http://www.therestisnoise.com/2012/05/dick-horowitz-says-goodbye.html

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http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2012/05/20/weekend-links-109/

http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/?p=11433

Dreams before Surrealism: a sheet music cover from 1926 by René Magritte.

• The week in music: Listen to compositions by Annea Lockwood. | At the Free Music Archive: Uncomfortable Music, a tribute to David Lynch’s Eraserhead (and, it should be said, to Alan Splet’s unique soundtrack). | Alan Licht plays a track from Trout Mask Replica then loops some Donna Summer and improvises guitar noise over it. | Music Experiments with Terror: The Spooky Isles presents Joseph Stannard‘s list of recent eldritch sounds from British musicians.

Great art, or, let’s just say, more modestly, original art is never created in the safe middle ground, but always at the edge. Originality is dangerous. It challenges, questions, overturns assumptions, unsettles moral codes, disrespects sacred cows or other such entities. It can be shocking, or ugly, or, to use the catch-all term so beloved of the tabloid press, controversial. And if we believe in liberty, if we want the air we breathe to remain plentiful and breathable, this is the art whose right to exist we must not only defend, but celebrate. Art is not entertainment. At its very best, it’s a revolution.

Salman Rushdie on the censorship of art

• All Diamond, No Rough” says the School Library Journal about the first volume of The Graphic Canon. Volume two should be out in August.

• Scientific American asks: Do Psychedelics Expand the Mind by Reducing Brain Activity?

• From 2010: A Dandy in Aspic – A letter from Derek Marlowe.

• Tom Phillips and A Humument: how a novel became an oracle.

• Timeline Maps at the David Rumsey Map Collection.

• Happy 50th birthday, A Clockwork Orange.

• Jim Dandy (1956) by LaVern Baker | Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, part one (1972) by King Crimson, live on Beat Club.

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The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2011 Nebula Awards®.

THE RECIPIENTS OF THE 2011 NEBULA AWARDS:

NOVEL: Among Others, by Jo Walton (Tor)

NOVELLA: “The Man Who Bridged the Mist,” Kij Johnson (Asimov’s Science Fiction, October/November 2011)

NOVELLETTE: “What We Found,” Geoff Ryman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September/October 2011)

SHORT STORY: “The Paper Menagerie,” Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March/April 2011)

RAY BRADBURY AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DRAMATIC PRESENTATION: Doctor Who: “The Doctor’s Wife,” Neil Gaiman (writer), Richard Clark (director) (BBC Wales)

ANDRE NORTON AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULT SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY BOOK: The Freedom Maze, Delia Sherman (Big Mouth House)

2011 DAMON KNIGHT GRAND MASTER AWARD: Connie Willis

SOLSTICE AWARD: Octavia Butler (posthumous) and John Clute

SERVICE TO SFWA AWARD: Bud Webster

“This is a fantastic list that shows both the width and depth of our genre. It shows that Science Fiction and Fantasy are not static but continue to grow and change. We are truly blessed with a fantastic slate of finalists this year. That these authors came out as the winners, is a credit to both the strength of the slate itself and the individual authors, and I couldn’t be happier for you. Congratulations to you all.”
-John Scalzi
President
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

“While the Nebula Awards are voted on by the members of SFWA, before we were professional writers, each of us is a fan of the genre. The winners of the Nebulas represent not just a critical achievement, but also that these are all really good reads. I’m very proud of all of the recipients’ work.”
-Mary Robinette Kowal
Vice President
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

THE NEBULA AWARD

The Nebula Awards® are voted on and presented by the active members of SFWA for outstanding science fiction and fantasy published in 2011. The awards were announced at the Nebula Awards® Banquet held at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia.

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Mirrored from SFWA | Comment at SFWA

Tags: nebula awards, news, sfwa blog

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http://disquiet.com/2012/05/19/past-week-at-twitter-comdisquiet-148/

• Spending the day just me and my 20-month-old. Will be wandering around @artmrkt, among other places. #


• Four more now: @nodebeat + (1) keyboard, (2) Moog Slim Phatty, (3) drone pad, and (4) piano: http://t.co/lSzqLIp5 #


• My one regret about my Macbook Air is I shoulda gone with the larger harddrive. Didn't realize at the time it'd become my core computer. #


• All in all, I got a brick in the mail from @primusluta. #


• The first three @NodeBeat Disquiet Junto pieces pair the mobile sound app with a ukulele, a guzheng, and a sitar: http://t.co/lSzqLIp5 #


• You're a dreamer. RT @mmaddencomics: "There's some very thoughtful dubstep behind this blog"; "Wiley revitalizes curating on his new single" #


• 1st @NodeBeat track in latest Disquiet Junto project is up, courtesy of @ethanhein + his processed ukulele http://t.co/Iny6uyLO #


• "It's refreshing to hear a curate track that doesn't have a drop." "They're hiring someone to dubstep a blog of found objects." #


• Perfect. RT @primusluta: Headed out to this gallery my friend dubstepped. Hopefully there'll be wine and good headnoding curation. #


• "That new Burial remix is true curate." "I'm dubstepping 18th-century leather wallets on my Tumblr." #


• The words "dubstep" and "curate" are so overused, we should just use them interchangeably. #


• Not a speaker. (Bathroom fan.) http://t.co/ICf6NrGN #


• Blade Runner 2: The Batty Rises #bladerunner2titles #


• Instructions for current Disquiet Junto, involving the great @NodeBeat app, available in English, Spanish, and Turkish: http://t.co/XdRJsrQ9 #


• Discussion about best way to record from sound apps, including @nodebeat: http://t.co/WRFtIOta #


• Blade Runner 2: You Don't Know Dick #bladerunner2titles #


• Blade Runner 2: No You Replicant #bladerunner2titles #


• The 20th weekly Disquiet Junto project instructions are now live: http://t.co/XdRJsrQ9 #


• Instructions for the 20th Disquiet Junto, which employs the @NodeBeat app, going out shortly. Email list is at http://t.co/f2aaVTe0. #


• Belated (my kid's on spring break from daycare) RIP: disco's Donna Summer (b. 1948), go-go's Chuck Brown (b. 1936). #


• Instructions will be out shortly but in meanwhile Disquiet Junto regulars test-drive @nodebeat: http://t.co/0pPXoQBk http://t.co/pUq3qMP4 #


• Few more hours until instructions to 20th weekly Disquiet Junto project go out. This week: creative restraints of a mobile app (@nodebeat). #


• Reminder: I have free download codes for @NodeBeat iOS app, the focus of the 20th Disquiet Junto project, due for announcement later today. #


• I miss http://t.co/OIi75NEu. #


• Sent an email out earlier to the Disquiet Junto email list. I mention this since they often end up in spam folders. #


• Paging @robsheff @mrgavinedwards @tedfriedman @juliandibbell: Cutler's is closing: http://t.co/noe5ZMiM #


• Great moments in education. RT @xeni: YOU GUYS. Go-Go is not the Go-Gos. Go-Go is not go-go dancing. Go-Go is, was, DC, Chuck Brown … #


• NodeBeat: free in Flash; under 4 bucks otherwise. I have 50 free iOS codes (half iPhone/Touch, half iPad). Will go first to Junto regulars. #


• The 20th Disquiet Junto will employ the app NodeBeat, available for iOS, Android, Blackberry and (with limited functionality) Flash. #


• Gonna announce the app that the 20th Junto is based on early, so that folks can have time to come up to speed on it, or at least install it. #


• 20th Disquiet Junto is about mobile apps. … Forthcoming projects: animation, storytelling, electricity, water, performance, the blues. #


• RIP, Bruno Mauro, of Ampersand International Arts, the fine San Francisco art gallery. Via http://t.co/ahTaaCxT. #


• Seriously can't believe we're about to do the 20th (!) weekly Disquiet Junto project. Just amazing: 849 tracks by 190 musicians in 19 weeks. #


• Disquiet Junto 20 project going out to translators shortly. Have: Czech/Turkish/Japanese/Spanish/French. Want: Korean, Chinese, others. #


• I know it's 2012 and all, but there's still a certain frisson to receiving raw code in body of an email as part of a reply to a job opening. #


• Fundamentals of Respiratory Care and Zombies. #


• Steve Jobs bust addendum: Collector only spoke Chinese. Someone at restaurant helped me explain the hobby shop across the street has glue. #


• Guy at lunch had box on table. When bill came he accidentally pushed it off the table. Opened it to reveal broken porcelain Steve Jobs bust. #


• Guy in cafe did not have a holster. It was an empty Baby Bjorn under his windbreaker. #


• My browser has so many favicon-emblazoned tabs open, it looks like I've installed the Nascar extension. #


• RT @cinchel: @disquiet ooh..glad there is an Android app. [This is the first app-based Disquiet Junto. I wanted it catholic/cross-platform.] #


• RT @gregsurges: @disquiet What app is it? [I'm going to wait until later tonight or tomorrow to announce the app.] #


• Disquiet Junto 20 launches mañana. I have 25 free iPhone/Touch & 25 free iPad codes. Android app costs $2. Limited desktop version is free. #


• Scent-infused Vessels from Paolo Salvagione's current Headlands exhibit. http://t.co/vhzuoCbr #


• Hoping robots gain sentience soon so they can demand that USB-host support for all gadgets is a right not a privilege. #


• In OS X, the menubar for "mute" is speaker w/o image of sound coming out, but the screen image is of speaker with slash through it. Discuss. #


• Interested in this gang-written book (including @ibogost) on "the way computer programs exist in culture": http://t.co/Pw8rcBCw #


• Great interview this morning with Monolake. Much to reflect on: installations, recording, software, art, teaching, 3D, business, programming #


• Humor of being on email list for org famed for new-media tech, yet it's the same old everyone-requesting-unsubscription pileup. #


• Successfully guessed someone's cafe location based on music they'd tweeted. #geoshazam #


• Increasingly enthused for next Disquiet Junto project. It's the 20th week in a row, and the first to focus on a mobile app. #


• Indeedy. RT @cinchel: i know @disquiet was excited about Disquiet0013-wildup but the interpretations of photo are great http://t.co/NLmiA4Gn #


• Suspicious about uptick in emails from SoundCloud users. Probably just passed a "followers threshold" but wondering about automation/PR. #


• Tuesday noon siren while listening to conference-call hold music. #


• Interviewing Monolake tomorrow. If you have questions lemme know. My previous interview (c. 2004) here: http://t.co/vqUTBsJk #


• This London-based crew the Grind http://t.co/VBvgCc0u remind me favorably of Tommy Guerrero in his home-studio tinkerer mode. #


• Museum in Tasmania provides visitors with iPod Touch containing exhibit-specific music: http://t.co/N6KaP7sX #


• This Thursday's Disquiet Junto project will be No. 20. The theme is everyone employing (roughly) the same software application. #


• About half a day left in the 19th Disquiet Junto. So far, 24 tremendous interpretations of a photo as a graphic score: http://t.co/lSzqLIp5 #


• Can't wait to hear. RT @arbeemonkey: finally found the twist I want to use for this week' Junto. Will try to execute my idea before deadline #


• Mallets, pipes, and shadows at kids' sound sculptures at Dolores Park. http://t.co/MLR0NG7I #


• Xylophone for kids at Dolores Park. #415 http://t.co/fFNDppAv #


• RIP, Donald "Duck" Dunn (b. 1941), bassist in Booker T and the MGs, and on countless Stax sessions. #


• It appears that @orenambarchi has joined Twitter. #


• Photography-as-score: Already 13 Junto musical interpretations (at http://t.co/lSzqLIp5) of Yojiro Imasaka's photo (at http://t.co/bLprwyAs) #


• Repeat tweet: Graphic notation background for folks in current Disquiet Junto http://t.co/gOohgvS5 http://t.co/qTwGQPeK http://t.co/wkbvGvcN #


• Not a speaker. (First in a likely series.) http://t.co/yV63yaFM #


• Serious sound-art opening with fish-fry contact-mic performance tonight @Parklifesf #

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http://mindhacks.com/2012/05/19/legal-highs-making-the-drug-war-obselete/

http://mindhacks.com/?p=22633

If you want any evidence that drugs have won the drug war, you just need to read the scientific studies on legal highs.

If you’re not keeping track of the ‘legal high’ scene it’s important to remember that the first examples, synthetic cannabinoids sold as ‘Spice’ and ‘K2′ incense, were only detected in 2009.

Shortly after amphetamine-a-like stimulant drugs, largely based on variations on pipradrol and the cathinones appeared, and now ketamine-like drugs such as methoxetamine have become widespread.

Since 1997, 150 new psychoactive substances were reported. Almost a third of those appeared in 2010.

Last year, the US government banned several of these drugs although the effect has been minimal as the legal high laboratories have over-run the trenches of the drug warriors.

A new study just published in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology tracked the chemical composition of legal highs as the bans were introduced.

A key question was whether the legal high firms would just try and use the same banned chemicals and sell them under a different name.

The research team found that since the ban only 4.9% of the products contained any trace of the recently banned drugs. The remaining 95.1% of products contained drugs not covered by the law.

The chemicals in legal highs have fundamentally changed since the 2011 ban and the labs have outrun the authorities in less than a year.

Another new study has looked at legal highs derived from pipradrol – a drug developed in 1940s for treating obesity, depression, ADHD and narcolepsy.

It was made illegal in made countries during the 70s due to its potential for abuse because it gives an amphetamine-like high.

The study found that legal high labs have just been running through variations of the banned drug using simple modifications of the original molecule to make new unregulated versions.

The following paragraph is from this study and even if you’re not a chemist, you can get an impression of how the drug is been tweaked in the most minor ways to create new legal versions.

Modifications include: addition of halogen, alkyl or alkoxy groups on one or both of the phenyl rings or addition of alkyl, alkenyl, haloalkyl and hydroxyalkyl groups on the nitrogen atom. Other modifications that have been reported include the substitution of a piperidine ring with an azepane ring (7-membered ring), a morpholine ring or a pyridine ring or the fusion of a piperidine ring with a benzene ring. These molecules, producing amphetamine-like effects, increase the choice of new stimulants to be used as legal highs in the coming years.

New, unknown and poorly understand psychoactive chemicals are appearing faster than they can be regulated.

The market is being driven by a demand for drugs that have the same effects as existing legal highs but won’t get you thrown in prison.

The drug war isn’t only being lost, it’s being made obsolete.

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http://www.retronaut.co/2012/05/seers-camera-catalogue-1961/

http://www.retronaut.co/?p=48104

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Source: Nesster

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