Pilachi_Sketch [ BLOG ]

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me. Read more

If you thought that was inappropriate… read on.

Today We visited Elmina Castle for the first time. It was a moving experience, for the simple reason that most slaves who left Africa for the Caribbean, left through the hallways I walked through today.

It was not the whirlwind wow… “this is what my ancestors had to endure”… type of day; though, it was a bit surreal.

March 2007 marks the 200 year anniversary of the signing of the “the pre-policy-paper policy paper” that marked the abolition of slavery. On paper.

Today, in addition to an otherwise even keel and unmoved manner, I was a bit overwhelmed by two things… Read more

After a week travelling with Rocky Dawuni and Samini –arguably Ghana’s foremost musical talent– Allison [my wife and trusty communication specialist for UNICEF] had a “this is it!” moment.

She thought to herself… upon seeing the state of affairs with water and sanitation issues in the north of Ghana, “Why not ask Rocky and Samini to do a collaboration to focus on these issues of water and sanitation.” Brilliant.

Fortunately, the musicians –both household names in Ghana– agreed to the request, and within a few days, were in the studio recording with Ghana’s leading audio producer; and in less than a week, the UNICEF sponsored track Clean Water [listen here] was released to celebrate World Water Day in Ghana

Allison, a very private person by nature, usually does not like these public declarations of her achievements; however, after carefully making a mental note about the significance, after reading the press release on the UNICEF website, I realized that Allison, wrote the press release, took the photographs and coordinated the production of this track… from concept through to international distribution… in one week. Including getting the track played on BBC this morning.

Did I mention that the distribution of the track started after close of business last night.
All things considered, I could not just let go unnoticed.

Having received the approval [to do so] from the Delegation of the European Commission in Ghana, at the contract signing this afternoon, it is safe to say that: Pilachi was awarded the European Union Communication Design contract.

This is the first official contract awarded to Pilachi Ltd. as a legal entity in Ghana. Read more

In a previous post, I wrote about the use of magnets, in describing the potential for artificial awareness / pseudo intelligence. This morning, quite by accident I came across a simulation on BBC, where a complex copper alloy, cooled by liquid nitrate, was used to describe how a super-conductor could be used to induce “magnetic levitation.” The beauty of the simulation is that the magnetic levitation also worked upside down… and therefore defied gravity, while levitating and conveying the object above the magnetically induced surface.

Magnetic levitation is used in super-high-speed trains in China, but currently require vast quantities of electricity to induce magnetic levitation, so are too expensive to find worldwide applications. The mag-lev simulation was used to demonstrate that if a practical and inexpensive solution is found, Magnetic Levitation could be a sustainable answer to the increasingly urban challenge of mass transit.

Magnetic Levitation trains do not have wheels nor engines, but are incredibly fast, and incredibly safe.

I will look for some useful sources to site.

The longer I watch the series of Nova documentaries on String Theory, the more annoyed I become. It seems that facing the same challenges I have, of describing what we do not understand, in terms of what we already do [or have been told we do]… the ever vacuuous nothingness of the unknown, grows increasingly “other-like” and therefore dismissable. I do not understand you, therefore you are not valid, is never the path to discovery. Read more

A very good friend –whose life is characterized by a frozen moment– upon reading about the significance of a frozen moment documented from a distant fortune cookie that called for us all to exclaim… exclaim… don’t you just love the impropriety of that fragment. So sexy.

The headline read… “It was a hot and passionate night, the intensity was building and then… I… we… all… ah… exclaim.”

That was an aside [to emphasize the importance of passion, even when describing punctuation]. Pregnant Pause. Back to the point.

In commenting on a post written about fractals and fortune cookies, she said that the whole “logic of fractals” stuff probably had useful applications to thought processes and behavior. She is right.

I did not know it at the time… but [Norbert Weiner eat your heart out] I believe with instinct and certainty, that the models of chaotic attractors, when scripted to reveal their truest intrinsic nature, can adapt to changing situations and produce instinctive responses based on the premises of avoidance and collision; those premises [without hypothecary] would give rise to behavioral patterns that are naturally dynamic, mimic thought and choice, but are so simple in their representation and manifestation, that they could give rise to artificial intelligence in the truest sense. Not the robotics that just present themselves as really fancy calculators.

I mean a simple logical sequence… a running iterative function that responds to changing conditions, projects possible outcome, is aware of and prepares for anticipated collisions (logical or tangible) and based simply on the nature of that simple function, corrects for the collision by avoiding it, or embraces the collision in an attempt to redirect its original trajectory.

It would in isolation, look like a thinking, reasoning entity… but it really would be a simple mechanical operation performed by something as simple as a stone.

It is not as complex as it sounds.

Opposing magnets [that in some instances look like stones] when in a confined space do the very same things… and they do not have the capacity for thought… despite their propensity for action.

When I graduated from undergrad architecture, and met the angel i[n]c. arnate otherwise called “SIR,” she asked me a question that I never really fully answered, because I had not started to recognize, much less emerge from my shell.

She asked me at that time… “If money was not an issue, and you could do anything in the world that you wanted to, what would you do?”

What would you do?

[ For me, this is it. ]

I was just watching a video on YouTube, produced by Nova, about the 11th Dimension… wherein they described String Theory on the premise that in quantum mechanics, space is chaotic and random and gives rise to tears in the topological landscape at sub atomic levels.

I disagree.

From the moment the narrator used the words “chaotic” and “random” in the same sentence, I began not only to question his investment in the topic, but also the notion of tearing.

Fractals organize logic at both the micro and the macro scales, without changing their topology. For this reason, chaotic fractals give useful explanations for the otherwise ambiguous scientific hypothecary. Read more

I have tried to describe to people, who often respond with blank stares akin to deer in the headlights, just how focused my varied interests are. They provide fodder for an understanding of universal systems of order and composition.

I really don’t care about your house, and usally prefer that you don’t ask me to design one for you… thanks. I do not want to be the DJ nor the photographer at your wedding… but good luck with that.

I will however spend hours trying to perfect a particular mix or scratch (with music) or photograph fractal patterns of growth of algae in putrid gutters, or dance for hours on end and never really hear the songs that are playing. Come to think of it, I don’t usually hear the music I am mixing, or focus on the subject in the photograph. It does not mean I am self involved [although to be quite honest, I really am]
It is always about composition, and organization, and underlying order… and the marvel of the inherent magic in that which I do not understand.

I dance because I want to understand gravity and tension as the new compression… or how a centripetal force can give rise to an alternate support system that gives rise to tremendous leverage with very little force.

It is all a petri-dish for me. I am the kid who wants to be a magician by trying to figure it out by trying stuff.

I am not what you think… and once the photo is taken, it usually sits in a cavernous vault of over 15,000 other similar gems, having served its purpose before the shutter was pressed.

That purpose, was to help me to really see, by forcing me to really look.