In the Place of Tall Buildings

Day 6 - The Black Sword in the City of Saint Francis

PART ONE

I have to be honest. E.F. and I had almost.... almost too much of a good time last night and I partly paid for it this morning. To thank him for letting me crash at his place and explore The City, I took him to wonderful restaurant and bar known as Absinthe in the Hayes Valley area. The food was delicious and I had one of the best Uptown Manhattan drinks I've ever had. But, you know there's always a 'but' in there, he took me to this literally hidden treasure of a bar called Smuggler's Cove. Wow. They specialize in rum drinks so I ordered a Naval Grog. Oh my... I think if anyone had lit a match around me I'd have been like a flame thrower at close quarters. To make a long story short, we slowly walked home and crashed for tomorrow. Thank goodness I had finished my blog for yesterday already.

Today I find myself in Downtown and the Financial District. E.F. gave me some reading material on the architecture of the area as a kind of self-guided tour of the most prominent buildings in San Francisco's past. So far as of this writing, I've visited and photographed the Wells Fargo/Crocker Center building, 111 Sutter Street, the Crown Zellerbach Paper Co. building at One Bush Street, and the Hobart Building on Market. Some of the examples of building in The City are impressive. The Wells Fargo one was actually cut down by several stories and a rooftop garden open to the public was put in it's place; really cool public space with a cool view. Several of the places I couldn't photograph inside because of security. A shame but I understand the need for security and privacy of clients in the buildings. I'll make sure to post them all on Facebook as soon as I can.

About 11:15 rolls around and I get a text message from Angie reminding me that she and the Seans are going to be having lunch today in San Francisco at the same Absinthe restaurant E.F. and I ate at last night. I catch the #5 bus up Market to McAllister and Gough then walk the couple of blocks to the restaurant where they are waiting for me. I'm starting to get my walking feet under me finally after about a week of walking everywhere. We have a delightful lunch and try a couple different absinthes than I am used to. Interestingly enough, the locally produced absinthe from St. George's Spirits is really good and smooth. I don't have much to eat as I only just got done eating breakfast at Eddie's Cafe up on Divisadero so I order an appetizer and a great brown ale. My friends wanted to specifically have lunch at this place since their calendar project involves a shoot of a Green Fairy ( which is the slang for absinthe) and the webmaster for the restaurant had 'liked' their project. Monkey brought the manager a poster, post card, and other stuff to the restaurant as a thank you for their support.

When we part I head back Downtown on the #5 bus again, get off at Montgomery and head up to catch my next building at 100 Sutter Street called The Shell Building. I turn down Sutter on the wrong side of the street and realize that I need to sit down and write. Taking the opportunity, I duck into this place called Bread and Cocoa on the corner of Sutter and Kearny to grab a drink, sit, and catch up on the blog... And here we are so far. I need to mention that the young staff here are just a great bunch. They are friendly, bubbly even, and just fun to talk to when they aren't slammed with customers. That is one of the sort of down sides to this part of The City is this almost frenetic pace that everyone seems to be in. I find it both exhilarating but also a bit impersonal and tiresome. It's meeting the people in the shops that seems to make it all worth it.

PART TWO

It's about 1:30 p.m. when I get back to my architectural scavenger hunt in the Downtown/Financial District of S.F. I'm only about half way through my list of buildings so I get right to it. Before I leave the little shop, I realize that I'm gonna need to take a couple ALEAVE even though I don't want to. I've been trying to take it easy in my walking but the arch of my right foot is just starting to get annoyingly painful unless I slow way down and there is just too much to see in this place to do that. So, I suck it up and keep truckin'.

Next stop is supposed to be just across the street. It's the Hallidie Bldg. At 130 Sutter Street. I walk on down, seem to miss the address, mistake one building for it, cross the street, and sure enough, it's completely covered for restoration work... Great. At least the building NEXT to it seems just as interesting but I'll have to wait until the work is done to see it and who the he'll knows when that's gonna be. OK, check that one now what's next?

The list has 100 and 130 Bush Street next. Hmm, I wonder if they are right next to each other? So, off I go. I arrive to find I'm right. But the two buildings are way cool in their own ways. 130 Bush is termed the "Narrow Building" and when you see it you might be tempted to either giggle or just say, "Cool!" at how it looks. The guide states, " 20 feet wide, 10 stories, Gothic revival, 80 feet deep. One of the narrowest buildings in San Francisco. Originally a garment manufacturing building... Converted to offices in 1929."

The address next door is much more majestic and when you see the ornamentation near the apex of the building you understand why. Called The Shell Building for obvious reasons it was the last of the great Art Deco buildings to be constructed in San Francisco and was finished in 1929. Sepia-colored terracotta skin with jutting projections of shells at the apex of the building, man this is really cool. I jet over to the interior and ask the security if the building allows interior photographs... Sadly, no because the interior is guilder in golden art deco shells and other adornments which are great examples of the style of the time.

I head back to Montgomery and my other important but much more modern building which I've been next to before but not in decades... The Trans-America Pyramid. The building is a bit overwhelming but what is almost the prettiest part of the place is the public park that is at the base of the place located about the middle of the block. The park has a great grove of Redwoods with a pool and fountain that has bronze sculptures of jumping frogs in various poses. The park has lots of space to sit and nice built-in benches and in typical San Francisco fashion there is a plaque commemorating two beloved dogs of the area in the 1860's named Bugger and Lazarus. I'm a dog lover and thought that was especially cool.

But mentioning dogs at that point, well, my dogs are especially tired as well from all the exploring of the past six days. The arch of my right foot is just not gonna be able to explore any more... Time to make my way to Market and the #5 bus and some rest time. I slowly trudge down Kearny to Market, bop onto the bus, put in the ear phones, and zone out for the remainder of the trip. The bus hits my stop at Pierce and McAllister and I abuse my feet just enough to get in the door and put them up.... and fall into a much needed nap. Ahhhh. Rest. What a concept.

Tonight, when E.F. gets here, we'll see what's up for the remainder of the day and evening...

Pacific Heights, The Marina, and Geek Heaven...

Day 5 - The Black Sword in the City of Saint Francis

PART ONE

The girls have flown the coop home and now it's just E.F. and me left to have time together. We all finally recovered and got up at about the same time, said our goodbyes and that left me to prepare for the day ahead. Showered, shaved, dressed and I'm off to Eddie's for breakfast. The ladies all give me their hello's and ask me why I'm coming in so much. I tell them about my travels in The City and how I'm blogging about it. It's so cute. The main manager asks, "Are you writing about us?" and I tell them yes but only good things which makes them laugh. I then give them my URL for my blog and invite them to read about it. The breakfast is good and I'm on my way, drop back to the flat after I remember I need a small USB cable, then it's back to Divisidero to catch the bus...#24 Line to Pacific Heights and the Marina districts.

While I was at breakfast I had to take care of two other things. First, I just had to take some ALEAVE to take care of my walking pains. Oh well, I'm not 25 anymore you know. Second was a complete surprise. I got a friend request on Facebook from Jackie Jones. Now I had a familiarity with that name but it had been a long time. Suddenly it hits me that it's a former student. I accept the request and it hits me again how many students I've taught in my life.... In the next few years it will be almost 5000!

I find the stop for the #24 Line bus, climb on with music from my iPod in my ears this time around, and cruise on down Divisidero to Jackson and Fillmore in Pacific Heights. Right at the stop is this little coffee shop named Tully's Coffee.... Ah, perfect place to stop, plan and write. And so here we are....

PART TWO

Fillmore looks like it's kind of a main drag for traffic so I head off on Jackson street. This is the bedroom part of Pacific Heights as I see street after street of upper middle to upper class apartments until I start to get toward the top of the hill. Almost there and at Jackson and Octavia I spy a road with bricks instead of asphalt with huge planters of brick and concrete in the middle of the street. The residences are huge, beautifully manicured, and no doubt worth millions. The flowers growing on the edges of the properties are lovely.... And yet even here I find a place that looks as though it has been in somewhat of a state of abandonment and disrepair.

I decide to head on up Octavia until I reach Washington. Here I find Lafayette Park. The vies are spectacular but the fog has still not burned off yet. People are in the park even now though walking their dogs and letting them play together. A puppy of a German Shepard ambles on over to me. I put out my hand, he sniffs, wags his tail, and off he runs away to play. Cute.

To live in Pacific Heights I'm pretty sure that the closer you get to the park the more you have to have a last name like Rockefeller which I just don't even dream about being able to live in this part of San Francisco.

I wind my way around to Gough, twist on down Broadway for a while, down Laguna, turn on Vallejo, down Franklin to Union. Now this is the part of The City on the border between Pacific Heights and the Marina District that seems to be really hopping! I've strolled up to Van Ness and then down the other way to Webster. Along the way I stop to talk with this Red Cross volunteer named Sarah who is a recent transplant from Chicago. We have a fun time talking about Chicago and her move to San Francisco evidently only 6 months ago. We talk a little bit of the politics of charity and giving. I try to help her out by saying I'll post her picture in her Red Cross vest and asking friends to give before a disaster occurs.... She can't because she's not an "official" representative of the organization. That's kinda hinckey as far as I'm concerned. I say goodbye and I'm off again.

Finally I stop at this little shop called Cocoa Bella Chocolates and have the BEST hot chocolate I have ever had in my life! Seriously, no hyperbole intended. Whipped whole milk, whipped dark chocolate in it with raspberry flavoring.... I'm in food heaven. It's been good so far. Perhaps it's time to stroll down to The Marina for lunch...

PART THREE

Worked my down to The Marina District for lunch. I've never really strolled off the beaten path down here. It's usually been that I go down to the water and muck around down there. But, here I am on Chestnut and Divisidero at a restaurant called A16 having a fabulous time talking with the bartender after eating a great lunch. I get the Zuppa di zucca, a fantastic Italian Red wine and we start talking about how he came out here to San Francisco from Salt Lake City. The discussion invariably turns to how The City has changed his outlook for the year that he's lived here. The talking reminds me of some of my readings and studies on the nature of cities ( see my blogging on The Triumph of the City and The Rise of the Creative Class). Well, it's 2:30 almost and I need to explore some more before getting home to finish the blog and post before my friend gets back from work.

PART FOUR

I decide to stroll down Divisadero to get to the marina proper but as I near Beach Street, I look left and there’s the Palace of Fine Art. Oh holy crap. The Exploratorium is there. If I go there now, I’ll be spending hours being a geek in a geek store. Ah! What the hell. I start down the street and every step takes me closer to the domed colonnade of the Palace grounds where the Exploratorium awaits.

When I get to the Exploratorium, I get my ticket, walk in and just do what geeks do best for the next two hours. Displays on vortecies, making giant smoke, rings, massive lenses, weird doll houses with wacked out perspectives, and too many fun things to even recount here no matter how hard I’d try. It does dawn on me that I should keep track of when the Exploratorium is moving and see if I can somehow finagle my way into getting at least one Honors Science field trip to the place next year.

I look at my watch (dammit) and realize it’s 4:15. Time to leave. I check my iPhone for location and time of the next #22 Line bus and where the nearest bus stop is, then make my way about 8 blocks to Fillmore and Beach. When I get there, I run into this couple of tourists from New York who ask me if this is the #22 bus and the right bus stop and I reassure them it is. We start chit chatting about the differences in the cities and the coasts and they assure me that they have decided they like California much more than New York. I smile inside.

The bus ambles on over the hill as it makes its way to my stop about 25 minutes later at Fillmore and McAllister. Two more excruciating blocks, open the door, come in and collapse. The dogs are really barking this time. E.F. arrives not long after and we start talking, showing photos, and I get him to let me take him out to dinner at Absinthe restaurant down in the Hayes Valley area. We make the reservations and then start seeing if maybe we’ll do Bourbon and Branch tomorrow. It’s good to be with a friend in The City.

The Summer Vacation, Part One

Well, so far the vacation has been very non-hectic. It seems that when I loose the structure of the work day I get pretty inertia filled and sleep a lot. Don’t hate the vacation.... become a teacher! [ Just remember that for every up, there are a more than commensurate number of downs... hey, life’s a balancing act. You have your ups, I have mine.] At this very moment, I am working on my blog, starting the first-draft of Chapter One of my new novel In the Garden of the Warrior Monk, and have finished a series of projects in my garden (said inspiration for the aforementioned book) including plantings, landscaping preliminaries, and the back-yard is now set to be automatically watered along with the water cooling for the roof of my house when I’m home. So far a good, relaxing, and yet productive time.

I still have various projects to get to such as: [1] Getting the robots back into shape for cleaning chores. [2] Finishing the automation of the Front Yard [3] Finishing working on some weapons projects and starting the first forms of my own Bushido Kyo or Kai (I haven’t decided which it should be) [4] and some home projects like finishing the painting the living room and replacing the iMac with a new Intel-based iMac. But I have time... so far no calls for interviews from the boss so we’re still up in the air as to what the department is going to look like at the beginning of the Fall Semester. With the State of California’s Budget, is it any great surprise? And finally, I have a great party for mid-summer planned with Tessa Evans singing for my guests for about 3 hours. I hope everyone I’ve invited can make it. But now, this instant, the novel’s the thing where in I’ll catch the conscience of the King!

The Warrior Monk

Well, here I am once again after a long time of work and meditation with some thoughts and updates on life and living. It's been a very interesting few months to say the least. Where to begin... at the beginning.

I had a great summer with friends and time to myself to read and think of many things. I started reading a lot for one thing.... I had made many promises to myself that I intend to keep and one of them was to catch up on as much reading as I could. I tend to read nonfiction works. That's probably because of my science training. "What's the Matter with Kansas," "SWAY," and "Unscientific America" were just a couple and now I've started reading "Guns, Germs, and Steel" along with "The Moral Landscape" by Sam Harris. I have this drive and need almost to learn as much as I can before it's too late. And then that brings me to another happening... my diving back into my Zen studies.

I've been practicing the Tea Ceremony for almost 8 years now. The more I study it the more the Tea Ceremony (Chado) becomes more associated by me with the Way of Peace. Now this is a bit odd since I am also trained as a warrior in the Martial Arts and one would think that the two ways are antithetical.... I don't think so and that perhaps such a point of view is a bit immature. Who would desire the Way of Peace more than a warrior who knows that his way could mean his end and the demise of others? This lead me to finish reading "Kishido: The Way of the Western Warrior" and that combination of East and West resonated with me. Why? Because I am a combination of the East and the West and though I love the ways of the Japanese quite often, let's be straight, I am not Japanese (Nihonjin de wanae). But what am I then? More on that later...

I had promised myself that I would go back to the martial arts.... but, I have been injured and I was not sure how well I would do physically back at the Aikido dojo. I also have some very seriously different views on life than King Sensei and I thought I should reconsider the way of the sword like Kendo. I finished with Kishido and decided to try a Western martial art. I started Saber Fencing and I have enjoyed it tremendously. I will work my way into doing tournaments I suppose eventually but right now the physicality of practice and of competing against another human being has been great. And then I got a visit from Sam.... and I had been thinking of her. Amazing that she keeps getting more beautiful as the years go by.

It started me thinking of a story I started during the summer which I think is a wishful biography of myself in a sense... a work of fiction that I had not really intended to write but just appeared in my consciousness. I have titled it "In the Garden of the Warrior Monk" and I think it tells me a lot about myself. With the life I have been living, I feel very much like a monk and the sohei were an integral part of Japanese history. I often suppose that if I were alive in Japan in the 12th century I would have been a warrior monk. Interestingly enough, though my story has Zen in it, the Zen sects of Japan were not warrior monks but I have a chance to use some writer's prerogative to change that a little bit. The story revolves around a teacher-student relationship between the mysterious new teacher in a rural town in southern California central valley who had lived there before, become a monk, then returned to teach and a young female student who is of a prominent family but is mentally anguished and abused. The two meet and he teachers her life lessons as they tend his garden.... the garden of the warrior monk.

More to come...

Some Current Events

So after some time to cogitate about coming events I came to a realization that it was time for some more blogging. But what to write about... Ah, current events... Current events for me and NOT just the world.

To begin, I have been getting ready for a great (hopefully great) party at my house this weekend which I have titled "Scotch and Sonatas." It is pretty straight forward. About 16 to 18 friends gather at my house for two things: 1. To learn about the great single malt scotches that the land of my ancestors have to offer (at this point its 16 single malts for tasting from the 5 major regions of Scotland) and how they are produced and 2. To enjoy some classical, new age, and jazz music performed by yours truly. As a result I have been increasing by a few bottles my collection of Scotches (hell, I even got a deal by accident when I realized after leaving that I somehow lucked out and got 3 bottles of Scotch for the price of 3 at the liquor store... providence smiling upon me I guess ). I have been practicing a lot as well and I think I have at least enough music for an hour and a half with some breaks in-between. I hope everybody enjoys the performance.

Next has been my time in the garden... making up for LOST time. I used to spend a great deal of time in my garden but when work started again, I lost the desire to be outside. I guess I went through a serious phase of caving when the weather started getting colder and work was just a bit overwhelming. But NOW, I have been back to putting the garden back into shape with new plantings of roses, mini-roses, and ornamental grasses and fuchsias to round things out. It will take me some time to get it all together in the backyard before I can start on the side of the house mostly because of the reduction in pay the teachers in my district are going through due to the economic times we're going through right now. Even with that, give me a few months and the roses should all be looking good, the fuchsias will be planted, and most if not all of the ground cover should be in so that I can finish the season with the making of lots of hanging pots for pansies for the fall and winter. If it works out the way I want, more parties should be going on at my place later in the year.

Finally, I hope to get the house and the computer network running the way I want... BUT, the purchasing of new equipment has had a major setback as planned. Again the economy has put a major kibosh on the whole process as I had planned it (complete with 3D timeline and calendar warnings and entries). Oh well, I just have to reevaluate the timeline, change the calendar entries, At least I still have a job is the best I can do when the disappointment of the delay in plans hits me... but I have to keep a balanced perspective. It's either that or risk going nuts..... later.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPad]

Who will speak for Phoebe?

I don’t write in my blog as a daily practice. I write when the issue or related topic moves me to write. This time I feel compelled to write. I have no other real weapon to use for the sake of Justice. And so, I write.

On January 14 of this year, a young irish girl who had just moved to this country ended seeming months of torment, harassment, and seemingly endless physical and psychological abuse from a self-appointed nobility of students at her school by hanging herself in her closet. She was 15. Her lifeless body was discovered by her 12 year old sister. But finally, very finally, the abuse and the anguish and the mental and physical torment had stopped. Was it a permanent solution to a temporary problem? Have you ever been bullied? Until you have, don’t judge. I know... I was Phoebe once. How long can you handle the abuse and torment from people who seem to be immune to consequences? How often have you told the adults around you only for the abuse to get worse? Who will stand up for you? Who will speak for Phoebe?

In his Boston Globe article on the death of Phoebe Nora Mary Prince, writer Kevin Cullen writes of the abuse the young lady took at the hands of self-appointed “In” crowd girls who partied like it was 1999 2 days after Phoebe’s death, continued to bad-mouth her, intimidate other students with impunity when they were interviewed about it, and act with complete remorselessness and callousness that they had nothing to do with her death . How long could you handle the abuse? We train our soldiers to resist torture to the best of their ability but we always think of physical torment not just the mental aspects of abuse. How much abuse could you take before you had to make it stop? Stop it any way you thought possible... event if it was permanent... too permanent. Have you experienced such torment and abuse? No? Go ahead... try it sometime then tell me with a straight face that “those things happen when you’re in school and you just have to learn to live with them.” Go ahead and suffer through drinks “spilled” on you every day and your head and body slammed into lockers each day. Go ahead and feel that you have to walk the other way and avoid being around certain “It” crowds of students because to go past them invites more abuse, ridicule, and physical and psychological torment. Go ahead and live in an almost constant state of fear and self-loathing that seems to never have an end to it. Go ahead and tell the adults and watch nothing change but in fact get worse for being a ’snitch.’ I hate that word... snitch... it’s a cowardly word. The reality is that there’s no such thing as a snitch but only people who are too cowardly to do the right thing and use the force of authority to make the situation better and stop the abuse. Cowards... the adults are cowards. And as much as the students responsible for the abuse should be held responsible, the adults are just as culpable. Perhaps even more so. Phoebe did nothing wrong from all accounts except cross the often invisible line of clicks, the hidden lines of the cast system of high school to date a senior... and then the Mean Girls,who are at every school, decided to make her pay for her insolence. They say they did nothing wrong. They say they aren’t responsible. I’m sure they have parents and lawyers even on their side to be their advocates and speak for them. Who speaks for the abused students they treat like serfs who live to serve them at their beck and call? Who will stop the abuse? Who will stop the bullying? Who will speak for Phoebe?

I teach. I teach in Middle School. I have for 23 years. I can’t count the number of times I have heard people exclaim,“Oh! You teach 8th grade? That was such a hard time for me. I don’t know how I survived it.” Yes, it’s true that it is a hard time... the awkwardness of growth, hormones, trying to fit in, wanting people to like you, trying to be special... but not too special. It’s like the Japanese saying, “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down,” was meant for Middle and High School. And so putting up with mean kids is just a right of passage in school; we all have to put up with it. Really? You try it sometime and then come back and tell me how you feel and how well you sleep and how every step in the crowded halls of the school fills you with dread. Every step leads you through another level of your own purgatory... or perhaps levels of hell. Ask Phoebe Prince how she felt... oh, that’s right, you can’t. She is dead.

What do we do? How can we change this virus of ill behavior and tacitly accepted abuse? We take advice from Confucius. We have two ways to proceed: We can sit students down and attempt to educate them of the consequences of their actions and hope the lessons take hold. Or, we can punish the perpetrators and the adults whose non-fessence allowed this malignancy to destroy the body of education over and over and over.... Until the abuse stops or they perpetrators leave and their parents have to pay for private education as the penalty for not teaching your children well. That’s how we handle the perpetrators. Then the adults must be dealt with. Hold the administrators, counselors, and teachers responsible for not reporting and then dealing with this. “But the state’s laws don’t give us the power to act on this,” the administrators will say. That’s a vapid and hollow response.... I might say even cowardly. It’s amazing the power a principle has to deal with abusive students. Its time they grew a pair and started dealing with it when students, teachers, and counselors bring it to their attention. Your job as an administrator is not as valuable as the life of a young person. Any other response is cowardly. Finally we need to have district attorneys willing to prosecute abusers and those who help facilitate their behavior: students and their parents. Use the statutes, show a spine, make examples of them in public whether you can win the case outright or not and make it financially and socially costly for such behavior to occur without consequences. Then make the district attorney act as the law allows regardless of the politics or let them suffer the consequences as well and vote them out of office. It may not stop all the abuse but will hopefully bring a modicum of justice to the abused. Thats right. Not a right of passage but abuse. And we in this society must stand up and say, “No more,” to all those involved. Make them pay the price of their actions. In the end, this Mean Girl crew will have plenty of defenders to fend off their attackers... but who will speak for Phoebe?

Follow-up March 31:

It turns out that the outrage over Phoebe's treatment has made some progress. 9 students have been charged with crimes as a result of their behavior in the Phoebe Prince abuse case. Please read the following article from the New York Times.

Anno Lumina - "The Year of Light"

I had been contemplating for the better part of 4 to 5 months what this new year would be like for me. Of course the answer is that it all depends on what I do and how I handle myself; truisms have a way of slapping you in the face at the most in opportune times but none-the-less it made me consider how I was going to handle this coming circuit around the Sun.

Light. I chose Light (proper noun) as my theme. I have always been fascinated by the time of the Enlightenment and consider myself a student and, to a certain extent, a product of those times. Science found some of it's greatest minds at this time and the notion education, exploration, erudition mixed with a certain type of genteel approach to relationships has always been an inspiration to me. I started off my day as usual with my computers and newspaper. But now, I started the day with Beethoven's 7th Symphony filling the house with a hopeful joy and optimism. I have made commitments to myself that I plan to keep. Projects have been planned that I plan to keep fulfilled and brought to fruition. I have neglected my health both physically, mentally, and emotionally and that I plan to rectify. I can say that every serious resolution at the beginning of a new year that I have made in the last decade I have kept. Perhaps that is achievement enough for most people... not me. I plan to keep that record for as long as my breath passes my lips and the light shines into my eyes and my mind.

This is Anno Lumina - The Year of Light. I'll listen to Beethoven all day, work on the computers, practice the violin, do the chores with glee, and bring the light of knowledge and understanding into my house. I will make it truly the Glen Anam - Valley of the Soul. But not some vapid, hollow notion of soul - a life force which is separate from the body. No. The body and mind are the soul - the seat of intelligence, of understanding, of wisdom, of light and enlightenment. I will open my house to like minded people and make it a place of light and learning. I will send light from my mind to the very best of my abilities. Rather ironically I am reminded of the quote from the Gospel of Luke - Illuniare his quis in tenebris et in umbra mortis sedent: "To bring light to those who dwell in darkness and sit in the shadow of death."

Ave atque Vale - Hale and Farewell

The Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See

So I'm listening to D.J. Grothe and the Point of Inquiry podcast (and trying to catch up on all the podcasts I've missed when school started again). Then I come across the one titled "What is the Worst That Can Happen?' and it inspires me to go to YouTube to see this guys video. You watch this video and you come to realize that practically all of the arguments that are used to deny Global Climate Change are the equivalent of whistling in the dark to keep the robbers away while walking down a street you should never have taken. Greg Craven is a high school science teacher from Oregon and an activist on Global Warming. He makes a set of arguments that just are not easy to try and shoot down. But don't take my word for it. Watch for yourself and try to shoot it down... this is in fact what Mr. Craven asks us to do... so do it:

Oh Brave New World...

So I'm done with blogging today (or so I thought) and decide to sit down and watch the news and 60 Minutes to keep informed. Then, after and interview with President Obama, they come on with this article about 'regenerative medicine.' Now I'm somewhat familiar with the ability of a certain subset of vertebrates to be able to regenerate limbs like salamanders and newts and the tails of some lizards, but not in humans... until, possibly, now. Most of the time when the damage to a human body is too great even for sort of "shop mechanics" surgical techniques, we are left only with amputation of a damaged limb or the need for the transplantation of whole organs (heart, liver, etc.). Then there are all the people who can't get organs in time and die while waiting. If we just had a way to trick the body into regenerating that tissue then many people might not face the amputations or total organ failures to their doom. But we haven't figure out how to do that yet... until, perhaps, now. I ask all my readers to click on the link and to take the time to watch the episode of 60 Minutes. It reminds me of that quote from Shakespeare and the Tempest: "Oh brave new world that hath such people in it." I suggest listening to the segment while listening to "Shapeshifter" from the album Octagon by the group Dilate for the full effect. Check iTunes please.

Influenza - The How's and Why's

So I get home, plop down in front of the computers, check my Tweets and Facebook lists, and there is a link to the best article I have seen in weeks from a science point of view; thanks to Brenda on Facebook. So, I click the link to the NPR story and see the best video rendition of what a virus does to the body. I'm gonna use this with my students. I know it will induce a whole series of questions but it's important that they understand the workings of a virus and get out the their heads some of the mystery surrounding how disease works in the human body.

Thanksgiving Ruminations

It was a wonderful time with family and friends (though many of my friends are with their families right now and so things are not hopping as much with friends until they make their ways back to Sacramento). My parents are in good shape, my niece is growing into a wonderful young lady, and my nephews fiance is all a twitter about her impending marriage. And here I am... I'm the dependable uncle, son, brother whose life is ... rather unknown to them in actuality. And I've been given to thinking about the upcoming new year.

There seems to be a convergence of events ready to occur with me... I've been looking for a life's partner and so far nothing. My work is coming along but I hate certain duties of being a department boss. And I have caught myself realizing that I'm getting much closer to 50, my plans for house, computers, music are all starting to come together, and to add more interesting stuff... it is the Year of the Tiger next year. "My Year" in a chinese manner of speaking. The start of the school year left me a bit drained of energy and now that it's approaching the 1/2 way mark I am just now starting to get the hang of it. I'm hoping that the upcoming year will be my Annos Luminos - my 'Year of Light' and that I can make plans now that will all come to fruition.... more thoughts later. Thanks for letting me vent.

Refusing Flu Shots? Maybe You're a Denialist...

Listening to NPR as I do every day in the morning I heard a great discussion between Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon and Michael Specter a reporter for The New Yorker magazine concerning his new book just out titled Denialism. In the talk he discusses how a group of island residents have stopped vaccinating their children against childhood diseases and how 40% of the children at a school in Marina del Rey got exceptions for vaccinations. His arguments are cogent and timely and make us confront the way we see the world. I am constantly confronted in my work with the insanity that parents and media foist upon our young people (" Is the world really going to end in 2012?" or "Is it true that we came from monkeys?".... Oh come on people!). But Michael Specter's point boils down to the threat that our irrational and denialist thought has for our well being and our continued existence. But why should I try to state the points when the author can do that for himself:

More Technology with Google

So I get this e-mail from my dad today. Now my dad loves to keep track of the rumor mill surrounding Apple and the Macintosh computers and the Mac OS platform. Today he sends me this picture of an article from MacRumors about the new Google Navigation App for the Motorola DROID phone (the app is currently in BETA mode but still sounds cool). The article tells about how Google hopes to have this free app be a great part of the mobile OS that it calls Andoid which comes standard as part of the DROID phones when they come out in the next few weeks. This is a competitor to the Apple iPhone but I think it will be more different than competitive to the iPhone since the interfaces will be different to a degree. YouTube has a great explanation video for the Google Navigation App and can do a better job of explaining it than I ever could:

Monday Morning Musings

I'm just sitting at the table listening to NPR about the Comic Con in San Diego while thumbing through Facebook and following my Twitter feeds. So, I start reading about the changing tactics about getting Gay Marriage legal again in California. It reminded me of the only Republican I've read or listened to so far this year (and I used to be a Republican when I first started voting then quickly came to my senses and found out that I HATE political parties... sorry but I just can't drink their Kool-aide no matter how hard I try... I'm just to independent a thinker): Megan McCain. I know, I know. You read that and do what my dog does when I send a nonsequitor his way; cock his head to the side and give and audible 'urhh?' But she has reminded me that if change is to happen it typically comes as the generations change. Go see this little article she wrote about posing for the "No H8 Campaign"

I also like that she told 'Joe the Plumber' that he is a 'dumb-ass' and just ripped Ann Coulter in her blogs. I'll defend anyone who speaks her mind like that! I have hope for the future more than I did before.

One small step...

I've been watching the newscasts and history channel and other channels presenting really cool programming on the this the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 landing on the Moon. It was really great to watch a re-enactment of the moon launch up through the splash down 5 days later. I remember where I was that day even though I was only 7. My family and I were driving back from my great aunts cabin in the Santa Cruz mountains and so I couldn't see the landing but we were listening to the radio as live broadcasts were going on even on the radio and not just television. I still have several of the newspapers that my father bought for that day and I hope to get some type of plastic protector for them (I think more for sentimental reasons than anything else... I know I'll never part with them until I meet my end). I suppose the only thing I find distressing is that such a phenomenal achievement will get only a day or two of some newscasts and most people will go about there way and then promptly forget all about it while someone like Michael Jackson got weeks of seemingly non-stop coverage after he passed away. People's priorities and sense of history is totally screwed up....

Concoctions 1

I have been having fun with my friends lately and we've had a great time having our weekly Sunday Brunch. Last Sunday, while waiting for a table at Capitol Garage, we all decided to walk over to Zocalo's. It was a great idea. I love Mexican cuisine and they also serve one of my favorite mixed drinks; Death in the Afternoon. Originally from Ernest Hemingway (as the legend goes), I discovered it recently and just can't get enough. But as time has gone on, I decided, "Why don't I make one of my own?" and give it a cool name? Hey, if Ernest can come up with a good one, so can I. Here we go:

Death after Midnight

(working title)

Take the following in this order and put into a fluted champagne glass

1/2 oz. Chambourg Raspberry liqueur

1/2 oz. Pomegranate Juice

Fill remainder with Gran Spumante

Enjoy (But note it is very sweet so if you don't do that kind of drink, pass on this one)

Mind Control and the Force

So I'm watching (or I should say catching up on) my viewing of my favorite technology blog, GeekBrief.tv, and listening to Cali Lewis talk about a bunch of stuff (mostly for me it's ho hum) when she talks about this toy which uses "mind control." Mind control? WTF? So I start watching the rest of the blog and she shows this toy called The Force Trainer which is made by Uncle Milton Industries (with Mattel coming out with a competitor toy around the same time) and which should be out near the end of the summer costing about $130. Bull Pucky! I couldn't believe my eyes.... The toy reminds me of the mind control trainer from that old sci-fi flick from the 50's called The Forbidden Planet which had an alien race called the Krell who had developed a machine with no mechanisms for control... the mind did all the controlling (if you've never seen it, check it out on iTunes sometime).

Essentially, you put on a headset that monitors your Beta Wave functioning and as you concentrate a ball rises up a tube and the more you concentrate the higher up the tube it goes. The Beta Waves of your brain are the waves produced when your brain is in an intense state of concentration. the technology was evidently first developed by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) who are the folks that gave us such things as GPS and Night Vision but is now being used commercially by a company known as NeuroSky. The potential applications are almost inconceivable:

All the world's a stage...

So a couple of days ago I was sitting at the Naked Lounge with my friend Steve and we were just shooting the breeze when the Muse hit me square between the eyeballs. I started listening to the Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony" (which also happens to be my iPhone ringtone) and images started coming into my mind. I then started searching the net like a maniac for images that had an emotional impact on me as I looked at them. I wasn't sure of any one theme but more for the feelings that it elicited in me as a means of my understanding how I see the world. Once I had started, it's as if the small project took on a life of it's own... how many images I like could I put into the span of time that the "Bitter Sweet Symphony" would play. A few hours later, I had an essentially finished project. I leave it to you, my dear readers, to be the judge of what it means to you: The World's a Stage

Belated Reminder...

So why is the date of June 28th so important to the LGBT community in the United States? I had wondered about this when I heard someone mention the Stonewall Riots. Riots? When? Where? I had heard of the Madeshene Society (spelling) which was an underground organization of homosexual men in the first half of the 20th century... But what were the Stonewall Riots? Here's where Wikipedia comes to the rescue and I spent about an hour reading about the riots in New York on June 28, 1969 in the Greenwhich Village area after a police raid on a gay nightclub and bar (incidentally run by the mafia) where the patrons had had enough and fought back against the police. I ask you to read it as well: Stonewall Riots

I must apologize to my readers for not having written this blog at the appropriate time which would have been yesterday.... my only defense is to say that friends, lack of sleep, and a house in California without central AC has taken my attention other places than writing. I also point out a phrase that my father once told me and it has stuck with me since I was a young man: You can only oppress and marginalize people so much before they fight back. For all my LGBT friends, this is your time and we will gain you the rights that you have been denied since time immemorial.

Of Human Reasoning and A.I.

9:07 a.m.

Chris Anderson is the Editor of "Wired" magazine which is usually a good read if you're a member of the tribe of geek as I am. He has started a new video blog on MSNBC titled IT/IO and has some great interviews with people who are leaders in the information technology community. One of the more interesting interview is one I stumbled upon at the MSNBC website and it's with Marvin Minsky who is well known as an american cognitive scientist at MIT and the co-founder if it's Laboratory on Artificial Intelligence. I found the couple of small videos fascinating especially when he discusses what he is interested in in the study of how humans think and how he distinguishes human activity from activities that can be found in the behavior of all animals of a certain complexity. Take a look at the two interview segments:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy