Words’ End

Today was cheesemas. Cheeses were bought and brought – drunken goat, mozzarella, robiola, explorateur (?! – hokey name, but most excellent cheese), some other alcohol- (port-)laced semisoft cheese, Valdeon (a Spanish blue), raclette and half a dozen others. Someone even brought raclette ice cream which, really, was much milder than it had any right to be. Add to that fruit, bread, fig-and-vidalia jam, wine, beer, sprakly non-alc cider, fifteen folk or more and two mostly happy and social toddlers, and it’s cheesemas in the neighborhood. My undying gratitude and love to my cheesemas-elf conspirator.

Unrelatedly, I thought some this evening, and wrote down the following:

north is triangular, steady, monument-al

east is rounded, exotic, otherworldly

south is light, scintillating, hot

west is radio, diagonal, big

the center is small, sensitive, reactive

Here‘s an interview Wired conducted with David Deutsch, the father of quantum computing. Deutsch explains what it is and why it’s useful in a very accessible way. The whole thing is fascinating and nifty; do check out the gorgeous chip in the photos. It can’t function unless its temperature is near zero Kelvin! I can’t wait to see where this goes, whether it will open any doors that our current thought paradigms haven’t been able to reach, only imagine.

In other news, and thanks to a friend’s formulation, this whole week up through today is totally fired.

4 February: the below is wrong. The charges haven’t officially been dropped. MSNBC, screw you for the misinformation. Everyone else, I’m sorry for spreading it further.

Here, watch this. Turner’s apologized to citizenry; they’re in negotiations as to $1M that they’re purportedly wishing to pay out (nice of them to cover costs and a little more), and the charges against Sean and Peter have been dropped. “Now,” the news anchor said (I’m paraphrasing), “all that’s left is for Boston to apologize to its citizenry for overreacting.”

I especially love the way the anchor talks about Philadelphia, where 56 of these things have been delighting audiences for “two weeks.” Ever so slight hint at “I can’t believe this is even a news story.”

Yay!!

They’re released on bail. The judge reportedly (I didn’t get there until the arraignment was just over) seemed to think the whole thing is ridiculous. There’s a whole bunch of media coverage, so I’ll let y’all google, but I can’t resist one link. Best. press conference. EVER.

(I mean, really, this wasn’t about the young men not taking things seriously. It’s about the pushy bunch of media assholes who don’t seem to be able to accept “we can’t talk about this case” for an answer.)

We wait until March 7th to know what happens next. I hope someone Turner-related steps up in their defense, but am not exactly holding my breath.

They’re not AA batteries, they’re D batteries. And there’s a photosensitivity sensor, too. And it might not be possible to actually see through the circuit boards.

This information brought to you by eBay.

Did you hear about the Boston “bomb” scare?

Here’s a CNN article that tells about it. BBC has reported on it, too. Lots of coverage.

They were art pieces advertising Aqua Teen Hunger Force. They were put up by a member of the Glitch Crew video art collective, who was contracted to do so by Turner Broadcasting. Some people thought they were bombs; bomb squads went berserk.

A good friend of mine, also a member of Glitch, was helping Peter put them up. He’s in jail too, with a $100,000 bail on his head. Arraignment is tomorrow morning, and I hope they’ll just be let go.

They got arrested after Turner owned up. As far as I know, Turner is letting them spend the night in jail. Which, as far as I’m concerned, may be easier but is… a bit assinine on the part of one of the richest media companies in the U.S.

I’ll post again after I know what happens at the arraignment. Meanwhile, here’s a link to a Grand Text Auto post that mentions other instances in which artists have gotten in trouble because we’re now scared of EVERYTHING.

Edited to add: no, wait. I’m taking issue with some stuff in the CNN article. (I’m sure other news sources are no better, by the way, just picking up on their wording.)

Peter Berdovsky, 27, a freelance video artist from Arlington, Massachusetts, was facing charges of placing a hoax device in a way that results in panic, as well as one count of disorderly conduct, said Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley. The charge is a felony, she said.

According to his Web site, Berdovsky is a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art and a founding member of a video artists group called Glitch who goes by the nickname “Zebbler” and sings in a band called “Superfiction.”

Authorities believe Berdovsky was “in the employ of other individuals” as part of the marketing campaign, Coakley said. “How exactly this was executed, we are still investigating.” Berdovsky is scheduled for arraignment at 9 a.m. Thursday in Charlestown District Court.

“In the employ of other individuals”? YES, YOU DIPSHITS, HE WAS IN THE EMPLOY OF TURNER. And also, stop calling them “suspicious packages.” They’re not packages. They’re CIRCUIT BOARDS WITH LIGHTS AND THREE AA BATTERIES IN THEM. If you hold them up, you can see through the holes in them. Nothing was ever hidden from view in them. So stop fucking scaremongering now that you know what they are.

Gah. News media.

Edited again: Oh, good. Now CNN has updated the article to include “Sean Stevens, 28″ in the two-name list of the people arrested. Now I don’t feel quite as weird about talking about Sean by name.

Also, ha! NOBODY IS SAFE. CNN again: “Turner Broadcasting said the devices had been in place for two to three weeks in Boston; New York; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Austin, Texas; San Francisco, California; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.”

My beloved bought Guitar Hero II. Note the time stamp on this post. And I’m not even into video games much.

It is crack. Also, it’s hell on my left arm, all the way from the forearm to the shoulder.

But oh, the sweet sweet reward for having gotten work done. Dissertation, we have a PLAN.

So far this winter, in New England (southern, but still New England!, with our share of snow storms!), we’ve had about five minutes of what appeared to be small hail. This is as close as we’ve come to having snow. So far.

Now, either this means OMG GLOBAL WARMING WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE, or Nature has some tricks up her sleeve for my [hope, wish, sacrifice to deities of academe] graduation at the end of May.

Meanwhile, a 41-square-mile ice shelf breaks free near the North Pole. Global warming it is!

Good morning.

Scary Mary. Hide your children!

“Depressed? Think faster thoughts, and your mood may improve.”

Hunh! Simple, elegant, worth a try. I guess it’s very similar to “Depressed? Try doing some physical activity.” That works too: people work out, for example, to lift their mood; or clean house like a whirlwind. Still, thinking faster. I’d never thought of that.