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 at some point get around to fixing online portfolio which is about a year out of date.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.

i HDR'd this image while updating windows on other machine. (they are machines). that meant i had plenty of time.

continuing  to slim down stuff. yard full of tools, boxes, clothes etc (yesterday).  a milestone of sorts in the past day or so. when i found my camera charger awhile back while engaged in house emptying, i immediately took out battery and put in spare to charge it. worked out fine. except i simultaneously lost the non-spare sony battery, which holds a lot more charge.  yesterday i found it: it was carefully stashed under dobro instruction book i haven't used much.

so as of now there is nothing that i know of that is lost.

not bad for an addle-pated old man with a few short circuits.

TVKim- Watching: Kim's Picks- The amazing Blue Angels

TVKim- Watching: Kim's Picks- The amazing Blue Angels: "THE AMAZING BLUE ANGELS"

mmmm... nice try but but redo is in order.

Tell Google: Don't be evil.

Tell Google: Don't be evil.:

"This deal would change all of that by allowing Google and Verizon to pick what websites you can see over others. It would undermine the open Internet upon which hundreds of millions of people rely."

Book review: You Are Not a Gadget, by Jaron Lanier - washingtonpost.com

i'm about 2/3 through this book. it is a must-read in my opinion.

Frontal Cortex | Wired Science | Wired.com: "But once highly safe and effective cognitive enhancers are developed – as they almost surely will be – the question will arise whether they should be added to the water, like fluoride, or our cereals, like folate."

Facebook, YouTube, Skype, ‘Mad Men’ Style: "Because it’s Friday; Brazilian ad agency Moma has created the above ’60s style ads for web services Facebook, YouTube and Skype. Part of the “Everything Ages Fast” campaign for Maximidia Seminars, the ads are visually stunning and the copy is eerily evocative (“Skype, The fabulous voice system able to put your family together”). Or maybe that’s just the quirky Portuguese to English translation?

In any case, I can’t wait to see what they cobble together for Twitter (“Twitter, sing like a bird with magical updating!”) . More Internet meets vintage below."

Google falling prey to search-engine tricks John Dvorak's Second Opinion - MarketWatch

Google falling prey to search-engine tricks John Dvorak's Second Opinion - MarketWatch: "BERKELEY, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- From its inception, I thought Google was a winner of a company and a great stock. But I did not anticipate its leadership in search would wane due to Web sites gaming the system and driving Google traffic away.

Their chicanery is called SEO for 'software-engine optimization.' Right now, the tricks and techniques are targeting Google -- and they're working."

took this shot yesterday using raw format. one of the myriad of tnew developments i'm playing around with. today will be in the low 90's maybe and not cool tonight so i'm spending the day locked in my AC module and beleive i'll take it easy. this week i've been sorting thru old painting, drawings, photos etc. and am starting to see some progress. goal is to be left w/ 2 slim portfolios of prints and a painting or two.

grabbed you are not a gadget from the library, without any idea of what it was. turns out to be well worth reading. the review linked below is probably pretty typical, but the observations on self expression and greativity in a "locked down" culture alone are worth the admission price.

http://www.slate.com/id/2239466

wave of the future? i like it.

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

ideas like butterflys.

yesterday back yard. finally got camera charged.

mu head has been in a strange distracted place the last few days.

has yours?

wow what a waste of time. have re-cabled and tidied up computers and wanted to see if things still worked. so i bit the bullet and scanned drawing from 3 early notebooks recently found. not entirely happy with the result but you'll see it later in better shape. been very busy throwing stuff out, goodwill etc so somethings got done.

pretty heavy, huh? maybe book jacket foto for if he knew anything it would be nothing.

the summer is getting longer and longer. just returned from doc who put me on stronger antibiotics and bed rest. the latter almost impossible, so many missing objects to find in the chaos of stumbling around w/ cane. return visit wed and i have strong feeling that i'll be transferred to hospital then and iv antibiotics. meanwwhile have run out of socks and underware, can't find cell phone, can't find camera charger, cant find one medication i had refilled the 13th. picture from another found notebook. drew it at silent soto zen retreat quite a few years ago.

figured out workaround to publish a few more posts. meanwhile music creation has come to halt, windows xp problem. still hobbling around but left leg is slowly unswelling.

blog is now a holding place for daily pix until i add them to archive/gallery.

can't post at present so maybe it's time to (really) close up shop. believe i will. i'll be transfering my efforts to image clouds and trails of the imagination. but i'll leave this endeavor (AKA blog) with marvelous quote i got today from my friend peggy.

"If the skies receive no rest from being moved by love,

    heart, don't ask for rest, be like a circling star."

                  --MATHNAWI VI, 915--

AlterNet: Time to Take on Sarah Palin, the Tea Party Screamers, and Their Corporate Masters With Real Populism:
 "As I've rambled through life, I've observed that the true political spectrum in our society does not range from right to left, but from top to bottom."

today. well... think battery; starter etc are all ok. that's the short story. had to postpone meeting w/ marylin about pump etc, i'm going to pick up every stitch... you know forms, papers, phone calls... the stage that probably drove you crazy.  that gives me the next day to pick things off of the floor, find my keys, and in general get with it.

but i'm still stove up.

today would be a good day to 1) find out why car starter quit; and 2) get insulin pump going. but hotter than hell and i'm still stove up so we'll see.

picture i took before falling thru boulder world.

i'm feeling the soft breezes of approaching debacle, end of the world as we thought we knew it. identities, affiliations, professions, all slipping down steep slope. there is one meme floating around that goes something like this: the powers that be, whatever that means (nation states? trilateral commission?  walmart?) are letting this play out to reduce population. this thought gives whoever they think they are too much credit. although comforting in a perverse way to think there is soeme control somewhere, i don't feel that way. remember the invisible hand of the free market? if it exists it's drawing crazy patterns on your sheets.

took an easy hike off the parkway yesterday with richard and shamus. to get out of the heat. didn't quite get out of it. the flora or fauna or biomass seemed more thick but maybe it was the temperature. i lost my footing and took a terrible fall, boulders and branches. passed on ER when we got back and spent a very uncomfortable night. went to doc's today and no broken bones, one sort of nasty cut. my profound thanks to richard who kepy his head and got me back. shamus helped to (he's a dog). two or three days of rest are in order, but i have to get new insulin pump up and running. if it doesn't happen i''l do it later.

too hot. staying indoors. got insulin pump today. hope to be using it before long. it's too hot. i have a plan. i continue to find notebooks full of line drawings, word salads and such. they are going to go onto DVD as my friend jimbo is moving towards doing. end notes. way too hot.

Mystery glitch? Blame it on the sun - space - 23 June 2010 - New Scientist: "Although it would take a truly massive space storm to cause a catastrophe, it is becoming clear that even modest solar activity poses a threat in our technology-dependent world. It makes railway signals go haywire and rusts oil pipelines to the point that they may leak, not to mention wearing down key components in power grids, which could drive up the cost of electricity."

2 years ago friend minor was pointing this out. today, humans who tend to think "this" is "always" (includes most of us) are in for some big surprises.

backyard friend. i think he's got PTSD.

backyard sky 30 minutes ago.

nowdays i read books when i read them and not necessarily from beginning to end. stumbled across this paragraph yesterday:

"i'm not worried that antidepressants will turn us into mind-numbed, smiley-faced zombies. the drugs are not that effective, at least not yet. but i do think we need to pay attention to our feelings of demoralization. Pessimism can be an ally at a time of crisis, and i think we're living in one right now. regardless of whether or not the drugs work, to call pessimism the symptom of an illness and then turn our discontents over to the medical industry is to surrender the most important portion of our autonomy: the ability to look around and say, as Job might have said, 'this is outrageous. something must be done.'"

from manufacturing depression by gary greenberg

the march of civilization. a week or so up around craggy. been puttering, feels pretty good after some enforced downtime recently think i have this week to put my houses in order. new insulin pump may arrive wed. hopefull by the end of the week i'll be up and running.

three strong ladys; my grandaughter lily on left, natalie in middle and melissa their mom on the right.

getting emails indicating my current malaise is showing. if i liked to watch tv and sleep i could say i feel fine. it's just that i like or am obsessed by doing, and it's pretty slow lately.

i wonder if fingerpaints might help. digging in the dirt. bubbles. talking to the night.

haven't been myself lately. worse, i don't know who has.

i am so confused, ill, out-of-sorts, tired of doctors, weary of life, rattled, skewed, so i made this to signify: nothing.

which is of course an integral part of something.

the something that occurs.

eternity occurs. now.