In the world where data scientists and software engineers brag to each about the advances in artificial intelligence and the huge volumes of data used to trained advanced machine learning models, it is crucial for us to consider the cost of those efforts and resources they consume. The paper Quantifying the Carbon Emissions of Machine Learning tries to estimate approximately the carbon emission footprint of training neural networks. While we can debate the accuracy of estimates, I think it’s a good
I am sure you wanted to know what is the coldest and toughest ultra marathon on the planet. :) Well, glad you asked. I am happy to inform you that it is Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra - during multiple days athletes cross 430 miles of snow, ice in temperatures as low as -40°C and relentless wilderness. For many years in the row, the race was won by the Romanian athlete Tiberiu Useriu. His story is extremely fascinating, since he used to be a robber - and now he is called ‘Romania’s Ice Man’. While he did not win this year, me and my friend Dan had been cheering for him daily from the comfort of our warm sofas. I am saving his training videos as an extra motivation for those days when I am training for the mountain and feel sorry for myself.
“„Dacă vrei să pupi cerul mai întâi trebuie să-ți julești genunchii”
“If you want to kiss the sky first you have to judge your knees””
This weekend I have experienced the latest exhibit at Artechhouse called “Submerge” - motion graphics inspired by Pantone’s color of the year Classic Blue. The blue animated transitions were supposed “to evoke the infinite evening sky at dusk, the vastness of deep, serene ocean waters, and the limitless reflections in the rain”. In my opinion this experience is a great manifestation of where the art is going:
* Generative art captures our transition from trends of abstraction into motion graphics, desire to see vivid animations.
* Generative art takes full advantage of everything that computing has to offer, producing elegant and compelling artworks.
* It is mediative and experiential.
* It photographs well
* It can be experienced in a social setting
Travel Notebooks by José Naranja will put to shame my journaling efforts and attempts at creating a bullte/travel/mood journal.
Best discovery of the week are photographs by Rodney Smith who should be crowned as ‘Renee Magrit of photography’. Hoping to use his intricate surrealistic images as inspiration for personal projects, compas for personal aesthetics.
Kernighan’s law: “Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it.”
This week I have completed my seasonal pilgrimage to Chelsea (I start around 26 str and enter every single gallery until either my foot are tired, or I can’t look at the art anymore). Unfortunately the exhibits were relatively disappointing/ Roy Colmer took mediative pictures of doors around New York city, Robin F. Williams tired put a face to our systems by painting “Siri Defends Her honor”, some catchy phrases and nice paintings, but surprisingly nothing notable. Or maybe the problem is with the expectation that art should constantly challenge convention, to shock and to surprise?
On Wednesday I had a delight and honor to get the private tour of Thomas Phifer design studio. Thomas Phifer and Partners has completed projects such as the Glenstone Museum expansion, the Corning Museum of Glass expansion, and the Brochstein Pavilion at Rice University. He had talked about his latest spectacular projects of Museum of Modern Art of Warsaw - about the process of designing pavilions custom made for particular works of art and specific importance of light. To achieve the correct effect, they left a lot of pavilions with open rooftops to allow the light “drop from the top”, sometimes falling down tens of meters before it would become a part of the art experience. Thomas said that “all rooms have natural light so you can feel the passage of time”.
