Via Nag on the Lake, we are directed to demonstration arranged by Bell Labs researchers Carol Lackbaum, Lou Gerstman and John L Kelly Jr that taught a mainframe computer from IBM’s 7000 series to sing in 1961 and the resonance that that experiment has had, still echoed not only in pop culture but also in the legal and creative entanglements of today. Selecting “Daisy Bell” as a trial tune fairly anodyne (penned by Harry Dacre nearly eighty years earlier and safely in the public domain, inspired by an import tariff imposed on his bicycle) but catchy and technically challenging attempt to induce a synthetic song with vocals (here is Alan Turing’s first instrumental demonstration). The following year, Arthur C Clarke was treated to a private audience with the computer at Bell Labs and incorporated the milestone into 2001: A Space Odyssey, when the astronaut needs to deactivate HAL 9000 and as things are going dark for the artificial intelligence, it regresses to its earliest programming (performed by Douglas Rain in the cinematic adaptation) of singing “Daisy Bell.” More at the links above.
Monday, 15 May 2023
it won’t be a stylish marriage—i can’t afford a carriage (10. 744)
Thursday, 30 March 2023
8x8 (10. 645)
maximum fun: Jessie Thorn is turning the podcast network into a worker-owned cooperative
gearing-ratio: a nifty explainer on the physics of riding a bike—via Waxy

stop making sense: David Byrne on his Big Suit
retrotopia: Berlin’s Kunst-gewer-bemuseum explores Socialist design—see previously here and here
sit up & listen: a Thames Television station closedown (see also) routine
the panopticon effect: 99% Invisible explores the nineteenth century prison of Breda—see also
Tuesday, 28 March 2023
7x7 (10. 642)
one day near salinas: a sizeable California city has no local coverage, with original content limited to paid obituaries—see also
suzanne primate: every documentary about historical Edinburgh
ugly duchess: Quinten Massy’s 1513 portrait, “The Old Woman” is likely a drag queenthe future is a dead mall: Dan Olson on the impoverished, dystopian metaverse as a third-place—via Waxy
confessions of an idiom: the proverbial elephant in the room confronts the skeleton in the closet
the pictish trail: wanderlust in northern Scotland
strategies to foreground vertical video: media company Gannet’s success has little to do with journalism—via the New Shelton wet/dry—see also
catagories: ๐จ, ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ, ๐️, ๐ฒ, networking and blogging
Sunday, 12 February 2023
ๅ ๅท (10. 544)
Via Clive Thompson’s latest Linkfest (much more to see there), we are directed to an essay by rรซลt รดf wลrld contributor Yi-Ling Liu on the Chinese terms for burnout and the relentless push to get ahead—or just barely tread water with an assortment of phrases, some familiar and some novel—and how some of those buzzwords have inverted and signal despair rather than aspiration. We’d add the corollary shร ng ร n (making it ashore—getting a stable government position) to “jumping into the sea” and we’ve heard of the minor revolts of lying flat or letting it rot (with their analogues in the West quiet quitting, work-to-rule, Sciopero Bianco or generally a slowdown action) but the title term neijuan or “involution” was new to us as well. A loanword from an outdated treatise—which may have been a bit of political sublimation and apologetic for colonialism—that conjectures that agrarian societies, pointedly rice-growing ones, fail in achieving technological or political change because of intensive farming and increased pressures, externally and internally, to maintain this high yield with class structures meant to re-enforce that quota. Its original sense has been incrementally extended as a critique of income disparity—number two in the number of billionaires but also home to six hundred million others who subsist off less than $150 per month and of an exhaustive and overly-competitive work culture. The pictured, harried student of Tsing Hua University balancing his laptop on the handle bars of his bicycle has been adopted by the ‘Involuted Generation’ as their king.
Sunday, 1 January 2023
9x9 (10. 379)
run with us: Lisa Lougheed vocal talents showcased for the Canadian animated television series The Raccoons—1985 to 1992
the number 23: Tedium looks forward to the dawning year
artisanal bitcoin: crypto mined with only slide rules and graph paperrip: this more inclusive, Sgt Pepper’s style (previously) obituary of those we lost in 2022—to include the very recently passing of Anita Pointer, Barbara Walters and Pope Benedict
next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual: a literary guide to New Year’s resolutions and more from Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links
web 1.0: a clarion call to bring back personal blogging—also the upteenth time this appeal has circulated since 2007—via Kottke’s Quick Links
penny-farthing: a pocket-sized battery that can enhance a mechanical bicycle
magic clock: a 1960 Mel-O-Toons classic reminds us it’s late than we think
fever ray: a selection of new musical artist from Super Punch
Sunday, 16 October 2022
7x7 (10. 229)
symphony of the birds: CBS Radio director Jim Fassett’s 1960 experimental arrangement

benevolent dictator: a profile of President Kevin Baugh and his micronation of Molossia—via the New Shelton wet/dry
kunstradfahren: a graceful bicycle ballet by a skilled practitioner of this 130 year old sport
barcalounger: ten homes whose decor is tied together with classic Eames chairs—see previously
unreliable narrator: microbrews and hipster beer names
peer-reviewed: birdsong helps alleviate human anxiety and paranoia
Sunday, 12 June 2022
draisine
Again begging the question why it took all of human history and endeavour up until this point to invent something so useful and practical and democratising as the bicycle—see previously—it was this fine day in 1817 that Karl von Drais took his Dandy Horse (Laufmaschine) out for a long and leisurely test-drive from his home in Mannheim to the Relaishaus (ironically a relief, relay station for coach-drivers to refresh their horses) in Schwetzingen, a half a day’s journey on foot reduced to one hour, speedily executed at the respectable pace of thirteen to fifteen km/h without exertion.
Friday, 10 June 2022
9x9
web revival: rediscovering the serendipity of hyperlink daisy chains—via Joe Jenett
free-range children: relocating from London, Ontario to Amsterdam
sure-footed: a goat-like heavy-lifting robot called BEX under development—via Super Punch
lavender fields of surrey: a seasonal stroll through an aromatic patch of land
mono men: the Punk, Grunge aesthetic of Art Chantry
hyakutsuki-in: a beautiful locker-style cemetery in Toyko
hounds of love: a 1992 interview with Kate Bush (previously), breaking down her 1985 album track by track
sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment: an enigmatic sign spotted on a nike trail
jacob hive maker: first streaming film Wax; Or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees (1991)
Thursday, 11 November 2021
by-way or the highway
Albeit not on quite the same scale, these extreme commutes executed without an automobile and via slower, more deliberative modes of transportation really speak to me as I have undertaken similar excursions myself, only out of curious necessity, though the office is only ten kilometres away in most cases and not through dangerous terrain however through places not designed for pedestrians or flรขnuers (see also) to explore, fascinated by such transit-zones and will regularly make an afternoon’s errands out of something that would be quickly dispatched by car and a few extra stops.
Tuesday, 9 November 2021
collared
Buried within the pared down yet still massive and significant US Infrastructure Bill is a rider that encourages in the pursuit of public safety the tagging of pedestrians and bicycles with transponder beacons so as to make it easier for autonomous vehicles from running them over—thereby, like the crime of jaywalking, shifting the responsibility away from the manufacturers to public and shared spaces.
Monday, 9 August 2021
9x9
form follows function: a Bauhaus poster generator—see previosly—via Kottke
reddy made magic: a gallery of images plus the Walter Lantz theme song for mascot and industry shill, Reddy Kilowatt
dining car: vintage railway menus (see also) illustrate the evolution of American cuisine—via Nag on the Lake’s Sunday Links
ฮด ฮด ฮด, can I help ya, help ya, help ya: a guide to joining the right sorority this falljeux de la xxxiii
attention k-mart shoppers: Americans emerge from the pandemic less patient, less empathetic than before and the service industry culture that fuels the cruel fantasy
cycles pour animaux: a 1907 patent for a bicycle for horses to amplify their speed and le cheval-vapeur
divergent association task: help science gauge creative reflexes by thinking up ten words as different as possible (in English only for now)
betaplex: colourful retro cinema space in Ho Chi Mihn City recalls Saigon’s Art Deco architecture
Wednesday, 3 February 2021
6x6
fietsstrook: LEGO cycling lanes (see previously) on their way
pay no attention to that man behind the curtain: Jeff Bezos to hand over the reigns of power at Amazon
it’s a duck blur: an in depth, retrospective analysis of the 1989 Capcom video game Ducktalesend effector: Boston Dynamics’ Spot gets an arm and gripper attachment
nihon no shiro: abstract woodcuts of the castles and palaces of Japan—via Present /&/ Correct
force multiplier: innovative, portable CLIP drive transforms any convention bicycle into an e-bike—via Swiss Miss
Monday, 25 January 2021
6x6
hair flashes: some MidCentury styling tips from the British Pathรฉ archives
salvator mundi: an inconspicuously missing five-hundred-year old copy of the world’s most expensive painting (previously) found in a wardrobe in Naples
home edition: a meditative Tiny Desk Concert from pianist Max Richter
elevator pitch: Michael Dorn’s suggestion for a franchise series from the point-of-view of the Klingon Empire sounds intriguing
mpaa: a brief history of the PG-13 rating for US box-offices—see also
boneshaker: antique footage of cyclists in the days before suspension and shock-absorbers
Tuesday, 27 October 2020
headcase
Collaborators in Berlin and Munich have teamed up to produce a smart safety helmet for cyclists that links to one’s phone and delivers audio content via bone conducting speakers that are less intrusive and help ensure that the rider is also attuned to their surroundings.
Proximity sensors monitor the area immediately behind and give haptic cues if there’s something approaching from behind or the sides. It has directional lights and can understand simple voice commands to interact with one’s smart phone and an electric drive is actuated to adjust to an optimal fit once donned. Called ESUB tracks, the outer surface is a photovoltaic cell powering the helmet. More—including a video demonstration, at designboom at the link above.Thursday, 6 August 2020
boulevardier
Via Plain Magazine, we are alerted to conclusion and showcase of superlative snapshots from dotArt Urban 2020 photo awards and exhibition in partnership with Trieste Photo Days.
Shifting through over ten thousand submissions split among different categories—street, people, etc.—the jury has selected a number of finalists to contend for the top prize to be announced in October which will meanwhile be available to peruse on the contest’s online gallery. We especially liked this black-and-white picture of a scene in Prague from the perspective of a bicycle rack from Gabriele Altin, which really evokes the art in the sense of extending flรขnerie. Champion your favourites and find much more to explore at the links above.
Thursday, 5 March 2020
zx81
Launched in the United Kingdom on this day in 1981, Sinclair Research’s innovative, intuitive and inexpensive (kits for self-assembly consisting of a slim and compact keyboard and an external cassette recorder for memory retailed for a mere £49,95) micro-computer was one of the first to be successfully mass-marketed and introduced the public to the idea of having a home computer, outside the bailiwick of business executives and hobbyists. Aside from the tape player, there were no moving parts and plugged into a television set as a display.
Despite perceived technical shortcomings—like the impractically low amount of memory, the unit truly prized open a path to better computer literacy, coding (see previously) and importantly the measure of confidence to see broader applications. Clones and variants soon proliferated—I remember using a Radio Shack derivative in a beige casing and flipping the VHF/UHF switch and felt I was entering programming mode, and the community of enthusiasts the ZX81 fostered was self-perpetuating, the early-adopters creating, sourcing software and hardware compatible with the computer. Founder and business executive Clive Marles Sinclair (*1940) amassed a fortune with this pioneering success and was given a knighthood for it in 1983. Later projects launched by Sinclair have focused on personal transportation and solving the last-mile problem with inventions like his folding bicycle that commuters can easily take on trains, the A-Bike debuting in 2006.
catagories: ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ, ๐ก, ๐พ, ๐ฒ, 1981
Tuesday, 25 June 2019
ik denk dus ik fiets
We enjoyed pursuing this curated gallery of posters and placards documenting a decades’ long campaign to transform and retain Amsterdam as a world capital for pedestrians and cyclists.
This 1976 call for a demonstration of solidarity against automobile traffic and for more public transit options, in the name of safety and to ease congestion, features one of the first appearances of the Fietst (Dutch for riding a bike and an eponymous lobby and association) mascot, a character comprised of two wheels and a big head (sort of evoking the international symbol for a vision impaired person so that others realise that they’re sharing their space with them) with the triple cross crest of the city as a body. Fietst soon after became a more fully-formed and articulate mascot as a cycling girl called Liesje. Much more to explore at the links above.
Thursday, 25 April 2019
mother of invention
Previously we’ve explored how the Year without a Summer influenced and informed Mary Shelley’s Post-Modern Prometheus and the hardship endured by the population in general, but hadn’t appreciated how the climate disaster helped transform transportation by creating a situation that allowed machine aided propulsion to gain a purchase.
Due to cold weather that precipitated successive failing harvests, people had no fodder to feed their horses and out of desperation, had to eat their horses, which made alternative modes of getting around a necessity, prompting Karl Freiherr von Drais (see also) to invent his Laufmaschine—a dandy-horse and like a bicycle without the pedal mechanism. Innovations such as this speak to human ingenuity and resilience when it comes to surmounting change. Let’s hope we can all keep pace.
catagories: ๐ช️, ๐ด, ๐ก, ๐ฒ, Baden-Wรผrttemberg, environment
Wednesday, 21 November 2018
vilshult
Having a couple IKEA masterpieces at home and at work ourselves—though not this particular one—but being somehow informed or inspired to frame and shoot a similar scene, we were also intrigued about the story behind this ubiquitous (but joyfully so) poster of a canal in Amsterdam, courtesy friend of the blog Nag on the Lake. Do watch the short investigative documentary by Tom Roes, one of the nearly half a million owners of this picture, and learn what he discovered. You’ll be happy you took the time and won’t be able to glance over or dismiss it as something derivative or commercial again.
Wednesday, 12 September 2018
8x8
contemporary scolds: take this quiz and guess whether writers’ are complaining about e-scooters or new-fangled velocipedes
art house cinema: a look at some of the experimental documentaries that defined Icarus Films
dabangs: South Korean “stress cafรฉs” are a revival of an older tradition supplanted by the invasion of Western chains
anatomy of the ai: a smart speaker depicted as an anatomical chart intersected by natural resources, data and human labour by Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler
tunteet: a large Finnish research project to identify, classify and map the range of human feelings
slithery sam: the life and work of printmaker, illustrator and upholsterer Enid Marx
a soft murmur: adjustable background noise for any occasion, via Dave Log 3.0
lenticular lens: this thousand piece jigsaw puzzle changes colours depending on the viewers’ angle—via Kottke’s Quick Links