Category Archives: General

Art and Culture, General, Travel

Security as the Museum’s Id

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25  66%  20%  0mph  SSW bar29.90  windchill24  Winter

             Waning Gibbous Winter Moon

At the MIA I picked up my old security badge with the grinning face and a patch of remnant frontal hair which looked like a soft, brown green at the 1st hole.  This earned me admission to the basement, the haunt of the security guards.  I went in the basement to get my picture taken because the badges are, after all, a security concern, relegated to the basement, or id level of the museum.  This is the instinctive, protective part of the museum’s body; it strikes without forethought to protect art, then vitrines, cases and stands.  In a pinch they will protect people, too, but mostly it’s about the art.   Makes sense.  After all, the guy didn’t come in and sit on a patron; no, he chose the $500,000 Ming dynasty chair. (Now worth $750,000 after renovation)

Anyhow, I went down the stairs.  On the left was the guards lounge with the artistic funky furniture and guard art on the wall.  On the right was the photo shop.  On the wall next to its door was an old museum sign in bronze, perhaps 3 feet high and 18 inches wide.  It gave the hours and days of the museum.  So, the basement is also where old signage goes to live after its working life is over.

Once inside, more guard art on the walls, there were those little light reflecting umbrellas that photographers use, plus a tilted white board at desk level in front of the stool.  Pauline? had a Canon SLR digital on a tripod.  She took three shots:  I smiled broadly, quirkily, and deadpan. 

“I’ll leave it to you to choose the most winning one,” I said and left the basement.

 Back here at home I’ve also begun my attempt to learn Chinese characters on my own, with the aid of softwared I bought a while back.  Over the  years I’ve tried to learn Welsh, Spanish, German and Greek.  I have some Latin and some French.  Languages are not my long suit, but I keep sticking my head back in the stocks every few years.   Part of me is ashamed I’ve never learned another language.  No, make that all of me.  Very ethnocentric and gauche American.

General, Politics

A Richard Nixon Dream

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25  70%  19%  omph SWS bar29.89 steady  Winter

           Waning Gibbous Winter Moon

“The right moment for starting on your next job is not tomorrow or next week; it is instanter, or in the American idiom, ‘right now.’ ” – Arnold Toynbee

A long time ago I read how Arnold Toynbee worked when writing his history of the world.  He did the research in the morning and early afternoon, then wrote into the evening.  You’d have to be pretty organized to have the right material handy, but it does cut down on short term memory loss.

Forgot to mention here that I had a Richard Nixon dream last night.  I spent several dream hours chasing, catching, securing and locking away old Tricky Dick.  Have no idea what that was about, but it did have a recurring theme:  I’m in a hotel, it’s check out time and I’m not gonna make it.  Have no idea what that’s about either.  It did occur to me that Nixon has entered the national bank of archetypes.  He’s the all purpose bad guy, the psychopath who made it to the Big House.  It felt good defeating him.  Maybe that was the point.

Off to the MIA today to get my photo taken for a new security badge.  I need to do this since the last time I had one was in 2001, when I still had hair.

General

A Pale Orange Orb

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4  64%  18%  0mph WSW bar30.07  windchill4  Winter

                        Full Winter Moon

The moon hung low on horizon as I came home from the grocery store, a pale orange orb occluded by dirty gray clouds.  It gave off the aura of Samain in the depths of late January.  As often happens with the moon, I felt a pinch of privilege; I saw this and felt it.  A privilege we all share, if only we look up at the sky instead of down at our feet.

Back to Ultimate Electronics to pick up my Blu-Ray player.  I traded in the HD player when Warner Brothers announced they were going with Blu-Ray. Now I have to hook it up.

Worked out in shorts yesterday and it was the first time in years I can recall fitting into the collection of shorts I gathered before I began bulking out.  A proud moment.

General

Sunny and Cold

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-14  67%  21%  0mph W  bar30.42 steady windchill-14  Winter

              Waxing Gibbous Winter Moon

We hit -18 at 7 AM this morning.  Sleep comes easy when the nights are cold.  We have down duvets that adjust without the need for extra blankets or wiring.  The day is clear and bright, though the outdoors has a certain foreboding at this temperature; cold weather can kill you and it wouldn’t take long.

Having said that I’m inside, warm and looking outside.  Today I hope to finish my work on the religious influence on contemporary art piece I have to do for the docent book club in March.  I want to get off an object list, book recommendation and an essay or two for advanced reading along with a series of questions/observations.

Kate and I will have our money meeting this AM, made much easier by her recent earnings and deferred compensation.  We’re going to have to get another TV (darn) because the workout TV has developed a wavy line pattern that annoys big time.  This means we’ll be all HD all the time, at least when we have HD programming.

Annie’s coming up today and will get our old Sony and the DVD player that goes with it.  It’s a fine TV and never gave us any trouble, though we bought it in 1994.  TV’s last a long time these days, so spending a good bit on one is not quite as illogical as it may seem.

General

Clear, Bright and Cold

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7  53%  22%  0mph WNW  bar29.81 steep fall  windchill3  Winter

            Waxing Gibbous Crescent Moon

Busy day so far.  Rechecking and reading questions for the highlights tour and the Asia tour tomorrow.  Editing and revising a very short article for the Muse on poetry and touring.  Beginning to tease out some graphics for my discussion session on whatever happened to religion’s influence in art?

Got a note today from Headwaters Parish, reminding me of my April 13th date with them and requesting more info.  Have to get a topic to them soon.  I’ll probably go with either some version of  the Transcendentalist presentation I plan to give at Groveland in March or a version of the religious influence in contemporary art.  I might, however, choose something completely different.

The day is clear, bright and cold.  Saturday looks like it will be quite chilly, at least -14, probably colder up here in the northern suburbs. 

General, News of the Strange, Politics

Which is More of A Health Threat: Al-Qaeda or Homeland Security?

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1  64%  25%  1mph WNW  bar29.97  windchill-1  Winter

            Waxing Gibbous Crescent Moon

OK.  This is interesting.

 Which is more of a threat to your health: Al Qaeda or the Department of Homeland Security?

“An intriguing new study suggests the answer is not so clear-cut. Although it’s impossible to calculate the pain that terrorist attacks inflict on victims and society, when statisticians look at cold numbers, they have variously estimated the chances of the average person dying in America at the hands of international terrorists to be comparable to the risk of dying from eating peanuts, being struck by an asteroid or drowning in a toilet.

But worrying about terrorism could be taking a toll on the hearts of millions of Americans. The evidence, published last week in the Archives of General Psychiatry, comes from researchers who began tracking the health of a representative sample of more than 2,700 Americans before September 2001. After the attacks of Sept. 11, the scientists monitored people’s fears of terrorism over the next several years and found that the most fearful people were three to five times more likely than the rest to receive diagnoses of new cardiovascular ailments.”

The article goes to identify roughly 10 million people affected by the, what else to call it, fear-mongering of the Department of Homeland Security.  Can anyone say Committee of Public Safety?  I agree with the article and the physicians that the health consequences to individuals are significant and in themselves alarming; but, I believe the larger health problem is that of the body politic.  10 million voters with a fear of terrorism so significant that it affects their personal health represent a voting bloc, a demagogues paradise.  Now let me see, have we had anyone playing the terrorism card in recent elections?

Going to the Walker Art Center tonight to see the TEAM, a group of performance artists who have a work called, Heartland.  I’ll let you know how it was. 

Faith and Spirituality, Family, General

I’m Feeling Born Again!

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20  65%  23%  1mph WNW bar30.04 steep rise  windchill 19  Winter

                    Waxing Gibbous Winter Moon

The truck had to go in today for repairs to its CV boots.  Which were leaking.  And its sway bar linkage.  And some plug somewhere on the differential. But it’s all better now.  Carlson Toyota has some more cash.

Kate and I went to the grocery store together for the second time in a month or so.  I do the grocery shopping, almost always alone, so it feels strange when we’re there together.  OK, but strange.  She likes to drive the grocery cart, so my role changes.  I know the store better than she does so I go find things while she forages among the vegetables and fruits.

Back home I worked on an article for the Docent Muse, trying with some frustration to find objects with poems translated.  I didn’t write down the label copy on Monday when I did my research since I thought I could find it online.  Not so easy.  There’s plenty of material for another article on poetry.

If we accept prevailing health notions as a secular form of salvation (Latin root word, salve, to heal or make whole), then I’m feeling born again.  My weight is down.  My exercise schedule continues to work.  My eating patterns have become downright healthy.  I have interesting intellectual work and creative work.  The relationships in my life are at an all time calm.  Hallelujah, brothers and sisters!

Family, General

Between the Legs

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29  85%  31%  1mph WNW bar29.64 windchill27  Winter

                New Moon

The new grandchild is a boy.  Here’s a poem composed by the proud parents for the occasion.   

What is it?

We went to the doc for the ultrasound
And what we saw was quite profound.
There was the heart, the brain, the spine and all
And between the legs was a penis and balls.

IT’S A BOY!!!!!!!!!

Sheepshead this evening.  If you don’t know what sheepshead is, there’s a link on the right.  Two consecutive times now I  have hit the positive column.  These are a great bunch of guys.  We had a lot of fun tonight.  Jokes, pro-Packer football talk (I listen.), analysis of doing in the Roman Catholic Church and events in each others lives.

General, Politics

Is Obama the Liberal Reagan?

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33 90%  31%  1mph  NNW  bar29.75  falls windchill31  Winter

                     New Moon

The speakers first, then the short story.  Then my Asia tour.  May take until Tuesday with the Woollies tonight at the Istanbul Cafe and my workout.  Made a decision last night to shift the resistance and flexibility work to T/Th/Sat which will put aerobics only on Monday and Friday, the days I have the most conflicts with working out.  The aerobics are easier to time.

This chilly, humid weather I left Indiana to avoid.  I feel about this in-between weather the same as Martin Luther did about sin.  He said, “If you’re going to sin, sin boldly.”  I say, “If it’s going to be cold, let it be cold.  And snowy.  And all the other appropriate winter stuff, not this melty coldish yuck.”

Tomorrow New Hampshire.  A Gallup poll release yesterday showed Obama out in front of Clinton 41% to 29%.  He will probably do well in South Carolina, the next primary.  I can feel the optimism of the African-American community viscerally.  The analysis I’ve read, however, says even wins in all 3 races may not be enough.  The SuperTuesday primaries are states where the Clinton organization has built solid leads, according to reporters on the ground.  We’ll see. 

David Brooks, of all people, suggested what might happen.  If enough independents find Obama to be the liberal Reagan, an optimistic voice helping to redefine America in a time of shattered national confidence, and African-Americans and young people do, too, then it will become Obama with the sense of inevitability, knocking the dull, hack-type politics of Hilary out of the race.  As far as issues go, I’m a Kucinich guy, and in the three way race, Edwards gives voice to what I believe, but the prospect of electing an African-American or a woman moves me, too.  Feels good to have legitimate choices for a change.

Speaker wire here I come, awake and opposable thumbs in the right places. 

GeekWorld, General

Lashed to the Mast

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31  91%  29%  omph WSW bar29.75 rises windchill31  Winter

                             New Moon

There is something seductive about the large screen TV experience, seductive in an Ulysses lashed to the mast sense.  The visual image is close to movies in a theatre, though not the same.  Hard to describe, but it makes me want to keep watching.  I don’t like this part of it and will have to pay attention so I don’t fade into the couch and become one with the fabric.

On the other hand the picture is fantastic.  The set has so many different bells and whistles that it can accomodate different formats with ease and its easy to use.   Well, sort of easy.  I’ve still got the manual to read.  RTFM as my cello playing significant other in law likes to say.  The HD DVD player upconverts and it does make non-HD DVD’s look great, not HD great, but crisp and clear.  Since DVD’s are my main interest in the large screen, not sports (though I do watch football if the Vikings co-operate and win games), this set will take my interest in cinema to a different level.

I’ve gone down two belt notches since the middle of December when Kate and I started Nutrisystem.  I’m already scanning for maintenance after we finish with it at the end of January.  At the end of twenty-eight days I’ll get on the scale and take my blood glucose.  I expect both will show positive trends.  It’s the blood glucose level I really want to manage; so if it’s down, it will be a great reinforcer for maintaining a lower weight.

The New Year has begun well: some weight loss, workouts going well, writing in the AM underway with a good story happening, the new TV, the video calls with the kids and plenty of snow.  That last, unfortunately, has melted some over the last couple of days.  I hope we get some more snow soon. 

 Asia tour work tomorrow, finish the speaker setup, work some more on the Gunflint Faeries.  Good night and good luck.

                       -30-