Erik Steinskog

YouTube video by Sheila Jordan - Topic Song of Joy

Sheila Jordan, 1928-2025. R.I.P.

Here is Sheila Jordan & Arild Andersen's album Sheila (recorded 1977).

World Steelpan Day | United Nations World Steelpan Day aimed at raising awareness of the cultural and historical significance of the steelpan as well as its link to sustainable development.

Happy World Steelpan Day to all who celebrate!

Nvidia and AMD agree to "unusual arrangement to secure export licences from Trump administration."

"The quid pro quo arrangement is unprecedented."

Lots of "unusual arrangements" going around these days.

And, yes, this is AI policy. Its regulation by arbitrary deal rather than consistent policy.

"... unusual arrangement..."

Dag Solstad er død Det Norske Travselskap mottok med sorg beskjeden om at Dag Solstad har gått bort. Solstad var en av Norges fremste forfattere og en sann venn av travsporten.

Necessary link (those who knows will know)
www.travsport.no/aktuelt/2025...

En sann svir!

The book: oktober.no/en-sann-svir

Today I’ve read a book about trotting (horse racing). Yes, you read that right. It was great. By one of Norway’s greatest writers, who died this year.

"For Freud, melancholy makes sense as the failure of mourning, as the failure of the process by which a lost object is let go."

From our Winter 2014 issue, read Michael P. Steinberg's "Music and Melancholy": www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....

Trump administration seeking $1 billion settlement from UCLA | CNN Politics The Trump administration is seeking a $1 billion settlement from the University of California, Los Angeles, CNN has exclusively learned, marking the latest effort by the White House to shape higher ed...

"The Trump administration is seeking a $1 billion settlement from the University of California, Los Angeles, CNN has exclusively learned, marking the latest effort by the White House to shape higher education and extract significant concessions from universities."

The Signs of the Times This book delves into the dynamic interplay of popular culture and political theology, examining three key areas of interaction.

Here is the book: link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

In the mail today. It includes my chapter “Spirituality and Beyoncé’s Lemonade.

YouTube video by Eddie Palmieri - Topic UnDia Bonito

My favorite album today is Eddie Palmieri's The Sun of Latin Music (1974). It is a fantastic album. You should all listen to it.

When it comes to music, the ‘70s were wild…

YouTube video by Charlie Haden - Topic Swing Low Street Chariot

I love Charlie Haden's playing. It is 88 years since he was born.

Generative AI by definition is conformity. It is an averaging of anything you ask of it - quite literally guessing what the most likely version of a thing might be. It is, by definition, mainstream, as is everything it creates old and deeply ideological, as every model trains on similar data.

YouTube video by Patricio Apaez Penderecki: Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima

Today it is 80 years since the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. Here is Krzysztof Penderecki's Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima (from 1961).

This piece lays out all the reasons AI is ill-suited for historical work — getting facts wrong, relying on existing sources only, churning out banal claims in bland prose, etc — and then asserts we’ll all just have to use it anyway.

Yeah, no.

Here are the books we read:

Today came the news that Tor Åge Bringsværd, as the last of these authors, has passed. May he rest in peace.

). Of course I have all these books in my shelves (in addition to most other books by these authors), but in addition, that project has obviously influenced me more than I ever thought at the time almost 40 years ago.

We read Olav Angell, Den elektriske blomsten (1968), Jon Bing & Tor Åge Bringsværd, Rundt solen i ring (1967), Tor Åge Bringsværd, Den som har begge beina på jorda står stille (1974), Axel Jensen, Epp (1965), and Øystein Lønn, Arkeologene (1971).

When I went to high school, we had a project where we chose our own topic. This is back in 1987/88, and I chose – together with a friend – Norwegian science fiction.

Tor Åge Bringsværd, 1939-2025. R.I.P. I don’t quite have words for how important he has been for me as a reader.

YouTube video by Evil Monkeys Art Ensemble of Chicago - Berlin Jazzfest - 1991 - New York Is Full Of Lonely People

I'm saying good night with the Art Ensemble of Chicago doing "New York Is Full of Lonely People" live in 1991. I *love* the Art Ensemble of Chicago! Good night.

Today is 52 years since the release of Innervisions. Just saying.

Today it is 101 years since James Baldwin was born.

YouTube video by Carole King - Topic The First Day In August

"The First Day in August"

YouTube video by ladiszka3 Robert Wilson / Philip Glass - Einstein On The Beach

Robert Wilson, 1941-2025. R.I.P.

Looks interesting.

Today is Olsok (ólafsvaka) – "Olaf’s Wake" – in celebration of the death of Olaf II Haraldsson or St. Olaf (Ólafr Haraldsson or Ólafr hinn helgi), who died in the Battle of Stiklestad, July 29, 1030.