Haiku du Jour

May 18 “The End”

rgdaniel — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:08:26 +0000

Why do I bother?

I’m clearly not getting through.

This site is over.

click for
YouTube video “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue (Bob Dylan 1965)“

May 18 “Look upon me”

rgdaniel — Mon, 18 May 2009 04:03:00 +0000

The life of the mind

can be a distressing place -

Just ask Barton Fink.

Click for
YouTube video: “Barton Fink -- The Life of the Mind (extended)“

May 17 “I Want My”

rgdaniel — Sun, 17 May 2009 04:01:27 +0000

Money for nothing:

It sounds too good to be true.

Learn more, send me cash.

If an economy is to survive, it needs to be based on a real and sustainable foundation, like goods and services. I will till your field, you will give me a meal. Then the “services” start getting a little fuzzy around the edges and the whole thing starts to crumble. And even as Rome burns, people are still fiddling around with get rich quick schemes.

To learn more about how this is, in the long run, a Very Bad Idea, just click the Donate button and drop a thousand bucks in my PayPal account, and I’ll explain it to you personally. Seriously.

Click for
YouTube video: “Dire Straits -- Money For Nothing (original video -- 1985)“

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May 16 “Nadir”

rgdaniel — Sat, 16 May 2009 04:01:07 +0000

Hammill / Van der Graaf.

Magog (In Bromine Chambers).

The dark heart of Prog.

Click for
YouTube video: “Van der Graaf Generator -- Gog -- Live (2007)“

The song “Gog” — paired with the lengthy instrumental collage “Magog (In Bromine Chambers)” — first appeared on the 1975 Peter Hammill solo album “In Camera”. In recent years it has become a live staple of the reformed Van der Graaf Generator.

The “Magog” section of the piece actually did have some vocals, albeit so heavily treated as to be nearly indistinguishable from the general infernal chaos:

In Bromine Chambers
there can be no mercy,
no bitter flagellation for your sins;
no forgiveness and no sackcloth
can cease the dance
of ashes on the wind.

Too late now for a wish
to change all wishing;
too late to change, to breathe, to grow.
Too late to smother out the tell-tale footprints
which mark your passage through the greying snow

Peter Hammill "In Camera" 1975

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May 15 “Timeshift”

rgdaniel — Fri, 15 May 2009 04:01:05 +0000

Oh No, it’s TiVo!

Not your father’s VCR.

Digital Macht Frei

Click for
YouTube video: “Devo -- Whip It!“

Click it, click it good.

May 14 “Knock Knock”

rgdaniel — Thu, 14 May 2009 04:01:29 +0000

Riders on the storm,

There’s a killer on the road.

Strange days have found us.

The time to hesitate is through. His brain is squirming like a toad. Streets are uneven when you’re down. Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain. And all the children are insane.

From Wikipedia:

The Doors of Perception is a 1954 book by Aldous Huxley detailing his experiences when taking mescaline.

The title comes from William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell:

“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern.”

Click for
YouTube video: “Blondie vs. The Doors: Rapture Riders“

Click for
MySpace video: “The Doors -- Strange Days (1967 original promotional film)“
The Doors -- Strange Days

Original cover of The Doors "Strange Days", 1967

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May 13 “Heartbeat”

rgdaniel — Wed, 13 May 2009 04:01:37 +0000

Bang the drum slowly,

Or bang on the drum all day --

Life is rhythmical.

Click for
YouTube video: “Ghost Dance -- Native American -- Power Drums -- Spirit Pride“

Cardiac events occurring in the cardiac cycle. Two complete cycles are illustrated.

Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon - Gatefold Inner

May 12 “Procol Harum”

rgdaniel — Tue, 12 May 2009 04:01:21 +0000

Repent Walpurgis.

Nothing That I Didn’t Know.

Whiter Shade of Pale.

click for
YouTube video: “Procol Harum -- Repent Walpurgis“ (1971)

click for
YouTube video: “Procol Harum -- Nothing That I Didn’t Know“ (1970)

click for
YouTube video: “Procol Harum -- Whiter Shade of Pale“ (1967)

A Whiter Shade of Pale was released 42 years ago to the day, on May 12, 1967.

From Wikipedia:

With a structure reminiscent of Baroque music, a countermelody based on J.S. Bach’s cantata no.140 assigned to Fisher’s Hammond organ, Brooker’s soulful vocals and Reid’s mysterious lyrics, “A Whiter Shade of Pale” reached #1 on the British charts and did almost as well in the United States, reaching #5. In the years since, it has become an enduring classic, placing on several polls of the best songs ever.

There’s a quite thorough biography of the band on the excellent allmusic.com website.

Procol Harum in 1967

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May 11 “Future Stock”

rgdaniel — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:01:34 +0000

What will happen next?

How will the future unfold?

Apple buys Twitter?

Okay, this is old news by now -- 6 days old, or in tech circles, “so last week” -- but here’s what this article on Gawker has to say about Apple buying Twitter:

Facebook tried to buy Twitter. Google and Microsoft have been giving the red-hot Internet-messaging startup the eye. But we hear it’s Apple that’s closest to sealing a deal, possibly for as much as $700 million.

(read the full article)

While Twitter says it’s not for sale they’d be foolish, in my largely uninformed opinion, to think to think that they’re substantial enough to go the distance alone. Twitter strikes me as a nice tool to have as part of a larger toolbox. Apple large, for example.

Click for
YouTube video “No Twitter For Hitler“

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May 10 “Zot”

rgdaniel — Sun, 10 May 2009 04:01:59 +0000

Dogs hate thunderstorms:

Big noisy lights in the sky,

Ozone danger smell.

Click for
YouTube video: “Lightning strikes CN Tower“

From Wikipedia:

In the atmospheric electrical discharge, a leader of a bolt of lightning can travel at speeds of 60,000 m/s (220,000 km/h), and can reach temperatures approaching 30,000 °C (54,000 °F), hot enough to fuse silica sand into glass

The average peak power output of a single lightning stroke is about a terawatt (10¹² W) and the stroke lasts for around 30 microseconds.

Lightning rapidly heats the air in its immediate vicinity to around 20,000 °C (36,000 °F) -- about three times the temperature of the surface of the Sun. This compresses the surrounding clear air and creates a supersonic shock wave which decays to an acoustic wave that is heard as thunder.

Lightning Hits the Power Station (hypothetically)

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