Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

From the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2005-08-10:

"Even the most ignorant cannot know less than nothing. After all, negative information makes no sense. But, although this may be true in the everyday world we are accustomed to, negative information does exist in the quantum world....

"What could negative information possibly mean? In short, after I send you negative information, you will know less.... In the quantum world, we can (in some sense) know too much, and it is in these situations where one finds negative information. Negative information turns out to be precisely the right amount to cancel the fact that we know too much." -- Jonathan Oppenheim, a physicist at the University of Cambridge, in "Quantum information can be negative".

(submitted to the mailing list by Terry Labach)

Much to write, too tired to do a proper job of it; here are a few highlights:

Made it to Darkover. Felt like crap. Managed not to fall over during the Ball. Played arco a little more than I really should have -- sometimes I quickly realized I was reaching a little beyond my current skill with the bow and switched back to pizzicato, but conversations with dancers and dancemistress later indicated that they didn't hear me suck; need to remember to ask the musicians who sat right in front of me whether trying to use the bow was a net win or not. Felt exteremely wobbly after the ball, and elected to sit in one place for a long while. Was brought food (for which I am quite grateful) and mustered the energy required to consume it; had longer conversations than I usually manage at conventions, with a few folks who stopped to talk, including some I haven't had longer than a drive-by conversation with in way the hell too long; skipped the Clams concert because I didn't really feel good about getting up and going to a more crowded spot.

My thanks to the other musicians who played, both for Regency last night and for Playford on Friday.

After recovering a bit, went and sat out in the lobby for a few hours talking to folks (and getting massaged at one point, which helped), and listened to the traditional poolside Handel performance, made a very brief appearance in the con suite (which was mostly empty when I wandered in), and decided I was steady enough to drive home.

Basically didn't see much of the con (and didn't get a chance to sell copies of the new CD to merchants for them to sell at other conventions, so I hope justgus37 did) but I did play, and I got to sit and talk to people I really wish I got to see more often, so all in all it was a positive thing.

Woke up today feeling headachy and slow, so did not get back to the convention. Around dusk, madbodger rang my doorbell with a bunch of surplus hardware that I didn't have room for in my car last night since I was already carrying the double bass. I'm gonna need more entries for my list of names to name computers as I get them configured. First I need to find the file in which I jotted down a bunch of names the last time I decided I needed more. (( Yes, I have a naming theme. )

) Reading the manual for the big, intimidating switch now. A little later I'll curl up with a mandolin and Bach. Later still, I'll sort out how to organize my week.

First ibuprofen. Then Bach.

As much as I like the punch of pizz on the bass, I really like having the bowed sounds available as well. There's a certain ... richness there.