Adult Diaper Sales Soar in China: Alongside food and fire crackers, Chinese are adding a new item to their lunar New Year shopping: Adult diapers. Sales have soared ahead of the holiday as travellers prepare for long trips home aboard trains so crowded that even the toilets are jammed with people. The problem arises from the need to sell twice as many tickets as there are train seats to accommodate the crush of travellers. Those without seats must find some place - any place - to put themselves, including in overhead racks, between cars and in the usually stinking toilets.
Link monochrom update // monochrom's Bagasch mailing list as RSS 2.0 feed: Our Bagasch mailing list (partially in German language) is now available as RSS 2.0 feed. Many thanks to Carlos Katastrofsky!
XML link Is Misery the New Celebrity? From Dave Pelzer to the latest women's magazine, the misery memoir is a surefire bestseller. But why are we so addicted to other people's agony?
Link Internet Game Provides Breakthrough In Predicting The Spread Of Epidemics, Report Scientists:
 Using a popular internet game that traces the travels of dollar bills, scientists have unveiled statistical laws of human travel in the United States, and developed a mathematical description that can be used to model the spread of infectious disease in this country. This model is considered a breakthrough in the field. Link First Reflections On The Electoral Victory Of Hamas: Quote: >The sweeping electoral victory of Hamas is but one of the products of the intensive use made by the United States in the Muslim world, since the 1950's, of Islamic fundamentalism as an ideological weapon against both progressive nationalism and communism. This was done in close collaboration with the Saudi kingdom -- a de facto U.S. protectorate almost from its foundation in 1932. The promotion of the most reactionary interpretation of the Islamic religion, exploiting deeply-rooted popular religious beliefs, led to this ideology filling the vacuum left by the exhaustion by the 1970's of the two ideological currents it served to fight. The road was thus paved in the entire Muslim world for the transformation of Islamic fundamentalism into the dominant expression of mass national and social resentment, to the great dismay of the U.S. and its Saudi protectorate. The story of Washington's relation with Islamic fundamentalism is the most striking modern illustration of the sorcerer's apprenticeship.<
Link Oscars - Year Of The Gays? Several of the leading movies for Oscar honors this year have gay themes. "It could end up being the all-gay Oscars. We could have every major category won by gay-themed pictures. Needless to say, that would be a first. No gay-themed film has ever been named best picture. For all the right wing's blather about Hollywood's liberal agenda, the big studios are actually conservative, concerned not so much about politics as about their bottom line."
Link Identity 2.0: Watch Dick Hardt (Founder & CEO, Sxip Identity) deliver a compelling and dynamic introduction on Identity 2.0 and how the concept of digital identity is evolving.
Link monochrom interview // monochrom on VernissageTV / Part 1: Quote: >>monochrom is an international art-technology-philosophy group founded in 1993. VTV is talking with the "white heterosexual founding father" of monochrom, Johannes Grenzfurthner, about the beginnings of monochrom as a print magazine, the monochrom blog, his interest in the political message of cyberpunk science fiction and monochroms evolution to a group that works with different media and art formats. Interview at the monochrom office located at Museumsquartier in Vienna, January 24, 2006, part 1.<<
 Link Stolen Words? A journal devoted to the study of plagiarism. Quote: "Why, given the potential for humiliation, do plagiarists run the risk? Are people doing it more, now? Or is it, rather, now just a matter of more people getting caught?"
Link Life Leaves Subtle Signature In The Lay Of The Land: If life were suddenly eliminated from the Earth, would a visitor from another planet be able to tell what once was here? Can the landforms of Mars tell us whether it once had a biota? Two UC Berkeley scientists conclude that life leaves a detectable but very subtle signature, including more rounded than angular hills. This was a surprise, since life has a big impact on erosion, both directly and through its effects on climate.
Link Wireless Networking in the Developing World: A free book released under Creative Commons. Quote: "The massive popularity of wireless networking has caused equipment costs to continually plummet, while equipment capabilities continue to increase. By applying this technology in areas that are badly in need of critical communications infrastructure, more people can be brought online than ever before, in less time, for very little cost. We hope to not only convince you that this is possible, but also show how we have made such networks work, and to give you the information and tools you need to start a network project in your local community. This book was created by a team of individuals who each, in their own field, are actively participating in the ever-expanding Internet by pushing its reach farther than ever before. Over a period of a few months, we have produced a complete book that documents our efforts to build wireless networks in the developing world."
Link monochrom appearance // monochrom @ transmediale 2006 / Berlin:
monochrom // a gala February 4 8:30PM - 10PM Akademie der Künste, Berlin. From the press release: "monochrom is an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop attitude, subcultural science and political activism. monochrom's mission, its passion and quasi-ontological vocation, is primarily the collection, grouping, registration and querying (liberation?) of the scar tissues represented by everyday cultural artifacts. This mission is conducted everywhere, but first and foremost in culture-archeological digs into the seats (and pockets) of ideology and entertainment. monochrom’s transmediale medley is a tour-de-farce diversion intended to hold the attention of the transmediale audience. A joyful bucket full of good clean fanaticism, crisis, language, culture, self-content, identity, utopia, mania and despair, condensed into the well known cultural technique of a gala show. Powernapping highly welcome." Link / transmediale project entry  monochrom // the market We're selling stuff. And we present our computer game 'Soviet Unterzögersdorf'. For years we have been occupied with the construction, analysis and reflexion of alternative worlds and models of recording history. Our projects are treating this field partly as a discussion with concepts deriving from popular culture, science and philosophy, partly as a direct reference to science fiction and fantasy fan culture. Our project «Soviet-Unterzögersdorf - The Adventure Game» is the implementation of a «false reminiscence» into the Austrian cultural memory -- a fictitious country taking the shape of a computer game adventure. The enclave «Soviet-Unterzögersdorf», created by monochrom, is the last remaining USSR republic, situated in the Austrian wine growing area. Link / Game Link / transmediale market entry The Universal Viral Machine: Bits, Parasites and the Media Ecology of Network Culture: Essay by Jussi Parikka.
Quote: >During the past few decades, biological creatures like viruses, worms, bugs and bacteria seem to have migrated from their natural habitats to ecologies of silicone and electricity. The media has also been eager to employ these figures of life and monstrosity in representing miniprograms, turning them into digital Godzillas and other mythical monsters. The anxiety these programs produce is largely due to their alleged status as near-living programs, as exemplified in this quote on the Internet worm of 1988: "The program kept pounding at Berkeley's electronic doors. Worse, when Lapsley tried to control the break-in attempts, he found that they came faster than he could kill them. And by this point, Berkeley machines being attacked were slowing down as the demonic intruder devoured more and more computer processing time. They were being overwhelmed. Computers started to crash or become catatonic. They would just sit there stalled, accepting no input. And even though the workstations were programmed to start running again automatically after crashing, as soon as they were up and running they were invaded again. The university was under attack by a computer virus." Such articulations of life in computers have not been restricted to these specific programs, but they have become a general way of understanding the nature of the Internet since the 1990s. Its complex composition has been depicted in terms of "grassroots" and "branching structures", of "growing" and "evolution." As Douglas Rushkoff noted in the mid-1990s, "biological imagery is often more appropriate to describe the way cyberculture changes. In terms of the way the whole system is propagating and evolving, think of cyberspace as a social petri dish, the Net as the agar-medium, and virtual communities, in all their diversity, as the colonies of microorganisms that grow in petri dishes."< Link Mediums called in to aid search for lost cat: Quote: "I'm prepared to embrace any philosophy if it re-unites me with Smokie."
Link The tale of the flying snail: Darwin's theory that snails hitch a lift with birds proves plausible.
Link monochrom info update // It's a business doing pleasure with us: We plan to release a Best-of monochrom CD in December 2006. Trost Records will be our official distributor.
 [Günther Friesinger/monochrom and Konstantin Drobil/Trost Records] Slavercise:
 Quote: "Exquisitely fit, beautiful, and sharp-tongued Mistress Victoria raises some heart rates with Her internationally acclaimed forced fitness program! Work up a sweat as the Merciless blond Goddess shows some fatass losers how to beat their fat...then grab some water and prepare for round two in Her private dungeon…Can you meet the demands of Mistress Victoria's Slavercise? She dares you to try." Link Magnetic Misfits: South Seeking Bacteria In The Northern Hemisphere: Magnetotactic bacteria contain chains of magnetic iron minerals that allow them to orient in the earth's magnetic field much like living compass needles. These bacteria have long been observed to respond to high oxygen levels in the lab by swimming towards geomagnetic north in the Northern Hemisphere and geomagnetic south in the Southern Hemisphere.
Link NASA official joins search for extraterrestrial life: Hubbard, 57, will occupy the Carl Sagan Chair for the Study of Life in the Universe at the SETI Institute, effective February 15.
Link Fossil of "Sphinx" discovered in NE China: The legendary "Sphinx" eventually found its counterpart version in archeological fossil. Chinese and American paleontologists found two distinct kinds of bone characteristics in the fossil of a sharp-mouthed mammal excavated in China's Liaoning province. The mammal's upper part makes people believe it was viviparous while its lower part looks like oviparous, reports Wen Hui Daily.
Link In from the cold: A hundred years after his birth, Shostakovich is still vehemently dividing critics.
Link monochrom update // Teach Yourself Institutions: We're listed in mute's 'Teach Yourself Institutions', a survey of self-instituted educational projects.
Link The Cracked Ambience: new and recommended sounds for your personal space
 ACCELERA DECK - live volume I (scarcelight) ACCELERA DECK - live volume II (scarcelight) ACCELERA DECK - live volume III (scarcelight) EBSK - space: 2003 (Scarcelight) JANEL SCHAEFER - migration (bip hop) SAME ACTOR - sharp edges (bip hop) DARREN HAYMAN - cortinaland (acaruela) XIU XIU - la foret (acaruela) Eat Before You Vote: Today in Canada we are holding a federal election.
 Elections Canada would like to kindly remind you to please refrain from eating your ballot. Link Improv Everywhere causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places: Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has executed over 50 missions involving hundreds of undercover agents. The group is based in New York City. (Thanx, Esel!)
Link monochrom movement update // Official 2006 MOBUTOBE meeting: Annual MOBUTOBE (citizens' initiative by monochrom for the accomplishment of total population) meeting will be held on January 23rd (4 PM) at monochrom office, MQW, Vienna.
 The earth is capable of nourishing a maximum mass of human life equalling the momentary total mass of animal life. That would be no less than 40 trillion (40 x 10^12) people. The maximum average of people living on earth for ideal MOBUTOBE population would be 80.000 people per square kilometer. Each and every square kilometer of surface would be occupied. Let's do it! Come into my arms, trillions! Link The Empire does not exist: The ideas of Toni Negri, as expressed in his book Empire (co-written with Michael Hardt) have become quite fashionable among those tendencies that wish to deny the essence of Marxism while at the same disguising themselves in the clothing of Marxism. We are publishing a review and critique of the book by Pietro Di Nardo from Naples, Italy. He points out the contradictions in Negri's thinking and maintains that Marxism is as valid as ever.
Link The Slanket:
 The Slanket is a HUGE 100% polyester polar fleece blanket with oversized sleeves. They are made and tested in Maine. The Slanket is approximately 60 inches wide by 102 inches in length, with 13 inch wide sleeves, that are so large and loose that you never feel constricted and you have total control in how you use them. The Slanket is great on a couch, a chair, in a hammock, on your bed or anywhere else you care to take it. (Thanx, Bernhard Vallant!) Link Stardust Returns Bearing Particles from On High: On Sunday a capsule from the Stardust spacecraft became the fastest man-made object ever to return to Earth, clocking in at nearly 29,000 miles per hour before touching down in the Great Salt Lake Desert in Utah. On Tuesday NASA scientists became the first humans ever to behold comet dust when they opened the capsule and peered at its interstellar contents. The team reported on their initial observations yesterday, launching several months of analysis by research groups worldwide.
Link Will Disney Buy Pixar? The two companies have had a tense business relationship, and their distribution deal is coming to an end. "Citing unnamed people familiar with the plan, the Wall Street Journal said Disney would pay a nominal premium to Pixar's current market value of $6.7 billion under the deal being discussed in a stock transaction that would make Pixar chief executive Steve Jobs the largest individual shareholder in Disney."
Link Space in urgent need of cleaning: Rising debris bound to cause catastrophic crashes. Quote: "Space could soon become too risky to visit unless derelict satellites and rockets are removed from orbit. That's the stark warning from a new simulation of space junk drifting around the Earth, and scientists are calling for swift international action to solve the problem."
Link Sovereignty as theft: Dimitris Papadopoulos and Vassilis Tsianos, “How to do Sovereignty Without People? The Subjectless Condition Of Postliberal Power”, Boundary 2, 33:2. Quote: "The emergence of modern political sovereignty is not founded on a subjugated, working, tormented or disciplined body but on a stolen body." (via s0metim3s)
Link monochrom pictures // Photographs of monochrom core team members: For the first time there are portrait pictures of all monochrom core team members. Thanks to Jake Appelbaum and our own Evelyn Fürlinger).
 [Anika Kronberger] Link Governing the Knowledge Society: Call for Papers: [12.–13. October 2006 / University of Hamburg].
Quote: "Knowledge has long been on the agenda of social sciences. Currently processes of rapid technological change and the growing importance of knowledge based markets have propelled discussions on possible contents and consequences of what is often termed the 'knowledge society'. Even if there is no agreement on whether we should presently speak of a transition to a postindustrial information or knowledge society, there is no doubt that at least in countries of the global north production and trade in immaterial goods – services, information, and knowledge – will continue to gain importance. Therefore modes of regulating access to knowledge resources, modes of public and private control and appropriation of the production and distribution of knowledge are becoming more and more central. The conference will address theoretical and practical implications and consequences of these new modes and models of regulating knowledge." Link The PC virus celebrates its 20th anniversary: Quote: "The PC virus celebrates its 20th year of existence following the detection back in January '86 of the boot sector virus, Brain, which infected computers via floppy disk."
Link monochrom stuff // New monochrom t-shirts available: English language! Phresh!
"I was a copyright infringement in a previous life" (18 euros excl. postage)  "Oh my God, they use a history which repeats itself!" (18 euros excl. postage)  Order via email More info American Psychoanalyst: In his new book, rock-star French philosophe Bernard-Henri Lévy hits Route 66. With his driver.
Link Dozens of new species found in California national park caves: Spiders, centipedes and scorpion-like critters are among the 27 new animal species that biologists have discovered in the dark, damp caves coursing through two southern Sierra Nevada national parks.
Link Feds after Google data: The Bush administration on Wednesday asked a federal judge to order Google to turn over a broad range of material from its closely guarded databases (via rhizome raw).
Link Jesus Christ Superstar in Japanese: This link will make many people happy. Not only is a japanese tranlation of JCSS quite bizarre, it's the atrocious singing that makes this version a winner.
Link Songtapper: This site lets you search for a song, by tapping the rhythm of its words (lyrics). (Thanx, Ronald Ortner!)
Link A Joint Statement Concerning the Programs of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Iraq: By Iraqi Trade Unions. Quote: "The Iraqi economy has been severely affected by decades of sanctions, wars and occupation. The Iraqi trade unions and federations believe in the capacity of the country with all its oil and mineral resources to provide a decent living standard for Iraqis. The federations and unions consider that the wars and occupation have caused a dramatic decrease in the living and social standards of Iraqis and especially of workers. The federations and unions stress the importance of complete sovereignty for Iraq over its petroleum and natural resources so as to develop them in a way that assures a complete reconstruction of the country. We wish to stress the following points in regard to the policies of the IMF and World Bank in Iraq: [...]"
Link Biogenerics to hit Europe first: Biogenerics could hit the European market this year followed by a U.S. market launch in 2009, an analyst report suggests.
Link ITAG-International Trepanation Advocacy Group: Quote: "Trepanation is the oldest surgical procedure practiced by mankind. The earliest evidence of trepanation dates back 10,000 years. At no time had evidence been found that brain surgery was the intention of this procedure. The mission of ITAG is to compile every bit of information about trepanation and its benefits brought such enthusiastic welcome from people who wanted to be trepanned that we went looking for some doctors willing to provide the surgery in a first-class clinic. In August of 2000, we struck gold. The rest is history. Elective trepanation is now available to people who volunteer for the medical pilot study. The long-term study will determine once and for all what the benefits are to making a hole in the skull bone. My advice is to believe or disbelieve nothing. The only truth is in the experience."
Link Paper-Thin - Computer Screens You Can Roll Up: In just a few years we'll be reading on thin flexible paper-like screens. "The display, which currently has the resolution of a normal computer screen — 100 pixels per square inch — and four levels of gray scale, could help usher in durable, paper-like screens that can be attached to small electronic devices such as mobile phones and then rolled up and tucked away when not in use."
Link monochrom google kick-out // What the heck? We are not listed on google.com anymore... for a week now... very strange. Normally we were "monochrom" search result #1 or #2. Searching for monochrom projects shows that many pages refer to our projects... but our site is not listed at all. Still, the google toolbar shows that we have a high PR...
Are we blocked? If you know what could be wrong please send us an email. Pluto probe set to break speed records: New Horizons is poised to blast off on its decade-long voyage to Pluto – a slingshot manoeuvre around Jupiter en route will boost it to blistering speeds.
Link Neanderthal Man Floated Into Europe: Spanish investigators believe they may have found proof that neanderthal man reached Europe from Africa not just via the Middle East but by sailing, swimming or floating across the Strait of Gibraltar.
Link Science - The Trust Problem: Quote: "We trust it. Should we? John Ioannidis, an epidemiologist, recently concluded that most articles published by biomedical journals are flat-out wrong. The sources of error, he found, are numerous: the small size of many studies, for instance, often leads to mistakes, as does the fact that emerging disciplines, which lately abound, may employ standards and methods that are still evolving. Finally, there is bias, which Ioannidis says he believes to be ubiquitous."
Link  Industrially produced bitparts imitating art: I had to buy new a fire extinguisher this weekend. This is the little iron part to screw on a wall to hold it. Reminds me of a well known piece of art, doesn't it? Hint: was stolen from a museum only a few months ago. Has The Small Screen Eclipsed The Big One? It's finally happened: "The best American television is better today than the best American movies... Adequate is what movies, these days, are above all required to be: tasteful, familiar and safe. The schlock of the past has evolved into star-driven, heavily publicized, expensive mediocrities that carefully balance novelty and sameness... Television not only offers writers the chance to create nuanced characters but also to follow them on deeper journeys than any two-hour film could offer."
Link The trouble with Uzbekistan: On May 13 Uzbekistan formally declared itself an enemy of its own people. Since then, secret police and security forces have arrested and tortured people, often for weeks at a time.
Link Nuclear Clouds Gather Over the Asia Pacific: The Asia-Pacific region has not only emerged as one of the main engines of the world economy, it has also taken the global centre-stage in developments pertaining to nuclear weapons, in efforts to acquire a capability to make them, and in nuclear conflicts among regional powers as well as with the United States.
Link Insight Into Mystery of Antlers: The deer is unique among mammals in being able to regenerate a complete body part - in this case a set of bone antlers covered in velvety skin. Royal Veterinary College experts hope their antler study could one day lead to new ways to repair damaged human tissues.
Link The Fabric That Sings To You: "Sound and visual artist Alyce Santoro has created Sonic Fabric, a cloth made from pre-recorded, recycled cassette tape combined with other fibers. Using a minimally hacked Walkman, the fabric becomes an audible reminder of its musical past. Sonic Fabric feels a bit like flexible plastic tarp, and is durable and hand-washable." Of course, that's no why it's getting attention: if you run a specially mounted head from a cassette player over the fabric, it will literally play the music embedded in the tape. "[Santoro's] latest creations play 20 tracks at once. She creates sound collages on a four-track, and the reader picks up five strands at a time."
Link Sperm March on Bogota: A group of people dressed as sperm cross a main avenue during a campaign promoting use of condoms in Bogota, Colombia.
 Roman Catholic priests in a Colombian town are furious over a councilman's proposal that people 14 and older must carry a condom at all times to reduce unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Link Computers Estimate Emotions: Many computers are already able to see and hear. However, they have no way of telling whether their users are happy or angry. At CeBIT 2006, researchers will be presenting techniques that could one day enable the digital servant to respond to the mood of its human master.
Link Why We Yawn: Quote: "Yawning is an ancient, primitive act. Humans do it even before they're born, opening wide in the womb. Some snakes unhinge their jaws to do it. One species of penguins yawns as part of mating. Only now are researchers beginning to understand why we yawn, when we yawn and why we yawn back."
Link Library Books Bound in Human Skin: Brown University's library boasts an unusual anatomy book. Tanned and polished to a smooth golden brown, its cover looks and feels no different from any other fine leather. But here's its secret: the book is bound in human skin.
Link New monochrom content // Dept. of Applied Office Arts:
 Office art (especially office drawing) is a regular technique used by people in white-collar working situations. There may not necessarily be a creative impulse to create office work, but the impulse of overcoming general work boredom or the necessity to help office workers keeping focus during telephone conversations and/or office meetings. This page is dedicated to collecting office art.  A couple of art works so far. Please submit! Link Googlism.com knows what Google.com thinks of you, your friends or anything. Search for your name... or check out some of the popular googlisms (thanx, Heinrich2222).
Link Laughing fit: I'm not sure if this video is sad or funny. Maybe it's hilariously sad. A talk show host can't stop laughing because of the strange voice of one of his guests (thanx, Oliver Cosmus).
Link Artist Brian Joseph Davis selected ten albums by ten artists who at some
point had been banned or censored, and then ignited them. Throwing caution
and proper stylus care to the wind, he then played whatever he could from
the charred vinyl and spliced together the samples (via blog.wfmu.org, thanx Manuel!)
Link How Hostile Takeovers Work: "Not all mergers and acquisitions are peaceful. Sometimes, a company can take over another one against its will, a hostile takeover. How can they do that? Find out how hostile takeovers happen, how to prevent them and why a hostile takeover isn't always a bad thing."
Link Interplanetary Lust: The Alien loves her. She loves him. It's a story-book romance.
 Contains nudity, not safe for work. Link How To Kill A Lobster: Trevor Corson, author of "The Secret Life of Lobsters", offers a photo guide to killing lobsters, in response to a "rambling and factually inaccurate" essay by David Foster Wallace.
 "SALON: . . . The novelist David Foster Wallace wrote a long feature about lobsters in the August issue of Gourmet magazine. Some of the quotes I saw indicated that he might not agree with your assessment. TREVOR CORSON: I have to say, having read that piece, it made me wonder where his reputation for brilliance comes from. As far as I could tell, he got almost everything wrong he could about lobsters and lobstering. And he misses very interesting points, sometimes stumbling over them. . . . He's trying to earn all these big moral points by taking this stance about cruelty to lobsters. That view represents a misallocation of moral concern. People put all this worry on lobsters because they see them going in the pot. But these other meats we don't see are treated much, much worse." Link monochrom info update // Full Laptop Crochetication: monochrom's Evelyn has new capacities to hand-crochet you a custom laptop sleeve with a design of your choosing. If you're interested, please email.
 More info Campaign Slogans of the Great Philosophers: Quote: "We're unhappy with the current round of presidential candidates, so we're nominating our favorite philosophers and kicking off their campaigns with the following slogans and sound-bites."
Link What exactly is the North Star? Rich Schuler, an adjunct instructor and outreach coordinator in the physics and astronomy department at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, explains.
Link Bacteria Thrive in Hostile Human Bellies: The harsh acidic environment of your stomach is home to many more bacteria types than previously thought. One newly identified creature in your belly is related to a species that's considered one of the hardiest organisms on the planet, a bacterium that eats radioactive wastes for lunch. Until relatively recently, the medical community long believed that pretty much nothing from the outside could survive in the stomach's harsh environment.
Link Deep-Sea Fish Being Driven to Extinction: Deep-sea fish, some hardly known to science, are being wiped out by trawlers. A study shows that some North Atlantic species will be on the brink of extinction within 20 years.
Link Don't Even Think About Lying: How brain scans are reinventing the science of lie detection. Quote: "Functional magnetic resonance imaging - fMRI for short - enables researchers to create maps of the brain's networks in action as they process thoughts, sensations, memories, and motor commands. Since its debut in experimental medicine 10 years ago, functional imaging has opened a window onto the cognitive operations behind such complex and subtle behavior as feeling transported by a piece of music or recognizing the face of a loved one in a crowd. Now fMRI is also poised to transform the security industry, the judicial system, and our fundamental notions of privacy."
Link John Cleese's Eulogy for Graham Chapman (1989):
 A sad affair in 1989, Graham Chapman died at a young 48. John Cleese gives fitting tribute to the comic genius. Bonus: Eric Idle leads everyone in song. Link Sound of star's vibration reveals details of its core: Astronomers have made the most detailed observation yet of the subtle vibrations of a Sun-like star. The technique reveals details of the star's interior that cannot be studied any other way. Audio samples of the pulsations created by various star, including alpha Centauri B and the Sun (WAV audio format), can be downloaded from the researcher's website (via Bored Athenians).
Stardust Nears End Of Epic Journey; Researchers Await Its Treasure:
 The Stardust spacecraft on Jan. 15 is scheduled to return a capsule, with particles collected from comet Wild 2, by parachute to the Utah desert; the end of the seven-year space mission will be just the beginning of scientists' work to unlock secrets of the solar system's origins. Link Evolving intelligence: President Clinton and the CIA: Commentary by James D Boys. Critics of Clinton who lamented his inability to eliminate bin Laden are guilty of forgetting, or conveniently ignoring, that they lambasted his efforts to strike at Al Qaeda.
Link The Cracked Ambience: new and recommended sounds for your personal space
LYSSA - amoral (sliver rocket) SAWAKO - hum (12k) THE PAPER CHASE AND XIU XIU - cover Nick Cave (stickfigure) VARIOUS - stillysm (still) BOGGER - 4track (digital front) GLENN DAMBO - ep (digital front) Hip-hop and Branding / Brand Marketing Stats 2005: American Brandstand publishes a detailed list about brands mentioned in rap songs. Quote: "Hip-hop is extremely good at using brands as metaphors in the same way that contemporary society does. Hip-hop has always been about defining your status. Aligning yourself with brands in lyrics are the best short-cuts to do that - especially if you want to be understood by a global audience; Gucci is the same whether you're in the USA, or anywhere else. And that works the same for anti-bling brands like K-Mart and Payless Shoes too. Similarly when 50 Cent talks about taking a woman he has just met back to the Ramada Inn, it's fairly clear that the focus of their evening is going to be different from the evening he would have evoked if he'd taken her to, say, the Four Seasons. Consumers are very sophisticated about the brands that feel appropriate for different artists. 50 Cent should be rapping about Mercedes and Gucci, however, if Missy Elliott starts rapping about Swiffers and AT&T, consumers are going to be suspicious..." (via FM4)
Link (PDF) Russian Roulette: By Carlos Katastrofsky. Quote: "the file you can download below [link] by pressing the button is randomly chosen. but be aware! it could be pornographic, a virus that crashes your entire system, a britney spears-song or other bad data. but it also could be some really great stuff... who knows?"
Link BBC Opens Archives Online: The BBC is making thousands of historic video clips available on the web. "The scheme allows people within the UK to watch, download, edit and mix the clips and programming for non-commercial programming. The release of these reports, offered as The Open News Archive, means the BBC has now doubled the number of programme extracts it originally made available through an initial trial with Radio 1 Interactive."
Link Energising the Quest for 'Big Theory': When the Large Hadron Collider at Cern is switched on for a pilot run in summer 2007, this vast physics experiment will collide two beams of particles head-on at super-fast speeds, recreating the conditions in the Universe moments after the Big Bang.
Link Aquarium is selling two-headed snake: Quote: "The World Aquarium in St. Louis is offering to sell an albino rat snake with two heads for $150,000 or the best offer. The snake, named We, has been at the aquarium since 1999. The 6 1/2-year-old snake came to the aquarium's attention when its previous owner distributed a circular offering it for sale days after its birth. The aquarium paid $15,000, knowing that most two-headed snakes don't live more than a few months. But We has survived. An inch thick and 4 feet long, she is a healthy size for a rat snake."
Link The Next Tolkien: Fiction by Adrian Gibb. Quote: >This thought, which had floated in and out of Liz Harvey's consciousness for the last 20 minutes, reflected an accumulation of forced smiles, inane remarks and a rather painful left hand. As yet another fan handed her a copy of the newly released 'Homeward Bound' for signing, she thought of how philosophically ironic it was that such profuse praise as 'I think you are the next Tolkien' and 'You have changed my life' could actually become so bloody annoying.<
Link monochrom content update // Zeigerpointer: New Zeigerpointer pictures were submitted.
 Project main page monochrom project publication // Steal the world/Fake it a better place... (The Faking-Of Georg Paul Thomann): Article by our very own Frank Apunkt Schneider about our Thomann project.
Quote: >The intention of GPT is not to parody the more recent history of art and expose its gaping incongruities (it takes care of that well enough itself, e.g., as documenta), but rather to paint its portrait, as is the tradition in classical portrait painting, in such a way as to make it look a little better than it has in reality. Where in this case the aesthetic retouching has become a theoretical retouching, in order to provide it (the more recent history of art) with a sense and a function that shine just a little more than the sense and the function it in fact possesses. GPT as a sort of fountain pen filled with magic ink. Some magic ink that makes the occluded and obliterated contours of a "leftist" history of art visible by writing GPT's biography. Or something of the kind.< Link  Published in "Critique of Pure Image - Between Fake and Quotation The Book" (code flow; eds.), ISBN 978-3-033-00594-5. Man changes his name to KentuckyFriedCruelty.com: Chris Garnett, 19, says his new name "never fails to spark a discussion." His parents have been supportive since he went vegan at age 15, but they were shocked at first when he changed his name; they still call him Chris.
Link The New Seven Wonders: Quote: "The Acropolis in Athens made it, as did Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia, China's Great Wall, the Colosseum in Rome, the Inca temple of Machu Picchu in Peru, Stonehenge and the Moai - the Easter Island statues. Less immediately obvious choices in a final shortlist of 21 contenders for the New Seven Wonders of the World, announced in Switzerland yesterday, included the Kremlin in Moscow, the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty."
Link Secrets of the Sideshows: By Joe Nickell. University Press of Kentucky, 2005 Hb, 401pp, $32.95.
 Quote: >If you can't resist morbid amusement, wait until someone in your home is about to wake up in the morning. Hold open Joe Nickell's Secrets of the Sideshows to the photo on page 161 of Bill 'Two-Faced Man') Durkes, so it's the first thing they see upon opening their eyes. Watch them recoil in horror at the sight of a man born with such an extreme cleft palate that it separated his face into halves, making him look "like he had been hit in the face with an axe." Before they pull the covers over their head, flip to page 173 and let them have a gander at "Popeye" Perry, a prepossessing black man in a ruffled tux - popping his eyeballs out of their sockets. Women are especially prone to Mr Perry's unique charms, as I can attest, having seen his act many times. According to Nickell, Perry once popped out an eyeball, making a woman faint. He waited until she recovered, bent over, then popped out both eyes simultaneously, making her faint again. At this point one of two things are likely. You’ll either be looking at your last day in the house, or the book will get borrowed and never returned.< Link William W. Howells, Leading Anthropologist, Is Dead at 97: Professor Howells made perhaps his most important contribution to the field through his statistical analyses of the physical variations among today's humans. His conclusion, based on skull measurements, was that modern humans are of one species, with little to tell them apart.
Link Hidden Learnings: Book review of David S. Katz's The Occult Tradition: From the Renaissance to the Present Day: "A deeply subversive book. Scientists, if they think about the philosophy of science at all, cleave to a 19th-century narrative which says that in all civilisations as they developed, superstition came first, then religion, then science, which at last was the truth. In fact the founders of modern science were swimming in a stream of occult lore, much of which they retained and passed on to us in disguised form."
Linnk The Age of Autism: Gold standards: A published scientific paper suggests gold salts -- the treatment that may have prompted improvement in the first child ever diagnosed with autism -- can affect mental conditions.
Link Learning from ants: "It seems that ants have all the virtues that are needed by any society to function effectively. May be human beings can benefit by learning from these tiny creatures whose fascinating accomplishments should not be taken lightly," writes Shabnam Nasir.
Link The battle to stop bird flu: The 1976 swine flu scare, "the epidemic that never was," turned out to be a national fiasco. What about bird flu?
Link Quantum Trickery: Testing Einstein's Strangest Theory: Recent discussion is bringing renewed attention to Einstein's role as a founder and critic of quantum theory.
Link The Cinematic Novel: Andrew Stevens interviews Niven Govinden. Quote: "Simenon has a very spare style that I like, but what really rocks me is the work from Brits and Americans in Paris -- Fitzgerald, Miller, James Baldwin et al. Soppy but true. French filmakers influence me way more than writers, Rivette, Melville, Ozon."
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. . monochrom is an art-technology-philosophy group having its seat in Vienna and Zeta Draconis. monochrom is an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop attitude, subcultural science, context hacking and political activism. Our mission is conducted everywhere, but first and foremost in culture-archeological digs into the seats (and pockets) of ideology and entertainment. monochrom has existed in this (and almost every other) form since 1993.
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[ P r o j e c t s ] Soviet Unterzoegersdorf / Sector 2 / The Adventure Game Krach der Roboter: Hello World! Slacking is killing the DIY industry (T-Shirt) Carefully Selected Moments / CD, LP Freedom is a whore of a word (T-Shirt) International Year of Polytheism 2007 Santa Claus Vs. Christkindl: A Mobster Battle Kiki and Bubu and The Shift / Short film Kiki and Bubu and The Privilege / Short film Kiki and Bubu and The Self / Short film Kiki and Bubu and The Good Plan / Short film Kiki and Bubu and The Feelings / Short film / Short film Soviet Unterzoegersdorf / Sector 1 / The Adventure Game I was a copyright infringement in a previous life (T-Shirt) Firing Squad Euro2008 Intervention I can count every star in the heavens above -- The image of computers in popular music All Tomorrow's Condensations / Puppet show The Redro Loitzl Story / Short film Law and Second Order (T-Shirt) They really kicked you out of the Situationist International? When I was asked to write about new economy Arse Elektronika 2007, 2008, 2009 etc. The Void's Foaming Ebb / Short film The Charcoal Burner / Short film Fieldrecording in Sankt Wechselberg / Short film Campaign For The Abolition Of Personal Pronouns Entertainment (Unterhaltung) / Short film Nicholas Negroponte Memorial Cable Experience the Experience! (West Coast USA/Canada Tour 2005) A Holiday in Soviet Unterzoegersdorf Massive Multiplayer Thumb-Wrestling Network Soviet Unterzoegersdorf Metroblogging Every Five Seconds an Inkjet Printer Dies Somewhere 452 x 157 cm² global durability Blattoptera / Art for Cockroaches An attempt to emulate an attempt The Department for Criticism against Globalisation Disney vs. Chrusov / Short film Turning Threshold Countries Into Plows Roböxotica // Festival for Cocktail-Robotics Cracked Foundation For The Fine Arts Oh my God, they use a history which repeats itself! (T-Shirt) Administrating:  . . . . . |
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