Saturday, May 31, 2014

TOUJOURS LA VOYAGE





The sky was clear and starry.  Suddenly a siren howled in the distance, and then a neighboring factory joined in.  There, off in the distance – was that a star or the Zeppelin?  And then the ghostly ship drew over the field, vanished to the south, and re-appeared in the west.  With throttled motors, the ship hung in the air, then the nose sank, the ropes were dropped, and the ground crew took hold.  The Graf Zeppelin had landed in Pernambuco.  The band played the German anthem, and the acclaim knew no bounds. Everyone rushed toward the colossus, crowding close together to see this bicho, this wonderful animal at close range.





Paintings: Hilla Hueber

Text: Zeppelin, The Story of Lighter-than-air Craft by the late Captain Ernest Lehmann, Commander of the Hindenburg, 1937

Kevin Ayers: Toujours La Voyage (Link)

Friday, May 30, 2014

MIST SIGNALS




"Signals do not convey information as railway trains carry coal.  Rather we should say: signals have an information content by virtue of their potential for making selections.  Signals operate upon the alternatives forming the recipients' doubt.  They give power to discriminate amongst or select from alternatives."




Sir Colin Cherry, On The Statistical Theory of Communication. 

Wreckless Eric: Semaphore Signals (Link)

Kinks: Misty Water (Link) 

The Cocktail Party Problem (Link)