A London holiday

The best way to stay out of people’s business is to know what this business is.

Where would I put a finger?

Gemma is really a bit second tier.

You can’t do cocaine with a broken nose. So I asked my maid to give me a booty bump and she quit.

– I didn’t want Adam dead.
– Then why mention him in my presence?

Seven Principles of the United Nations Treaty on outer Space

1. The exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries.

2. Outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all states without discrimination of any kind, on a basis of equality and in accordance with international law.

3. Outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.

4. The celestial bodies shall be used by all States Parties to the Treaty exclusively for peaceful purposes.

5. The establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct of military manoeuvres on celestial bodies shall be forbidden.

6. States Parties to the Treaty shall pursue studies of outer space and conduct exploration of them so as to avoid their harmful contamination and also adverse changes in the environment.

7. All stations, installations, equipment and space vehicles on the celestial bodies shall be open to representatives of other States Parties to the Treaty on a basis of reciprocity.

John Gottman

In den 1970ern bat der Psychologe John Gottman Ehepaare, in einem 15-minütigen Gespräch ein persönliches Problem zu erörtern und sich dabei filmen zu lassen. Bei der Auswertung des Videomaterials fanden er und seine Kolleg:innen heraus, dass es einen eindeutigen Unterschied gibt zwischen glücklichen und unglücklichen Paaren. Und zwar das Verhältnis von negativen zu positiven Bemerkungen.

Alle Paare streiten sich. Aber alle glücklichen Paare „reparieren“ fortlaufend ihre Beziehung. Indem sie einander – während des Konflikts – necken, sich berühren, aufmerksam zuhören, den anderen ernst nehmen, immer wieder auch erwähnen, was das Gegenüber gut macht. “Viel von den kleinen Dingen”, schreibt Gottman.

Es sind die kleinen Dinge, nicht die großen Gesten und Versprechungen, mit denen man zeigt, dass einem etwas an der Partnerin, am Partner gelegen ist. Und diese kleinen positiven Dinge sollten in einem Verhältnis von fünf zu eins zu den negativen Dingen stehen, die man natürlich auch ansprechen muss in einer Beziehung.

Mannerism & Tenebrismo

Slender, elongated limbs, splayed, twisting and turning bodies, contradicting all the traditional laws of proportion (such as small heads), are a characteristic of Mannerism. El Greco was one prominent artist employing this style.

Tenebrismo es el nombre que la historiografía del arte da a un estilo o corriente de la pintura del barroco correspondiente a su fase inicial, a comienzos del siglo XVII, cuyos principales exponentes son el italiano Caravaggio y José de Ribera (el Españoleto, afincado en Nápoles). El tenebrismo se caracteriza por el violento contraste de luces y sombras mediante una forzada iluminación. 

Tupper’s self-referential formula

Tupper’s self-referential formula is a formula that visually represents itself when graphed in the plane. It is given by

\frac{1}{2} < \left\lfloor \mathrm{mod}\left(\left\lfloor \frac{y}{17} \right\rfloor 2^{-17 \lfloor x \rfloor - \mathrm{mod}\left(\lfloor y\rfloor, 17\right)},2\right)\right\rfloor.

Let k equal the following 543-digit integer:

960 939 379 918 958 884 971 672 962 \\ 
127 852 754 715 004 339 660 129 306 \\
651 505 519 271 702 802 395 266 424 \\ 
689 642 842 174 350 718 121 267 153 \\ 
782 770 623 355 993 237 280 874 144\\ 
307 891 325 963 941 337  723 487 857\\ 
735 749 823 926 629 715 517 173 716 \\ 
995 165 232 890 538 221 612 403 238 \\
855 866 184 013 235 585 136 048 828\\
 693 337 902 491 454 229 288 667 081 \\ 
096 184 496 091 705 183 454 067 827 \\ 
731 551 705 405  381 627 380 967 602 \\ 
565 625 016 981 482 083 418 783 163 \\ 
849 115 590 225 610 003 652 351 370 \\
 343 874 461 848 378 737 238 198 224\\ 
849 863 465 033 159 410 054 974 700 \\ 
593 138 339 226 497 249 461 751 545 \\ 
728 366 702 369 745 461 014 655 997 \\ 
933 798 537 483 143 786 841 806 593\\ 
422 227 898 388 722 980 000 748 404 \\
719

Then the formula reproduces itself in the range 0 ≤ x < 106 and k ≤ y < k+17:

In fact, Tupper’s formula can be used to draw any formula because for nonnegative values of y, the formula displays all possible combinations of 17-pixel tall bitmaps. So the above formula is just a special case. In fact, the formula can be used to decode any bitmap stored in the integer k.