the early 1830’s, this device shows the motions of the earth and the moon around the sun. the spring driven pendulum clock drives the planetary model at the same rate as the heavens.
here’s another lovely example on display at the smithsonian. . .

and here’s a lovely boxed orrery dating back to 1794, that surely excited all who saw it . . .

more recent designs that i have come across seem to favour the artistry inherent in mechanical precision . . . one such example has just been made available by eugene sargent. sargent, an artist hailing from fayetteville, arkansas works with a variety of materials and allows the creative pure stuff to flow through his work such that a visit to his website will reveal cement cast sculptures such as “love attempts melting shells” . . .
this extraordinary ”shiny computer case” . . .
a variety of tables including this exquisite piece assembled from black walnut, steel, and glass . . .
an array of artworks
and all sorts of writing.

what i especially like though is his orrery. seen here in its entirety . . .
and here in detail . . .
the new owner was apparently so excited by their new orrery that they have posted this webpage detailing . . . its arrival.

if you would like to see this orrery in action, then you might like to watch this video, narrated by the artist himself in which he explains its workings as well as the process by which he created this beautiful machine . . .

morning has broken

a beautiful beginning day with the sun pressing through cloud cover.
in my mind a song sung by cat stevens that my mother sang as a child . . . and which i loved as a teen . . .


closer to the ground . . . . closer . . .

the spectacular world of nudibranchs

a fascinating, beautiful, little animal is the subject of a really cool article by jennifer holland over at national geographic. the animal is called a nudibranch - honest! nudibranchs (pronounced noodibranks) are basically a relative of the snail that decided to go without the shell. the resultant soft, squishy creature has very wisely developed some pretty nasty defenses ranging from the very basic - a tough bumpy abrasive skin, to toxic secretions and stinging cells!

nudibranchs live pretty much anywhere from sandy shallows to the mud you’d find a mile down. but let’s get back to the nasty stuff about them. the stinging cells i mentioned earlier are actually harvested by them! that’s right, they’ll eat up a sponge and in the process they’ll alter and store the sponge’s nasty stuff in their bodies and secrete it from their skin cells or glands when they’re bugged!

the real story with nudibranchs for me though is the stunning variety of beautiful colours and shapes they come in.

if you visit national geographic you’ll find a gorgeous gallery of nudibranch photographs taken by david doubilet all of which are available for purchase for twenty dollars each unframed!

greenpeace has a nice little article on nudibranchs with a couple of lovely pictures.

a brief national geographic video tells more and shows more . . .

here’s another lovely video that shows a wide variety of truly exquisite and lovely nudibranchs

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ohm bikes: the lithium ion solution

i bicycle nine to ten months of the year through a smaller city (around seventy thousand people) along relatively safe, sometimes smooth, city streets. in the summertime i travel into the countryside on longer journeys but generally speaking my commutes constitute the bulk of my riding. as such, i ride around twenty kilometres a day. according to a carbon calculator i use, the commuting element of my cycling generates a saving of 3.58 kg/day or over the course of a typical working year - which for me is around two hundred days - i am saving 716 kg of co2 from entering the atmosphere.

the practicalities of the ride are numerous and include the safe transportation of not only myself, but my laptop, food, water, clothing, and student work (i’m a teacher) in all kinds of weather. the return journey at night includes a set of good climbs and so as i get older the challenge increases ever so slightly but perceptibly.

a canadian company must have heard my cry and those of thousands of other well-intentioned but gently aged adults as ohm cycles has released a really interesting series of motorized bicycles that come with very nice components and a lithium-ion powered drivetrain.

the ohm urban series features front and rear hydraulic disc brakes, a frame made from 70 series aluminum, shimano drivetrain components, front and rear 12v halogen lights, a rear carry rack, mudguards, and what looks to be a very comfy seat!

the ohm sport series has a larger battery and a more powerful motor for steep inclines, better range and overall performance.
top speed of ohm bikes is restricted in canada to 32 kph but can be adjusted. recharging time? around three hours.

so how does it work? if you love highly detailed techno info you’ll find it here. if you are comfortable with more general knowledge, then i can tell you that the ohm bike incorporates an electric wheel motor, a rechargeable battery and a digital display that automatically reads your pedaling effort and adds power to your pedaling, according to the selected mode. if you switch to generative mode then you can apply dynamic braking, recharge the battery while you ride and simulate slopes to function as a fitness machine! the long and short of it is, you’re going to be fit no matter what!

if you’re interested, then contact the company directly. dealers at this time seem to be restricted to alberta and b.c.

tubeclock - nixie tubes shed light on time

i can still remember the very first amp i owned with its metal case and ungainly weight, but most of all and best of all, i remember that when the room was dark, a slight glow emitted from between the cooling slats on top. the light trickling feebly upwards came from a little bank of tubes.

what i’m going to share with you today isn’t an amp but it does use tubes (specifically nixie tubes) in a novel fashion. the tube clock company has released just that - a tube clock - utilizing tubes as the means by which you can determine what time it is. to my eyes and to my way of thinking, this is a much prettier way of seeing time than the ubiquitous led clocks.

available in either four or six nixie tube configurations, (the four tube version displays a standard twelve-hour clock and the six tube configuration displays a twenty-four hour clock configuration), there are a variety of models available including these beauties:

this model displays twelve or twenty four hour time and will tell time to the second . . .
this beauty gets my vote as best of the collection and is available (as are most of the clocks on this site) as a kit if you’d like to assemble your own!
here’s one more that’s very lovely in its aluminum enclosure . . .
the clocks i have shown here range in price from $199 - $495 in price but if you can imagine waking up to the lovely orange-red glow of the numbers then they are well worth it.

for more information then drop by tubeclock or write directly to the owner and builder.

paolo soleri's dream of arcosanti

arcosanti, the brainchild of architect and visionary paolo soleri first crossed into my awareness (as with so many other people, ideas, and ways of thinking) when i read the whole earth catalogue. the whole earth catalogue was an extraordinary compendium of ideas, products, places, spaces, and people and was in effect a precursor to google in its gathering together of seemingly disparate yet somehow connected “stuff”.

at the time it first entered my awareness, arcosanti would have been three years old as it entered this world in 1970 grounding the ethos of the times in a practical attempt to provide an alternative to the prevalent structures and infrastructures associated with human habitation.

soleri was apprenticed to the great architect frank lloyd wright in the 1940’s. soleri later developed the concept of arcology, a hybrid of architecture and ecology, that proposed an alternative urban development form reflected at once in the design of the structures as well as in their organization.
in soleri’s words he saw arcosanti as “...a highly integrated and compact three-dimensional urban form that is the opposite of urban sprawl.”

soleri’s chief objective in designing and building arcosanti was to provide designs that offered an alternative to what he characterized as the great evils of the age - wastefullness and urban sprawl. this vision continues to be applied to an emerging 25-acre city where eventually as many as 5,000 people can live and work in harmony with each other and with nature. to effect this soleri has provided for a considerable amount of shared space which includes kitchens, gardens, and recreation areas. it is this idea of interdependence that i think most current city dwellers would find most challenging were they to move to a model based on arcosanti.
at present the “city” is home at any time to up to 100 people and is being built on a volunteer basis with very limited funds. this has led to some critics suggesting that by the time the city has actually been completed, the challenges identified by soleri will have been solved through improved technology. my own view on work like this is that sometimes through the sheer presence of someone pursuing their vision, others may capitalize on the inherent risk and hazhard involved in such an undertaking and create more practical solutions with more general utility. this is a commonplace practice in the arts where what is nominally marginalized as “avant-garde” eventually becomes mainstream.

to visit arcosanti and to see soleri’s other works, including the sundial bridge proposed for scottsdale, arizona (the bridge has pylons that act as sundials aligned to the summer and winter solstice points) then
go here. you might find his proposals for a “lean linear city” - an idea directed at the current massive expansion china is undergoing - to be of interest as well. to see all things soleri including a visit to the arcosanti shop where you can purchase these beautiful handmade bells (and others like it) spend some time here.

cool gadgets: ipod mishare, taisin iceball maker, strida folding bike

the ipod is now as much a feature of life in the twenty first century as the walkman and then the discman were for the latter half of the twentieth century. my wife and both my children have ipods and certainly in my children’s case, they are used more than any other electronic item. from the vantage point of my wishing them to listen to and appreciate music i am pleased. i am looking at purchasing an ipod myself, chiefly to use as a storage library for my cd collection which is not unwieldy, but does take up a fair bit of space.

as is usual when i prepare to make a purchase, i shop around, not only for the item itself but for all the peripherals. that is how i came across a cool little gadget that speeds up one of the processes that i have heard a number of people say they wish someone would sort out, and that is the transfer of files from one ipod to another.

mishare has recently announced the release of an item that solves that very dilemma.
here’s some video of the mishare in action along with some narrative that details step-by-step how it works and what happens when you tranfer tunes.


we have a set of rubber trays that create ice cubes in a variety of shapes and sizes but i was really interested to see that the taisin company in japan has developed a system for making ice balls (as opposed to cubes). to make an ice ball you simply place a chunk of ice into the metal press and, as it melts, the device closes around the ice forming a ball, which is then released by the flick of a switch. i won’t be rushing out to get one but it looks really pretty.
folding bikes are nothing new, but much of the technology that is being incorporated into them is pretty spectactular. for example, the strida which was invented in england, comes complete with a greaseless chain (it’s always nice to arrive at your next meeting without that nasty black stripe across the hem of your pants!), a rustproof frame, and a claimed five-second foldup time which makes it very attractive to the time-strapped individual. additionally it possesses disc brakes and can be rolled even when folded, eliminating that nasty feature of all previous foldups, being the need to carry a chunky, unwieldy heap of metal and rubber wherever you go.
oh and did i mention that it’s made out of 7000 series aluminum making it lightweight and strong? you can get it in silver, red, black, dark blue, orange, pink, white, or yellow, $800 can put one of these in your closet, and you on the road.

heinrich harrer: seven years in tibet

heinrich harrer was born on july 6, 1912. he died on january 7, 2006. in his obituary, it is noted that “harrer wrote soon after leaving lhasa of his homesickness. he could "still hear the wild cries of geese and cranes ... as they fly over lhasa in the clear cold moonlight." forty years later he would observe that "the landscape has not changed, but there are no more birds."

i first came across heinrich harrer when i read his book about the many atttempts to scale the eiger’s north face entitled "the white spider". i was struck by his ability to present this, the most harrowing and dangerous of "sports", as an informative yet almost poetic narrative.

here's "the white spider" on the eiger . . .

while mountaineering in the himalayas, harrer and two fellow climbers were detained by the british authorities as war had broken out. harrer managed to escape and with three other men, undertook an incredibly treacherous journey across the most inhospitable terrain that resulted in him entering tibet. harrer and one other climber remained in tibet for seven years, an experience famously chronicled in his book ”seven years in tibet” and later in the film of the same name.
one of my favourite pieces of writing by harrer appeared in of all places national geographic. entitled “my life in forbidden lhasa”, the article details his escape from internment in india to the isolated refuge of tibet. you can read the article here.

most extraordinarily though harrer was introduced to the dalai lama to whom he became a tutor and friend . . . here he is at a later date reunited with his old friend and "student" . . . here is an excerpt from the film “seven years in tibet” in which the dalai lama discusses life with harrer . . .


some grainy but worthy still and moving images of old tibet have been assembled here . . .


wealthy completists might be interested in acquiring a copy of harrer’s portfolio of ten silver gelatin prints taken during his stay in tibet. if you are neither wealthy nor a completist, then you might be satisfied with having a look at the ten pictures online.

rain barrels and watersavers

rain catchment systems are quickly moving from “cool” to necessary. the practicalities of providing processed water to maintain lawns and properties are quickly becoming so problematic in some areas that it is no longer an option.

the area i live in has been fortunate and blessed in having an abundance of water such that we are allowed to water every second day. but in all conscience, i wonder at throwing thousands of gallons of fresh clean water into the ground. two summers ago as part of a bet with a neighbour we didn’t water our lawns all summer. the result? well we had some brown patches and shorter grass. the following summer our lawns were invaded by grubs - a feature of our no longer using pesticides - well i stopped four years ago - but in the end, i didn’t and don’t really care or worry about the presence of a lovely emerald green lawn. many people do.

my neighbours have for the most part, made the transition from chemically maintained lawns to open discussion around a new approach to what our “front lawns” will actually look like and consist of. there is so much history in suburbia connected to uniformly green lawns that it is very hard for people to connect to the idea that dandelions and clover and wild grasses might actually have a place. i have researched the variety of options available that at one and the same time bridge the gap between what looks good and what works for the neighbourhood and the environment.

the next step for me is to be the first on my street to take the next step!

in the meantime, how best to take my garden off the processed water cycle? well, installing rain barrels seems most obvious so here is what available.

home hardware will sell you this attractive rain barrel which comes complete with a removable planter on top. it’s dimensions are roughly 24 inches by 43 inches so it takes up very little space. it will set you back roughly $150.00. for more information have a look here.

if you are able to locate barrels (with lids of your own) then this kit might be just the ticket for you to set up your own rain catchment system. the garden watersaver is available from a number of suppliers in western canada. ringing in at under thirty dollars, this is a very handy and simple solution to storing rainwater.
here’s a company in the whitby / oshawa area that will sell you rainbarrels and it looks like they can also sell you the previous product...

here’s a video of their product at work:

interested? then you can contact them here:
1390 Hopkins Street, Unit 5
Whitby, Ontario
905-666-2002
envirosponsible

jon hassell: maarifa street live

on an autumn evening some twenty five years ago i made my way to the ontario college of art auditorium in downtown toronto to see and hear musician jon hassell play. the evening was a blur of electronically processed trumpet, tribal polyrhythms played on bass, guitar, percussion, and sequenced synthesizer. the effect was extraordinary - it was as if it had lasted fifteen minutes when in fact it had been five times that long!

i first heard about jon’s music through his connection with musician brian eno. hassell and eno’s seminal release fourth world: volume one possible musics occupied a special place on my turntable for a long time with its magic blend of atmospherics, found sound, tribal rhythms, and the breathy trumpet playing of hassell himself. here’s another perspective on fourth world: volume one possible musics.
hassell’s sound is hard to describe, but simply put, he usually plays muted trumpet through processed electronics. beyond that his sound is indescribable sounding somewhere between the morning call to prayer of an imam and miles davis’ sound around the bitches brew period. to give you an idea of his music, here’s a track off “dream theory in malaysia entitled “malay” . . .
hassell has played with groups as diverse as david sylvian, talking heads,

hassell’s background is predictably fascinating and so you should read this brief bio of the man here before moving into his most recent work, “maarifa street”.
released in 2005, maarifa street was drawn from three live recordings, each recorded in four instrumental layers that were later worked over in the studio where additional layers were added or reperformed such that themes and phrases enter the mix, swirl, stutter, disappear and then later reappear as played by another instrument.

the homepage for maarifa street (which shares the same lovely statement from the great sufi rumi as this blog) is a rich repository of information that uncovers the creative process that brought maarifa street to life. opening up the “touchstones” link for example, reveals six points of departure for hassell as he framed the emerging music in contexts that would both underwrite and propel its creation. my favourite “touchstone” is this 3” X 5” index card on which is written: "rumi and gil evans: together again"; a notated melodic motif from 'open secret (paris)' and notes about the tibetan word "drala" which relates to the magic in the unmediated simplicity of nature. "a simple raindrop of a melody" is written underneath. this opened the door to seeing that simple melody as if it were some natural phenomenon, no apologies required. dra means "enemy" and la means "above". so "drala" literally means "beyond the enemy." my note in the margin: "cultural alchemy!—'maarifa' (arabic) + 'drala' (tibetan)".

hassell’s work has strong aural links to musicians as diverse as the orb, miles davis, tomita, herbie hancock, nusrat fateh ali khan, electronica, moroccan street musicians, truly the list is long! his music is also characterized by rich and vibrant aural visual textures.

for that reason, it’s important to mention an especially powerful influence on hassell’s work which has been the work of artist mati klarwein. inside the album cover, hassell dedicates maarifa street to “my brother mati. i’m still trying to do the soundtrack to your clairvoyant painting and self.” i first saw klarwein’s work when he illustrated the cover for miles davis’ incredible bitches brew. klarwein provided davis with several more covers as well as supplying carlos santana with the stunning cover for abraxas. my favourite klarwein cover for hassell has to be this incredible painting entitled "soundscapes". much much more of mati’s work and thinking can be found right here.

but music so needs to be heard. here then is a concert version of maarifa street:

maarifa street live part one:

maarifa street live part two:

maarifa street live part three:

maarifa street live part four:

maarifa street live part five:

stars of the lid play arvo part's fratres

sometimes the searching and wandering around that i engage in results in tremendous fortune in terms of accidental finds in music, literature, film, food - whatever comes my way. being open to the moment that sees the simultaneous arrival of the experience and my self is key to its unfolding.

one such experience brought this video of a wonderful group playing a beautiful piece of music - one of my favourite chamber pieces - together into an evening of reflection. stars of the lid are not a group you would find just anywhere. i have listened to their music off and on for a few years now. the band's name refers to "your own personal cinema, located between your eye and eyelid", suggesting the colours and patterns you can see when your eyes are closed. arvo part has already been featured on this blog and so needs very little introduction.

here is a gorgeous offering of arvo part’s “fratres” . . .

more music by stars of the lid can be heard at their myspace site.

rupert brooke: the fish

today i’d like to feature a poem filled with the luxurious and opulent writing of rupert brooke . brooke was born in the south of england on august 3, 1887. the second of three boys, brooke’s father was a rugby schoolmaster. brooke's journey into writing was (in retrospect) an inevitability through his work in theatre and through his association with various writing groups but most especially the bloomsbury group which was both a blessing and a curse. the stresses brought on by association and expectation with this group of literary luminaries apparently drove him to near-breakdown.

at one point the great irish poet william butler yeats described brooke as "the handsomest young man in england". brooke died somewhat romantically at the age of 28 on april 23, 1915. april 23 is of course the date on which england’s patron saint, saint george’s day is celebrated. brooke died from sepsis brought on by an infected mosquito bite. he is buried on the island of skyros, greece.

the fish

in a cool curving world he lies
and ripples with dark ecstasies.
the kind luxurious lapse and steal
shapes all his universe to feel
and know and be; the clinging stream
closes his memory, glooms his dream,
who lips the roots o' the shore, and glides
superb on unreturning tides.
those silent waters weave for him
a fluctuant mutable world and dim,
where wavering masses bulge and gape
mysterious, and shape to shape
dies momently through whorl and hollow,
and form and line and solid follow
solid and line and form to dream
fantastic down the eternal stream;
an obscure world, a shifting world,
bulbous, or pulled to thin, or curled,
or serpentine, or driving arrows,
or serene slidings, or march narrows.
there slipping wave and shore are one,
and weed and mud. No ray of sun,
but glow to glow fades down the deep
(as dream to unknown dream in sleep);
shaken translucency illumes
the hyaline of drifting glooms;
the strange soft-handed depth subdues
drowned colour there, but black to hues,
as death to living, decomposes---
red darkness of the heart of roses,
blue brilliant from dead starless skies,
and gold that lies behind the eyes,
the unknown unnameable sightless white
that is the essential flame of night,
lustreless purple, hooded green,
the myriad hues that lie between
darkness and darkness! . . .
                                                   and all's one.
gentle, embracing, quiet, dun,
the world he rests in, world he knows,
perpetual curving. only---grows
an eddy in that ordered falling,
a knowledge from the gloom, a calling
weed in the wave, gleam in the mud---
the dark fire leaps along his blood;
dateless and deathless, blind and still,
the intricate impulse works its will;
his woven world drops back; and he,
sans providence, sans memory,
unconscious and directly driven,
fades to some dank sufficient heaven.
o world of lips, o world of laughter,
where hope is fleet and thought flies after,
of lights in the clear night, of cries
that drift along the wave and rise
thin to the glittering stars above,
you know the hands, the eyes of love!
the strife of limbs, the sightless clinging,
the infinite distance, and the singing
blown by the wind, a flame of sound,
the gleam, the flowers, and vast around
the horizon, and the heights above---
you know the sigh, the song of love!
but there the night is close, and there
darkness is cold and strange and bare;
and the secret deeps are whisperless;
and rhythm is all deliciousness;
and joy is in the throbbing tide;
whose intricate fingers beat and glide
in felt bewildering harmonies
of trembling touch; and music is
the exquisite knocking of the blood.
space is no more, under the mud;
his bliss is older than the sun.
silent and straight the waters run.
the lights, the cries, the willows dim,
a the dark tide are one with him.

rupert brooke (1887-1915)

if after reading this beautiful writing you would like to read the collected poems of rupert brooke then visit here.

if you like clever artistic renderings of fish designs then you need to know that voodoo maggy is selling this gorgeous laptop sketchbook. over at yogagoat, you can buy this gorgeous bowl . . . .

the berlin airlift

when i was sixteen, my aunt took my brother and i on a holiday to holland and germany. among the many amazing experiences we had was that of flying from cologne to berlin. at that time berlin was divided between east and west and so the flight path followed a prescribed route across east german airspace and into tempelhof airport.

i had no knowledge of the history of tempelhof at the time but later came to know it as the centre of an incredible story in which a city, held hostage by politics was kept alive - literally - through an incredible airlift involving

known as the berlin blockade and resulting in the berlin airlift, the events were precipitated by the soviet union which, simply expressed, was unhappy with the post-war partition of lands and so began the cold war.

at the time the airlift was begun, berlin had thirty-five days' worth of food and forty-five days' worth of coal and so began the massive and extraordinary relief operation. in terms of food it was calculated that they would need to supply seventeen hundred calories per person per day, consisting of 646 tons of flour and wheat, 125 tons of cereal, 64 tons of fat, 109 tons of meat and fish, 180 tons of dehydrated potatoes, 180 tons of sugar, 11 tons of coffee, 19 tons of powdered milk, 5 tons of whole milk for children, 3 tons of fresh yeast for baking, 144 tons of dehydrated vegetables, 38 tons of salt and 10 tons of cheese. In total, 1,534 tons were needed daily to keep the over 2 million people alive.

at one point over one thousand five hundred flights per day were delivering materials into berlin! seventy airmen lost their lives in the course of the airlift. in total, the u.s. delivered 1,783,573 tons of materials, while 541,937 tons were delivered by the raf, totaling 2,326,406 tons of food and supplies on 278,228 total flights to berlin. The c-47s and c-54s together flew over 92 million miles in the process, nearly the same distance as the earth is from the sun!

here’s a photograph taken in august of 1948  of planes involved in the airlift at tempelhof.

here’s another image of planes lined up waiting to fly into tempelhof. a massive library of documents related to the berlin airlift has been made available through the harry s. truman library and museum.

here is a newsreel from the time of the berlin airlift:

the paper sculptures of jen stark and richard sweeney

i love art that is purely about colour - especially when it’s used in a detailed and unexpected form. i think i can trace this to my appreciation of artists like seurat and then on to stella, vasarely, and now jen stark. stark’s work will take your breath away with its strange juxtaposition of the simplistic within an incredibly precise and detailed format that will leave you asking “how?” over and over!

created by hand using multi-coloured cardboard, here are some details from various works . . .
can’t wait to see more? i hardly blame you! then you’d better start here right away!

this leads you to a gallery of images of her work which magically transform to reveal a detailed closeup or an alternate perspective when you pass your cursor over the image. her drawings are equally colourful and rendered in felt-tip pen on paper. if you’d like to know more about jen then this article in tokyo-based ping mag is the best i’ve found.

fellow paper-artist richard sweeney works with a much more restricted palette but produces similarly stunning results using paper-scoring, cutting, and folding to achieve results like this . . . while you’re there, be sure to take a look at richard’s projects and experiments links . . . there’s some incredible stuff happening there as well!