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.

"This machine thwarts luddites"

Happy accident? I'm happy with it, anyway. I don't edit my photographs very much- a little cropping here and there, a little digital adjustment now and then. Relative merits of Photoshop aside, I think of photography -even digital photography, malleable as it is-- to be ultimately a record of an event. I am personally not interested in using a computer to manipulate someone else's idea of a paintbrush to manipulate someone else's idea of a color in order to manipulate someone else's emotions. It's just not hands-on enough for me.

But now and then our camera will make an image on its own. I was trying to shoot a sunrise through the car window here, but various factors interfered and this is what happened. I like it because -as far as I know, anyway-- I could not have achieved this effect with digital manipulation.

Birthdays today: Samuel Pepys (1633), Georg Friedrich Handel (1685), W.E.B. Dubois (1868), and Kazimir Maleevich (1878).

In 1940, Woody Guthrie wrote "This Land Is Your Land."

And in 1905, The Barmouth Advertiser (Wales) reported that two men, one of them a prominent farmer, had seen a 'gigantic human form rising over a hedgerow. Then a ball of fire appeared above and a long ray of light pierced the figure, which vanished.' They had been returning from a religious service conducted by the visionary preacher Mrs Mary Jones of Egryn, Merionethshire, a figure at the center of the religious revival of that time. Many observers, including sceptical reporters, saw mysterious aerial lights which seemed to follow Mrs Jones around.

Desert waterfall

Saw this out the window of the car while coming up out of the Yakima valley, a desert waterfall. The rock wall was probably 150m from the road, maybe 20m high? Maybe something to go back to look for, someday.

George Washington was born on this day in 1732, and in 1810, Frederic Chopin followed suit.

White wigging

Mt Hood, seen from above the Gorge on the Washington side. We were on the way home from Yakima at this point.

On this day in 1803 at around midday a strange 5-meter wide glass-topped round object was seen off the coast of Harayadori, Japan, by some fishermen who went to inspect. Inside was a red-haired woman, with a white wig, who did not speak Japanese but only smiled at them. She clutched a box, and they noticed rugs, a water bottle and what looked like fruit and meat. Not wishing to tangle with the authorities they pushed her back out to sea. There are two accounts of this event, in the Toen-shoesetsu (1825) and the Ume-no-chiri (1844).

In music history, Leo Delibes and Andres Segovia were born (1836 and 1893, respectively).

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.