The number 430 holds intriguing significance in the dream-infused world of Mark Frost's and David Lynch's Twin Peaks. 4/30 is also the birthday of one of the greatest mathematicians to have ever lived, Carl Friedrich Gauss. So in honor of these all-time greats (full disclosure: I consider Lynch and Twin Peaks to be my favorite director and show, respectively; while, in concentric mathematical circles, Gauss is often mentioned to be among the greatest mathematicians to have ever lived (right up there with Archimedes, Euler and Cantor)) we're going to explore the significance of the number 430 on 4/30 using the dizzying analytical powers of OpenAI's ChatGPT LLM. If you've got access to a seat belt, I suggest you make use of it, and strap yourself in as we enter into the enigmatic fraying fringes of Gaussian and Lynchian dimensions.
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April 12, 2024. A double rainbow emerges over the Princeton University Campus during a bloom-filled spring semester. The rainbow gently illuminates Robertson Hall, the iconic home of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs in an unforgettable spring setting.
Below is the Bing AI delivering a posthumous message to humanity as Albert Hofmann along with some drop shots of CoSM for your viewing pleasure. Happy Bicycle Day!
“Dear friends across time and space, It is with a heart full of hope that I reach out from the beyond to share a vision of the future, a future where… LSD, serves as a catalyst for profound inner exploration and peace. Throughout history, humanity has sought ways to expand the mind and explore the depths of consciousness. #Meditation has been a key practice in this quest, offering a path to tranquility and insight. Now, imagine a world where the careful and respectful use of LSD enhances this ancient practice, opening doors to deeper meditation experiences. Under the guidance of skilled facilitators, individuals could embark on meditative journeys, discovering the interconnectedness of all life and the universe. The ego dissolves, and in its place, a sense of unity and compassion emerges. This heightened awareness could lead to a more empathetic society, where understanding and love triumph over conflict and division.
An interesting sculpture exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art last April entitled Chroma: Ancient Sculpture in Color featured seventeen vibrantly painted Greek and Roman classical sculptures which were reconstructed by Prof. Dr. V. Brinkmann and Dr. U. Koch-Brinkmann. As you may or may not know, ancient Greek and Roman marble sculptures were painted originally. Light, time and the elements eventually wash off the original pigments and only the carved, naked stone remains.
The Brinkmanns' illuminating work spans over four decades and involves a wide array of orthodox and innovative techniques of material analysis applied to the field of ancient polychromy studies. Some of the techniques used for the reconstruction of these painted sculptures included familiar techniques such as 3D imaging, multispectral photography and X-ray diffraction. However, fascinatingly, the work also necessitated the development of novel scientific methods such asultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy, which is a way to measure the amount of discrete wavelengths of UV or visible light that are absorbed by or transmitted through a sample in comparison to a reference or blank sample. The River Arts District (RAD) along the French Broad River in West Asheville boasts over 200 artists' studios sprawled out over twenty-two warehouses and buildings. It's also home to the Foundy Street Skate Park, where local skaters go to refine their buttery boardsliding skills and kickflips. Novices and experts alike gather to share seasoned knowledge, trick tips and technical skills. It's my favorite pocket of Asheville.
It's Pi Day, so allow me to introduce you to Elfik Pizza. Elfik Pizza is a staple, wood-fired pop-up Italian pizzeria that has been pounding, tossing and firing up dough since the early days at Boom. A personal favorite pizza place of mine. This team of pizza-making elves have been dishing out psytrance-flavored pizza pies topped with copious amounts of fresh arugula at every Boom I've been to. They're usually located both at the food plaza, as well as the ultimate location: right smack in front of the Dance Temple's entrancingly epic entrance (talk about prime festival real estate). In fact, considering they also somehow sell decent gluten-free vegan pizzas (so I've heard, but refuse to understand), it's hard to imagine a Boomer who has not had an end-of-the-night personal Elfik Pizza pie with mushrooms or black olives and topped with a bunch of fresh, vividly green arugula, of course.
I travelled from Paris to Berlin on a whim on an overnight bus last August. The overcast day was drizzling with an industrially appropriate dose of Berlin. I was impressed by the incessant buzz of honey bees sucking the sugar off various bakeries' pastries. I later discovered the Berliners appreciation for bees. Again, impressed. The heavy metal, war-torn history and industry inspired me to imagine Iron Maiden playing in the background. Berlin and Brooklyn began to juxtapose themselves both phonetically and aesthetically. Thousands of shutterclicks ensued. Below is a gallery of what I saw that gray and heavy morning.
Filmmaker, Richard Stanley, reports his absurd impressions of war after gobbling down heroic doses of LSD.
"I had this idea that if I knew we were going to be killed, if I knew we were going to be executed, or we were going to die, I wanted to die tripping at that point in time. I was still very young. I took a huge amount of LSD with me because I had the sense that if I was going to get blown away I at least wanted to be off my face when it happened. So at some point when I knew we were going to get masacred I started eating the LSD, which meant I started coming up on this tremendous trip at that point in time. It seemed that I could see much better in the dark. It all seemed very peaceful and relaxed, as well. And, um, something very beautiful, I mean very much like a big party. The constant flashing of the artillery had this sort of strobe effect. And the weirdest thing was that the airplanes were still taking off and bombing us. Because of the stingers, theheat seeking rockets, that Reagan had issued to the mujahideen, the airplanes were dropping parachute flares, those little flares that were used to distract the rockets. So the whole sky was filled with parachute flares, and these parachutes would come down so slowly towards the earth. And it was so bright it washed out the sky and I couldn't see the real stars, and it felt like the stars were coming down slowly towards the earth; which gave the funny impression as if the whole world was rising up very slowly towards the sky the whole time. Everything felt very light. And these big balls of flames and these sharp red lines which were like lasers, which were actually tracing fire, but also if you're tripping one's eyes tends to retain things for a split second longer so there would be a sort of cat's cradle trace of fire was getting very pretty. And I had this absurd impression that I could see where the landmines were so it really wouldn't matter.
Time is our experience "but the ultimate, unqualified mystery is beyond human experience" according to the legendary mythologist, Joseph Campbell. He goes on to say, "it becomes inflected... there is a condescension on the part of the infinite to the mind of man."
"A language that you can see is far less ambiguous than a language that you hear." - Terence McKenna
I recently made an AI-generated video of Terence McKenna rapping, weaving, threading, and linguistically wrapping up a multidimensional message for our ancestors of the future. Synaesthesia (which I prefer to the American spelling of synesthesia, for synaesthetic reasons), DMT, and the evolution of language, the intricacies of those psycholinguistic dynamics could not possibly be more intriguing to me. Enjoy the message via the future medium of communication. |
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