#BenjaminPeter

[anjaneidhardt-blog]

Smart Home. Back in the USSR

Written in German, published in German and English (translated by Nicholas Grindell) in the printed issue of form 270, Mar/Apr 2017

Wissenschaftliche Arbeiten wie Cyber Sovietica von Diana Kurkovsky West und How Not to Network a Nation von Benjamin Peters legen nahe, dass die Erfahrungen, die die Sowjetunion mit Kybernetik und dem Netzwerken gemacht hat, aktuelle Diskussionen um eine datenintensive Zukunft, die Gestaltung von Smart Homes und die Rolle von automatisierten Prozessen in unserer westlichen Gesellschaft bereichern können. Doch welche Rolle spielte Kybernetik in der Sowjetunion? Und was genau können wir von der sowjetischen Vergangenheit für unsere Gegenwart und Zukunft lernen?

Academic studies like Cyber Sovietica by Diana Kurkovsky West and How Not to Network a Nation by Benjamin Peters suggest that the Soviet Union’s experience with cybernetics and networks could enrich the current debate on a data-intensive future, the design of smart homes, and the role of automated processes in our Western society. But what part did cybernetics play in the Soviet Union? And what exactly can we learn from the Soviet past for our own present and future?

(Image: Recommendations for interior decoration. Source: (Kratkaia entsiklopediia domashnego khoziaistva, vol. 1 (A-N) (Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe nauchnoe iz-vo "Bol'shaia Sovetskaia entsiklopediia” 208-209.)

Cyber Sovietica Diana Kurkovsky West stellt in ihrer Dissertation die These auf, dass sich der sowjetische Nachkriegsurbanismus auf die Theorie der Kybernetik (das Systematisieren von Organisationsproblematiken mithilfe von Rechnertechnologie) stützte, da Planer und Designer Ideen aus dem Bereich der kybernetischen Steuerung in der Gestaltung räumlicher Systeme anwendeten. So nennt sie die sowjetische Faszination für kybernetische Systeme auch „Cyber Sovietica“.

…

Den kompletten Artikel finden Sie in der gedruckten Ausgabe von / Please find the full article in the printed issue of form 270, Mar/Apr 2017.

Main references:

Diana Kurkovsky West, Cyber Sovietica: Planning, Design, and the Cybernetics of Soviet Space, 1954–1986, Princeton: Princeton University, 2013.

Benjamin Peters, How Not to Network a Nation. The Uneasy History of the Soviet Internet, Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2016.

(Cover image: Moisei Ginzburg and Ignaty Milinis, Narkomfin building, Moscow. Source: opendemocracy.net)

[theblackqueen-ofmyheart]

Even more Dancing daleks..and nothing else @ariminiria @dashingdetectivetimelady @jc-jones @benjaminpeters

[theblackqueen-ofmyheart]

@ariminiria @dashingdetectivetimelady @jc-jones @benjaminpeters

themes commonly found in international friendships

- ‘u dont have (insert food/music/restaurant here) over there??’ - ‘wait what time is it. shouldnt u be asleep’ - alternatively: timezoned/clockblocked again - ‘do u need a hug. have a virtual hug’ - weird slang terms - ‘i will fight everyone thats mean to u. i will fight them rn’ - vague embarrassment regarding ur accent - ‘dont maKE ME COME OVER THERE’ - ‘oh yeah i have a friend who lives in (insert country here) and apparently’ - no real hugs :(( - suffering - fahrenheit vs celsius - the measuring of things in feet fucks one of u up, probably

[theblackqueen-ofmyheart]

@ariminiria @dashingdetectivetimelady @jc-jones @benjaminpeters

[theblackqueen-ofmyheart]

@dashingdetectivetimelady @ariminiria @jc-jones @benjaminpeters more dancing Daleks

[theblackqueen-ofmyheart]

@ariminiria @dashingdetectivetimelady @benjaminpeters @jc-jones

[theblackqueen-ofmyheart]

@ariminiria @dashingdetectivetimelady @benjaminpeters @jc-jones

My heart busts a nut every time someone tells me they saw something and thought of me

[sds9photo]

#ithacaislove #banner #ithacacommons #benjaminpeters #ithacaisgorges #gallerynight #rainbow #community #sinkowphotography #inclusive

[anibundel]

Face Off Season 8: Superhero Soup

Face Off Season 8: Superhero Soup

We’re down to seven contestants who meet McKenzie at the Harold Examiner Building. No, they’re not here to magically bring back the newspaper. Superman 3 (the terrible one before the terrible reboots) was filmed here, which leads to this week’s subject: Superheroes. Face Off has done superheroes as a subject before, and it went less than spectacularly then. So of course, the idea this time is to…

[anibundel]

Face Off Season 8: Hellraiser: Fashion Forward

Face Off Season 8: Hellraiser: Fashion Forward

This week, Face Off rented out the legendary Whiskey a GoGo in LA to celebrates one of their biggest gets to date. No, it doesn’t have anything to do with rock and roll, or music. It’s master of horror Clive Barker. I know, getting Barker to appear on the show would be huge, right? Yeah, actually a little too huge for Face Off,even if it is Syfy’s biggest show. Barker agreed to appear via…

[theblackqueen-ofmyheart]

@benjaminpeters Grayson and Rikki in animagis forms, still thinking about quidditch nodoubt

[anibundel]

Face Off Season 8: Trolling, Trolling, Trolling

Face Off Season 8: Trolling, Trolling, Trolling

This week, Face Off remind us of Southern California’s water problems by having the contestants meet McKenzie under the bridge of the LA river, which never seems to have any water in it. No matter, if it did it would wash McKenzie’s bank of televisions away. Said bank of TVs (six in all) has images of iconic bridges on them for the contestants to pick–to design the Troll that hangs out under…

[anibundel]

Face Off Season 8: Face Cards

Face Off Season 8: Face Cards

Our contestants start this week’s challenge off in the Normandie Casino. No, the show didn’t fly them to Vegas, that costs money. The Normandie Casino is in LA, and functions as Hollywood’s (and Face Off‘s) cheap close alternative to going to Vegas to film. This week is cheap all around. McKenzie doesn’t have anyone with her as a guest, other than a casino employee who stands at a BlackJack table…

[anibundel]

Face Off Season 8: Just Add A Barrel of Monkeys

Face Off Season 8: Just Add A Barrel of Monkeys

When we last left our contestants, they had been assigned to mentor teams based on a supersized length Foundation Challenge. We pick up this week right where we left off, at the beginning of Day Two of the alien based team Spotlight Challenge, as McKenzie introduces a monkey-based twist. They’ll be added the “Tyrannical Primate Ruler�� of the planet the aliens crashed landed on, one who “is not…

[anibundel]

Face Off Season 8: Team Foundations

Face Off Season 8: Team Foundations

Face Off‘s budget gets bigger every year. This season they’ve rented an enormous ballroom with an impressive lighting and video package to kick off the season. The video package is put to good use too, as the Giant Head of McKenzie Westmore booms “Welcome to Face Off!” 

Welcome indeed. This is no ordinary season of Face Off. This is Face Off: Return Of The Champions. They’ve even changed the…

[anibundel]

Face Off Season 8 Returns with "Supersized Premiere Episode"

Face Off Season 8 Returns with “Supersized Premiere Episode”

Face Offcontinues their trend from the last two seasons of figuring out how to stretch a few more episodes out of a season.  In Season 6, they pushed the premiere date back a week, added a Judges’ Save (with no corresponding double elimination) and had a two-part Top Four. This past season they kept the Judges’ Save, added a “Surprise you’re not actually cast yet! premiere episode,” and then took…