Category Archives: Brains

art, literature, thoughts, … all that stimulates the intellect

Draw your own zodiac

Lets face it: star constellations – and hence zodiacs – are an entirely arbitrary human choice. There are neither 12, nor 13 zodiacs, there is an almost infinite number of visible stars in the sky, from which a literally infinite number of “constellations” can be generated by connecting stars with lines. Not the sky, your phantasy is the limit. You can also divide the year in arbitrarily small intervals (say: picoseconds) and define your own zodiac depending on where planet Earth happens to be on its orbit with respect to the stars at that picosecond.
Lets take a look at Taurus (which they tell me I “am”):

Taurus as depicted in Urania’s Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London c.1825 (image source: Wikipedia).

Or in a more sober representation:

(Image source: Wikimedia)

And here is what the night sky around there actually looks like:

Section of sky around “Taurus” (image source). The brightest star is called Aldebaran. Not Alderaan. 🙂

Oooooh WOW! I can totally see a bull here! If I consume a lot of fungus. So now lets forget about all the zodiastic taurusshit and reveal my REAL zodiac (25th of April 1977, 6am, 320e+12 picoseconds):

My Zodiac: Unicorn.

Surprise: my zodiac is Unicorn! As can be clearly seen, Elnath defines the tip of the horn, while Aldebaran makes for the shiny ass. The anomalistic year (time between perihelion passages of the Earth) has an average duration of 365.259636 days, which amounts to 3.15584325504e+19 picoseconds (=number of distinct zodiacs in our system). We therefor randomly assign number 2.504197706e+12 to this zodiac. I think it’s a good zodiac. Character traits associated with “Unicorn” are: sexy, a bit vain but kind, icecream. The picosecond division of the year also means: not many people have it!

What is your zodiac?

Nothing doesn’t mean nothing at all

I recently came across this fabulous solar powered “do-nothing machine”, designed in 1957 by American design duo Ray and Charles Eames (yet again via aeon.co):

Here you can find a few more photos of this phantastic machine. I very much like the idea that what on first sight appears like a “toy” that “does nothing” represents the very essence of creativity and innovation. In other words, it is ONLY by providing space and time for play or for “nothingness”, that the possibility for SOMEthing new is actually created. Think about it when you come across one of those articles that insist how bad mind-wandering is for children.

Here’s a “Nightcap” from Elmer Bernstein (who might have written the jazzy piece featured in the short movie):

Nehmt das Leben nicht so ernst

Mira las flores:

Listen and remember your favourite things:

Trinket alle daraus (aber hofft nicht auf ewiges Leben – es ist die Hölle).

Hier ist er übrigens gefunden, der “Heilige Gral”. Bernie’s search for the Holy Grail. Ist die Suche deshalb zu Ende? Oder: wurde sie jemals begonnen? Die Geheimnisse des Lebens sind – wenn überhaupt – immer ganz klein gedruckt, in Nebensätzen von längst vergilbten Büchern (und blogs), geschrieben in Sprachen, die niemand mehr spricht oder die wenigsten die Geduld haben zu erlernen. Meist frappieren sie in ihrer Ähnlichkeit zu Trivialitäten … wer hat denn die Blüten wirklich angesehen? Natürlich ist die “dragon scroll” ein leeres Blatt Papier, der Heilige Gral eine leere Flasche Wein. “Kommt noch etwas im Leben?” – Natürlich nicht! Oder solltest vielleicht zum leb’n vagess’n ham?

… et l’enfer, c’est les autres, comme vous le remarquez tous en ce moment à la maison:

Och när han kommer (“Vänta ett ögonblick! – Så säger ju alla!”), du kan ju försöka att spela schack med honom, men … jag rekommenderar att bara följa med honom, som med en gamla vän (Är du beredd?):

Sinon, faites comme Simone et Jean-Paul

.. eller bilda Olsen Banden (skidegod):

DADA

Tout ce qu’on regarde est faux.” Ça c’est vrai! et puis: “Si tous ont raison, et si toutes les pilules ne sont que Pink, essayons une fois de ne pas avoir raison.”
D’écrire un manifest, ça doit être quelque chose de libérant – il faudrait que je l’essaie! Il y en a beaucoup, des manifestes, mais celui du mouvement “Dada” peut se lire plutôt bien: Dada No.3, Dezember 1918, Zürich.

Die Ausgabe enthält auch verschiedene Nachrufe auf Guillaume Apollinaire, auch eine höchst studierendswürdige Persönlichkeit des 20.Jahrhunderts!

But my little excursion into dadaism was triggered recently by Swedish artist Viking Eggeling’s 1920s stop-motion animation Symphonie diagonale. Enjoy watching, and enjoy reading the manifeste!