Lady Lovelace at the Whitehorn

What a great turn out for the opening on Saturday. Thank you all for coming! I couldn't have done it without the support of Sir JJ and Sir Zenmondo, who patiently answered my endless questions. This exhibition is truly dedicated to Sir Zenmondo, who is Ada's long lost partner in code poetry. Thank you to Miss Poppy for the portrait of Zen. Thank you also to Miss Snook who provided suitable music and commentary, and set a perfect tone.

The exhibition inspired a visitor to relate the following tale about Charles Babbage - my favorite so far:

13:01] RF: Here is my factorite Babbage anecdote.

[13:02] RF:Babbage once took issue with one of Tennyson's poems. The poet soon received a letter from the logician:

"In your otherwise beautiful poem," Babbage wrote, "one verse reads,

Every moment dies a man,

Every moment one is born.

"If this were true, the population of the world would be at a standstill. In truth, the rate of birth is slightly in excess of that of death. I would suggest:

Every moment dies a man,

Every moment 1 1/16 is born.

"Strictly speaking," Babbage added, "the actual figure is so long I cannot get it into a line, but I believe the figure 1 1/16 will be sufficiently accurate for poetry."

Exhibition Opening - curated by yours truly

I've been beavering away on the Ada exhibition - only a week to go! Here's the blurb - do come to the opening!

Mesmerism, flying machines, Romantic verse and proto-computers.... Ada Byron (King), otherwise known as Lady Lovelace (1815-1852), stands at the intersection of Victorian art and science. Daughter of the renegade Lord Byron and his more numerically minded wife Annabella Milbanke, Ada was born with dual powers: her gift was to grasp and render mathematical theory with the immediacy of poetry.

As a woman, an intellectual and a mathematician, Ada cuts a compelling figure. Although she died young, her contributions to the history of computer science are significant. Join us in a celebration of her unique contribution, and find out how a young Victorian woman became the First Lady of computer programming.

Join me for a gala opening Saturday, August 2nd from 12 - 2 pm.

The exhibit will run from August 1 to October 25th

Getting Involved

The only way I’m going to start making a community for myself is by offering myself up to the community. My museum of one picture is just about ready – I need to figure out how it will be best presented. I’ll plan a formal opening to SL museum group first for input (though Caledonians may wonder what’s up if they see a crowd on my land). As with any art opening, it would be good to arrange music and “refreshments” so I’ve got to find out how to stream music. In the meantime, the easel is built and the art is posted (a photograph rendered in grass by Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey).

It’s also time for me to start participating in library activities. Sir JJ Drinkwater, director of the Caledon Library, shared with me the catalog of collections and I offered to submit a copy of Emily Thornwell’s Lady’s Guide to Perfect Gentility, in time for the holidays. For this I’ll need to add a bit of code to a pdf file. I’ve also learned that Sir JJ is interested in the documentation of the community so I’ll offer myself up as archivist to document visually the history of the region.

Here’s the link to Caledon Library description. The reading garden in-world is a great example of what libraries can share in a virtual environment. I’m getting more and more hooked on sl every day, folks…http://www.infoisland.org/drupal/CaledonLibrary/Collections