Coded Candy | NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio does it like Van Gogh

The ocean currents have an untapped beauty. Untapped till now. 

Those clever folks at NASA got their art on and assembled from a huge amount of satellite and computational data the “Perpetual Ocean”. Check out the goodies below and here.

Food | WTF?! Homaro & Ben of Moto totally spin it on its head

Yes, bypass the cow J

Left Brain. Right brain.

Left Brain

Right Brain

Logical thinking | Sequential | Rational | Analytical | Objective | Looks at parts | Accuracy | Exact Computation | Direct fact retrieval | Grammar | Vocabulary | Literal | Written language | Spoken language | Linear information processing | Plans ahead | Recalls people’s names | Punctual | Prefers formal study design | Prefers bright lights while studying | Speaks with few gestures | Verbal | Present and past | Math and science | Acknowledges | Order and pattern perception | Forms strategies | Practical | Safe

Random • Intuitive • Holistic • Synthesizing • Subjective • Looks at wholes • Aesthetics • Feeling • Creativity • Approximate computation • Intonation • Accentuation • Prosody • Pragmatic • Contextual • ‘Un-ordered’ information processing • Impulsive • Recalls people’s faces • Less punctual • Prefers sound or music background while studying • Prefers frequent mobility while studying • Gestures when speaking • Visual • Present and future • Philosophy and religion • Appreciates • Spatial perception • Presents possibilities • Risk taking • Daydreaming

Sukiyaki and Chips: The Japanese Sounds of Music

1995. Took a note to have some period reference to where the West was at. The top five hits of 1995, according to the Billboard Top 100, were: 5. “On Bended Knee” Boyz II Men, 4. “Kiss from a Rose” Seal, 3. “Creep” TLC, 2. “Waterfalls” TLC (was a good year for them, obviously) and 1. “Gangsta’s Paradise” Coolio. When it comes to albums, same source, we had: 5. “CrazySexyCool” TLC, 4. “Hell Freezes Over” The Eagles (Really?! C’mon people! A 70s band?! Whatever…), 3. “II” Boyz II Men, 2. “The Hits” Garth Brooks and 1. “Cracked Rear View” Hootie & The Blowfish. If memory serves at all, I was somewhere in the territory of Pearl Jam, Silverchair, Alanis Morissette, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Nirvana, Green Day, Oasis, The Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine, Björk, Nick Cave … you get the idea.*

Now that I set the scene for the ‘back in the days as I think it was’, you will understand why my eyebrows arched 1:32 minutes into “Sukiyaki and Chips”. Harajuku Park, Tokyo: Japanese rockers looking a bit à la Danny Zuko, with added variations on that style, dancing away in what seemed like freeform Twist to rock’n’roll. But it started to make sense when the girl said, “This is the best place in Japan for me. I can forget all about what I’m supposed to do or be and just loose myself in the rock’n’roll.” I stood corrected. Who was I to scoff at this?! Wasn’t this what it’s all about?!  The “this” and “it” being music and freedom that comes with music, or vice versa – take your pick regarding the order. Hell, take your pick whichever way! I had to put my ethnomusicologist / sociologist / anthropologist / cultural studies /journalist / keen-observer / for-once-open-minded-individual, or whatever it should’ve been, hat on for this documentary.

Next was the phenomenon of Lollipops – short term pop idols that were truly a flash in a pan. Groomed here, gone tomorrow. The disparaging teenager commentary voiceover encapsulated this music “scene” to a T. But hey, such is still the lot of pop music, I say. As it turned out, the prime customer base for Lollipop music was more clued in that it might’ve seemed at first. Actually, Japanese of all ages were aware of their escapist tendencies. As the barman said of the videos screened in the bars to keep the customers drinking, “Of course, I like naughty things. I like pornography. Soft porn, that is. So do most men after all. I think porn is about the most popular entertainment of all around here.” The voiceover added, “In some places is highbrow stuff. Expensive. For businessmen or foreign tourists. They take medieval classics and turn them into striptease. Very Japanese. These are a mixture of medieval and modern, in both story and music.” Cue in a hard rock track to a piece by kimono garbed, geisha-shogun coiffed performers emulating a sex scene. And the boobs came out. Then she gingerly hammered the bell to traditional music while stark naked.

Shift. Dr. Tsunoda had an explanation for why classical Japanese music sounds different. Something about the brain wiring that had to do with the uniqueness of the Japanese language. Left brain listens more. Even to Beethoven – the example of western music. More or less, that is. He threw in what I saw as a challenge – that westerners find Japanese classical music hard to understand. Ha! So rests play a huge part. OK … This was just his opinion all around anyhow. Cue in an avant-garde musical performance by one with many instruments. Admittedly, seeing it being done made it more fascinating. Just like any ‘challenging’ piece – from east or west, north or south. Bravo to the finale – a cow sound toy! All inspired by the sounds of Japan, its traditions, the silence … somehow … or so she said.

Ah, Yamaha pianos. Start learning music at 4! Embrace electronics! After all, they want to get to your “heart and soul.” Yamaha hoped to move the human race forward, at least musically, with the help of these new electronic instruments. Doof doof for world peace? Venture into space age sounds? Well… Just faster production of pop music for “the Japanese public [that] is so terribly limited in its taste.” Turned out that thinking about the musical wants of the Japanese public would’ve compromised, not so much the artistry, but the ability of some musicians to have a job they like and to express themselves as products of their environment. That’s if you are a pop group that can afford such notions (see Yellow Magic Orchestra in the studio below), because as everywhere around the world, the lot of Japanese musicians upholding the traditions was tough. Poor pay, fickle audiences wanting mainly some entertainment in the music hall, or reflections of their lives to sing to. They chose. Hell, they could make their own entertainment in the karaoke taxi while on the way to work! You better serve! They were the stars, in their spare time.

If you think I have spilled a lot of detail, fear not. If you pay attention, “Sukiyaki and Chips: The Japanese Sounds of Music” is dense with clues and information as to why Japanese music and music scenes were just so. The variety was there – whether up to your taste or not – and the music is everywhere, even in the most mundane.

*Disclaimer: Although stamped as a 1995-production, the “Sukiyaki and Chips: The Japanese Sounds of Music” footage turns out to be all 80s. That explains a lot. Me and 80s have a strange retrospective relationship. I draw a blank as to what I listened to back then as far as the entire decade is concerned. Madonna and Kylie Minogue featured somewhere in the second half … So much for my feigned alternative music snobbery.

Calories and alcohol

Whenever the urge comes to watch one’s diet, alcohol is often put on the sideline.  But what about all those “empty” calories?! They are calories alright, but it turns out men and women handle the intake differently.  According to the Tara Parker-Pope on Health article in the New York Times from March 8, 2010: “Studies suggest that drinking alcohol has different effects on eating habits among men and women. Men typically add alcohol to their daily caloric intake, whereas women are more likely to substitute alcohol for food.” (1)  So the lads get fatter and the birds get drunker. What are they having more off or substituting for?  Doughnuts, chocolate ice cream, beans on toast, cake, cream, to name a few. (2,3)

© MAK

What I was curious about is: which drinks would be the lesser evil? The relationship between the amount of alcohol in a drink and its caloric content is linear, so it may come down to the serving volume and your habits. The shots of pure spirits are small and calorie dense, but if you prefer the strong taste and are happy to sip, your diet should survive and the happy buzz should ensue. However, when was the last time you’ve seen people out on town sipping tequila or vodka? The “sippers” seem to gravitate to the drinks with lower alcoholic content – wine, beer, cider – that come in larger serving sizes than those shots. Here is a dieting advantage worth exploiting. If you drink that cider or beer fast, you should feel physically fuller quicker. The serving volume should force the stomach to expand to accommodate the incoming volume and then the neurophysiology kicks in (having food inside should add to the effect). That’s the hypothesis. And beer drinking lads override it all over the world, so it seems. Those froufrou cocktails that birds fancy may “expand” the volume of the spirits within, but at the cost of the added goodies. Meal substitution it may well be – 800 calorie cocktail anyone? No volume advantage here. Give me a serve of loaded nachos instead. More texturally varied; less like baby food.

There is no way around it. Serious dieting and drinking sessions just don’t mix. Unless, you are prepared to cut here or here. Or – how about some sweat? Sixty-minute walk after those four pints of cider? Ten-minute run after four glasses of red? (4)  Ha, I can see it now: a Haile-Gebrselassie type slaloming and occasionally tripping over the shoelaces, but burning that alcohol from the night before. It’s just an image to ponder. Just saying.

Continued - "Calories and alcohol II"and "Calories and alcohol III"

Left to right: (2) and (3).

 

(1) New York Times: Tara Parker-Pope on Health. “Women who drink gain less weight.” http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/08/women-drinkers-gain-less-weight/; March 8, 2010. Accessed: August 29, 2011; (2) BBC News. “Many unaware of alcohol calories”. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8002991.stm; April 17, 2009. Accessed: August 29, 2011; (3) The Health Age. Rajan “Most dieters ignorant of alcohol containing equivalent calories to pure fat” http://www.thehealthage.com/how-dieters-blow-efforts-drink-dinner/0523/; May 23, 2011. Accessed: August 29, 2011; (4) Voato: Tech/Lifehacks/Productivity. Pete Wood “10 minute exercise to burn off beer and wine.” http://voato.com/life/health/how-much-exercise-is-required-to-burn-off-alcoholic-drinks/; April 11, 2010. Accessed: August 29, 2011

It can be all science

Cocktail Chemistry Set from Think Geek

Mixology – a fine art of cocktail making – as it turns out can get some scientific flair added to it. Think Geek has been ever so helpful in providing a Cocktail Chemistry Set for the geek in you to shift that paradigm ever so closer to measurable. Well… Ultimately, there is only one way to find out and that is by conducting a rigorous experiment worthy of a declamation in the hallowed halls of Ivory Towers and final publication is an esteemed journal. Pass me the white coat!