Reading
I have just ordered a book that claims to cover Art and Democracy.

As far as art is concerned, please look to the right to find a link to the initial site of DaBa Productions.

In 2003, DaBa Productions was founded to support my efforts in and around the art world in New England, the east coast, and now internationally.
So far DaBa has produced and edited one short film for an organization in Boston, met with numerous visual artists, and promoted a few bands visiting town. In 2007, DaBa plans to explore more film projects (at least one documentary), book at least two bands in the first half of the year, and keep the momentum going behind the launch of our literary magazine.

DaBa Productions will be launching its own arts blog in the coming weeks, and I will keep you posted.

UPDATE: Air Guitar is phenomenal. I highly recommend picking up a copy. I will be re-reading it and posting my comments on the DaBa Blog.

Current Events in Astronomy

Just a quick note about a celestial event I remember purposefully calculating back in high school. Next Sunday morning, about forty-five minutes before sunrise, three planets, Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter, will be "converging" within a one-degree circle. This happens to be occurring in the constellation of Scorpius, which due to my birth date, holds some significance.

• How tight is a one-degree circle? Generally with one's arm stretched full length, a closed fist will represent approximately ten-degrees of arc. The tip of your index finger will represent one-degree of arc.

• How frequently do planets converge in a tight formation like this? As far as planets that you can see with your naked eye, the next time will be in 2053.

• Where can you see it? Scorpius is a southern constellation, and the event will be occurring right on the horizon for me during my visit to New Orleans this weekend. Hopefully I will be able to catch it to the East-Southeast.
  

Astronomy has always been a source of awe, and with awe comes a healthy dose of humility. Look up the next night you find yourself in a low-light-pollution environment.

In an attempt to grasp the infinite, I studied astronomy, volunteered at an Observatory, and followed in early man's path of relating myself to some aspect of the heavens. Although astrology is hokey, one can not argue that understanding such an abstract environment is not a noble undertaking. Our reaction to being nothing in space is our attempt to control, i.e. to calculate and to predict. Control is one way to boost our intellectual ego.

The culmination of engineering and mathematics is exhibited in a device called the Antikythera Mechanism. It was constructed two thousand years ago.