last year. no the year this is the last day of. this is the path i am walking in my dreams.

interesting shot: it was way underexposed. i used brightness adjustment, converted it to 32 bit, then back to 16 bit and used adaptive to tone map it.

as i am sure i have said before it keeps me off the streets. so did the ice and wind and cold. 

sun is out now, i've dug out the truck, can probably make it out after another hour of sun. run some overdue errands. 

in the last two days i've helped push 4 or 5 vehicals over a tiny rise in the road that stops a lot of folks.

a shot from yesterday, i didn't take many, it was pretty cold.

still is.

yesterday, christmas, outside my front door. spent the day alone, cleaning stuff, working on a few movies, and a cd that popped out of nowhere when i looked at some recording and mixing i'd done during this month. attempted to work with air dried clay, my 2nd attempt, did not turn out as i planned. phones were inoperable most of the day. today plan to keep on keeping on.

good morning, good month, good year, good era, good to know you. suggested bumper sticker for next year, from xmas advice given to me by neighbor kathy:

have fun with other people

never can quite keep straight in my mind which is the solstice, but if it was last night i spent it in a yurt at my 3rd cousin myria's and charlies. almost balmy weather, especially compared to the cold spell of last month, week, whenever it was. expect to be here christmas day, ruminating, brooding, meditating, stepping out of the picture frame, or maybe jnust taking a break.

What's wrong with the sun? - space - 14 June 2010 - New Scientist

What's wrong with the sun? - space - 14 June 2010 - New Scientist: "What's wrong with the sun?"

New Scientist TV: Going global: Watch how solar eruptions are connected

New Scientist TV: Going global: Watch how solar eruptions are connected: "Until now it hasn't been possible to prove a link between numerous events of solar activity, although the idea that they are linked somehow has been around for decades. To come to their conclusions, the team studied data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and twin STEREO spacecraft, and plotted the events they saw on a map of the sun's magnetic fields"

things to do after christmas: shop drop & slop. transformation or bust. head for higher ground. learn sanskrit.

i'm not a big christmas person, considering it mainly another commercial enterprise, it's dubious sole value being a kind of test. today my printer broke and i switched to a back up, swapping ink cartridges etc. two trips to staple's, because i have the habit of making christmas cards and as in past years was running late. the radio said it was two degrees around 4 o'clock, and all in all it resembled late january in a lot of ways. i'd like to say something about the obsessiveness that drive's a day like today but really don't know what to say except the occasional bouts i experience on some projects leaves a real mess behind.

monday morning, an icon for the winter. heard sometime last night, or maybe dreamt it, no matter where you live in the USA you don't go outdoors for 2 - 3 months, either summer or winter. today i am not going outdoors. doctor's appt. at 11 :30, but doubtful i'll make it. nothing pressing except life which includes some sort of xmas card to make and mail. on the up side, i struggled into town sat. to buy long underwear, first pair i've needed since the 80's when i lived in higher mountains and wood heat, but neo-old age finally changed that. sat nite saw a few old friends, a quiet bunch for the most part, unlike years way passed.

grandaughter natalie. last week in chapel hill. here in asheville we're not snowed in. yet. but pretty cold.

just got back from the triangle no not bermuda visited with children grandchildren & friends. while i was there my old friend jeff sloan died from non-hodgkin's lymphoma last sat. nite/sunday morning.  i'm still in shock.

 my dad is doing well after a fall that onto concrete over the holidays. my sister drove him back from phoenix to prescott straight to doc where stitches were removed. has a bruise slowly descending from hips to feet and can't get around easily. i'm thankful that sister jane is with him i hope for a few more days.

was surprised to find yesterday that he was being set up w/ a wireless and skype, an undertaking that must have been started earlier because ISP was already established and spoke w/ jane vis skype while i was scurrying around getting ready to head east this morning. a very knowledgeable neighbor is helping him set this thing up who apparently works with older folks regularly and may make all the difference in the world. i expect and hope he approches this new trick for old dog incrementally, he has a lot of healing to do before he wades in. potential problems are eyesight - bigger 2nd monitor? - and hearing - he has a gadget that transmits tv audio to headphones, something like that? - but all in good time.

i am ready to load truck and vamoose, realistically speaking should be on the road 10:30 or 11, puts me at jim's @ 2:30, nicol's later when she gets back from work. will email right before i leave.

packing today, cleaning up, hit the road (briefly) early tomorrow.

Get Better At Math By Disrupting Your Brain: Scientific American:
 "If the brain functions by optimizing behavior, it might be possible to worsen numerical competence by disrupting parietal function, but it should not be possible to enhance it that way."

had a very pleasant xgiving w/ richard debbie tom erin. spectacular easy walk. black friday at home, snug, evening visions. sat i discovered that there was no heat, and as the day grew darker and colder with the help of dave established some mechanical malfunction (you could hear it click and clack) (it's natural gas.) anyway it's fixed and i hope i can - finally - get to chatham county for a visit. 

another one from the archives believe it was shot in RAW format. had a spectacular black friday ensconced at home talking to dreams. today and tomorrow bustling around preparing for trip to chapel hill monday. reworking my online presence beginning with picture gallery, got lots of new ones, but it's proving to involve a bit too many tweaks so will not be up until i get back.

nicely written piece by a subject of study. it is  encouraging that that this domain is beginning to be taken as legitimate material by the scientific, medical and academic institutions:

High Light: When a Psilocybin Study Leads to Spiritual Realization: Scientific American

one of the longest string of beautiful days i can remember. of course i can't remember much.

haven't got in it though, except for quick steps ou the door. took the above shot yesterday across the street.

i used to feel frustrated at not being outdoors. still do i guess. but i've been busy puttering inside, still groping my way towards the state where i can quickly locate anything in the house and use it without stumbling around wondering what happened to it.

veteran's day somewhere near south toe river, nc

much to do about nothing list from sunday.

‘Infinity of Nations’ - Slide Show - NYTimes.com

the good, the true, the beautiful

‘Infinity of Nations’ - Slide Show - NYTimes.com

Aquarius

By Rick Levine

Your key planet Uranus will keep you excited all day today, even if you have unexciting responsibilities to handle. The most mundane tasks can become fun if you change your perspective. Being focused helps you to get your work out of the way quickly so you have time to expand your horizons pursuing other interests that bring you even more satisfaction.


perspective
True understanding of the relative importance of things; a sense of proportion

first pass at grand-daughter natalie's photo. gotta warm it up.

picture taken this morning at charlie and myria's.

heard the first christmas jingle of the year this week on the radio.

i think i will begin to insert these daily pix on facebook. why not. i have repaired camera in hand after missing out on fall color, but may get some today when i visit myria and charlie in hendersonville. cousin bob & susie flew in yesterday to visit them and new grandson.

Right Wing Radio Duck

thanks and a tip of the hat to scrutiny hooligans.

take a look. BBC video.

coming soon: got my dropped camera back after 4 weeks in the shop, so look out there will be a freshly taken visual soon in this space.

rainy this morning, nice. today is my big push to organize all papers, manuals, billz, i put up a painting station, building up an appetite for large acrylics, still modifying or thinking about modifying pc system so all audio outputs thru soundcard, get packages together to send, working on end of life paperwork - ie DNR stuff. by end of week intention is to have this stuff done and move on.

Tibetans in China Protest Plans to Curb Their Language - NYTimes.com:

"Thousands of Tibetan students in western China have protested since Tuesday against proposals to curb or eliminate the use of the Tibetan language in local schools, according to reports from Tibet advocacy groups and photographs and video of the protests circulating on the Internet."

the known effects of an indigenous language disappearing include the disappearance of worlds inhabited by the speakers. if one considers world-view to determine or equal the experienced reality of that world.

i believe that a similar loss is occurring to the world that i was born in. the language and the world that fit so snugly within it has become a liquid circus of morphing meanings, and the multiple choice discourse we are the result of a language being lost.

held my nose and voted yesterday. today is massive cleanup day, find manuals etc i need, try and figure out how to use new throwaway fone i bought to replace broken cell, finish fixing audio input output so i can get back to mixing music on computer and on and on and on. at some point get around to fixing online portfolio which is about a year out of date.

spent the last two days in and out of town taking care of this & that. voted.

this "world" truly a black swan. no-one knows. mad scramble to oblivion.

there were many books written about indigenous people's losing their language and the consequent loss of the world they previously inhabited. i and you are in a similar position today. hard to express, but something is gone.

got back to aville sat nite, uneventful trip full of surprises, too quick, too much, not enough, but good to briefly see friends, children and grandchildren. at this point in our story when the lights are blazing nonsense and the density of foibles are sinking the ship, nostalgia is beside the point. give to your friends the love you have left and leave yourself behind.

i hope i get my camera back soon, and i very much have respect for mr. n. young's latest, le noise, which says more to me than the last 12 months of ny times combined. i'll spend this week chasing my tale as usual, reluctantly tangling with audio on PC and maybe work in some groceries.

work in progress aren't we all

leaving for chapel hill and environs this morning. my horoscope looks good. the first bird of dawn flew infront of my heading to the right, so the roman auguries appear favorable. i'll post here when i can. should be back later in the week.

Too much physical energy can be difficult to handle today, but it also may be exactly what you need to get the job done. You have natural reserves of willpower that you can draw on when you need them. However, you could be too aggressive in a situation that doesn't actually require much force. Knowing when to lighten up can be your greatest strength now.

By Rick Levine

leaving in the morning for the flatlands. i'll try and leave early, say 8 AM, which would put me stopping at jim's about 1 PM. if as history has clearly shown i get out by 12 noon i'll stop same place around 4. then on to nicole's which is nearby. after that don't have a clue.

pic done this morning just to see if i could still do one. been busy winterizing house, ramping up for short trip to triangle. finally quit netflix, never did watch breathless. looking forward to viewing mint julep, small independent film done by kathy fehl and friends.

something to see (and hear):

still moving slowly. i think i've got chronic disaffection syndrome. everything takes soooo long. except time. turned my camera in for repair, an extremely good shop. also got short repaired in lap steel in exchange for broken resonator guitar.

and it's about to storm aftert a very hot day. i can hear thunder. over & out.

today is a day to feel tired and - shudder - old. i don't mind but i don't like it. above is a find from old hard drive.

dropped my camera last evening. bummer. broke. i'm not going to fool with it for awhile, maybe it's fixable.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/the-future-of-reading-2/

"This suggests that the act of reading observes a gradient of awareness. Familiar sentences printed in Helvetica and rendered on lucid e-ink screens are read quickly and effortlessly. Meanwhile, unusual sentences with complex clauses and smudged ink tend to require more conscious effort, which leads to more activation in the dorsal pathway. All the extra work – the slight cognitive frisson of having to decipher the words – wakes us up."

in a day or two i will quit changing objects into space, ie getting rid of stuff i don't need or want. it has been quite an experience, i learned a lot about both myself and organizing, intuitively creating categories (like misc.). the early adapters of living with little will win.

above is my friend dr. j. in his lab of momentary blips.

can't believe i last poted friday. id like to say i flew to rio for global hula hoop play off and then took a side trip to bali to hang-glide. but i won't and i didn't. i'm letting things roll to a stop so i can ... do something else.

today's offering to realitiy. setting out for walk to pick up truck. it will be a hike but what the heck.

the ongoing struggle to extricate myself from the "stuff" i am surrounded by in this age of compulsory consumption unearthed this gem the other day. it is a report card i received in the 7th grade, then called "jr high" in alexandria va.

to me it represents both the importance of education and the shadow that goes by that name. it was the only "d" i ever received  before i took symbolic logic in collage but that is another story.

many years later i see that it indicates ripping the youth i was away from the stale routine i was experiencing and slamming me into apprenticeship of the visual arts, were there such a thing, where it is possible i would have woken up.

BTW the subject was algebra.

Psychoactive drugs: From recreation to medication - health - 01 September 2010 - New Scientist:

"The classification of LSD as schedule 1 was a mistake born of 'ignorance and taboo', says Amanda Feilding, director of the Beckley Foundation, a charitable trust that promotes investigation into consciousness and its modulation, based in Oxford, UK."

last 24 hour a bit out of the ordinary whatever that is these days. made doc appt in am,  leg checks out fine, blood pressure right on, and got a flu shot. changing gears on truck felt a little balky so i decided to check it out. got home, clutch reservoir was fine, and lit out for bank, grocery store, library, and a stop at mechanics to talk about clutch but lost all gears on busy street, slight hill, traffic backed up behind me, managed to slide backwards around a corner to get out of the way, put on flashers, and walked/got ride to truck doctor. phoned wrecker, and got back to truck etc. neglected to bring my travel kit, quick carbs for that sinking feeling when hypoglycemia comes slithering in,  no cell phone etc.

with help of fone book managed to contact nearby friend who got me back home. thank you steve.

that night i couldn't sleep and tried listening to taped book which was gratifying because for some time now i have not been able to read or watch visuals late in the day. book was the english patient which i knew nothing about, but found with eyes closed i could tune in and listened to entire book. then, maybe because of flu shot and maybe new medication i have been taking, a whole world of restless endless dreams.

spent the next day trying to get to grocery store which i did thanks to friend richard, and landed at greenlife,  square block organic megastore where i was stuck for an hour or two among the glamorous and beautiful, long legged women, legs ornately tattooed, dripping gold and turquoise,  gray ponytails streaming behind gleaming mercedes,  musicians hobnobbing and endless bumper sticker in the overflowing parking lot.

got home, a good meal and a phone call from my sister telling me my cousin linda had died.

another day, another month.

life is a surprise: anything can happen to anyone any time, no?

got home and listened to love freedom and death by melllancamp torreturn to the world where ther is no success like failure, and failure's no success at all.

In Search of Time | Wired Science| Wired.com
about time.

work in progress. it will not look like it does now when i finish.

artists today seem to be encouraged to work in series. rather than the way i work which i suppose i could "legitimize" by describing it as "non-linear". or maybe not.

i am currently amused or amazed by the almost concret reification of some of the memes weaving thru the cultural air streams: they're everywhere.

the coming singularity catastrophe or return to the pre manifest, the questionable morph of facts into blips winking on and off, the check box powerpoint redefinition of "human experience", the unexpressed but totally dominant notion of "brand" as signifier of meaning and value, the reduction and displacement of individual human personality by the talking point, cause and effect displaced by proximity and so forth.

something wore out. escapement escaped.

this is new, folks, if i may still use that word.

theme parks of the mind await your entrence. you have nothing to lose but your self, but then what else is new?

this mornign in the backyard. still on my clean up summer long project. whatever stuff not moved out by the end of august.

i'm so tired i can hardly type. it's almost 8 pm. i'm crashing earlier each nite, something to do w/ the sun, metabolism, and the longest most tropical dog days ever.

otherwise i'm fine as a frog's hair.

getting up earlier too. the best hours of my day: cool morning mist, gray and moody, sun not yet up.

fresh from dreams: roaring shifting crowds and structures, some attempt at getting somewhere drowned by collapsing mixed up events and intentions. on and on, around and around, no end in sight.

please return star sirius from whatever erratic cycle that has you in your grip.

the butterflies have been dancing for nine weeks now i think.

expression throttled in the wind. constricted language. vaporized public domain. dottle everywhere.

frog's hair.

visited tucker and a few of his old peace corps crowd yesterday. pleasant comfortable folks loaded with slides from india and nepal, from then and now. hope to visit again.

 got me to thinking what i was doing back then and fished out this photo of a visit back to the places i was roaming during that time. above is a photo from a recent visit to mount analogue where i spent part of a wasted youth

foto taken one hour ago here at entropy arms. i'd really like to sleep tonight.