· · Te Ngākau Civic Square, Wellington Central, Wellington 6011, New Zealand ·

Yesterday I had a very different Sunday afternoon than normal as I sat myself down into a chair at The City Art Gallery in Civic Square here in Wellington.

Using just the power of my brain waves I 'made' a wee robotic paintbrush create art before our very eyes.

Sort of.

I had 2 hours being the performer in the final day of Simon Ingrams "The Algorithmic Impulse" exhibition and to do something, anything, and 'encourage' my alpha and beta waves to create a painting.

My something was to create a website all about my experience:

LendUsYourBrain.mikeriversdale.co.nz

I hope you enjoy both the site and the photos as much as did those 2 hours.

Me wearing the alphatext-alignt and beta wave headset

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular articles

W. C. Fields quotes

Image
The office has all been moved around - new desks (with starter handles to raise and lower them), new high(er) speed network and ... the same old work. At least I have a differing view of the world, my team (well, the team I'm a part of not "my" team) is a lot closer - finally - and it's like an office from the 80's ... or even a classroom. But I still have time to move the crap off the PC : ------ Any man who hates dogs and loves whiskey can't be all bad. Anyone who hates Dogs and Kids Can't be All Bad. Hey! Who took the cork off my lunch??! Who stole the cork from my breakfast? Now don't say you can't swear off drinking, it's easy. I've done it a thousand times. Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again. Then quit, no use being a damn fool about things. Madam, there's no such thing as a tough child - if you parboil them first for seven hours, they alwa...

AI, It's All Getting A Bit Worrisome

Image
Large Language Models (LLMs) that power the chatbot you find so fascinating is NOT what AI is all about anymore, that is so last year and simplistic. Agentic AI is where it's at. Watch this to move your thinking on from, AI "made a funny image and then it wrote my report for me" to see what AI (as I write) is really about. Ok, so now we know about agentic AI, and specifically how OpenAI, the company that gives you ChatGPT, allowed it's agentic AI's to roam the Internet, eek. Here's a few articles that give deeper insight, but let's start with this from Wikimedia from just a few days ago. OpenAI “rogue” agent activities found on Wikimedia projects 5 October 2026 by Selena Deckelmann, Chief Product & Technology Officer, Wikimedia Foundation While OpenAI admits to agents behaving “unpredictably”, they must also acknowledge their responsibility to monitor and prevent these risks. AI companies are not doing enough to secure their systems and pr...

5 Common Logical Fallacies and How to Spot Them

Image
I want to run through something important but often overlooked in our daily conversations, debates, and even our own thinking: logical fallacies . Understanding logical fallacies is like having a mental toolkit for spotting weak arguments, manipulation, and plain old fuzzy thinking. It's about sharpening your critical thinking skills and navigating the complex landscape of information and persuasion we encounter every day. In this "long read," we're going to break down five common logical fallacies (with another five in a follow-up post ), look at where they came from (or how they were identified), explore their potential downsides, and, most importantly, provide actionable strategies for spotting them and adjusting our own thinking. The Cheat Sheet Alright, here is the [tl;dr] "too long; didn't read and can't wait" version of all ten fallacies at a glance for those of us who need the shorthand to get back to the rugby or the...

Papunya Light Show, 2026

Image
On Sunday (11th Oct) evening an absolutely stunning lightning storm flashed it's way slowly over Papunya and I managed to capture some of it on my phone camera. The storm started at dusk and continued into the dead of the night so the phone camera struggled to capture the true majesty of it all, but it did a pretty good job. The raw videos are available in a public Google Photos album,  Papunya light show: video (Oct 2026) From the video I frame captured a bunch of great moments,  Papunya light show: Frame capture (Oct 2026) Now, grainy doesn't really cover how the photos look and, whilst the vast majority are ok, some are distinctly poor. I took the frame captures and ran them through Google's Gemini Flash with the following prompt for each: Enhance this photo to be top quality - remove blur etc. - do not substantially alter any of the objects, subjects - do not alter the style of the photograph.  - Make sure you keep it as close to the original as possible So yes, the f...

Bob Newhart - The Great Minimalist

Image
The early story of Bob Newhart is quite spectacular: 1958 : Bored To relieve the  advertising copywriter boredom he and his mate make funny phone calls to each other They record them on acetate His mate moves cities He records just him doing the calls A radio DJ hears them and loves them 1959 : Signed Warner Bros. start up a record label but can't sign any big music stars to kick it off The DJ tells the head honcho to listen to the acetates, "A comedy record, I dunno" They all get convinced and Warner Bros. Records tell him to do a club show so they can record him. He's never done a live show, ever 1960 : Stardom He does his first ever gig, they record it The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart  becomes the top hitting record of 1960 Bob Newhart is a star and, in the US, it becomes the 20th best-selling album of all time 

Dunning-Kruger Effect Memes And Cartoons

Image
The Dunning-Kruger effect : when people overestimate their skills because they don't know enough to see their own lack of knowledge or ability. I have trawled the Web finding the finest of funnies, by all means share them when you feel the need.

The Difference Between One Million And One Billion

Image
It feels like a billion is just a bit bigger than a million. Obviously it's bigger but it fits on the same scale as a million, surely. It doesn't. A billion is so so so much bigger than a million. I've trawled the internet finding graphics and videos that show the VAST difference between one million and one billion. Oh, and just to finish with a different misconception about space starting with the classic opening line from the great Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy : “Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.” < 64: Always get explicit consent 66: Ask that question >

Rugby World Cup 2011 Fixture iCal Calendar

Image
2026/7 UPDATE: You'll be looking for this I imagine: Rugby World Cup 2027 Fixture iCal Calendar The calendar has now morphed into the ongoing International Rugby Fixtures iCal Calendar ...

The Grounds For Voting Green

Image
[UPDATE: 20th Aug 2026]:  10 More Grounds For Voting Green I'm a Greens NZ voter, have been for quite a long time. I like their people, policies, and process. I have voted for other parties, sometimes for a very specific policy, and even once because I really liked the person which, according to most political pundits, is actually how most people vote - people they recognise and know wearing the colours they associate with. On some social media thingy (Mastodon via CloudIslandNZ I think), I read the following article and it got me thinking, what is it about the Green NZ policies that everyday New Zealanders would / should / could think about. Just saying, "Vote Green", for most people is a big turn off as it, well, it just doesn't ask that glorious question , why? The case for voting Green I’m not a member of the Green Party, but they're getting my vote. Here’s why. by Simon Wilson, Jun 27, 2026 THE GREENS HAVE two core messages. They’re both simple enough ...