So… upon consideration I have arrived at the conclusion that I don’t have enough time to do what I want/need to be doing. I guess the obvious thing to do would be to streamline my schedule by pruning off a few less-essential activities. However, I’ve somewhat foolishly decided to add on more responsibilities, and prune sleep in order to accomplish all these things, down to less than 2 hours per day. The real question is how long I can sustain it without going literally insane, wherever that might be.

So I’ll be testing out a system of Polyphasic Sleep. This is a system of taking strictly scheduled naps throughout the day, in my case for 20 minutes every 4 hours. Basically the idea is that over time, (around 2 weeks), your body will adjust to the new schedule, given that it is rigidly adhered to, and will start skipping the first few stages of sleep and go straight into REM sleep, which is apparently the only one you really can’t do without.

My sources tell me that on the normal 8ish hour sleep schedule, one only gets about 1.5 hours of REM spread throughout, whereas with this polyphasic schedule I should eventually be getting close to 2 hours of REM per day. Supposedly this means that I will feel healthy and alert after my body adapts to the major slap in the face. So I’m looking forward to 2 weeks of dangerously spaced out delirium, during which I should begin posting here regularly again. :D?

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A little while ago the always brilliant Saidthegramophone had a contest to win the new Cat Power Album. It was a lovely idea: Write a rhyming couplet for a fictional song entitled: “Bluebird Liquor and Black Crow Wine”. There were a great many excellent submissions, (somehow I made it to 4th place and won a poster), and now some of them are being used as lyrics in a no-longer-fictional song that already has 2 remixes!

I was inspired to write this article by a post on Watashi to Tokyo. I don’t know how many people that come to red-ruin.info have a real interest in learning Japanese, but if you want to know the little secrets I have discovered in my studies over several years, then by all means, come on down.
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“…Theo Jansen is occupied with the making of a new nature. Not pollen or seeds but plastic yellow tubes are used as the basic material of this new nature. He makes skeletons which are able to walk on the wind. Eventually he wants to put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives.”

The moving art of Theo Jansen is simply spectacular. The basic and mundane materials that he uses to create are metamorphosed into giant living beings that seem to have minds of their own. They crawl, walk, undulate, roll, flap, and fly. These creations are made even more impressive when one realizes that they are powered and manipulated by wind alone. No engines, wires, electricity, or microchips; only the magic of physics and brilliant design. To me, this is completely delightful. You’ll have to see the video clips to fully appreciate the way the amazing complexity of these works can give birth to such simple beauty.

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Great pictures of huge stormdrain networks beneath Tokyo. Apparently the vertical shafts are large enough to accomodate a space-shuttle. It seems they have been under construction for over a decade, and should provide protection in the case of a tsunami/etc. Very future-looking.

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