ideas : People : stories.
the Human Being stuff
This small lake outside Stockholm, Sweden, emits otherworldly sounds as Mårten Ajne skates over its precariously thin, black ice. “Wild ice skating,” or “Nordic skating,” is both an art and a science. A skater seeks out the thinnest, most pristine black ice possible—both for its smoothness, and for its high-pitched, laser-like sounds (via).
So cool. Yet, so terrifying. The scene around the 2:08 mark, where the ice is cracking beneath his skates is really a remarkable sight.
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On the Arctic Ocean, with a grand piano floating on a platform and against the backdrop of the Wahlenbergbreen glacier (in Svalbard, Norway), Einaudi plays an original piece composed in the hope of protecting the Arctic (via).
I just love the scene, near the minute-thirty mark, when the glacier seems to respond by casting itself into the ocean, like it's trying to reach him. Like it's trying to reach us.
Is anybody listening?
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How To Hide a Yawn from Daniel Koren on Vimeo.
"Everybody needs to know this." And it's true, because we've all experience this, intimately. On both sides.
I'm definitely a mouth closed, jaw clenched, nostril flaring yawner, but I'm fully considering the, "clean your face with your shirt" option. Because it's golden. Clearly.
Which are you?
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Sadie did not attend school beyond the second grade. Instead, she worked. Like many of her should-be schoolmates living in Lancaster, South Carolina. Hine photographed the mill school, and the public school where non-mill children went.
Lewis Hine caption: This is where the mill children go to school. Lancaster, S.C. Enrollment 163– attendance, usually about 100. There are over 1,000 operatives in the mill. These are all that go to school from this mill settlement, which is geographically a part of Lancaster, but on account of the taxes has been kept just out of the corporate limits. Nov. 30/08. Location: Lancaster, South Carolina.
Lewis Hine caption: This is where the other children go to school. Public School: Lancaster, South Carolina, November 1908.
In a time where the America is in constant pursuit of making itself great again, one has to question, if the image of Sadie didn't say America, what did? And what does?
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It's called a "murmuration of starlings" — the marvelous flight pattern of 10,000 or more of these often maligned birds. Or, as poet Richard Wilbur wrote, “ a drunken fingerprint across the sky,” smudging the dusk horizon with the quickness of a pulsating jellyfish (via).
And it's baffled mankind for years.
So Wayne Potts, a biologist at the University of Utah, began making movies of their flocks and analyzing them, frame by frame, to see how each individual bird moved. He found that "a turn ripples through a flock just as a cheerleading wave passes through sports fans at a stadium," and he explained the finding with the name of his theory: the “chorus line hypothesis.”
An individual dancer who waits for her immediate neighbor to move before initiating her kick will be too slow; similarly, a dunlin watches a number of birds around it, not just its nearest neighbors, for cues (via).
These cues come not merely with their eyes, but also through acoustics and perhaps even the use of the "tactile sense of onrushing air from close neighbors to help guide {their} direction."
In short, they don't simply react to their immediate surroundings, they respond and move in accordance to their greater surroundings, to the greater community. Because they listen, holistically, with their eyes, ears, and body.
And in doing so, they remain connected and move and flow and "murmurate" with ease and beauty and grace.
They live in community.
And they teach us more than a little something about life. How to look beyond the immediate left and right, but beyond, to the greater community, and not just ourselves.
They teach us that when we shift and move and live outside our simple circles, when we consider the community rather than the individual, we (to paraphrase Richard Wilbur) refuse to be caught . . . in the nets and cages of common and simple thought.
But rather, beautifully lost in the greater murmuration of life and living, as we soar and swoop and fly. Free as birds.
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-N- Stuff : Substituting People for Animals : On Living
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To be a Mother is to suffer;
To travail in the dark,
stretched and torn,
exposed in half-naked humiliation,
subjected to indignities
for the sake of new life.
To be a Mother is to say,
“This is my body, broken for you,”
And, in the next instant, in response to the created’s primal hunger,
“This is my body, take and eat.”
To be a Mother is to self-empty,
To neither slumber nor sleep,
so attuned You are to cries in the night—
Offering the comfort of Yourself,
and assurances of “I’m here.”
To be a Mother is to weep
over the fighting and exclusions and wounds
your children inflict on one another;
To long for reconciliation and brotherly love
and—when all is said and done—
To gather all parties, the offender and the offended,
into the folds of your embrace
and to whisper in their ears
that they are Beloved.
To be a mother is to be vulnerable—
To be misunderstood,
Railed against,
Blamed
For the heartaches of the bewildered children
who don’t know where else to cast
the angst they feel
over their own existence
in this perplexing universe
To be a mother is to hoist onto your hips those on whom your image is imprinted,
bearing the burden of their weight,
rejoicing in their returned affection,
delighting in their wonder,
bleeding in the presence of their pain.
To be a mother is to be accused of sentimentality one moment,
And injustice the next.
To be the Receiver of endless demands,
Absorber of perpetual complaints,
Reckoner of bottomless needs.
To be a mother is to be an artist;
A keeper of memories past,
Weaver of stories untold,
Visionary of lives looming ahead.
To be a mother is to be the first voice listened to,
And the first disregarded;
To be a Mender of broken creations,
And Comforter of the distraught children
whose hands wrought them.
To be a mother is to be a Touchstone
and the Source,
Bestower of names,
Influencer of identities;
Life giver,
Life shaper,
Empath,
Healer,
and
Original Love.
Yet, when we think of Power, we emulate the father
When we think of Strength, we look to our dads
and envision God with a penis.
Yesterday I posted a few thoughts on boxes. Then, this morning, while walking to work, the podcast God our Mother took those simple thoughts, doused them with gasoline, and then, with the smirk of deep understanding, sent a spark flying through the barren darkness.
When the box exploded, I had to step back, almost
run
Because the flames that licked and snapped and grew in the darkness
scared me.
And the box was gone.
To Be a Mother is perhaps unfair and probably incomplete
but no more so than the decades and decades and decades of thought
on the father.
And we've swallowed and followed those
like wine and bread
and must-covered hymnals
all the way
to war.
To Be a Mother is perhaps unfair and probably incomplete
because how does one define a mother?
Simply?
Succinctly?
Fully?
Like God.
Who oversees the dirt and molds the clay
into the perfect and complete image
of Them.
He and She
Both and They
Strong. Fierce. And ever more and equally God-
the Source,
Bestower of names,
Influencer of identities;
Life giver,
Life shaper,
Empath,
Healer,
and
Original Love.
The box slayer.
For more on . . .
-N- Stuff : Open Thoughts : Other Inspiring Podcasts
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what I loved most about these pictures and his process was the reminder that everyday things, everyday annoyances can often become something very different, very beautiful even, if only seen in a different way.
And that is encouraging.
Microsculpture is a ground breaking project by the British photographer Levon Biss that presents insect specimens from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History like never before . . . Microsculpture was first exhibited in the main court of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Surrounded by the museum’s stunning Neo-Gothic architecture, the largest of Microsculpture’s photographic prints measured up to three metres across and surrounded the visitor. Seen alongside the tiny insect specimens themselves, this huge transformation of scale offered a unique viewing experience" (via).
Although much smaller than three meters, these images are still stunning.
Jewel Longhorn Beetle
At high magnification the surface of even the plainest looking beetle or fly is completely transformed as details of their microsculpture become visible: ridges, pits or engraved meshes all combine at different spatial scales in a breath-taking intricacy. It is thought that these microscopic structures alter the properties of the insect’s surface in different ways, reflecting sunlight, shedding water, or trapping air (via).
Marion Flightless Moth
Levon photographs the insect in "approximately 30 different sections, depending the size of the specimen. Each section is lit differently with strobe lights to bring out the micro sculptural beauty of that particular section of the body. For example, I will light and shoot just one antennae, then after I have completed this area I will move onto the eye and the lighting set up will change entirely to suit the texture and contours of that specific part area of the body. I continue this process until I have covered the whole surface area of the insect" (via).
Paris Peacock
Ruby Tailed Wasp
You can see many more of these ridiculous images here, and if you do, don't pass up on the Treehopper. It might be my favorite.
Treehopper
But the Branch Back Treehopper is pretty amazing too . . . and the Tricolored Jewel Beetle.
Here's the madness behind the process:
You can also check Levon Biss' TED Talk and more of his non-insect work here.
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-N- Stuff : Photography : National Geographic
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Curious George is the mischievous child that still lives inside us all, a swinging catastrophe with an envious joie de vivre. But everyone’s favorite chimp almost didn’t make it to the page. The story goes way back to 1940 as Nazi forces prepared to invade France. German-Jewish artists H.A. and Margret Rey fled Paris by bicycle, carrying the original manuscript that would later become “Curious George.” From there George traveled the globe, trekking down to Lisbon, sailing across the pond to Rio de Janeiro, finally making his home in New York. The rest, of course, is history, as our primate protagonist climbed his way into our hearts and onto the world’s stage.
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-N- Stuff : Real People : Great Big Stories
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"It's about exploring the limits of what we can do . . . It just depends on how much you want it."
"It would be easy for me to just be bummed out on {spina bifida}, but for me I just found the positive . . . It's wheels, stuck to your butt. How is that not a great time?
The wheelchair is a great opportunity"
"It's a trail for one who wants to be in fellowship with nature. No matter whether your running it, or walking it, or you're taking ten years to do it. When you're walking that trail you have a vibe, and you feel it."
"You've got bigger balls then most of the men!"
"You have to keep going because you have a collective responsibility and you don't want to let the team down."
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-N- Stuff : Humanity : Life of Adventure : Great Big Stories
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Official sources, like dictionaries, only document currant usage. New words don't originate from above, but ordinary people, spreading words that hit the right combination of useful, and catchy.
Kory Stamper, lexicographer and author of Word by Word, expounds a bit more on dictionaries and the role they play with words:
“Many people believe that the dictionary is some great guardian of the English language, that its job is to set boundaries of decorum around this profligate language like a great linguistic housemother setting curfew. Words that have made it into the dictionary are Official with a capital O, sanctioned, part of Real and Proper English. The corollary is that if certain words are bad, uncouth, unlovely, or distasteful, then folks think that the dictionary will make sure they are never entered into its hallowed pages, and thus are such words banished from Real, Official, Proper English. The language is thus protected, kept right, pure, good. This is commonly called “prescriptivism,” and it is unfortunately not how dictionaries work at all. We don’t just enter the good stuff; we enter the bad and ugly stuff, too. We are just observers, and the goal is to describe, as accurately as possible, as much of the language as we can” (pg 35).
At the heart of it all, it is us - the people - who create language. And this makes sense because like clothing, it's a form of expression and identity. And like clothing, it is ever evolving and molding to who we are, and who we wish to be.
The question is though, which comes first? The chicken or the egg? Do the words help define and create our identity, or does our identity define and create the word?
For more on . . .
-N- Stuff : The Language of Love: When English words aren't enough : What Literature is for
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In late 1997, a runaway teenager and her yellow toy robot travel west through a strange USA, where the ruins of gigantic battle drones litter the countryside heaped together with the discarded trash of a high tech consumerist society in decline. As their car approaches the edge of the continent, the world outside the window seems to be unraveling ever faster as if somewhere beyond the horizon, the hollow core of civilization has finally caved in (via).
Simon Stålenhag is the internationally acclaimed author, concept designer and artist behind Tales from the Loop and Things from the Flood. His highly imaginative images and stories depicting illusive sci-fi phenomena in mundane, hyper-realistic Scandinavian landscapes have made Stålenhag one of the most sought-after visual storytellers in the world.
Now, Stålenhag turns his unique vision to America in a new narrative artbook: The Electric State. With your support, these amazing images will turn into a top-quality narrative artbook, truly doing justice to the extreme attention to detail and quality of Stålenhag's work.
The book will also add Stålenhag's own texts to supplement the images, giving you an even deeper understanding of the universe of The Electric State.
His artwork truly is fascinating and his imagination crisp. Each piece could be a story in and of itself.
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-N- Stuff : Art : Role of Art
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I've only recently stumbled across the works of Louis CK and, like him or not, he is brilliant. Especially when talking about some of the most controversial topics because, like any great comedian, he brings the topics to the table and makes us think about them. Even to the point of great discomfort. Like when he talks about race, or abortion.
Because he's a master of communication.
Instead of constantly talking, or yelling, we should be focusing on the most universal forms of communicating.
Laughing.
On a deeper level, Louis is actually trying to make a comment here on the actual ruthlessness of the economy we live . . .
I think I'm obsessed with articulation. With the magic of putting things, just the right way. There are 207 words in this joke, and, not a single one is wasted. They're used either in meaning or in rhythm to contribute to the overall affect. An affect that lets us see the world from a different angle, and, more importantly, makes us laugh.
And laughter is the manifestation of hope.
You can also listen to this TED Radio Hour entitled, Painfully Funny, where Guy Raz talks with various comedians about how they use "humor as a weapon and a shield, to ward off doubt, discrimination, and even depression."
It's great - especially Maysoon Zayid: Should Humor Make Us Uncomfortable? and Kevin Breel: What Can Depression Teach Us About Comedy? But also, Negin Farsad: Can Humor Fight Prejudice?
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-N- Stuff : Power of Discussion : Monopoly is only fun if you win
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“Chase” is a mesmerizing stop motion animated short, shot in Ireland and Poland, that was directed by Sligo, Ireland artist Páraic Mc Gloughlin. The captivating film, compiled of Páraic’s own personal photos and sounds, explores time and the similar decisions that we all make and the paths we take in life.
Shot in Ireland and Poland – a journey that explores ideas of decision, choice, consequence, circumstance and time among other things, a personal perception on how we try to find whatever it is we are searching for. The film looks at objects, people, and places which share common properties, our connection with one another and our environments in the very similar yet very different paths we share (via).
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-N- Stuff : Humanity : Art : Short Films
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This kind of event puts you in contact with the cosmos; you can feel the motions of the heavenly bodies. We can feel how vast our solar system really is.
In 2016, Alaskan Airlines even adjusted flight #870, from Anchorage to Honolulu, so their passengers could watch the eclipse above the clouds.
At 35,000 feet, it's hard not to get excited.
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-N- Stuff : The scale of our solar system : Cool stuff we've sent into space
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These may or may not help in the advancement of life, but I bet you can't stop watching them.
Huh.
Now that is cool. Kinda makes me wish I had a tail.
Or, just pound screw driver in.
Question. Does this happen in a single day? Because the sky never changes.
I've sincerely always wondered about this.
And this.
For some reason, this is super cool to me.
So simple. Yet, Miles Davis makes it seem so incredibly complicated.
Oh . . . I still don't get it.
Finally. Math makes a little bit of sense.
This is quite simply the most terrifying thing I've ever seen. Ever. Thank the Lord spiders don't fly, or hunt in packs, or scream wildly whenever they catch their prey.
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-N- Stuff : The Magic of Making Sound : Japanese Fish Makes Ocean Art : They Shyness of Trees
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Lord Birthday was created in the summer of 2015, on a train from Vancouver to Portland, but Chad, the man behind Lord Birthday, didn't want anyone to know it was him. Nobody. Not his colleagues at Oregon State University, not his parents, not his friends.
Only his wife could know that Chad - super clean, extremely shy, sink-in-the-corner Chad - had another side to his otherwise boring personality.
It wasn't until this episode, True You, produced by Invisibilia, that Chad told the world who he truly was.
And he was terrified. Because for him, Chad getting "too involved" with Lord Birthday would, sorta, kill Lord Birthday. Because, suddenly, Lord Birthday would be censored - there would be a double take. "What will my parents think?"
Chad/Lord Birthday has a book deal in the makings and can be followed on instagram and GoComics (if you just keep pressing the "random" button under each picture, you'll be entertained for hours).
So far, Lord Birthday isn't dead.
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When I Heard the Learned Astronomer
by Walt Whitman
When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
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For their wonderful Real Happiness Project, the filmmakers of BBC Earth and creators of the incredible nature documentary Planet Earth II have repurposed ten hours of footage from their travels to create a soothing visual soundscape of relaxing mountain from around the world.
. . . we want to take you on a journey through some of the most stunning mountainscapes on earth. Fly above the peaks and immerse yourself in this elevated, sky-kissing habitat. All footage used was filmed by the Planet Earth II camera teams whilst out on location.
I'm kinda digging the mountains lately, so this project just might find a home in our home. I'm thinking of playing this on the TV, with the surround sound turned up, and letting it play for the day.
But then again, I don't have a TV or surround sound, or a home, so the Mac will have to do. For now.
For more on . . .
-N- Stuff : The Mountains have a Way : Planet Earth II Full Soundtrack
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Sometimes, I get lost in the world of infographics because they tend to take huge ideas or concepts or large chunks of time, and allow them to fit in my pocket - so I can carry them around much easier than a textbook or World Atlas.
These one's are pretty interesting, and a little disturbing. At least, the "History's Most Significant Journeys" one is because, apparently, outside of the 1965 Civil Rights walk, no non-white male made any sort of significant journey, anywhere in the world.
Interesting.
This one, too, seems to be a celebration of the white man's accomplishments. No doubt these men were responsible for the innovation of the world, but on whose backs did they stand upon? Whose labor completed their dreams?
The title reads, "The People Behind the way we live." Was there no woman contributing to the way we live, behind the inventions? Or were they only consumers? Sitting quietly, distracted by the "internet society," just waiting for someone better, more educated, and more capable to invent something bigger and better?
Why are these books banned? Because they challenge authority - because they ask people, regular people, to think and consider something other than what they know or believe to be true. And, for the most part, beause they challenge the leadership and ideals of white men.
Huh.
Sometimes, I get lost in the world of infographics because they tend to take huge ideas or concepts or large chunks of time, and allow them to fit in my pocket - so I can carry them around much easier than a textbook or World Atlas.
Right now, my pockets are full of white men.
And that's a problem. For several reasons.
For more on . . .
-N- Stuff : Maps that will change the way you see the world : World Languages in simple infographics
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Actually, she doesn't have to be your wife, or anyone's wife really, but she does need to be older than 18. And you do need to carry her - through an obstacle course - and you need to win.
Wife carrying is a contest in which male competitors race while each carrying a female teammate. The objective is for the male to carry the female through a special obstacle track in the fastest time. The sport was first introduced at Sonkajärvi, Finland.
Several types of carry may be practised: piggyback, fireman's carry (over the shoulder), or Estonian-style (the wife hangs upside-down with her legs around the husband's shoulders, holding onto his waist).
Wife Carrying World Championships are held annually in Sonkajärvi since 1992.
The prize is one's wife's weight in beer (via).
The original course was a rough, rocky terrain with fences and brooks, but it has been altered to suit modern conditions. There is now sand instead of full rocks, fences, and some kind of area filled with water (a pool). These are the following rules set by the International Wife Carrying Competition Rules Committee:
Australian Wife Carrying Championships are held annually since 2005.
The North American Wife Carrying Championships take place every year on Columbus Day Weekend in October at Sunday River Ski Resort in Newry, Maine.
The US final takes place the second weekend of July in Menahga Minnesota (MN-St. Urho Wife Carry for Charity Challenge). Major wife-carrying competitions are also held in Monona, Wisconsin, Minocqua, Wisconsin and Marquette, Michigan.
Ecorun India, a society for creating environmental awareness organized Wife Carrying Race in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India, Asia on January 1, 2011. The event is called "BHAARYAASAMETHAM" roughly translated as 'with your wife' in Malayalam, the local language. The society plans on conducting more such events every year in India. Wife carrying in Asia is also called matukinina.
A Bollywood movie named Dum Laga Ke Haisha had "wife carrying race" in its backdrop (via).
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-N- Stuff : Air Guitar World Championships
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