C R O N O P O E T I C A

blinkenlights /blink'n-litz/ /n./ Front-panel diagnostic
lights on a computer, esp. a dinosaur. Derives from the last word of the famous blackletter-Gothic sign in mangled pseudo-German that once graced about half the computer rooms in the English-speaking world. One version ran in its entirety as follows:

                   ACHTUNG!  ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS!  Das
    computermachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mittengrabben.
    Ist easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen und poppencorken
    mit spitzensparken.  Ist nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen.
    Das rubbernecken sichtseeren keepen das cotten-pickenen hans in
    das pockets muss; relaxen und watchen das blinkenlichten.

This silliness dates back at least as far as 1959 at Stanford University and had already gone international by the early 1960s, when it was reported at London University's ATLAS computing site. There are several variants of it in circulation, some of which actually do end with the word `blinkenlights'.

Article 1

 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights.  They are endowed with reason and conscience and
should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

            Article 2

 Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set
forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such
as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other
status.
 Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of
the political, jurisdictional or international status of the
country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it
be independent, trust, nonselfgoverning or under any other
limitation of sovereignty.

            Article 3

 Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of
person.

            Article 4

 No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and
the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

            Article 5

 No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment.

            Article 6

 Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person
before the law.

            Article 7

 All are equal before the law and are entitled without any
discrimination to equal protection of the law.  All are
entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in
violation of this Declaration and against any incitement
to such discrimination.

            Article 8

 Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the
competent national tribunals for acts violating the
fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

            Article 9

 No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or
exile.

            Article 10

 Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public
hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the
determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal
charge against him.

Phantasmagoria by Lewis Carroll

CANTO I - The Trystyng



One winter night, at half-past nine,
Cold, tired, and cross, and muddy,
I had come home, too late to dine,
And supper, with cigars and wine,
Was waiting in the study.

There was a strangeness in the room,
And Something white and wavy
Was standing near me in the gloom -
I took it for the carpet-broom
Left by that careless slavey.

But presently the Thing began
To shiver and to sneeze:
On which I said “Come, come, my man!
That’s a most inconsiderate plan.
Less noise there, if you please!”

“I’ve caught a cold,” the Thing replies,
“Out there upon the landing.”
I turned to look in some surprise,
And there, before my very eyes,
A little Ghost was standing!

He trembled when he caught my eye,
And got behind a chair.
“How came you here,” I said, “and why?
I never saw a thing so shy.
Come out! Don’t shiver there!”

Catholic writers are equally emphatic.  The good dispositions
which a vision, or voice, or other apparent heavenly favor leave
behind them are the only marks by which we <22> may be sure they
are not possible deceptions of the tempter.  Says Saint Teresa:--

"Like imperfect sleep which, instead of giving more strength to
the head, doth but leave it the more exhausted, the result of
mere operations of the imagination is but to weaken the soul.
Instead of nourishment and energy she reaps only lassitude and
disgust:  whereas a genuine heavenly vision yields to her a
harvest of ineffable spiritual riches, and an admirable renewal
of bodily strength.  I alleged these reasons to those who so
often accused my visions of being the work of the enemy of
mankind and the sport of my imagination. . . .  I showed them the
jewels which the divine hand had left with me:--they were my
actual dispositions.  All those who knew me saw that I was
changed; my confessor bore witness to the fact; this improvement,
palpable in all respects, far from being hidden, was brilliantly
evident to all men.  As for myself, it was impossible to believe
that if the demon were its author, he could have used, in order
to lose me and lead me to hell, an expedient so contrary to his
own interests as that of uprooting my vices, and filling me with
masculine courage and other virtues instead, for I saw clearly
that a single one of these visions was enough to enrich me with
all that wealth."[6]

Celebrating its 20th anniversary the Chaos Computer Club has made a special present to itself and the city of Berlin. From September 12th, 2001 to February 23rd, 2002, the famous "Haus des Lehrers" (house of the teacher) office building at Berlin Alexanderplatz has been enhanced to become world's biggest interactive computer display: Blinkenlights (a term defined by the Jargon File).

The upper eight floors of the building were transformed in to a huge display by arranging 144 lamps behind the building's front windows. A computer controlled each of the lamps independently to produce a monochrome matrix of 18 times 8 pixels.

During the night, a constantly growing number of animations could be seen. But there was an interactive component as well: you were able to play the old arcade classic Pong on the building using your mobile phone and you could place your own loveletters on the screen as well.

Blinkenlights was up and running at until February 23rd, 2002, running 23 weeks and 5 days in total. During that period, we constantly improved its feature set. Even now, work on Blinkenlights is not completed. The software has been released as Free Software under GPL. Our documentation video shows all aspects of the project in 11 minutes.

For the friends of Blinkenlights we have prepared a little trailer movie [QuickTime 5 Format, 3,2 MB] [MPEG-1 Format, 3 MB]. If you want the soundtrack of the trailer have a look here.

The CyberAnthropology Page is dedicated to research on cyberculture, and the formation of new cultures and cultural practices in cyberspace.

Cyberanthropological Links

• Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies (RCCS)
• Center for Digital Discourse and Culture
• Community of Anthropologists studying Science, Technology, and Computing (CASTAC)
• John December's Computer-Mediated Communications (CMC) Studies Webring
• Electric Minds - the study of virtual communities
• EFF Cyborg Anthropology Archive
• CyberAnthropology.Org - the meme has spread
• CyberSoc - Robin Hamman's site on cyber-sociology
• UK Memes Central - a memetics site
• Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Resource Network
• CMU English Server - docs on cyberculture, etc.
• Institute for Advanced Tech in the Humanities (IATH) - home of Postmodern Culture Journal
• Internet History
• Center for New Media Studies