Valor
Valor: heroism: the qualities of a hero or heroine; exceptional or heroic courage when facing danger (especially in battle);
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Art. (Aaaaaaht!)
This weekend, somehow, with all of the things occuring, ended up being discussions of art. Which leads me to 3 comments (it's a Monday, 5 is too many, oops, that makes it four...)
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5 things.
1. http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/updates/us/ It is interesting to live in an age where so much information is available to us so readily. This has some curious positive and negative side effects. But one very positive effect is that information is available, easily, and if you employ critical thinking, useful.
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Events and all:Feasts
I don't know how it happened...I used to be a small war junkie, and would go to SCA small wars. Now I seem to be a Feast Fool, going from Feast to Feast.
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Brief Excitements. 5 things post!
1. The ticking noise from the left front of the van WAS something in the tire, which blew out on the offramp 237W to Lawrence Expy. The spare had a hole. Kurt came and helped me (love the 3 ton jack) with the go a bit, pump up the spare thing. I'll deal with it in the morning.
2. Van is full of Sturf. Does any one need a lightly loved cat tree? Some nice 1x6, stained, from a bedframe? Plastic food boxes? Xedya kindly let me take the throw away out so I can work on recycling it.
3. The leg seems to have stalled. Need to work on that.
4. Saw some more Big Bang Theory today--fun show! Thanks Chuck!
5. Nothing lifts your mood like wrestling the steering wheel, feeling the load shift, and the juddering motion jamming the dome light on..."I like this ship. It's exciting!"
6. Aaaaah. I feel loved. Thanks Ysa for the mention!
Bardic yes; steampunk no, going to spend time with Rex.
Goodnight!
2. Van is full of Sturf. Does any one need a lightly loved cat tree? Some nice 1x6, stained, from a bedframe? Plastic food boxes? Xedya kindly let me take the throw away out so I can work on recycling it.
3. The leg seems to have stalled. Need to work on that.
4. Saw some more Big Bang Theory today--fun show! Thanks Chuck!
5. Nothing lifts your mood like wrestling the steering wheel, feeling the load shift, and the juddering motion jamming the dome light on..."I like this ship. It's exciting!"
6. Aaaaah. I feel loved. Thanks Ysa for the mention!
Bardic yes; steampunk no, going to spend time with Rex.
Goodnight!
Umberto Eco 14 years ago
Wrote this article:
http://www.themodernword.com/eco/eco_blackshirt.html
Interesting, neh?
Charles Stoll also notes that American politics seem to lack any mercy. Interesting observation.
Terry Pratchett has a new book in two weeks from today; the first 77 pages are up on the publisher's site.
The request to do voice over received recently makes me want to talk over the computer more. Podcast? Skype? I'm john.robert.schmidtsunnyvale on the latter if you want to connect, but haven't found the microphone/headset yet.
Danced at 5 Rhythms in Mountain View last night. Aaaaaaahhhh. Nice. http://www.ecstaticproductions.com/ Next time, harder, sweatier, but when you have to stop to check a bandage, it's a sign.
http://www.themodernword.com/eco/eco_blackshirt.html
Interesting, neh?
Charles Stoll also notes that American politics seem to lack any mercy. Interesting observation.
Terry Pratchett has a new book in two weeks from today; the first 77 pages are up on the publisher's site.
The request to do voice over received recently makes me want to talk over the computer more. Podcast? Skype? I'm john.robert.schmidtsunnyvale on the latter if you want to connect, but haven't found the microphone/headset yet.
Danced at 5 Rhythms in Mountain View last night. Aaaaaaahhhh. Nice. http://www.ecstaticproductions.com/ Next time, harder, sweatier, but when you have to stop to check a bandage, it's a sign.
Life is Full of Cool
5 things, well, because.
1. Saw the Samurai exhibit at Asian Art Museum with Karen today. The upper galleries were more fun. She had a very good point: after seeing the muse's homes in Europe, American museums seem rather thin. Still, a cool exhibit, with a cool person, and we sat, drank tea, and talked.
2. Upcoming coolness in music: Little Feat at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Great Big Sea coming, Mist's Bardic. Many cool things.
3. Other coolness: Tom's competing in http://handcar-regatta.com/ !!!! That will be stunning, I'm probably going to be blowing off a pickling date to go (sorry!) Hey Tug, wanna go see?
4. I'm teaching waltz at Friday Night Waltz on the Third Fridays. I teach differently from Tom or Scott, focussing on feeling and partnering, less on feet. The classes go well. www.fridaynightwaltz.com
5. SCA events are suddenly back on my calendar: Esfenn feast, with the AMAZING food of Ysabella (I helped cook a little. I'm helping serve. It's going to be major fun. Go get on the waiting list, odds are good you'll get in, and no, really, Ysabella has made pasta and sausages and salted tuna belly and is running it as a professional kitchen, and it's in Fremont!) Darkwood Masked Ball (riding with Xtal), then Mist's Bardic (Judging), then the playcook date and Pas at Fall Coronet.
6. Cooking...I need to fix the bike, and go lurk in Ysa's kitchen and help and learn. And pickle more, they're very tasty (lemme know if you want some, although we're leaving cuke season). And more salsa (ditto, but I have plenty of tomatoes.) And of course bruschetta and pesto and I really want to try brining some olives. So much to do!
7. Conrad (whom I have met.) And Lumina (who I have not yet met.)
1. Saw the Samurai exhibit at Asian Art Museum with Karen today. The upper galleries were more fun. She had a very good point: after seeing the muse's homes in Europe, American museums seem rather thin. Still, a cool exhibit, with a cool person, and we sat, drank tea, and talked.
2. Upcoming coolness in music: Little Feat at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Great Big Sea coming, Mist's Bardic. Many cool things.
3. Other coolness: Tom's competing in http://handcar-regatta.com/ !!!! That will be stunning, I'm probably going to be blowing off a pickling date to go (sorry!) Hey Tug, wanna go see?
4. I'm teaching waltz at Friday Night Waltz on the Third Fridays. I teach differently from Tom or Scott, focussing on feeling and partnering, less on feet. The classes go well. www.fridaynightwaltz.com
5. SCA events are suddenly back on my calendar: Esfenn feast, with the AMAZING food of Ysabella (I helped cook a little. I'm helping serve. It's going to be major fun. Go get on the waiting list, odds are good you'll get in, and no, really, Ysabella has made pasta and sausages and salted tuna belly and is running it as a professional kitchen, and it's in Fremont!) Darkwood Masked Ball (riding with Xtal), then Mist's Bardic (Judging), then the playcook date and Pas at Fall Coronet.
6. Cooking...I need to fix the bike, and go lurk in Ysa's kitchen and help and learn. And pickle more, they're very tasty (lemme know if you want some, although we're leaving cuke season). And more salsa (ditto, but I have plenty of tomatoes.) And of course bruschetta and pesto and I really want to try brining some olives. So much to do!
7. Conrad (whom I have met.) And Lumina (who I have not yet met.)
Lumina Grace Thomchick is here!
Deena and Rick's daughter arrived at about 4 PM; Mother and daughter are recovering. Yay!
Good Read: Oaxaca Journal, Oliver Sacks
National Geographic Directions has published in its "The Literary Travel Series" a wonderful, short volume by Oliver Sacks (The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Musicophila) about a trip he took to Oaxaca, Mexico. He went with a group from the AFA (American Fern Association), an erudite group, and they explored the world of biology, and through it the basis of civilization, the persistence of memory, the outward facing life of the culture there, and the general broadening of the mind that travel brings.
It's a wonderful trip, and I recommend it. I bought it at the Bookstore Santa Cruz, and you're welcome to borrow the book for me.
It's a wonderful trip, and I recommend it. I bought it at the Bookstore Santa Cruz, and you're welcome to borrow the book for me.
5 Random Pieces of Knowledge
1. From Oaxaca Journal, Oliver Sacks: Wardian Cases. Before we had terrariums to grow plants in, the victorian physician Dr. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward. They revolutionize plant growth and transport and allowed indoor gardens. I want one. There's a nice one of carnivorous plants at Filoli. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardian_case
2. From Merriam-Webster Vocabulary Builder: Bellona is the Roman Goddess of War. She was responsible for the redecoration of the landscape, that is burning and salting cities. She may have been Eris; very similar characteristics. From her we get antebellum, bellicose, rebellious, and of course cerebellum. In Greek, she was known as Enyo. Many of the follies in victorian england were temples to her.
3. Bill Bryson's book on Shakespear points out that one of the three images of him was a statue in Stratford upon Avon, which was originally painted, then touched up, then whitewashed--whitewashed because someone thought it rude to paint a statue. The greeks painted statues too. I wonder what Bellona's looked like?
4. Old but good, from Meriamm-Webster again: Muse. Museum, place for the muses--originally, museums were meant to be temples to the muses. Music. Amuse. Mustache.
5. MOOP: Two of the related concepts are MOOP bags and drop cloths. MOOP bags are bags you carry around to put MOOP into for later dealing with; trash bags. Having a conscious commitment to cleaning (MOOP is everyone's problem) means you're much more able and likely to deal with it. I designate one pocket a moop pocket. Drop cloths allow you to contain wood shavings, small bits of lettuce, whatever you're working on that you drop. Very useful.
Of course, one of the problems of LNT is that some people just take this stuff and throw it in trash elsewhere.
BTW, not all my word derivations are serious. But I think they're fun!
2. From Merriam-Webster Vocabulary Builder: Bellona is the Roman Goddess of War. She was responsible for the redecoration of the landscape, that is burning and salting cities. She may have been Eris; very similar characteristics. From her we get antebellum, bellicose, rebellious, and of course cerebellum. In Greek, she was known as Enyo. Many of the follies in victorian england were temples to her.
3. Bill Bryson's book on Shakespear points out that one of the three images of him was a statue in Stratford upon Avon, which was originally painted, then touched up, then whitewashed--whitewashed because someone thought it rude to paint a statue. The greeks painted statues too. I wonder what Bellona's looked like?
4. Old but good, from Meriamm-Webster again: Muse. Museum, place for the muses--originally, museums were meant to be temples to the muses. Music. Amuse. Mustache.
5. MOOP: Two of the related concepts are MOOP bags and drop cloths. MOOP bags are bags you carry around to put MOOP into for later dealing with; trash bags. Having a conscious commitment to cleaning (MOOP is everyone's problem) means you're much more able and likely to deal with it. I designate one pocket a moop pocket. Drop cloths allow you to contain wood shavings, small bits of lettuce, whatever you're working on that you drop. Very useful.
Of course, one of the problems of LNT is that some people just take this stuff and throw it in trash elsewhere.
BTW, not all my word derivations are serious. But I think they're fun!
On MOOP, journaling, and Passions
At Burning Man, one of the very interesting and very useful concepts is MOOP: Matter Out Of Place. It's not trash, necessarily, llthough it often is. It's not being disorganized, per se. It's leaving things out where the playa will play with them, dust them, blow them away, turn them into trash. In a LNT (Leave No Trace) environment, MOOP is bad. Getting a handle on MOOP makes life much easier.
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A while back, I went to Burning Man...
Although I never touched glitter or dayglo (being one who vickigigs), I was cut off from the outside world. When I came back, we found out that Katrina had visited, and listened to the tales of disaster.
I haven't gone to Burning Man this year, and I find myself missing it. For the change in life that points out what's good and bad about day to day. For the amazing creativity that I see there, in static and ephemeral art, in techartistry, in people. For the opportunity, the space, to adopt a relatively monastic regime.
And, although it won't be katrina, this video that foxworthy pointed out shows another disaster:
http://www.brandonriza.com/Video/HTML/ZeroPercentContained.html
Worth watching.
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I haven't gone to Burning Man this year, and I find myself missing it. For the change in life that points out what's good and bad about day to day. For the amazing creativity that I see there, in static and ephemeral art, in techartistry, in people. For the opportunity, the space, to adopt a relatively monastic regime.
And, although it won't be katrina, this video that foxworthy pointed out shows another disaster:
http://www.brandonriza.com/Video/HTML/ZeroPercentContained.html
Worth watching.
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