signing off for a few weeks. this is what i leave behind.

leaving town for a few weeks. nor raking any computer stuff, nor lapsteel which i am ambivalent about. if i can find some yoyo strings today i'll take a yoyo.

today's thought.

geezerland.

Sixth sense computing
found at kim kommando's site this is worth watching. it is right out of william gibson's later books.

winter passes...so far.

nother day nother doodle.

nother day nother pic. no rant today i'm too busy. consider yourself lucky.

i'm so dazed and confused it's getting to be the status quo. i've been on a 30 day run reorganizing the cave, tied to 3 computers i want to use files from, learning too many new software applications, not eating right, and no walks to lighten up.

the two tiered culture we have bumbled into is hopeless: the populist right is not wrong, and the "progressives" are oriented totally backwards, emulating the past institutions that are no longer functional. the political and economic institutions of the nation states hold on to the status quo with a vengeance, and the giant mega-persons (corporations) are colliding giants while underneath their klanking the experience of personal life dries up to machine-like interchanges of talking points.

is this cultural and personal evolution? yes. does that mean there is progress towards a teleological better world? no. evolution creates a plethora of possibilities, and some are dead ends.

the personal face to face sharing of experiences is the only thing that might redirect culture away from the insane and pathological. have you had any lately?

Psilocybin and the Concept of Natural Intelligence | Reality Sandwich: "In ascribing intelligence to the technological achievements of bio-logic, I should here point out that this does not necessarily mean that Nature is consciously intelligent (although Nature might well have mind-like characteristics), but rather that intelligence represents a particular kind of process, or capacity, that can manifest in realms other than the human brain/mind."

The Official Website of Andrew Vachss : The Zero 5.0laf

The Official Website of Andrew Vachss : The Zero 5.0laf

another day another cryptogram.

i'm reading haiku by vachss. short little book by a master nyc noir mystery author.

in this book there are some absolutely magical poetic sentences that i run across, they are really too much. i'll see if i can find one:

"in our world, contradictions are not confronted but absorbed."

not talking here about the world, but the gestalt of a small band of characters who inhabit it in an unusual way.

put up just to see if anything can be done with it. i think i'll...have something to say in the morning. almost finished w/ final mix of CD. it's different isn't all.

beautiful day, finally got a walk in. went downtown and walked a couple of hours, a little shopping. it's been so long since i've visited downtown, a lot of new places, faces, spaces. i think i'll do it more often.

In the Beginning: The Birth of a Psychedelic Culture | Reality Sandwich: "Those who still live are all now older and wiser than we were in those literally heady days, and we may finally be ready to tell such truths without setting off another round of conflict."

as our lives, language and world disappear into some weird concoction of disneyland and non-personal ideation, see if you recall the sensation of standing on the earth and feeling that you belonged there.

had a day yesterday when either i or the stars were wrong. everything i touched fell apart. i was lost in the wilds of bits and bytes that morphed and slid in every way. made me mad i'm sorry to report. actually i'm not sorry. it was the way it was.

just saw avatar 3D which makes my yearly movie. i liked it. parts were very twiggy and barky, the organic messy fractal world of nature's heart, parts very hiTek with the best military money can buy - you know, good guys and bad guys - henri rousseau - beautifully executed if a little corny, think action movie. words like "corporate" and "insane" used. all the characters were prefab like tv, cartoons of attitudes we all know. but as a marker of presnt world, hard to beat even with or maybe because of being so generic.

not to even mention the 3d where they had a lot of un and so did i.

Starbucks Love Project

this is a good thing. great idea and execution. give yourself a boost, check it out.Starbucks Love Project

does 2010 sound like a year to you? me neither.

unless maybe we can call it "the year that checking underware for explosives began".

i am really getting tired of these goofy pictures. i do one first of the morning, post it and then attempt to see what it foreshadows of the day.

superstition. yep. never, or hardly ever, works.

and from the image above, that's a good thing.

broke lapsteel again last night. will repair once more taking care to solder correctly. maybe install new pick up. good thing i have a list of things to do next year somewhere.

a picture a day
it's all a play
ok?

caught this minute of grandaughter natalie riffing. the camera was slung around my neck, i just turned it on and let it hang. luckily it was pointed to princess natalie.

Color-Shifting Contact Lenses Alert Diabetics to Glucose Levels - Eyes - Gizmodo

Color-Shifting Contact Lenses Alert Diabetics to Glucose Levels - Eyes - Gizmodo

got back from quick trip downhill - mountain - to see kids and grand kids. above is picture of natalie delivering the grand finale of xmas melody. it was a short but pleasant visit.

Out along the highway
There’s work that’s being done
Heavy dancing gases
Playing with the sun

Another ageless darkness
In the parking lot
Shadows shouting chrome:
Another evening shot

Down along the river bend
It’s always Friday night
When the south wind blows real good
You know there’ll be a fight

Underneath the boardwalk
Lost lovers contemplate
The missing moon and stars
They thought that they could make

“which world?” asked the ticket master
behind his missing throne
“any world but this one”
replied the message on the phone

Outside the winds were howling
They blow that way you know
When you get there tell them
That I’m the one who told you so

Discourse in hybrid harmony
No longer takes the chance
The open door stands asleep
Dreaming words that dance

The far plateau you thought you knew
Is well placed in this mess
Must have been the misplaced map
Or else a lucky guess

The clouds they are outrageous
No laughs at all tonight
Relatively pointless
The moon shines it’s delight

As we tiptoed through the forest
Peculiar plants were glowing
Like someone’s smile we know
And couldn’t help enjoying

Microscopic biscuits
Had long been bird’s delight
They huddled like the seashore
Retreating from last night

Avoid the void they said
Standing tall and straight
When the elevator stopped
They didn’t hesitate

Every night the light forgets
The shadows amber glow
If I wasn’t in a hurry
I’d be just as slow

The beast meanwhile was loose
Events were overflowing
Annoying nonreflection
Kept anyone from knowing

“so long” yelled the hobo
sliding down a trance
without a detached head
He never had a chance.

---

cleaning up files, came upon this piece of cyberdoggeral.

found out that my old friend bill wasson died recently. we knew each other since 1955 on and off. thank you for being a friend bill.

From Pocket to Stage, Music in the Key of iPhone - NYTimes.com

From Pocket to Stage, Music in the Key of iPhone - NYTimes.com: "Professor Wang said he would like to democratize the process of making music, so that anyone with a cellphone could become a musician. “Part of my philosophy is people are inherently creative,” he said. “It’s not just people who think of themselves as artists.”"

yeah i know i ended daily blog postings but thought i'd post this (very) recent foto of myself. new computer i am slowly getting together. space problems (don't you hate space problems) dictate that i rearrange entire living module to do this.

terminus of daily blog. at the recent blogarama, after gordon mentioned me as the longest running blog in aville, someone asked "what does he find to write about?"

the answer is for the last few years, nothing much. it has become all images. so i'm pulling the plug on daily postings. might add something from time to time that signifies something.

the action will transfer to modernpeasant.com where i will add a category of fresh doo-dads and a way to subscribe to rss feeds, that way when something new shows up you'll know it.

been awhile. i've been working on the gallery, and catching up on what is left of my personality. changed the picture above. better?

today's totem is a classic example of the way i work: hell i can't talk about it. i mean can't, not won't. found a jpeg no idea of when or what, probably scan of watercolor. played with it awhile and this is what i got. i like it.

BTW this is what i will add to the image gallery found at the mothership, modernpeasant.com soon: something like "picture of the day" or "recent work".

picture of jim he took last week here. as usual i have nothing much to report. slowly getting to the point of catching up. then off to chatham county usa.

i urge you to spend some time at this site. organic math. don't read it, check the rendered 3D renderings out.

this is penultimate post to the blog. i have redone image archive and i'll leave the blog up as an archive of a long 7-8 years. go here for new image archive.

from email i got a link to keirsey personality test and took it: seems based on myers-briggs and this is part of the results:

"Conscience looms large for you; in almost any situation, you feel compelled to measure yourself, other people, and the conditions of the environment against your personal morality. You have a tendency to perceive questions of meaning in even trivial matters and to worry about far-flung consequences of your actions. In your ideal job, you are free to pursue depth rather than breadth and quality rather than quantity. You feel rewarded when your projects and daily tasks allow you to immerse yourself in your process as deeply as you "need to" in order to satisfy your inner standards of quality. You are uncomfortable with the notion of authority per se and may avoid leading, as well as being led, either consciously or unconsciously. As you experience them, adhering to fixed roles and rules amounts to an abdication of your responsibility to exercise your conscience."

a little nonsense from last wednesday. a very rough cut.

&

letter i wrote to obama and members of congress friday:

"As a citizen who worked hard for the Democratic Party during the last election I must express to you my disappointment at the manner in which health reform is being stifled by the Republicans.

But even worse is the democratic lack of response to the will of the people.

I am a “liberal progressive” who worked and voted for “change”. That meant the Democratic Party. But the current Health Reform debate and the Democratic Party’s lack of response to the will of the people is eroding this.

There are some things worth more than profit. Open up the process and bite the bullet: whether we personally like it or not, different solutions to problems are called for when what formally worked no longer does. This applies not only to Health Reform but also the continued success of both parties as meaningful entities.

this just in from our intrepid Far East Correspondant:

Among the many wonders and amazing offerings displayed in China Airlines' 174 page glossy “Sky Boutique” in-flight sales magazine is its “B. H. Plus ‘Gran Turismo’ Carbonic Germanium Bracelet,” about which the ad copy says, ‘carbonic germanium design combined with the latest technology from Japan. Each bracelet is equipped with three 99.99% certified germaniums, two 600 gauss magnets, tourmaline and titanium capable of readjusting electron imbalance in the human body. This bracelet continuously emits negative ions found in the forest.’

Germaniums? Why not daffodils or hydrangeas?

And I would have thought that wise forest kings would have expelled negative ions long ago to keep the forests jolly. . .along with morlocks and krell and bucolic poets. Pixie dust is just the ticket for that.

It was also unclear how often you had to take your bracelet back into the forest to find more negative ions. How long does it take for your bracelet to find them? Ten minutes? Two weeks? Or do you have to find them yourself? A person with recently balanced electrons doesn’t have time to just hang out in the forest waiting for his or her bracelet to find some more negative ions, and if you’ve got to find them yourself, why do you need the bracelet? If your electrons become unbalanced due to a lack of local negative ions in your neck of the woods, will you be able to find your way home? And if you have enough time and live close enough to take your bracelet to the forest to find more negative ions, why do you need the bracelet anyway? Particularly the German traveler! Surely there must be ample supplies of both forests-full of negative ions as well as a wealth of germanium there. Magnets are available in toy stores. Tourmalines and titanium should be available. They could all be attached to the vegetable strainer one already wears on one’s head to keep out the bad vibrations from the morlocks, the krell, the CIA mind control projects run by failed bucolic poets.



But Wait! The scrivener scrove too impetuously! There are pages and pages of these ‘natural’ health devices in ‘Sky Boutique’ magazine which I had overlooked. Why, if simplicity of life is the way to good health, these health trinkets will quickly rid your body of unhealthy, unwanted dollars, euros, yens and wens.

Some of the items described have silicon (but no magnets). Some are stainless steel. . .because that’s ‘the best.’ Some reduce the body’s acidity (a sort of Rolaids for the wrist) while others are even acid resistant (as if to imply that with other, non-acid resistant models, the battle against acids might just turn against you in a deadly, mortal sort of way). Some items facilitate blood circulation or soothe sore muscles. Some have bezel-set crystals and mother of pearl.

On another page is the ‘Japanese Camellia Necklace,’ guaranteed to ‘take people’s breath away.’ This item is displayed on a different page than the ‘Cambodian Plastic Head Bag,’ or the ‘Japanese Ninja Garrote’ or the ‘All-American Wash’n’Water Board,’ all three of which also promise the same result as the ‘Japanese Camellia Necklace’.



But enough on that matter. I read this morning that in order to fight the long-term decline in the value of the US dollar, the Department of the Treasury has announced that ‘in order to conform the new reality of a stable, successful euro,’ the US dollar will hereafter be conformed to the euro in name if not in value. Effective January 1, 2010 the US dollar will be called by its new name, the ‘zero’. As of that day the former $100 will be written Z100.

When journalists from the UK’s ‘Independent’ (newspaper) noted that outside North America the numeral ‘0’ is pronounced ‘zed’ and not ‘zero’, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geither cryptically responded, “Yes, and two guineas makes a kilo,” which it does not, since it takes two guineas plus two shillings to make a kilo—as any dolt must know.



Concerning China Airlines, since their rescheduling me required a ten hour lay-over in Taipei airport (one of the seven most boring wonders of the world), I tried to get them to book me to Singapore on some other airline. (Their confidential print-out of my transaction showed that they had made the reschedule and flight change on October 22, the day after I had reconfirmed my booking by telephone, but they didn’t contact me until November 4, the day I departed!) They were willing to ship my body to Singapore on an earlier flight but—no earlier flights were available. And the one they had originally booked me on had indeed been cancelled. Since I had ten hours to wait, they offered to give me a hotel room or a pass to the VIP room. I took the VIP room where I have been for the last six and a half hours drinking tall cool tropical drinks, eating dim sum, sipping double espressos, listening to Elgar and Beethoven gently in the background, watching business drones hacking away at endless spreadsheet matrices on their computers while I write inane tripe, beholden to no one. Except you, my readers, whom I hope have been more cheered by this email than bored or embarrassed. Did I mention the endless bottles of Cognac or 12-year old Scotch sitting on the counter? I’m in the Business Class VIP lounge. In the First Class VIP lounge they probably have reefer and coke in golden bowls. . .for all I know.



The in-flight magazine was interesting, but the best in-flight item I’ve ever seen is the Air Minnesota camo bikini panties. Now who would want those?

yesterday elk mountain parkway with jim. too windy for panorama.

i am still trying to cap and terminate the blog and transfer effort to images for postcards and prints.

and i'm tired of posting "i have nothing to say".

last nite. courtisy of jim jenkins. i did the fingerpaints.

above is DIY HDR lorez done w/ photoshop.

attended blogapalooza last nite in river district. saw a few old friends who i haven't seen in a couple of years.

getting close to retiring this blog. maybe in a few days. enough is enuf.

i puttered, pivoted, procrastinated and let things in general happen on another fall day. started out a little over cast and never too far from it, but balmy, you know. got a not bad 3minutes roughmix while i was wondering around. last night saw old and new friends, a few i have known since '64 i guess. driving back thru the warm dark night, i thoughr about the perfect wrong turns we had made, how the present is hardly here, and we all gather around the expanding universe, alone with the same mystery dream.

bear country, elk mountain yesterday. slight afternoon break with richard. excuse shaky footage etc, was using my trusty old sony dsc-v3. a moment in a very full day.

photo of some geezer sent to me by my sister.
the RPMs are picking up around here. internal glacial movements like ice breaking. rearrangements afoot. remember the ghost dance that flickered into existence around the turn of the (last) century? i feel like something similar is in store for a lot of us. some denouement around the corner. if you have read remembrance of things past - or whatever the new literal translation of the title is - by Proust you may recall the end when after a half century of life the characters attend one more salon and the protagonist is floored by by the gathering, not recognizing his lifetime acquaintances. for a couple of years now i have been saying - glibly i suppose - that that old age is welcome because it is new. sort of a paradox i suppose. i feel like it is an opportunity to be slammed into the realization that the same applies to every second. new, novel, unpredictable, every now is the same now and always a surprise (or it wouldn't be now, but the past we think we experienced).

take a break, lean back, and stream this. album is released today i believe.

it used to upset me when folks would say i was "experimenting" with this or that. sounds like a little kid playing. but they were right. i am a ludic putterer and above is an image that resulted from working that way. too dark i guess. so much is.

another shot from thurday. i've been mostly doing music - aiming for full CD, i've not released one for awhile. and a 10 minute viseo. but i am really giving these tonemapped exr files a workout.

another picture from yesterdays walk in the woods.

guess i have to start getting these out as prints. but first, grocery shopping.

got back from my long anticipated summer camping trip. great fun. took shot above this afternoon by waterfall.

did not make it out of town yesterday. by 5:00 when retnopathy exam was finished - and my eyes super dilated - i gave up. but am packed and ready to go this morning.

well... aqlmost packed and ready to go. back thursday or friday.

did the above w/ an online photo effects site - i forget which. today is a hurry up day. it will test my working theory of "easy-do". ie let it happen and it will work out.

ezdo originated (this time) from william burroughs.
here is one take on it:

just playing around folks. beautiful fall day. interesting chat with online art rep. and with Jehovah's wittiness guy who drops by occasionally. cranked out a piece of muzak. i've done one a day for maybe a week. tomorrow i have to drop the nonstop fun and engage with the world. after retnopathy appointment i'kk drive to the mountain where moriah lives and camp out. spend the day in the woods.

who is this old man? it was today after pleasant walk when i took this picture. for the hell of it as usual. looks like he survived the winter.

this is a strange time for me, but then aren't they all. things going bump in the night are the rearrangements of the psyche and ego going about their business behind, so to speak, my back. maybe head. so what is new about this? i'd say the speed. RPMs seem to be accelerating.

an observation: somewhere along what i think of as the middle of my life i began to notice a collective drift in the cultural from conversation to presentation. still going on today. what is said became less important than how it was said. from being "psyched", appearance, etc. to the abomination of bullet points.

there is a new book out that as soon as i heard the title convinced me that we have now moved a step further in this direction: from literacy to spectacle. haven't read it yet. understand it is a good book. but the title conjures up disneyland, cruise ships, infomercials, the holiday season, mega-sports, rock concerts full of stagecraft, theme parks, the lottery, job interviews etc. when i think of what has been replaced - lost - i think of those long conversations the young had when i was one of them, or encounters on a grayhound bus speeding thru some long dark american night.

i believe that some of the socratic value of the word may be kept among the hurly-burly of laser lights and psuedo-events but is not guarenteed. how contemporary human personalities live is what will be a big part of what determines this.

a fast thinker on a slow day. a thousand hums as my friend lucius said once. too late to be too late, let the looker lead the way.

i drew this about 2 weeks ago.

saw robin trower last night. the whole experience was great. real rock, he totally blew me away with sonics but didn't rewire your head like hendrix could do. the whole scene was a delight.

another strange day, quiet, reserved, gray, but not a bit boring. i finally began to clear the house (and the decks) of what phi;op k. dick called "dottle".

found a good many missing objects and not a few of those that i wish were.

and i have tomorrow to adjust.

life is wonderful, a thing that wonders by itself.

above is the last waterco;or i did, around the beginning of october.

finished above at 11pm. time is passing very strangly now, or better put is not exactly passing. i seem stranded all day, muttering and puttering. but things get done at a fairly steady background hum while i stare at the latest distracting lights and feel the pretty damn wiggly sea waves roll on.

a series of dreams.

going to hear robin trower tomorrow night with richard. one of the few that can get me out the door at night.

i'm exhausted. everything seems like a done deal, us just playing our hands out. i don't know what down time is. i think i want to join a soto zen temple and meditate.

maybe iu need a tv. or a boulder.

power spots moving like snakes through the grass.

The way that can be Googled is not the Way

thx and a tip of the hat to macon.

another hdr image taken at botanical gardens on walk w/ son eli.

a reminder: you are looking at a blog that is phasing out. for the last few weeks or months the daily posts have been examples of me learning HDR and Panoramic images, using a PC instead of a mac. why? there is a reason, but it would take too long for me to type it.

as soon as i fix modernpeasant.com - right now the image gallery takes a tad too long to load - i will stop daily posts but blog will remain as an artifact for what it is worth.

meanwhile i have been working on campershell. i got back here fri night and sunday morning discovered tent, sleeping bag, and 2 thermorest mattresses had been removed with the help of a hacksaw. almost fixed.


Abruptly Forgotten: Working Memory Disappears in a Blink: Scientific American: "For decades evidence suggested that such visual working memories—which, even in daylight, connect the dots to create a complete scene as the eyes dart around rapidly—fade gradually over the span of several seconds. But a clever new study reported in the journal Psychological Science finds that such memories actually stay sharp until they are suddenly lost."

finally got halfway decent panorama. taken in deepest chatham county.


another exploratiuon of image production.

happy sunday. had an excellent dinner w/ friends last night, much appreciatted. we watched a little of a dvd featuring avant garde movie shorts from 50's and 60's. which i enjoyed very much, took me back to the days when there was a steady supply of this stuff sat. nights at unc.

garbled foto above is another in a series i have fallen into lately, using all pc tools rather than mac so no photoshop.

[it was too ugly. current image is redo.]

repedigraf drawing. i got out all my old technical pens along with a bunch jim gave me years ago and cleaned up three in a hurry as i was packing to go down state. above is one result, i got maybe three started while i was floating around. it'll be good to take them with me and no computer when it's desert island time.

good to be back. moving very slow. foto is from botanical gardens walk a few days ago. as in the last couple of weeks no photoshop involved.

from jeff in santa fe:

Disco de Bob Dylan tendra preventa para clientes Citibank | ELESPECTADOR.COM: "Christmas In The Heart estara disponible para su descarga por internet para 13 millones de clientes."