The Mysterious N. Senada

reminiscent of Hakim Bey's concept of The Unseen Obelisk:

N. Senada is best known for his "Theory of Obscurity", which states that an artist does his or her best work when working in obscurity, unhindered by the influence of an audience. Things such as trying to gear one's work to the audience's likes in order to sell better, or the conflicts and ego problems which fame brings only serve to destroy true creativity....

N. Senada's "Theory of Phonetic Organization" is not as well known. According to this theory the musician should put the sounds first, building the music up from them rather than developing the music then working down to the sounds that make it up. The analogy is with the phonetic structure of language: spoken language is made up of the sounds which are produced as needed to convey the meaning. It's sort of the opposite of Lewis Carroll's malapropism "take care of the sense and the sounds will take care of themselves". Under the Theory of Phonetic Organization the artist doesn't know how the final music is supposed to sound but rather works from the sounds which he or she wants to put into the music. This is in part how the blueprints work: Senada knew what themes he wanted in the work, but not how they would be going together.

Then again, some have said that the whole thing is just an excuse to cover the fact that The Residents didn't know how to play 90% of the instruments they used and had no training in music theory whatsoever -- but that fit in nicely with Senada's love of mistakes.

n. senada wiki

Alchemy Electronic Dictionary

definitions by word or by symbol. very nice

a subsection of alchemylab.com

Sir Francis Bacon and John Dee : the Original 007

A Bond for All the Ages : Sir Francis Bacon and John Dee : the Original 007
By D.W.Cooper & Lawrence Gerald

Dee has been defamed through the centuries as a necromancer, but it's the opinion of many writers that his angelic-cabalistic- alchemical work, his Philosophers Stone, the"Monad Hieroglyphica"(1564) may have been a cover for covert operations carried on in the name of her majesty. The 007 was the insignia number that Elizabeth was to use for private communiques between her Court and Dee.

(i miss dw)

a friend pointed this out to me at work, and we both started pondering ian fleming's masonic ties

Ann Coulter causes stir at KU (well duh)

Heckling, standing ovations interrupt right-wing commentator

Coulter stopped and called for assistance from students when hecklers started in again and no one of authority was seen trying to stop them.

"Could 10 of the largest College Republicans start walking up and down the aisles and start removing anyone shouting?" Coulter asked. "Otherwise, this lecture is over."

Several people responded, leaving their seats to confront the hecklers, and verbal confrontations erupted in parts of the auditorium....

Later, when heckling broke out again, a couple of uniformed KU Public Safety Department officers appeared and escorted about six people out of the auditorium.

Coulter resumed her critical remarks, calling Sen. Ted Kennedy a "human dirigible" and the Democrats' "spiritual leader." She also made fun of the Democrats' dalliance with filmmaker Michael Moore and former presidential candidate John Kerry, who she said got away with telling "big, fat, enormous lies."