Archive for Experiment Marathon

R.I.P. Dr Ruth Westheimer (1928-2024)

Posted in Biographical, LGBTQ+, R.I.P. with tags , , , , , on July 14, 2024 by telescoper

I was very sad to learn yesterday of the death at the age of 96 of celebrity sex therapist Dr Ruth Westheimer, known universally as “Dr Ruth”. I remember her well from TV appearances back in the 1980s during the AIDS crisis when she was a staunch ally of the gay community. Her frank and non-judgmental approach to sex education – especially with regard to safer sex practices – probably saved many lives during that crisis. The fact that she looked like an archetypal little old lady made her use of explicit language rather shocking in a way but also extremely effective. I thought she was wonderful.

I actually had the privilege of meeting Dr Ruth. In fact, I had breakfast with her in a hotel in Reykjavik. We were both participants in a show called the Experiment Marathon which happened in 2008, before I started blogging. I still have the book of the event. Here is the list of participants, along with a picture of Dr Ruth during her contribution:

list of participants
Dr Ruth in 2008

Anyway, all the participants were staying in the same hotel for this event and on the morning of my talk I came down for breakfast to find the dining room rather crowded. There was a space, however, at Dr Ruth’s table. I recognized her immediately and was a bit nervous but eventually asked if I could join her. She was absolutely charming, very friendly, extremely talkative and delightfully funny. When I was able to get a word in, I told her how much admired her work during the AIDS crisis. She was also extremely tiny, well under five foot tall.

Dr Ruth was born to an Orthodox Jewish family in Germany in 1928. When the Nazis came to power she was moved to Switzerland while her parents remained in Germany. Her father was murdered in Auschwitz; her mother also died during the Holocaust though nobody knows the details. She often said that her attitude during the AIDS crisis was informed by her knowledge that the Nazis murdered gay people too so she felt it was important to her show solidarity.

R.I.P. Ruth Westheimer (1928-2024)

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Experiment Marathon, Reykjavik 2008

Posted in Art, Books, Talks and Reviews, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , on May 8, 2012 by telescoper

A while ago I blogged about an event I attended, called  Experimental Marathon, which was held in Reykjavik Art Museum in May 2008. I was reminded about this for various reasons recently and managed to dig up a couple of pictures of my presentation, which appeared in the glossy book of the event that was produced later on.

As you can probably infer, I gave a talk which was basically about the cosmic microwave background. My “experiment” was a television set that wasn’t tuned properly producing a screenful of static. I pointed out that some (actually not that much) of the buzz was coming from the beginning of the universe. Pretty unoriginal and gimmicky, I know, but it seemed to go down quite well with the audience and I had some nice questions and comments at the end of my 20 minutes.

During the three days of the event I also got to meet quite a few artists, scientists and other luminaries whose names are on the list here.:

You can find one of the numerous reviews of this event here, which also includes quite a few pictures of various experiments including one that some might consider to be NSFW …

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Icelandic Sagas

Posted in Biographical, Finance with tags , on October 7, 2008 by telescoper

I read in the news today that the Icelandic government has taken over a second of its leading banks in an attempt to stop the total collapse of its economic infrastructure. Last week it took over the country’s third largest bank, Glitnir, to prevent it collapsing as a consequence of bad debts and this week it has nationalised Landsbanki, the second largest. This particular one brings Iceland’s imminent bankruptcy closer to home as hundreds of thousands of savers in the UK have cash tied up in either Icesave or Heritable, which are divisions of Landsbanki. The only private Icelandic remaining is Kaupthing, which also has a UK operation called Kaupthing Edge. This bank claims to have minimal exposure to toxic debt, but it remains to be seen whether it can avoid a run on its deposits that will surely lead it into oblivion too. I am an interested party in this case, as I recently bought some of its fixed rate high-interest bonds. This may turn out not to be the best decision I have ever made.

Iceland’s economy seems to be a microcosm of the current world situation. A decade of incredible growth built on speculative financial operations abroad led to growth beyond the wildest dreams of such a small country. With a population of only just over 300,000 – that of a small English city – most of whom live in the capital Reykjavik, this boom generated a huge increase in living standards for its own people and created a new generation of Icelandic billionaires. Now that bubble has well and truly burst. The country as a whole is on the verge of bankruptcy, its currency has fallen through the floor, and inflation is rampant.

Iceland may have a reputation as the one of the hottest destinations for a weekend of partying, but it seems to me that it’s about to suffer a sudden and very chill winter.

I had the opportunity to visit Iceland this May in order to participate in an event called the Experiment Marathon, which is one of those artists-meet-scientists events that are either excruciatingly terrible or intensely enjoyable. Held in the Hafnarhus – Reyjkavik Art Museum – the contributions included scientists talking about science or doing experiments live in front of the audience, alongside artists talking about or demonstrating their work.

I am really not sure why I was invited to take part, although I suspect it was some form of administrative error. Most of the really crap things that happen are caused by mistakes, so why shouldn’t the good things also happen that way?

Anyway, I gave a talk about the cosmic microwave background. My “experiment” was a television set that wasn’t tuned properly producing a screenful of static. I pointed out that some (actually not that much) of the buzz was coming from the beginning of the universe. Pretty lame as a gimmick, I know, but it seemed to go down quite well with the audience and I had some nice questions and comments at the end of my 20 minutes. But I also got to meet quite a few artists and other luminaries, including Brian Eno (who celebrated his 60th birthday at the festival) and Dr Ruth. I also had breakfast in the hotel with a noted performance artist called Marina Abramovic who I’m ashamed to say I’d never heard of. I didn’t actually know who she was until much later.

Even better than this I had a sort of VIP pass which meant that I got to go to a couple of wonderfully boozy receptions, including one at the President’s house, and hang out with the in-crowd at some of Reykjavik’s nightspots, although at one of them I had to listen to some experimental music that sounded like what I imagined to be played to prisoners at Guantanomo Bay. Being so far North the nights are very long which definitely added to the enjoyment, especially since the few days I was there were blessed with lovely sunny weather. Perhaps even more importantly, I don’t remember having to pay for anything at all, drinks included. They even paid me a fee! (However, they paid it in Icelandic Krona, which I never got around to cashing, so it’s probably not worth very much by now.)

It goes without saying that I formed a very positive opinion of Reykjavik as a city full of energetic and creative people who know how to have a good time: it has its own opera house, countless restaurants and bars and several excellent museums and art galleries. But at the back of my mind I was wondering how such a small country can find the money to sustain such a level of artistic and musical activity as well as lavish personal consumption. Now at last I have the answer.

It can’t.

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