#hartenberg

[metamatar]

fo your personal preference, do you prefer denavit-hartenberg or modified denavit-hartenberg notation??

(or is there other easier robotics notation that I'm missing out??? my brain is fried after looking at two sources with DH notations)

I prefer standard personally bc the DH matrix is less ugly but honestly once you setup your coordinate frames for modern kinematics libraries with urdf or whatever that library requires there's very little need to mess with the DH notation. Yes, sometimes you need to convert but it's pretty unlikely. I'd rather do everything with screw theory when I need to.

this video is 14 years old now and even when I learnt DH conventions in class my prof literally just threw it up on the screen.

[relaylibrary]

August Interesting Links!

If you've used ChatGPT you may have noticed it tends to write like an overzealous Wikipedia entry. In her essay, writer and lecturer Laura Hartenberger examines What AI Teaches Us About Good Writing.

Have you been horrified and scared by recent statements that slavery had benefits for the people enslaved? You are no alone! Learning for Justice is here with their resource Talking to Children About the History of Slavery in the United States.

LGBTQ+ in STEM. This short article by Misha Kidambi explores "the academic papers making the biggest impact in the field of LGBTQ+ inclusivity in STEM in recent years."

Time to update your reading lists! Book Riot has an A-Z Alphabet of Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors of Color.

Or check out Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2023, Part Two, for a "small" collection of 166 titles still to be released in 2023.

[nonesuchrecords]

The 27-disc box set Steve Reich Collected Works is due March 14 on Nonesuch, available to pre-order now here.

The box set features music recorded during Steve Reich's 40 years on the label—six decades of his compositions, including first recordings of his two latest works, Jacob’s Ladder and Traveler’s Prayer—plus two extensive booklets with new essays by Robert Hurwitz, Michael Tilson Thomas, Russell Hartenberger, Judith Sherman, and Nico Muhly, and a comprehensive listener’s guide by Timo Andres. 

Steve Reich's first Nonesuch record, The Desert Music, was released 39 years ago today, in 1985; he was signed exclusively to the label that year. Collected Works includes 24 discs of Nonesuch recordings and three from other labels.

[denk-weisen]

PLAGIATE

“Die Sprache anderer zu stehlen bedeutet, nicht nur ihre Worte zu nehmen, sondern auch ihre Ideen, die Essenz dessen, wer sie sind.“ - Laura Hartenberger

Deshalb erkennt man den zutiefst menschenverachtenden Menschen auch daran, dass er ständig ungeniert das Vokabular anderer stiehlt und ihren Stil zu stehlen versucht - das ist mehr als nur Faulheit, mehr als nur Diebstahl, es ist eine geistige Vergewaltigung freier Individualiät.

[tasteletssee]

Ladies Who Lunch 👒 Our bi-annual @hartenberg_wine_estate Nelson Mandela Square gathering. A truly delightful day at @tang_sandton, thank you for the laughter, loveliness and Riesling @heleen_rabe @kellysik1 #TasteLetsSee #Hartenberg #TangSandton (at Tang Asian Luxury Restaurant & Bar) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci2SDGeKGcj/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[boostyourcity]

Daytona Mainz

[apocketfulofresolutions]

Hartenberg Home Tasting | Good food, good friends and good wine. Why we started this journey, and what keeps us drawn to it. | Grateful to have hosted an intimate and jovial @hartenberg_wine_estate tasting at @olives_and_plates for Zanele and her friends. It was wonderful to celebrate a special occasion with wonderful people. Thank you for everything @kellysik1 @heleen_rabe @olives_and_plates. Looking forward to sharing more from our tasting and to more #HartenbergHomeTastings - please email me if you would like us to collaborate on your own Hartenberg Home Tasting 🍷❤️ | #tasteletssee #hartenberg #ourbloodispurple (at Olives & Plates 140 West) https://www.instagram.com/tshepimolisana/p/BwU-nwtBxBiPkj9RreehvFnIIKo0zQJR0HNroM0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=4pyqusdxvx6

[revolutionary-demosthenes]

Johannes von Müller fell in love with a fake duke!

Not that he knew that this guy was not real!

I found most of this story in the book Outing Goethe and His Age. 

For review: Johannes von Müller was a Swiss historian, born 1752. His homosexuality was a very open thing, and he was very likely involved romantically with a man named Charles Victor de Bonstetten. He was friends with Francis Kinloch. He published many volumes of Swiss history in his lifetime. More can be found about him on his Wikipedia page, which I edited to say Bonstetten was his lover, not his friend, and also on my second post “These Boys,” which has biographies of pretty much everyone I focus on.

In the year 1795, Müller began taking care of Fritz Hartenberg, the son of a noblewoman. Müller wrote about him, “[He was a] well built (rather effeminate) beautiful and talented youth.”

This guy “recognized in Müller not only his own sexual inclinations but also an easy target for financial exploitation.” (all quotes are from the aforementioned book unless specified otherwise.) After already scamming Müller repeatedly over the period of time from 1795 to 1802, Hartenberg prepared a final stroke to irrevocably financially ruin his caretaker.

He made up a fake person, a duke from Hungary, Lois Batthyani. The duke’s letters to Müller (all actually written by Hartenberg) said that he had read Müller’s works and was very admiring not only of the writing, but of the author himself. The fake duke was the illegitimate heir to a giant fortune, and told Müller that he would receive many luxurious things, like a castle, as long as the relationship was sustained. Müller “could not believe his good fortune and showered Batthyani with letters. These were intercepted by Hartenberg, who responded with letters from the duke, the duchess, and the duke’s valet.”

The duke/Hartenberg requested small amounts of money from Müller frequently, which Müller complied with, believing sincerely that it would be compensated for many times over. Müller was also sent on fake trips all around Europe, which Hartenberg slyly postponed as soon as Müller had spent the money to get there. 

This was sustained for about nine months, but when Müller finally realized he had been tricked, he was fairly broke and suicidally depressed. He had to rely on his many friends (Jacob Grimm, for example...) to help him out of his state of ruin. 

The motivation behind this stunt on Hartenberg’s part is not quite clear to my knowledge. Hartenberg may have loved Müller but thought he didn’t have a chance with him because of the age difference, so he vented his feelings through a fake but older man? But that does not explain the motivation between the financial ruin.

I think one of the most interesting things is what Müller writes of Bonstetten during this time. He wrote to the duke/Hartenberg that, “In my first youth I had a friend, full of grace, goodness, and spirit; however he lacked that conformity which we have, but my imagination supplied it. I never wrote to him as I do to you.” I have been puzzling over this... could it possibly mean that Müller was more comfortable in a romance than Bonstetten was? This makes a sense to a degree, because of how open Müller was about his sexuality. But there remains little doubt that Bonstetten loved Müller very deeply, as shown in their letters.

[mynocturnality]

Hartenberg is the ruin of a chateau, formerly the castle over the village Hřebeny in the municipality of Josefov in the Sokolov District of what is now the Czech Republic.

[aromakost]

#hartenberg #stellenbosch #wine #beautifuldestinations #lifeisgood #winemakers #instagood #instacool #aromakost 😘🎈🦋 (hier: Hartenberg Wine Estate)

[tasteletssee]

Everything Happens for a Riesling A very cute time with @hartenberg_wine_estate Riesling 2018 in Johannesburg. The menu at @tang_sandton and this wine are made for each other #TasteLetsSee #Hartenberg #tangsandton (at Tang Asian Luxury Restaurant & Bar) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci0Fj4Nq7fe/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[apocketfulofresolutions]

‪Some of my favourite Shiraz, with some of my favourite people. Reignited my love for Gravel Hill. Finally got to taste The Megan. Oh, what a night @HartenbergWine @heleen_rabe | #OurBloodisPurple‬ #cwgshowcase #tasteletsee #hartenberg (at The Butcher shop & Grill Mandela Square)

[revolutionary-demosthenes]

Some more Müller stuff

I have been doing some research on Johannes von Müller… his life is so interesting! Let me put it this way— if this guy wanted to name drop, he had plenty of choices. 

For overview: Johannes von Müller was a Swiss historian. He is actually  considered one of the best Swiss historians of that time period, though not widely known. He was in romantic relationship with Charles Victor de Bonstetten.

Anyway, I came across a book called Outing Goethe and His Age. (A preview can be found on google books, though ) This book from the bit that’s available is chock-full of super interesting information not only on Müller, but on the entire culture of homosexual and homosocial relationships in Europe during what the author calls the “Age of Frederick.” Frederick as in King Frederick. The guy with the friendship temple.

So apparently a man named Johann Joachim Winckelmann was a sort of role model for the homosexual community in Europe this time. He was openly gay, and wrote effusive love letters. The letters, in particular, are where we see the most blatant imitation. He was also Müller’s classics professor for a time. 

Müller was one of the men who coped Winckelmann in terms of his homosexual relationships. 

Side note: Nearly every source I’ve come across about this says that Müller was openly homosexual. It’s so… refreshing, after all the straight-washing we see with other people like Hamilton and Laurens. 

This is a passage from the book, “For present purposes, however, it is most important to know that Johannes von Müller was out as one inclined to the Socratic or Greek love to an extent unparalleled in eighteenth-century Germany. In 1810, shortly after Müller’s death, a friend wrote to Goethe that in reading both the histories [written by Müller, I’m assuming] he was ‘especially struck by the red thread that proceeds through the entire work: it is the love between men; even in his Swiss history it was hard to miss. […] Derks provides ample proof that Müller’s homosexuality was ‘not merely and open secret, but rather open as day.’”

So if his homosexuality was indeed “open as day,” that means that his friends would all have to be accepting of that right? At least close ones? And in those days, most of the people that were accepting of being gay were gay or bi themselves. 

Müller continued to mold his relationships by Winckelmann. He asked Bonstetten, his lover, to “send him everything by Winckelmann he could get his hands on.”

Something else interesting is that Müller also called Bonstetten ‘Apollo’ in their letters. And according to wikipedia, Apollo is considered the god of same-sex love. I see parallels with John Laurens being called ’Demosthenes’ in his correspondence with lovers.

The letters between Müller and Bonstetten, which were published in a book I may get (undecided, since it is in German and I don’t know German. But also I really want to read the full collection!) Apparently they are so effusive that a reviewer in 1799 admitted that “The friendship that breathes in these letters is evidence: it is a friendship win the style of the ancients, as are his works.” 

There is also information here on the homosexual scandal that Müller was involved in, but I plan to make a post about that in the near future, so just for a quick summary, Müller was watching over a 15-year old who was also likely gay. Seven years after they met, the 15-year old (named Fritz Hartenberg) invented a duke who was going to inherit a ton of money, and in love with Müller. Müller wrote him with even more affection than he did Bonstetten. When Müller figured out it was a scam, he was very, very poor, and suicidal.

He did eventually recover, however, and after meeting Napoleon was appointed “a minister of education in Westphalia.” 

[architectuul]

Form Follows Flow

Ooze architects were founded in 2003 by Eva Pfannes and Sylvain Hartenberg. They are based in Rotterdam and work internationally for different municipalities, property developers, arts and cultural institutions and private clients. 

Eva Pfannes and Sylvain Hartenberg at the Sitio Burle Marx presentation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Photo © Rodrigo

With Eva and Sylvain we discussed how they combine understanding of natural processes with technological expertise either in temporary art works or regional urban strategies. The cyclic closed-loop processes found in nature are the foundation for each intervention of Ooze’s work.

Ooze (üz) is a soft deposit on the bottom of a body of water, a marsh or bog that results from the flow of a spring. Let the water flows begin.

---

What is a role of an architect today?

Sylvain: There are many different levels of practicing architecture. The future architect is a mediator, integrator of social, built and financial processes. The role of the architect is expanding and becoming linked to financial issues, to heal specific community or social context and remediate broken urban fabrics.

Eva: In the past lots of project strings happened separately. There architect, developer, landscape architect, engineer, water engineer was separated but with the climate changes we need to integrate all experts together and make solutions that works. If we separated it, many cities prove the social or financial suffering.

In which sense visualize the processes?

Eva: To visualize the processes means to visualize the unbuilt for. As working with water, we could say that Form Follows Flow. These flows in urban environments are mostly hidden under the ground. The more modern society has become the more hidden are its processes. With all the question how can we live more sustainable and in harmony with the planet, we need to visualize and understand those processes and how we can work with them. That’s where we also see our role to visualize processes and then use them to connect them to many complex parts.  

Diagram visualization for the project The City of 1000 Tanks. | Source © Ooze

In a way you need to invent your own approach? Like your system-thinking on the practical base?

Sylvain: Both of us have a more standard (European) German and French education but also studied in Bartlett UCL London where we learn to work with the narrative and process. The hybrid between these two is what we are doing in our practice now. We try to address much bigger and important issue and to bridge and question what is really needed in specific situation.

So, it depends a lot about the education?

Eva: When we start working on an art piece with Marjetica Potrč, we start with the intact research of the context. This way of working we developed intuitively. It was not something that we learn in school but part we learn by doing. Right now, we are working on an urban strategy and implementation project The City of 1000 Tanks in India where we very much getting into the financing of projects.

Between Waters in collaboration with Marjetica Potrč. | Photo © Hans Blossey

A simple diagram was created in a real scale on the location. | Photo © Bas Princen (up) © Roman Mensing (down)

How you deal with the project funding?

Eva: We can take the example of the Rio de Janeiro, where we were very much self-driven by the idea if there is possible to realize a project because there is no sewage system, especially on vulnerable parts of the city. We were driven by the idea that it must be possible to integrate nature that this locally becomes the treatment of the polluted water. After four years of investigations research production of pilot projects and events, we finally understood that we could not operate outside the system of public works. Although those services are not provided in the zone we were operating in, when we talk about water and sewage we need to get engaged with the public realm. Tendering processes are protected, concessions are given after a long time, like ten years in advance. Innovation in this area is incredibly difficult. To find funding as well is very long term.

How can you survive?

Sylvain: Only when you are supported by the government program or heavy weight stakeholders. That’s the case of the project in India with the Dutch Ministry of the Foreign Affair as a client. In such way you have access to financial mechanism and you can deal with the big scale reality. In the project of Rio we were pioneers, supported only by the Dutch Creative Industry with no political anchorage nor local financial support except for the cultural institutions we partner for the various phase of the project.

Can a small-scale art project become a learning process?

Eva: Of course. With the given budget we realized that we become the clients and the contractors. In such way we take the risk but then you can also execute it with no one in-between. You learn how to lead it, so the learning process is not only for the users but also for the creators.

Diagram of The Pond Club in King's Cross London. | Source via © Ooze

How do you incorporate the natural environment into the urban areas?

Eva: The participatory process especially working with nature is very context related. You need to the people to make something that works for them and it is very important to listen before you come up with ideas.

Sylvain: In all our recent projects you can see how all our thinking is conceived by disturbing processes. As the eternal investment is driving the world, we kind of intrigue this crazy jungle. That makes our principle and activities dealing with the social.

When nature becomes a part of the planning process, how do you deal with unpredicted?

Eva: Look for example the Pond. The client wanted us to sign the contract where we agreed that the landscape would be beautiful. We declined this very subjective impression. Instead we took a part of the landscape and start to work as a contractor for the wild plants on the site. We started to interact with the client. In the begging was the earth, later the plants grew and created a new wildlife. It is important to communicate the narrative and people need to understand that nature cannot be always the same and predicted. In the case of the project of the Kings cross pond club, people for example would come back every two weeks to check the changing landscape.

The realization of The Pond Club in King's Cross. | Photo © John Sturrock

What is engineered nature? What is a difference between a natural and constructed wetland?

Eva: When we mentioned constructing wetlands people were thinking about a lake. Natural wetlands are everywhere where water meet the land. Many places of our cities used to be wetlands as floods are specific and can enrich the water and soil with oxygen, which then removes polluters from the water. The wetlands can clean the water and with engineering this you make a controlled environment. For example, the volume of water in the Pond could take care exactly of 163 swimmers per day. That is what nature can deal with. The same for a constructed wetland, a certain area of it can take care of the sewage waste of a certain number of people just by using and guiding the natural processes which exist in nature already.

The changing nature of The Pond in London. | Photo © John Sturrock

Sylvain: If for instance we would have put more mineral filters then we could change the volume of the water and the surfaces of filters. Nature reaches the goal so you need to understand these processes and replicate them.

What is important in a partnership with the local community? How do you create trust?

Eva: As for example on Agua Carioca we went into communities where we had connections. Somebody introduced us to the community. The next were interviews. We were listening to the people, which makes people empowered as this in favelas doesn’t happen very often. People were extremely aware of the environment because it was so close to them. The next step was invitation to the events. You come back again and again and again. That builds trust.

The excursion in the community of the Agua Carioca. | Photo © Rodrigo

Sylvain: For the project development is also important the identification of the spokesman in community.  

What about the trust in the commercial locations?

Eva: Yes, the Pond was not in the slum but in the middle of London. As everybody had access to the project, the community embraced it. They formed the group, which came up with the petition to keep the pond signed by 5000 people. From this number 1500 people left online message and 300 people talked about love.

Are your interventions systems of disobedience (it is not necessary to use chloride in water as the human body reacts to water)?

Eva: Our systems are about empowerment in a positive way. It is giving people the tools to understand the processes and deal with them. Project Between the Waters with Marjetica Potrč was a diagram of the water sewage treatment. Every part was visible, colorful and understandable. At the end we engage the people into trusting the different steps of natural base solution processes which manages to treat sewage and render it drinkable. the people could see all the steps and engage in this cycle by drinking the water at the last step of the filtration process. They could see and perceive the steps from urine to drinkable water, and that is what they would drink. This is how simple it is, it is the same how you treat the water. It is disobedience but also empowerment because you understand how simple is to get off the grid. A political act how to show people to live off the grid.