The Daily Render by Nikolas R. Schiller

Cartographic Clothing from Express

blog@nikolasschiller.com — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:22:31 +0000

At the beginning of this month I noticed a dude at the 18th Street Lounge wearing the t-shirt above and I asked him where he got it. To my dismay he said he purchased it at the Express Clothing Store at his nearby mall. While I liked the shirt (a lot!) I was saddened to know that it was probably made in a sweatshop.

I didn’t ask the dude to take a look at the shirt’s tag, which would have shown the country of origin, but I know from experience that most of the clothing at Express and other clothing shops in the mall tend to be made in sweatshops around the world. A couple years ago I made a pact with myself to not purchase clothing that I knew was manufactured in a sweatshop, so don’t expect me to run out and buy this shirt.

In the three weeks since I started preparing this entry I noticed that the two other shirts which had cartographic representations on them have already been deaccessioned from the Express website. The link above should bring you to the same graphic t-shirt but in a different color. The two t-shirts shown below the fold are not available anymore on-line but might still be for sale at a nearby store. Thats if you are down with sweatshops and all…

This shirt features a Compass Rose

This shirt features an island shaped into a woman

One year later and Google Maps has still not updated DC

blog@nikolasschiller.com — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:41:34 +0000

One of the little plugins I installed on this Wordpress blog was a link at the bottom of each post which shows what I had posted the year before. The other day I noticed that my research related to censorship of Washington, DC on Google Maps, which culminated into the lead article in the Metro section of the Washington Post had appeared. I decided to check out Google Maps to see if there had been any updates and to my non-surprise, there hadn’t been. All I can say is: “what gives?” DC residents are still looking at downtown Washington, DC from 6 years ago. People visiting the MSM of the American Indian are still seeing it under construction, the newly built dorms on GWU’s campus are still not being shown, and the list goes on….. So when will the imagery be updated? When will DC residents get to enjoy the benefits of Street View? Google has office in DC to lobby elected officials, but they’ve chosen to keep imagery of their own office out dated. This doesn’t make sense to me.

Related Censorship Entries:

Related Google Maps Entries:

FLIK International Movie Festival & Interactive Exhibit

blog@nikolasschiller.com — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:23:59 +0000

Tomorrow I am going to be dropping off some of my artwork at Art Whino for this exhibit.

Art Outlet and Art Whino are proud to announce their partnership in presenting the 2nd annual FLIK International Movie Festival and FLIK Interactive exhibition to be held at Art Whino Gallery at the new National Harbor, July 25th thru July 27th, 2008.

FLIK is a multi faceted event that features not only the best in contemporary animation, experimental films, as well as multi-disciplinary and interactive new media art, but it also reaches out to the public at large with a call out for socially relevant expression and person storytelling thru its I CINEMA and VOX POPULI programs, which will continue beyond the festival itself.

FLIK interactive art will explore or reflect on how new and old technology and technique influence how we hook up and how we view the world. Is change or lack thereof good, bad, sublime, dystopic, utopic or irrelevant? How do these tools matter, if at all?

Curator Joshua Barlow, founder of www.flikfestival.com, selected the following FLIK artists for the FLIK International Film Festival and interactive exhibition:

Emmanuel Blessed Aisabokhae, Rodney Ascher , David Butler, Kim Collmer, Tomoska Constantina, Ben Drewry, Casey Drogin, Shawn Lawson, Rudy Lemcke, Samantha, Leriche-Gionet, Bruce McKraig, Tewodross Melchishua, Rob Parrish, Serena Rodgers, Daniel Rolli, Renee Shaw, Fatouros Thanos, Vidlits (Liz Dubelman & Paca Thomas), Filip Walgraef, Millie Wissar

Curator Andrea Collins, selected the following FLIK interactive artists for the FLIK International Film Festival and interactive exhibition:

Eric Celarier, Guthery Duncan , Rita Elsner, Roman Gershkovich , Michael Gordon, Sean Hennessy, Shawn Lawson, Rob Lindsay, David London, James Mallos, Bono Mitchell, Bill Mould, Chris Peloso, Meek Phelan, Tarik Rafiq, Joe Reinsel, Nikolas Schiller, Pindar Van Arman, Andrew Wodzianski

The exhibit and screenings will be held at Art Whino @ National Harbor, 173 Waterfront Street, National Harbor, MD 20745, July 25th through 27th. Admission will be a suggested donation of $10, which will also get you a free beverage and a bag of popcorn. For directions or the complete program listing, visit www.artoutlet.org , www.artwhino.com or www.flikfestival.com.

Try to come out on Friday or Saturday to check out the videos and artwork!

I was not able to get my artwork driven out there, so it looks like they’ll only feature my QTVR map of National Harbor and no prints maps. [damn!]

24 Hours in Rocky Mountain National Park

blog@nikolasschiller.com — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:49:09 +0000

Click here to view the video on the Vimeo website

From 7/10/08 to 7/17/08 I was in Colorado visiting family & friends. On 7/13/08 I went to Boulder to visit my old summer camp buddy, Jourdan. I had originally planned to spend Monday (7/14) in Boulder, but that morning Jourdan suggested a different plan- a plan that involved driving up to Rocky Mountain National Park and checking the backcountry office to see if there were any available campsites. To our chagrin, there was a spot available at Fern Lake, which is located about 4.7 miles from the Bear Lake trailhead.

This video documents our journey into the park, hiking through the park, and driving out of the park. Along the way I showcase the Bear Lake trailhead, the demise of my hiking boots, hiking through snowfields near treeline, waterfalls at the base of the continental divide, fish swimming in a beaver dam at the foot of Fern Lake, and the grand vistas that can be seen in Rocky Mountain National Park.

This video is minimally edited using Quicktime Pro and is composed of a series of video clips taken with my Canon SD750 digital camera at 640×480 at 30 frames per second with mono audio recording.

Had I surrendered my digital camera late Thursday night when I was assaulted, this video would not have been possible.

National Harbor 2006 - A Quicktime Virtual Reality Environment

blog@nikolasschiller.com — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:42:18 +0000

76.5mb QTVR showing a 6,000 x 6,000 tessellation of aerial photography featuring the construction site of National Harbor in 2006

This interactive environment was created in late June, but I had forgotten to put it on-line!

On June 21st I was invited to come and check out the new Art Whino gallery in the newly developed plot of land called National Harbor. There is an upcoming new media exhibit and I decided to make this interactive map. More details on the exhibit forthcoming.

There are three different ways to view this map:
1) You can click on the image above and have it load in your browser
2) You can right click on the image above and save the file to your computer
3) Copying the URL above, opening up Quicktime, and pasting the URL into the “Open Url..”

I recommend going with option #2 or #3 because it allows you to resize the window and view more of the map on your computer screen. By going with route #1 you are forced to view it at roughly 320×240 in size (at least using FireFox) which does not full show the size of the map as easily and it also increases the risk of having your browser crash. Route #3 does not permanently save the file on to your hard drive like route #2, but it gives you the same control over the size of the viewing environment.

Since these types of maps are easy to make I think I should start making more of them. I wonder what the largest size I can render is? I shall find out in due time.

Related QTVR:

First Amendment Violation in Lafayette Park yesterday; ACLU contacted

blog@nikolasschiller.com — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:29:16 +0000

Youth poets from around the country pose for a group picture at Lafayette Park

A couple weeks ago I was contacted by my friend who owns a sound system that is frequently used for outdoor demonstrations, rallies, and press conferences. Since he has a couple of businesses that siphon much of his time, he normally contacts me about doing the sound for these events. Over the years I’ve helped a wide array of disparate groups amplify their voices and help facilitate their freedom of speech through my sound engineering skills.

Yesterday’s event was organized by a DC non-profit Sol y Soul in conjunction with Youth Speaks’s 2008 Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam. Throughout last week over 450 different youths between the ages of 13 & 19 from around the world came to DC to compete, learn, and forge new friendships through spoken word poetry. This competition culminated into a final competition tonight in Lincoln Theater that will be recorded by HBO for a future episode of their Def Poetry series.

Friday afternoon’s event was called “Hear the Children Speak” and the theme of the poetry was about No Child Left Behind and America’s educational system. The permits allowed the organizers to construct a stage on the west side of Lafayette Park and have me setup a sound system that allowed each student the ability to recite their poetry on the microphone.

For the first two hours everything went superb, then a National Park Police Officer decided that their poetry, their 1st amendment, was too much and told one of the organizers we need to turn off the sound system.

I have done sound at Lafayette Park (also known as President’s Park, which is located just north of the White House) over a dozen times in the last few years and never before I have been told to turn off the sound system. I’ve been told to turn it down, but never off. After consulting with the organizers, I decided to contact the ACLU about what transpired and below is my initial e-mail which lays out exactly what happened:

Mr. Barnes [executive director of the ACLU National Capital Area],

I was given your contact information by our mutual friend and feel compelled to contact you about what I feel to be a First Amendment violation that took place today from 5-6pm in Lafayette Park on Friday, July 18th, 2008.

Sol y Soul, a non-profit based here in Washington, DC contacted me about doing sound engineering at their permitted 1st amendment rally today on the west side of Lafayette Park. The event featured high school students from nearly every state in the nation that came together to read their poetry about “No Child Left Behind.” HBO documentarians were present and filmed nearly the entire demonstration for a future episode of Def Poetry presents “Brave New Voices.”

We followed the permits to the T and had no issues for most of the demonstration, however at about 5pm National Park Police Officer Crawford told us that we were to turn off our amplified sound system even though our permit stated that we were allowed have poetry read until 6pm. We complied with the order and for the last hour the 100+ attendees were forced to crowd around the stage and forced to listen to the poetry recited without amplification in nearly 100 degree weather. This crowding of the stage posed a potential safety issue for all those in attendance and it unfairly prevented poets from being heard by their peers.

Over the last 4 years I have used this sound system, the same sound system we used today, over a dozen times at permitted demonstrations in Lafayette Park. However, I’ve never been told to turn off the sound system. I’ve been asked to turn down the sound system before, but never to turn it OFF. When I approached officer Crawford I politely asked why we were asked to have the sound system turned off. Her response made me quite livid– “You did not require the amplification for the number of people present.” I then stated that I could easily turn down the volume or turn off one of the amplified speakers (1/2 the permitted sound system) and she maintained her first response. Not once during the two hours prior had we been asked to turn down the volume– not once. After calling Amy Daley, our liaison at the National Park Service, she told us to return to officer Crawford and ask if there were complaints against our demonstration, which she felt might have been a different reason for the turn off request. Officer Crawford said that she did in fact receive complaints about some of the profanity used in some of the poetry.

After the demonstration was over I requested to speak with Officer Crawford’s commanding officer. About 15 minutes later, Officer Keenan arrived and he first cited in the permits a bogus line that says amplified sound systems are not allowed in the park. I corrected him and showed him that the line item he was using only dealt with sound systems south of Pennsylvania Ave, which prevents people from using megaphones too close to the White House. Then he followed up with DC municipal code which states that the use of curse words are illegal and people can be charged with Disorderly Conduct for saying the word “fuck”. Keenan also stated that he was the officer who told officer Crawford to “pull the plug.” After a few more minutes of futile, but polite discussion, we ended the conversation and were given two options- take the issue up with Officer Booker, who is the National Park Police liaison or take it up to the DC Superior Court on the grounds of the First Amendment. The third option, of course, was to contact you Mr. Barnes, because I strongly feel that our first amendment was violated today and you have been one of the strongest voices in the national capital area on first amendment issues.

The legal questions I have are as follows:
1) If the National Park Service is to issue permits for poetry readings in the future, should the poets be forced to censor themselves?
2) As the “sound guy,” should the officer first ask that the permitted sound system be turned down first, before asking to turn it completely off?
3) By forcing over a 100 youths to crowd around a small stage in 100 degree weather, were the National Park Police endangering the welfare of the participants?
4) Do you feel that we should pursue this further?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Nikolas Schiller

The e-mail has since been forwarded to the ACLU’s legal department and I’m awaiting more information. I will definitely post any updates here as they are received.

As someone who was assaulted the day before by youth who exemplify what happens when “children are left behind,” I felt that their poetry had a profound resonance within me. At times I cried hearing such moving words coming out of their mouths. But when they were silenced by what I feel to be illegal fiat, I took issue. I’ve blogged about the importance of getting permits when having a demonstration in the past, but if the permits are in order there should be no reason why anyone should be silenced. I sincerely hope the ACLU takes this case up because the power of the spoken word should never be silenced.

Related Censorship Entries:

Related Poetry Entries:

Assaulted on my doorstep [2 hours after returning to DC]

blog@nikolasschiller.com — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:30:37 +0000

Instead of rewriting the entire account, I am posting the e-mail I wrote to the listserv of my neighborhood association:

Neighbors,

I’m sorry to be writing my ‘return to DC’ e-mail in this context but I feel compelled to share this since it just happened.

For the last 7 days I’ve been in Colorado; first for my mother’s wedding, then for a night in the backcountry of Rocky Mountain National Park, and finally to spend some time with friends in Boulder & Denver. I arrived back on Westminster Street at 12:30am after being delayed for 2 hours in Denver. Since I was not tired yet, I decided to go to my favorite nearby watering hole on 14th & T. After one hour and one drink, I decided to ride my bike back to my house.

Upon arriving on Westminster Street, at approximately 1:36am I dismounted my bicycle behind Mr. Lewis’ white pickup truck parked in front of Mr. Brown’s house. As I passed behind my the truck and was turning toward my front door, I noticed 3 African Americans in their mid-20’s had stopped their car in the middle of the street and started to approach me. The tallest of the three wearing a white tank top and khaki jeans pretended to have a pistol in his back pocket and demanded what I had in my pockets. I backed up to my doorstep refusing their request, using my bicycle as a wall (which did not help much). They came up the steps continuing to demand what I had in my pockets. After refusing again, telling them to go away and that I was at my home, I was punched in the face & body multiple times by the three and was able to fend them off by fighting back and because I was not being knocked out cold by the punches to the face. They did not steal anything from me because I refused and fought back.

Before they drove off, I was able to run into the street and catch much of their license plate: A102108 / A101208 / A108021 (one of the variations [all turned out to be incorrect]), which was a Maryland plate with the orange, yellow, and black hues known as the “agricultural plate.” If my memory serves me, it was a mid/late-90’s gold Ford Thunderbird that they were driving (the car has a uniquely shaped trunk). I called the police who arrived within 5 minutes. Since I was bleeding from the lip the officer had the fire & ambulance come, but I signed the document refusing service ($$!!). There was one woman down the block who witnessed it all and ran inside for her safety. I have her contact information but I don’t think it will matter much because she was so far away and was scared enough to run inside– “I knew something was up when I saw them approach you, so I ran inside” (which I would have done too in her position– by herself at night).

In conclusion, this was the type of freak assault that is really really really hard to prevent. If you have people willing to commit that type of crime, there is very little we can do as a community to prevent it. I ride my bicycle at night for this very reason. Its one thing to be jumped because you are walking down the street alone at night, its a completely different issue when you are literally assaulted on your front doorstep. I moved to the neighborhood in May of 2004 and this is the first time something like this has happened to me. Its just very frustrating because I had just arrived back in the city and was refreshed after being in a place I cherish. Tomorrow I expect to receive a call from the MPD’s detective and I hope to hear some good news, but I’m not keeping my hopes up. If there is any type of follow-up, I will share it.

Your neighbor with cut lips & very sore jaw,
Nikolas Schiller

ps
Keep an eye out for this car:
http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/bm/94-97tbird.htm
I don’t think that’s the exact car, but its as close as my memory recalls.

I ultimately received dozens of kind e-mails from my neighbors, multiple e-mails from my city councilmember, e-mails from the DC Police, and even a hand written note from a police sergeant explaining why they parked a cop car in front of my house.

This type of response was downright flattering and it made me realize that while I might live a somewhat dangerous city, I live in a community that cares about the wellbeing of its residents.

Why the caption: “sometimes memories are worth fighting for” ?

Well in my pockets were not only my wallet and cellphone, but my brand new digital camera that I had purchased to document my mother’s wedding & excursions in Colorado. Had the thugs pulled out a gun or a knife I would have surrendered everything, but they didn’t, and I knew that if I would have voluntarily handed them the contents I would have lost all the photographs & video clips forever. I’ve heard of stories where thugs have allowed their victims the opportunity to remove the camera’s memory card before stealing the camera, but I was not about to take that chance. I held my ground, got a least one solid punch off (my ring left a scare on my hand indicating that I punched the guy hard enough for the ring dig into my skin), and was able to fight to retain my memories. Memories which I hope to share on this blog in the next few days.

Vacation

blog@nikolasschiller.com — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 14:06:06 +0000

I just realized that I never published this entry before I went on vacation from both the daily entries to this blog and out of the DC area. Often I write entries to this blog and keep it private until I am ready to publish it. This allows me to refine the content before it’s captured for eternity by search engines. I am back dating this entry to the date it was supposed to appear. I should resume activity sometime in late July…

YouTube Has Chosen For You! - Digital Scrapbooking Explicit Bipartisanship

blog@nikolasschiller.com — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 21:55:47 +0000

Last month I snail mailed a letter to YouTube citing the fact that their political page was being explicitly partisan and did not include any third party politicians running for president. I have yet to receive a written reply. Instead YouTube gave the page’s layout a makeover, but still left out 3rd party presidential candidates. To document this flagrant bipartisanship, I decided to take a screen shot every day I was on-line this month.

Below you’ll see the candidates YouTube has tacitly endorsed during the month of June:

June 12th, 2008 - The only day that Ralph Nader was featured

And no, YouTube’s Citizen Tube is not any less bipartisan. What a sham. Democracy is about choice, but clearly YouTube doesn’t care, instead they’ve chosen for you.

Related YouTube Entries:

This week is the four year anniversary of my geospatial art

blog@nikolasschiller.com — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:27:05 +0000

Random geospatial art from somewhere on this website

This week marks the fourth year anniversary of when I started to publish my geographic designs on a this website. In the time since, which feels like only yesterday, I’ve published over 750 different creations on this website, which amounts to nearly 2,500 different image details. At first I started creating them partly as a quest for self-discovery and partly as a reaction to the fact that I was not able to graduate from college due financial circumstances. I wanted to document what I had learned, produced, researched, and published while on permanent sabbatical. After witnessing how my old housemate had to deal with on-line strangers on her now-defunct blog, I decided to do something that no other blogger had ever done before, I chose to keep the contents of my website hidden from web crawlers and subsequently, most strangers. This kept this website off the map of the internet for nearly 4 years. Only recently in March of this year, exactly one year after an internationally syndicated article was published about this website, did I open my website up to the dreaded robots. I don’t know where this year will lead me, but I’m glad I’ve made enough maps to point me in the right direction.

Check the aggregate listings: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008.

The Millbank Penitentiary, the Tate Britain, and the Panopticon

blog@nikolasschiller.com — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:20:42 +0000

Detail of Smiths New Map of London (1860)
Courtesy of the Library of Congress Geography & Mapping Division

The other night I was browsing the antique maps on the in American Memory Collection map stumbled upon Smith’s New Map of London (1860). As I was looking at 19th century London, I came across the geometrically shaped building that look surprisingly like some of the mashed-up buildings in my maps (see map detail above).

The building was known as the Millbank Penitentiary and was designed by William Williams in 1812 in accordance with the utilitarian principles laid down by Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon prison design. This radial design would allow the guards to monitor all the prisoners at all times, without any prisoner being aware of whether he/she was being monitored or not. Akin to today’s closed circuit television cameras, the Panopticon design is still used today in many prisons around the world.

Peter McRorie Higgins describes the Millbank Penitentiary extensively in The Scurvy Scandal at Millbank Penitentiary: A Reassessment:

(The prison) was revived in 1794 when Jeremy Bentham was given £2,000 to make preparations and in 1799 he came up with his panopticon scheme intended to house 1,000 prisoners, which he proposed to erect in return for the sum of £19,000. This was dropped, but the penitentiary project finally got under way in 1812 when a location at Millbank was chosen. Swampy ground made building difficult, but the position had the advantage of being close to London and yet not having neighbours objecting to the presence of a huge prison in the vicinity. The original estimate assumed a capacity of 300 males and 200 females costing £259,700, but by the time its first part opened in 1816 the outlay had escalated to a massive £458,000 (“It may be doubted whether the Taj at Agra, The Cloth Hall at Ypres or the Cathedral at Chartres had cost anything like this sum”).

…continuing…

A highly complex building of six pentagons radiating from a central circular chapel, the first part to be completed was inspected by members of the management committee on 23 June 1816; on 26 June the first prisoners arrived. These were females, of whom there were large numbers in the county gaols awaiting transportation.26 They “were carried in caravans, chained together, from Newgate to Blackfriars bridge, there put on board a barge prepared to receive them, and conveyed under a strong guard of police officers by water to Millbank”

In the Handbook of London in 1850, it was described as:

MILLBANK PRISON. A mass of brickwork equal to a fortress, on the left bank of the Thames, close to Vauxhall Bridge; erected on ground bought in 1799 of the Marquis of Salisbury, and established pursuant to 52 Geo. III., c.44, passed Aug 20th, 1812. It was designed by Jeremy Bentham, to whom the fee-simple of the ground was conveyed, and is said to have cost the enormous sum of half a million sterling. The external walls form an irregular octagon, and enclose upwards of sixteen acres of land. Its ground-plan resembles a wheel, the governor’s house occupying a circle in the centre, from which radiate six piles of building, terminating externally in towers. The ground on which it stands is raised but little above the river, and was at one time considered unhealthy. It was first named “The Penitentiary,” or “Penitentiary House for London and Middlesex,” and was called “The Millbank Prison” pursuant to 6 & 7 of Victoria, c.26. It is the largest prison in London. Every male and female convict sentenced to transportation in Great Britain is sent to Millbank previous to the sentence being executed. Here they remain about three months under the close inspection of the three inspectors of the prison, at the end of which time the inspectors report to the Home Secretary, and recommend the place of transportation. The number of persons in Great Britain and Ireland condemned to transportation every year amounts to about 4000. So far the accommodation of the prison permits, the separate system is adopted. Admission to inspect - order from the Secretary for the Home Department, or the Inspector of Prisons.

The Millbank Penitentiary was closed in 1886 and demolished in 1890. Seven years later in 1897 one of Britain’s leading art galleries, the Tate Britain, was constructed on the site of the penitentiary. Today the site also has the Chelsea College of Art & Design and a Peabody Trust housing estate.

From prisoners to paintings, this type of architectural archeology is a clear example of how cities change over time. Similar to Federal Triangle and even my own neighborhood, these changes are gradual, but still quite fascinating and worthy of further study.

I also find it interesting that the Panopticon concept continues today in London with their Orwellian network of CCTV cameras that capture all the movements of the urban populace. The prison is now in the streets. Sad.

View the Google Map of the Tate Britain in London, England.

Related Antique Entries:

New York Public Library Quilt

blog@nikolasschiller.com — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:50:44 +0000

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

This fractal octagon quilt projection map was recursively rendered four times before the final result above. It took approximately two hours for each rendering to complete and then each tessellation was sampled while maintaining the source spatial integrity. Altogether this map took about 12 hours of rendering time and post-processing time to complete. I intend on printing this out for the upcoming lecture.

View the Google Map of Madison Square Garden in New York City.

: detail :

View the rest of the details:

: detail :

: zoom out from center :

: zoom to center :

Dalai Lama: “If you have a Green Party I want to join it”

blog@nikolasschiller.com — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:45:01 +0000

About 2 minutes into the video the 14th Dalai Lama asks if America has a Green Party and if so he would want to join it. Made me smile Read more about his remarks here.

Definitely not Comcastic

blog@nikolasschiller.com — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:12:54 +0000

For the last two weeks the internet has been down at my house. This makes it nearly impossible to do daily blog entries. I hope to get back to the regular routine once the internet is back up….

Wale Versus WALL-E [via youtube doubler]

blog@nikolasschiller.com — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:21:11 +0000

click to view the mashup

I downloaded Wale’s “Mixtape About Nothing” the other day and it occurred to me that Disney has a cartoon coming out that had a similar spelling of the main character. This mashup features Wale’s video called “Uptown Roamers” and on the right is Pixar’s trailer for the upcoming animated feature film called WALL-E. The cartoon’s main character looks a bit too much like Johnny 5 from Short Circuit (1986). I doubt I’ll be seeing the movie, but I’m enjoying Wale’s newest mixtape.

Click here to download Wale’s “A Mixtape About Nothing”. Click here to read a great review of the mixtape.

View more screen grabs:

Click to download the mixtape:

Related YouTube Entries:

In Praise of a Contented Mind / My Mind to me a Kingdom is

blog@nikolasschiller.com — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 04:19:24 +0000

Edward de Vere - 17th Earl of Oxford
from an engraving by J. Brown after G.P. Harding 1575
via Wikipedia

In Praise of a Contented Mind
My mind to me a kingdom is;
Such perfect joy therein I find
That it excels all other bliss
That world affords or grows by kind.
Though much I want which most men have,
Yet still my mind forbids to crave.

No princely pomp, no wealthy store,
No force to win the victory,
No wily wit to salve a sore,
No shape to feed each gazing eye;
To none of these I yield as thrall.
For why my mind doth serve for all.

I see how plenty suffers oft,
How hasty climbers soon do fall;
I see that those that are aloft
Mishap doth threaten most of all;
They get with toil, they keep with fear.
Such cares my mind could never bear.

Content I live, this is my stay;
I seek no more than may suffice;
I press to bear no haughty sway;
Look what I lack my mind supplies;
Lo, thus I triumph like a king,
Content with that my mind doth bring.

Some have too much, yet still do crave;
I little have, and seek no more.
They are but poor, though much they have,
And I am rich with little store.
They poor, I rich; they beg, I give;
They lack, I leave; they pine, I live.

I laugh not at another’s loss;
I grudge not at another’s gain;
No worldly waves my mind can toss;
My state at one doth still remain.
I fear no foe, nor fawning friend;
I loathe not life, nor dread my end.

Some weigh their pleasure by their lust,
Their wisdom by their rage of will,
Their treasure is their only trust;
And cloaked craft their store of skill.
But all the pleasure that I find
Is to maintain a quiet mind.

My wealth is health and perfect ease;
My conscience clear my chief defense;
I neither seek by bribes to please,
Nor by deceit to breed offense.
Thus do I live, thus will I die.
Would all did so as well as I!

Last night I was adding some new books to my shelves and decided to look at my old copy of the Norton Anthology of English Literature. I opened it up, turned a few pages and stumbled on to In Praise of a Contented Mind. It’s anonymous poem most commonly attributed to Edward Dyer but according to Norton, it was possibly written by Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford (painting above). According to the Oxfordian Theory, some believe that Edward de Vere was the poet who’s pseudonym was Shakespeare. I hold the opinion that Shakespeare was most likely a group of nobles who collaborated together to write under the pseudonym of Shakespeare because their status as nobles prevented their official authorship.

In 1588 William Byrd set the poem to music in Psalms, Sonnets, and Songs of Sadness and Piety, as “My Mind to me a Kingdom is.” This version (below) is attributed to Sir Edward Dyer and includes some modification to the original prose.

My Mind to me a Kingdom is
My minde to me a kingdome is,
such perfect joy therin I find,
That it excells all other blisse,
which God or Nature hath assign’d.
Though much I want, that most would have,
yet still my mind forbids to crave.

No princely port nor welthie store,
no force to winne a victorie,
no wyly wit to salve a sore,
no shape to winne a loving eye:
to none of these I yeld as thrall,
for why my minde despise them all.

I see that plentie surfeits oft,
and hastie clymbers soonest fall:
I see that such as are a loft,
mishap doth threaten most of all:
these get with toyle and keepe with feare,
such cares my minde can never beare.

I presse to beare no haughtie sway,
I wish no more then may suffice:
I doe no more than well I may,
look what I want my minde supplies,
loe thus I triumph like a King,
my minde content with any thing.

I laugh not at anothers losse,
nor grudge not at anothers gaine:
no worldly waves my minde can tosse,
I brooke that is anothers bane:
I feare no foe nor fawne on friend,
I loth not lyfe nor dread mine end.

My wealth is health and perfect ease,
and conscience cleere my chiefe defence,
I never seeke by brybes to please,
nor by desert to give offence:
thus doe I live, thus will I dye,
would all did so as well as I.

The score was mass produced as a broadside where it remained popular for over 100 more years. According to google, this posting is between the 15th and 30th mention of this poem on the internets.

click below to download a PDF of the score:

The Trilingual Afghan Calendar

blog@nikolasschiller.com — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:50:11 +0000

Last night I had someone from Pakistan query Google with the sentance “i want to see gregorian calendar 1387,” and the third result was my Zodiac link. After “reverse searching” the query I found this calendar for the year 1387 written in Dari, Pashto & English.

The following text was copied from the author, Emal Alekozai (thank you!) I will note there are some formatting issues with the tables, so bear with me.

Calendar algorithm

Definition

The Afghan calendar is defined in article 18 of the Afghan constitution from 2004:

Article 18:
The source for the calendar shall be based upon the migration of the Prophet (praise and peace be upon him). The basis for state offices shall be the solar calendar (Hejrah-e shamsi). Fridays as well as the 28th of Asad (19th, in leap years August 18th) and the 8th Saur (28th, in leap years April 27th) shall be public holidays. Other holidays shall be regulated by the law.

Calendar types

In Afghanistan one has to distinguish between three calendars:

Hejrah-e shamsi calendar (Solar Islamic): Is Afghanistan’s official calendar.
Gregorian calendar (Solar Christian): Is mainly used in international relations.
Hejrah-e qamari calendar (Lunar Islamic): Is used for religious holidays.

Hejrah-e shamsi calendar(Solar Islamic)

The Hejrah-e shamsi calendar starts from the year of the emigration (hejrah) of the Islamic Prophet Mohammad from Mecca to Medina in 622AD. It has 12 months, consisting of 29 to 31 days. The begin of the Hejrah-e shamsi Year (1. Hammal) corresponds to the March 21st (or March 20th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. The year has 365 days and in leap years 366 days. The leap years in the Hejrah-e shamsi calendar can be computed by a arithmetic formula. A year S in the Hejrah-e shamsi calendar is a leap year if and only if the Gregorian year G=S+621 is a leap year. In a Hejrah-e shamsi year S two Gregorian year G1 and G2 partly occur, with G1 greater than g2 . The Gregorian year G is chosen as G1. For example in the Hejrah-e shamsi year S=1379 the Gregorian year G1=2000 and G2=2001 partly occur. G is chosen as G:=G1=2000. The year 1379 of the Hejrah-e shamsi calendar was a leap year, since the year 2000 in the Gregorian calendar was a leap year.

Month Nr.	Dari (Hejrah-e shamsi)	Pashtu (Hejrah-e shamsi)	English (Gregorien)	Days
1	Hammal	Wray	March-April	31
2	Saur	Ghwayai	April-May	31
3	Jauza	Gargholai	May-June	31
4	Saratan	Chungash	June-July	31
5	Asad	Zmarai	July-August	31
6	Sonbola	Wazhay	August-September	31
7	Mizan	Talah	September-October	30
8	Aqrab	Larum	October-November	30
9	Qaus	Lindah	November-December	30
10	Jadi	Merghumai	December-January	30
11	Dalw	Salwagah	January-February	30
12	Hut	Kab	February-March	29 (30 in leap years)

Hejrah-e qamari calendar(Lunar Islamic) [-11 years]

The months in the Hejrah-e qamari calendar are alternatively 30 and 29 days long. In leap years the 12th month has 31 days. The Lunar year is eleven days shorter than the solar calendar. The Hejrah-e qamari calendar months “Ramadan” and “Shawwal” define the Muslim fasting. The starting day of these two months are observed by authorities. A difference of one day can occur between the observed and the pre-computed calendar. All 30 years a leap year occurs to synchronize the calendar with the moon phases.

Month Nr.	Arabic (Hejrah-e qamari)	Arabic shortcut (Hejrah-e qamari)	amount days
1	Muharram	Muharram	30
2	Safar	Safar	29
3	Rabi’ al-Awal	Rabi’1	30
4	Rabi’ al-Thaani	Rabi’2	29
5	Jumada al-Awal	Jumada1	30
6	Jumada al-Thaani	Jumada2	29
7	Rajab	Rajab	30
8	Sha’ban	Sha’ban	29
9	Ramadan	Ramadan	30
10	Shawwal	Shawwal	29
11	Zul al-Qi’dah	Z.Qi’dah	30
12	Zul al-Hijjah	Z.Hijjah	29 (31 in leap years)

Conversion from/ to Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian year 2000 corresponds to the Hejrah-e shamsi year 1378 and the Hejrah-e qamari year 1420. To convert a date from the Gregorian to the Hejrah-e shamsi or Hejrah-e qamari calendar one can use the following reference dates:

The 1st Hammal of the year 1 in the Hejrah-e shamsi calendar corresponds to the 1st Muharram of the year 1 in the Hejrah-e qamari calendar and to the March 21st, 622 in the Gregorian calendar
January 1st, 2000 in the Gregorian calendar corresponds to the Jadi 11th, 1378 in the Hejrah-e shamsi calendar and to 24th Ramadan of the year 1420 in the Hejrah-e qamari calendar.

As someone who’s lived their entire life with one basic calendar style, featuring one language, I am really glad to see a different type of calendar. I hope to find some others in due time.

Related Entries:

Madison Square Garden Quilt

blog@nikolasschiller.com — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:17:26 +0000

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Using my new procedure, I pre-rendered 2 tiles to create this third derivative map of Madison Square Garden in Midtown Manhattan. It looks very similar to Hirshhorn Quilt (they are both circular buildings) but they are composed of aerial photographs taken at different spatial scales. The NYC imagery has been downsampled to 2ft per pixel compared to DC’s imagery which is at 6 inches per pixel or a difference of about 16 times less detail (I think). Up next will probably be the New York Public Library, which was actually in the first tessellation, but dropped from the second.

View the Google Map of Madison Square Garden in New York City.

: detail :

View the rest of the details:

: detail :

: zoom out from center :

: zoom to center :