He asked for it and he got it!

Leonard Bernstein

this was posted by Tom Sutpen to

If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger,
There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats

Pressure to bear on the Redmond monster

Image by michperu via Flickr

The heart of Mitch Wagner's observation is that Microsoft will prevail...

Google's Chrome OS Threatens Linux, Is Good For Microsoft
Posted by Mitch Wagner, Jul 8, 2009 11:47 AM
. . .
Where there is confusion in the marketplace, hardware manufacturers and consumers look to the safe choice, and the safe choice is Microsoft. When the Unix market was fragmented into multiple different flavors, Microsoft settled the confusion by driving everybody to Windows. Now, with Linux fragmented, Microsoft has the opportunity to make history repeat itself.

...in a manner of speaking, yes, Microsoft will survive. Microsoft will always survive. Personal computing will change. Personal computing will evolve. Personal computing will improve because the collective effort of Google and Linux and BSD and BEOS and OSX and all the rest will relentlessly pressure Microsoft into getting their sh*t together, finally. And that would never have happened if the market had not brought pressure to bear on the Redmond monster.

Linus Fortune #23

Before he became a hermit, Zarathud was a young Priest, and
took great delight in making fools of his opponents in front of his
followers.
One day Zarathud took his students to a pleasant pasture and
there he confronted The Sacred Chao while She was contentedly grazing.
"Tell me, you dumb beast," demanded the Priest in his
commanding voice, "why don't you do something worthwhile? What is your
Purpose in Life, anyway?"
Munching the tasty grass, The Sacred Chao replied "MU". (The
Chinese ideogram for NO-THING.)
Upon hearing this, absolutely nobody was enlightened.
Primarily because nobody understood Chinese.
-- Camden Benares, "Zen Without Zen Masters"

Linux Fortune #17

I lately lost a preposition;
It hid, I thought, beneath my chair
And angrily I cried, "Perdition!
Up from out of under there."

Correctness is my vade mecum,
And straggling phrases I abhor,
And yet I wondered, "What should he come
Up from out of under for?"
-- Morris Bishop

Computers in the future...

Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vaccuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vaccuum tubes and perhaps weigh 1 1/2 tons.

-- Popular Mechanics, March 1949

The Stranger Is Truthier Than Fiction

OMG! What a treat to read about folks living in foreign lands eating exotic foods and cavorting with (in)famous people... (Obviously they is ferrin'ers ... cain't be from around here ... tain't right to be talkin' about fois gras like it was goose liver or sum'thin.) So I ended up reading this article in The Stranger ... (warning: contains adult themes ... like gourmet food and adult tastes)

Same Food, Less Attitude

Elemental Next Door Might Be Just What You're Looking For

by Bethany Jean Clement

If you've ever been to Elemental@Gasworks and been cold-shouldered at the door by co-owner/sommelier/waiter/ bossypants Phred Westfall, you've thought to yourself, "Well, self, here I am literally at a dead end, and I'm thirsty and hungry and I've nowhere to go."¹ Then you've cursed Phred's (irritatingly spelled) name and slunk off into the evening...

What you would truly like right then is a place, say, right next door, with lovely food, and tons of wine, and (why not?) the same kind of loftlike but not hyperdesigned atmosphere as Elemental, and (while you're at it) a man who's the opposite of Phred to hand you a complimentary glass of sparkling wine and then proceed to be as sweet as humanly possible for the remainder of your time with him.

(More...)

OMG! OMG! I was dragged to the aforementioned site because I was swayed into visiting ...

...which opened my eyes to the delights that are possible when discriminating palates gather to observe delectable treats... (ya'll ain't from around these parts, are ya?)

Braving the Elementals

In the overlapping sets of Seattle restaurant owners and people who are dicks there stands Phred Westfall, and it's not because he spells his name funny. Call him eccentric, call him quirky, call him sui generis if you must, but he's got a most unusual way of running his candy store, Elemental @ Gasworks.

Elemental's kitchen, by Laurie Riedmeman, does very well indeed. Last meal here was exceptional, in fact. After a refreshing aperitif, a cascade of delights: gnocchetti, beef tartar topped with a quail egg, asparagus-spinach salad with shaved parmesan, quail over green beans, a pulled pork tamale with corn, a generous cheese board. Wines to match each course (selected and poured by Phred, on his best behavior), and the tab (which includes tax & tip) was about $80.

(More...)

I haven't had my coffee yet...

MASTERMIND: Aubrey Martinson

MASTERMIND: Aubrey Martinson

By: Amy Whitesall, 7/1/2009

Pottery appeals to Aubrey Thornton Martinson for a lot of reasons – beauty, functionality, the challenge of striving for unattainable perfection. She likes its concrete ways to measure success. Is the pot heavy? Is it clunky? People can use the things she makes, and that feels fulfilling.

"I'm really happy still when people tell me, 'I use that mug I bought every day,' or 'That's my ice cream bowl.' " she says. "That is exciting to me."

Martinson, the 30-year-old executive director of the Chelsea Center for the Arts, doesn't throw pots anymore. The studio she and her husband, Chris, set up in their Grass Lake home gave way to renovations, then to their daughter, Lily. The kiln they started building as college students is almost done, and has been for years.

Go HERE and read the rest.

Araki Nobuyoshi

Nobuyoshi Araki (Araki Nobuyoshi) is a Japanese photographer and contemporary artist. He is also known by the nickname Arākī.

TouchPuppet: Photographer Spotlight: Nobuyoshi Araki

Paparazzi feeding our blood lust.

Paparazzi feeding our blood lust.

(Curious that each side of the tableau is so carefully staged.)

Eastern ratsnake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis)

Last time I saw this guy in my back field I thought it was just some old coarse weave tarp laying in the deep grass ... imagine my surprise when it slithered away.

fatchance: Eastern ratsnake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis),...

fatchance:

Eastern ratsnake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis), observed at [an undisclosed location, because some people who share the same space with this harmless creature would never step outdoors if they knew he was there]. This snake was about five feet long (1.5 m). Learn more here.

[link to original | source: all creatures [great and small] | published: 3 hours ago | shared via feedly]

Perfidious Albion, deLux Fiat

[link to original | source: ffffound.com | via: feedly]

Crumb, Burroughs

nevver: Crumb, Burroughs

nevver:

Crumb, Burroughs

[link to original | source: /Ambivalence | published: 1 day ago | shared via feedly]

I'm going back to IRC ... See you there.

If you are old(er) like me you will remember the communities in IRC. You will remember the conversations. You will remember the friends...and the feuds. You will remember when groups of people talked with each other in near-real time. You will remember full sentences. But most of all you will be a member.

irc://irc.freenode.net#Pa^Patois

irc://irc.freenode.net#Joiito

irc://irc.freenode.net##Slackware

I cannot promise that I will be on all the time - I do have a real job and some semblance of a life. I can promise that if you catch me there we can share more than 140 character blurts.

The circle of Life and Death here at the Flying Pig Ranch

Out of the corner of my eye I caught the shadow. A fast moving dark blur.

"What the heck was that?"

I stood at the kitchen sink window and watched. There it was again. More an illusion than a fact. A large dark visage careening across the front field of the Flying Pig Ranch. I stood stock still and waited. Perhaps my aging mind was playing tricks on me.

It swooped low on broad wings. It was being chased by three sparrows and a starling. Undeterred it turned again, folded its wings and settled two thirds of the way down the driveway. The huge vulture paced. Warily eying its prize. A prize invisible from my vantage point.

---

Here at the Flying Pig Ranch we don't have fur bearing indoor pets. Too many allergies to 'animal dander'. So we have outdoor cats - or more specifically now, one outdoor cat - Pussin.

Anyone who has spent time with cats knows the difference between ambling and intent. When Pussin got up from her throne on the stoop and walked by me with intent I knew something was up. She made a direct line for the field behind the new shed.

---

Enamored with the prospect of a new species to list on the ranch roster I made my way outdoors to stand behind one of the Norway spruces closest to the driveway. The vulture was still being pestered by the smaller birds. Opening it 6 foot wing span it made a graceful leap to a nearby fence post. There it turned and kept a careful eye on the still unidentified prize. Mollified the smaller birds skittered away to their respective places.

Majestic in its stature the vulture just sat... almost as if in a cartoon segment... waiting... so we waited together ... I from my somewhat hidden vantage point and the vulture for ...

---

Pussin returned as intently as she had left. Proudly she presented the field mouse at my feet. As only a cat can she then accepted her accolades ... my scratching her behind the ears and compliments on her kill. Duly acknowledged she sat down with the dignity befiting her station and respect for her prey she began crunching away.

---

Satisfied that the time was right the vulture slipped from the fence post and settle next to its prize. Affixing it with one foot the sharp beak made quick work of the dissection. Three good tears each followed by a head-tilt swallow and the meal was over. A moment to preen and then taking wing the vulture rose in characteristic circles seeking thermals off our hillside to drift into the summer afternoon.

---

Pussin, having completed her repast, settled again on her throne to wash. Once properly appointed she languorously stretched out and napped.

---

Curiosity bested me. I went down the driveway. It took a moment of searching but there I found the lone fore claw of a mole.

As a father my heart breaks... Daughters For Life

Daughters For Life

There are no words that can adequately express the sorrow...

Bummer, dude!

Click the pic for the story.

Tanka, Renga and Haiku

Tanka

Tanka consists of five units (often treated as separate lines when Romanized or translated) usually with the following mora pattern:

5-7-5-7-7.

The 5-7-5 is called the kami-no-ku ("upper phrase"), and the 7-7 is called the shimo-no-ku ("lower phrase").

Tanka is a much older form of Japanese poetry than haiku. In ancient times poems of this form were called hanka ("reverse poem"), since the 5-7-5-7-7 form derived from the conclusion (envoi) of a chōka^{[citation needed]}. Sometimes a chōka had two envois^{[citation needed]}.

The chōka above is followed by an envoi, also written by Okura:

銀も	Shirogane mo	What are they to me,
金も玉も	Kogane mo tama mo	Silver, or gold, or jewels?
何せんに	Nanisen ni	How could they ever
まされる宝	Masareru takara	Equal the greater treasure
子にしかめやも	Koni shikame yamo	That is a child? They can not.

[English translation by Edwin Cranston]

The Heian period also saw the invention of a new tanka-based game: one poet recited or created half of a tanka, and the other finished it off. This sequential, collaborative tanka was called renga ("linked poem"). (The form and rules of renga developed further during medieval times; see the renga article for more details.)

Renga (連歌, renga^?, collaborative poetry) is a genre^[1] of Japanese collaborative poetry. A renga consists of at least two ku (句^?) or stanzas, usually many more. The opening stanza of the renga, called the hokku (発句^?), became the basis for the modern haiku form of poetry.

The first stanza of the renga chain, the hokku (発句^?), is the forebear of the modern haiku. The stand-alone hokku was renamed haiku in the Meiji period by the great Japanese poet and critic Masaoka Shiki. Shiki proposed haiku as an abbreviation of the phrase "haikai no ku" meaning a verse of haikai^[6].

Reference

Wikipedia: Waka (poetry)

Wikipedia: Renga

RIP KODACHROME

© Steve McCurry
Sharbat Gula, Afghan Girl, at Nasir Bagh refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan, 1984.

June 22, 2009

A Tribute to KODACHROME: A Photography Icon

They say all good things in life come to an end. Today we announced that Kodak will retire KODACHROME Film, concluding its 74-year run.

OR318 - Let the first blogger to die in prison be the last.

The March 18 Movement - Let the first blogger to die in prison be the last

The March 18 Movement was born out of a tragedy. On this day in 2009, Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, Iranian blogger and journalist, died in Evin Prison in Tehran. The December before his death, he was sentenced to two and half years in prison for allegedly insulting religious leaders, and engaging in “propaganda” against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Omid Reza was the first blogger to die in prison and his death reveals that getting censored is far from the worst thing that can happen to a blogger.

The irony is that, as more members of both the public and the media praise the ability of bloggers to inform, the more these de facto journalists around the globe become victims in fact. The March 18 Movement aims not only to make sure that Omid Reza is remembered, but also that other persecuted bloggers around the world do not disappear into interrogation rooms and prison cells. The March 18 Movement would like to become a voice for bloggers everywhere who are in risk of being crushed under the heavy machinery of repression.

This day, in memorial to Omid Reza, is dedicated to all bloggers around the world who run real risks simply to tell the truth as they see it. The March 18 Movement seeks to actively expand our sense of self to encompass those of us who are in danger and to extend the protections normally accorded to journalists to all those who spend their time and intellectual capital in sharing information about our world.