If we make it back

My latest. An original design, based on 1) images of shoes from Carolingian and early Christian art, 2) extant late Roman-era shoes, 3) period design motifs and 4) period construction techniques. I think they would have looked exotic but not eye-poppingly out-of-place in Charlemagne's court.


How we deal with this will be very telling. I suspect we'll ignore it, or call it an 'internal issue for China,' or something, at least until BushCheney's out of office, but it's a growing problem (and if XinHua acknowledges it, then it's probably getting hard to suppress). Predictably, India is staying out of it as much as possible (that's their policy, I presume it secures something like peace along their long border). It will affect the Olympics, though, perhaps even lead to some privately-organized boycotts, and therefore will affect trade, and that is the only thing that matters these days. Disrupt Chinese-American trade, and you've disrupted the global economy.

This is amazing, though, amazingly cool.


Georg Philip Telemann, Casey Jones, and Albert Einstein were all born on this day, in 1681, 1864, and 1879, respectively.

And in 1840, the Times reported that, for the second winter running, foal-like tracks, but 'of considerable size' were discovered, running for 12 miles through the glens of Orchy, Lyon and Lochay, south of the fairy-haunted Rannoch Moor in Scotland.

In the balance

My shop was broken in to the other night. F-ing thieves cleaned me out: merchandise, materials, tools, Phil's bike, gone. At least $5k lost. Hi ho. Life (and business) goes on. I'm rebuilding.

In 1921, Mongolia (then Outer Mongolia) declared its independence from China under the leadership of the Black Baron (aka the Mad Baron and the Bloody Baron, ahem) Roman Ungern von Sternberg, a Russian-East European aristocrat disenfranchised by the October Revolution.

old brown shoe

Probably obvious, but this is not my work. Not my photograph, not my shoe. It's a Roman-era shoe, which I used as part of the inspiration for the pair of shoes I just delivered, which you'll see here, tomorrow.

Some very interesting reading about the Spitzer hoohah.

In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi started a 240 mile march to the sea, in protest of the British monopoly on salt in India.

My sentiments, only better

Larisa Alexandrovna sums up my sentiments on the Spitzer hoohah. She concludes:

Spitzer's sexual activities really only affect his relationship with his wife and family. They only affect us if those relationships are illegal, which in this case it appears to be so. But to target and investigate someone in hopes of finding something illegal is also illegal. I am not comfortable right now that Spitzer was legally investigated, despite the allegations of what he was actually caught doing and the fact that it was a criminal activity.

And I am certainly not comfortable with the hysteria over two consenting adults having sex, while no one cares that the Bush administration lied us into an illegal war in which nearly a million Iraqis have been killed and tens of thousands of Americans have either been destroyed or killed. I am also not happy that the illegal domestic spying this administration has engaged in appears to have nothing to do with terrorism. I am not surprised by this, of course. What I am surprised by is that no one else seems to care that the White House is more interested in sex between consenting adults than in catching a terrorist.

Siegelman, Spitzer... who's next?

I'd like to share this with you. I think it begins to approach a difficult issue. That's a big step, considering the issue (more on that later).

The fact that Governor Spitzer's activity with a hooker is being reported as hot news is puzzling, so I thought about it: Why is some straight guy being persecuted for hiring a hooker? A female hooker? I think we all assume that everybody in Washington does that, don't we? So, why him? Why not the many guys guilty of much dirtier stuff?

I personally think this story is two things: 1, a "Look at that interesting thing over there!" story, a distraction from another, more threatening-to-whoever story; and 2, a case of a Bush-appointed D.A. acting on orders from above, a la Alabama. I just think the timing is interesting, following his scathing criticism of the Bush administration, not too long ago (criticism was published in October '07, the recordings of the governor were made in February '08). The schadenfreude coming from Wall Street may also be telling.

To say the details of this investigation are murky and dubious (as Sam Seder just said on the radio) is to give them great credit. Something is rotten here. My advice to the Governor: Don't resign, but for god's sake stay out of convertibles and small aircraft.

Send in the Clowns

In 1702, the first regular English-language newspaper, the Daily Courant, began publishing in London.

Since then, March 11 has apparently been a quiet news day (if you're not Lithuania [declared independence in 1990] or Paul McCartney [knighted in 1997]).

Thanks for all the fish

Douglas Adams was born on this day in 1952. Maybe the funniest man I never knew.

Pomiculture

They're singing "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," and it was hot. They really brought it to life. It's still ringing in my head.

I am learning about pruning, the hard way. I found a book about caring for fruit trees, and it had a chapter on pruning older trees, so I read that (it has proven to be useful), but mostly I'm learning just by looking and carefully cutting. You have no idea how much wood is in a tree, until you try to prune it. You feel like you've removed a whole trees-worth of wood, then you look up and can't even see where you were cutting. Amazing. One of three trees is almost done now, two weeks after I started (we're working on the two apple trees at the same time, but one more so than the other).

In 49 bce, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, and in 1957, Osama bin Laden was born.
Is this irony?

Let the Sun Shine In

They're finishing "Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In." It was glorious fun, as you can see.

Nature photography is fun, but people are such interesting -and willing-- subjects. I personally don't understand how journalists and documentarists deal with their subjects, and their subjects' possible desire for privacy or anonymity, but that's fine because I really like shooting rehearsals and performances. You know, where the people being photographed really want to be seen and remembered.

This was taken at the first annual Follies concert, Phil's choir program's pops concert. I'd try to describe it, but words fail: vaudeville? revue? Almost Moulin Rouge! without the hookers or the TB: fast moving, upbeat and funny but with a couple of serious turns for the sake of variety. No host, no emcee- after a brief introduction, the curtain opened to them singing and only closed for intermission until the show ended; when a song finished, the lights faded for a second or two (really) and came back up on a new act, ready to sing. It was really spectacular, and quite professional-looking. I got a bunch of good pictures, which I'll be posting over the next few days.

Today is Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach's birthday (1714).

In 1782, ninety-six Native Americans were murdered by Pennsylvania militiamen –with mallets- at Gnadenhutten, Ohio, in what became known as the Gnadenhutten Massacre.

And in 1917, the February Revolution began in St. Petersburg (it was February by the Old Calendar in use in Russia at the time), sparked by food shortages. Tsar Nicholas II turned the throne over to his more moderate brother Michael a week later. Michael wisely refused, but oversaw the assembly of the Provisional Government, initially led by Prince George Lvov, and later (after the tumultuous July Days) a liberal aristocrat, Alexander Kerensky. By October, Kerensky's government would fall to the Bolsheviks.

Over the hills and far away

From last night's concert, the first annual Follies concert. Great, great stuff, wow! If you're reading this, and you were in the show: GOOD JOB, dayum! Pictured are Russel and Taylor, playing Over the Hills and Far Away. Guys, you rocked!

Henry Purcell and Maurice Ravel were both born on this day (1659 and 1875).

In 1935, New York City revoked all organ-grinder monkey licenses.

And in 1976, a block of ice the size of a basketball smashed into the roof of a house in Timberville, Virginia, and surprised three people who were watching television. Neighbours who rushed to find out what the noise had been, saw another ice bomb land 50 yards away 20 seconds later.

Hey Abbot!

Photo of the sediment dam, enhanced and adjusted with iPhoto. Fun.

Cyrano de Bergerac was born today (1619), as was Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806), Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844) and Lou Costello (1906).

I am not making this up.

Weird dream last night. Very briefly, I was out in the back yard with Harry, and I dropped a piece of soap I was holding (go ahead and laugh, I did-), into an existing hole in the ground. The hole was large enough to see into, but only appeared large enough inside for a rodent or two, maybe a rabbit. I looked, but didn't see the soap. Harry and I talked some more, and he took off. I went back for the soap. I dug out the hole a little bit, and as I did, I uncovered a board or something, and pulling it back, a human skeleton. "Fuck!" I looked away. Call the cops. Call an archaeologist, it's not a forensic issue. "Fuck!" My heart raced. I looked again. Hmmm. Too... yellow. Too ...what's that? I looked closer, and noticed a screw. It was a plastic skeleton.

I woke up. When I remembered the dream, I laughed out loud.

Later, I found what you see in the pictures. The hole is about 3"x5", and is quite new. The concrete seems to be outside the hole. It's under the newer part of the house; seems to lead into a crawl space at best. I'm not even sure a human can get there, but I suppose I'll have to try. What kind of critter would do that?

Cotton Eyed Joe

I sure hope Clinton and Obama have the sense to realize that John McChange is the real opponent. They both need to start campaigning against him, immediately, and drop the attacks on each other.


It's Learn From Lei Feng Day in China.

On this day in 1888, according to the Madras Mail, pieces of bricks fell into a Pondicherry (India) classroom in the presence of many investigators. One brick marked with a white cross was placed in the centre of the room; a similar-sized brick, marked with a black cross, dropped out of the air onto the first brick. In reference to such appearances in closed rooms, Charles Fort said: 'Oh, yes, I have heard of 'the fourth dimension,' but I am going to do myself some credit by not lugging in that particular way of showing that I don't know what I am writing about.'

And Heitor Villa-Lobos was born in 1887.
And of course, a few words about John McCain's conservative credentials, from one Dan of Portland Maine:

-IMMIGRATION: he wrote the bill granting amnesty to illegal immigrants (co-sponsored by Ted Kennedy).
-TAXES: he voted against the Bush tax cuts multiple times, but now campaigns as a lifelong tax-cutter.
-ENERGY TAX: wrote a bill (co-sponsored by democrat Joe Lieberman) imposing a massive tax on energy which, according to the Department of Energy, would drastically raise the price of gasoline and put 300,000 Americans out of work.
-ECONOMY: as recently as December 2007 he admitted he "does not know the economy very well" and needed to get better at it.
-1st AMENDMENT: he wrote the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill that was declared to be an unconstitutional infringement of the 1st Amendment (co-sponsored by progressive Democrat Russ Feingold).
-2nd AMENDMENT: he was called the "worst 2nd amendment candidate" by the president of the NRA.
-CHRISTIANS: campaigning in 2000, he famously described Christian leaders as "agents of intolerance."
-PROFESSIONAL ETHICS: ringleader of the infamous Keating 5 in the Savings and Loans scandal, which cost US tax payers $160 billion. We're still paying off their stupid game.
-PERSONAL ETHICS: McCain cheated on his first wife after she had a severe accident that left her partially disabled. He then divorced her and moved to Arizona to marry his multi-millionaire mistress, whose daddy bought McCain a spot in Congress.

He had it coming

More from Sunday. The top one is of the trail through the birch forest (too obvious?), and the bottom is the other group of elk.

Bulletin from the ruling class: You don't matter. I really don't know how else to read that story.

John Mc Change on Social Security

It's Antonio Vivaldi's birthday (1678). Also Chicago's official birthday (incorporated in 1837).

Toutle-ing

Mt. St. Helens, viewed from the Toutle river valley. We're looking at the crater, the side of the mountain that fell off. Yesterday, my friend Mark and I drove up to the sediment dam that the Corps of Engineers built after the eruption, to prevent the mud and ash from choking the Toutle and the Columbia rivers. We didn't start out trying to find it; we just stumbled across it, but it was a cool find. Pretty clever thing, really: they built a dam that only slowed the water, allowing the mud to settle, so the river below could remain clear. It's the site of a predominantly young birch forest now, home to at least a couple of small herds of elk (we saw two herds, anyway). And one strange doorway.

It's Vincent van Gogh's birthday (1853).

In 1972, police officer Ray Schoke was on his way to Loveland, Ohio, when he spotted a three-foot-tall upright creature with leathery skin like a lizard and the face of a frog near the Little Miami River. It was later spotter by fellow officer Mark Matthews and a local farmer. Both officers have since changed their names because of the ridicule, and Matthews moved to Florida.

Nothing personal

From National Geographic, March 1924 (Vol. XLV, no. 3). I thought it was funny.

In 1836, Texas declared its independence from Mexico.

Bedrich Smetana was born on this day in 1824. Kurt Weill followed in 1900, with Dr. Seuss four years later.

In 1975 six schoolgirls, all aged 12, walking on Llanaber beach, near the northern end of the promenade in Barmouth, Wales, saw something strange about 200 yards ahead of them. It was a ten-foot-long black monster with a long tail, long neck, huge green eyes like saucers and feet with three pointed protruding nails. It walked towards the sea and entered the water. The girls fled in terror. Their teacher, Colin Palmer, said that various adults had admitted seeing the creature. (Fortean Times)

A shrubbery!

Want some shrubbery? We're hoping to find these a new home.

Priceless: John McCain vs John McCain

It's been so long since McCain knew where he stood on the issues, that he's forgotten how. Oh, silly me- he didn't forget; he just never knew.

John McCain loves him some lobbyists!

If this were ancient Rome, we'd be celebrating the New Year.

Frederic Chopin was born on this day in 1810. Glenn Miller followed 96 years later, and Harry Belafonte followed them in 1927.

In 1431, Joan of Arc announced that an angel had told her that within seven years the English would lose 'a bigger prize than Orleans.' Six years and eight months later they lost Paris.

Armbands are next

Not my photo.

18

When the great Tao is forgotten,
goodness and piety appear.

When the body's intelligence declines,
cleverness and knowledge step forth.

When there is no peace in the family,
filial piety begins.

When the country falls into chaos,
patriotism is born.

Plantations

More splashing from sunday's hike.

The logical result of prisons-for-profit. I guarantee you this: Prisons-for-profit have lobbyists in Washington. They lobby Congressmen for harsher sentencing guidelines and laws, which put more people in prison for longer, thus increasing the profitability of their industry.

As a result, the US has the highest incarceration rate, per capita, in the world.

It's encouraging that this is now finally making headlines, but the fact remains that prisons are still run for profit, and that The Industry keeps lobbyists in our legislatures in order to maintain and increase their hold on their plantations (there, I said it).


Gioacchino Rossini was born on this day, in 1792.

Dord

More from Sunday's hike. I think this is the Wahkeena creek, the first leg of the hike. Waterfalls are surprisingly difficult to shoot. The water itself tends to be bright, while the surroundings tend to be dark; capturing the movement requires slow shutter speeds, which let in a lot of light, which can make the water too bright, etc, but a faster shutter won't show the movement. Always an interesting challenge.

In 1939, the word “dord” was discovered in Webster’s New International Dictionary, prompting an investigation which found it to have resulted from a series of misreadings of editors instructions.

Robot news: Scary and not as scary.

International Bright Young Thing

There used to be a bridge here- we saw the remains of it last year, but even those are gone now. This is Phil and Mark making a crossing on Sunday's hike.

Happy International Polar Bear Day!

Did a large procession wave their torches as my head fell in the basket?

Sunday on the trail. This is Fairy Falls, a small-ish one on the Wahkeena creek, and admittedly not a very good shot of it. You should be able to see more rocks in the water- the water cascades down little staircases, it's very pretty, but the shots that captured the details in the water did not capture the scale of the thing, so I posted the one with people in it. I did a painting of this waterfall before, but it refuses to be photographed. I don't make a habit of painting, but it was a little like taking a poop, somehow: I don't feel like I had a choice. It was fun I guess, but not my thing.

Seriously, it flatly refuses to be photographed. I've tried it in all sorts of light, all sorts of camera settings, and I just can not capture the colors. I used a lot of purples and blues, and the result is apparently a combination of "too dark" and "too shiny" for a good picture. Not that I'm comparing myself to Rembrandt (!!), but if you've ever been able to compare his originals to photographs of them, you might get the idea. The subtleties of his darks just don't come through in photos.

Anyway, the trail we hiked on Sunday is probably my favorite Gorge hike. It's about 5 miles, maybe a little more, and the first part is a long climb up lots of switchbacks, but it's so worth the trouble. You climb up the Wahkeena creek basin, hike a little near the top of the Gorge, and then come down along the Multnomah creek basin, stopping if you want at the top of incredibly beautiful and tall Multnomah Falls. It's a great waterfall hike- one around practically every corner. Breathtaking. There is nothing quite like being surprised at finding yourself at the top of a very tall waterfall.

In 1919, Congress established Grand Canyon and Lafayette (now Acadia) National Parks.

Then in 1932, Johnny Cash was born.

In 1935, radar was first demonstrated.

And in 1986 Gwen Wilson, 47-year-old mother of four, went to the bathroom after returning from shopping and doubled up with pain on the floor. Suddenly she gave birth to a 5lb 6oz girl. This was the second time she had not realized she was pregnant. 'I just thought I was overweight both times,' she said. By coincidence, husband Howard was downstairs telling the other children about the unexpected arrival of their sister Helen 11 years previously, when they heard their mother scream upstairs. Then she called down: 'I've done it again!' (thanks to Fortean Times for that bit o' news).

Ralph.

Ralph has every right to run for president, just like any other natural-born citizen who has not been convicted of a felony. Go for it.

I actually have a certain amount of respect for Ralph, for his very helpful work as a consumer advocate. Thanks, Ralph. You should have kept that up.

But here and now, he's a tool. As I see it, he is either running independently, as a spoiler, or is running as a paid spoiler, to dampen Democratic chances of winning in November, or at least to confuse the facts of that election to such a degree that Rove-ian agents and their activities might go undetected.

Mark my words.

He wants to be president about as much as Grampa Thompson did. He's just in it for the payoff.

I have to wonder at his timing, though. Was this an attempt, for some reason, to get Don Siegelman off the front page?

How connected is Ralph to the Rove machine, anyway? I'm just askin.'

you say it's (George's) birthday

Went hiking yesterday in the Gorge.

Fucking Ralph Nader. Running for president, again. No, I'm not linking to his site; I don't want to give him any support. Why should I -or any American, for that matter-- support a guy who only wants to play if he can be in charge? How about paying your dues, Ralph? Weren't you an investigator or something at some point, before you got all caught up in yourself? Ever thought about running for a less-significant public office? Perhaps one for which you might be slightly qualified, like building inspector or something?

You're no politician, Ralph; you're a joke. Get bent.

George Harrison was born on this day in 1943. Happy birthday to you!

Let us focus on the crocus

I would have posted pictures of the crocuses that are blooming in the yard, but between the time when I first saw them yesterday morning, and now, I forgot to get a picture. So instead, you get a sunrise.

Some significant stuff going on in the news these days:

Kosovo had a big week. In terms of American politics, imagine Texas declaring its independence, and then having Mexico be the first nation to officially recognize it. Snap! Serbia has claimed that territory for centuries, and Serbs are not known for their willingness to give up, so I don't expect that conflict to simmer down any time soon. But that's only half the problem: the other half will raise its ugly head in a few years, just like Iraq and Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and Indonesia, and the Philippines...

Maybe you've heard something about ex-Alabama Governor Don Siegelman? He's the Democratic governor who fell afowl of Karl Rove and our utterly corrupt Justice Department when he tried to complain about their stealing his election. This is a twisted tale, difficult to follow, and that, my friends, is by design. You are not meant to follow this story. They want you to become confused by all the blame-passing, to the point at which you no longer care, or can even follow the Bouncing Ball of Blame. The GOP counts on you losing interest and turning the channel back to American Idol. Don't do it. First they came for the Democrats, but I didn't stop them, because I wasn't political...

I will even go so far as to say that I think this is a test case for the upcoming election. Four more years!? You just wait.

Who needs democracy, anyway? Read what some Russians have to say about us, our system, and our proselytizing. Fascinating.

Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us

And finally (and I mean, finally!), could this spell the beginning of the end of the New Gilded Age? Or am I getting my hopes up again? I love the way the article starts: "The wealthy have got away with financial crimes for so long they no longer regard them as crimes." Heh.