uncanny cruiser

Via the always intriguing Things magazine, while we are still trying to adapt to and come to terms with the idea of wholly convincing composite people generated by a neural network enforced through machine-learning, we discover a slightly less menacing though disorientating all the same nuance with hypothetical motor vehicles (relatedly) that only exist virtually and are the product of robot day-dreams. At the same time this roadworthy experiment was being conducted, the neural network tried its hand at a dataset of images of hotel, bed-and-breakfast rooms to create the ideal, average guest accommodations—mostly bedspreads and mountains of pillows. The programme is still learning and we are not sure of the parameters but perhaps once this algorithm gets fantastic coaches right, it will be able to engineer concept vehicles that surpass passenger expectations. Much more to consider and to explore at the links above.

was this trip really necessary?

While piloting a programme for commercial flights without single-use plastics on board might seem gimmicky and greenwashing, it is nonetheless a step in the right direction and unless we want to face the ethical problems that travel and tourism present without some ammunition in our moral quiver—begging questions like the one above—we’ve got to demand better more sustainable options when it comes to holiday-making, otherwise decisions will be made for us. Every locale with a tour operations running, boating excursions, snorkelling, photographic safaris, etc. or even restaurants and hoteliers that cater to outside visitors, ought to be mandated to use the most energy-efficient, zero-polluting means of transportation and logistics available with help from local governments.
What do you think? Would you pay a bit extra to site-see knowing that your presence didn’t deprive another of the same quality experience later on? After all, every little bit helps and we got here due to laziness and cutting corners multiplied billions of times. While progress towards cleaner and more efficient modes of transportation and daily living should not fall further behind in the private sector, governments should first place a premium on tourists to subsidise adopting new technologies and cycling out old, dirty motors for less intrusive electric ones.

frohes neues!

open you the west door and turn the old year go

Open you the East Door and let the New Year in! Happy 2019! Frohes Neues und einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!

ōmisoka

Having adopted the Western solar system of timekeeping as its official civil calendar at the beginning of the Meiji dynasty in 1873, Japanese new year’s customs are a rich fusion of traditional and adopted customs and rituals.
In addition to purification rites and sharing a bowl of long noodles with neighbours that symbolically bridge the span between new and old, areas with a Buddhist temple will ring their bells to atone for the one-hundred and eight earthly temptations that are the cause of human suffering. These enumerated kleshas (煩悩) are mental states (greed, sloth, pulverbatching, being hangry, irusu,  Vemödalen, and so forth) that are the mind-killers and manifest in poor decisions and destructive behaviour, and are in the broadest sense ignorance, attachment and aversion. Though it’s far beyond my cursory familiarity to wade further into the subject, it’s nonetheless comforting to know that the bonshō are tolling for us.

kirchenburg im flammen

H and I joined some friends last night and went into the nearby market town of Ostheim vor der Rhön to once again enjoy the spectacle of the fortified church illuminated by hundreds of torches and candles.
Unlike last year, there was no great and thunderous volley of the fire of hand-cannons from the tower but a very talented fire dancer who worked herself into a frenzy and gave quite a captivating performance.

starstudded

Our thanks to Weird Universe for the introduction to the perhaps unfairly maligned 1979 Italo-German space opera Starcrash—written and directed by Lugui Cozzi—accused of being derivative of the wildly successful Star Wars saga that premiered in 1977—dismissed like this later homage, but actually produced in parallel, with Lucas’ film only coming to audiences overseas in December 1978. I suppose we all owe debts of inspiration—and that’s not say the two movies don’t share some common ancestry.
The film, which includes a soundtrack scored by John Barry, stars Caroline Munroe as the protagonist with Christopher Plummer as a benevolent Emperor of the Universe and David Hasselhoff as his rebellious son and heir apparent, was quite a serious undertaking and rather than exactly campy seems like the franchise from an alternate reality. Here is the trailer below and with a little effort, one can find the full feature online, should one be so taken.