Ministry Blog

Jaha, sÃ¥ var dom igÃ¥ng igen – Arty – pÃ¥ SVT1, konstprojektet (som om det vore ett tv-program). Liksom alla “bra” Hollywood-filmer sÃ¥ ska även Arty nu komma med en uppföljare. Med nio nya program sÃ¥ är dom som M A Numminens gummiboll som studsar tillbaka till oss med en helvetisk dissonans. Det första programmet tar vid där den förra serien slutade – fÃ¥r jag anta, eftersom jag inte stod ut med att genomlida de fyra sista av dom förra Ã¥tta programmen . Program ett, tvÃ¥, tre och fyra i första serien kommenterades dock här, sen dog intresset… Men nu tänkte jag att”vi fÃ¥r se om det inte blivit bättre nu dÃ¥”.

Tja… det jag länge befarade har nu hänt. Det har utvecklat sig till en Robinson-sÃ¥pa där deltagarna Ã¥ker ut (och en joker dyker upp istället). Den första som Ã¥kte ut var den gamle homosexuelle mannen! Aj, aj. Den första jokern som dök upp var Carl Johan De Geer som lanseras som “ny samtalspartner”. NÃ¥, blev det bättre – frÃ¥gar alla som inte sÃ¥g det. Tja… (igen). Man kan väl säga som sÃ¥ att Arty’s första program i andra serieomgÃ¥ngen är vrÃ¥l-romantiskt. Det handlar om andligheten. Och Arty kastar sig rakt ut i manegen och drämmer till med att lÃ¥ta konstnären Pipilotti Rist oemotsagt häva ur sig att konstens rum tagit över kyrkans roll. Det stämmer kanske inte ens i världens mest sekulariserade samhällen, men sÃ¥nt stör inte Arty. Att det romantiska schemat i konsthistorien egentligen passerat bäst-före-datum stör inte heller Arty nÃ¥t nämnvärt. Arty drar ocksÃ¥ till med att Pipilotti (har hon läst mycket Pippi LÃ…ngstrump som liten??) skulle vara “världens mest uppmärksammade video-konstnär”… Jag trodde det kunde vara Bill Viola, Bruce Nauman eller sÃ¥, men strunt samma – nu ska vi inte vara petiga. Saken är bara den att pÃ¥stÃ¥enden haglar rätt ofta i Arty utan närmare förklaringar…

Annars inget nytt, i övrigt är det samma gamla Arty-visa. De iscensatta och välregisserade samtalen fortsätter, precis som om det vore riktiga samtal. Vilket stöder tesen om att Arty egentligen är ett konstprojekt och inte ett tv-program…

Förresten, som alltid brukar Arty ha med nÃ¥t personligt avslöjande om nÃ¥gon av programledarna. Detta första program i nya serieomgÃ¥ngen var inget undantag. Idag fick vi följa med hem till den yngre mannen, Marcus (som förresten pluggar till regissör, det fick vi ocksÃ¥ veta). Hemma hos Marcus sÃ¥ ser det precis sÃ¥där coolt och annorlunda ut som det ska se ut hemma hos nÃ¥n riktigt konstnärlig och lagom “bohemisk” person. Lite konstig belysning, nÃ¥n konstig flagga, och sÃ¥där.

Arty gänget, minus en – plus en joker.

“I don’t think I can walk that far, but perhaps I can run.”

“Jag orkar nog inte gÃ¥ sÃ¥ lÃ¥ngt, men jag kanske kan springa.”

We have talked about GW before here (Global Warming) and all of a sudden we stumbled on this magnificent idea that a distinguished member in the Ladoninan Cabinet came up with. If this works it’s outstanding news! We recommend that the inventor get a patent on this – yesterday… The Whitehouse will eat this up! We should set this up on a greater scale. Everyone should try to follow the instructions. The Ministry thinks that connecting the operating refrigerators to wind and solar powered batteries might add to the idea. That way we’ll let mother nature take care of it herself. (The Bush Administration likes that rhetoric).

Hard Winds and snow. Temperature -4 (Celsius) and with a chillfactor about -15. Snowdrifts measuring up to 1,75 meters. A 25 meter strip took about 2 hours to excavate – with tractor. To clear it by hand (and shovel) would not be an option. Weather forecasts for tonight doesn’t look promising.

Solar Wind
speed: 345.2 km/s
density: 6.4 protons/cm³

These sunspots pose no threat

for strong solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI

The Ministry totally missed the opportunity to wish the Chinese people a happy new year. Today is the second day of the new Chinese year (Lunar New Year) .

The rotation of the Earth about its axis, causes (the apparent) movement of the Sun from East to West across the sky. So we define one cycle of movement of the Sun as one ‘Day.’ The Chinese word is very straight forward and calls one day as one ‘Sun.’ By 480 A.D., Ju Chongzhi refined it to 365.2428 days, or 52 seconds more than the modern value of 365.2422 days. The concept of a “week” is less important in the Chinese calendar.

The ancient Egyptians had a ten-day week, and so did the Chinese. The ancient Assyrians invented the seven-day week, and the names of days of the week that we use even today are based on a system of assigning the five planets visible to the naked eye, the sun, and the moon to the seven days of the week.

The Chinese month is defined by the Moon. Each night, the appearance of the Moon changes. From ‘new moon’ to ‘full moon’ and back. So we define a ‘Month’ as the time it takes for the Moon to go through one cycle of motion. As it happens, this takes about 29.5 days. So we round the month to be either 29 days or 30 days. Again, in the Chinese language a month is simply a ‘Moon.’ (The English word “month” is derived from the word “moon”).

2007 is the year of the pig (boar)

The next larger unit of measurement of time is the ‘Year.’ For this we go back to the Sun again. Careful observations reveal that the over a period of many months (12), the position of the Sun shifts from very high overhead to a much lower point at Noon time. The length of daylight time also changes from longer to shorter. Even more importantly, the weather changes from hot to cold, giving rise to the four seasons of Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. It is logical, therefore, to define the length of this time period as a ‘Year.’ A year is a little more than 365 days. In 104 B.C. the length of a year was determined to an accuracy of 365.2502 days. A normal year has 12 lunar months, with the length of lunar month defined above. In order to make up to 365.24 days, an extra month is added during the Leap Year.

For historical discussions of long periods, longer units of time are handy.

In the Western calendar terminology:

Decade = 10 years
Century = 100 years
Millennium = 1,000 years

For example, 2007 is in the Third Millenium, 21-th Century, first decade and 7-th year.

In Chinese calendar terminology:

Great Year = 12 years
Cycle = 5 Great Years = 60 years
Epoch = 60 Cycles = 60 x 60 years = 3,600 years

Year 2007 is now in the Second Epoch, 18th Cycle, 24rd Year.

By this method of counting, both the Gregorian Calendar and the Chinese Calendar must pick arbitrarily its Year One. Thus, we are in Year 2007 and Year 4704 respectively.

Chinese New Year in London (China Town)

The Ministry of Art & Jump is preparing a “Fantassia”, the first ever to be performed north by the Sahara and in the west. A Fantassia is a sort of “gunpowder play” usually performed by 4000-5000 horsemen. The men charge their horses back and forth on a huge place and firing their rifles in the air at the end of the charge attack and rear the horses. All very spectacular, but also a way of judging and comparing the different horses.

The Fantassia is a gathering of tribesmen and are performed, among other places, in Marrakesh.

The inventor, Robert Adler is dead, at the age of 93. One of his best known inventions, the remote control, was introduced in 1956. (In Sweden the invention got a wider spread around 20 years later…).

In his lifetime, Adler was granted 180 patents for electronic devices. During World War II, he worked on high-frequency oscillators and electromechanical filters for aircraft radios. He is also known for his work in surface acoustic wave technology used in color televisions and touch screens.

But the invention Adler is best known for is however the wireless remote control for televisions. While not the first remote control, Adler’s remote control used sound to communicate with a television set instead of using light. In the 1960’s, Mr. Adler modified the remote control to use ultrasonic signals.

In 1980 Robert Adler was awarded the IEEE’s Edison Medal. In 1997, he and his co-inventor Eugene Polley were awarded an Emmy by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. His latest patent application was filed on February 1, 2007 for work on touch-screen technology. Mr Adler died on Februari 15, 2007.

Inventor, Mr Robert Adler

So, what’s all this we hear about a Global Warming, and the “not-a-global-warming”? There seems to be a vast amount of weird opinions on the matter. Sometimes one hear data about warmer climate here in Sweden for about 5000 years ago. If it was warmer then, could this talk about global warming be just rubbish? Just a natural fluctuation? Seems weird. On the other hand news has it that US President G.W. Bush and his Administration (sorry for cursing) has intimidated scientist for years now and even changing reports about global warming… The Ministry will dive right into this matter – so stay tuned. By the way, is it just a freak chance that Mr Bush has the initials “G.W.” (Global Warming)?

G.W. Bush

SVT Text Tisdag 06 feb 2007
INRIKES Publicerad 6 februari

Göteborg: Salladsbarens ägare säljer

Ägaren till den riksbekanta salladsbaren i Göteborg, Sofia Appelgren, har beslutat att sälja sin rörelse. Någon ny ägare är dock ännu inte klar. Det uppger hon i en intervju för TT.

Lunchrestaurangen i Göteborg har i två månader varit utsatt för blockad av Hotell- och restaurangfacket eftersom ägaren vägrat teckna kollektivavtal.

Pressen blev helt enkelt för hård, speciellt när min familj blandades in, säger Appelgren. Som exempel nämner hon att när hon firade ettårsjubileum med vänner i lördags ställde facket upp ett 40-tal personer utanför.

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Ministry Blog Tisdag 06 feb 2007

Sverige: Facket ljuger

Facket säger, enligt SVT Text, att Sofia Appelgren har behandlats schysst men de som sett konflikten pÃ¥ plats förstÃ¥r att facket inte kan stava till “schysst”. Facket säger att det har gÃ¥tt lugnt och fredligt till, vilket är en ren lögn. Facket säger vidare att dom kommer att stÃ¥ kvar och avvakta tills dom ser vad som händer med övertagandet.

Man hoppas att den nye ägaren fortsätter i Sofias spÃ¥r och orkar hÃ¥lla ut – det vore intressant och viktigt att fÃ¥ detta principiella fall utrett och granskat i alla instanser. Ska facket fortsättningsvis kunna tvinga en företagare att skriva pÃ¥ ett avtal, även om denne rättar sig efter avtalets villkor men av princip inte vill tvingas att skriva pÃ¥ själva avtalet? Massmedia borde ocksÃ¥ undersöka det hela och gÃ¥ till botten med fackets agerande. Facket borde ocksÃ¥ interngranska sina förbund och se om de verkligen ger sig pÃ¥ “rätt” fiender. Varför jagar inte facket de uppenbart kriminella elementen i krogvärlden, eller de som uppenbart använder sig av svart arbetskraft och/eller arbetskraft som inte fÃ¥r svenska löner?