Entries from October 2007 ↓

Twas the day of Halloween, when all ‘long the shore,
The creatures were stirring, the sun rising o’er;

The pumpkins were carved on the porches of homes,
With hopes to greet goblins, some pirates, and gnomes;

The children were prepping to go out to school,
All dressed in their masks, with one as a ghoul;

Some Mom with her turn to carpool the crew,
Yelled, “Buckle up, kids!” and floored it on cue;

When that afternoon, the shadows got longer,
The moonlight got brighter, the sweet-teeth got stronger;

I sat on the couch, pale ale in my hand,
Time slipping away, my hourglass of sand;

I got to my feet, as darkness drew near,
Grabbed a matchbook of sorts, and put down my beer;

I walked to the porch, where Jack smiled in grey,
Put fire in his head, to light up his day;

I went for my brew, when what should appear,
A crowd of small folk, all donned in their gear;

More rapid than starved rats, in courses they came,
I whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

“Now, Superman! Now, Vader! Now, Ghost dressed in blue!
On, Cowgirl! On Scream guy! And the other seven just like you!

Now take your Jolly Ranchers! And your Three Musketeers!
And get the hell off my lawn! I still have four beers!”

Like wild peacocks with tails take our ‘hood in their storm,
As they scramble away, with no shape or form;

Back down to the curb, ‘cross the street how they ran,
Pillowcases of treats, as their madness began;

And they heard me exclaim, as they dashed out of sight,
Happy Halloween, you little monsters! Now have a fun night!

A vintage performance of the hypnotic classic theme from The Exorcist.

Happy Halloween!

Cleaning the photos off my cell phone and found this one from a recent trip to Vegas. I vaguely remember this. It was one of those men’s rooms with the assorted cologne bottles, a mouthwash collection, breath mints, a hair dryer, and a middle-aged dude in a tux standing next to an expensive glass bowl overflowing with twenties as he hands you a warm towel with tongs. But he was apparently on vacation, and I was the only guy in there. Had the whole place to myself. It was a surreal moment. I also remember thinking the wallpaper would look cool in my kitchen, which is probably why I snapped this shot. Where was this? I honestly can’t remember. I guess it’s a memory that will forever have to, sorry, stay in Vegas. Which is the way it should be. I love that place.

“To be ignorant of one’s ignorance is the malady of the ignorant.”
–Amos Bronson Alcott

=view large image for screen=
=view large image for print= (scale to paper)

Been thinking about this one a lot the last few days. Had a dream the other night exposing another layer, and today I finally wrapped my brain around the visual part of the Lateralus Fibonacci Sequence, which I’m starting to call, affectionately, the Lateracci Mix. Or the Fiboralus. Take your pick. Or, in the spirit of the piece itself, come up with your own. Call it what you want. Think outside the box. Be your own person. Is all I’m saying.

To recap, there are 13 tracks on Lateralus. It’s been found through analysis that when these tracks are “arranged in the Fibonacci Sequence”, the album’s true beauty becomes evident. The transitions between the tracks on this Lateracci Mix are startlingly seamless; any Tool fan who listens to the album in this order will get the kind of chills one gets when she solves a riddle. And the best part is that she didn’t even realize was a riddle in the first place. It’s one of the coolest feelings the Universe has to offer.

Once again, the Lateracci Mix is:

6, 7, 5, 8, 4, 9, 13, 1, 12, 2, 11, 3, 10

Okay, cool. But really, do you get it? I have yet to see anybody draw it out, so I volunteered. Works like this:

There are two spirals. One spirals in, the other spirals out in the opposite direction. Like our yin and yang, our yes and no, our good and evil, our black and white, our hot and cold, our left and right, our up and down, our on and off, our here and there, our then and now, and our me and you, it’s all about balance. And balance is what sacred geometry is all about.

Back to our numbers. First, we take the 13 tracks in chronological order:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Now, we start from the center of the sequence, which is 7. The trick is to pair it up with its neighbor, the perfect number 6. Starting with this pair of numbers, 6 and 7, we create a spiral outward, crossing off track numbers with each segment of the spiral, essentially defining the first half of the Lateracci Mix.

This first spiral (out) is represented in red, spiraling out from 6 to 9:

6, 7, 5, 8, 4, 9

The second spiral (in) is represented in blue, spiraling in from 13 to 10:

13, 1, 12, 2, 11, 3, 10

And there we have it.

6, 7, 5, 8, 4, 9, 13, 1, 12, 2, 11, 3, 10

I hope you enjoy tripping out on this one as much as I have. Spiral out, keep going. Do something creative and share it. Some of us are listening.

Peace,

=j

“Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.”
–John Archibald Wheeler

Well, look what we have here. Paulie brought Ginger and Footsie over for a hang with Kona and Vive. We rolled over to Point Vicente and wandered off the beaten path to find a real living pumpkin patch. Paulie got some great shots before his camera’s battery died. Here are a few I took with my own cell phone.

After reviving this discussion with a friend the other night, my hypercalculative brain woke me out of my slumber this morning as it noticed something trippily interesting about the Lateralus Fibonacci playlist. Like the the Fibonacci itself, it seems this piece of music continues to unravel, layer after layer, exposing new truths as we spiral perpetually into its core and out again.

This morning’s dream has been added to the bottom of this thread.

The Tale of the Two Pumpkins
by Jace D. Albao (b. 1969)

Once upon a time there was a pumpkin patch. Hundreds of pumpkins, some small, some smaller, some medium, others large, and others even larger, all sat in the October sunshine waiting to be picked. Two such pumpkins sitting next to each other in the corner of the patch started chatting.

“So, what kind of jack-o-lantern are you?” the first pumpkin asked. “Scary? Funny? Toothy?”

“I’m a sad jack-o-lantern,” replied the second pumpkin. “My face is long, with my mouth drooping down sadly on each end. My eyes are full of sorrow, and I have a single tear on my right cheek.”

“Opposites attract,” said the first pumpkin. “I’m a happy jack-o-lantern. I’ve got a wide grin wrapping across my face, curling up on each end. My eyes are full of joy, and I look like I’m laughing.”

“Well, let’s hope they get it right,” mused the second pumpkin. “Good luck.”

“You too,” said the first pumpkin. “You too.”

If you specify a unit of measure and use an abbreviation or a symbol, always use a numeral with it - do not spell the number out.

• 5 mi
• 6 h
• 16 mm movies
• He is 6′9″ tall

For two or more quantities, the abbreviation or symbol is repeated if it is closed up to the number but not if it is separated.

• 10%-25%
• 32°F-212°F
• 3 x 5 cm
• 2 x 6 in