Random Quote of the Moment:
"So I am shopping in SkyMall
That five-mile-high mall
That always has just what I need
When I get to the gate and remember too late
I should have brought something to read
I’m OK, cause I know that I’m gonna shop SkyMall"
--from Skymall, by Jonathan Coulton
(Everyone should go buy a few songs!)
Reading Offline: Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
by Anthony Bourdain
I gave this to Jon as a gift a while back and only just recently remembered I never did borrow and read it myself. Am very amused so far. Sadly it's not the updated edition I've linked to - preface in our copy's dated Nov. 2000. Wonder what's been added/changed/corrected.
The New Kings of Nonfiction
by Ira Glass
Collection of nonfiction articles previously published in various magazines. Bought a while back in an airport and there are still a few articles I haven't finished reading. I really liked the Bill Buford article that became Among the Thugs.
...About?...
Batgrl is a pop culture junky who loves to mess about with cameras and video games. And is constantly amused by Jon, who she did honest and truly did meet online. Though she's been blogging since the '90s, evil sp@m'rs managed to break the old blog, and thus there's only more recent stuff here. (No great loss, actually!)
Toothbrushes, Eve Online Banking, Stippling, and a Barrel Monster - 2009-07-03 11:44:07
1498: The emperor of China patents the toothbrush: hogback bristles set into a piece of bone or bamboo. Dental hygiene takes a step up.
How — or if — you cleaned your teeth before this time depended on culture and class. The chew stick, or chewing stick or toothstick, was a piece of twig. One could chew one end of the stick until it was quite frayed and then use the frayed end to brush and scrape one’s teeth.
If you had a knife handy, you could carve the other end of the stick to a sharp point to pick at the larger specks of oral detritus. And if the twig came from an aromatic tree or shrub, all the better, because you got some breath freshener in the bargain.
...Other methods included using a cloth or rag to wash and wipe the teeth. These might be dipped in sulfur oil or a saline solution. Another practice was to just rub baking soda (sodium bicarbonate, still an ingredient in toothpastes) directly onto the teeth.
Makes you appreciate having a toothbrush, as much as I roll my eyes a little over it being classified as tech. (But then, tech is a nebulous term anyhow.) Meanwhile I think that I'd be the last person I'd trust with a sharpened stick - especially early in the morning before I've had my caffeine.
The BBC have started reporting news from virtual worlds:
Billions stolen in online robbery
BBC News, 3 July 2009
"Space trading game Eve Online has suffered a virtual version of the credit crunch. One of the game's biggest financial institutions lost a significant chunk of its deposits as a huge theft started a run on the bank. One of the bank's controllers stole about 200bn kredits and swapped them for real world cash of £3,115.
Actually I shouldn't scoff - Eve Online is actually one of the MMOs I've never tried to play, though I've read a lot about it. It's a bit too freeform for me - I'm not wild about the idea of working to achieve things in a virtual world only to have the hours of time I've spent come to nothing if I'm attacked by pirates. Somehow I just don't find that appealing. And I'd make a bad pirate myself - I'd probably feel too guilty to really enjoy it.
More..... 0 CommentsDrupal Ponderings, Candy Fireworks, and Other Random Links - 2009-07-02 19:25:52
So now that Jon and I are scoping out this thing called Drupal, I'm wondering if I should consider moving my blogs over to it. ...And then I think of how much work that would be and I think...nah. I might hop to it and then just leave the archives here as they are. We'll see. The one thing that makes me think it could be a good idea would be that a main column of text to the left would help for those reading from mobile devices. Er, not like anyone except me is really doing that with this page.
I have more photos to post. But the odd links are piling up, so I need to post a few of them.
Which reminds me - have you been noting the articles that have been scattered here and there about towns having to give up their fireworks displays thanks to the economy? Frankly I'm not much bothered by this - if you look at the price tag on some of the fireworks shows, they're amazingly expensive. It seems a bit frivolous to invest in something like this when it's just as easy to visit a nearby town or even watch a show on television. But then, I was always the kid that was just as happy setting off fireworks bought at the roadside stand in relatives' backyards. As we ate fried chicken and watermelon and were in turn eaten by swarms of giant Texas mosquitoes. There are plenty of other ways for folks to enjoy themselves on the 4th. I'm hoping for a Discovery Channel rerun of some of the more explosive Mythbusters episodes myself.
More..... 1 CommentsAutograph Dogs and the Jackson Coverage - 2009-06-27 22:48:02
So we were in our local San Diego grocery store, picking up munchies, and I saw these...
Autograph dogs. They're stuffed animals - usually dachshunds for some reason - that are made of a light colored canvas so that people can sign their autograph on them. My mother and uncle each had one that they'd apparently had their high school friends autograph ages ago. I've been trying to google up some information about when this became a tradition, and how it came about, but so far can't seem to find anything more than more canvas dogs for sale. I'd always thought of it as something that went out of fashion in the 1950s - I had no idea people were still doing this.
Meanwhile after Jackson's death yesterday I'll be delighted when all the Eulogy-babble is over. I don't really understand the gushing about the musical genius as I've considered his sister Janet's output to have been better than Michael Jackson's for some time. It never occurred to me to compare him to the Beatles or Elvis, because his music and appeal was nothing like theirs. (And I consider all those comparisons apples and oranges.) Jackson was definitely a trend setter, but he seemed to cease changing his music and to stop even attempting anything new. Not that he doesn't have the pop culture cred - it's just that with all the allegations and creepy child fixation (he did have a hang up about childhood - his own and that of others, no idea what the truth of any of it is) that went on in his life, I've seen him as person suffering mental illness for a longer time now than I've seen him as an artist. Such that it's the first thought I have of Jackson now - as a deeply disturbed person. So I'll be glad when this is all off of tv - because as usual, the newsfolk are really more interested in the freak show/car crash aspects of the story more than the music.
0 CommentsWandering Around Sharon and Raymond's Backyard - 2009-06-24 03:50:02
So I spend a few hours taking photos of flowers and plants - and I come back with more questions. About the names of some of the plants that is. As usual I'll come back and edit when I manage to get more botanical information.
I suppose I should have taken the photos of the vases of flowers (that Sharon has every year at the party) on Sunday when there was sun - but the flowers faded some by that time. So overcast late afternoon light had to do.
More..... 2 CommentsMontana Fest 2009: Around the Bonfire - 2009-06-24 03:01:25
Again, not a great deal to share in captions. We were again rather mellow this year, despite all our discussion of going up to Glacier in the dark. (We'll get around to that some year.)
One of the things about our yearly gathering that I really enjoy is that we spend a lot of time just talking and relaxing. So most of these photos are going to be short on title as they can be summed up as "here we are, chatting about random stuff." Also some of the photos were taken from quite some distance away, and I actually don't have any idea what folks were talking about. I suppose I could make up amusing stories - but I'm sure that'd just get me into trouble somehow.
It might appear that everyone here is looking over at me - but no, I think I'm standing next to someone that they're looking at. I think.
More..... 3 CommentsMontana Fest 2009: Morgan Photos! - 2009-06-24 00:56:45
Another Montana Fest has come and gone and this year I know what's important - I'm uploading all the people photos first! Because 1) I want to remember to get them all properly online and 2) I know Sharon and Grandmom Joyce are wondering how well the baby photos came out! Well let me warn you right at the start - nephew Morgan is a zippy little thing, and as he's often in motion there are quite a few blurry photos. But I figure blurry photos can be amusing too, so I've put everything online. Except the photos where people were making unfortunate faces or looked accidentally foolish - I've mercifully left those on my computer. (Hopefully no similarly bad photos of me will turn up online either. Fingers crossed.) Oh and if you want to see an extra large size of any of these simply click that photo to go to the Flickr page, then on the Flickr page choose the link above the photo that says All Sizes and you'll be able to see the original (huge size) file. Which will often mean you'll get to see the extra large blurry version. Though there are indeed some that came out quite nicely.
These are in order, starting with this past Saturday when we went over to Raymond and Sharon's house. This post will be all Morgan, and then I'll move on to us adultfolk.
Here Grandpa reads to Morgan about a Llama. Nearby the rest of us are sitting and listening, looking at Morgan with the silly smiles we can't help but get.
First, let me introduce you to my mother's recipe box:
Mom gave this to me when I went off to live on my own after college when I was (theoretically) going to attempt to cook for myself. Which isn't saying much, in this era where food can easily be taken from the freezer and pop'd into the microwave it's not like I was going to starve. Also I've always been a fan of leftover pizza, and I can remember enjoying many meals of that sort when I lived down the street from a Somerville fast food mecca. (I was a stone's throw from Davis Square.) But Mom did try to encourage me to eat a bit more healthy foods, and the recipe cards in the box included things she'd copied from her own most used recipes. The most humorous card explains how to cook broccoli. ("Wash broccoli. Cut in pieces." - the part about cutting it up written to the side, as an afterthought, possibly thinking that I might not realize I should do that.) I was a notoriously picky eater, and my parents still marvel when I eat broccoli today. Never mind that it's been one of my favorite vegetables for about twenty years - "oh look dear, she's eating her broccoli!" But they did have to suffer through all those childhood years when I'd only eat raw carrots and lettuce, without any salad dressing. Another idea of how odd I was - I was a child of southerners who would not eat gravy, which was very much an oddity. Of course now it's the case that gravy isn't exactly good for you, so it's no tragedy that I'm not addicted to it.
More..... 2 CommentsMontana Photos to Come, Meanwhile - Latvian Midsummer Fest - 2009-06-22 18:55:44
Got in last night and of course we both have oodles of photos to post. We'll get to it soon. Or soonish. Cat decided to greet us with his review of the food I gave him before I left. Thus carpet cleaning is underway. (*sigh*)
Apparently a few folks pop by here now and then to find information about Latvian Midsummer traditions, thanks to that post I wrote last year about Latvian Leaf Hats and the Jāņi (Midsummer festival). And their specific searches made me head to Google myself:
Midsummer night to remember
Kate McIntosh, Baltic Times, Jun 18, 2009
"Bonfires, beer, dancing, jumping over fires and all-night-long parties are a central theme to Midsummer celebrations in the Baltics, marked annually across the region. Midsummer celebrations take place throughout the Baltics and the event is widely considered among the most significant festival of the year.
Midsummer-related traditions pre-date Christianity and modern day celebrations are still very much centered on ancient pagan culture and beliefs. In Lithuania the holiday is celebrated as Saint Jonas’ Festival (or Rasos), while in Estonia it is known as Jaanipaev (John’s Day).
In Latvia the celebration of the summer solstice festival, or Jani, remains the most ancient and beloved holiday, marked with great enthusiasm throughout the country. Celebrations typically kick off on June 22, continuing with Ligo-Day on June 23 and Jani the following day – June 24th.
Steeped in ancient rituals and traditions, Latvia’s Midsummer is a celebration unique in Europe, where many of the customs have long since died out. Most Latvians leave the cities enmasse to gather around ceremonial bonfires in the countryside to welcome the arrival of summer in the company of friends and family. During this time the countryside comes alive with all-night parties in which people make fires, sing songs, dance, make and wear wreaths of flowers, drink specially-brewed beer and eat homemade cheese.
...In pagan times, Ligo and Midsummer were feasts of fertility. A remnant of those ancient times is the tradition of amorous couples going into the forest together to hunt for the mystical fern flower, said to bloom only at Midsummer and believed to bring love and happiness to those who find it. The evening of June 23, which marks the longest day of the year, is the highlight of the holiday. According to legend this is the one night of year that you must not sleep. To celebrate, Latvians gather wild flowers, make oak leaf wreaths and decorate houses, animals and themselves.
...Celebrations in Lithuania also include a lively agenda, which peaks on June 24 with the rising midsummer sun and washing the face with morning dew. As tradition dictates, young girls also float flower wreaths on rivers and lakes.
Summer solstice
The Frame (Sacbee's Photoblog), June 21, 2009
"...A woman sells traditional grass compositions and wreaths at a Grass Fair in Riga on 19 June. They may be suffering from one of the world's worst recessions, but it appears economic doom and gloom will not keep Latvians from having fun at a midsummer's night festival dating from pagan times. Deeply rooted in pagan customs handed from generation to generation, Latvia's "Jani" festival is held on June 23 and is based on the June 21 summer solstice marking northern Europe's longest day of the year, when Latvia enjoys almost 18 hours of daylight. AFP / Getty Images / Ilmars Znotins"
[Scroll to end, second to last photo is of the leaf hats. Someday I need to make one.]
Crisis won't stop Latvia's midsummer night party
Aleks Tapinsh, AFP, June 21, 2009
"...This year the holiday comes as Latvia's government has been forced to cut most public sector salaries by 20 percent and pensions by 10 percent along with a raft of other cuts in order to meet the terms of an international bailout.
...On the eve of the midsummer festival, Latvians flee the cities and, crowned with wreaths of oak leaves, flock to the countryside.
Regarded as a holy tree in pagan times, the oak still features widely in Latvian folk songs. For centuries, the midsummer festivities had a traditional menu of treats such as cheese, butter and milk.
But in a concession to modernity, many of today's parties feature barbecues and beer - meaning traffic police are out in force to catch drunk drivers. Festivities traditionally include copious amounts of drink, huge bonfires and midnight skinny-dips in local lakes or ponds.
At least two Latvian towns plan to host a slightly more modern tradition - pre-dawn runs starting at 3.00 am Wednesday where all participants run naked.
Police are to be on hand in case of any "puritan" protesters, while the bare naked runners will be rewarded with beer."
So there you go, all you folk who were searching for "naked Latvian running traditions." (Hey, I admit, I was curious too!)
