snippets, 9-8-2018

Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming (Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell in The Guardian).

Why we believe in magic (Phillip Pullman in The Guardian).

mule notes, mmxviii-vi-xxvi

Cora touched a brand new target ten times in less than ten minutes this afternoon. We used a 12-inch square rubber tile which I hope to have her place a front hoof on within the next few sessions. I was holding it low today; transitioning from a touch with the nose to a touch with a hoof is next.

I like my horoscope this week from Free Will Astrology. Virgos rock:

Stage magicians may seem to make a glass of wine hover in midair, or transform salt into diamonds, or make doves materialize and fly out of their hands. It's all fake, of course - tricks performed by skilled illusionists. But here's a twist on the old story: I suspect that for a few weeks, you will have the power to generate effects that may, to the uninitiated, have a resemblance to magic tricks - except that your magic will be real, not fake. And you will have worked very hard to accomplish what looks easy and natural. And the marvels you generate will, unlike the illusionists', be authentic and useful.

Right on.

"Well, don't let's spoil the show with any silly old not believing," said Gerald with decision. "I'm going to believe in magic as hard as I can..."

-The Enchanted Castle, Edith Nesbit, 1907

snippets, 10-31-2017

Fantastic beasts and how to rank them (The New Yorker). Fabulous.

trail notes, mmxvi-vii-xii

At our local park this evening Pan and I noticed that everyone had their faces glued to their phones. All of them, every single one - we counted eight on the sidewalk in front of us. Most of them were standing transfixed, but one lady was shambling blindly through the grass after her outstretched arm and screen. Pokeycrap, I assume, but still quite a "welcome to the future" moment.

My first impulse was to pull out my own phone (which was, after all, in my pocket recording our walk) and take a picture, but I stopped and scolded myself severely. (I think my exact thought was, "These are not the droids you're looking for.")

I blame Walt Disney for sugar-coating everything; we need to read more of the old stories with the dark edges to our children. We've forgotten that magic always, always exacts a price. Little boxes on wheels that can zip you directly to wherever you want to go, in total comfort, in any weather? No problem, but they'll take 50,000 lives a year, turn the world ugly and eventually ruin the planet. A tiny device you can use to talk to anyone in the world, anytime, or to discover any known fact, instantly? Here you go, but you'll never have another secret that's all your own, nor ever again smell a flower or hear the trees murmur. A small object you can hold in your hand and point at a living creature and cause them to fall down dead? Well, OK, but that one will cost you your soul, brother.

Think I'm gonna start leaving the phone and camera at home and get me a tin-foil umbrella-slash-cane-slash-walking stick.

snippets, 4-19-2016

When he turned 54, with enough money saved up to afford his meager lifestyle, he decided to make a change. “I decided I was getting to the age where you get cancer and all that kind of stuff,” he said, “so I might just go live with the mules steady.”

- 3mules.com and the long walk to save the world (The Kernel)

I've long been harboring a fantasy of walking to Boulder when I retire. I figure it'll take a couple months. Gotta agree with the subject of the article: it's not freedom if you can't pitch a tent, mules or no mules. I love the idea of a nationwide system of walking trails. It's so stupid that there are places you can't get to safely on foot.

prognosticatin'

Here's my prediction for November 2016: Trump gets the R nomimation and Clinton gets the D, but Trump offers Sanders the VP spot and Trump/Sanders go on to win with somewhere around 84 percent of the vote, unless Clinton offers Warren the VP slot (and Warren cough cough accepts), in which case Trump/Sanders still win but only just barely.

yes. just, yes.

Leica M Edition 60. $19,500. (This is why the great painters of yore had royal patrons.)

aiiggghhhhh

Pentax K-3. Squeeeeeeee.

Multi-pattern white balance. Selectable anti-aliasing. Web-based remote shooting. 8.3 fps. (The limited edition silver is awfully pretty, too, but I'd probably skip the battery grip.)

I know a fellow who has a collection of Takumar lenses, including the legendary 85mm f4.5 Ultra-Achromatic (of which it's rumored there are only about 20 still existing). Can you imagine that lens on this body? Oy.

yup

a banner in front of the blanton

more walkaroundcam thoughts

A couple more with the FZ-19.

hufflepuff!

stock up on sunscreen!

The calendar is drawing to a close, and the signs are all bending in an ominous direction: increases in coronal mass ejections, a new coronavirus, and the discovery that in 692 the Calakmul king Yuknoom Yich’aak K’ahk’ told the people of La Corona that everything would be fine until the next 13 K’atun (aka the coming solstice).

snippets, 8-9-12

More stories like this, please.

field notes, v-x-xii

An update to my runmeter app came with some new training plans. I'm working on the Couch to 5k program. I strapped Ondine into her Ruffwear harness and we set out. It had been raining most of the afternoon but the front split in half and left us in a trough of scudsy clouds that couldn't decide whether to go east or west. As we started our warm-up we watched the confusion above, then suddenly, way up high, an armful of balloons went drifting past, fast, like they were trying to find a way through the billows into the blue above. And right at that moment, my phone beeped and said it was time to start running.

Ondine loves running. She's improving steadily with cars, but not so much with bikes. We had a great, great time today.

uhhh huh huh

Blackberry cheesecake!

christmas eve

politely

found my epitaph

"Well, he didn't make it worse."

(Thanks Grace!)

keyhole and veil

shortcut to nirvana

a small bowl of something healthy like butter beans or lentils with hot hot sauce and for desert a small square of dark dark chocolate