El capitalismo es algo que llevamos dentro.

"A la Jovencita le dan mareos cuando el mundo deja de girar en torno a ella"

Texto completo del libro traducido al inglés está disponible aquí.

De Appel has this press release from 1978:

“Van 27 t/m 30 september was in De Appel een geluidsinstallatie van Max Neuhaus te zien. Op de laatste dag van deze tentoonstelling vond er in het Marnixbad het event Under water music(s) / Water whistle plaats, waarvoor het publiek zijn badkleding mee diende te brengen. Neuhaus: ‘Ik raakte geïnteresseerd in het maken van geluid onder water, toen ik me realiseerde dat je in water volstrekt anders hoort. Het geluid verplaatst zich veel sneller en verder; je hoort niet alleen met je oren, maar ook met je voorhoofd; je gehele zin voor de plaats van het geluid verandert. In 1971 begon ik een serie werken, waarin ik geluidsstructuren in water maakte. Er is alleen ònder water geluid, wat je kunt horen door het water in te gaan; hoofd achterover houden, oren onder, neus en mond boven water. Het geluid is constant aanwezig; het water is warm; de situatie is kalm en rustig; zwemmen hoeft niet, meestal laten mensen zich gewoon drijven of ze rusten aan de rand van het zwembad. De situatie verandert niet; mensen kunnen zo lang blijven als ze willen.’ (Uitnodiging De Appel, september/oktober 1978.) ”

Yesterday I was in TUDelft for a lecture by Rob Carlson. Judge of the iGEM international contest on synthetic biology. Principal investigator at Biodesic and author of the book Biology is Technology: The Promise, Peril, and New Business of Engineering Life

Some of the scattered notes I took from the lecture:

“Boeing 777 was the first plane built and tested inside of a computer, when all testing was done it was basically built from physical parts and a pilot could fly it.” (no source shown)

“Open Source biology is not possible because there’s no copyright on genes”. It seems that GMOs are considered inventions and are patentable.

“2% of US GDP compes from genetically modified systems”. Including GM crops (soy, corn, cotton, canola and sugar beet), biologics and industrial applications (like fermentation and biofuel).

“Malaysia is the region with the fastest growing biotech industry” … “Sharia state” … “HALAL biotech”.

“12 genes is the largest engineered organism and it’s not yet out and the genetic hack is not transferable to any other organism”

The second half of his presentation about community labs was a little more interesting. It seems that MAKER culture is extending into the field of biology and it is now possible to set up a garage lab where basic biosynthesis can be performed. Labs like these are springing up all over the states.

Today I did some tests to figure out how high a frequency one could generate with Arduino’s PWM using a low-pass filter to produce a nice smooth curve. For the stimulation that I am working on I need to produce waves of about 10Hz, I was pretty sure that this would be achievable, but tried going a little further.

This is a 500Hz wave.

And this is a 1KHz wave, straight from Arduino’s pin 12.

I used the software found in Martin Nawrath’s DDS project. My filter is simpler though, just a straight low-pass as can be seen in this picture.

The h-bridge is not used in this run.

R1, R2 = 1Kohm and C1, C2 = 2.2mF.

I am in contact with other people that were arrested that same day and indeed it seems like we all got the same letter.

I am at a loss right now, not knowing the legal system here at all, not speaking the language fluently enough to defend myself and lacking any kind of financial backbone of my own, I am inclined to pay up and shut up and continue my life as if this had not happened. I have other things to do with my life, more fruitful, beautiful and enjoyable for others than stand up to the blindness of justice. But it makes me sick to my stomach to think that the money I will pay for this fine will go to the same treasury that will then finance the same enforcement officers that did not hesitate before beating up dissenters in a show of force that was out of all proportion with the matter at hand.

A year ago it was the artists and cultural institutions, but since then many more cuts have been effected and the angry mob keeps growing. I no longer feel safe walking near a police Mobiele Eenheid in this country.

A few of us who were beaten or arrested last year have published declarations and statements on this website (http://greetingsfromthehague.com), some of the press material collected around the unfortunate ending of the Mars der Beschaving can also be found there as a refresher.

If you have some advice for me personally, I would very much appreciate it. I do not and cannot speak for those who find themselves in a similar situation now, but I can do my part in spreading the advice if anybody else affected wanted to take it.

Thank you.

Here’s a memento of the day. Kindly given to me at the police station.

From the Wellcome trust:

Exercises for vestibular rehabilitation:

Demonstration on the Epley maneouver:

Educational video on the vestibular system: