One of my absolute favourite scenes from the 1946 film noir Gilda directed by Charles Vidor and starring Rita Hayworth – Put the Blame on Mame – sung by Anita Kert Ellis.
Heartbeat
The universe exists within the frequency of a heartbeat. Before the ‘big bang’, crossing point zero, after the ‘big bang’. That in that billion years heartbeat, we exist, because of what time allows, is the anomaly. Another heartbeat, another time, another existence, all different from each other, never to be repeated. The power of creativity, of creation itself, lies in this one heartbeat. That too many of humankind do not realise that they too move within this one heartbeat during this one span of time with all other things that currently are, is to miss out on this anomaly. The anomaly that is, life.
Dichotomy in language: the nought of ‘love’
Most of the world’s philosophers and religions have spoken in some form or other, about love. But language is characteristically evolving as a process of communication and relativistic as a tool of communication, which leaves it sometimes grossly inadequate in expressing our thoughts and understandings of the workings of the world. How would people for example, describe a state of (perceived) psychosis of one that is not in psychosis but of an alternate reality, inaccessible by others who are themselves limited by their own senses? And to what extent is that alternate reality, alternate? Would it not just – be – in a world of 96% unknown from biology to quantum science [1,2,3,4]?
Some of the most influential and renowned minds have tried to use the inherited apparatus of language, to explain their perspectives, of their understanding of life, of how things are. But due to the nature of language that is sometimes slow to evolve in order to iterate depth of insight, they have had their thoughts literarised because there are few more efficient means to communicate thought than through language. Subsequently words become signifiers for what is, and what is, is also relative to each individual’s expression circumscribed by culture. With time in language, conflation leads to confusion where in the literary canon, ‘love’ has come to accrue other meanings, in connotation with other concepts ranging from ‘god’ to ‘nature’.
‘Love’ percolating through the vocabularies of the world, the word, its concept and meaning, fracture.
Many people would most of all attribute love as something grounded in human emotions, that is most often seen in a dichotomous distinction from ‘hate’. Continue reading “Dichotomy in language: the nought of ‘love’”
“Rose Rose I Love You”
The First of May 2014.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2014
The symbolic flower for the month of May is the Rosa Chinensis or the China Rose, which shares the same name / title to one of my paternal grandfather’s favourite songs, “Rose Rose I Love You”.
That song was first recorded in 1940 by Yao Lee and then by Frankie Laine in 1951 with the lyrics of the latter unrelated to the original.
What I found interesting in Laine’s version is that the song references a girl, possibly named Rose, as a “flower of Malaya”. This reference brought me back to the origins of Clifford Pier in Singapore, built between 1927 and 1933 and named after Sir Hugh Clifford, Governor of the Straits Settlements at the time. The pier was one of the busiest embarkation and disembarkation points in Singapore that belonged to the Straits Settlements Crown Colony during the early 1900s, from immigrants to the trading of goods. That Customs House at Collyer Quay stands in close proximity to what was once Clifford Pier today is testament to its history.
Continue reading ““Rose Rose I Love You””
Brian Cox: quantum theory and the universe
Brian Cox. Transcript on supernova explosions in the distant galaxies and the use of analogies to daily activities such as the baking of bread to explain the Hubble Law. How the use of analogies and metaphors in language can help in the structuring and understanding of a concept for those outside of the discipline of quantum physics.
[16:22]
now these are rare / you get one supernova per century per galaxy / so very rare / but there are a lot of galaxies / and this is a beautiful picture / i think again / from the hubble space telescope
Continue reading “Brian Cox: quantum theory and the universe”
“Poetry of Science”: discussion between R. Dawkins and N. deGrasse Tyson
“I will never require you to believe anything” – Tyson
“But Britain is not Europe as we are constantly reminded. That’s right, here we have the English breakfast and the Continental breakfast. That’s very different breakfasts that you can order here.” – Tyson
Continue reading ““Poetry of Science”: discussion between R. Dawkins and N. deGrasse Tyson”
The End of Space and Time? by Robbert Dijkgraaf
Robbert Dijkgraaf’s lecture given at Gresham College in 2012 that focuses on string theory, quantum gravity, and the interface between mathematics and particle physics, bridges ideas from the various disciplines of science and arts, could be said to be have played a pivotal role in influencing the manner in which I saw the Individual in relation to space and time. Dijkgraaf takes on an evolutionary perspective to space and time, that are “near to their end”.
From the transcript of the lecture:
“If you go back in more recent history, for instance, Richard Feynman, the famous particle physicist, he has said that if you really do not know mathematics – and do not be worried, there will not be many equations today – but if you do not really know mathematics, you cannot get across the real feeling of the beauty of nature.”
“Not only did we have this unification of space and time but the next ingredient was that space, the stage, so to say, is not rigid, it is flexible, it can curve, it can shape, and it does so under the influence of energy and mass, and that is the phenomena that we call gravitation. So, anything that carries mass or energy will curve the space and time around and thereby space and time became no longer the stage, but an active player in the game. Space and time are something which has physical properties and a future in physical laws, and in fact, it is the influence of this curvature that describes the motion of particles under the influence of gravity.”
“I think the evolving universe, the Big Bang, is part of our culture, and in fact, these images and the discoveries that are made are getting more and more exact and precise. We are living in the age of precision cosmology,…”
Continue reading “The End of Space and Time? by Robbert Dijkgraaf”
BARCELONA
Timelapse of Barcelona by Alexandr Kravtsov. Just beautiful.
As David Bickley wrote, of A.Kravtsov’s 480gb of images:
“What’s even more impressive is what Alexandr went through to make this piece. In his words it took “a broken camera, lost flash drive, near 100 subway rides, 24 000 photos, endless hours of post production and rendering and 480 gigabytes of material.” That’s insane!”
BARCELONA. MOTION TIMELAPSE from Alexandr Kravtsov on Vimeo.
Sourdough: naturally leavened bread
Secrets of Sourdough with Eduardo Morell.
Produced by KQED’s “Quest: Science on the SPOT”.
Sourdough bread served with olive oil and sea salt would be a classic combination of flavours, the bread simply sponging up the golden oil. Decadent.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2013
A few years ago, the concept of slow cooking began in Sweden as a general awareness raised in the context of too much pre-fabricated ingredients being used in the food and beverage industry. Today, the idea of slow cooking has developed more into a lifestyle philosophy here on the Swedish culinary scene, and at the heart of this all, is the secret to sourdough baking – it is an all natural process of fermentation of the bread, and it takes time, the standard time being three days to the baking of one batch.
Continue reading “Sourdough: naturally leavened bread”