Current General
Biographical Information
-
Cliff Thompson,
Member, Friends of African Outlet
"Explanatory Note"
Hi,
Fellow Villa St. Jean Saint-Exupéry Types & hapless victims of the email
Cc!
(Note
1: What follows is a 4 page word document, made 4 pages longer by the insert of
corroborative url's & an attachment of zipped files, concerning the
description of the current activities of a
"long-lost-to-his-Swiss-High-School-Graduation-classmates" (yet
another) "curious fellow" (actually a member of an obscure sect on an
errant branch of the more familiar Richard Feynman "Curious
Character" line). Of this exposition it can truly be said that I am
"the Author of My Own Fate", (or, as Comedienne Laura Keitlinger's
Irish beau expresses it, "The Otter of My Own Fat"). In addition to
my former classmates, I've Cc'd several current friends (who will hopefully
remain so after reading this), thinking that, this being a document describing
me to my old friends, may serve my new friends in this way as well, particularly
if it brings to light other interests beyond our working relationships that we
may share in common. As a result you may not find time to process this read
during a regular quick email check but better "after work", over a
cup or two of whatever that is you're drinking over there!).
(Note
2: Some of the links below are so long the email program may break them into
multiple lines, so they won't work unless you either copy/paste the 1st line
into the browser address then the 2nd line at the end of what you just pasted,
etc. or, if your email reader supports edit, select Edit\Edit Message, then
place the cursor at the beginning of the 2nd URL line & press the BackSpace
key to append it to the 1st, etc., then click on the single long URL - whew!).
(Note
3: Though most of the links below are
still working, some may be broken, due to change with the passage of time -
though I don't have time to update them currently, if you need the info,
generally searching Google using keywords from the links description will turn
up a new or similar location).
And
so, onward...
Cliff
Thompson here, Villa St. Jean (VSJ) '67 Grad. & Co-Founder of the VSJ House
Band "The Sufferin' Kind" (accompaniment keyboard & rhythm
guitar).
Out
of the blue, VSJ '67 Yearbook photographer Joe Stivers e-mailed me to verify my
identity as the Cliff Thompson who attended the VSJ International School in
Fribourg, Switzerland. I was stunned, as was Joe, by the fruits of his labors,
as well as astonished to hear of the incredible investigative efforts &
Internet search strategies made on my behalf, including the "WANTED
POSTER" on the VSJ Web Site Photos Page (& not to mention
"scared" due to the 150 Francs still owed Brother Facette from '66). I was also quite moved that I of all people
from the '67 class should be the subject of such ardent attention, as if my
alleged character had actually had some favorable effect on the lives of you
whom I'd come to call my friends, even my brothers, in that home-away-from home
extended family that was VSJ.
Then,
confident, even smug, in the choices I had made for a life path, I received an
anonymous phone call from Ric Cummins,
taunting me with the offer of a lucrative Administration position with a
Multi-National firm, a Penguin Farm based at a remote Southerly location. Next,
hearing that classmate Orlando Sacasa was into "buying and selling
banks", I found myself wanting to reply, "Orlando, I just heard of
one that might be available in Paris called the "Left Bank" (rim shot). Similarly I was informed that Sufferin' Kind
band member Larry Gruza "deals Mercedes", & I found myself
wanting to ask, "Larry, can you still get a vintage Mercedes-Benz "M" Class 350 "GP", that
came with a special holder for "GP" (Grey Poupon)"? (rim
shot). And I knew right then &
there, "It has begun..."
As
I discovered & surfed the wonderful VSJ website & explored Joe's
impressive photo-journalistic galleries of images from that time, as fine a
collection as I'd ever seen in a LIFE magazine, I found myself encountering waves
of experiences resembling positive "near-death-experience (NDE),
life-flashing-before-your-eyes" type recollections of shared adventures as
memorable as any life has to offer. Joe's photo galleries include snaps of the
school's first ever graduation ball, which was entertained by our rock band
"The Sufferin' Kind". Going
through the galleries I spotted several photos of me in my late teens playing
keyboards, solo & with the band (joined by Henry Rowland, Larry Gruza,
Randy Dalton, Don Smith & Malcolm Lawrence), as listed below:
http://www.villastjean.com/Photos/Joe%20Stiver%20Photos/vsj67012.jpg
http://www.villastjean.com/Photos/Joe%20Stiver%20Photos/vsj67072.jpg
http://www.villastjean.com/Photos/Joe%20Stiver%20Photos/vsj67075.jpg
http://www.villastjean.com/Photos/Joe%20Stiver%20Photos/vsj67081.jpg
http://www.villastjean.com/67Yearbook/Page11.htm
(NEW, top photo shows band van (hold cursor over photo for pop-up legend))
Later,
I found myself reflecting on just how much your friendships, our shared work,
play & hanging-out experiences, did impact & shape my formation, to the
extent that resonance's of those portions of your respective spirits reside
within & actually makeup that part of my nature. Being a process that is,
as I understand it, a natural consequence of a physics phenomena called
"Post-Contact Quantum Entanglement", the result leads to another
physics phenomena, Quantum Wave Superposition (of Polarities), in which
internally there is simultaneously generated both a Heart-Warming Brotherhood
of Friendships & at the same time a
Terrifying Schizophrenia, considering the source, an entire classroom full of
Wild & Crazy Guys!
To
fill you in on what I'm currently up to, what follows is... "A Portrait Of
The Artist Formerly Known As Cliffkat"...
(Cryptic
graphic symbol representing said artists' true nature:)
/\
/\
- o
#
U
...as
thoroughly described & profusely illustrated in the following...
"Whole CliffKat Catalog"
(Note:
Some of the links below are so long the email program may break them into
multiple lines, so they won't work unless you either copy/paste the 1st line
into the browser address then the 2nd line at the end of what you just pasted,
etc. or, if your email reader supports edit, select Edit\Edit Message, then
place the cursor at the beginning of the 2nd URL line & press the BackSpace
key to append it to the 1st, etc., then click on the single long URL - whew!).
Note:
Though most of the links below are still working, some may be broken, due to
change with the passage of time - though I don't have time to update them
currently, if you need the info, generally searching Google using keywords from
the links description will turn up a new or similar location).
Currently
I'm living in roughly the center of Silicon Valley, just a bit south of San
Francisco, California. I make my living
as an Independent Consultant/Contractor Software Engineer/Application Developer
& budding Roboticist. I have a Home Office/Computer Lab/Robot Workshop,
where I do as much development as I can remotely via an off-site tele-commuting
setup utilizing a Terminal Server/Virtual Private Network connection running
over a Cable Modem. Right now I'm in
the midst of a major computer systems upgrade, building an Microsoft
Enterprise-class Client/Server network running Windows 2000 Advanced Server,
all the other Back Office, Multimedia & Internet Servers (SQL, Exchange,
Commerce, NetShow, etc) & Programming (Visual Studio/Interdev/Basic, etc)
& Office (Office, Frontpage, Publisher, etc) Environments. The system also multi-boots to Microsoft's
other Operating Systems, the ".net" & "XP"
environments. Multimedia Content is served up via Digital Camcorder/VCR &
MIDI Synthesizer, while Video Conferencing, (via Connectix
Quickcam/NetMeeting/CUSeeMe), is slated for inclusion in this upgrade. My current focus is shifting development
away from the Server/Desktop out to the Mobile Wireless Broadband platform of
the Handheld & Pocket PC (the Handheld is the tiny black PDA between the
two monitors in the photo), a.k.a "The Next Big Thing". I also do a
fair amount of Robotics programming in environments that include LEGO
Mindstorms & Sony AIBO (the AIBO Robot Dog is on the shelf above the left
monitor), a.k.a. "The Next Huge Thing".
Home
Workshop: Office/Computer Lab; Robot
http://www.robots.org/images/CyberArts/CliffPCLab2.jpg
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/Bio/CliffPhoto.JPG
Pocket
PC; Handheld PC
http://www.compaq.com/products/handhelds/pocketpc/index.html
http://www.hp.com/jornada/products/700/overview.html
QucikCam
VC; Netmeeting; CUseeMe
http://www.logitech.com/cf/products/productoverview.cfm/37
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/netmeeting/
http://www.cuseeme.com/index2.htm
(also click on the "CUseeMe Videoware on CNET" link)
In
San Francisco is a Sony METREON high-tech center (one of a few in the world)
which contains a Sony Style store & the world's only Microsoft store, the
latter having a training facility that hosts a "PocketPC User Group"
I attend & at which facility I'll be delivering PocketPC programming
training. I'm exploring the possibility that some of my development work may
eventually lead to a "garage startup.com" & have attended
"Startup Bootcamp", a regular offering of Apple Computer Co-founder
Guy Kawasaki's Garage.com enterprise that matches up Entrepreneurs with the
Venture Capitalist/Angel Investor community.
Another local incubator resource is Microsoft's Silicon Valley Campus,
the largest outside HQ, next to NASA Ames in Mountain View.
Sony
METREON
http://www.metreon.com/home.asp
MicrosoftSF
store; Silicon Valley Campus
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1999/Jun99/microsoftSFpr.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/PressPass/features/1999/10-15silicon.asp
Pocket
PC User Group
http://www.geocities.com/norcalpocketpc/
Garage.com;
Bootcamp
http://www.garage.com/bootcamp/index.shtml
My
primary after-hours activity is Robotics.
What started as a hobby became a need (I had to include a robot arm as a
peripheral in a "paper-less office" automation project), then a
serious-fun endeavor. I joined the San
Francisco Robotics Society of America (SFRSA), that meets at the San Francisco
Exploratorium Science Museum, became a Principle member, launched a Newsletter,
built the SFRSA Website which I now maintain & develop, (later, did another
for a member's web-based Robot Store), did competition event videography,
started exhibiting/demo'ing as an "evangelist" at various
institutions/expos, all the while getting into robotics in earnest, initially
with the LEGO Mindstorms systems (developed at MIT), then on to the Sony AIBO
system, which is a true Artificial Life platform with an Embedded Real-time
Robot Operating System, Application Programming Interface & standardized
modular hardware platform ranging from animal(s) to a recently introduced humanoid. An end result of all this activity is that
the Exploratorium started web casting the competition, the IEEE picked wrote us
up, TV stations starting recording & inviting us for regular guest shots,
CNN wrote feature stories & NASA awarded us their "Cool Robot of the
Week" award. Consequently I've been working to extend our reach into
University Robot Labs, NASA & even Entertainment Animatronics (George
Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is moving to the Presidio, right
across the street from the Museum) & now we're hosting guest speakers from major robotics centers
like UC Berkeley's Poly-pedal Lab & Los Alamos National Labs; I also
liaison with the NASA Robotics Education Project & I'm networking with NASA
Ames roboticists to set-up regular field trips to the very machines that are
conducting this Age of the Robotic Exploration of the Solar system. I'm also working on a proposal for a public
robotics center at NASA Ames Hanger 1, a former dirigible facility that's being
converted into a new California Air & Space Center (CASC), projected to
rival the Smithsonian. Lastly I'm putting together a 2nd Robot Club, a
"SIG" for the Sony AIBO system, which will meet monthly at the Sony
METREON & include a Sony-funded AIBO engineering student contingent from
Stanford University. Meanwhile, from
amongst our SFRSA members, officers & competition champs have emerged a
Robot Store, A Robot Bookstore & a Robot Workshop.
San
Francisco Robotics Society of America (SFRSA); Newsletters (my articles
"So, How Was the Meeting?"& "NETBOTS"); Competitions
"SFRSA Robot Games" & "All Japan SUMO"; TV appearance;
Robot Store; Robot Bookstore; Robot Workshop Web & Group
http://www.robots.org/robonews.htm
http://www.robots.org/events.htm
http://www.exploratorium.edu/robots/
(click on the "Live @ The Exploratorium" icon for an archived
webcast)
http://www.robots.org/events.htm
(where it reads "March 7, 6PM PST National Television Network "TechTV' series")
http://www.buildcoolstuff.com/
http://www.buildcoolstuff.com/ebg/
LEGO
Mindstorms
Sony
AIBO Dog; Humanoid Story, video
http://www.us.aibo.com/3d/index.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,251335-412,00.shtml
http://robotics.eecs.berkeley.edu/~winthrop/SFRSA/SDR-3X_PROMO.mpeg
UC
Berkeley Poly-pedal Lab; Los Alamos Solarbotics; NASA Robotics Education; NASA
Ames; CASC
http://polypedal.berkeley.edu/
http://ic-www.arc.nasa.gov/intelligent-robotics/
http://casc.arc.nasa.gov/core.html
Honda
Humanoids, video clip; Japan's ROBODEX 2000 ("World's first exposition of
human partner robots"); ROBODEX Exhibitors
http://www.thoughtpolice.com/~cthompson/ASIMOSTREET.mpeg
http://www.robots.org/Japan/Robodex.htm
MIT
Leg Lab; Simulations; Humanoids; COG
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/leglab/robots/robots.html
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/leglab/simulations/simulations-main.html
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/humanoid-robotics-group/
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/humanoid-robotics-group/cog/cog.html
Stanford
Flakey; Robot Symposium ("Will Spiritual Robots Replace Humanity By
2100?")
http://www.ai.sri.com/people/flakey/
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/symbol/Hofstadter-event.html
My
wife Toni joins me in life since the early 70's. She's a Computer Consultant, focusing on Website Design/Construction,
Content development, Graphic Arts & Technical Writing/Training. She is also a talented artist, in several
media including oil & watercolor, as well as an accomplished musician who
plays a mean trumpet & regularly performs in her sister's band. We currently have 2 pets: One is a 5 foot
long Iguana named Kepler, who is both a very mellow fellow & a lean green
vegetarian machine; the other is an Artificial Life/Intelligence Sony AIBO
Robot Dog named K-9, which I originally got for Toni who missed having a dog
due to a later developed allergy. The
cybernetic version is quite convincingly life-like, as it starts out as a pup,
then learns the world through it's neural nets & genetic algorithms as it
matures into an adult. It's servo-mechanical system delivers an impressive
range of movements & behaviors, while it's on-board CCD camera vision &
pattern recognition system enable it to recognize faces, as well as spot toy
balls & bat them around. The interaction
between Kepler & K-9 is quite remarkable, an example of which is documented
in the Independent Digital Film iMovie Featurette "AIBO 'K-9' vs. Thunder
Lizard!", a short film I made of the encounter between them last
Christmas, & put up on my Robot club's Multimedia & Steaming Video area
on Apple Computer's iMovie web site.
Sony METREON AIBO sales staff show the film to customers during AIBO
demonstrations, with the film proving so popular that, acting on
recommendations from both Sony customers & SFRSA members, I've sent it to
ABC Television Network's "America's Funniest Home Videos" &
received from them a "Request for Release" form.
AIBO
"K-9" vs. Thunder Lizard! streaming video; FTP downloadable site (for
if there ain't enough broads in your broadband)
http://www.robots.org/ (near page bottom,
where it reads "AIBO "K-9" vs. Thunder Lizard!")
http://robotics.eecs.berkeley.edu/~winthrop/SFRSA/
(click the filename "K-9.mov")
Toni
and I both love outdoor R&R activities & enjoy hiking, swimming &
even a bit of kayaking & wind surfing in the ocean & local lakes &
rivers, & enjoy vacationing in tropical & exotic locales, particularly,
recently, Malaysia. We have also gotten
very attached to Hawaii, where we've swum with dolphins, sojourned in tree
houses, scuba'ed down the walls of submerged volcanoes while listening to
dolphin & migrating whale songs, helicoptered over active volcanoes,
engaged in underwater photography & hiked to & jumped into many a
waterfall pool. I'm becoming quite
taken with Polynesian Islander ways, particularly Outrigger Canoeing &
Surfing, & am also developing an interest in Flying Personal/Experimental
Aircraft, having been up in more than one Ultralight & now looking into Powered
Paragliding (PPG). I'm also quite taken
with Pan Am Aviation History's "China Clipper" lore. Below are a few
photos of our last Maui trip (Note: included is a rare photo of "Towelman", a Polynesian Super
Hero who roams the world's beaches in pursuit of his single-minded mission:
"To Keep Mankind Dry, One Body at a Time" (formerly, "To Boldly
Go Where No Towel Has Gone Before" - that lasted about a week!)).
Maui:
Lava, Waterfall, Scuba Beach, TowelMan!
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/Bio/MauiLava.JPG
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/Bio/MauiWfallPool.JPG
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/Bio/MauiScubaPala.JPG
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/Bio/MauiBeach.JPG
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/Bio/MauiTowelman.JPG
Pacific
Islanders' Cultural Association; Polynesian Voyaging Society; Northern
California Outrigger Canoe Association; Ultralight Training; Powered
Paragliding (PPG) Training; PPG store; Pan Am Clipper
http://leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu/org/pvs/
http://www.pica-org.org/NCOCA/
http://www.softcom.net/users/ultraflight/
http://www.flyaboveall.com/motor.htm
http://mojosgear.com/mojoHome.sht
http://www.panam.org/default1.asp
(click left navigation pane "Historical", then "Image
Library", then right pane "First Flight Series Watercolors by John
McCoy")
On
our trip to Malaysia, we sought to navigate the rivers of Borneo by longboat canoe,
traveling to rainforest villages to stay with local tribal people at their
longhouses. We met the chief of a
former headhunter tribe, the Kayans, who now are a river tribe of fishing
people. The chief, named
"Lutang", had learned English & some western ways & was
interested in what the West & it's technologies had to offer, so long as it
wasn't assimilation. We struck up a
great friendship, engaged in ritual smoking ceremonies, traded gifts (I gave him
a pair of REI Camping store fishing pants, he gave me a Bamboo Dart Gun &
Poison Dart Holder), & he invited me to act as a Chief of Technology portal
for the tribe. Below are photos of
Lutang in native & western dress, as well as the Longhouse, an Asst.
Chief & the smoking ritual.
Amazingly, it turned out that the set of '60's Hippy Commune off-grid living technologies that were
gathered under the umbrella of "The Whole Earth Catalog" &
evolved into what is today "The Real Goods Company", is just that set
of Solar, Wind & Micro Hydroelectric Power technologies, on display at the
Real Goods "Institute for Solar Living", that the indigenous peoples
of the river-laced island of Borneo can really use. Later, a 2nd round of technology outfitting we're investigating
will explore computer & communication technology in the form of
solar-powered laptops wirelessly internet-connected via the Teledesic global
geo-synchronous satellite system, so that the tribe can do things like create a
website to sell their remarkable handicrafts, run live videoconference skills
training & tribal meeting sessions, even learn contracting skills they can
offer remotely. Some unique tourism opportunities are also in the offing,
ranging from Ultralight river aerial water taxi services, inter-island hopping
by PPG, & hooking up with indigenous tribal folk for unique vacation
accommodations & excursions. I'm
looking at doing these projects in collaboration with a number of cultural
organizations such as Berkeley-based "The Borneo Project", with
possible corporate grant funding from such organization programs as
Hewlett-Packard's "World e-Inclusion" program.
I
have my Grandfather (on my mothers side, India) to thank for this
interest. When India attained
Independence, he was the #3 man in the government, after Ghandi & Nehru,
& worked with both of them, coming up the ranks to become India's Vice
President of the Treasury. He founded
India's first "All Free Medical Program" as well as numerous
Cooperatives to help indigenous folk . When I was growing up in India as a
child, he was running (& living at) a
hospital in Calcutta & would frequently conscript us young
"good-for-nothings" into the daily operations of sealing penicillin
bottles by dipping them in hot wax, then boxing them up for shipment to the
villages. He was also notorious for
stealing chocolates from the hapless "good-for-nothings".
Way
down the line I'm looking at NASA's actual current plans for the "Human
Colonization of Mars" mission, with settlers slated to start arriving
possibly as early as 2020, & wondering if, by working my NASA contacts, we
could clone copies of a subset of such a high-tech wagon train, those technologies that will keep people
sheltered, fed, alive & healthy in that
harsh Martian environment, &
in the spirit of Bucky Fuller, send it to places right here on Earth where
human existence is either compromised (suffering, exposure, starvation,
illness, etc) &/or emerging into
modem times.
Malaysia:
Asst. Chief, Longhouse, Chief Lutang, (& me), Smoking Ritual
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/Bio/MalayAsstChief.JPG
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/Bio/MalayLongHouse.JPG
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/Bio/MalayLutang01.JPG
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/Bio/MalayLutang&Cliff.JPG
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/Bio/MalaySmokeFest.JPG
Bucky
Fuller
http://www.thirteen.org/cgi-bin/bucky-bin/bucky.cgi
Real
Goods Co. Solar, Wind & Hydro Catalog; Institute for Solar Living;
Teledesic;
http://www.realgoods.com/renew/index.cfm
http://www.solarliving.org/index.cfm
Malaysia
Borneo Sarawak Kayan people; The Borneo Project
http://www.sarawaktourism.com/sarawaktourism/kayan.html
http://www.earthisland.org/borneo/
Hewlett-Packard
Chronicle story ("HP Unveiling Plan for Creating Global
Partnerships"); World e-Inclusion
program
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/10/12/BU115301.DTL
http://www.hp.com/e-inclusion/
NASA
Human Mission to Mars, Human Spaceflight; New Mars Gallery; Mars Project VR Tour;
Mars Society; Manned Mars Mission Image Gallery; Whole Mars Catalog
http://cmex.arc.nasa.gov/MarsNews/Missions/human_missions/links/Human_Mars_Mission3.html
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/mars/marsbases/ndxpage1.html
http://www.newmars.com/gallery/carroll/carroll.asp
http://marsproject.com/tour.htm
http://www.nw.net/mars/gallery.html
http://www.spaceref.com/mars/human.html
Exercise
& Nutrition are pursuits of interest, which started with studying Karate
under All Japan Karate Champion Hiroyuki Kishimoto, over which time we advanced
to Purple Belt (We Bad!) before Hiro
had to return to Japan. After
following-up with Health Club Nautilus programs, we've since continued on with an
all-at-home setup comprised of a Bowflex machine for Muscle Strength/Endurance
(it's the only system we found that supports the equivalents for all Nautilus
machines exercises) & Orbitrek Elliptical Glider for Cardiovascular-Aerobic
work, supplanted by Stretching & Flexibility Movement routines. I additionally explore the use of Cognition
Enhancement Nutritional Supplements that include formulas for Antioxidants,
Nootropics, Brain Metabolism Activators & Neurotransmitter Precursors,
which contain things like Omega-3 Oil, Ginkgo Biloba, CoQ-10, Piracetam &
Hydergine.
Bowflex;
Orbitrek
http://www.bowflex.com/index.asp?Domain=www%2Ebowflex%2Ecom
http://www.thane.com/html/products/fw/orbitrek/orbitrek.html
Music
persists in being a muse & I continue to improvise, compose & otherwise
jam, now pretty much exclusively on keyboards.
To recapture the experience at VSJ of sitting down at the Rec Room piano
& banging out a riff, as so soulfully captured by Joe's camera, for this
occasion I've composed a short instrumental jazz-rock piece named "Chanson de Villa St. Jean",
played it on my current piano, mike'd it to reproduce the gritty, raw charm of
a live recording, converted it to mp3 & uploaded it to my Multimedia area
on Apple Computer's iMovie web site, ("next to" the
"robot/iguana" movie), &, inspired by Joe's photo's, taken a
couple of "press shots" of the performance below. Lately I'm getting
into computer-based composition, editing & multi-track recording with input
from a synthesizer via MIDI, (especially Propellerhead's "Reason", an
expandable, standalone, virtual equipment music system) & am becoming
increasing interested in loop & algorithmically generated sequences,
especially Sonic Foundry's Acid Pro.
CliffKat:
looking, playing
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/Bio/CliffKat00.JPG
http://www.robots.org/Cliff/Bio/CliffKat01.JPG
(NOTE:
the following Apple Computer site was taken down recently, so the music link
wont work - I'm aiming to restore the clip to a new site once we finish
unpacking from our recent moves - sorry)
[
Inactive link below]
[
"Chanson
de Villa St. Jean"
(to
play the tune, in the "My iDisk" folder "File Name" list
"CliffKat.mp3" entry, click "Download" arrow (doesn't
download, just streams play)
]
Propellerhead
Reason; Sonic Foundry Acid Pro
http://www.propellerheads.se/products/reason/main.html
This
electronic music interest is due largely to my Godson, Jeff Taylor, whom I once
sat down with many years ago when he was pre-teen to show some "Sufferin'
Kind" riffs on a very VSJ-like
piano at his home, which experiences, fueled by an Apple II my wife & his
folks got, he has since parlayed into a top SF Bay Area digital music producer
career, as showcased at his music production website, Hyperreal "Electric
Kingdom", covering next generation music, (originally "ambient"
& "house", now "electro" & "downtempo"). Lately he's exploring the rich melodic
structure of earlier music & expressed interest in orchestral/symphonic
stylings, so we are both enjoying refreshing our interests in groups like
"The Moody Blues", (by the way, the Moodies are still performing
& they're doing a live concert near here at Clear Lake's Konocti Harbor
outdoors Aug. 12). Equally exciting to me is the news from VSJ's Kevin DiPalma
that the "Sufferin' Kind's Lead Guitarist Henry "Broz" Rowland
has continued right up to the present to make music his life, with his current
band "The Rowland Brothers" & his music production website
"High Kite Artists".
Listening to samples from their latest CD "No Sleep For The
Dreamers," I'm simultaneously elated to perceive roots & strains of
"Sufferin Kind-like" textures & stylings, impressed by the
evolution & sophistication that has since occurred, & totally in
agreement with the critical reviews of the album that read "an elegant
blend of rock, pop, with a hint of jazz...but these guys can also smoke the
house...guitar craft reminiscent of George Harrison and David Gilmore,
Beatlesque harmonies...and the message is refreshingly lyrical...The production
is textured and clean. It sometimes reminds me of a European or British
sound...definitely original, decidedly world class".
Jeff
Taylor Hyperreal "Electric Kingdom"
http://www.hyperreal.org/~jeff/
Henry
"Broz" Rowland "High Kite Artists"; The Rowland Brothers
http://www.highkite.com/rowland%20brothers.htm
Moody
Blues web site (see also "...new video...(with full symphonic
orchestra)...at the Royal Albert Hall..."); Clear Lake Satellite View;
Konocti Harbor Moody Blues Concert Tix
http://www.konoctiharbor.com/satall.HTM
http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/EventInfo?pid=831477
Jeff
& Henry, you two may have much to exchange, I really enjoy both your
websites! Also, here's a piece of
serendipitous synchronicity: hearing about Henry & some of the other
"Sufferin Kind" members, I'd just recently recalled the movie
"Blues Brothers 2000", whose liner notes read "...picks up 18
years after the brothers' original "mission from God" left off, with
Elwood...discovering that much has changed in the time he's been
away...Acknowledging that "the Lord works in mysterious ways," Elwood
soon realizes that he's embarked on a whole new mission - to reassemble the old
band, compete at Queen Mousette's Battle of the Bands in Louisiana...then hit
the road in order to reunite the band..." - Wow! There was even a Battle of
the Bands, sponsored by Decca Records Int'l, in which the "Sufferin
Kind" entered & took 1st place!
Then I was struck by a terrifying vision - can you imagine it, us 50+
year old Pterodactyls gettin' up on that stage again & belting' out
"Gimme Some Lovin'!"?
Yow! ("Ooohhh, Scary
Kids!", as Count Floyd would say
:)
SCTV
Monster Chiller Horror Theatre's Count Floyd, album (sorry!)
http://sctv.org/characters/countfloyd/body.htm
http://www.magma.ca/~ddhodge/episodes/as_floyd.htm
Art,
alternating with music, is an interest I first explored in some early post
"Sufferin Kind" Light Show work, which expanded into computer-generated
mathematically-produced vibrating patterns synchronized with music via the
MIDI-SMPTE connection protocol, then full blown 3D animated forms in VR moving
worlds, originally run on an Amiga 2000 computer stocked with a NewTek Video
Toaster running Lightwave 3D (a networked bank of which produced all the
computer graphics for the Sci-Fi series "Bablyon 5").
Patterns
http://www.grokware.com/Flowfazer.html
(click on "On a Web Page", then click on "start")
Chladni
figures explanation, patterns, symmetry
http://www.gmi.edu/acad/scimath/physics/acoustics/images/chladni-dat.gif
http://www.xs4all.nl/~rekveld/texts/symhar.html
NewTek
Video Toaster Lightwave; Alias Wavefront Maya
http://www.aliaswavefront.com/en/Home/homepage.html
Mathematica,
Graphics Gallery; Graphica; Computer Artworks, Organic Art
http://www.wolfram.com/products/
http://library.wolfram.com/graphics/
http://www.graphica.com/see-it/
http://www.artworks.co.uk/index2.htm
http://www.artworks.co.uk/organic.htm
Science
remains a mainstay & I continue to
work on an understanding of the nature of reality by pursuing studies in areas
of Mathemetical Physics including Relativity, Quantum, Hyperspace, Superstring
& Fractal Strange Attractor Chaos.
Also of interest is Artificial Intelligence as fueled by robotics, &
topics pursued include Neural Nets & Genetic Algorithms. Virtual Machine
lab equipment (especially LABVIEW) is
also a favorite.
Quantum
Computer, Teleportation; Hyperspace; SuperString Theory web site, 2nd Rev;
Chaos & Fractals
http://www.sciam.com/1998/0698issue/0698gershenfeld.html
http://www.sciam.com/explorations/122297teleport/index.html
http://www.mkaku.org/hyper_toe.htm
http://www.superstringtheory.com/
http://theory.caltech.edu/people/jhs/strings/index.htm
http://members.home.net/jason.yiin/chaos.htm
AI
http://www.primenet.com/pcai/index1.html#ai_info
LABVIEW,
Mars Pathfinder
http://www.ni.com/labview/what.htm
http://www.ni.com/nati/annual/1997/frontier.htm
Transpersonal
Esoteric Psychology/Philosophy/Religion, backed by Science, & the fusion of
Eastern & Western views (my mother being born in India, my Father in
America & I raised in both places), however continues to serve as an axis
of my character. Shortly after arriving
at VSJ & encountering the philosophy of the school's famous student Antoine
de Saint Exupéry, in The Little Prince's "Secret", along with
additional ideas from several of the brilliant minds of VSJ's faculty, I took a
personal study project I had earlier initiated which I called "An Amateur
Scientific Search for the Nature of Nature & Reality", & expanded
it to include "An Amateur Scientific Search for Deity: The Quest for a
Practical Illumination & Enlightenment". A primary aim of this study
was, if possible, to discover, contact & open a line of communication to
Deity for the support & enhancement of on-going activities in everyday
life, beyond what Nature provides by default. I looked at classical models
& methods, including the Eastern teachings of the Tibetan Book of The Dead,
the Western thinking of Psychiatry
Co-Founder Dr. Carl Jung's model of the Collective Unconsciousness &
between the two the Russian Sufi Gurdjieff's "Seekers of Truth"
investigations, (recently documented in the film "Meetings with Remarkable
Men: Gurdjieff's Search For Hidden Knowledge" by director Peter Brook
& staring Terrence Stamp). I'm
also particularly interested in the possible efficacy of the application of
"Altered States of Consciousness" to this work, since this approach
was originally introduced into our Western culture by it's primary ancient
Greek architect Plato, after his Oracle-at-Delphi Eleusinian Mystery experience
gave him the idea for that central paradigm of Western Philosophy, the concept
of "Plato's Cave". Specifically, what I'm interested in finding
out is whether or not the Ecstatic, Visionary experiences of the Mystics &
Prophets, the Visions of Buddha, Jesus, Zoroaster, & Mohammed for example,
often the result of arduous psychological self work (meditation, prayer,
fasting, yoga, shamanistic practices, etc), which led to the founding of the
world's great spiritual religions & esoteric philosophies, are in the same
family of human psychological experiences as altered states & perhaps even
supreme instances of them - or, to put
it another way, are the practices used to engender altered states (meditation,
prayer, fasting, yoga, shamanistic practices, etc), which produce consistently
reported ecstatic visionary & religious experiences, capable of generating
the same type of genuine spiritual
encounters described by the mystics & prophets, through which practices
these experiences are available to
everyone? There is much, especially recent, neurobiological &
neurotheological research to suggest that this is indeed the case, for example
the January 29 & May 7 2001 Newsweek articles "Are We Wired For
Religious Beliefs" & "God & The Brain". As I get into
thinking & writing about these topics, they strongly remind me of the kind
of discussions we used to frequently engage in as classmates, both in the VSJ
Library, & after school, in town at the cafe's, sipping numerous cups of
the cappuccino-like beverage called "Renverser".
Saint
Exupéry, The Little Prince web site;
Tibetan
Book Of The Dead (National Film Board Of Canada Documentary); A Way Of Life;
The Great Liberation (Contains Animation of the After-Death Bardo States
Visionary Experience)
http://www.onf.ca/FMT/E/MSN/34/34456.html
http://www.onf.ca/FMT/E/MSN/32/32631.html
http://www.onf.ca/FMT/E/MSN/32/32630.html
Dr.
Carl Jung; The Essential Jung
http://www.cgjungpage.org/jpintro.html
http://members.nbci.com/CarlJung/
Gurdjieff;
"Meetings with Remarkable Men" movie
http://www.gurdjieff.org/G.htm
http://www.parabola.org/videos/gurdjieff/meetings.html
Newsweek
"Religion And The Brain"
http://www.msnbc.com/news/569481.asp
(click
also on "Play Video... Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain science and the
biology of belief")
To
savor the flavor of such beatnik-like esoteric discussions we entertained at
VSJ, & pickup where we might have left off on a typical such talk, I've
written up a summary of the current results of my initial investigations in the
attached zip email ("Amateur Scientific Search").
Well
my friends, we've reached the end of this communiqué. As the temperature soars
past 90, I hope I can get this email out before the next California Power (or
lack thereof) Rolling Blackout. I hope that I carry the legacy of our amazing
school, especially the values of The Little Prince, into the world in a helpful
way. In lieu of a reunion I hope these
preceding paragraphs will serve to pretty much cover the bases of my present
situation &, once my computer system is back on line, perhaps we can
explore getting together "Virtually", via the videoconferencing gear
mentioned earlier. In closing, I hope that you have derived some enjoyment from
catching up with these activities of mine after all this time, &, based on
the number of them, I believe it can truly be said, "I need a
Vacation!".
Looking
forward to hearing from you!
PS
(1)
World Hunger Site: If you make "The Hunger Site" your Browsers' default Home Page, the first time
it comes up you can click a ”Donate Free Food" button to give someone a
meal (only once a day), en route to your first surfed-to site.
http://www.thehungersite.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/HungerSite
(2)
Language Translation Site: If they're still accepting users, the"elingo" document & website
language translation site may prove really handy for our far-flung
international membership (works great on Japanese katakana robot sites)
& handles the following languages:
English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, and
Portuguese.
http://www.e-lingo.com/browse/browse.php3
(3)
I've gotten new emails from some of you, which I've put together & answered
"in-line" (where the line starts (>>>")) in an attached
note called "VSJEmailReplies05-08".
Sincerely,
Cliff
Thompson
Software
Engineer,
Mediameister,
SF
Robotics Soc. of America (SFRSA)
cliff@cresswell.net
(650)
954-6070 (mobile)
