Democrats

Little flowers I found growing under a big bush in our yard. I don't know what they are, but let's call them Democrats, because we're keeping them when we get rid of the bush.

I had a little epiphany yesterday regarding Work. I had been stressing over the notion of Marketing: how to do it, where to do it, what to do, who to aim at, etc. So many choices, so many options, so many possible directions. ...OK I'm still a bit overwhelmed, but at least I feel like I have a new handle on the situation.

Today is the feast day of St. Paula the Bearded.

It's also the birthday of Karl Janacek (1903).

And in 1943, the Paricutín volcano began to form, in Mexico.

knob or toad

As I recall, this is the road coming out of the Yakima valley. The mountain picture is of Mt. Adams, taken from the valley itself.

Sometimes, I feel like a knob.

Today, I feel like a toad.

One of the tricks to successfully working for oneself is to clearly demarcate the boundaries between personal time and work time. So it seems to me, anyway: otherwise, everything turns into Work.

It's Copernicus's birthday today. I had a goat named Copernicus when I was a kid. We had a lot of fun. I miss him.

It's also the birthday of Luigi Boccherini (1743), Constantin Brancusi (1876), and Smokey Robinson (1940, same day as Turkmenbashi, RIP).

And in 1954, an elderly German decided to commit suicide. He took a lot of sleeping pills, tied a brief case full of stones round his neck, rowed out to the middle of the Rhine... and was found sound asleep in his boat. (from Fortean Times)

There ya go.

Today in history, Italian football hunk Roberto Baggio was born in 1967.

And in 1973, a 54kg octopus (7m across!) was found in the Hood River Canal, in Washington.

Yakima

Yakima.

Ok, not as boring as my picture might lead you to believe, but close. This was the view out the back window of the hotel room.

Our trip took us through the Columbia Gorge to The Dalles, where we crossed the river heading north across some low mountains into the Yakima river valley. Fruit trees and grapevines for miles. Imagine eastern Wyoming, but with orchards. But of course, it's winter, so paint it all brown, and there you have it.

We toured some local wineries on Saturday, with some friends who were also in town for the weekend (their son, a student of Phil's, was competing in the state singing competitions, or whatever the singing event was that weekend, I'm not real clear on that part...). They're great folks, Jerry and Geri.

I have to say at this point that I came back with so many new ideas that I might have to hibernate again, to give myself time to process it all. But then I wouldn't have time to work on anything, so I'd end up even further behind... Jeesh! I need a golem! (to whom it may concern: I'm kidding!) Where are those damn elves?

It's only a paper moon

This is the beach, last summer, just south of Newport OR. This weekend though, we're going in the opposite direction: to Yakima, Washington, for a choir-thing (I'm not sure exactly what- convention or something).

I've never been to Yakima, so I don't know what to expect. Hopefully I'll return with new pictures.

Here's some shocking stuff you might not have heard about the housing finance crisis. Governor Spitzer's article is linked from within- I find WinterPatriot's annotation of this one to be more readable than the original though, fyi.

In music history, today is the birthday of Michael Praetorius (1571) and Harold Arlen (1905- "Paper Moon," "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," "Stormy Weather," etc).

It's also Matt Groening's birthday.

And in 2002, some 300 corpses were found in buildings and woods on the property of Tri-State Crematory, in Georgia. The parent company in question would later receive a no-bid contract to dispose of the victims of Hurricane Katrina, in 2005 (exact number of dead still unknown- are you surprised?). I kid you not.

V-Day

This photo-a-day thing is harder than I thought! I'm trying to follow these criteria, in this order of importance: 1) Use only my own work. 2) Don't repeat. 3) Try to provide contrast day -to-day (i.e., try not to use things like studio shots of tools, two days in a row). 4) If taking a picture that day is not possible/feasible/whatever, try to find a recent picture that's interesting.

I've been delving deeper and deeper into last summer, lately. Hopefully that will change soon.

Today is the feast day of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, patron saints of Europe, evangelizers of the Rus, and legendary fathers of the Cyrillic alphabet.

Idyll

Another from last summer. This is on Mt. St. Helens.


In 1959, Barbie hit the shelves for the first time.

In 1996, "RENT" opened off-broadway.

Presumtion of guilt

Say whatever you want about torture, but this fact remains: We are innocent until proven guilty. Using torture to prevent a crime is therefore unethical and unconstitutional.

You cannot punish someone
before they commit the crime
for which you are punishing them.

Scalia talks about a hypothetical situation in which a suspect has hidden a bomb in L.A. But he's pulling a fast one, like every one else involved in the Bushcheney torture fest. Follow me here:

We're in L.A. Suddenly, the news reports that "a credible bomb threat has been reported... bomb... somewhere in the train system...." Or something like that. Cops run out to round up some suspects (Problem 1: seven years later and we're still looking for Osama bin Laden, so how effective will this round-up be? Dubious at best). The cops bring in some guys, maybe legitimate suspects, maybe not (doesn't matter for our game today), and proceed to interrogate, but find that the subjects won't talk (they claim they know nothing... right!). Interrogation continues, with no progress, and the cops get agitated. There's a bomb under the city, and people are about to die! The FBI is called in, and serious interrogation begins.

But wait, full stop- no crime has been committed. An anonymous bomb threat was issued. No bomb has exploded, or even been found. No one in custody is guilty of anything, but someone is being tortured, punished for crimes they not only did not commit, but may not even have planned. This is punishment before a crime; punishment for thoughtcrime, if the people being punished were even the ones who planned the thing (presuming there is a bomb at all). Let this sink in a second: Someone, possibly your friend, has been stripped of their humanity, has been strapped to a table and subjected to things you wouldn't do to your worst enemy. Remember: the suspect is innocent. It might well be you.



In another scenario, let's say there IS a bomb, and that it goes off. NOW a crime has been committed. But if the suspects have already been tortured, then we have a problem on our hands: their constitutional rights were seriously breached, and the whole case will have to be closed because the evidence was soiled by improper collection methods.

Scalia is a nutjob. For this interview, for this stated position on torture (and therefore legal ethics and our Constitution in general), he should be impeached and removed from office.

Torture IS unconstitutional: it presumes guilt.

Specifically, it contravenes our fourth, fifth, sixth, and fourteenth amendment rights (protection against unreasonable searches and seizures; due process of law guaranteed to all; right to a speedy and public trial; guarantee that all citizens are protected by same), not to mention any number of ratified international treaties.

Our constitution may not survive Antonin Scalia. Our country -our freedoms-- will not outlive the constitution. Brace yourselves.

***
In 1924, George Gershwin premiered "Rhapsody in Blue."

Miracle Max

Today is the traditional anniversary of the founding of Japan (663 ce).

In 1858, Bernadette Soubirou saw the figure of a woman in white, whom she later identified as the virgin Mary, near Lourdes, France. The two girls with her at the time reported that they saw nothing.

St. Scholastica's Day Riot

I have a lot of work to do! It never ends! Like this is news...
Administration, marketing, production, website maintenance/development, and did I mention production? And gardening season approaches... I think I need to add a day to the week, at least for the duration of spring and summer. That, or eschew sleep entirely. Yeah, I said eschew-- when was the last time you used that word in a sentence?!


In 1355, the St. Scholastica’s Day Riot broke out in Oxford, England, after a dispute which started between students and locals over a beer, escalated into armed conflict. The riot raged for two days, leaving 63 scholars and almost 30 locals dead. The dispute was settled in favour of the university with a special charter, according to which, on February 10, the town mayor and councillors had to march bareheaded through the streets and pay to the university a fine of one penny for every scholar killed. The penance ended in 1825 when the mayor refused to take part.

Oh! And as I predicted, the GOP seems to be entering full Self-Destruct Mode. Go, boys, go!

Hope you like jammin' too

Kansas winter. That tree, were it still alive, would be standing in a lake. I thought the image was poignant.

It's a big day in music history: Alban Berg, Carmen Miranda, and Gypsy Rose Lee all share a birthday (1885, 1909, and 1914, respectively). And The Beatles made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, in 1964.

And in 1913, a group of three or four luminous bodies with tails moved across the sky with a 'peculiar majestic deliberation', according to the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. Another one followed, and another. There were 30 or 32 in all, according to one observer, in strict formation. Some compared them to a fleet of battleships in the air. They were seen in Canada, USA, Bermuda and from the sea. There was another procession over Toronto the next day, only this time there were seven or eight dark non-luminous bodies, which moved across the sky and back. I repeat: 1913.

In the news today

Still got it

Happy Birthday to Jacob Praetorius, Jules Verne, and John Williams!

I've been sewing, yes. It's so meditative, that my mind is still in that state, even after sleep. It's all I can do to type coherent sentences. Five pounds of flax!

Charles Dickens and the earthquake

Building this bad boy was one of our first home improvements. It takes up the whole wall (we like our books). It's not a new picture by any means, but I've been busy doing things that don't photograph well, so I don't have any new pictures.


It's John Deere's birthday, though (1804).

And in 1812, the strongest in a series of earthquakes centered near New Madrid, Missouri, struck. The Mississippi River flowed backwards for part of the day. Charles Dickens was also born that day.

One hundred years later, Roy Cleveland Sullivan was born. He became a ranger in Shenandoah National Park, and was struck by lightning seven times: in 1942 he lost a big toenail to lightning; in 1969 his eyebrows were blown off; his shoulder was seared in 1970; his hair set on fire in 1972; the 1973 bolt hit him on the head through his hat, set fire to his hair again, knocked him ten feet out of his car, went through both legs and knocked his left shoe off; there were two further strikes in 1977 and 1978. He committed suicide in 1983.

Fishy carpet

grrr no picture today.

On this day in 1843, the new show "The Virginia Minstrels" opened at the Bowery theater in New York, the first minstrel show in the U.S.

Fifty-two years later, George Herman "Babe" Ruth was born. Bob Marley followed fifty years later.

And in 1989, thousands of tiny dead sardines came down in a heavy rainstorm about lunchtime in Rosewood, near Ipswich in Queensland, Australia. 'It was quite frightening. We didn't know what was happening. All I heard was a noise I though was hail,' said Debra Degen. When her husband Harold called her to go out onto the veranda, she saw the fishy carpet stretching for 50 yards between the house and their mailbox. There were more coming down, some bouncing off Harold's head. They gathered a bowlful for their cat and to keep as a souvenir; the rest were 'gobbled by kookaburras.'

Blue skies

It's Hank Aaron's birthday, as well as William Burroughs's. It's also Super Tuesday, and Fat Tuesday. Does that make it Obese Tuesday?

This picture was taken at the very nice Newport (OR) Aquarium.

The road is long...

It's Rosa Parks' birthday today (1913). Happy birthday, wherever you are.

Beginnings and endings

Today marked the beginning of Felix Mendelssohn (in 1809) and the end of Buddy Holly (as well as Richie Valens and J.P. "the Big Bopper" Richardson, in one very fell swoop in 1959).

Vancouver Phil says "no mo' winter!"

But Punxsutawney Phil apparently disagrees.

On this day in 1882, the world's first electric streetlight was installed, in Wabash, Indiana. Two years later, James Joyce was born. Coincidence??? Yeah, I think so. Pretty much. Stan Getz was also born on this day, in 1927.

Lord of the Flies?

It's Rick James' birthday, bitch!

And in 1662, Taiwan surrendered to the Chinese pirate Koxinga, after a nine-month seige.

Continuing from yesterday's post:

So, what kind of kids might you expect from a situation like the one I described? Clinical psychology can tell us something about this. It seems that lab animals which are conditioned to believe something and then have the circumstances changed so that their old beliefs are no longer valid, become introverted, exhibit symptoms of extreme emotional and mental stress, and become more easily controlled, apparently because they no longer trust their own minds.

They no longer trust their own minds.

Kids today are told that they have to attend school because they need to learn. But this is only part of the truth. Kids are also sent to school to keep them supervised until they can be trusted, but more importantly, they're sent to enculturate them, to teach them things by rote and example as opposed to by lecture and practice. I mean things like "we wait in lines," and "this is how to budget your time," as well as "you are not in charge," and "you are a tiny cog in a system so large that you can't possibly comprehend it." Kids know this, too; you may even remember knowing it yourself (I do). They realize it early, but adults continue to tell them that they go to school "to learn." Observed truth (that they aren't really learning anything new after about 3rd grade) does not equal Revealed truth (that they go to school 'to learn'), and cognitive dissonance arises. They no longer trust their own minds.

It's no wonder that they turn to video games instead of homework, television instead of conversation with their parents or adult friends, or use experience-expanding drugs instead of mind-expanding books.

Yeah, honest to god, once upon a time, people had friends of wildly different ages. It was a cheesy TV show, God knows, but "Dennis the Menace" was also a snapshot of its era (early-mid '60s), and Dennis had a good, friendly (however antagonistic) relationship with his adult neighbors. They talked. They had a complex relationship. Yes, it was fiction, but we can read it just like we read Shakespeare: of course it didn't really happen, but events like the ones described almost certainly did.

That it doesn't happen anymore -that kids are becoming increasingly less-well-informed and more apathetic-- is a result not only of this cognitive dissonance and the resulting mistrust of authority, but also as a result of the culture of fear developed by the TV industry to boost ratings ("Don't talk to strangers! You could be next! News at 6!"), and because of the deadly combination of our fascination with shiny things, and our ability to produce ever-more-captivating ones.

I am generalizing, of course. Not every kid is like this, and I don't know the relevant statistics, but I see it everywhere, and whenever I bring this up, I am met with a chorus of agreement. I am led to believe it's true, generally speaking.

So, what's going to happen when the last of the Responsible Adults dies? Lord of the Flies??

These dreams

On this day in 1886, a substance like charred paper but much heavier, fell over Norway and parts of northern Europe. This is not a photograph of that event.

Franz Peter Schubert celebrated his birthday (1797) on this day, as does Johnny Rotten (1956).

Now, let me bend your ear for a minute.

Imagine a world in which parents teach their children nothing but outrageous untruths. I'm talkin' things that are so untrue as to be unbelievable, like, "Mommy and Daddy are the same person," or "Dogs chase cars because cars are made out of meat." Yeah, I mean things you just know can't be true. And yet the parents keep feeding their kids these lies, in spite of how obviously ridiculous, or apparently untrue, and in spite of the kids' reactions. What will those children be like? Will they be curious and playful, as they should be, or will their curiosity be squashed by being told that what they see is not the truth? What kind of adults will they turn out to be? Monkey see, monkey do, after all; the apple never falls far from the tree. How intelligent might we expect those children to be, when they're trained to ignore sensory data in favor of fantasies and fabrications? How well might we expect them to deal with the unexpected?

For several generations now, we have been living under the impression that the State is our parent: it takes care of us when we're young, it sees to our education, it makes sure we stay safe at night, it even cares for us in our old age. In many cases, politicians on TV -our visible symbols of the State-- are the only mature adults some kids see outside of school. The State is a big ol' Mommy.

And it lies like a big ol' rug.

To be continued.

Have somma this!

Today in music history: Thomas Tallis was born, in 1505. And The Beatles played their last concert together, a live impromptu gig on the roof of Apple studios in London. It was broken up by police, because it was jamming traffic on the streets below (go fig!).

It's also the anniversary of the birth of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882), and the death of Mohandas K. (Mahatma) Gandhi (1948).

And in 1835, Richard Lawrence attempted to assassinate President Andrew Jackson, but both his pistols misfired. President Jackson instead beat him with his cane. Take that!

Agenda temporarily derailed

Didn't get any new pictures yesterday, because Monday's agenda was derailed into Tuesday. Today I have more administration and errands, but may be able to do some real work later. I'm hoping.

Coincidence?? I think not!

Old pic of the old bag. I hope to get a new pic of it today, so maybe tomorrow we'll be able to compare. Monday is my work-on-the-house day, so I didn't take any pictures.

Today is the anniversary of the births of Emmanuel Swedenborg, Thomas Paine, and Leadbelly.

Also, in 1978, during Mass in Madaba Greek Orthodox church, south of Amman in Jordan, an icon of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus sprouted a third hand. Perhaps co-incidentally, on the same day in the village of Zlafon near Jerusalem, a calf was born with three mouths.

"Romeo and Juliet" is believed to have debuted on this day, in 1595. "The Raven" was published, too.

Teo Torriate

I spent all weekend working on masteristvan.com, and I feel like it's finally coming together. New this week: The Istvan Boot, kits and patterns for same, and more information for the DIY-ers out there (an article about the tools you'll need, and an article about measuring for footwear). I may have a Belts page up as soon as tomorrow. Coming soon: panniers (saddlebags for bikes), guitar straps, and erotica (as soon as I can find [a] decent model[s]).

thrill-a-minute

Exciting picture, I know. I'm very busy developing masteristvan.com - this picture illustrates some measuring instructions.