Papyrocentric Performativity Presents:
• Volc-Lore – Volcanoes: A Beginner’s Guide, Rosaly Lopes (Oneworld 2010)
• Stokes’ Strokes – Philosophy: 100 Essential Thinkers: The Ideas That Have Shaped Our World, Philip Stokes (Arcturus Publishing 2012)
• Art of Darkness – Doubled Slaughter: Barbarism, Brutalism and Bestial Bloodlust in the Music of Simon and Garfunkel, Dr Miriam B. Stimbers (Serpent’s Tail 2007)
Or Read a Review at Random: RaRaR
The quickest way to improve your life is to stop watching TV.
• White Dot — the International Campaign against Television
I wondered what would happen if you added to a set of numbers, (a, b, c), the first number that wasn’t equal to the sum of any subset of the numbers: a + b, a + c, c + b, a + b + c. If the set begins with 1, the first number not equal to any subset of (1) is 2. So the set becomes (1, 2). 3 = 1 + 2, so 3 is not added. But 4 is added, making the set (1, 2, 4). The sequence of additions goes like this:
1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384, 32768, 65536…
It’s the powers of 2, because some subset of the powers of 2 < 2^p will equal any number from 1 to (2^p)-1, therefore the first addition will be 2^p = the cumulative sum + 1:
1 (cumulative sum=1), 2 (cs=3), 4 (cs=7), 8 (cs=15), 16 (cs=31), 32 (cs=63), 64 (cs=127), 128 (cs=255), 256 (cs=511), 512 (cs=1023), 1024 (cs=2047), 2048 (cs=4095), 4096 (cs=8191), 8192 (cs=16383), 16384 (cs=32767), 32768 (cs=65535)…
If you seed the sequence with the set (2), the first addition is 3, but after that the powers of 2 re-appear:
2, 3, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384, 32768, 65536…
It becomes more complicated if the sequence is seeded with the set (3):
3, 4, 5, 6, 16, 17, 49, 50, 148, 149, 445, 446, 1336, 1337, 4009, 4010, 12028, 12029, 36085, 36086…
You can predict the pattern by looking at the cumulative sums again:
3, 4, 5, 6 (cumulative sum=18), 16, 17 (cs=51), 49, 50 (cs=150), 148, 149 (cs=447), 445, 446 (cs=1338), 1336, 1337 (cs=4011), 4009, 4010 (cs=12030), 12028, 12029 (cs=36087), 36085, 36086 (cs=108258)…
The sequence begins with a block of four consecutive numbers, followed by separate blocks of two consecutive numbers. The first number in each 2-block is predicted by the cumulative sum of the last number in the previous block, according to the formula n = cumulative sum – seed + 1. When the seed is 3, n = cs-3+1.
If the seed is 4, the sequences goes like this:
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 27, 28, 29, 111, 112, 113, 447, 448, 449, 1791, 1792, 1793, 7167, 7168, 7169…
Now the sequence begins with a block of five consecutive numbers, followed by separate blocks of three consecutive numbers. The formula is n = cs-4+1:
4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (cumulative sum=30), 27, 28, 29 (cs=114), 111, 112, 113 (cs=450), 447, 448, 449 (cs=1794), 1791, 1792, 1793 (cs=7170), 7167, 7168, 7169 (cs=28674)…
And here’s the sequence seeded with (5):
5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 41, 42, 43, 44, 211, 212, 213, 214, 1061, 1062, 1063, 1064, 5311, 5312, 5313, 5314…
5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (cs=45), 41, 42, 43, 44 (cs=215), 211, 212, 213, 214 (cs=1065), 1061, 1062, 1063, 1064 (cs=5315), 5311, 5312, 5313, 5314 (cs=26565)…
William Sharp, “Victoria Regia or the Great Water Lily of America (Underside of a Leaf)” (1854), viâ Jeff Thompson
In Terms of My Natural Life
(a pome crafted by Les Patterson)
I am an Australian in terms of Nation
And a Public Servant in terms of vocation,
But there’s one thing amazes my critics and that’s
How many I wear in terms of hats:
I chair the Cheese Board, I front the Yartz
You could term me a man of many parts.
I’m a Renaissance type, if you know the term
And I’ve held long office in terms of term,
Yes, I’ve long served Australia in terms of years
And in terms of refreshment I like a few beers.
My opponents are mongrels, scum and worms
Who I bucket in no uncertain terms
And my rich vocabulary always features
Large in terms of my public speeches.
My favourite terms in terms of debate
Are: “broadbased package” and “orchestrate”.
But one term I never employ is “failure” —
Especially when talking in terms of Australia!
For in terms of lifestyle we’ve got the germs of
A ripper concept to think in terms of.
Yes, in terms of charisma I’ve got the game mastered
In anyone’s terms I’m a well-liked bastard.
From the Back With A Vengeance Tour Brochure © 1989 Sir Les Patterson.
Elsewhere Other-Engageable:
Moonlight Walk by John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-93)
OCTOPUS
By Algernon Charles Sin-burn
STRANGE beauty, eight-limbed and eight-handed,
Whence camest to dazzle our eyes?
With thy bosom bespangled and banded
With the hues of the seas and the skies;
Is thy home European or Asian,
O mystical monster marine?
Part molluscous and partly crustacean,
Betwixt and between.
Wast thou born to the sound of sea trumpets,
Hast thou eaten and drunk to excess
Of the sponges — thy muffins and crumpets;
Of the seaweed — thy mustard and cress?
Wast thou nurtured in caverns of coral,
Remote from reproof or restraint?
Art thou innocent, art thou immoral,
Sinburnian or Saint?
Lithe limbs, curling free, as a creeper
That creeps in a desolate place,
To enroll and envelop the sleeper
In a silent and stealthy embrace,
Cruel beak craning forward to bite us,
Our juices to drain and to drink,
Or to whelm us in waves of Cocytus,
Indelible ink!
O breast, that ’twere rapture to writhe on!
O arms, ’twere delicious to feel
Clinging close with the crush of the Python,
When she maketh her murderous meal!
In thy eightfold embraces enfolden,
Let our empty existence escape;
Give us death that is glorious and golden,
Crushed all out of shape!
Ah! thy red lips, lascivious and luscious,
With death in their amorous kiss,
Cling round us, and clasp us, and crush us,
With bitings of agonized bliss;
We are sick with the poison of pleasure,
Dispense us the potion of pain;
Ope thy mouth to its uttermost measure
And bite us again!
Arthur Clement Hilton (1851–77), written at the Crystal Palace Aquarium.
Papyrocentric Performativity Presents:
• Roy des Fleurs – Scented Flora of the World: An Encyclopedia, Roy Genders (Robert Hale 1977)
• Art to Hart – Lives in Writing, David Lodge (Vintage Books 2015)
• Could Yew Kudzu? – Wicked Plants: The A-Z of Plants that Kill, Maim, Intoxicate and Otherwise Offend, Amy Stewart (Timber Press 2010)
Or Read a Review at Random: RaRaR
Overlord In Terms of Core Issues Around Maximal Engagement with Key Notions of the Über-Feral 